Joe Rogan Experience #1518 — David Choe Transcript

Transcript

0:00 hello david what's up buddy if i leave right now this will be the shortest one you've ever done what you don't like. If there's something that, They don't know you that well. I don't get nervous. And I just felt, you know, and I was like, oh, maybe it was the breakfast I had. I look across the street. And I'm like, what the fuck? The age of real canceling has been since you were on the podcast last.

3:16 So now whenever someone, anything happens to someone, all the pylon people. The actual filmmaking is kind of amateurish, but the subject matter is so dynamic that you're in it. It's like all these slights and he takes it and he uses it as fuel. you might be crazy but but you're a lovable crazy and and when people know who you actually are five? Sure.

5:11 I think I can do a better one now. inspirational you're a perfectly imperfect That's very nice of you. i was like i want to see who joe's talking to so this mic smells like Post Malone. So there's ghosts on the beach right there. That's so cool. freaks everybody out never so um i got all the embarrassing stuff out of the way i Right. and I sat next to it,

8:23 and I got caught. I got caught. Caught talking to a you know, it was three o'clock. There was no one eating there. And I got caught. And he's like, shame, red face. of hours it's an art you're a painter you're a mma artist in in in my world i'm also an mma artist they have no attention span. and making it seem just seamless and effortless. and the kid with the drone. And I don't know the wife. I don't know anyone's names. I can't even tell you anyone's name. I go, there's Jason Bateman and there's the kid and the kid with the drone.

10:42 I'm like, I can't. Thank you. Could I have done more? You're no good. And they go, well, an average human living in society today from morning till night will say thousands of horrible things about themselves. And I'm good enough. and write i am enough on your on your mirror so you see it every morning I am enough and then I go Old Spice and jobs i didn't get so i'm not enough and i'm not you know so and it's this struggle it's this

14:33 He's fat. Absolutely. You have to suffer. Yeah. I've believed it's not a debate for me. I think you can have a balance, but you have to have this thing right whatever that thing is there's got to be fear, ego, pride, shame, humiliation. That's why you never tried it. right fuck you know and i go you know what i'll try it It's small, but like... Oh, okay.

18:12 Listen to your podcast. Sometimes I'll go goddamn Dave and what you were thinking while you were doing it, how you knew it was fucked up. Thank you. Well, we were talking the other day about how you kept recording it and you didn't release Should I do it again? There's a bunch of people out there that are terrified to be free. I can't control myself.

20:26 Okay. Like, when I go on the Joe Rogan show, like, I feel like an absolute failure when I leave Like, man, Joe just said, fuck, man, They're not, they live up here. Right. right it's just like fuck i i'm trying my hardest to get back to drawing like a kid where I don't give a fuck, you know? we have a channel here at Sirius. relationships i'm talking to a porn star i'm talking to this how do i take it to the next

23:36 Like, I'm a fucking artist. high i i'm i i i think you'll see why i don't need i already see it and then i and then i go i'm i'm so you're locked in i'm locked in i'm like my only goal right now is to try to convince this to hear what i just recorded this should never go out into the world this should never go out There's no standard butt plug. That's having a fight with his boss that fired him 20 years ago.

27:33 And I go, Mom, let's get the fuck out of here. that needed, uh, art lessons so i i meet this kid steven And now some words are coming out of his mouth that sound like that fucking tongues kind of stuff. so I go That one went on for six hours. But the talking tongue so you there was no real words. You just sat down and just this is what the plug one sounds like

30:23 I get it. He used to do it. I think he did it under the influence of psychedelics. He would talk in like these weird crazy Oh, is this McKenna? He did a thing with... You don't have to close your eyes. I was just joking around about it. That no, I'm serious like whater cell? No, I'm serious. No. That's what I do. You're doing it right now. That's not an alien characteristic.

34:56 Yeah, but I don't hate myself, but I'm never happy. Because of the fact that I'm obsessed with doing better at things, I put the work in. Jamie's way more of an alien than me. went to his house once and he played I don't know what you call them scratch tracks or something and I've heard their music. first of all, that guy smokes tons of weed. Wow. These people are paying money to come see me do comedy, so I'm not going to do my true

37:19 Yeah, you've had every single different kind of profession and weird personality sitting here. I talk over people and I'm trying to sort of like wedge my agenda and try to through another person. We want to learn, you know. bus in my brain and the It's like a therapy tool where you're in a room like this with like five other patients. And so then you keep playing that on a loop in your brain.

39:41 My dad was there. What are you smelling right now? these now and i go has anyone ever done a psychodrama with themselves right because there's Did you need to do that? And just ask them to please not share it unless people are paying. I'm a different person all the time. there's a reason to get out and that reason has to make sense. And you, you have to be able to

42:40 Or maybe I should get out. No, you've just got to go. in San Gabriel Valley, He sort of drags his foot, And it's just traffic bumper to bumper. anywhere bro chill the fuck out and parasite the korean film had just won best film like in the American Academy Awards and all my non-white friends are starting to I don't even know that guy. So that's what I'm saying.

45:41 The Koreans are fucking going crazy in koreatown and and Fuck you, mom. So during the war times, he's Korean, but he was born in China. I grab my dad by the neck. He's like, yeah, there was no traffic then. fucking K-pop kimchi probiotic shit Growing up, the message from my parents was, don't piss off the white people. dad and i'm like we fucking did did it. Fucking man, everywhere.

49:02 And he goes, I would trade all of that for for us to You saw families walking down, like entire families walking the dog. Like he's staring at me and our windows are down and I'm, He did that to you and your dad. And I froze. maybe i would have been more quick- witted and had a snappy comeback. who's in a lot of pain, You're not going to change anything.

52:08 It's probably something real wrong with him. And I'm hurt. none i don't think he would let you do that then he would really kill you but the the idea is that I'm going to go to an all Mexican school. And I'm saying it with my whole chest. If you inspire hate, then people become, if they have that in you, it brings it back out. Chinese virus. Really?

55:29 So he was pretending he didn't know what, but he had already said it. Coronavirus, right? Kung Flu. Yes, Kung Flu. Yeah, he to use it. And this thing where you're saying is like people call lots of names. There's lots of names, right? Coronavirus, right? And he's like, yeah, fuck them, you know? but I'm saying like that. Coronavirus, COVID-19, it has a name.

56:55 a leader, you literally can help other people. Maybe he doesn't even realize it, but you really That's you. Fuck these Chinese people then they'd say we're with Joe. You know so no they were I think the most one would leave me It was like a normal phone answer. It's like the first. Like, here's another thing I don't want to admit to you. That's what I'm working on.

59:24 I'm smelling Not much going on. I'm not on it. Let me pause you. That's not soft. I'm not hard. I don't have, I'm not on it. Okay. People do that. No, I'm not cool guy. even think it rang. My game that I working on myself. I'm trying Once again, I'm at a red light. And I look over and he goes, go back to where you come from. I have that. Blank. You're a mirror.

1:02:47 life sucks. Go back to where Unless you're Native American. So the best comeback for that is just stare down. Just nothing. This is the place. Unless you're fucking Cherokee. Unless you're Native American. He threw my whole fucking day off. High school. High school, some Persian kid said, go back to do, you know. And I go, when was the last time I got that? High school.

1:03:43 Look, life is an unfair game. The loss of loved ones, all these different things. Your fucking brain doesn't work that good. says go back to where you come from and that gets into your head and it fucks you up that's what about how much tolerance you have to that drug of other people's aggression and anger and resentment you grow up in that. That's as much of a virus as the flu.

1:07:07 Has good times and oh sure there's a little bit of hardship here and there but for the most part people love each other Oh. and i go what did i say the last time this happened and then i start laughing because it was high Revenge is the best dish served cold or all that. not really though because think about it right now we're laughing like it's a slow burn a four a joke

1:08:56 I go... girls would form groups and talk about which guy they want to fuck and i I wouldn't even be, they're like, Dave's sitting right there. to third world countries i've been to every fucking state in in america i might be the most So they just open up and they say the most, I don't know. see the world for free. I got to go everywhere. And much like what happened was I would sit shotgun

1:11:30 new sports and weather for an hour. He was 12? thinking of raping me when I stayed at his house. Oh Jesus. You stayed at his house. You didn't just two fucking dudes. you know, and it's two weeks on, two weeks off, This guy looks like grandpa. Just cowboy Fuck. This is what I'm talking about. just just the dude just the living outside on the road, hitchhiking.

1:14:39 he hasn't showered yet. And I'm like, oh shit. And I started getting my clothes on. You're filthy. Why don't you get in there and take a shower? He's like, nah, nah, I'm all right. he's gonna go to sleep soon we should have just left. You go, you, you stay up for an hour and then wake me up. I'll stay up He's still, He's out cold. around 5 30 in the morning or something my eyes are closed but you know when you feel someone

1:17:19 He's like, dude, he just left. but he was standing right there. like this guy went to the store and got eggs for me you know like uh yeah sure we'll have some eggs so we go in and the guy starts talking Let's just fucking let it on. And then he says, I thought about just, you know, if you guys wouldn't mind if I just touched you a little bit. And, like, the houses are on stilts because of the swampland and whatever.

1:19:51 Like, And, And that's just not the way the world works. country now it's like did did we win like you you won like on's like, look at our country now. It's like, did, did we That's how I found out about you. and he was like, you got to talk to this guy. on the farm. And at this point, I'm 18 years old. I've been hitchhiking since I was 15. Most of the other people there are from Australia and South Africa.

1:23:45 And of course, there's an old, from the 70s or 80s, National Geographic catalog. Like, I was... No, no, and then vice, And I'm in Israel, which is close to Africa, And, you know, and you know everyone in No cell phone, nothing. And they're like, oh, they're just shooting into the air. And once again, that same kind of, oh, I think I'm accepted in this country.

1:27:16 I felt like an alien. I'm like, I don't belong anywhere. I just, so I would go, I'm going to stick a butt plug in my, you know, I'm going to do what, you know so I'm in the Congo and it's in a full-blown war 99% I was there for the dinosaur. we're talking about a story from 20 years ago, I got up and I got to this jungle area called Hueso. okay, I met a German guy named, fuck, I shouldn't say his name.

1:30:13 Is that better? you know? I can, to be g-rated i'm just trying to pg-13 dave that's what i was signing up for occasionally Is there any evidence at all? And in the meantime, I've never seen anyone murdered before until I got here. So I go, I need to find it. I have only one change of clothes. I just knew what, you know, you know what? know if you don't try you know I still believed

1:33:25 disappears. It's just gone. And I'm like, we're fucking lost in the jungle. We're lost in the like tuna in a can thing. And I go, Hey man, we we're fucking lost i don't know how to survive we need and be like thanks and i'm like dude what the fuck man like i did all that work so we could thing that's gonna get me out of it where I am I'm talking to the vegetation and this guy is riding my last nerve and

1:36:51 I've lost all this weight. I pick up a huge rock, like bigger than this. And I go, I'm going to fucking kill this guy. my uh i gotta fucking kill this guy he has has to go. He has to die. No one's ever going to know. Do it. And I'm sitting at, motherfucker, you don't even know. Waves at us. How did you spot him? It's terrifying. He's like, you guys want some honey?

1:41:03 gonna starve to death but I can't eat that. Blonde, they're coming. the German guy can translate. that's heavy. I'm like just devouring it. so i um now had any of these people seen it did you ever describe it to them oh yeah so i draw moving waters and then second a mammal steps in the water little fucking I went I go So we get out in less than a day.

1:43:58 I do comics. Gavin and Shane would read that I saw people murdered. And so that was the one that Vice filmed? Oh, shit, look at that. There it is. Dude, you're fucking on fire, Jamie. The dinosaur. The dinosaur. They all see the same dinosaur? Have you- What is that? And he's, like, not, you know. Because the weight, Think about how big those fucking alligators were that we were just talking about.

1:46:42 And I go, they go, what? I'm like, why? so when i texted you like it doesn't have to I go, it's a weird thing to be like rich or be in a country that's rich or have stuff. And yet I fucking complain like crazy. losing experiences out there because it is one of the fucking darkest countries and he goes you go down this tree and you go so he's deep in the in the but this is still near a village it's not you know

1:50:16 I'm like, Chuck is fucking dying. overcame the house like you can't keep the jungle back it's too powerful there's too much there And I'm like, fuck, am I ready for that? even um they don't even have like the words for like violence and hate and you know they're very And I'm living with this tribe, the Hadza. like these guys are carrying all this shit for me,

1:53:04 These guys leave zero carbon footprint. They come a place they're nomadic they set up And they go, do you want to, do you want to really live with us? So I'm in my fucking underwear, And like, it was like a buffet. And he's like, they use the Bible pages to smoke weed. Did they show you? And then they, there's a plant that they harvest and they do all this stuff to it.

1:56:09 There's one of these guys. Oh, my God. The kids know how to hunt. dude but don't don't they look like supermodels like they're like really powerful genetics yeah They'll make a bird sound and a book did you learn any of it tiny bit and i of course i did a podcast where i speak breaks his leg, breaks his legs, puts it here, and it's like, snack for later.

1:59:36 Just to get their biome. On his fucking head they're lighting him up fucking hand inflates to like a mickey mouse like it's just i like, you've been getting stung since you were a kid, so you're immune to it. and all the nature documentaries is that it's always serious and here's the hon hodza warrior and then laughter i'm like are these fuckers doing fart jokes at five in the morning

2:02:11 And the thing that's the final animal that's like kind of left is baboons. We're going to, it's enough to feed our family. These guys aren't sweating And that's enough for them They cut it up and package it and sell it. addictions i'm not thinking about like i feel feel peace. I'm not, I'm not miserable. say this is um say these are the baboons on top of the, they're doing a perimeter.

2:05:23 He's rolling joints for everyone. Oh, my God. And some of them have shoes. They make homemade shoes but some of them don't so Come on, guys. The dog, Let's go! look, pick the dogs up and they rip a chunk off oh my god and these dogs are so hardcore that there's I mean, they'll hunt anything. I had the GoPro. He's dead. So they bring it back to the village.

2:09:21 They turn the fur into like jackets. They stew the head that's in that pot. They're like, this is our favorite part. Good. Look, I... You can find it easily. about primate brains. Humans eating human brains. I'm like, I have a million Clif bars in my backpack. like i'm becoming a man they're like did you eat the actual baboon meat as well? But. So they're eating this monkey and uh they're chewing on it like

2:13:30 So the next day I'm like, all right, I'm getting my endurance up. I'll bring they're like we have parents I was like all right so I brought all these art supplies And the day just went by. They've never, they don't have any of the visual like stuff that we grew up on. Hey, what the fuck are you guys doing, man? We enjoyed it. good i'm gonna go home and i'm like why am i gonna go home like i'm fucking falling in love

2:16:15 dude will you come yes go to africa is that what you're saying yeah i thought you meant come to like the movie premiere um dude please please i your your And I'm like, this is life-changing off the baboon's head oh jesus dude i mean it's it's it's crazy to think that that's like the cure So all those people that do live there, they're probably just a superior version.

2:18:53 Look at those guys in the center. they're probably, their endurance is like never waning. that's responsible for a tremendous amount like with a dull knife doesn't make sense it does makes total sense just because I think look I'm not Hard as fuck to make it in Tanzania. can't just read about it you've got to live it what is the fear like that you might get uh malaria or

2:21:32 I thought – you like bow hunting, man. can't donate we would tribes we would eat it yeah trust me we would eat it would get eaten everything And elephants, there's something about elephants. strangers, like regular The mismanagement of the animals there is like the – they were already gone by the time I got there. They're also intelligent. Yeah, I've seen that.

2:23:40 Do you think they actually taught him to make that shape, It's too good. They've done it with several. Its head's this big. Right. him like you don't want to wear i don't want to ride them but i get get that it's fascinating. And they don't give a fuck. you're like, you can believe that there's a dinosaur. I love the babies. What is it? something that actually survived

2:27:27 They are dinosaurs. It's painting in really good detail. Is there some cheating going on? Suit of the painting elephant. Look at that. All right, it zoomed out. Look how thick the line is of the ear, and then it sort of tapers off. I've never really I've seen your tattoos don't have to talk it's like the elephant that I have It's true. And I was, like, I don't even know what I said.

2:31:26 We just got an Emmy. He's like, what kind of show do you want? And they're like, okay, I get the Hollywood lawyers 20, 30, 40. I don't know. Every, every five minutes someone's coming to the table. I know. let me wants or desires it forever. And he started grooming me, Roy Choi, David Chang to kind of take over for him. i'm not just lucky that i'm talented that i am enough and the anger is like oh i'm gonna be on

2:34:48 it's like you deal with that now right yeah i mean people just some people see what people wanna meet him. Most people are friendly. So how do you deal with the great experience change my life? Like say what's up? meet too many people but i'm like we gotta have a reset and then you're mobbed pros and cons to cities. people if the virus is spreading, right? Because there's so a little bit of a problem with just the sheer amount of people if the virus is spreading, right?

2:37:35 Herman Cain, the guy who ran for president, he just died of coronavirus. Like you talk to one person, it seems like no big deal. So let's pause. No worries. and I go, what are my options right now? I couldn't keep up with the tribes, the Hadza tribe. My special, you know the Korean zombie? have to break my arm you have to i've had my face disfigured so i don't know that was stupid i i'm

2:40:38 every morning here it's sort of like sergeant And she would, I told her, I know myself. And then I sort of dropped If you don't run every day, you're going to drop off. Can I tell you how I feel when I listen to the Joe Rogan experience? promoted me, all your friends. and then we're talking about how soft we are, Oh, I love you. smart that are inspiring that I start to feel self-conscious and and you have like David

2:43:57 Okay, okay. Like, what's the first thought when you meet anybody? fucking know me you don't fucking know me you don't and it's like so um that's so funny so i i listened to your show and i'm like damn dude joe fucking did this Right. this was back in this is like 20 years ago so wait I'm 24 yeah it's like 20 years ago so I'd about the internet problem in China?

2:47:03 and you could either poison or drug So this thing, in the movie at some point, I'll spoil it, they escape. They can't stop. I don't drink. illnesses are coming out in this Warcraft game. And I find this map that's perfect. It's a small and and you build a Oh, my God. And I don't know how to be in a relationship. I'm not going to lie. 12? You know, it's like, dude, you're laughing.

2:51:08 listen, But, I can't get hard. Exactly. saw it my head fucking exploded shit couldn't believe you could see it's crazy because you It's not like a drug. friend alejandro's place i was, I think I could see a tit. well, let's just get HBO or we can But you didn't see Penetration. No. I live in a two bedroom house with two, So I go and wear my dad's trench coat.

2:54:39 like in a carton, they were like expensive. Like the packaging was really big. And I went in there and I saw a package. I'm a fucking 13-year-old kid. That's when I... So my grandma, my two brothers, and my parents, I don't even know what that is. so you can still hear the silverware clinking like they're eating. I pull out the, there's Don't do this to me.

2:57:09 Let me see that one more time. and how fucking veiny put the Disney tape back in, And then I, That little fuck could just look down, Oh, no. What I want to do is I want to fucking crank it. he's a cock blocker he fucking cocked me My story is my mom was watching me. She left the YouTube video, baby shark or some shit up. How's a kid going to get to Pokemon porn?

3:00:20 And then they would catch them. Right. And that's most young people's story now. fucking anal penetration that's my first image and as the addict craves novelty as you get older It's just porn, video games, porn, video games, porn. he'd win one i'd win one one more one more one more he'd win one one more and the guy was like There's a Korean family.

3:03:21 Asian culture is the same, except if you fail, you either kill to feed their own kid and their kid died and they went to jail for it. And then when they went out, it's like, this is a fucking problem. This is like a how many people that you know that, and especially during this pandemic, we live in a culture We don't know how to receive help. We don't know even to ask for help. We don't know how to receive help.

3:05:17 They have to want help. i can't say anything to them like i just you just have to accept it this is what it is you know the i have that's a fixed one like you could fix that so i have a disease of more like i was saying that And I learned they're like serious gambling addiction like, one out of four kills themselves. gonna make a million dollars and then you're addicted to that there's no end to it right

3:08:16 I have so many. recent or how close to when he died was this it was within the year it wasn't like right but so like you're a fucking asshole dude you're an asshole you murdered yourself you murdered yourself It's um He did it. He reached out. He's like, I relate to you, him. Maybe I could have talked to him. Maybe if I was there. But that was it. He did it.

3:10:37 I'm in a really good place now. I'm gonna help everyone except for myself Just to know that you cared and that I know that there's places I can go to, that's enough. Okay, okay. Whatever my best thinking got me here, like whatever, talking to people, sitting around, willingness to do wild shit like go to the Congo going back 10 years later And we had used all our, we gave them all our money for filming rights.

3:14:07 I don't know, man. the fucking bomb this is the shit this is lit this is fire this is fuck i don't even know i said that Joe Rogan is the best. But in here, in the middle, you feel nothing. You don't fucking get it. That's where I was at. I'm soft serve now. Or you want to come back? cause I'm hyped up you saw that there or they lost their job. So I'm usually the youngest guy there. I'm independently wealthy so I can pay for it. And I'm looking at these guys that have everything. They have all the money,

3:18:20 But wait a minute, but you enjoy life. Friends. I was like, whatever the shit you see with Kanye, that's what I thought. that's i i'm not living i'm not no one's home hello no one's home and so my friends say we're They go. that I'm not making sense, that I need help. And I, and the thing is, I I'm an asshole, that I'm not me anymore, that I'm not making sense,

3:20:24 cry, you didn't cause problems. And there was no explanation. I'm all of a sudden in this smelly country. So now I'm wired, when they do explain, oh, when you get sent away, because you're good. What did you do when you got to Korea? does whatever the worst I act. So you. Okay, let me pause you. That was poured all over you. Rich, famous, fucking blow your brains out.

3:23:50 It's what we were talking about, that everybody doesn't start from the same spot. Who did it right? okay here's the thing to concentrate on what is the goal if the goal is to be happy all right Right would we would can we say that do you think some people do you think there's a percentage of this population? This is what you got to do. And then do what you're doing.

3:26:57 there's sick people all over the country in the world i never saw one fucking asian guy until i I don't know where my fucking parents are. thinking well you know there's people getting killed in the streets right now so i have no But I go, but it did. not going to happen overnight and then someone said there is something that will happen overnight There's other dimensions, there's shit.

3:29:44 me. i could have had the worst day right now and if you asked me how are you doing i'd say good i'm I can't stop lying. So they put one on here and here and they go no more joking. That was your defense mechanism for handling anything? You 100% could be a comic. 100%. guy i've ever met in my life totally was a comic just never did comedy i met a bunch of guys like

3:32:55 You're going to keep asking me to paint. but if you just kept the reps in and then similarly i've always always I'm like, we're playing here in Los Globos in Silver Lake. And what you just took me back to was our first days when we started, I would do anything These things take time, man, to fucking perfected and crafted. You've done this for tell you this story and i you know i could I could tell you jail stories, porn stories. I have all these stories, but the fucking weirdest shit that I've ever done in my life was to go to this place and it's like an intensive outpatient place. So I have an apartment with a roommate. I don't know, fucking roommate in years.

3:36:26 There is a man that's obesely overweight sitting on a couch in his fucking tighty. Don't tell on me. We got into it later. like does anyone have any agenda items they want to put in? I go, Walter was watching Breaking Bad. And I go, I'm here. codependent you don't know how to show up for yourself you don't know how to say no people walter i'm sorry why'd you do that dave i thought we were friends i'm like dude i'm here i'm trying

3:39:29 regular life was like a high power Okay. you got the weird hair you dress like a homeless guy like are you famous or something I feel like So my normal, okay, cool, whatever. Why do you have a fucking roommate? That's part of the thing. I know. That's what I'm saying for him. Oh, yeah're rich. I read this story about you. Why do you have a fucking roommate?

3:41:45 Hey, I bury shit. please don't do that. Don't. Must be slow as fuck in there. Yeah. with your fans and public have been since you've man. You know, during corona or no no this is like years ago and i say i say you know what i would love walter What the fuck was that? He doesn't have phone privileges. No, no well I'm like, fuck. So I'm like, wow, this is crazy.

3:46:18 so that night I'm I And they're like, don't do it. Like, I'm almost out the door. I'm a sick person. So if it means I got to tell on you for Googling me, going to see this guy again. that maybe instead of like it's like entitlement out the roof they're all the super best at their job the best lawyer the He's teaching me how to be a kid again. The guy fucking took pictures of me while I was sleeping.

3:50:10 Yeah, for sure you should have. Can I please, please, um, invite you to my next show? I got to go. And, and I don't know when it's going to be out,