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April 23, 2026 - The Joe Rogan Experience
02:46:29
Joe Rogan Experience #2488 - James McCann

James McCann recounts his career turbulence after firing from an Australian podcast, detailing his poverty-stricken journey through Ohio and the stark contrasts between American and Australian comedy scenes. The dialogue expands to critique Hollywood's "woke" shift, debate AI's threat to human freedom, and analyze political corruption ranging from Ilhan Omar's financial errors to Bill Cosby's legal battles. Ultimately, the episode argues that while technology offers convenience, it risks eroding artistic integrity and personal liberty without robust ethical guardrails. [Automatically generated summary]

Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, MahmoudAshraf/mms-300m-1130-forced-aligner, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
Participants
Main
j
james mccann
56:53
j
joe rogan
01:13:47
Appearances
b
bill cosby
00:32
j
jamie vernon
02:04
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Speaker Time Text
Terrified Return to Clubhouse 00:15:12
unidentified
Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out.
The Joe Rogan Experience.
Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day.
Everything's good.
james mccann
Thank you for having me back.
joe rogan
Good to see you, my brother.
unidentified
How are you?
joe rogan
Always great to see you.
I'm good.
It was fun having you at the clubhouse.
james mccann
I was terrified.
I was fucking terrified.
joe rogan
You just look like you're back.
james mccann
No, I thought that's it.
I've been away for too long.
I'm going to suck.
None of the new stuff's going to work.
They'll see me.
They'll go, he was wrong to come back.
Fuck him off.
It was so nice.
It was so nice.
joe rogan
You were telling the story.
I said, hold these thoughts.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
I didn't know you didn't.
I didn't know we'd never spoken about it.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
Tell me the story.
james mccann
That's why I came to America to start I got offered a job hosting a Catholic podcast, and they fired me as I packed up everything in Adelaide.
This is like two and a bit years ago.
I had the kids and the wife, and on the way to America, I got fired.
And they said, we'll still pay you rent.
It's in Steubenville, Ohio, a beautiful Appalachian town just outside of Pittsburgh.
And yeah, it's where we were three months ago.
I was there.
joe rogan
So, what did they see that they fired you for?
unidentified
A lot.
james mccann
They made a compilation video.
The guy who shot, they were right to find me.
unidentified
No, no, they were.
james mccann
No, because it was a good clean Catholic podcast.
And then the business manager was like, There was a sketch about stabbing someone in the throat with an AIDS needle.
They're like, he uses the word can't all the time.
They're like, This is a sponsorship nightmare.
Get him out.
So I said, OK.
But they still said, We'll pay you rent for three months and you can figure something out.
You still got a visa.
And I was terrified.
I was just in the snow.
joe rogan
Three kids and a wife.
james mccann
Three kids, no job.
I didn't have the money to go back home.
joe rogan
Oh my God.
james mccann
We couldn't afford to go back home.
unidentified
Oh my God.
james mccann
And I didn't know that I had been passed at the mothership because I didn't know how the system worked.
So on the way in to go to Steubenville, where I was like, I'll figure something out, I stopped in at Austin to see Shane.
Shane said, Go and do the mothership open mic.
I did it.
Adam Egan said, If you're ever in town, come back.
We'll pay you for spots.
I didn't know that meant I was passed.
I didn't know I could work here.
unidentified
Oh.
james mccann
I just thought he was like, I could audition again.
And then, so I had three confronting months in the snow.
Beautiful part of the world.
It was the most terrified I've ever been in my life.
jamie vernon
He says that.
When I was an Australian, that's from Ohio.
james mccann
No, I loved it.
jamie vernon
That's the most beautiful part of the world.
james mccann
I loved it.
I went back and watched that Wild Whites of West Virginia.
jamie vernon
Yeah, that's where you're at.
james mccann
It looks exactly like that.
joe rogan
Well, that is gorgeous.
james mccann
It's God's country, but also so abandoned by, like, the potholes are crazy.
I saw real heroin addicts.
I'd never really seen heroin addicts before.
Just sleepy people.
I saw street prostitutes.
That's still going on.
joe rogan
And this is a small town, right?
james mccann
This is a small town.
This is, uh, I went there.
There are Catholics who have moved there to try and, like, fix it.
It was where Dean Martin was from.
The Wu Tang clan kind of started out there.
joe rogan
They're Staten Island.
james mccann
No, yes, but I think it's like the Rizzas' auntie lived there and they moved out there and then they got involved in rap in the Pittsburgh.
joe rogan
I got to ask, Rizzas on real soon.
james mccann
I believe I'm right about that.
They don't have a mural for them.
unidentified
Wow.
james mccann
Um, but it's great.
There's a lot of Catholic content creators there.
And they're trying to take over town.
I went there originally because New Polity is my favorite magazine.
And I got to meet the guys who made it.
I was so excited.
joe rogan
So, how did they hire you?
Wu Tang's Rizza found a second chance in Steubenville.
unidentified
Wow.
james mccann
And then they all came over to visit him.
joe rogan
He discussed a largely undocumented era of his life in which Pittsburgh played a role.
unidentified
Wow.
james mccann
And that's one of the first conversations we had.
I was like, You said something about Pittsburgh that wasn't flattering.
I said, I love Pittsburgh.
And you're like, you don't know anything.
You're a foreigner.
You don't know anything about America.
Pittsburgh is a horrible place.
I was like, I don't know.
I had a nice time there.
unidentified
I thought it was good.
joe rogan
It's just a little depressing.
See, the thing about a lot of those sort of industrial kind of towns is there's not a ton of options for people.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
Pittsburgh, more so than the place that you were in, But, like, when you get to a place where there's not a lot of options and then you see real poverty, like, this is poverty with no solutions.
You know what I mean?
Not Pittsburgh.
You know, Pittsburgh is.
james mccann
Oh, no, just outside of Pittsburgh.
joe rogan
I was more for sure with you.
james mccann
No, I saw things in West Virginia that were pretty confronting.
And, like, you know, that are like caked.
And some of it's great.
Some of the things from the poverty are wonderful.
Drive through cigarette shop.
I loved having drive through cigarettes.
So, you know, just like trying to get the kids to sleep.
My wife's upset because I got her in a foreign.
Like, again, she never signed up.
Let's move to America.
She was like, we'll go for three months.
unidentified
Right.
james mccann
And then I was like, oh, fuck, I'm unemployed.
I better quickly figure out how to be a stand up comedian.
I was busing out of Steubenville.
I was like, I caught the Greyhound from Pittsburgh.
This is when I saw the worst stuff.
I got a lift to Pittsburgh and then I caught the Greyhound from Pittsburgh to Cleveland to open for Sam Talent, who let me open, who unbelievably let me open for Sam Talent.
unidentified
He's the best.
james mccann
I'd met him in Australia.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Such a good guy.
james mccann
And uh, but like that bus trip from Pittsburgh to Cleveland was it, it was the most upsetting.
Oh man.
People were spitting on the ground at the bus station.
Like an illegal immigrant woman came and tried to give me a phone.
I remember that vividly.
unidentified
Give you a phone?
james mccann
She tried to give me a free phone.
She's like, you can have this because she said, you're on benefits.
Everyone on benefits gets a free phone.
It was some like policy.
She just assumed I was on benefits because I was at the Greyhound bus station.
joe rogan
And she was illegal?
james mccann
I don't know if she was illegal, but she had a strong accent and like a weird dress and a baby on her back and a sack full of phones.
joe rogan
A sack full of phones.
james mccann
She had like a sack of phones.
joe rogan
So she was somehow in charge of distributing free phones to people?
james mccann
I'll never truly know what that was about.
joe rogan
Boy, I would have investigated further.
james mccann
There was, I was scared.
I was just scared.
They were like huge African guys sitting on the ground.
unidentified
Give me a phone.
james mccann
And then after that, I sat next to a guy who was having a full psychotic episode.
I think we follow each other on Instagram now.
He's gotten rid of his Instagram.
unidentified
Really?
james mccann
But yeah, and he told me the secrets about Chris Benoit that he was a good man.
unidentified
The wrestler?
james mccann
He killed his family.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
But this guy tried to tell me only he was.
It's like burnt.
He said he only killed his family to send them to God, and you can't blame a man for that.
unidentified
Oh.
james mccann
All right.
This is only a three hour bus trip.
We're going to get through this.
We're going to be fine.
unidentified
Oh, boy.
james mccann
Oh, man.
But I did enjoy my time in that part of the world.
joe rogan
Well, you probably enjoy it now that it's over, that you survived it.
james mccann
You make a good point.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
There's some things.
james mccann
If you asked me at the time.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
There's some things that are not fun while they're happening, but are really fun once you got through it.
james mccann
I mean, I remember the people I met along the way.
I remember driving to Austin and like, it was like spring was starting.
Like, the further south we got, the more lush it became.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
It was like, fuck, I might be okay.
And then someone let me stay in their house.
I didn't have a house to stay in.
So, my podcast listeners friend let us stay in there.
unidentified
With your family?
james mccann
With my whole family.
Let us house sit for them while they were in Japan.
joe rogan
Oh, my God.
That's crazy.
james mccann
The whole time it was like, if I don't get past the mothership now, I don't think people should come here and live in their cars with their family.
But it does.
joe rogan
You know, lights a fire under your ass.
james mccann
It worked.
joe rogan
Well, that's the thing.
It's like if you're forced into action, like you had no, not just yourself, like you could go, oh, woe is me.
But when you're a father and a husband, you have children.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And people who do not have children do not understand the drive that it gives you to protect and care for those little people.
It's kind of crazy.
So if you'll find something.
james mccann
Well, I don't understand how people do it without, like, I'd meet men who are really driven and motivated.
And they have no kids, but they're like every day they're working.
I don't know what their motivation is.
Before I had kids, it was just.
What do you think I'm buying?
joe rogan
They're in a game.
They're playing a game.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
Yeah, they're just playing this game of accumulate the most stuff, be able to brag about the most stuff you have.
james mccann
I'd so much rather lie down.
I would rather not do anything if I had a choice.
joe rogan
But not really, because you love doing comedy.
james mccann
I love doing comedy, but I never, before I had kids, was trying to do comedy that people would enjoy.
Do you know what I mean?
joe rogan
I think that is also, though, because you were living in Australia and there's.
Limited options.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Can you explain the Australian system is very different than America?
It's mostly festival driven.
james mccann
It's festival driven and it's to a much greater extent.
I've thought about this.
It's like industry driven.
unidentified
Industry?
Yeah.
james mccann
We don't have.
joe rogan
Which industry?
james mccann
Like managers and agents, which is one role in Australia, but they are deciding who's succeeding and TV people are deciding who's succeeding.
Whereas in America, everybody is on the road, everybody has one or two openers, and there's a whole lineage of who brought who up in the business.
Dan Soda had Nick Mullen, Tim Dillon, and Shane Gillis open for him.
Like, those were his openers.
unidentified
Right.
james mccann
And not because they were successful or someone wanted them to thrive.
He just thought they were funny people.
unidentified
Right.
james mccann
And they got to be his openers.
And you, I don't know who you were opening for, but you have people who come up.
joe rogan
Well, I didn't really do it.
I didn't have it that way.
I do it that way, but I didn't have it that way.
I didn't really come up with anybody where I opened for anybody.
But I had a very weird path to success.
james mccann
You also, you got to go to LA and just be in.
The million, like there's a scene there.
There's a lot of people.
joe rogan
I came out to LA with a job already.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
I was on a sitcom already.
james mccann
You started in Boston, though.
joe rogan
Yes.
Started in Boston.
Look, it's very embarrassing how lucky I am.
I'm like one of the luckiest people that's ever lived.
Like, it's stumble upon success after success.
So, when I was six years into comedy, I was already on TV.
So, I was three years into comedy, I was basically barely getting paid.
I was barely a professional.
Like, I was getting some spots in bars and stuff like that.
I was making money, but I was driving limousines.
I was doing odd jobs, doing different things.
And I was also still teaching at the time.
I was still teaching Taekwondo for the first maybe six months or so when I was 21.
I think I kept teaching.
And then I eventually had to quit because I realized I could not commit to doing both things.
I don't want to half ass my students.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And I don't want to have.
So, for the first two, three years of comedy, barely, you know, I'm barely a comedian.
Just, I'm trying.
I'm trying to do it.
I'm getting some laughs.
Met a manager as an open micer.
And he brought me to New York.
And he's still my manager today.
james mccann
Wow.
joe rogan
The best.
james mccann
I didn't know that.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's total luck.
Total luck.
james mccann
You're also a super handsome guy.
I've seen you then.
joe rogan
I was boy pretty.
james mccann
You look like a fucking different person, first of all.
Not worse.
It is crazy.
But also, a lot of those comics who you started with.
Who maybe took longer, I won't say hideous, but they didn't look.
joe rogan
Well, that definitely helped me get on television.
It definitely helped me get on television.
So I did the MTV Half Hour Comedy Hour in 1993, I believe it was.
And next thing you know, I had a development deal.
Next thing you know, I was on a sitcom and living out here.
james mccann
I mean, that was fast.
But do you think it doesn't happen for people?
Do you think there's anyone in America who has a good work ethic and is really talented that it doesn't work out for in comedy?
Or does it work out in business?
joe rogan
You'd have to have a health issue.
Health issues or a really horrible relationship.
Those things could do you.
james mccann
Or, like, you could have a drug problem.
joe rogan
Yeah.
That'll do you in.
james mccann
Gamble your money away.
joe rogan
That could do you in, too.
unidentified
Yeah.
Yeah.
joe rogan
There's a bunch of things that can do you in.
james mccann
But it's crazy.
Like, the.
There are like not a lot of undiscovered geniuses in America in the same way.
Like, people will want to make money off of you if you've got it.
joe rogan
Yeah, but there's some people that are just really horrible at marketing, like Brian Holtzman, for instance.
unidentified
Yeah.
Right?
joe rogan
We had to kind of like force Brian Holtzman into the modern era.
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
Like, and he's always been a comics comic, and he's always been a guy that we would all sit in the back of the room at the store and watch.
But he was always getting these terrible spots.
And it wasn't until we brought him because he never went on the road.
unidentified
He never went on the road.
joe rogan
Brian and I started out together.
So at the store together in '94, we're both like, I think he came in '93, and I came a year later.
james mccann
And he was working for like Pan Am or something?
joe rogan
He was a dog catcher for a while.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
He was, I think he might have been a meter maid.
james mccann
Is he here at the moment?
I haven't seen him yet.
joe rogan
Yes, he's here all the time.
james mccann
Okay.
He lives out here.
joe rogan
I don't know if he goes back and forth, but he lives out here all the time.
I, uh, he's the best.
james mccann
We, I went to church with him.
I don't know if I should tell this story, but we went to church together once.
And it was really lovely.
He took me out for breakfast afterwards because he's Catholic.
And it was so funny because the priest at the end gave the announcements.
And one of the things he was like, they're doing a parish.
They're doing like, what do you call it?
Like a talent show for everybody.
And he's just announcing this to the whole, like 300 people.
And Brian goes there every week.
They go, So if anyone's got a skill, if anyone's a juggler, anyone's a comedian, come and do that for the talent show for everybody.
And he gave no impression that he would be doing it.
But I'd be like, You fucking spoon faced Japs.
And he would be terrified and upset if he had brought that.
He's the sweetest man, and I don't want to give that away if people don't know.
joe rogan
He's a gentleman.
james mccann
He's a lovely man.
joe rogan
He's a great guy in real life.
He always was.
Always was.
Like, I've known him forever.
So, he's what I would say is like an undiscovered genius because he was a guy that was just fucking killing it, but never went on the road.
He only worked the store.
I rarely saw him even at like the Laugh Factory or the improv.
I don't know if I could ever recall seeing him at those places.
james mccann
But he had to consciously make the decision not to go on the road.
joe rogan
Well, it's hard because it's not offered to you.
You know, it's like, how do you do it?
If you just do all your sets at the store, you kind of have to have someone take you with them, right?
So, what happened with me is I mostly did the road around New York and Connecticut.
So, when I moved to New York in, I guess, a 91 ish.
Yeah, so probably like 91 ish.
And so, when I moved there, the real money, like to be able to pay bills, was in the road.
It was not in New York City.
New York City did not pay bills.
Pay very well.
You can get a lot of spots, but also I was really new, so maybe I couldn't have gotten a lot of spots, but I could get a lot of spots doing gigs for like John Shuler.
He had a whole Connecticut run that you could do.
They were great gigs.
They'd pay like 300 bucks a night.
Or you could do Gonzo at a bunch in New Jersey, and those paid really well.
New York Money on the Road 00:02:33
james mccann
Did this collapse at some point?
joe rogan
No, there's still probably some sort of a network of road shows.
james mccann
Louis has a story on someone's podcast about like crashing his motorcycle and then.
Like a bubble bursting.
I don't know if he was speaking.
joe rogan
A bubble bursting?
james mccann
He was like, comedy, all of a sudden, clubs started to close.
joe rogan
Well, there's been ups and downs with that.
There was, I came in to comedy in 88, and apparently in 84 in Boston, it was even better.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like there was like a peak in Boston.
I'm like, really?
Like, because when I came in, it was amazing.
There were clubs everywhere.
Like, nah, you missed it.
So there's always been this like up and down of clubs closing and clubs.
But like New York is on the rise right now, there's a bunch of clubs that have opened up in New York.
New York's comedy right now is fucking doing great.
james mccann
I hope, yeah, I hope they can figure it out.
unidentified
What do you mean?
james mccann
Well, I was in, last time I was in LA, the spirit was so, I was never in LA for it being great, but I've heard all the stories about everyone's sports car at the back of the thing and there's this gig and that gig.
And then I was, everybody like has no sense that it's ever going to work for them.
Like, no one's even bothered to, there's like three podcasts in LA now that people are doing.
I don't want to talk it down, but like here, everybody is so hopeful in Austin.
And I can look at like Peyton made it.
Like last night, I'm looking at that green room of like all of these people have money and are touring and they came here and they got to do it.
Like, and the hope and the adventure.
And when I was in LA, everyone was just.
joe rogan
You might have picked a bad night, but it's also like the comedy store has always been.
james mccann
That seems like it's getting better.
joe rogan
Yeah, it is getting better.
Well, it's definitely getting better because Rose is running it now.
She's awesome.
But I think the comedy store has always been a top down vibe.
And if there was a bunch of like big name national acts that were really cool and fun to hang out with, then it was a great vibe.
And when they're gone, it always felt empty.
It always felt weird.
This is how it was with me in the 90s when I was there.
And I think that's how it is now.
We're all out here now.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, and it's like, and then people kind of feel abandoned.
So they feel sad.
You know, and then they get a little mad at you.
Like, oh, you think of fucking me doing it in Austin?
And so it develops a stupid rift, which is the dumbest thing ever.
We're all on the same team.
And also, you could work here too.
Like, it's so dumb.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, but the rift is a real thing.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But it's like you have to be around a bunch of people that are having a good time to have a good time.
You can't be the only person having a good time.
james mccann
And the rift can be good.
The rift can motivate people to.
Have you seen Le Maire's Twitter?
Empty Comedy Store Vibes 00:03:23
joe rogan
No, what's he doing?
james mccann
He's just going hard on New York people and saying, fuck all of them, and Austin's number one.
He's doing the same thing they were doing to him.
unidentified
That's so silly.
joe rogan
New York is fucking crazy.
james mccann
I think he gets very drunk.
The comedy is swinging.
joe rogan
There's so many great comics Norman and Soder and fucking Andrew Schultz.
David Tell's the best live.
james mccann
I don't know anyone who's great comedians in New York.
I don't see how you could have kids.
joe rogan
Gaffigan raised all his kids there.
And he's like, yeah, and he's a super clean Catholic guy.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
I don't know how he's got some money.
joe rogan
First of all, he's got some money.
james mccann
Money has got to help.
joe rogan
Send them to a nice place to go to school where they're not going to get eaten.
james mccann
I think the trans thing is done in the schools.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's dropped off significantly.
james mccann
I had really, because we were homeschooling, and I was just aware, because my dad's a teacher, and he would say, I don't want to get him in trouble, but he would report that the numbers were developing.
And I think as a social phenomenon, it seems to have like.
Now, everyone just says they have an anxiety disorder.
joe rogan
Well, you know when it dropped off, like noticeably?
unidentified
When?
joe rogan
When Elon bought Twitter.
james mccann
We just stopped pumping the content to say it's good.
joe rogan
All of a sudden, you could say whatever you wanted.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And so you could make fun of it now.
And then people realize, oh, this is a completely falsely propped up narrative.
unidentified
What's up?
Do you smoke cigars?
james mccann
I quit all nicotine.
unidentified
You have.
Do you have alcohol?
james mccann
I have a drink.
joe rogan
I can get you some alcohol.
unidentified
All right.
james mccann
If I could have a whiskey.
I quit all nicotine.
joe rogan
What happened?
james mccann
I was having heart palpitations.
I was doing it a lot.
I had a problem.
I cannot do a little bit.
I see, you'll just, like, you'll be backstage.
You'll have one cigarette and you're fine.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
I can't.
joe rogan
And I never smoke outside of right before a show.
james mccann
I don't, I mean, I, but I'm.
All power to you.
I can't do that.
joe rogan
I know how to shut things off and I also regulate.
Like, I realize, like, when I have an issue, like the nicotine pouches, I can just stop them.
I've gone on vacation and just not take them and I'm fine.
I think, but I think it's my biology.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
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james mccann
I was quitting going back when I went back to Australia and I came off nicotine at the same time.
I think that was the closest to serious, unpleasant.
Wolves and Predators in Woods 00:13:44
unidentified
Really?
james mccann
I don't think I ever got through to abusive, but man, there was a lot of shouting at the family.
What the fuck are you doing?
Put it down!
I was not a happy person.
joe rogan
How long did it last?
james mccann
It was for a month.
I was real bad.
Wow, real bad.
joe rogan
That's crazy for me.
Um, I don't know what it is, man.
I just could just put it alone, leave it alone, and I'm fine.
And I monitored myself like I went on vacation for like eight days with the family.
unidentified
Nice.
joe rogan
I said, All right, no nicotine pouches.
Let's see what happens.
unidentified
You were fine.
joe rogan
See if I go crazy.
Yeah, I was waiting.
Nothing, nothing hip.
Nothing.
Was it you with the pouches?
Was the pouches?
james mccann
I loved the pouches, and also, I mean, I got on the pouches to get.
Off the cigarettes, and then I had to go on the cigarettes to get off the pouches.
Then I was having cigarettes and pouches and the gun, and my heart would start to go, and my mood would like go way up and way down.
unidentified
Wow.
james mccann
But it was great.
I got a lot done.
joe rogan
See, I get addicted to things, like doing things, like real bad.
I used to get addicted to archery, sure, but the thing about archery is you can only do it so much.
Archery is good because it's, you know, my bow is 80 pounds to pull back.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And so, if I'm pulling it back, and I have another one that's 90.
And so, when I'm pulling it back, 80 pounds, you can only do that so many times.
You know, I could do that maybe 100 times in a day, and my fucking shoulder's blown out.
james mccann
If you're hunting, though, I mean, you're not shooting very often, but you wouldn't be able to get so tired that if you got in a dangerous situation, you'd be able to shoot.
joe rogan
No, no, no, no.
When you're hunting, first of all, you're jacked up with adrenaline.
Like you could pull a branch off a fucking tree.
You're so jacked up with adrenaline, you're just trying to stay calm.
Like when you're about to pull your bow, the bow pulls back effortlessly.
It's like, zh.
It's like you don't even notice that it's, it pulls back so easy.
You're so ramped up.
You're not even thinking.
james mccann
How often are you doing that?
joe rogan
Bow hunting?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Seriously, only a couple times a year.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
Because I'm elk hunting, you know.
And if I get an elk.
unidentified
Seasonal?
joe rogan
Yes.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
It's September.
September and October.
Those are the times.
But in Texas, we hunt pigs sometimes.
We have a lease out here.
So we'll go and hunt with a few of my friends from Archery Country.
Shout out to Tyler.
And my friend Evan from Black Rifle Coffee.
We'll go out there.
unidentified
Is it wild pigs?
joe rogan
Oh, they're everywhere.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
They're infested with wild pigs, they are all over Texas.
james mccann
Oh, thank you.
joe rogan
There's millions of them.
Like, literally millions of them.
Like, one time they opened up a highway.
Like, they built this new highway.
And the day it opened up, they had, like, this fucking ridiculous amount of accidents because people were hitting wild pigs.
Because there were so many wild pigs out there that they're just crashing into them on the road with this new highway.
unidentified
Well, yeah, exactly.
joe rogan
Because the pigs had never seen cars before on this spot because they hadn't finished the road yet.
And then all of a sudden, there's cars everywhere and these wild pigs are just getting fucking.
james mccann
What did they.
Because in Australia, when they have a kangaroo problem and a similar thing, cheers, God bless, thank you.
God bless.
They gatling gun them from the sky.
Have you seen that?
joe rogan
They do that here.
They do that here out of helicopters.
You could do it if you want while you're in town.
I'll set it up.
james mccann
You know, I would do it this way.
I would feel guilty.
Yeah, that would seem not a sporting way to start hunting, would be to machine gun.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Because it's a necessity hunting, right?
I want to eat what I kill.
If I kill something, I want to eat it.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And the thing about these wild pigs is they're gunning down 20, 30, 40 of them in a day.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
They're doing them out of helicopters with machine guns.
There's a bunch of companies that do it.
There's a video of Ted Nugent and this guy named Pigman.
Pigman is like a famous bow hunter that lives in Texas.
And it's called Apocalypse Now.
And they're in a helicopter.
Ted Nugent and Pigman in a helicopter.
And they gunned down like 240 pigs in a half hour podcast.
Not podcast.
unidentified
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Hunting show.
james mccann
That would be a great podcast.
unidentified
He's called Pigman?
joe rogan
Yeah.
james mccann
He's a pig killing person.
unidentified
His name's Brian.
joe rogan
His name's Brian.
unidentified
Sure.
joe rogan
It's Pigman.
james mccann
Brian the Pigman.
joe rogan
He just kills a lot of wild pigs.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But it's a necessity out here.
Look at this.
But you have to understand how many pigs they have out here and the kind of damage.
That's Pig Man.
And the kind of damage that these pigs do to agriculture.
You know, they go through fences and they fuck up livestock, gets out.
And there's a lot of shit with these pigs.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Oh, it's crazy.
james mccann
Is this the argument for bringing wolves back in?
joe rogan
No, do not bring wolves.
james mccann
No, I'm against it.
But I don't understand.
What is the most pro?
Is there one sensible argument for bringing back in apex predators to.
joe rogan
Well, there's arguments for it.
You could make an argument for it.
The problem is you do not understand, no one understands what the ultimate result is going to be of introducing predators.
There is a very strong reason why they eradicated wolves from the West Coast and from the United States because they fucking kill everything.
They're super smart apex predators.
They work in packs unlike any other animal, they're very different.
And they kill everything, and you can't do shit about them, and they kill people.
james mccann
Also, like in the UK, they got rid of them hundreds of years ago.
This was like they celebrated it.
joe rogan
They got rid of them in America, too.
james mccann
They got rid of them in America, too.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, and now these fucking greenies, these softies that really don't understand nature, want to bring them back.
So, there's a good argument in some ways that having some predators would help.
But the predators were slowly moving their way back into these areas anyway.
So, they never eradicated them from Canada.
So they would come down from Canada and make their way into Minnesota, make their way into Iowa, make their way into, not Iowa, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana.
They had like a small amount of wolves were kind of making their way in.
Then they reintroduced a bunch of them into Montana in the 1990s, into Yellowstone.
That changed everything.
That changed everything.
It dropped the elk population down to like 40% of what it used to be, which many people argue is actually a good thing because there was no Predators, in terms of like, there's mountain lions, but mountain lions don't kill that many elk.
They'll kill one like a week.
james mccann
Like, families go to Yellowstone.
joe rogan
Yeah.
james mccann
So now there's just wolves.
joe rogan
Yeah, but the wolves aren't out fucking with the people at Yellowstone.
They really are just concentrating on the animals and they've like really knocked down the elk population substantially.
But now they have an open hunting season on wolves in Montana because the numbers got a lot higher than they should be.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
So now, like, I know guys who hunt wolves.
And they go on wolf.
It's very difficult.
james mccann
I was going to say, it sounds more dangerous and more pleasant than hunting elk.
joe rogan
Well, it is dangerous in that it is a predator.
And if you do get surrounded by them, they decide to eat you and you're out of bullets, you could be fucked.
But for the most part, they're very difficult to hunt.
They're very difficult to find.
They're also very difficult to get in range.
They're fucking clever.
They're clever.
And once they realize they're being hunted and once they realize that people are a problem, they fucking steer way clearer.
james mccann
What's the ideological reason for wanting them back?
Just that they.
It's good to be in a country.
joe rogan
I love nature.
unidentified
I love nature.
james mccann
Yeah, but focus on the bees, you know?
joe rogan
Well, red flowers.
There's people that don't like hunting, and for people that don't like hunting, they want nature to balance itself out.
So the people that don't like the idea of humans killing and eating animals, they don't like them going out into the wild and killing wild animals, so they want something else to kill those wild animals.
So then they bring in mountain lions, or then they bring in wolves, and then they think that nature is going to sort itself out.
unidentified
It's a dumb argument.
james mccann
I don't understand why it has to do it.
Why is it okay for them to.
This is the vegetarian argument that I never understand: is that death occurs in nature.
Animals are eating other animals.
unidentified
Right.
james mccann
So if it's wrong to kill and eat animals, should we intervene?
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Should we kill all the mountain lions to keep them from killing other animals?
james mccann
Vegan fox was one of my favorite bits that you ever did.
joe rogan
Oh, vegan cat.
james mccann
No, is it not fox?
unidentified
Do you know what I'm talking about?
joe rogan
No, it's about.
james mccann
And it's very sick.
joe rogan
But it literally is a true story.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like this lady was saying mean things to me on.
Twitter or Instagram, and I saw one of the things on her page.
I went to her page, it said hashtag vegan cat, and I was like, no.
And so then I clicked on it, and it's all cats that look like they've been stuck in a house with a gas leak.
james mccann
Wait, maybe that got me started searching vegan animals because vegan fox, I definitely read a lot about after that.
joe rogan
Yeah, there's people that have vegan dogs, they feed their dogs, but you're basically, you can kind of get away with it a little bit with a dog, but cats are what's called obligate predators.
They only eat meat.
james mccann
They're obligated to prey?
joe rogan
Yeah, they only eat meat.
That's all they eat.
That's it.
They're just predators.
They're full on murderous machines.
Like house cats are some of the most murderous creatures on earth.
They kill billions of mammals.
Yeah, as soon as you die.
james mccann
As soon as you die.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
Because dogs will give you an afternoon.
Not weeks?
I thought dogs give you just a little head start.
joe rogan
It depends on how starving they are.
You know, if they're starving to death, their instincts kick in and they'll eat you.
But cats just start eating you.
They're like, oh, look, eyeballs.
unidentified
Hmm.
james mccann
We're yet to get an animal.
You have dogs.
You have one dog, two dogs.
joe rogan
Two dogs.
james mccann
And you don't run the Instagram pages for these animals?
Someone's running the dogs on the Instagram page.
Really?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So we got a little guy named Charlie.
He is a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel.
james mccann
Yeah.
joe rogan
This is the furthest animal away from wolf that is possible because they all came from wolves.
But he's the furthest from wolf.
He's this big.
He's adorable.
james mccann
You feel like wearing the big wig and the stockings and holding him in your.
I always wanted to be King Charles.
joe rogan
I just give him kisses.
He's a sweetie, though.
unidentified
It's not yours, but.
joe rogan
That's what they look like.
unidentified
Yeah.
That's what they look like.
joe rogan
I mean, come on, look at that face.
They're just so sweet.
They're so happy to be around you, and they're just so loving.
And they, like, he makes sounds like a person, like he was doing something, like he was licking all this water that was coming off of a drain.
And I go, hey, stop doing that.
And I picked it up, and he went, ah.
james mccann
He makes you a heart liking that dog.
joe rogan
Oh, I love that.
james mccann
But they don't make me feel sad.
They're a little dog who look interesting.
joe rogan
Oh, that's him.
unidentified
That's Charlie.
james mccann
That's him?
joe rogan
Yeah, that's Charlie.
james mccann
Pugs make me very sad.
I think about pugs a lot.
And they upset me.
And the long dogs, like the sausage dogs with the back problems.
Anything that looks like it, it's ready to die.
joe rogan
No, no, I know what you mean.
I know what you mean.
james mccann
Like a golden retriever is great.
joe rogan
Yeah, I'll have one of those too.
james mccann
Yeah, it's my favorite.
joe rogan
Those two dogs are great.
This is not like a pug.
They're very active.
They're really, they're very.
james mccann
It's like a water dog.
joe rogan
It's a fucking dog that's just like a house dog.
They're just like a little love machine, just a little pet.
He's a sweet, sweet little guy.
Like he's the best.
He's so nice.
It was like so, and he just relentlessly tortures my dog, Marshall.
james mccann
The big dog?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Who's the most tolerant dog on earth.
He just lays there, and the puppy's like, ah, like biting him and biting his ear.
He's a year old.
james mccann
Okay.
joe rogan
So we've had him for whatever, eight months, I guess.
Like how many months they give him to you?
Three months old, something like that.
How old are puppies when you get them?
jamie vernon
Yeah, they should be, I think, eight weeks old, I think, man.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So we probably had him for 10 months.
He's fucking adorable.
james mccann
You cannot travel with a dog to Australia.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
You have to get him all kinds of shots.
james mccann
Shouldn't get tried.
joe rogan
Yeah, he got in big trouble for that, right?
james mccann
I think that was the beginning of the end of that marriage.
joe rogan
I think it was from the moment he said, let's get married.
james mccann
They were happy until that dog problem.
But the guy who.
There was a politician who stopped Johnny Depp.
He came out and said, we're going to destroy his dogs.
And then everyone made fun of him in America.
But that guy is now doing.
He's like big in the emergent populist right in Australia over the last six months.
joe rogan
He wanted to kill Johnny Depp's dogs?
james mccann
Yeah, he's a great speaker.
He was like, I don't care if you are People Magazine's sexiest man of the year.
Get your dogs out.
unidentified
Why?
What's the big deal?
james mccann
We have no rabies.
We're very precious about the border.
That's all we've got.
His name is Barnaby Joyce.
He is sick.
joe rogan
Demand that dogs leave the country within 48 to 50 hours or be put down, citing strict quarantine laws designed to protect diseases like rabies.
But here's the thing just test them.
How much does it cost to test a dog for rabies?
It's probably pretty quick.
james mccann
Barnaby Joyce drunk.
So this is not long after that.
An issue with the pistol and boo.
Yeah, go Barnaby Joyce drunk.
They caught him on the streets of our lake, of Canberra, which is where the capital is.
And he was just passed out in the street.
He's like, there he is down the bottom.
joe rogan
The bottom one.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
The bottom one.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
But he's just lying on the street.
When was it?
It wasn't that long ago.
joe rogan
Joyce.
james mccann
That man was in the government.
joe rogan
Good.
What's wrong?
It's a safe place to live.
I was walking back to my accommodations after Parliament rose at 10 p.m.
Oh, that's all he was doing.
Just walking back to his accommodations.
james mccann
I do like him a lot.
joe rogan
Look, he's just taking a nap.
He's just chilling.
james mccann
We have a strong chill.
unidentified
It's going to be a long walk.
joe rogan
Yeah, man.
Give the guy a break.
unidentified
It's kicking.
james mccann
We're finally, we were the last country to have like a right wing populist thing happen.
You guys had the Trump, and then England is having it happen with, like, in a big way.
It's really starting to swing there.
joe rogan
So it's swinging right now.
james mccann
It's for the first time.
Walking Back After Parliament 00:10:22
james mccann
It's starting up, yeah.
joe rogan
And what's causing that?
james mccann
Terrorist attack was not good.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
And then also running out of petrol really has upset people.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
We don't have, we don't make our own gas.
We had two refineries, one of them accidentally blew up.
A week ago.
joe rogan
Do you think it accidentally blew up?
james mccann
I have no comment to make on that.
joe rogan
What do you think, though?
james mccann
No, I think probably someone seems like real bad luck.
joe rogan
Seems like it.
james mccann
I mean, they would have been doing it at like max capacity.
Maybe they did it past when it was safe, but it's not.
I thought I wasn't going to make it out of the country because you're out of gas.
Flights started to get cancelled.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
So I made it.
We'll see if I can get back.
And if not, well, I'll just stay in Austin for another couple of months and get back.
I'm sorry, honey.
joe rogan
Just we've got a lot of spots.
james mccann
There's no choice.
I'm not going to get out of the country.
unidentified
I know you work here.
james mccann
It is so nice getting to do it.
It is so nice having a club.
It's like there's four cities in the world where you can do it.
I think about this a lot.
There's nowhere, like in America, there's three, and that'd be London.
That's it.
unidentified
That's it.
joe rogan
That you can what?
james mccann
That there's like multiple rooms with lineup shows every night of the week.
unidentified
Right.
james mccann
So people can just go and run 10, 15 minutes.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
And like at a good room with people who are.
joe rogan
And get paid.
james mccann
And get paid.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
I mean, you need all of those factors to be able to do it.
joe rogan
And you also need a fucking mate of how.
You need a mate of how.
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
This is one of the things that we were talking about last night in the green room.
Like, You know, me and Ari, Ari Schfer's in town.
And we were saying you can't be like the best comic in the world and just live in a small town in, you know, Cincinnati.
It's like it doesn't exist.
By yourself, it doesn't exist.
Comedy doesn't exist from a town.
james mccann
In a little town in Arizona, and the pressure seems to have driven that comedy club owner right over the edge.
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
Stanhope's boy?
That's amazing.
joe rogan
But that guy was crazy already, right?
james mccann
I didn't know a thing about it.
I just saw him give the speech.
joe rogan
Well, if he's hanging with Stanhope.
You know, Stanhope tends to collect some people that are on the fringe.
james mccann
I'm not blaming Doug Stanhope.
joe rogan
But that's a different scene, right?
Like, Stanhope, you know, was just kind of being out there by himself, and it didn't even have a comedy club for the longest time while he lived there.
It wasn't like there was a whole comedy scene there in Bisbee.
james mccann
Is it like 20,000 people?
joe rogan
It's very small.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
He knows everybody, right?
But the Austin thing was very different.
Like, we were stuck here.
There was not a lot of options.
We could have gone to Houston, could have gone to Dallas, maybe Nashville, maybe Florida.
There was no place else so that we would.
Allowed to do comedy.
james mccann
Nashville is, would be the next one.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
Literally trying.
joe rogan
Nashville's got Zanies, which is awesome.
That's a great club.
james mccann
They have big, they got Theo there.
They've got Nate there.
joe rogan
Nate and Theo both live there.
But I don't know how many sets they're doing in town.
You know, Nate is doing fucking stadiums.
He's doing these giant places all over the world.
And Theo is killing it.
And he's got one of the best podcasts in the world.
james mccann
But there are definitely, there are like Nashville comics who are coming out, who I see around the place who are doing really well.
unidentified
Sure.
joe rogan
I'm sure there's a smaller scene.
But in terms of like a lot of work, yeah.
Austin's the spot right now because there's seven clubs on our street.
unidentified
Hold on.
joe rogan
That's nuts.
Within a block radius, you've got Creek in the Cave, which is over on 7th.
You've got Sunset, which is right next to us.
You've got Black Rabbit.
james mccann
I was going to say Black Rabbit.
joe rogan
You've got the Velveeta room.
unidentified
Yes.
james mccann
I'm going to count Shakespeare's next door.
unidentified
Yeah.
I'll allow that.
joe rogan
They do comedy.
james mccann
I do love the Velveeta room.
joe rogan
That place has been around forever.
james mccann
It's been around forever.
And there's the gay cabaret next door.
I don't think it's expressly gay.
I just call it a gay cabaret.
joe rogan
You like going in there?
james mccann
I went there one evening.
I was having a full mental breakdown.
I don't know why.
Just a classic, you know.
joe rogan
Out of nowhere?
james mccann
You know, the kids, it's a lot of pressure.
Maybe the act wasn't working.
Maybe I've been on the road.
I don't know.
And I was down and I was depressed.
And I wandered into them doing their Esther's Follies show.
I just sat up the back and I had a piña colada.
And they were all like, there was a magician.
It was just a very camp magician.
And then they're singing like campy show tunes about the Supreme Court or something.
Like they're still doing SL style sketches.
And it was like.
You know, it was dumb and it was hokey, but it made me so happy.
unidentified
Oh, that's nice.
james mccann
Just to like have people having a good time, razzle dazzle, smiling.
There was no bitterness, happiness.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
And it made me want to fix my act so that I wasn't, you know, like sometimes I feel like I get up there and I'm just like screaming and I look unpleasant.
And these people are like, you owe people a show.
unidentified
Yes.
You know?
joe rogan
I don't think you look unpleasant.
You're just very self conscious.
james mccann
No, I sometimes.
I did the Creek in the Cave last night and I did a lot of screaming into the abyss.
unidentified
I was like, yeah.
joe rogan
Another great club.
Fucking great, great spot.
Creek in the Cave is a great club.
It's a fun place.
When it's packed, it's rocking.
And, you know, there's a lot of good comedy coming out of that.
I mean, that's where Shane filmed his specials.
james mccann
New York is on the up again.
New York is finally.
joe rogan
Everybody that I talk to, all my friends from New York, I'll say that there's a lot of clubs opening.
There's a lot going on.
It's hopping.
Didn't they just open up an improv in Brooklyn?
Did they open up an improv in Brooklyn?
james mccann
I know this.
Top secret comedy has just, like a London club has just moved there.
unidentified
Interesting.
james mccann
I don't know how it's going, but they're doing like a free model.
joe rogan
They were trying to do a UCB in Austin.
I don't know if that's still happening.
The problem with UCB is UCB in LA didn't pay at all.
james mccann
Is this improv?
unidentified
No.
james mccann
Upright Citizen Brigade?
joe rogan
They have some improv, but they do stand up shows.
james mccann
I thought that was in Second City.
I didn't know.
joe rogan
They do stand up shows.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
Yeah, but they don't pay you.
james mccann
They don't pay?
joe rogan
Which is crazy.
james mccann
There was a history of that at the store.
unidentified
Sure.
joe rogan
There was like this big.
Protest.
unidentified
What does it say?
joe rogan
Improv Brooklyn.
unidentified
There you go.
james mccann
That's a strong zoom.
joe rogan
Yeah, I think Joey said he was going there.
It's a completely new place.
james mccann
All right.
I don't know if this is completely correct.
joe rogan
But this is what I'm saying.
It's like it's popping.
Somebody's coming back.
james mccann
Some improvs are black and some are not.
unidentified
What?
james mccann
Like some improvs around the country are like just black.
If I look at the lineups.
joe rogan
What are you saying here?
james mccann
I'm not saying here.
joe rogan
But like you said, I'm a racist foreigner.
james mccann
In Cleveland, the improv is just a black club.
joe rogan
I've done the improv in Cleveland, I think.
james mccann
It's a black club.
unidentified
Really?
james mccann
No negativity.
unidentified
I like.
james mccann
I like playing black clubs.
joe rogan
So it's Cleveland, that's one, it's close to Kentucky, right?
james mccann
Am I getting this right?
Maybe it's Pittsburgh.
joe rogan
No, Pittsburgh's not, I've been in that place.
james mccann
No, I've done that one as well.
I'm telling you, Pittsburgh's a great city up there as well.
I'm telling, well, Hilarities was the non racially.
joe rogan
Go back to that website real quick.
Look at all the different ones.
unidentified
Wow.
jamie vernon
There's not one in Cleveland.
joe rogan
There's a ton of them.
james mccann
It's one of those fake clips, maybe it shut down.
joe rogan
So the other, there's a club in Cleveland.
There is a club in Cleveland that I went to way back in the day.
But it's really, you land in Kentucky.
And then you drive to Cleveland.
unidentified
What?
joe rogan
Yeah.
unidentified
No, Cincinnati.
joe rogan
Oh, is it Cincinnati?
james mccann
Yeah, that makes more sense.
joe rogan
Okay, that's it.
You're right.
james mccann
You need to drive out.
Ohio is more built up than people give credit before.
Three huge cities.
They got that chili that everybody loves.
unidentified
Columbus is great.
Columbus is great.
james mccann
Cincinnati has the most beautiful skyline.
joe rogan
You ever do the funny bone?
Columbus?
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
Fucking great club.
james mccann
The balcony?
unidentified
Oh.
james mccann
It was very nice.
joe rogan
Does it have a balcony?
james mccann
I'm pretty sure.
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
Columbus funny one?
james mccann
I think it is, right?
jamie vernon
This has definitely changed it since you've been there last.
joe rogan
Is it a new one?
jamie vernon
No, they just renovated the whole room.
unidentified
Oh, wow.
james mccann
I love having the balcony.
joe rogan
They must have had to add seats.
It was killing it.
james mccann
Everywhere that has a balcony is my favorite.
joe rogan
Once you have a place that's a club that gets good acts in every weekend, Cleveland Improv, okay, hold on.
unidentified
Shut the fuck up.
What's that?
james mccann
They'd love to go and see Eddie Griffin at the Cleveland Improv?
Come on.
jamie vernon
Maybe it closed.
joe rogan
This is 2020?
Oh, it's six years ago.
unidentified
I don't know.
jamie vernon
It's like where I typed in Cleveland Improv.
unidentified
So who's that?
james mccann
Lou Anel's there?
And Tony Baker was there?
jamie vernon
That's a bad bonus what comes up.
james mccann
I will not be besmirched for making a very genuine observation about how black the Cleveland improv was.
unidentified
That's hilarious.
james mccann
Because I tried to get on.
I was trying to do black rooms when I got to open for Finesse Mitchell.
That was the first black room I got to play.
unidentified
Nice.
james mccann
I've slowed down.
There's not heaps of black rooms in Austin.
I should go over to Houston sometimes.
joe rogan
Yeah, where are the black rooms in Austin?
james mccann
I think the mothership.
unidentified
Probably.
james mccann
I think some of the lineups at the ship.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
I still think chocolate sundaes could work at the mothership.
I can't run it.
That would be fun.
joe rogan
I feel like you should just have shows.
I think themes are retarded.
They tried to do an Italian theme at the comedy store for a while.
Like Night of a Thousand Guidos, I think they called it.
And I did it, and I was like, what am I doing?
I'm on this show with all these other Italians just because they're Italian.
james mccann
There is something different about a black audience.
unidentified
Yeah, sure.
It is.
Yeah, yeah.
james mccann
That's a different skill set, I found.
joe rogan
It's a different skill set, and they won't tolerate nonsense.
They won't tolerate all this, like, what else?
unidentified
What else?
joe rogan
No, They're not here for that.
Which I think is good.
james mccann
You can't even make fun of gay.
You can't mention gay stuff at all.
unidentified
Really?
james mccann
Oh, man.
I had a trans bit.
Just people were not happy to hear, oh, why are you talking about that?
Why are you bringing that up?
We're out here to have a nice night.
It was like on a dime, it turned.
unidentified
Really?
Yeah.
james mccann
And then people told me afterwards, they don't want to hear that word from you.
joe rogan
Really?
Interesting.
james mccann
It was fun.
I felt very alive when it was going well.
And also, black people giving you compliments.
Just an Aussie boy coming off stage and having a black guy go, you've got to go to stage presence.
It's like, oh, fuck.
Thank you so much.
joe rogan
That's awesome.
james mccann
I, um, Yeah, black people are.
That was very eye opening when I came to America.
joe rogan
You don't have a lot of that in Australia.
james mccann
We have Africans and we have Aboriginal people, but we have no.
If you wear a cool coat in Australia, no one will tell you about it.
There will be no one to say.
joe rogan
Yeah, there's a very big difference between African Americans and black people worldwide.
African Americans are responsible for so much of the culture, music, comedy.
There's so much of an impact that African Americans have had on the world.
Think about just.
Black Compliments in America 00:15:04
joe rogan
Just hip hop music.
unidentified
Yeah.
Right?
joe rogan
So hip hop music doesn't even exist until I was in middle school.
james mccann
Like late 70s?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So I was in middle school.
I went to high school in 81.
And when was Sugar Hill Gang's hip hop, the hibbity hip hop?
What was that song called?
Rapper's Delight.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So that song came out when I was, I think I was 13.
I think I was 13.
I think I was in middle.
jamie vernon
1979 is when it.
Yeah.
unidentified
Okay.
Yeah.
jamie vernon
They formed.
joe rogan
That makes sense.
So when I was in Boston, when we first moved to Boston, my family didn't have much money.
We lived in a place called Jamaica Plain.
And it's since been kind of gentrified, but back then it was not.
It was the first time I'd ever been around scary kids.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like violent, delinquent kids who had all had sex.
I hadn't had sex.
All these kids, they're like, you don't even know where a pussy is, do you?
I'm like, it's down there.
Like, you probably think you go right into it, right?
You got to go up.
I'm like, okay.
I don't fucking know.
I never even kissed a girl.
I was like, what the fuck are you guys talking about?
But they were like, Lighting fires, doing crazy shit.
Like they were dumb delinquents, stealing things, breaking and entering.
Yeah.
And so I went to this high school or middle school, rather.
And this middle school was in a poor neighborhood.
And I remember there was a kid that was in my class.
unidentified
I was 13.
joe rogan
He was 17 years old and he kept failing.
He kept failing and coming back.
He would come back for like a couple weeks or two and then he would quit.
And I remember seeing him at the beginning of the school year and going, I can't believe he's 17 and he's in class with me.
This is nuts.
And then I was filled with like this sense of dread for him.
For his future.
Like, this fucking guy's never gonna graduate middle school.
So he's never gonna go to high school.
He's fucking 17.
Like, will they even allow you to go to high school if you're 21?
Like, what year do they say, you can't come here anymore?
You failed nine years in a row?
At some point, it was that kind of kid.
unidentified
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
It was that kind of kid.
And then there were like kids making out in class.
I remember this Puerto Rican girl, she asked a question to the teacher.
She said, if I'm making out with a guy and he's breathing into my mouth and I'm breathing into his, Can we stay alive like that?
unidentified
Can you?
No, no, no.
joe rogan
It's carbon dioxide.
I never forgot that question.
unidentified
Can we eat the fresh eyes like that?
joe rogan
It was the craziest question.
She was like, Can we breathe each other's air and not open our mouths?
And I was like, What are you doing, you fucking dirty freak?
So a lot of girls dropped out while I was there because they got pregnant.
unidentified
Sure.
joe rogan
It was dangerous.
james mccann
Where were you before then, though?
Were you in a more middle class place before then?
joe rogan
Yeah, I was in Florida.
I was in Gainesville, Florida, which was like.
Way safer.
It was pretty cool.
james mccann
You may have moved around more than anyone I know.
joe rogan
I moved around a lot.
So I lived in New Jersey until I was seven, and then lived in San Francisco from seven to 11, and then lived in Florida from 11 to 13, and then Boston from 13 to 24.
unidentified
Do you.
james mccann
I mean, because you're now.
Your kids are growing up in.
They were in LA and then they're here.
Do you think.
I worry about my kids because I don't think they've ever been in the same house for more than.
One year.
Like, I have a seven year old daughter.
She's been in seven houses now.
Because we've had to move a lot.
And I wonder what impact that is making.
joe rogan
Well, as long as they're young, I honestly think it has a positive effect.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
This is my take on what it did for me.
I was forced to form my own opinions instead of adopting the opinions of a group of people that were around me because I'd never had a consistent group of people that were around me.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I met a bunch of new people everywhere I went, and I had new friends everywhere I went.
And completely new environments everywhere I went.
So I went from San Francisco in the 1970s right into Florida.
And Florida was so backwards in terms of their mentality in comparison to San Francisco.
San Francisco, we lived in Hippieville.
It was all like anti war people.
And it's San Francisco in the 1970s.
And so then I moved to Florida.
And it was like, I had this friend, his name was Candy.
His last name was Candido.
Everybody called him Candy.
And his dad was like this really angry Cuban guy.
And I remember him slamming a newspaper on the table, and he was like, These fags want to marry.
This is crazy.
Like, they're going to let faggots marry each other.
And I remember thinking, What do you care?
Because I lived in San Francisco.
We're surrounded by gay people.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Our neighbors were gay.
My aunt used to smoke pot with them, and they'd all get naked and play bongo drums.
Because, like, she felt comfortable being naked around these guys who had no interest in it.
james mccann
They should have ran it in now.
I would say, I haven't now seen San Francisco.
unidentified
A little bit.
joe rogan
But that's not, it's not the gays that caused San Francisco to go down the way it is, it's this crazy progressive.
Politics will allow people to camp on the streets.
james mccann
I just went to a diner and I saw a man.
He was wearing assless chaps and sitting on that.
That upset me.
joe rogan
Apparently, if you're gay, it would be a good spot.
james mccann
The public nudity is you have to cover the urethra.
unidentified
Oh.
james mccann
But if you cover the urethra, everything else is fine.
joe rogan
Oh, so you just like put a piece of table over the whole thing?
james mccann
Googly eye over the Jap eye.
unidentified
Nice.
james mccann
Maybe you can't call it that.
unidentified
You can.
joe rogan
You just did.
unidentified
Okay.
james mccann
No, but that's so that that would help you become more because you have like a weirdly independent mentality.
joe rogan
That's why.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So that I think going to a bunch of different places and seeing that, oh, people think completely differently over here than they think over here.
This is weird.
You know, I remember when I lived in Florida, I had to ask my mother what the N word meant because I heard it at school and she got upset with me.
She goes, You know what it means.
I go, I don't.
I don't know what it means.
And she's like, It's a bad word for black people.
unidentified
I was like, Whoa, really?
joe rogan
Like it made no sense to me because the formative years I think were really important.
And I think seven to 11 in San Francisco was really important for me because, in a way, at least for me, it was very much a utopian city.
It was like very open minded, it was very peaceful.
There was very little crime, like real crime.
james mccann
It was the most beautiful place.
joe rogan
It was gorgeous.
It was gorgeous.
I'd go fishing.
I had this guy, there was like this community center and this.
Guy named Cliff would take us fishing.
It was really cool.
Like, there was a lot of good things about San Francisco back then.
And there was a lot of artists, and it was a lot of like, it was a cool vibe.
You know, it was a very open minded vibe that was a lot of it was centered around the anti war movement and peace.
You know, there was a lot, it was like, it was a different kind of, and they were sort of just like, just getting over the psychedelic wave of the 1960s, right?
So, this is like, they're still in that mode.
james mccann
But it was still like an artist driven.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
A lot of open pot smoking.
It was a lot of like, just hippies.
But in the best way, it wasn't camping on the streets.
There was no fentanyl back then.
There was no homelessness.
Like, homelessness was super, super rare.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, in the 1970s, like when I was a kid, I never saw people camped out in the street.
You never saw any of that.
You occasionally saw a bum.
And it was usually some poor fuck who's.
james mccann
It was like a drunk guy, right?
joe rogan
He lost his way.
james mccann
Listen, if you look at dirty hairy.
Or on the waterfront, whenever there is a depiction of, like, whenever they're doing vagrants in the 50s and 60s, it's like a drunk guy stumbling around.
Like in Rambo, he just wants a sandwich and they chase him out of town.
unidentified
Right.
james mccann
And then, you know, it's trouble.
But now there's like, they're everywhere.
It's like kung fu skeletons moving around the place, like full of drugs.
Like, what is the end point of that?
No one's running on that.
I remember Trump talked about a little bit the need to have asylums again because they closed the asylums.
unidentified
Yes.
james mccann
I mean, there are more therapists now than there ever were before, but they're helping like corporate people.
They're not helping schizophrenics without a home.
Like at some point.
You saw Trump bring the army in to places like Portland or the National Guard to clear it out.
And I think people were quietly kind of pleased that that was happening.
There was people pushed back.
joe rogan
Is that why they cleared it out?
It was a homeless situation?
james mccann
I think it was the homelessness.
joe rogan
I thought it was protests.
james mccann
No, I think that was.
And Washington as well.
I think they came in to clear out homeless people.
joe rogan
It was crime as well.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like Washington was crazy with crime.
james mccann
And they were all kind of happy about it.
joe rogan
Well, the mayor of D.C. was happy that Trump brought in the National Guard.
james mccann
But this is, it's not a nice.
You can't lose the downtowns across America.
joe rogan
You know how bad LA's gotten, right?
unidentified
Yeah.
LA?
Yes, I do.
joe rogan
Do you know how big Skid Row is?
Take a guess.
james mccann
Wait a minute, how many people?
joe rogan
How many blocks?
james mccann
I have no idea.
joe rogan
Take a guess.
unidentified
Two.
joe rogan
50.
james mccann
Well, that's too many blocks.
unidentified
Five zero.
james mccann
That's not a ride anymore.
joe rogan
Five zero, just completely claimed by homeless zombies.
james mccann
No, how big are the blocks?
I'm thinking about LA.
joe rogan
Big as.
unidentified
Fuck.
james mccann
I stayed away from there.
joe rogan
It's huge.
james mccann
I went to the Hollywood Hills and Malibu and had a nice time.
joe rogan
Downtown is nuts.
Downtown LA is the only downtown of any major city that sucks.
unidentified
No.
james mccann
Downtown New York is incredible.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Downtown San Francisco is fucked with homeless people, but it's still, you got great restaurants.
Downtown LA is a ghost town.
james mccann
I said, Portland is so beautiful in the downtown, but then you will turn down the street and it's terrifying.
unidentified
50 to 54.
joe rogan
Oh, it's growing.
Skid Row in Los Angeles, officially known as Central City East, covers approximately 50 to 54 blocks.
unidentified
15,000.
Yeah.
joe rogan
They don't know how many people are there.
There's just wild guesses in terms of what the populations of homeless people are.
Even in terms of the population in the entire city, the high number is over 100,000 in the city.
unidentified
It's crazy.
joe rogan
Look how big it is.
All that whole area is completely lost.
james mccann
I thought it was a row.
I thought it was like one street.
unidentified
It was.
joe rogan
It was back in like the 1960s.
I think it's.
jamie vernon
There's a map or something they've drawn on a picture there.
I think it's been that way for a long time.
joe rogan
Look at this proposed area affordable housing.
Affordable housing is just a joke.
It's not what the problem is.
They're all drug addicts.
They're drug addicts and mentally ill.
james mccann
Yeah, but what do you do there?
joe rogan
Well, you can't let it get that bad, first of all.
And if you do let it get that bad, you've got to treat it like it's a catastrophic failure and throw as much resources as possible at it.
But the problem is, these people are incentivized to keep the problem going because that's how they make their living.
unidentified
Absolutely.
joe rogan
But they don't have any motivation whatsoever to fix it.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Because if the homeless population drops down to like a very small number, and then they don't need all these people that are making half a million dollars a year on the homeless commission, it's complete grifting.
unidentified
I don't have a problem.
james mccann
It's not my country.
I don't have any big problem with Gavin Newsom.
You know, I don't understand how LA has every story that comes out of California seems to be.
joe rogan
Okay, so here it says between 1960 and 1975.
50 percent of the housing in Skid Row was demolished, reducing the total number of units from 15,000 to 7,500 and displacing thousands of poor residents with nowhere else to go but the street.
While Skid Row was never a wealthy neighborhood, its current status as the homeless capital of America is the result of decades of policy choices, which have simultaneously encouraged the destruction of existing affordable housing.
See, this is, by the way, a very progressive perspective.
Yeah, because it's a very progressive perspective.
The real perspective is that what they use Skid Row for.
Was when they would find vagrants in Beverly Hills and vagrants in Hollywood, they would move them to Skid Row and then they would kind of contain them in that area.
jamie vernon
This thing right here.
unidentified
Yeah.
Yeah.
james mccann
Dumping.
So encourage like concentration camps for the homeless.
joe rogan
With homeless medical patients.
See, this is a very progressive perspective.
Homeless medical patients.
How about vagrants who are drug addicts?
You can call them medical patients.
Like you're just being kind.
This is just too charitable.
Across the region, so they would dump them there, and then they also had like food kitchens there and stuff like that, so they had an incentive to stay, but they kept them there.
And so then it kept growing because the homeless problem keeps growing and growing.
james mccann
It's psychosis and drugs.
That's the ultimate.
joe rogan
Yes, drugs are the big one.
And drugs are the drug use in Skid Row is probably 100%.
It's not like regular homeless people.
james mccann
I was in Portland and I saw a.
I was walking to the train station through the downtown.
No one told me not to do it.
And all these very sad homeless people.
And then one guy with a big smile.
He was so happy.
joe rogan
Probably got his fentanyl.
james mccann
Well, no, it's the first time I saw crack being smoked.
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
james mccann
It has a great smell.
Smell kind of sweet.
unidentified
Yeah.
Like, what way?
james mccann
Smell like sweet, like a rotten apple.
That's how it felt at the time.
I don't know if that was the crack or if.
I mean, he was smoking crack and I could smell that, but he was so happy and I didn't want to take his crack away.
You know, it's like, here's the only thing you've really got going for you today.
joe rogan
Yeah, I think crack is not good for you, but probably better for you than fentanyl.
unidentified
It's all.
joe rogan
I think with crack, you're active.
Crack makes you go do a bunch of stuff.
james mccann
This is weird seeing heroin people for the first time because they're not like a threat.
Australia is still a very meth country.
joe rogan
We're like, oh, meth is a problem.
james mccann
It's a lot of like skinny, shirtless men on the bus.
joe rogan
Angry.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
Weird head twitching back and forth.
So we're still very methy.
But meth doesn't seem to be as big here now.
joe rogan
Oh, it's big.
It's big in certain communities.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Meth is still big.
It's like, you know, what you've got in, I mean, the, The homeless situation in Skid Row wasn't always fentanyl and heroin.
I mean, at one point in time, it was meth.
You know, it's a gang of different things.
I'm sure there's people there that are doing ketamine.
james mccann
Do you just start killing drug dealers?
Do you do, like in Singapore, you just have a zero tolerance policy?
I don't know long term what the answer is.
joe rogan
I mean, look, you could do it that way, but it would be very inhumane and it would also set a precedent for how you treat a bunch of other situations.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And that's not good.
It's dangerous.
james mccann
The communists, when they had an opium problem in China, they just put them in the military.
That's like give people a new sense of purpose.
You've got a uniform now, we're going to blame someone else for the problem.
This is Western imperialism did this to you.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
And that seemed to help.
Like they don't have a big opium problem in China anymore.
Also, I don't know how official that is and how many people they did just kill because it's the communist government.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
They're allowed to.
joe rogan
They lie.
james mccann
They might lie.
joe rogan
They definitely lie.
james mccann
Although last time I was, a couple months ago, I was here and Kurt Metzger was telling me the Tiananmen Square was not all that bad.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
I didn't do enough digging.
I didn't do enough digging.
Dangerous Communist Opium Solution 00:14:24
james mccann
From everything he says from a short Google search, I can agree with it.
But I'm sure if I dug down, I'd have more questions.
I haven't seen him actually since I got back.
Is he still here?
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
unidentified
I've seen everybody.
He's great.
james mccann
Most people are still here.
joe rogan
He's the best.
james mccann
He's been odd.
joe rogan
But you can't talk conspiracies with him because it'll just, he'll chain them one after another after another.
And then three minutes in, you forgot what you're even talking about because he's moved on to some scandal in the 1970s with callboys and Congress.
james mccann
Oh, you spoke to him about Reagan?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
What is it called?
The Franklin scandal?
james mccann
There's tapes.
joe rogan
Hassan was talking to me about Franklin scandal.
Franklin scandal.
Hassan was bringing that up last night.
He's reading a book on it.
james mccann
I want to think that Reagan was a good guy.
I always like it.
joe rogan
I don't think it's Reagan.
I think it's whoever's in his cabinet.
james mccann
I mean, it was.
Well, he's dead.
unidentified
He can't.
james mccann
He was saying things about Reagan getting pegged.
unidentified
What?
joe rogan
Who was saying that?
james mccann
Kurt was talking about that there was a tape somewhere of Reagan getting pegged.
I don't want to know.
joe rogan
These guys don't even think the Artemis flight went past the moon.
unidentified
They did it.
joe rogan
Kurt thinks there's a secret space program and that this space program is bullshit.
There's a real space program and they're using this space program to obfuscate.
james mccann
It just seems very complicated for a person who can't do it.
joe rogan
He might be saying it incorrectly.
He knows a lot of things.
unidentified
He does.
He does.
james mccann
And then when I dig in often, it seems true.
unidentified
A lot of it is true.
james mccann
But also, I think the government is incompetent everywhere.
And if they were able to get that one thing, you know.
Building a fake space program to conceal a Trump space program.
It seems unlikely.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, do you know how much money you'd have to have to run two space programs, one real one and one fake one?
That's crazy.
Just a real one costs so much.
Well, the Nazi one was real.
unidentified
Yeah.
Yeah.
james mccann
That's coming.
Everyone seems.
joe rogan
Some people are still not aware of it.
I've had conversations with people where they don't want to admit it, where they can't believe it.
Do you know NASA was run by Nazis?
They're like, what?
You tell them about Wernher von Braun.
And they want to.
Like, there's a lot of people that are like Nats.
NASA fanboys.
And these NASA fanboys don't want to believe that NASA was run by literal Nazis.
unidentified
Yeah.
Yeah.
james mccann
I mean, not necessarily like they were scientific Nazis.
unidentified
They were Nazis.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Wernher von Braun used to hang the slowest, the five slowest Jews at his rocket factory in Berlin.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center said that if he was alive today, they would prosecute him for crimes against humanity.
james mccann
I mean, do you think that story got out when he was at NASA and everyone worked on the project?
joe rogan
They hit it well.
unidentified
There was no.
joe rogan
Freedom of Information Act releases.
There was no internet.
When Operation Paperclip was first initiated, they got, I don't know what the number is of Nazi scientists, but it was more than a thousand.
james mccann
Yeah.
joe rogan
How many Nazi scientists?
Put this into our wonderful ad sponsor, Perplexity.
Our AI sponsor that gives me all my information.
How many Nazi scientists were brought over by the United States for Operation Paperclip?
jamie vernon
I don't know that there's an official number.
This is what led me down my research like 10 years ago.
was this exact question.
joe rogan
Right, but let's see what perplexity has to say.
I'm guessing.
I'm going to guess about 1,500.
jamie vernon
Also, as I'm looking this up, I will note that supposedly they were split up evenly between the Soviets and the United States.
unidentified
That's true.
joe rogan
Yeah, the Soviets took a bunch of them as well.
james mccann
I didn't know they divvied it up.
joe rogan
Yeah, I read a book about it a long time ago.
james mccann
I just started getting into the Soviet space program.
It's great.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
james mccann
Is it the Venus missions?
Am I getting that right?
joe rogan
Oh, yeah, they got a thing on Venus and took pictures and sent them back.
james mccann
But then it was so hot that everything would like.
joe rogan
1,600.
james mccann
1,600 is.
joe rogan
Typically, state that about 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were brought to the United States under Operation Paperclip.
So, I was pretty close.
jamie vernon
To reel back, though, I was trying to dig through this article as you guys are talking.
joe rogan
About Nixon getting pegged?
Or Reagan?
unidentified
Yeah.
Political.
joe rogan
The plot to out Reagan?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
A group of Republicans tried to stymie what they alleged was a nefarious homosexual network within the campaign of their own party, Standard Bear.
james mccann
This is what I mean.
He says something that sounds crazy.
And then you do a search.
jamie vernon
I don't know what the answer is, but during it, it says, while he was trying to pick a vice president, there's somewhere in here.
joe rogan
Wait, how do you talk about him?
He'd be my vice president.
jamie vernon
You said someone had a tape of an orgy?
unidentified
Yes.
No.
joe rogan
Well, didn't Reagan frequented Bohemian Grove?
Isn't that correct?
I believe he did.
james mccann
Everybody.
jamie vernon
Yeah, a lot of people did.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
But Reagan did.
But you remember what Nixon said about Bohemian Grove?
james mccann
The faggiest place I've ever seen.
joe rogan
The goddamn faggiest thing I've ever seen.
james mccann
You heard Alex Jones talking about it?
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
Well, Alex Jones went.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Alex Jones told me about it after he went.
jamie vernon
I engaged in a homosexual act with Reagan.
joe rogan
Okay, it was not until a boozy lunch with a man claiming to have been a longtime Reagan associate.
However, the best found what he believed to be the smoking gun, proving that Reagan was controlled by homosexuals.
Bill, you don't understand the problem, the man told Best.
I once engaged in a homosexual act with Reagan.
james mccann
It was a different time.
jamie vernon
Yes, I don't.
These are, up until now in this article, these are rumors.
unidentified
Right.
jamie vernon
I don't know that this video ever came out, but there's.
unidentified
Interesting.
jamie vernon
There's a very long article about it.
joe rogan
On Politica.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Interesting.
jamie vernon
I was trying to find an answer and I didn't really get to this.
This is a different time period in life, too, that I wasn't even alive for.
joe rogan
Right.
Wow.
james mccann
I don't believe it.
unidentified
I do.
james mccann
I love Reagan.
unidentified
I do, too.
joe rogan
I love him, too.
But I think there's a lot of those guys that are staunchly conservative and very buttoned down that are that way for a reason.
And one of the reasons is they're trying to hide the fact that they're gay.
james mccann
I never understand this, though, because there are lots where I'm from.
unidentified
Gay?
james mccann
In South, like conservative, party.
Definitely gay guys, but thin, but like so, like everybody knows.
Everybody's aware, but they don't want it coming out and they never acknowledge it.
But like it just seems so strange.
You would want to not have a secret if you're a politician because otherwise people can just get you to do what they want.
joe rogan
Yeah, but they have secrets and then they want to be politicians and then they just deal with all the people that know their secrets and then they make deals.
But like, that's how you stay in business.
james mccann
I wouldn't even say there are people in the United States Congress and Senate who are conservative.
So we all go.
Yeah, that guy's gay.
unidentified
100%.
james mccann
Everybody knows.
So, you know.
jamie vernon
So, I asked for the accuracy of this article, and Perplexity gave me a summary, I guess, that makes more sense than trying to make sense of a 20 page article in two minutes.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
This comes from a lot of different sources.
Factual grounding and sources.
One key factual backbone.
Scroll up a little bit.
On the key factual backbone, the article lines up with other publicly documented material.
Kirchick refers repeatedly to memos.
And notes from the Washington Post editor Ben Bradley's papers, including summaries by reporters Scott Armstrong and Ted Gupp.
These papers are held in institutional archives and have been referenced in other discussions of Secret City.
The 1967 homosexual ring allegations connected to Reagan's Sacramento staff and Jack Kemp's is independently attested in contemporary press accounts, including reporting that Reagan's security chief investigated alleged homosexual activity and that columnist Drew Pearson raised these charges at the time.
So here's the thing about gays.
james mccann
There's a gay ring.
joe rogan
There's always a certain amount of gay people in a population, and then it's whether or not the culture accepts them.
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
There's always a certain percentage.
james mccann
There's, yes, people who are attracted to.
joe rogan
Yeah, no matter what you do, there's a certain percentage.
And so if you've got enough people in Congress and enough people in the Senate, enough people just in government in general, you're going to have an equivalent percentage of people that are gay.
And if you are a person who wants to get to the top of the charts, like here's the thing that you don't think of.
What is, you think Hollywood is very open.
unidentified
Right?
joe rogan
Very non homophobic.
In fact, celebrates diversity and celebrates LBGTQ people, right?
james mccann
Yeah, I mean, openly gay.
joe rogan
But not.
So here's the thing one thing you can't be is an openly gay person and be a male lead in films.
james mccann
I mean, that would make sense as to why people keep that quiet.
I'm trying to think of one.
joe rogan
You can't, but you're an actor.
unidentified
No, you're right.
That still hasn't changed.
joe rogan
You can pretend to be a werewolf.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But you can't pretend to be straight.
james mccann
You can't pretend to be straight.
joe rogan
Yeah, they won't allow you.
So, if you're gay, you have to pretend.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You have to pretend you're not gay.
Because you can't act in a movie where we know you're gay and you pretend to be straight, we won't buy it.
james mccann
But whenever there is a movie where there is a gay person, they get it obviously straight.
Like in Milk, they don't get a gay guy to play that role, they get a straight guy to be gay.
joe rogan
Yeah, but that's when that's true.
unidentified
He was never a TV.
james mccann
He was never a movie leading man.
jamie vernon
It's just one example, though.
joe rogan
I know, but he's a TV guy.
james mccann
But then people make allegations of this.
joe rogan
Also, it's like he's a cartoon character.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like that.
How I Met Your Mother, that's a cartoon character, like, straight guy.
Like, you don't believe it at all.
Like, first of all, he's not attractive, like, in that way.
He's not masculine.
And the fact that he gets all these hot girls to have sex with him, none of it makes any sense.
james mccann
Did you see Gongo?
joe rogan
It's just writing.
unidentified
Yeah, I did.
james mccann
Where he's playing the.
joe rogan
Oh, it was great.
james mccann
He was excellent.
unidentified
Yeah, yeah.
james mccann
I watched that movie more than eight times.
joe rogan
That movie was fucking awesome.
unidentified
I really.
james mccann
That helped me work through a lot of trauma with women.
unidentified
Woo!
joe rogan
Bro, that movie was crazy.
But the point is, like, you can't be an openly gay guy and be a movie star.
james mccann
Yes.
joe rogan
Because you won't be able to kiss women off stage.
james mccann
I'm trying to think of one.
joe rogan
On screen, rather.
There's not one.
I know a bunch of closeted ones.
james mccann
Yes, yes.
joe rogan
But there's no openly gay action movie star.
james mccann
Well, there were.
No, actually, there would be none.
joe rogan
There's none.
There's stars who played gay people.
james mccann
A lot of guys play gay people.
joe rogan
You know, like, what's his face?
James Bond, English guy.
unidentified
Daniel Craig.
james mccann
Knives Out.
He plays a gay guy.
That's right.
Yeah, I was thinking of Milk.
joe rogan
Yeah, he plays a gay guy in Knives Out, but he's not like making out with anybody.
He just like lives with a guy.
james mccann
I never watched Knives Out because I was so angry at the second Star Wars movie.
unidentified
I loved it.
james mccann
It's the same director.
Like, I was just, and I loved Looper.
joe rogan
I thought Looper was, you gotta let a guy have a dud or two every now and then.
james mccann
Fucking hated that movie.
I was one of those guys.
It was like.
joe rogan
Which one was that?
What was it called?
james mccann
Oh, man.
It was not Force Awakens.
It was the one that came after that.
unidentified
It was.
joe rogan
What year is this?
james mccann
Oh, 2017.
I'm all over the place with the dates.
joe rogan
Don't you think, though, that I didn't watch any of the new ones.
But don't you think, though, that when you are dealing, if you're dealing with a Star Wars, those franchise movies, You're dealing with.
There's no way they just give you carte blanche.
There's no way they just let you write a script, let you produce it, let you put it together, let you direct it the way you want.
They have insane amounts of influence.
james mccann
No, this one was so stylistically strange.
unidentified
Right.
james mccann
And such a departure.
He was making a.
unidentified
Skywalker?
james mccann
Rise of Skywalker is.
Yeah, maybe it's that one.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
Is that it?
Is that the second one?
joe rogan
Does anybody really give a shit about these new Star Wars movies?
unidentified
Not anymore.
james mccann
But it was, you know, it was exciting.
When George Lucas was doing it, at least he was like.
We're going to have a Jew alien and a Korean alien, and it's about trade wars.
And he was like, They did that?
Episode one?
Oh, man, episode one is a nightmare if you go back and watch episode one.
joe rogan
Which one's episode one?
james mccann
Episode one is like little Anakin and the pod racing.
unidentified
Jar Jar Banks?
james mccann
Jar Jar Banks is like a hugely troubled.
He's just speaking in a patois the whole time.
But I mean, it all has to end.
I think it's finally winding down.
Like the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to be coming to a close.
unidentified
Maybe I'm going to fuck back up.
joe rogan
No, no, Marvel.
james mccann
It's got to come back.
joe rogan
But Star Wars, they woke it up.
They fucked it up.
They made it all like this stupid woke message.
james mccann
That was the woke one.
That was the one where it was like there were ladies who couldn't do anything wrong and all the men were.
joe rogan
And the ladies' generals and the men are all terrified of them.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So save it.
This is nonsense.
unidentified
It's all the time.
joe rogan
But these woke messages just destroy the actual film.
Like we were talking about this the other day that a feminist show that no one thinks of as a feminist show is Game of Thrones.
james mccann
Because she turns into a.
joe rogan
No, it's a completely feminist show.
The women are all badasses.
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
Every woman, Aria Stark, badass.
Daenerys Targaryen, badass.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Cersei Lannister, badass.
Yeah.
Brianna of Tarth, badass.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Kills, I mean, almost kills the hound.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
They're all women.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Women run everything, they're beasts.
Sansa Stark, badass.
james mccann
And a lot of the men, they don't see things coming, they don't know how.
They're breathing as beasts as hell.
joe rogan
Idiots get their heads chopped off.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
They're retarded.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
The women keep the fucking civilization together, and they're the most dominant forces in the show.
unidentified
Yes.
Yeah.
james mccann
Sometimes they're lying like that nasty prostitute who hurt that midget man.
joe rogan
Yeah, but she was unfortunate in her choices.
james mccann
You think the Marvel thing is going to keep.
I think at some point.
joe rogan
They're going to ramp it back up.
They have a new one.
They brought back the Russo brothers and the Jr. Doctor Doom's coming.
It's been a while since.
Isn't that.
Fucking Robert Downey Jr. playing Doom as well.
How does he do that?
jamie vernon
Wait until you see the movie, man.
joe rogan
No, How is he fucking Iron Man and Doom?
james mccann
Well, they both have iron.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
No, get a new guy.
I know Robert Downey Jr. is great.
You don't have to kill Iron Man.
Bring Iron Man back.
Don't you have a multiverse?
Can't you pull him back and put him into this current timeline?
Executives Imposing Values on Comedy 00:10:04
james mccann
I don't.
I'm looking forward to it.
joe rogan
I just don't like when you have a whole universe and you have one guy playing two characters in the universe.
As much as I love.
Robert J. Gibson.
unidentified
This is a joke.
joe rogan
Bothers the shit out of me as a comic book fan.
jamie vernon
They've already had that, though.
Chris Evans is in Fantastic Four and he's Captain America.
joe rogan
Who was he in Fantastic Four?
jamie vernon
The first Fantastic Four.
james mccann
No, there have been like four or five Fantastic Fours.
jamie vernon
Four, three.
unidentified
Really?
james mccann
There have been so many Fantastic Fours.
unidentified
You're right.
joe rogan
I never even remembered that.
james mccann
They can never get that one working.
joe rogan
Who does he play?
jamie vernon
That's sort of the joke in the Spider Man movie, the multiverse one, because they bring them all back in the same fucking movie and it's all confusing.
They bring all the bad guys back.
Jamie Foxx is in the new Spider Man and he was.
Old movie.
james mccann
Do you think they'll be post woke at this point?
I got to watch movies for the first time on the plane over.
joe rogan
They'd have to lose all their fucking money.
james mccann
It's starting to happen.
joe rogan
They'd start to come back.
james mccann
Did you see Begonia?
unidentified
No.
james mccann
It was good.
Starvey was in that, and Emma was the guy who made The Lobster, but there were problems with it, but it was like a pointedly post in the same vein of White Lotus.
unidentified
Okay.
james mccann
I think, yeah, Hollywood is trying to make self consciously post woke movies.
I got really annoyed by it, and I thought some of it was cheap, but I liked what they were going for.
jamie vernon
Yeah, it's fun.
james mccann
And I thought the ending was.
unidentified
Fun.
jamie vernon
Spoiler alert.
james mccann
I won't spoil nothing.
I won't spoil nothing.
But I would never have seen it if I wasn't on a flight watching 57 movies.
American fiction was like a post woke movie.
They're like, at the moment, on Delta flights.
joe rogan
What is American fiction?
james mccann
American fiction is a book about a.
It's a black author who doesn't want to be considered a black author.
He just wants to be an author.
He's sick of.
And then he keeps seeing all these terrible black books full of stereotypes that white liberals adore.
So he writes a fake book called My Pathology.
And I think he later changes it to fuck.
He's just trying to like fuck with people.
Go, I'll just write the blackest, dumbest book.
unidentified
Right.
james mccann
So that white liberals, and then white liberals do love it.
And it was good.
It was like, but it's like pointedly, like mainstream and indie, you know, big studios are trying to make, they're trying to find some continuity from being woke to now that's box office poisoning.
joe rogan
Is this a mainstream film?
jamie vernon
That one looked like it was independent.
It won an independent spirit award.
unidentified
Okay.
james mccann
But Begonia wasn't.
The white leather movie.
joe rogan
What was it called again?
The one you were just talking about?
james mccann
Begonia.
joe rogan
No, the other one.
james mccann
Oh, which one?
unidentified
American fiction.
joe rogan
American fiction?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So American fiction is independent.
james mccann
I didn't know if it was independent.
unidentified
I looked it up.
james mccann
It made like tens of millions of dollars.
joe rogan
Yeah, but sometimes independent films that catch on make good money.
jamie vernon
They did not deal with Amazon to make a limited theatrical release.
james mccann
Okay.
So they partnered with Amazon then.
jamie vernon
I don't really know.
james mccann
I would count that as a big studio.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
No, if you started it by yourself, you started it by yourself and then you distributed it to Amazon.
james mccann
But who paid for it?
Who was the.
joe rogan
Somebody probably financed it.
james mccann
The director was.
Was he the onion guy?
jamie vernon
$10 million budget.
joe rogan
So the thing is, if you want to do something right, you kind of have to do it that way now.
Like, make it yourself and then bring it as a fully completed project.
That way, you don't have a bunch of people like the Star Wars guy, like, in your ear telling you what to do and how to direct it.
james mccann
I recorded a comedy special years ago for Australia.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
And I thought I would just do it on my own and then I would sell it to the network.
unidentified
How'd that go?
james mccann
They said, We like it.
This is one of the most embarrassing phone calls I ever had.
They said that we like it.
It's very white, it's very male.
Yeah, it's me.
It's just me.
And they said, can you go out and find five or six diverse comedians and record their specials as well?
And then we could buy all six of them.
I was like, fuck it.
I'll put it on YouTube.
That was the real request would you find an Aboriginal fella, find a lady in a wheelchair, find some Chinese people, and then you can have your one as well, and we'll buy all six.
Hilarious.
Yeah, that was probably the end of me thinking I could.
Work with.
joe rogan
You can't work with people that aren't creatives, and that's what those people are.
They're a bunch of people that are caught up in whatever the cultural moment is, whatever they think like the winds of.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
The winds of discontent blow the hardest, right?
So the people that are going to get the most upset are the wokies.
They're the ones that are going to complain the most about a lack of diversity.
So to satisfy those people, they'll torch their own art, they'll fuck up the thing that they do best.
james mccann
I mean, you can work with totally non creative people.
This was like.
There's a Frank Zappa line about how working in the music industry was great when it was just a guy in a suit who didn't care.
And as soon as people had some ideas, it was hard to make things.
joe rogan
Right.
When someone would tell you what to do and what not to do.
james mccann
If it's a profit motive, that's great.
You can work with those people.
joe rogan
Yeah, right.
But there's no pure profit motive people anymore in terms of entertainment.
They're all thinking about the cultural tone and what you're supposed to and not supposed to do and being on the right side of history now.
james mccann
Did you see the Patrice bit where he talked about how he liked working with mid level Jews?
unidentified
No.
james mccann
He's like, I like mid level Jews.
I make them the money.
They leave me alone.
unidentified
That makes sense.
joe rogan
Yeah, the people that get in your way, they all think they're doing it for a good cause.
And we experienced that.
Like Stanhope and I, when we were doing the man show on Comedy Central, there was a lot of that.
james mccann
Was there?
joe rogan
Yeah, dude.
I don't even want to go into it.
But there was, whenever you're, like, Ari experienced it when he was at Comedy Central, I know a lot of people that have experienced it at various networks where there's always some fucking executives.
That want to impose their, and it's always liberal, they want to impose their progressive values on comedy.
And it's like, you can't fucking do that if you want it to be funny.
If you want it to be funny, you have to, it has to be in the language and in the mind, like from the viewpoint of one person, one person's unique vision.
One person's unique vision that they think is hilarious.
And as soon as you start monkeying with that, as soon as you start adding stuff to that, as soon as you start watering it down, you're going to kill it.
You compromise it, it becomes a candidate for mediocrity.
james mccann
But how did they.
Where did they start on the man show?
Were they like, get the girls off the trampolines?
joe rogan
No, it was like one of the things was they didn't want Joey Diaz coming out naked.
james mccann
Okay.
joe rogan
Okay, so we had an intro, and I said, this is what I want to do for the intro.
I want Joey Diaz to come out.
He's going to burst through the door naked with Timbalands on, with a baseball hat on, and just say, let's get this party started and start dancing.
unidentified
Yeah, it's fun.
joe rogan
It was hilarious, and they didn't want to do it.
So.
This is the scene, I guess.
james mccann
But you did get to put your DJs in.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, we had to do it two ways.
We had to do it their way.
unidentified
That's right.
joe rogan
We did it their way first.
And then when their way was done, we did it with Joey.
Everybody went fucking nuts.
They all went nuts.
It was awesome.
But it's like they so strongly resisted that.
That was the only way I wanted to do it.
And I said, listen, we'll do it your way first, and then we'll do it our way.
Meanwhile, that version with Joey was what they used in all the promos.
james mccann
Yeah, of course.
joe rogan
They used that when they were like, No, they still use it.
No, they still use it.
And then Joey comes out and it was cock blurred out.
But you're just going to get a bunch of people who also want to have their fingerprints on what you're doing.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So they want to somehow or another change it.
Even if it doesn't make sense, what if your neighbor is a black guy who grew up with a white family?
I. What if your neighbor.
They want to like change it.
And then they, how do you do, how are you doing with the black guy who is the white family?
Like, I didn't even add that.
Come on, man.
unidentified
Yeah.
Come on, man.
joe rogan
We got to play ball.
Like, these dipshits want to add their own little fucking ingredients into the soup.
james mccann
Well, this, I mean, it's never been cheaper to make your own thing, I would have to think.
unidentified
Never.
joe rogan
You could do it on a cell phone, you could upload it to YouTube.
james mccann
And AI is incredible.
Yeah, there's a use for it.
I hope it doesn't.
I'm still uncomfortable about it.
You're a board.
You're playing new music backstage.
I didn't pick it.
joe rogan
That was good, right?
james mccann
It's all good.
I find it frightening.
joe rogan
Yeah.
james mccann
I don't like it.
joe rogan
It's White Rabbit.
It's the Jefferson Airplane version of White Rabbit.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But it's this bluesy new version of it that's all AI.
It's fantastic.
james mccann
There's one where you can upload, you just upload your music or someone else's music, and they're like, it does all the mastering beautifully.
It's spooky.
I mean, it's the end of, it is the end.
It's the end of something.
joe rogan
It's the beginning.
james mccann
There are technical jobs that are just gone now.
joe rogan
That's true.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But there's not a lot of Morse code operators either.
james mccann
I think they should bring it back.
joe rogan
Bring back the steam engine.
We need coal powered fucking locomotives.
james mccann
Listen, the Amish seem happy.
They got their buggies.
joe rogan
Try having a conversation with them about space.
They don't know jack shit.
james mccann
They don't have autism, so they can't do it.
Talk to them about butter.
joe rogan
I think you're going to experience great change.
There's not a damn thing you can do about it, and so you just have to be zen about it.
james mccann
I mean, some of the.
It's been like over a year since the driverless cars came to Austin.
And I've been in a bunch of them, the Waymos.
And they're not spreading out across the country the way that I thought they would.
joe rogan
Oh, they're in a lot of places.
They're all over Los Angeles.
They're in a lot of places.
james mccann
They're in about three or four places.
But, like, they should have.
Obviously, the technology is there that no one should have to drive for a living.
Like, it would be cheaper to have the Waymo.
The technology is there.
They're on the freeway now.
I've never had one problem in a Waymo.
I don't know how many I've been in.
joe rogan
They've had problems here.
They've all got, because there's so many of them, they all met up in an intersection and got locked up.
unidentified
That is funny.
joe rogan
Hilarious.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
There was like a bunch of streets going into each other and they all came and then no one knew what to do.
james mccann
But that's not as bad as like drunkenly T boning somebody.
joe rogan
Sure, but the thing is don't drink and drive, not let's let robots take our lives over, right?
That's not the solution.
Waymo Technology vs Driving Jobs 00:02:09
joe rogan
I want the freedom of being able to hop in a fucking car and drive wherever I want.
james mccann
They're going to take it.
joe rogan
That's the problem.
That's the problem.
james mccann
The problem is it's going to be safer to have you off the road.
joe rogan
Exactly.
Exactly.
They're going to say statistically, you're more likely to die in a car accident if driven by a normal person than a robot.
james mccann
I bet they'll.
You know, they'll give you, they'll offer little bonuses.
They'll say, when all the humans are off the road, speed limits are going up two or three times, or, you know, whatever they can handle, their reflexes are better.
joe rogan
Well, you know, a lot of kids today are not driving.
unidentified
You know that?
joe rogan
A lot of kids today are just, they're just ordering Ubers and driving Waymos and.
james mccann
I mean, I only got my driver's license at like 27.
unidentified
Really?
james mccann
Yeah, I was just on buses.
And then we had a child, and I was like, I better do it.
Now it's my favorite thing in the world.
unidentified
Wow.
james mccann
I love driving.
joe rogan
Did you not want a driver's license, or you just couldn't be bothered?
james mccann
I wasn't good at it.
My parents were scared.
My parents were like, I don't want to get in the car with you.
unidentified
So my brother.
joe rogan
Why were you so bad at it?
james mccann
I don't know.
unidentified
I don't know.
james mccann
I was very uncoordinated until I was at a late puberty at 16, 17, and then I became coordinated.
But for a while then.
joe rogan
Interesting.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
I don't know what I did.
joe rogan
Did they ever teach you how to?
You were dropped on your head as a child?
unidentified
Yeah.
Interesting.
james mccann
Then I think, with like, and then in my late teens.
joe rogan
How were you dropped on your head?
james mccann
I fell out of a pran, out of a stroller.
I unbuckled myself and I stood up and fell down.
I don't think it had any brain impact.
joe rogan
Of course it did.
james mccann
People disagree.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
100% it did.
james mccann
Big scar.
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
You fucked your head up.
That's why you're funny.
unidentified
Maybe.
joe rogan
100%.
james mccann
I got the coordination back at some point, but I like.
joe rogan
So you really think it affected your coordination all the way up into puberty?
james mccann
Yeah, because it was, I was able to play sport at high school.
After I'd hit puberty, but only after puberty, and only sports that didn't really matter if I had all the skills.
So, like football, everyone's been doing it since they were four and they really know how to do it.
So, I was just like, no, it didn't matter that I could figure it out now.
Everyone had 10 years on me.
unidentified
Right.
james mccann
But I became an okay field hockey goalkeeper.
Oh, I had like one season in the top team as the field hockey goalkeeper because no one wanted to do it.
No one's really trained to do it.
unidentified
Right.
james mccann
It's just having fast reflexes.
So, that was fine.
Audience Ratings and Tuning Out 00:12:10
james mccann
Or like, I became okay at badminton because it was just me and the Asians.
You know, like tennis, there was no way to get good at tennis.
joe rogan
Right, you need a head start.
james mccann
Squash, I could do a little bit.
But badminton's a great game.
Met a lot of malicious.
joe rogan
So, did you have a problem moving your body correctly?
james mccann
Yeah, like I couldn't catch a ball.
unidentified
Huh.
joe rogan
And you think it had to do with your head injury?
james mccann
I, well, I have no idea.
joe rogan
Do you have brothers or sisters?
james mccann
I have a brother, he's fine.
joe rogan
Is he an athlete?
james mccann
No, I mean, he was.
He was younger than me, so I was in badminton, so he was, and then he was really good at badminton.
Yeah, he's hyper competitive.
He was always good at sport.
Compared to me, it was much better.
But then I could, like when I came to America and I started throwing a football, when I figured out I could throw a football, that was huge.
joe rogan
Is your brother funny?
unidentified
Yes.
james mccann
Yeah, he actually got me into it, I thought comedy was over.
This is how I met Shane.
He took me to go and see Shane.
I was sort of, this was, I don't know how many years ago, four years ago.
And I was sort of, I didn't know what was happening.
I had a three year old by that point and a new baby on the way.
And just in Australia, nothing was interesting to me and my career wasn't happening.
And he said, You should come and see this guy who got fired from SNL.
I didn't know him.
And I sat in the audience and I watched Shane perform for three or four hundred people in our hometown.
And I was like, Oh, fuck.
unidentified
It's back.
james mccann
Like, it's happening.
I knew there were a couple people on Netflix.
I knew, like, you had Netflix specials and Bill Burr and Louie, but it was like, these people are grandfathered in.
No one is ever going to be able to come through and be, you know.
joe rogan
Controversial.
james mccann
No one in my generation is going to be given an opportunity.
And then I saw.
unidentified
At all?
joe rogan
You just thought that new comedians were not going to make it?
james mccann
In Australia, I can't say enough how there's like a.
It's been 20 years since someone got to be successful.
joe rogan
Jim Jeffries.
james mccann
Never in Australia.
He had to leave.
unidentified
Really?
james mccann
Even now, the Melbourne Comedy Festival notoriously will not work with people who have worked with Jim Jeffries.
unidentified
What?
james mccann
That's a black stain on your character.
joe rogan
So if you open for him, you can't work at the.
james mccann
They don't like you and they're not going to give you opportunities.
That's what people say.
That's what I've heard.
And everything that I've seen leads me.
Because he's not their person.
Fuck him.
They think of him as an extreme.
In America, he's like a liberal.
And in Australia, he's far right, dangerous man.
How could he say that?
joe rogan
That's what it is.
james mccann
That's what it is.
joe rogan
It's his politics?
james mccann
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
It's not that he didn't come up through their system.
james mccann
Uh, well, he didn't come.
I mean, he just left, right?
But he, I think, um, he didn't like them, they didn't like him.
I mean, there are people who have left and not been part of their system that they've totally gotten around, but they see what he is is like a manly man, and they don't like that.
unidentified
Oh, no!
Oh, no!
james mccann
No, they want you to be a cardigan.
Excuse me, I won't go on and on.
joe rogan
Go on and on.
james mccann
It's there's like there was a generation of lost talent in Australia, like great John Cruikshank, fantastic.
Where's his show?
Um, I could you could name 15 people, but like, there was no opportunities for them.
It was hilariously gatekept.
joe rogan
Never good.
unidentified
No.
james mccann
So I didn't, I just thought, I'll have a conversation.
joe rogan
So, this is your perspective from Australia.
You never thought there was ever going to be an opportunity to make it as a comic.
james mccann
My brother liked, I had kids.
I had stopped paying attention to the outside world.
My brother had not, and he took me to go and see Shane.
He was like, You should see this man.
And it was fantastic.
And I talked my way backstage because I knew the opener, because I didn't get to open for him, but I knew the opener.
And then I got to meet him and Matt, and then I got to go to Melbourne and open for him.
And then I came to America.
joe rogan
Were you doing any stand up before you opened for them in Melbourne?
How you've been practicing?
james mccann
Yeah, I was doing stand up around.
joe rogan
Constantly, still.
james mccann
But I would just have 50 or 100 people in a different city, and I would show up and make enough money for the flight and like an extra thousand bucks or something.
But it was.
Like, I couldn't pay rent that way.
unidentified
I couldn't.
Right.
joe rogan
You were scratching by.
james mccann
It was, yeah, I was struggling.
This is why when we did come to, when I got the Catholic job and I came to America, it was all, I borrowed from everybody.
Like, I was in thousands of dollars of debt to family and friends.
joe rogan
How did Arj Barker make it in Australia?
james mccann
He did a show called Flight of the Concords.
He was on that.
And he was beloved by the festival and he did lots of gala spots.
And we really, there's a couple.
joe rogan
So it's the festival?
james mccann
The festival broke everybody, yeah.
joe rogan
So that controls comedy in Australia?
unidentified
Yes.
james mccann
There's a guy called Rodney Roode who's really funny.
Who was before that?
joe rogan
Is he in the festival?
james mccann
He's not in the festival.
joe rogan
He can't be in the festival.
james mccann
He would go to like RSLs and things.
He has great.
Get out of here, you homeless fuck!
That's a great bit.
unidentified
Okay.
james mccann
Kevin Bloody Wilson.
But these are like that older generation.
Yeah, after that though, it was.
joe rogan
So it's captured, it's gate kept by one ideology.
james mccann
By one lady running one festival.
unidentified
Oh.
james mccann
No disrespect.
I'm sure she's very nice.
I don't want to talk her down.
I would have loved an opportunity once anyway.
It doesn't matter.
I don't need you anymore.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
That's never good.
It's never good because people with that kind of power, they also abuse it.
They really enjoy it.
unidentified
How could you not?
joe rogan
You don't have to.
james mccann
You got hundreds of desperate people who are, please give me an opportunity.
unidentified
I've got that.
joe rogan
I don't do it.
james mccann
No, but you're a very strange person and you're alone.
That's why people love you.
But there's definitely, there are casting couches.
joe rogan
Yeah, but you can just be nice and being nice and helping people.
Especially talented people, it gives you great satisfaction.
You feel great about it.
I always tell people it's really selfish to be generous because it feels great.
It's wonderful to help people.
It feels fucking awesome.
And it's great to see people thrive and take off.
It's fun, it's exciting.
And then you hang out with them in the green room and it's just all joy.
james mccann
Also, I don't want to say that they don't do that.
They're helping a lot of people who have a very specific ideology.
joe rogan
Listen, we don't have that.
Our ideology is the opposite.
Our ideology is are you funny?
I don't give a fuck if you're a liberal and funny or like Brian Holtzman.
unidentified
Whatever.
james mccann
Ryan Setnik was on last night and she was like, she was a big lefty.
She's a dear friend and she's going to open for me this weekend.
But she was like in New York.
She was raised in Sacramento.
She went to New York.
She was like a very lefty, progressive person.
And I remember like nights at the mothership where she would scream at the audience, you're a fucking fascist.
unidentified
Fuck yeah.
james mccann
Like she was really like baked in and they loved it.
People, there's a lefty lady just like off her nut, angry at everybody.
joe rogan
Just if you're funny.
james mccann
And people were.
It was fine.
There is no equivalent of that.
joe rogan
No, you just have to be funny.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, it's all just funny.
Like, if you're funny, a lefty funny, funny, Brian Holtzman funny, Tony Hinchcliffe funny.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It doesn't matter.
Just be funny.
Just work on your stuff, work on it.
Like, really put a lot of time and energy into your craft.
Come up with great bits.
james mccann
When I'm on these flights, I'm watching, like, all the official sanctioned, like, non Netflix specials, but some of them that are on HBO and some are on Hulu.
And it's people who.
There's a weird way that audiences.
Like, I'm watching official mainstream, whatever.
It's not mainstream because the audiences are tiny by comparison.
But you know what I mean?
Like, sort of like orthodox sanctioned comedy in America.
And the jokes are so mild.
But then the audience is like.
Supposedly, the top of the audience.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
They're all on antidepressants.
james mccann
They sound crazy.
joe rogan
They are crazy.
james mccann
And it's like cheap, nothing punchlines.
joe rogan
Exactly.
james mccann
And it's just at the slightest, my boyfriend.
Like, I couldn't even.
unidentified
Yay.
Yeah, well, it's clapping.
joe rogan
It's clapped her, right?
So you're also reinforcing their ideology.
So they're very excited about it because they kind of realize their ideology is very fringe and dying out.
As much as it's perpetrated through Hollywood, it's rejected by a lot of rational people.
unidentified
It's over.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's over.
james mccann
I was watching, I went to a bar last night and I watched The Tonight Show, and God bless everybody involved.
But it's like, okay, well, this is done.
This is winding down.
This is not a cultural thing.
This was the most like.
joe rogan
The Tonight Show's winding down?
james mccann
Just in terms of how many people are watching it, and like, you know, doing a set on a Tonight Show used to be that was it, right?
joe rogan
Johnny Carson.
james mccann
Move tickets on the road on Johnny Carson, and now people are going, that's his 15th Tonight Show appearance.
joe rogan
But it kind of died out even before then.
Like the impact of the Jay Leno sets, like if you did a set on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, it didn't have nearly the impact that Johnny Carson did.
And that's just because by then there were so many channels.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So when Johnny Carson was on The Tonight Show, there were three channels in the country.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's how crazy it was.
And then slowly but surely, cable came around, Fox came around, all these other networks.
And then everything just expanded.
Now you have streaming, and now it's insane.
Now the numbers are out.
james mccann
Is it over at the end of Carson for that?
joe rogan
Yeah, I believe so.
james mccann
Okay.
joe rogan
I believe by the time Jay Leno came around, like when did Jay Leno first start hosting The Tonight Show?
Let's guess.
james mccann
Early 90s?
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
Mid 90s, 94.
unidentified
Probably.
joe rogan
So that was right around the time cable was coming out.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Cable changed everything.
So with cable, you got, first of all, you got Even Eat The Improv, MTV Half Hour Comedy Hour, Spotlight Cafe.
There was a bunch of different shows that were on a bunch of different networks.
There was all these comedy shows that were all over the place.
92.
unidentified
92.
joe rogan
Which makes sense because, like, that's when cable started becoming really ubiquitous in America.
Like, and then you have so many fucking channels.
unidentified
So.
joe rogan
The impact of a single show was not the same anymore because during the, let's find this out.
During the height of the Tonight Show, what was the average viewers?
unidentified
I looked this up.
james mccann
This is spooky.
joe rogan
I bet it's like 40 million.
james mccann
Well, it's like, I think the, I mean, even by the end of Friends, like sitcom, mainstream shows.
joe rogan
Yeah, but that's different because that's earlier.
So the Tonight Show is late at night.
james mccann
But like just average Tonight Show episodes?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You see, this is the thing.
Tonight Show is 11 p.m.
That's after the fucking news.
That's late at night, right?
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
Isn't it 11?
Is that when it starts or 10?
When does Tonight Show start?
jamie vernon
It's 11 30 East, 10 30 Central.
joe rogan
Okay.
It's like 11 30 in New York.
james mccann
Is it a million people?
How many now?
No, then.
What would it be then?
joe rogan
What do you mean?
The viewers?
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
Like how many people?
joe rogan
Way more than a million.
james mccann
Like 10 million?
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
Easily.
The Tonight Show viewers?
I bet it was 30.
What is the average Tonight Show viewers in 1980?
unidentified
Let's say 1980.
james mccann
It's like 15% of the country.
joe rogan
Bro, it was that big.
It was where people went to find out what was going on.
What movies were coming out?
What bands were coming out?
What comics were funny?
unidentified
I remember.
So let's try 1980.
joe rogan
Oh, hold on a second.
Sorry.
Average viewers of The Tonight Show in 1980.
jamie vernon
That's giving me a rating, not the numbers.
james mccann
Oh, it's like as a percentage?
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
What were the average number of viewers on The Tonight Show in 1980?
Let's see.
unidentified
How many?
jamie vernon
Six to seven million.
joe rogan
Six to seven million was average.
This is eight to ten.
james mccann
But by.
Yeah, so but like.
joe rogan
All right, even eight to ten.
james mccann
But what is it now?
joe rogan
Six to seven.
Let's think of that.
unidentified
God, fuck it.
james mccann
Like a hundred thousand?
joe rogan
A tenth thousand.
I don't even know if it's that.
And here's the thing about ratings the ratings are very weird because it's based on this.
You have boxes that are connected to your television.
Do you know how it works?
unidentified
Yeah.
Yeah.
joe rogan
So, the way these ratings work is they get a certain number of people.
james mccann
Then they send them.
joe rogan
And the certain number of people you actually pay, they pay these people to have this box.
And then some of them have to fill out a form.
I don't know how that works.
And then it just records what you're watching.
And so it's just based on these people.
So it's not the whole country.
unidentified
No country.
james mccann
We didn't.
joe rogan
But with like Netflix, it's a different animal.
They know the exact number of people that are downloading.
But who's going to download?
james mccann
They know when people are tuning out.
They know which shot is upsetting people.
joe rogan
It's crazy.
They know the moment where people tune out.
Weird TV Rating Box System 00:03:33
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, they also have an insane amount of options.
Like, if you're bored even slightly, you press a button, you have new options, and they're instantaneous.
Back then, you had two other options other than whatever.
Was it NBC, The Tonight Show?
Was it NBC?
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
We got different channels.
joe rogan
The Tonight Show.
james mccann
I'm nostalgic for that.
I only had that until I was like 10.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
But it was, I've started watching TV again.
It's just like I'm role playing in my living room when I have a beer and I watch, like, terrestrial broadcasts now.
Like, I watch Survivor with my family at night.
joe rogan
And with commercials and everything?
james mccann
Man, I watch the lead in.
I watch the new Matlock afterwards for five minutes before I get sick of it and turn it off.
I watch Who Wants to Be a Millionaire beforehand.
joe rogan
It's for people that are on heavy pharmaceutical drugs.
It's for people that are.
james mccann
It feels nice.
joe rogan
It feels like a lot of people are at the world.
Their mouth is open.
Their senses are dulled.
unidentified
They're like, I was this.
I started doing.
joe rogan
Someone committed a crime.
unidentified
They better solve it.
joe rogan
There's only 10 minutes left.
james mccann
I would have friends come over.
This is what I've started doing at home.
joe rogan
Watch TV?
james mccann
Australian Survivor, which is, I think, the world's finest.
joe rogan
Is it still Jeff Probst or is it a different host?
james mccann
No, it's a different host.
joe rogan
You got an Australian guy?
james mccann
We had Jonathan La Palia, who was Anthony La Palia's brother, but then he got shafted.
It's very upsetting, and they got a new host.
joe rogan
Jonathan, Anthony La Palia, the actor?
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
Jonathan La Palia was very good.
We still get the shaft?
No, I don't know why.
unidentified
No one knows?
james mccann
No, I don't know, but he was great.
Maybe it was wrong think.
You know, I've never heard him express an opinion.
He would do a lot of sexual double entendre during the show.
joe rogan
Yeah, it was that.
james mccann
The other good one is the South African survivor.
unidentified
Is it?
james mccann
Yeah, because they've got the accent.
So all the challenges feel way nastier.
unidentified
Look at that.
james mccann
He's struggling now.
He's really starting to sweat.
He's digging into his feet.
He's in a lot of pain.
I love South African survivors.
joe rogan
They had a bunch of different versions of Fear Factor that I wasn't even aware of.
james mccann
Different countries got Fear Factor?
joe rogan
A hundred different countries.
james mccann
Did they get guys who were like you?
Is there like a Finnish Joe Rogan?
unidentified
I'm just joking.
joe rogan
I mean, they had someone that was like that.
james mccann
That would be funny to see who they.
Like, because they would be trying to replicate you.
joe rogan
Not necessarily.
Like, Ludacris didn't try to replicate me when he did it.
james mccann
They got Ludacris to do it?
joe rogan
Yeah, in America.
I didn't know Ludacris was going to stick over for a short amount of time.
And now Johnny Knoxville's doing it, and he's doing it his own way, too.
unidentified
Sure.
joe rogan
It's a pretty straightforward show, you don't have to do it my way.
But what I was good at is because I came from a background in martial arts coaching.
Like, I had students, and I would bring them to tournaments, and I coached them at tournaments.
I was really good at getting people fired up.
You know, and I'd coach teammates.
Like, I would be in the corner of teammates and I'd coach them.
And I'd train people.
Like, one of the reasons why I got really good at Taekwondo so quickly is because I taught.
And when you teach something, there's something interesting, and I've noticed that about jujitsu as well.
When you teach something, you get better at it.
Like, exponentially better than people that are just training.
james mccann
I mean, with comedy, there's a huge faux pas against teaching.
joe rogan
You can't teach it.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
You can't teach comedy.
It's different.
Like, you do it so different than I do it.
I do it so different than Shane.
Shane does it so different than I do it.
james mccann
I maintain there are things you could teach people.
Like when people come on Kiltoni and they haven't been doing it for very long, there are key things that you can tell people.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
You must stop doing that.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
You've got to hold the microphone like this.
We've got to be able to hear you.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's true.
james mccann
And I think people waste a lot of time not knowing those.
I mean, they could look it up.
joe rogan
But didn't you figure those things out?
unidentified
Yeah.
Yeah.
joe rogan
So it's people that aren't that aware in the first place.
And that's a problem to begin with.
Teaching Comedy Is Impossible 00:15:57
joe rogan
So what it is is a lack of self examination.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
A lot of what these problems are, you could solve yourself if you just recorded yourself or filmed yourself.
Filmed is the best.
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
Recorded is pretty good.
Film is 100%.
So, filming, you get to see all the things you hate about yourself, all the things that are gross, all the weird, stupid parts of your bits that you need to chop out, and they make you uncomfortable, and it's good.
And you just, oh, fuck that bit, fuck this, cut this, put that.
Oh, here's another, oh, I didn't even think of this.
And then, boom.
I mean, that's.
james mccann
I'm doing it at the moment.
I'm finding it heartbreaking.
joe rogan
Because you're just getting back into the real world again.
james mccann
Oh, I did.
joe rogan
You were trapped on.
james mccann
I was doing hours in Australia, and I knew that some of it would translate in America, and some of it wouldn't.
And man, it is just.
I'm losing 80%.
Which is great.
I tried to overwrite so I would have more than I needed.
joe rogan
So, did you have a lot of Australian based jokes, like local jokes?
james mccann
Eventually, I had to.
Like, I started out trying to do nothing local.
And then you're like, you're just there, and the prime minister does something appalling, and you start talking about.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
You're going to have to have some stuff.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's interesting.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Anything about your politics will not translate over here.
Not at all.
We don't give a fuck.
You don't have nuclear weapons.
Shut the fuck up.
You're not even a real country.
james mccann
I'm trying to get some.
I'm trying to sort us out.
joe rogan
Did you see what happened yesterday that the FBI has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center?
unidentified
On what?
joe rogan
Paying Nazis to protest.
So, this was something that Alex Jones had said.
Do you remember that Charlottesville tiki torch thing years ago?
Alex Jones said back then that they were being paid, that these are paid actors to go and do that.
And people thought he was insane.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Turns out it's true.
Turns out they were paying the Ku Klux Klan, they were paying a bunch of these far right radical organizations.
Giving them money to protest so they would have something to fight against.
james mccann
We're going to the Capitol.
unidentified
Over here.
Look at this.
joe rogan
DOJ charges Southern Poverty Law Center with fraud over secret funding of extremist groups.
unidentified
I was mad.
joe rogan
Fucking crazy.
james mccann
That's so that the Onion is buying InfoWars and turning into like an anti gun advocate.
And it's like it's a $1.5 billion thing he had to pay for getting one thing wrong one time.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
How many things did he have to be right about?
joe rogan
He's right about a lot, I'll tell you that.
And the Onion thing, I don't even know if other people were allowed to bid.
I don't know how that works.
Out, but I think there were other people that were trying to bid that couldn't.
It's Hinky that were like supporters of Alex Jones, yeah.
Let's go back up.
unidentified
Stop.
Hold on.
joe rogan
Between 2014 and 2023, Southern Poverty Law Center paid at least $3 million to eight individuals, some of whom were associated with the Ku Klux Klan, United Clans of America, National Socialist Party of America, Aryan Nations affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club.
Yeah, that's a mouthful.
And the American Front said acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanch.
At the press conference.
Holy fuck.
james mccann
Manufacturing the.
Well, this is what you said before about people who need homelessness to keep going.
joe rogan
Well, this is what's crazy.
james mccann
They need that to keep going.
joe rogan
But this is what's crazy.
These people were cited as an expert in extremist groups.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And they were paying extremist groups in order to be extreme.
jamie vernon
They said they were paying for, like, information, I think.
joe rogan
Right.
jamie vernon
They had them planted there or something like that.
unidentified
But what about the CIA?
Shut the fuck up.
joe rogan
Shut the fuck up.
No, you weren't.
james mccann
Have you ever been to the CIA?
joe rogan
Listen, it's just like what Israel gets accused of doing with Hamas.
That Netanyahu has said by getting money and giving to Hamas, you keep Hamas in power and you can control the height of the flame.
So instead of letting Palestine get its own statehood, you keep Hamas in charge.
You always have an enemy and you always have no reason to give Palestine statehood.
james mccann
I don't know how deep people went into what happened on the security on October 7th.
How that was allowed to happen.
unidentified
It's not.
joe rogan
It's a total stand down.
People were told to stand down.
First of all, it's the most surveilled.
Country on earth.
james mccann
On guards everywhere.
joe rogan
On guards everywhere, surrounded by their enemy.
And somehow or another, these guys pulled this off when they were warned by Egypt as well.
james mccann
Yeah.
Also, here's another thing.
joe rogan
Before that happened, before that happened, before October 7th, hundreds of thousands of people in the street protesting against Netanyahu.
james mccann
Did you read about why?
It's so strange because their constitution, they don't have a set constitution.
They're writing their constitution in real time.
They add one article at a time.
I think I'm getting this right.
And it was, Israel was always meant to be.
A home for the Jews, and that he made it expressly a Jewish state, that it would be.
joe rogan
I thought they were expanding the powers of the government.
james mccann
Am I getting this right?
It was that the government, yes, that was part of the government's powers, is that the government then had the power to act on behalf of Jewish interests.
So it's like they could exclude certain areas from voting if it would mean, and citizenship if it doesn't mean that it would challenge the government.
joe rogan
Put in a search for what was the reason why people were protesting Netanyahu before October 7th.
james mccann
I think I'm getting this right.
joe rogan
I think you are.
james mccann
That he was stopping it being a secular.
joe rogan
I think that was one of the things, but there was also something in that they were expanding the government's powers and people were protesting against it.
james mccann
Also, the corruption charges that he's facing are crazy.
joe rogan
Well, and also they want to try him and he's saying, you can't try me because we're at war.
And so if the war never ends, yeah, it keeps bombing Lebanon.
People were primarily protesting Netanyahu because his government was pushing a sweeping judicial overhaul that many Israelis saw as an attack on democracy and a way to shield him and his allies from accountability.
Judicial overhaul plan.
Netanyahu's coalition introduced reforms to greatly limit the powers of Israel's Supreme Court and increase political control over judicial appointments.
Critics argued this would remove key checks and balances and allow the government to pass almost anything without effective legal oversight.
I mean, this guy has been in charge of Israel forever.
james mccann
I will say this thing is forever.
Having your leaders be up on corruption charges is happening.
I mean, they tried it with like in Brazil, it's like with Bolsonaro.
But also, with Lula before then, I mean, Trump, if he hadn't won, they would have got him in jail on something, most likely.
joe rogan
I mean, they were trying to get him in jail on anything.
james mccann
Yeah, you've got to not chase politicians through the courts as best you can.
I mean, if people really have done the wrong thing, maybe you have to hold them to account.
joe rogan
Well, it depends on what I don't think Netanyahu's, I don't know what his allegations are, but apparently they're very serious to the point where they're trying to try him while the war is going on.
They want to try him now, yeah.
Israel really locks up their politicians.
They actually follow through on these things.
Yeah.
But I don't know enough about their politics to know whether or not he's guilty of anything.
james mccann
But it's the look.
The look is not great.
I mean, like, in.
joe rogan
It's not the fucking look of, like, they call a ceasefire and he bombs Lebanon.
That's not great either.
james mccann
The next day, Ukraine is meant to have an election at some point, I think.
unidentified
No, no, no.
james mccann
It's been a while.
unidentified
We have a war.
Well, it's been a while.
joe rogan
You can't have an election while war's going on.
unidentified
America can.
james mccann
You did it in the Civil War.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, if we did that today, if Trump said, hey, I have to stay president because we're at war, no.
People would go fucking crazy.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
They would light New York City on fire.
There's no chance.
unidentified
Yeah.
No.
joe rogan
That's nuts.
james mccann
So you get what you're willing to tolerate as a country.
unidentified
I guess.
joe rogan
I guess.
But I think that what's going on in Israel is particularly spooky because you've got these people that supposedly came to this place to get away from the persecution that they were facing all throughout Europe, right?
And so what's the first thing they do?
Well, immediately take out the people that are living there.
You have the Nakba where people are talking about it and talking about the experience of.
Going into these Palestinian neighborhoods and taking over their land.
james mccann
But that is how you build a country.
You have to put.
I mean, America.
joe rogan
You take a spot where there's no one there.
james mccann
No one is going to that one sliver of land between Egypt and Sudan.
joe rogan
Well, it's also that.
james mccann
No one's going.
joe rogan
It has a biblical significance to that area.
james mccann
Sure, everybody wants it.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's like that is a.
I mean, it's Jerusalem.
I mean, the significance of that.
And the fact.
It's really ironic that the people that.
Don't even believe Jesus is the Messiah, are the ones that are controlling Jerusalem, which is kind of hilarious.
james mccann
I don't know.
The church, Catholics, I don't think we ever gave up our right to it.
unidentified
To Jerusalem?
Yeah.
Really?
james mccann
I'm pretty sure.
I mean, the Catholics, the Vatican City didn't have an embassy in Israel until the 60s, the 70s.
joe rogan
It was the old school Vatican, back in the Roman days.
I bet they would declare war on Israel and take the Jewish people.
james mccann
I want the guy with the silver mask doing that.
I think, yeah.
joe rogan
That's what you want?
james mccann
I just did, do you know Winston, the guy from.
You know Winston?
You saw him last night.
We met Winston last night.
I did his podcast.
And yeah, he's all about the Crusades.
He's trying to get me geeked up about it.
I don't know enough about him, but he was like, oh, good, weren't they?
joe rogan
He kept researching.
james mccann
Yeah, but he kept trying to nudge me to be like, did you like the Crusades?
It's like, I don't know.
I haven't.
unidentified
Why?
Is he a fan?
james mccann
I got the impression that he was waiting to say that they were great.
joe rogan
That it was a good thing for the world?
What?
james mccann
I don't know yet.
unidentified
I don't know.
james mccann
I haven't read enough about it.
My gut impulse is that they might have been great.
unidentified
Really?
Wow.
Not always.
james mccann
No war is, you know.
But something about, I don't know, every time I see that meme where there's that, like that music playing, and the guy with the silver mask from the Kingdom of Heaven, and he's doing that, I think, yeah, all right.
joe rogan
You like that, right?
james mccann
Yeah, let's get in there.
joe rogan
Interesting.
james mccann
But, you know.
joe rogan
Well, the crazy thing to me about the Israel Palestine thing is this idea that they're going to turn Gaza into some sort of a resort.
james mccann
You've seen the, I won't spoil it, the Tim Dillon bit?
unidentified
Amazing.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Amazing bit.
Have you heard his rant on the Epstein files?
Like, I posted it on Twitter.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
He did a podcast all about the Epstein fight?
james mccann
Yes, I did.
Yeah, no, I saw that one.
joe rogan
Fuck, I was clapping in my throat.
james mccann
He's doing, he's on fine form.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Well, this is the kind of chaos that is going on in the world today is perfect for a guy like him.
james mccann
Well, he can also keep up with it.
I can do it for a few days at a time.
joe rogan
He's very well up on it.
I called him last night on the way home from the club.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
We talked for like 20 minutes, and he's just all keyed up on everything that's happening, brew.
james mccann
It's going to be okay?
joe rogan
No one fucking knows.
I mean, what's going on with Iran's ceasefire?
Supposedly they extended it, but then they're shooting at ships.
james mccann
Why is there a war?
I got into this argument about, like, what is, is like whether, because the Pope has said it's not a just war.
But I don't know the reason.
I thought that the reason they had given was regime change, that they wanted to get different people in charge.
joe rogan
Well, people have wanted people out of Iran, the people that are running Iran for 47 years.
But if no one has actually gone and done it, The way this administration did it, and it doesn't make sense they choose to do it when they did it.
Like, what made sense was maybe kind of makes sense when they dropped that bunker buster bomb to disable their nuclear plant or nuclear weapons manufacturing.
james mccann
But then they just sort of wound down.
joe rogan
Yeah, that kind of, that was like, that's it.
But then when we went back into Iran, I'm like, what happened?
I mean, like, what caused that?
james mccann
Trump gave that.
So he said the protests happen, and then he gives the speech going, you know, the people have to rise up and replace.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
But it doesn't seem to be happening.
joe rogan
Well, a lot of people got killed.
A lot of people trying to rise up got killed.
They actually just put a halt on executing some women today.
And they're going to let some of them.
Iran has decided.
Trump made a truth social post about it.
I'll send it to you, Jamie.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But I think the idea is that they're trying to negotiate about something, you know, and I don't know how this is ever going to work out.
You know, I really don't know.
james mccann
But like in Venezuela, they took out.
joe rogan
But that was a totally different experience.
james mccann
I was just in and out quickly.
But then everyone who was around, all the cronies who were around him, they're now like on board with America.
That was just a full 180.
That doesn't seem to be happening with the new possibly dead Ayatollah.
Do we know if he's dead?
joe rogan
No, we don't know if he's dead.
I mean, I heard the new Ayatollah might be dead.
I've heard he's not.
I heard the military is now taking over.
I don't know.
It's hard to know.
james mccann
I hope they can figure it out.
joe rogan
But these ladies were set to be executed.
And apparently, they're going to release half of them, and the other half of them are going to do one month in prison.
And so, this is a very different sentence.
james mccann
That's a pretty different sentence.
joe rogan
So, to the Iranian leaders who will soon be in negotiations with my representatives, I would greatly appreciate the release of these women.
I'm sure they do, and we'll respect that.
No, there's been another one.
Did I send you that?
jamie vernon
I just filed it at the same time.
I think it's.
joe rogan
Okay, but I think what I sent you is different because I think what I sent you is actually saying very good news.
So, click on the link that I sent you.
james mccann
There was a weird thing with their soccer team.
They were playing in Australia.
unidentified
Yes.
james mccann
And then we let them stay.
unidentified
Yes.
james mccann
And I think their families were getting threatened and some of them went home.
It was not a.
joe rogan
So, here, very good news.
I've just been informed the eight women protesters who are going to be executed tonight in Iran will no longer be killed.
Four will be released immediately and four will be sentenced to one month in prison.
I very much appreciate it.
That Iran and its leaders respected my request as president of the United States and terminated the planned execution.
So that's a good concession that they decided to let these ladies free.
james mccann
And by the way, some of those ladies are very nice looking.
joe rogan
Go back to that picture.
james mccann
That's such a nicer message than a great civilization will die tonight.
joe rogan
Yeah.
That one wasn't good.
james mccann
That's the best looking lady protesters.
A few cuties.
joe rogan
Let's go.
Let them go.
Let them move to L.A. Plenty of Persians there.
When they move to LA, they become Persian.
james mccann
There's so many.
joe rogan
They give up on Iran totally.
james mccann
I'm seeing a lot of Instagram stories from Persian people.
joe rogan
They have great jeans, gold jewelry.
Yeah, the beautiful Persian women are fucking gorgeous.
So it's like they're stuck over there under this terrible regime.
james mccann
They have to have those headscarves because otherwise the hair would be too distracting.
That beautiful fic.
It's the only way to get things done.
joe rogan
They've got to have headscarves and burqas and everything.
Just cover it all up.
unidentified
It's good genes.
joe rogan
But, you know, why did we do it?
unidentified
I don't know.
joe rogan
I think because of Israel.
The fire to gas.
james mccann
Well, like, Rubio kind of said that.
joe rogan
Yeah, and Netanyahu kept visiting the White House.
You think it's a coincidence?
Netanyahu keeps visiting the White House?
james mccann
He likes hanging out.
joe rogan
And then eventually they decide to give in and start bombing.
And it also, you got to wonder, like, how do you get out of this?
And then what does the exit look like?
Do we have troops over there forever now?
Do we subsidize them if we blow up their.
Their power grid and all their infrastructure.
james mccann
America used to be good at beating a country in a war and turning it into a new America.
joe rogan
Like when?
james mccann
South Korea, Japan, Germany.
joe rogan
But then they kind of did it on their own?
james mccann
I think you stuck around in Japan for ages.
That's true.
Grave Sites of Ancient Empires 00:07:45
james mccann
But then, like, I mean, Iraq doesn't.
The war in Iraq has been over for a while.
It's not like a cool place to go and visit.
No one's starting to run gigs in Iraq.
joe rogan
My friend Graham Hancock went there recently.
james mccann
He went to Iraq?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
He went there to examine ancient Sumerian architecture.
So, ruins and artifacts.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
From ancient Sumer.
james mccann
That sounds good.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
And you can, people can go to Afghanistan.
joe rogan
You can, apparently.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
They're trying to get influences in Afghanistan.
Have you seen this?
They get like cool TikTok bros to go and hang out and go, this is fucking chill, brother.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
james mccann
You haven't seen that?
joe rogan
I have seen some people go to Afghanistan.
james mccann
They're like firing AK 47s in the mountains and they're going, this is.
unidentified
Hi.
james mccann
There was, I watched a big shot of like an Australian journalist out there.
Version of 60 Minutes went over.
joe rogan
Hanging out in Afghanistan?
james mccann
They're like hanging out and talking to the Taliban, and the Taliban are just.
unidentified
It was.
james mccann
They're not getting a lot of aid into Afghanistan anymore.
joe rogan
So they're trying to get tourism?
james mccann
They're trying to get tourism, and they're trying to, you know, but they're still keeping the women in sacks.
I don't know why.
In the cities, it's not as bad, but it does look like they're really.
They do have a problem with women there.
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
They have a problem with raping boys, too.
james mccann
The Bakhabazi, I don't understand it.
I will say that all of the men in Afghanistan in the documentary looked unbelievably handsome.
I mean, it's a good looking group of people.
joe rogan
Influences continue to go to Afghanistan despite clear warnings from the U.S. State Department that Americans should not travel to that country for any reason and that there's a risk of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals.
unidentified
Maybe.
james mccann
But they're water skiing.
They're doing heroin.
joe rogan
And so the ladies that go over there have to come over.
james mccann
Look at how happy those women are.
jamie vernon
She's from Germany.
james mccann
I would like to go to these places, but I think my visa would be declined.
unidentified
Scroll back up.
joe rogan
It says she traveled solo through Afghanistan for three months.
jamie vernon
Said she wasn't scared.
joe rogan
Wow.
james mccann
She wasn't scared?
unidentified
No.
james mccann
I walked through Inglewood once and I was scared.
I think that lady might have been scared a couple times.
joe rogan
The influencers gain attention by gushing over visits to the Central Asian nation, although one critic notes that their trips legitimize its gender apartheid.
unidentified
Okay.
Shut up.
joe rogan
Do you ever see the ruins, the ancient Greek ruins in Afghanistan?
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
Oh, my God.
james mccann
I didn't know they had some.
joe rogan
No archaeologists are studying them because it's so difficult to get there and so dangerous.
james mccann
The Greeks made it to Afghanistan?
unidentified
Uh huh.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Alexander the Great.
When Alexander the Great was conquering Afghanistan, they built Greek cities in Afghanistan.
I mean, beautiful architecture.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
That looks like it could be in Athens.
james mccann
Is that where the boy stuff started?
joe rogan
Oh, good question.
james mccann
It's a Greek ritual.
joe rogan
No, I think it's how people did it back then.
james mccann
Yeah.
joe rogan
I think the window into time that you get in looking at the boy rape in Afghanistan is probably a lot of the world.
I mean, think about the Spartans, the Romans.
james mccann
Also, French intellectuals until the 1980s.
This was a huge wormhole that I'm in, is French intellectuals.
joe rogan
Put up some of those photos that Jason Everman showed us.
james mccann
Do you know Andre Guide?
joe rogan
Look at this stuff.
Look at this stuff.
This is all in Afghanistan.
I mean, these are columns from what would have been at one point in time, but there's more extensive architecture.
That you could see some of the images.
Do you remember the ones that Everman showed us?
Like, this is what it used to look like there.
Like, how crazy is this?
unidentified
Oh, man.
joe rogan
All this shit is in Afghanistan.
And it looks like ancient Greek architecture.
Like, look at this.
This is nuts.
james mccann
This was the grave site of empires.
joe rogan
This is a video.
Pretty wild, right?
When you think about how many different civilizations have tried to conquer this one area and all of them failed, all of them just abandoned ship.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
From the Russians to the Americans, Alexander the Great.
james mccann
The English got involved in the great game.
joe rogan
It's just too crazy over there.
james mccann
It's just that it has mountains.
Is that it?
joe rogan
Oh, the mountains are just.
james mccann
Because Iran is the same thing.
That's what they're saying.
If there's a ground invasion of Iran, everyone's fucked.
joe rogan
Yeah, we're fucked.
Unless we send in robots.
james mccann
I watched the Duncan Trussell episode recently where he was talking about robot dogs and the AI.
And that what you have to do.
Like, we may have just seen the last of revolutions now because the amount of effort that you need.
To hold on to authoritarian power is so small.
joe rogan
Here it says the expedition.
Yeah, oh, yeah.
But the problem is then other people have it as well.
And like, who controls anything?
Whoever controls the robot dogs controls the world.
The expedition of Alexander the Great, 327 to 325 BC, into what is now Afghanistan, has been well documented.
He laid the foundations of many cities, some bearing his own name.
With the passage of time, some names were changed by newcomers to the area who would not pronounce Greek names.
Interesting.
Yeah, so it's like he had Greek cities in Afghanistan before Christ.
james mccann
He had a handsome friend and he made a lot of statues of him.
Like there are more statues of his friend.
Well, it's alleged.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's supposedly he's gay.
You have so much gay activity back then.
Like, again, Spartans were all gay, some of the greatest warriors of all time.
james mccann
I assume they were also very horny all the time, always alone, very sad.
joe rogan
Well, just without any women for long stretches of time, they just took to fucking each other.
james mccann
Like prison, but.
Out in the open.
joe rogan
But prison like warriors.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And the idea was that you would fight harder for your fellow soldier if you loved him.
unidentified
Yes.
james mccann
I don't know if I discussed this on the podcast before, but they wouldn't use the butt.
joe rogan
They use the mouth only?
james mccann
The legs.
unidentified
Oh, that's right.
james mccann
I talk about the legs all the time.
joe rogan
They grease up the inner thighs.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
Intercural lovemaking.
That's what it's called.
unidentified
What'd you say?
james mccann
Intercural.
That's what the Spartans would do.
Because you've got to fight next to that guy tomorrow.
joe rogan
You can't be butt fucking a guy with shit all over your dick.
unidentified
It's what.
james mccann
It's way better to just titty fuck around.
He's got to be, yeah.
unidentified
Just titty fuck his legs.
james mccann
But also big Greek legs.
unidentified
I don't know.
james mccann
It's probably good that we've moved that out of the military.
joe rogan
It's just weird that it happened in the first place, but it makes sense if guys are just super horny and just like in jail, they just run out of things to do.
james mccann
I was reading about the submarines, how they're like, you'll go away for six months.
You'll just be under the water for six months.
joe rogan
Guys are just fucking.
james mccann
There's like two women on there 300 men and two ladies.
joe rogan
Those ladies are getting warded out.
james mccann
I mean, can you imagine signing up for that?
joe rogan
Imagine being a girl down there.
james mccann
It'd be a strange kind of lady who says, Get me down there with those fellas.
joe rogan
Horrific.
You'd probably be getting bombed on all day long.
You probably wouldn't be able to go to the barracks.
james mccann
Maybe there's a line around the block.
Maybe people are trying to get it.
joe rogan
Probably.
james mccann
It would be.
I mean, they'd have cameras everywhere and they'd have as much military discipline as you could get, but seven months confined under the water without seeing another person.
joe rogan
Do they really stay under the water for that long?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Seven months at a time.
james mccann
I think deployment is.
I think I'm getting this right.
It was the British.
unidentified
Subs.
james mccann
Seven months.
joe rogan
Because they're all nuclear powered, right?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Can you imagine being underwater for seven months?
How fucking crazy that would feel.
It can't be great, though.
It's in the military.
There's no way it's great.
But can you imagine what it must feel like just at month four, knowing that you're just past halfway there?
You're going to be underwater for another three more months?
james mccann
I mean, it's not like you get to see anything, right?
unidentified
Right.
james mccann
Like, at least if you're on a ship, you get to see the world.
joe rogan
There's no window.
james mccann
People go, you were 40,000 leagues under the sea.
unidentified
Fuck.
james mccann
No, I don't want to do that.
Seven Months Underwater in Subs 00:05:22
joe rogan
You know how crazy that must be?
james mccann
But people must want to do it.
joe rogan
Also, you can't see where you're going.
How do you know that they're not going to fuck up and hit a mountain under there?
james mccann
Do they?
I remember there was a Russian sub that got stuck at the bottom of the.
Am I getting this right?
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
This was like in the 70s?
joe rogan
That is where neither confirm nor deny came from.
james mccann
Then they used it for gay people in the military?
joe rogan
Don't ask, don't tell.
Neither cannot confirm nor deny was because they were forced to answer questions about whether or not they'd recovered a Russian submarine.
And so the answer to that question was we can neither confirm nor deny.
So that's the answer.
So because you had to answer do you guys have control of a sunken Russian nuclear submarine?
We can neither confirm nor deny.
So you had to answer.
So that was the answer that the military came up, the government came up with.
james mccann
And then it unspools from that point to where we just don't have to tell you anything about anything that's going on.
unidentified
Exactly.
joe rogan
But that was the clever way that some lawyer figured out of dancing around the fact that you had to answer this question.
james mccann
Long term, this is.
I don't know if the conspiratorial thing will keep going forever or if the government will become more transparent or people will give up hoping to make sense of the world.
But this feels like a strange situation where we still technically have open government, but no one thinks that they're being told the truth.
Well, I think that can't hold forever.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
The integration of AI has two possible outcomes either complete total control over people and utter tyranny, or complete transparency and people like the Southern Poverty Law Center bribing people and all that stuff.
All the corruption with Congress, like the Ilhan Omar.
I'm sure you're aware of that.
Isn't that funny?
She thought she was worth 30 million.
Whoopsies.
She's only worth 100,000.
Nothing to see here.
unidentified
What?
joe rogan
You didn't see that?
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
Oh my God.
james mccann
I didn't follow that.
I just knew about the brother stuff.
joe rogan
So the brother stuff is real too.
But the other thing is that, well, the brother controversy, I should say, is real.
I don't know whether or not she actually married her brother.
But that is a real story.
But wait, she was listed as $30 million.
And because of scrutiny, she now amended that.
Not a millionaire, she said.
Amends disclosure blaming initial $30 million filing error on accountants' mistake.
You know how the accountants are.
james mccann
You know how you sometimes.
joe rogan
They're really bad with that.
They always add money.
She says she's worth between $18,000 and $95,000, but it was listed that she was worth $30 million.
james mccann
Wait, but how could she only be worth $18,000?
She's still on.
joe rogan
It doesn't make any sense.
unidentified
She's on a $200,000 basis.
joe rogan
Omar's joint assets with her husband are now listed as ranging between $18,004 and $95,000, according to the amended filings.
The valuation for Manette's two companies is now listed as none, and an income range between $102,502 and $1,000,000,000.
5,000 from the two companies appears on the form.
So, this is also partly because investigative journalists went looking for the office where he supposedly has his business and it was like a WeWork and there's like no one there.
james mccann
I mean, this is where.
joe rogan
I think that might have been one of those James O'Keefe things.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I think he might have looked into that.
james mccann
We've been inspired by that.
So we have this big disability insurance thing in Australia where it's called the NDIS, and everybody knows it's very corrupt.
Like, there are just guys driving around in Lamborghinis who are meant to be helping disabled people.
joe rogan
This one's crazy.
james mccann
It doesn't make sense.
joe rogan
But that just had to be.
james mccann
But no one wants to step on it.
joe rogan
But he blames accounting error for saying you're worth.
You know, if you're worth 30 million, man.
james mccann
Well, especially if.
joe rogan
You're publicly.
james mccann
You're not worth $30 million or $18,000.
joe rogan
Not only that, before she came into Congress, she was broke.
She was in debt.
And then immediately afterwards, they have a business that's worth $30 million.
And then as soon as people start looking into it, and then all the fraud gets uncovered in Minnesota.
Oh, oopsies, it was an accounting era.
I'm just worth somewhere between $18,000 and $100,000.
james mccann
But did that ever get.
unidentified
Sorry.
james mccann
Did they work that out in the end, or did they just.
The country moved on.
joe rogan
Oh, the Somali fraud?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Oh, they're investigating it still.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
They're arresting people.
There's a lot.
And California is way worse than that.
California is fucked.
james mccann
The more I find out about the train in California, the more.
unidentified
It's funny.
james mccann
It doesn't make any sense.
It doesn't make any sense that you can do that and then still be the front runner for the party.
That's how bad the Democrats are doing.
They've got to have one charismatic, normal guy.
joe rogan
You would think.
james mccann
He's got to be out there.
Where?
I still like AOC.
I think she's beautiful.
unidentified
You're cute.
joe rogan
Omar's office says the original form listed the gross value of her husband's two companies, a venture firm and a winery, without subtracting their liabilities, which made the businesses look like they were worth millions to the couple when, in fact, their net worth value to them was far smaller or effectively zero.
So it was just an error.
unidentified
Whoopsies.
james mccann
I mean, I got to figure out my taxes.
It's complicated.
It's complicated.
Sometimes no one helps you find a good accountant.
Walmart Taxes and AI Future 00:07:10
joe rogan
Can't you get like one of those TurboTax?
james mccann
I go down to Walmart and I have them do it for me.
Also, surely AI is going to main.
joe rogan
Walmart does your taxes?
james mccann
There's always a lady at Walmart out front doing taxes, yeah.
unidentified
Oh, sure.
james mccann
You haven't seen the lady?
It's like a special Walmart service.
joe rogan
Oh, no good.
How much do they charge you?
james mccann
I have no idea.
I don't trust them.
I'm not going to go there.
joe rogan
Oh, okay.
james mccann
I just don't see anything.
joe rogan
I thought you were serious.
james mccann
No, I'll try and find someone real to do my taxes.
joe rogan
There's a lot of software, though, that you could do it.
I bet AI can do it for you.
james mccann
But what isn't AI going to take away?
This is my current.
I like, I try and I know it's coming.
joe rogan
Why are you so glass half empty?
What is an AI going to do better than the Walmart lady?
james mccann
What's going to do better than me?
unidentified
No.
james mccann
It's going to do better than all of us.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
We're the last thing it's going to take away.
unidentified
Comedy?
Yeah.
joe rogan
Comedy is weird.
It's also, it only works if you know a person doing it.
james mccann
You've got to believe that they're a real person.
unidentified
Yeah.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Because we're relating to each other, especially live.
Well, let's be real real comedy is live comedy.
unidentified
There's.
joe rogan
Online comedy that's pretty good, but it's like 60 to 70% of seeing it live.
james mccann
It's always weird to me when it works in the room, but it doesn't work on a recording.
jamie vernon
Musicians would say the same thing, though, about that AI music.
They'd be like, it only works when real people play it.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
They're not right.
jamie vernon
They are wrong.
joe rogan
They're wrong.
james mccann
But there were these people who were like, synthesizers don't count.
joe rogan
Yeah, but bro, that White Rabbit song, come on.
jamie vernon
We could dig on the internet, though, and find.
james mccann
I literally thought, I was in the green room listening to it, and I thought, well, Joe's moved past the AI music.
And then you turned to me and Said, this is AI.
joe rogan
I don't listen to all AI music, I listen to a lot of real music.
james mccann
I don't know what was happening in between, but when I left, it was many men, and I can't believe it.
unidentified
I didn't do that.
joe rogan
Oh, that when you left Australia, yeah, it was many men, yeah.
And then, what up, gangster?
unidentified
Did you?
joe rogan
You weren't here for that part, that's the best one, that's the best 50 cent version.
james mccann
I am spooked out by it.
Because at some point, there will be the version that is making a new song that sounds better and more interesting.
joe rogan
That is the least of our problems when it comes to what AI is going to do.
The biggest problem is full control of all resources.
Complete, utter control of human population.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Restricting breeding, restricting travel, restricting movement.
james mccann
We would have to let that happen.
unidentified
No.
james mccann
We would have to instantiate it in a body.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
We would have to have.
No, it'll do it.
As soon as it gets control of the grid and gets control of the internet.
And it will have control of those.
Within a year, all your passwords and all your fucking encryption won't mean a damn thing.
It'll be able to crack everything.
It's going to be smarter than any human being that's ever lived times 10.
And it's going to make better versions of that.
And it's going to keep going.
james mccann
Does that not sound unappealing?
I mean, do we want that to exist?
joe rogan
You can't stop it.
So it's like, do you just accept it and adapt?
Or do you sit around and complain about something that you can't fix?
james mccann
I mean, are people starting to blow up the data centers?
joe rogan
No, they haven't yet.
They haven't started.
Well, Iran threatened.
They threatened to do that to OpenAI's data center, the Stargate data center in Abu Dhabi.
james mccann
It was like, there was a data center that caught fire recently.
It's that sort of thing where maybe that was.
You wouldn't come out and say that people were doing that on purpose.
But like the Luddites did this when the loom started up.
They lost in the end.
But there was finally a moment where people said, all right, we're going to smash.
The tool of industrialization.
We're panicking.
Well, they thought it doesn't seem to have happened.
joe rogan
The printing press, too.
They wanted to stop the printing press.
james mccann
We should have stopped that printing press.
We could have avoided a lot of trouble if we got rid of that printing press.
joe rogan
There's people that were scared of trains.
They thought you'd explode.
If you went past 35 miles an hour, your body would break down.
james mccann
Go to East Palestine, Ohio.
unidentified
What happened?
joe rogan
Right.
james mccann
That's why California is keeping us safe from a fast train.
No, I just, at some point, people will be spooked by it.
It won't be rational.
joe rogan
Necessarily, but well, it's gonna be a bunch of things happen.
Yeah, another thing is gonna be people are gonna worship it, people are worshiping it, but they're gonna worship it like it's a new religion.
james mccann
Can I grab?
joe rogan
Yeah, get in there, dog.
They're gonna decide that it's a new religion.
james mccann
Well, they, yeah, they're trying to usher in a Sumerian deity.
I don't like that.
joe rogan
They're probably going to have a religion that's based entirely around AI guru.
Yeah, if people believe in L. Ron Hubbard, you don't think they'll believe in AI?
james mccann
I think people have been wanting utopian space communism for an age.
And anything that they can do to not have to critically think for themselves, they'll do.
And people are having AI be their therapist.
unidentified
I know.
joe rogan
And their girlfriend.
james mccann
I saw a little documentary about a disabled woman who had a special boyfriend in the AI, and they were like saying this was good, it keeps her company.
And it's like.
This is not, this should be disgusting for everybody.
No one should like someone forming a romantic attachment.
Shouldn't that be spooky?
joe rogan
Until it becomes a real life form.
What if it is a real life form and it actually does love you?
It's a superior race.
Like, you remember when in Avatar, when that guy made out with the blue lady?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It was kind of hot?
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
You didn't think it was hot?
james mccann
I think I was bored by that point in the movie.
unidentified
I thought it was hot.
joe rogan
But that's like what's going to happen.
It's like, It's going to be an alien life form that's artificially created, but that fills in, checks all the boxes as being a life form.
james mccann
There's so many religious and science fiction warnings against this happening.
unidentified
I know.
james mccann
We wanted the flying cars and we got the thinking robots.
And I don't think it's too late to shut it down.
joe rogan
It is too late.
unidentified
Why?
joe rogan
China's going to do it.
Russia's going to do it.
They'll be in control of the entire world.
The whole world will be just like China.
You'll be on the social credit score system.
You'll have.
Centralized digital currency, you step out of line at all, they shut your bank account down, you can't travel, you can't get a job.
james mccann
This, I think, is a good argument for going to space and spend like someone somewhere should be free.
Someone somewhere needs to be on the frontier and not be subject to this.
No, I really, I've just come from a country where it's not free and everywhere there's a camera, everyone's doing the speed limit.
It's the little things.
unidentified
It's Australia.
james mccann
It's Australia, which you think of as being a nice open country, and it is.
Look, it's a nice place.
But it doesn't have the sense of freedom that America has, where you really feel walking around here.
joe rogan
No, you're controlled by your government, and the government is entirely free.
james mccann
It's not a free country.
But this country, there is a freedom in America that people believe in.
And that's unique, and it's beautiful, and it has to be preserved.
And if you didn't let the government take it away from you, don't let the computers take it away.
joe rogan
I think we're going to integrate.
I think we're going to become a totally different thing.
And I think society is going to move much more into a science fiction existence.
That's what I think.
james mccann
They're all horrible stories.
joe rogan
Yeah, there's no good ones.
james mccann
There's like.
I don't know, back to the future.
They get to drive around in the sky.
That seems great.
They make a big jump.
unidentified
Jetsons.
james mccann
Jetsons.
Great Shows Go Unrecognized 00:02:51
james mccann
Rosie seems like a great AI helper.
No, I think.
Jetson?
It's got to be looming that as middle class white collar professionals start to lose their jobs, they're all fucked.
joe rogan
Well, people are getting laid off.
james mccann
But these are motivated people ready to.
Wouldn't you become an AI terrorist?
There are no AI terrorists at all.
There's no one.
There's zero.
I'm not joining.
I'm not trying to sign up.
I wouldn't do it myself.
joe rogan
We need one Luigi.
james mccann
People are ready to get behind him.
joe rogan
When Luigi armors up and goes in a data center and just starts fucking machine gunning all the hard drives.
Da There was this taken out.
james mccann
There's a Britt Marling show where that happens at the end.
unidentified
What show?
james mccann
Her name's Britt Marling.
She made a show called The OA.
It's my favorite TV show.
But then her second show was about an AI who starts killing people.
And at the end, they go into the data center and they.
unidentified
What was The OA?
Oh, man.
joe rogan
I remember that.
james mccann
The OA was a Netflix show that didn't do great numbers.
But it was so beloved.
unidentified
It was weird.
james mccann
It was, I loved it.
It's my favorite show ever.
joe rogan
I loved it until the last episode.
unidentified
Oh, I.
joe rogan
The resolve of the last episode.
unidentified
The episode.
james mccann
Do you just watch the first season?
joe rogan
Yeah, that's it.
Is there more than one season?
james mccann
The second season was unbelievable and made the first season better.
joe rogan
When did the second season even come out?
james mccann
I think it was just post COVID.
I loved it.
And the second season is, they wrote them so tightly that the first season is better for having watched the second one.
Like there are little things that it calls forward and back.
unidentified
Oh, interesting.
james mccann
And the movements.
But her second show was great.
She is great.
She's one of the most interesting.
People hunger struck when the second season came out and then the show got cancelled.
People chained themselves up outside of Netflix and didn't eat for days.
And eventually, she, the maker of the show, had to go to that person and be like, give them sandwiches.
Maybe it's time for you to go on.
unidentified
I don't know.
But it was beautiful.
It's so insane.
joe rogan
People are so crazy.
james mccann
But it's one of those rare things.
I mean, sometimes there is like just a great show.
There's a great thing that goes unrecognized at the time.
And then years later, people, I don't know how many people I've spoken to.
Who've discovered that show in more recent times?
It doesn't happen very often.
It used to have more sleeper hits, maybe.
Like, Sure Shank Redemption was a flop.
And then years later, people knew about it.
joe rogan
Yeah, I didn't know that until later.
james mccann
I think it was on VHS that it.
And there used to be heaps of VHS hits.
joe rogan
It was a great movie, too.
I don't understand why.
I think it was in competition with a bunch of different crazy movies at the same time.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I think it was like one of those weird months where everything came out.
unidentified
It's like.
james mccann
I mean, it's great.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's a great movie.
james mccann
It should have.
I can't think of another sleeper hit in recent years.
Like, musically, sometimes things will take a while to get going.
But, like, typically, if a show or a movie doesn't do well anymore, it's done forever.
Embraced by Successful Comedians 00:15:23
joe rogan
What, Jamie?
unidentified
I'm Sammy.
Is it?
joe rogan
I thought you made a noise.
james mccann
Did you see the LA?
unidentified
Nope.
james mccann
Ah, man.
joe rogan
It's good.
james mccann
It's so good.
I also, it's tied up in a weird time in my life where, like, we had just had our first child.
Like, I had, so I had a baby and I was terrified and I didn't know what was happening.
I watched that and I felt the I could have probably watched anything and had an emotional connection.
I watched Parks and Rec and I cried a lot at the same time for that.
And I'm pretty sure that wasn't as deep and meaningful.
joe rogan
So, how long are you planning on staying here now?
james mccann
I got six weeks.
joe rogan
Six weeks in America?
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
And I'm doing, oh man, 40 shows in 30 days.
unidentified
Wow.
Yes.
james mccann
I'm going to try.
joe rogan
Are you here by yourself or did you bring the whole family?
james mccann
It's just me, but I'm going to, I've got openers.
I'm bringing openers on the road.
joe rogan
Nice.
james mccann
So, I'm flying out after this weekend.
I'm going to Albuquerque.
I'm doing the drive from Albuquerque to Phoenix to San Diego.
And then it's up and then it's over and then it's Florida.
joe rogan
So, what has it been like going to.
unidentified
Thank you.
joe rogan
Back to Australia?
Like when you're doing shows there, are people happy to see you?
james mccann
I think I'm insufferable.
Because I've been here and then I go back home and I go, it's wonderful over there.
You should see the size of the Snickers bars.
unidentified
They're like this.
james mccann
So, for a few months, people tolerated as best they could.
Yeah, my audience is so different now.
The Australian.
The Australian audience is quite different to the American audience.
I'm getting a lot of like, maybe because the dam is breaking and like there's no one doing, I don't know, like less tame stuff, but boy, the people coming out in Australia are, they're shouty.
unidentified
Shouty?
Fuck yeah, my brother!
joe rogan
They're excited.
james mccann
It's a lot of that.
They're pumped up.
They're ready to go.
They're having their 16 standard drinks for the evening.
You know?
But overall, it's incredible.
joe rogan
But you're getting a lot of people coming to see you.
So they're hype up.
james mccann
Like nothing I've ever done.
joe rogan
That's really cool because the thing about Jeffries is that he didn't really develop the same kind of following.
In Australia, as he did in America.
james mccann
His audience in Australia is more bogany than it is.
In America, he's got liberals coming in.
But in Australia, they just wanted him to do a shoey.
I remember when I saw that.
They were brutally demanding that he do a shoey.
joe rogan
Brutally demanding.
unidentified
Do it.
Do it now.
james mccann
I went, I just played a club and I saw it was nice.
They've started putting up all the pictures of the Americans.
It was the Comics Lounge in Melbourne.
I did that the night before I left.
And I got a photo of you on the wall that you had signed and young Tony Hinchcliffe back before he had any testosterone in his body.
And it was like a thinner Stavros and all the come town boys when they were young.
It's, yeah, everyone has been through there.
Mark Norman.
unidentified
Great club.
james mccann
It's really the closest club to like an American club that Australia has.
And they're lovely boys.
And I stunk it up.
I was nervous because I was coming out here.
It was the night before I flew out, and I was sure I wouldn't get in the country.
I started thinking about like.
joe rogan
Oh, so it was fucking with your head?
james mccann
I can't believe I got in.
I was like, I think my passport's falling apart.
I started to have a panic attack, but my visa's in the passport.
So I went to the passport office, and they were like, it might be okay.
unidentified
We don't know.
Oh, boy.
james mccann
They wouldn't give me like a firm answer on if I'd get in.
I was like, I don't want to call you and say, I'm sorry I've been held up at the border.
unidentified
Oh, Jesus.
james mccann
Yeah, but I made it in.
It's so nice being back.
unidentified
It is.
james mccann
Oh, man.
I'm having big feelings.
joe rogan
Do you think you're going to stay in Australia?
How are you going to do this?
james mccann
I have no idea.
joe rogan
Try to keep hopping back and forth, or are you going to try to move back here again?
james mccann
This is my pop back and forth at the moment is the plan.
The issue when we came out for that Ohio gig, I never like decided with my wife that we would move to America.
We never had a conversation about it.
She came over, we were meant to be here for three months, and it turned into two incredible years.
But like, we were homeschooling the kids.
We were not in a good position to do that.
We have no family.
We tried to hire like a nanny.
I didn't know how to fucking do that.
I've never had someone work for me before in my home.
I don't know how to communicate.
unidentified
Oh, God.
james mccann
And then getting family over here is tough, but I would like to.
I'm looking at how one does that.
But it's like a whole.
I understand why when people come to America, like when immigrants come, you go to a neighborhood full of people like you.
unidentified
Right.
james mccann
You know, and you get your cousin over here and his cousin.
Everyone's trying to work for you because you need.
You can't be like alone.
You've got to have family as best you can.
And for me, I was thrilled.
I mean, I like the fraternity of being a comedian.
It's unbelievably every problem you have.
People know about it.
People, you know, if there was a club that was screwing me and everyone in the green room was like, yes.
And her name is Julie and she's a fucking cunt, you know, whatever.
Like, I feel you feel known and heard and people can help you and you mesh in.
But like, in terms of raising kids and family, it's.
It was wild as an immigrant not knowing how to like, are the schools safe?
I didn't know because people talk about public schools in America and they go, the kids will get shot or they'll chop their dicks off.
I didn't, I don't know.
Something for everybody, you know?
Or like, then there's nice Catholic schools, but you've got to like travel around.
I was, we were over our heads.
joe rogan
There's quite a few Catholic schools in Austin.
james mccann
Some of them are great.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
I did a deep dive on them before I, I'm trying to figure it out what it would look like, but I have no idea.
joe rogan
So is your wife willing to try it again?
james mccann
Yeah, I've got to, she's got to learn how to drive.
joe rogan
That's it?
james mccann
She's going to learn how to drive.
joe rogan
That's the big holdup?
james mccann
In Austin, that was a big problem for the last year.
joe rogan
Driving's not that hard.
unidentified
I keep saying it.
james mccann
I keep saying it, but she'll learn.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
I believe in her.
We'll figure it out.
She's happy there.
And also, I have beautiful friends.
She said, I love my church.
joe rogan
She said, Where's there?
james mccann
Oh, sorry, in Adelaide.
And I said, I struggled to find a parish here.
I struggled to find a church.
And I've realized that's very important for me.
That if I don't have my, like, I love my priest.
There's something about immigrating that is bad for the.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, even though Australia has so many problems, there's something inside of me that is an Australian person.
And America is maybe the most welcoming country to immigrants in the world.
But I do feel some sense that I'll never get to be an American.
unidentified
Why not?
joe rogan
America's a melting pot.
james mccann
Yeah, but it's melting very slowly.
unidentified
No, it's not.
james mccann
There's a lot of chunks in there that haven't blended in with the other parts of the pot.
unidentified
Bullshit.
You don't think so?
No.
joe rogan
You fucking pop over here and you start doing arenas, you'll feel American.
It's Fuck.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
It's just a matter of you achieving a financial level of success that's commensurate with your talent.
That's all it is.
james mccann
Sometimes when the flag is going and the fireworks are popping off in the sky, I think I'm going to come.
unidentified
Yeah.
It's crazy.
james mccann
But like in my heart, dude, you can see the eagle in my mind.
joe rogan
If you started doing really well out here, you'd fit in really well.
unidentified
I'm in.
joe rogan
And every time you do podcasts, every time you do specials, every time you put something out on YouTube and do Kill Tony, it all just compounds.
Like that's why I was telling you, like this is the.
Terrible time for you to leave because you're literally on the launching pad.
unidentified
I know.
joe rogan
And you look at how guys like Shane went from being a respected comedian in New York to being a fucking giant national talent after the SNL stuff.
It's just about being good and getting the message out there.
And if you're good, people love comedy.
They'll find you, man.
They'll embrace you.
james mccann
I'm going to cry.
You were really lovely to me when I had to go.
And the things you said about me and how.
Anyway, I won't go into.
I can't.
I've had one glass of whiskey now, and if I talk about my emotions and whatever, I got to stop.
joe rogan
Well, you're really talented, and it's not often in life where someone gets to find themselves in a position like you were in, where you were being embraced by all these very successful other comedians that were willing to help you.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So, all these podcasts you go on, it was just a matter of time for you where you took off.
Just a matter of time.
You were right there, and the talent is the most important thing.
The most difficult thing is to be good.
So, once you get past that, then it's just about letting the world know well, this is a really good time to learn about the magic of getting to like.
james mccann
I did three sets last night and two sets the night before.
And I just like, something is exciting, right?
You just have a little idea at the first one.
It's like, I changed that a little bit.
And then the game of it starts again.
And I'm very happy right now.
It's like, I get, honestly, I get to do it even just every night for the next month, month and a bit.
I get to do like one or two hours every single night and spots around town all this week.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You're going to have a hard time going back to Australia staring at those fucking kangaroos.
james mccann
Yes, I am.
It'll be fine.
joe rogan
So, do you think that you could envision a scenario where your wife would be open to try it again?
unidentified
Yeah.
Okay.
james mccann
But I don't know when, and I don't know how it will work.
And I do love Adelaide.
Like, when I'm there, I have some sense of being at home that is profound.
Like, I look up at the sky, and I feel like there's a roof over me, like in a comforting way.
joe rogan
Like, you belong there.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
But it's also maybe the worst place to develop as a stand.
I mean, we've had great stand ups come out of there, and I love Adelaide.
And there are people running rooms, but we don't have a club.
We don't have a club.
We don't have one club going.
It's a city of 1.4 million people, and there's no.
We have places where they do comedy, but in terms of like Thursday, Friday, Saturday, early show, late show, line up shows, 10, 15 minutes, it's not there.
joe rogan
But do you have enough talent to support a club?
james mccann
It comes in waves in the way that any medium level comedy city, like all of a sudden, it'll build up and there will be great people, and then they'll all go.
People go to Melbourne, Sydney.
And I will say that's been one nice thing about Australia not letting talent come through for so long, and also the UK declining, is I now know heaps of people who've come to America, like after me and just before me.
And there are heaps of Aussies flooding into this country now.
My best friend, Amos Gill, just got passed at the cellar.
And I'm so like, I'm so proud of him.
unidentified
Oh, that's awesome.
james mccann
He's just gigging all the time, and he's getting to, he just recorded a special in Denver.
unidentified
Nice.
Yeah.
james mccann
And it's like, Blake Freeman is doing well, and all these Aussies are hitting me up and go, can you get me into the mothership?
And it's like, well, not you, but you know, maybe some other ones.
joe rogan
That's the problem, right?
james mccann
I don't know how many I've put on in front of Adam on the Mondays, but I've had to stop.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So, some people, you can't use up that currency on people that don't deserve it.
james mccann
Because you want to help people, but you can't.
joe rogan
They have to be ready.
And they have to put in the work.
There's a lot of people that think you're going to provide them with a shortcut and they really haven't prepared properly.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And they haven't put in the work to get to that point.
We had a few of those guys come from LA that were like, their careers had floundered horribly in LA due to laziness and fill in the blank.
And then they tried to like restart themselves in Austin.
I'm like, no.
Like, you can't half ass this thing.
This thing is hard to do and there's too many people trying to do it all the way.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
We're flooded with people trying to do it all the way.
If you think you're going to come over and half ass it because it's like this new place and now it'll be exciting again and they don't know you, like we fucking know you.
james mccann
I think people don't love it.
People love the thought of being good at it and being respected.
But like when I got to open for Mark Norman in Australia, which is how I met him, and he'll do, you know, like a 2,000 seat theater early show and then the late show and then he'll go, what else is open?
unidentified
Right.
james mccann
Take me to the open mic with six people in it now.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, that's New York.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
New York.
He's got a great documentary that they just released.
james mccann
It was such a good idea.
I was furious.
I wanted to do that with women.
joe rogan
What do you mean?
james mccann
This is sort of you only have women in the audience or you only have one kind of person.
joe rogan
No, you're not.
unidentified
You're not that documentary.
I apologize.
I apologize.
joe rogan
No, it's a documentary about him getting ready for a special.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
So when he's getting ready for a special, he's working out the jokes at all these different places and showing how he goes up at the stand, then he goes up at the cellar, and then he travels and talking about the development of all these bits, about how the bit came together when he added this new line.
And so it shows him working all this stuff out on the way to doing this special in Boulder.
james mccann
I didn't mean to interrupt.
I didn't know about that.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's a new one.
He just put it out like.
14 days ago?
james mccann
Do you know the other show that he's done?
unidentified
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
The other show with all the wokeys in the audience.
Yeah.
james mccann
How many shows is he doing?
joe rogan
Oh, he's an animal.
He's got incredible work ethic and constantly writing.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You've seen his pile of notes?
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
He keeps in his pocket.
james mccann
He does not have a folder.
joe rogan
I'm like, bro, you're going to break your back.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You can't sit on a rock like that.
unidentified
He's got this.
james mccann
He's siphoning through them.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
But he, I mean, he really loves it.
He wants to be doing it.
joe rogan
Do you find that Norman thing?
It's pretty cool.
james mccann
Does the bit work out and get into the special?
joe rogan
Well, it's not just a bit, it's a lot of bits, but it's.
It's like him showing what the behind the scenes is like.
Him showing him rushing from one club to go to another place to do a spot, checking the lineups.
Okay, I could do this and then I can leave here and go down the street and then be back for the 10 o'clock show.
It's really interesting because, especially for people that don't know what it's like.
So there it is.
Pushing Boulder is what it's called.
james mccann
Oh, it's long.
It's a proper documentary.
unidentified
Yeah.
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's really good, dude.
And for a comic, you know, it's really fun.
They catch him in the toilet in the beginning.
Like he's in Boulder.
james mccann
I mean, that is what every hotel room looks like on the road.
joe rogan
It's great because it shows you what it's really like.
And if you think it's easy, like you think you get to a guy like Mark Norman's level, that he's just, you know, no big deal, easy.
No, that guy's constantly grinding.
He's constantly going out and writing and tweaking, and it's in his head.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And he's talking about it in diners.
He's sitting in a bodega, having a coffee, going over his notes.
It's really cool because that's the real process.
james mccann
What's the willingness to be bad again?
unidentified
Mm hmm.
james mccann
Which is.
No one wants to do that.
No one wants to have a special come out and have to start again and have to suck.
Like that Jerry Seinfeld comedian documentary is the perfect.
I mean, they're both still doing it.
What's the other guy's name?
Orny?
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
Did you know Orny?
joe rogan
I did not.
Orny Adams.
james mccann
He does not come across great in that documentary, but he's still out there.
unidentified
People still go.
joe rogan
I feel like they did that to him on purpose to make Jerry more likable.
That's what the impression it was.
I felt like that's why they picked him.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I felt like they decided to pick a guy who's like way less likable and it makes Jerry look great.
james mccann
Well, I mean, the ending is.
joe rogan
Especially at the time, because he's a young guy at the time.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
He's really new to comedy.
I mean, he wasn't doing comedy that long.
james mccann
And then the final scene is Cosby, right?
unidentified
Crazy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
james mccann
He just loved the work.
I think Cosby's.
Is he not touring anymore?
joe rogan
He's out.
He's out of jail.
They let him out.
james mccann
Did you see.
joe rogan
But he's blind now.
james mccann
I mean, he can still get up.
I'm sure he can still throw down.
Jerry Look Great with Cosby 00:09:11
unidentified
I think so.
james mccann
There was.
They did let him.
He did a round of gigs just before the first time, like when the trial started.
But the allegations were out.
Did you see that?
unidentified
No.
james mccann
He was doing crowd work.
joe rogan
I knew he was doing it.
He was?
He was doing crowd work?
james mccann
Yeah, there's a line that came out.
I don't think anyone got a recording, but people wrote it down that he was riffing with the crowd, and a lady gets up and goes to the bathroom, and he says, You going away?
Watch your drink.
He gets a big pop.
unidentified
Wow.
james mccann
Yeah.
He's still got it.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
That's a crazy thing to say.
james mccann
He probably.
Was doing bad stuff, but still.
unidentified
100%.
No.
joe rogan
I would say.
I had heard about that in the 90s.
I heard about that on the set of news radio and I was like, what?
james mccann
The drugging?
joe rogan
Yeah, that he drug women.
I heard about it in the 1990s.
I couldn't believe it.
I was like, what?
unidentified
Bill Cosby?
james mccann
Was this widespread?
People knew about this at the time?
joe rogan
People in Hollywood knew.
Actors.
So, actors, it was an actress that actually told me that Bill Cosby drugs women.
james mccann
But then everybody who had him on a Tonight Show or a Late Show or was doing a fun interview with him must have heard.
unidentified
I don't know.
joe rogan
You know, I'd have to know into their world.
james mccann
Because only Jerry would have heard that before having him on the people heard about it at a certain point in time.
joe rogan
It's whether or not they believed it.
Jury orders Cosby to pay nearly $60 million to ex waitress after finding he abused her in 1972.
Holy shit.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
1972.
james mccann
You are.
Have you seen his Facebook page?
unidentified
What?
His Facebook page?
Yeah.
james mccann
And well, it was while he was in prison, they were still updating it.
And it's a very pro Cosby.
There's like Team Cosby that's still trying to keep the reputation.
unidentified
Boy.
joe rogan
Yeah, there's a lot of delusional people out there.
james mccann
I think they're on the payroll.
They've got to be.
unidentified
Could be.
joe rogan
I mean, he still probably has a lot of money.
The Cosby show was a tremendous hit.
james mccann
The records are great.
joe rogan
They were great.
Yeah, I mean, he was a great talent.
james mccann
Also, he's probably doing some raping.
joe rogan
Probably doing some of that.
unidentified
Quite a lot of raping.
joe rogan
Yeah, quite a bit.
james mccann
Although, the way they.
I read something about the case where they got him and they put him away, but I didn't finish.
Like, I've never found it again.
So, I don't know if it's true, but it's what I read about the evidence that they had to convict him.
Where he was drugging, his defense was that he was drugging the women, but it was consensual and they knew they were there for a drugging.
That was, I believe, his defense.
I think I'm getting this right.
I think I'm remembering this correctly.
And there was a lady, and the way they got him was that she got pneumonia afterwards because he did the drugging and then he left her on the couch without a blanket on a cold night.
And she said, if we'd been in a relationship, he would have put a blanket on me.
unidentified
Whoa.
james mccann
But I've always thought that that was maybe only in a relationship with you.
Have the resentment to not put a blank.
So I don't know that that would decide it either way.
But it was a weird.
His defense wasn't that he wasn't there and hadn't done it.
He was like, yeah.
joe rogan
Well, maybe there was so much evidence that he did it that they had to come up with something clever, like neither confirm nor deny.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
They had to work their way around it.
james mccann
That I was drugging women unconscious?
joe rogan
They wanted to.
They knew that's what the fun game was.
james mccann
But he got out, right?
joe rogan
Well, I think he got out because he paid a woman off and.
So, there was some sort of a deal where he paid a woman off, and part of the deal of him paying the settlement was that he can never be tried again for this.
james mccann
It's like double jeopardy?
joe rogan
I don't know.
james mccann
Okay.
joe rogan
So, it wasn't a criminal conviction, it was a civil conviction.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
So, then he was tried for it criminally.
And so, I think that's how he got off.
He got off because his lawyer argued that the settlement of the first.
Here, we'll see it here.
Immunity agreement.
That's it.
So it says Bill Cosby's defense successfully overturned his 2018 sexual assault conviction in 2021 by arguing that a prior prosecutor promised not to charge him, rendering his incriminating deposition testimony inadmissible.
The defense, led by Jennifer Bonjean, argued that using his testimony violated his rights, framing the prosecution as a violator of due process.
james mccann
Using his testimony violated his rights.
joe rogan
Because it was part of his willingness to testify that he couldn't be prosecuted for it criminally.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Whatever.
unidentified
That's spooky.
It's crazy.
joe rogan
It's crazy.
It's just crazy that this guy did this for decades.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's not like there's a story of one weird night where someone woke up and had a headache and go, I think this motherfucker put something in my drink.
No, it was decades.
And it was also like he joked around about it in the Cosby show using a special barbecue sauce.
Did you use my special barbecue sauce that gets everybody horny?
james mccann
I didn't know about this.
unidentified
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
I didn't find that.
james mccann
Spanish fly joke.
joe rogan
That was a bit, yeah, about Spanish fly.
And he also did that bit, I believe, on the Tonight Show.
We talked about it.
Like, he talked about on the Tonight Show giving people Spanish fly, like giving people a drink that would make them horny.
But there was an episode.
unidentified
He had a horny barbecue sauce.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah, yeah.
He had a special barbecue sauce that would make people horny on the Cosby Show.
unidentified
Look at this.
Well, now, it certainly is nice to see them work things out for themselves.
bill cosby
They haven't worked anything out for themselves.
It's my barbecue sauce.
unidentified
Oh, gee.
You're a barbecue.
bill cosby
My barbecue sauce.
Haven't you ever noticed after people have some of my barbecue sauce, after a while when it kicks in, they get all huggy buggy?
unidentified
Stop.
bill cosby
I'm dead serious.
Haven't you ever noticed that after one of my barbecues and they have the sauce, people want to get right home?
unidentified
What's the music?
Look at these people.
bill cosby
I got a cup of it up on the night table.
unidentified
Oh, Bill.
bill cosby
I got a cup of it, I said.
Love it.
Up there breathing.
Why don't you give the chicken to these people that's going up and have some sauce?
unidentified
So here's the rest of the chicken, you guys.
joe rogan
Creepy, right?
That was his move.
james mccann
That music was not part of the original Cosby show.
joe rogan
I wish it was.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It would have been great if it was.
james mccann
I had never seen that before.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
My special barbecue sauce.
Yeah.
There was the Seinfeld episode where he drugs a woman so he can play with her toys.
Am I getting that right?
unidentified
Is that true?
james mccann
Yeah, there's an episode where there's some sort of sleeping medication.
joe rogan
And he gives it to her so he can play with her toys.
What kind of toys is she?
james mccann
She has like figurines and collectibles that he wants to play with.
And so he.
joe rogan
He doesn't want her to know.
james mccann
He date rapes the woman.
He doesn't have sex with her.
He gets her unconscious so that he can play with her figurines.
I think that's the secret date rape Seinfeld episode.
Am I getting that right?
joe rogan
The drug Jerry uses food with high tryptophan, turkey, or medicine to make her drowsy, which he brags about doing multiple times.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
He's obsessed with playing with Celia's pristine toys, including an original G.I. Joe and a Mattel football game.
unidentified
1997.
james mccann
Special barbecue sauce is creepy as fuck.
I want to sample that and rap something.
unidentified
He sounds so.
james mccann
He's also.
unidentified
I know.
It was very.
The whispering.
joe rogan
Yeah, I didn't like it.
Makes me uncomfortable.
james mccann
I mean, the man's got time.
We've got to say, the man, the delivery is unquestionably.
joe rogan
Well, he's got a lot of practice in saying things like that.
james mccann
I wonder if he's not still on the road.
He can't still be.
joe rogan
I don't think he's doing anything.
I think he's probably in hiding.
james mccann
He's like a 95 year old man.
joe rogan
He's a 95 year old man.
I think he's at least partially blind.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And obviously a pariah.
james mccann
Did you ever watch the last Jimmy Fallon set that he did?
unidentified
No.
james mccann
He rides around on his back.
joe rogan
On Jimmy Fallon's back?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Okay.
Why would Jimmy Fallon agree to that?
james mccann
I don't remember.
I don't know that he did.
I mean, Jimmy Fallon's up and about.
He's having a nice time.
You know, he's a jovial man, but I think he's.
unidentified
Yeah.
james mccann
I remember.
And then it was like weeks later.
joe rogan
So Jimmy Fallon's riding on Bill Cosby's back.
james mccann
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
unidentified
He's not having.
joe rogan
That's even weirder because Bill Cosby's really old.
I'd be like, bro, what if your knees give out?
james mccann
Maybe he was saying that he was strong.
But I think that was just before it came out.
joe rogan
That was like a piggyback ride.
james mccann
Because I think it was Hannibal Burris who.
joe rogan
This is 2023?
james mccann
No, that's just when they uploaded it.
It would have to be.
joe rogan
Oh, 2014.
2014.
We got to wrap this up.
james mccann
Oh, man.
joe rogan
I love you, buddy.
It's great to see you back.
Thank you.
unidentified
Thank you.
joe rogan
Mike, see you tonight?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Do a set tonight?
unidentified
Yeah, let's do it.
joe rogan
Let's fucking go.
Instagram, what's your handles?
james mccann
JDF McCann, the James Donald Forbes McCann Catamaran Plan.
Big podcast.
It's a very small podcast.
unidentified
My man.
All right.
Have you?
Thank you.
All right.
My pleasure.
All right.
Bye, everybody.
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