Joe Rogan Experience #287 — Les Stroud Transcript

Transcript

0:00 Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out! and I've watched them do stuff and I just went, fuck that. surviving in the mountains. yeah i've watched that thing like five times and caught a curdling like hugging myself while i was and that was jaguar taking down a been Going in up against an opponent that you know is a tough ass. It's real. How much of a hindrance is it

3:33 I'd get out, and really, I want to tell a story, right? why would I do that I'm not Steven Spielberg because let's say and I've got four or five cameras and all of that I'm out making a film, I want to leave the camera and have the crew pick it up. I remember one time in an argument, I said, look, I'm in the middle of the Amazon jungle, That's a real issue with reality shows.

5:59 how many millions of North Americans and people in the world It's creativity Doritos. because I was a filmmaker, survival guy. Right. like trading spouses and stuff like that the competition ones are cool i like that but what But once we watch them for a little bit, and I'll put on the networks, right? In my mind, I'm rolling. Hybrid, you know. You can figure out how to edit it together to make some stupid story

9:28 Yeah. I document survival. like in Shark Week Right. because they got a job And you know what? and that's why and you know of sick and then they're going to clean it up and i'm coming i'm kind of an anally retentive the moment when I went fuck whoa like okay if I'd had the producer go to fuck Yeah, I certainly see your point there. Because once you're on TV and everyone in your neighborhood knows about it,

12:48 you can see the whole, And so now you've got, and they do it. because you know how they always do the outtakes no uh you know do one of those things you ain't going to mess with my bedroom you know and it's Never, ever. the most recent calendars that they've found That's the big shift here. to be elevated. It could be, you know, that we have access to, you know, some new medical

15:10 The whole, I mean, you know, a big thing in my life brought me back you know because with survivor man I kind of lost that touch you know and and You know, kick your shoes off, walk bare feet, know i felt great after so i have no idea if it's coincidence or not but but that's what they say if than that and i feel like there's got to be something to touch in it there's got to be something to just to actually touching like grass and live live plants and organisms like a rainforest

17:46 at us all the time. Whether it's coming at you. When you're out in a place and I've listened and I heat of like June everyone knows this day in the middle middle heat of like june How many episodes did you do on the show? Jesus. Yeah. I'm going down there. And I was, How did you get out of there? it was way worse than what that looks like. yeah when you

21:42 in between two rocks Yeah, you've got to heat up, and then it buys you to 20 minutes, right? recently and uh we spent four nights uh in the the badlands uh camping on the missouri river nice or probably my first experience ever doing anything like that, We can be into math, doing math equations. me out when you see like one of those things and the house is right next to it you're like yeah

24:45 It just can't be good, man. That feeling of being around nothing no no cell phones the That'd be awesome. And I'll look at my watch. It's pretty awesome, actually. that's what i would think if this is the sun is only up all the time like we got you can't live I think it was just the end of a calendar. and checking out people who were preparing for the apocalypse

27:27 and then they said, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that guy had done that before, though. like especially guys who are preachers and pastors and anybody who's in a religious position, Or are you just rolling your dice? you know, that's a good one, right? that's my favorite you should put all the charismatic teachers in the ring. He's got the hair slicked back.

29:59 that's an unbelievable quote like that's another like the fact like you are your bar is so low like of and having all these people tell these success stories I remember years of just, you know, So therefore, if you are of Satan, is how do you have a realistic debate You can believe in angels. Yeah. that up but you can't yeah you can't do that and you can't whatever you're listening to reverend

32:54 and they put fart noises behind it. You get annoyed with it. Does it? I laugh at childish shit. Yeah, I guess. Nobody. doing all the stuff. And we were getting signed to RCA. We were doing well. And I got really Actually, you know what? Well, hang on. Well, there's other good... Yeah, it was a bad video, too. Oh, come on. Isn't there something I didn't play my

36:07 you hear this new band, And so what I did, I wish I hadn't missed that era. You were in a canoe? I just threw it out there in the air and that was it. So that's how I learned and trained. It was a great time. basically where I kind of got itchy for music again. I started playing the bars, you know, solo playing. dinosaur rock, and Floyd, dinosaur. nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee-nee

39:40 but as a general rule, the pop culture went to this he's doing a kick-ass rock bluesblues solo for five minutes on Alive. I think music's awesome. Wow. I think it's called, Great vocals, listened to much Ben Harper. He's a great slide player. Okay. On a broom handle with a wire Old enough, man. when I'm out working, I think now I like the music that's out there now.

42:56 Well, some of it I blame on The Edge and then cleaned that up even more. Where the streets have no name. The other stuff is missing. So embarrassing for the culture. I smell something coming on here. white people Michael was a genius. frontman he did his move Do they just go bananas? Some of them do. When you go back If somehow or another Alcohol, drugs, women, and cat pee, Joe.

45:44 and he's doing interviews and people are like, as a rock and roller and I want to come play with you or connected with him? Last night was a Battle of the Bands, and I was listening to the Battle of the Bands, and all the proceeds playing it out. It doesn't need to be overproduced. through the drums. you want with pro tools and logic but you can't recreate that live unless you've got the shit you know i mean and i i played

49:30 I blew my harmonica like crazy pre-programmed, It's not the same thing. It's just something that went wrong in the 80s. I mean, these people never performed. I think it's a good thing, too. and people just ate it up. You saw it early on. once and i it was obvious that a lot of the people that they were showing were crazy they were like their idea yeah their idea of like what was good was they were nuts they were like saying their

52:03 I think it's pretty cool. And then some of them you don't give a fuck about. And I don't even know what that means. dentist's office you're not going to hear it on the rock station when i'm not going to play it but don't misconstrue that to say that I don't For me, as far as pop culture goes, It's like, okay, you take down a deer with a spoon and a piece of string.

54:55 you just have to right skill set skill set not not super impressive in terms of skill set it's just It's all feel. I could teach you the fireball. Teach me how to live in the woods and cook the food. Had you done any, like... Not so much. Scenarios are fun. and just shooting a 12-foot flame in front of me. Barbecued zebra. Well, damn it. Guinness is delicious.

57:42 And I were off living in the bush. We're out by the river. yeah, we were in the middle of nowhere. Like there was no roads for, you know, a hundred miles. So And I wished I'd peeked my head out around the corner. And I'd filmed this scene. I hear the sound like, what the heck? You can say to someone, That's one way to ask the question. And so I actually presented that to Discovery Channel, Science Channel recently.

1:01:40 That was a Tecla Arm or something like that in Alaska. I just know what I heard. night shot cameras because that's gonna look scary yeah it's called finding bigfoot not we're looking we're looking for you don't even find shit every episode it's like what was that Wasn't there some new stuff, Brian? The only one that really makes any Well, for people who have never flown over the Pacific Northwest or Alaska or anything,

1:03:48 all that stuff. Yeah, hours. Well, how come So if you've got 12 bipedal apes that live we hear sounds a mountain lion there's no like It's tricky. in the tree like Todd Standing the whole point is we're not going out there to shoot them, tag them, Well, to you, it's a very different thing, though, A bear, you know, the bark sort of thing. smashing and going through the forest and and it was gone should have ran right after it yeah well

1:07:03 They live in the middle of woods. How do they they make that whoop whoop whoop sound because trolled you know what that means no that's a good idea he's trolling you with his ideas Oh, yeah, and you looked like a monkey. How long could you go out there for? wandering through the woods, how long could you live out there sorry, I don't mean Harper Collins

1:09:21 the Sean Penn movie otherwise if you're talking survival it's brutal uh you know if it's survival i have no idea because But he was also, I said in my book, he was very, very charming. I tend to play it down a little bit you know, I'm like, what am I doing here? wink in my eye, and with some wit. the shivers up your spine and it feels just like you did when you were eight years old and you had

1:12:38 That's beautiful. Without a woman? It was fantastic, I got to say. Now, would I do it now? I watched a Tarzan movie one time, There's trouble in the jungle. This guy can drive an Aston Martin and swing from a tree. Charles Kuralt. he was out in the wilderness like 30 35 35 years, 25 years, something like that. But in my mind, a lot of friends of mine,

1:15:44 yeah, I always knew and that's only five days it all changes I don't know how much of it is BS. he's built log cabins he's constructed at these various places and they're just barely big enough He comes out and the world changed. anymore by the time they get out. Homesteading loss That's where they end up is Alaska. but if you're left alone, what matters?

1:18:57 it would be like what Stroud's doing. that's a big, that's a spiritual moment when something like that happens. and it was basically a shelter in the bush with a little fire going inside it's a master suite um but I building anything. Not into precision, no. Yep. What do you do when you go up there? Sit by the fire. When he does, maybe I'll go out.

1:21:56 Yeah. who hasn't had a chance to really get on its feet. I thought that was his whole thing is being a conservationist. Like Obama's purposely trying to ruin this country. Does he have his own show? But he gets them all. I mean, that's the thing about being an artist, being a performer. so me as survivor man and the whole thing of me playing my music it's like that's why i blew

1:25:05 We're going to do... Danny Weiss is... name a few. Name a few. Go ahead Danny. Bette Midler. I like The Rose. I'll just play in the air. It's good that I got a beer to drink. And Liked to do, no I don't care what that girl like to do So slip away. Well, well. She could have one on her ass yeah Yeah, man. If I was at a bar and you were playing there,

1:30:38 And then you get off the stage, it's very compelling that I read The second he sung on stage, That's a great fucking song, that's that guy had some real And they're playing, you know, You know, they were hack noodlers it's time to end the solo. man, You went to the top. I mean, what is he, 21? and then you go to this chord, and what you don't know is

1:33:58 Yeah. So that is a stage. well though nowadays a little quicker with the websites and stuff it's like oh we loved your I love that stuff. You're expressing yourself he's putting on a fucking show no no no one more clear than any than than anderson there's never been a more clear example But people have a hard time accepting the concept of an artist

1:37:12 It's an act of competition and the expression of character. but every single day alone in the wilderness, What's inspirational about that? And so when you connect, like with the fights as well, it's the same. of of uh how thin like our attachment to surviving really is, and primarily because I didn't produce the show, that, I get phone calls from the news centers if I'll go on and do an interview about, you

1:39:58 shelter, food, and water. I'll do you know one of those corporate, and I'll take some people out. What's the longest you've gone without eating? around up in that area where i was going to be so so i did i wasn't set up but i knew that that Oh, so someone had shot it and left it there but there's a lot of food deer liver's delicious Well, I don't eat toad, actually.

1:42:17 I'll take it in with me. I don't know. Did anyone become a prince? That's very common. When I was in... No. Wow. Steak dinner. sit on it they have the poison tip frogs you're dead It's not the snakes. The bullet ants are like – you get stung by a bullet ant. they actually have a coming-of-age thing where the young men take a glove, no really yeah i think it was some english guy let himself get jacked by the bullet ants, if I remember correctly.

1:46:06 with a stick and a nail and then I plant medicines a lot of these crazy ass ceremonies in the jungles and deserts you know, as well. this is the behind-the-scenes crap, look, if you're flicking the dial But it's right. I probably wouldn't. Then I see, oh, it's Joe Rogan's UFC podcast. Connect that They did the bullet I remember that, You never heard of it?

1:48:39 because it's a spider And if you do survive, it's the most toxic spider known to man. That's right, baby. I took some spider tonight. Yeah, back it up because it'll tell you about what it does to men. That's a mean look. Look at him. Look at the spider. And scientists are still not entirely sure about the effects on women. I'm obsessed with that being a terrifying fucking way to die.

1:50:41 he was telling us a story through interpreter. and his entire body was black, just went black, I go down there, and like I said, but it's the ants. That's right. a fertile on snake or a spider or a poison dart frog or a bullet ant, you know? You know, and it was... And I saw... I got to admit, Yeah. I saw them going across in a stream and I wanted to film them,

1:54:06 Just as I barely touched the ground, I swear to you, They were big-ass army ants too. and what we did travel on pheromones with fire And they just spiral around in a circle until they starve to death. If you've never seen this before. It looks like a hurricane. they're doing oh seriously man billy doesn't know the way yeah i know the way guys dude i know where

1:56:48 When you're in Alaska. Really? If you could talk to God. I'd say, I would ask about Bigfoot. Really? if I had options about looking towards the future. Both would make me equally happy. Yeah. there's going to be 30,000 drones flying above the city streets. I think a lot of that stuff is pretty, you know, Did you ever talk to Art Bell? He'd call up, Art, I'm a werewolf.

1:58:49 Oh, yeah. recordings that i ever heard was uh someone had taken a um one of the uh art bell shows and put And it's like, oh, this is so-and-so, That's a different story. If you're just putting out a time, man, your line was busy the whole time. If time travel does happen, yeah, you're going to be able to do it all the time? the Paleolithic, the Jurassic,

2:01:21 I always thought the same thing. that's right so I don't know and film you surviving around dinosaurs, and hide it someplace more than anybody you'd have to dig a hole No, they probably weren't at all. It's so hard to think that that was all over the planet. I know, but I think as humans, if we walked in dinosaur time, There's the scene right there with the T-Rex.

2:04:17 Boy, we are so lucky that that asteroid hit the Yucatan. I wonder if people would try to bring them back though And now they're bringing back the crocodile population and they're eating dogs now. But you know about the python too, right? there's an alligator in its body which basically by extrapolation if it can eat an alligator like It was an 18-foot great white came up.

2:06:53 towards me. And just all he did was like bump my cage, like a little bump with his nose. But of i hand-fed a great white jesus christ what the fuck is wrong with you the fuck is wrong with woods oh shit i was with my baby and i saw a crocodile what to do luckily i had a chicken I'm with a cameraman. and they're not supposed to let the great white get a hold of the fish head

2:09:12 And you see when you're under the water, he could pretty much take me in one gulp, like ropes and we're going to cage is going to to break the ropes and we're going to, to hop out of the cage You had scuba gear on? the door like throw the door down it above me right and i go down and they threw the door and it pinched my air hose. because it's now clicked, right?

2:10:44 Oh man, so it was just incompetence no no Oh, that's me right there. They're not bad. I want that guy to narrate my whole life. what happened to the guy how'd you get the shark off his arm it just pull out sort of thing so you Apparently, there's a lot of them off the coast of San Francisco. You can shark fish. I don't know about great whites. I don't know what the rules are. You can shark fish.

2:12:48 getting murdered America. I'm a huge supporter He did the film Shark Water, which exposed as the dolphin thing. I mean, it's fucked up that you're just Then I would go jacking them. I will put you on the other cliff. and it takes less than two weeks. Yeah, now where would you go? I think so. Not all of them. You've been hunting for 25. and live like that.

2:16:05 fucking Buffalo Bill in the Wild You would never shoot one. They didn't believe. there it was huh a skunk ape i thought that's like a nickname for Bigfoot. No, this was, I think, like Vietnam, maybe? They called it the Florida skunk ape. You know, it's big, huge fish. of this squid that looks like, Yeah. that we didn't know about. Is that all right?

2:19:11 Okay. Is he on my laptop? It looks like an alien. Yeah, courtesy of the Shell Oil Company. And what is this song, sir? But I'd say, like, a lot of the material I'm doing, you feel like it's inspired All right, let's do this. All right, Danny. I don't know. Hunt the dolphins, kill the whales Tell me where now can I roam this world is smaller now don't ignore the bitter truth the earth is not one giant farm tell me where now can i roam i roam

2:25:57 Tell me where now is my home, my wilderness home. Yeah. from that yeah but you know what joe that's that's the toughest part is um you know people think you Oh, you do that too? And then it's like, you want me to rock and roll a bit more? can do something like that why don't you have like one episode where you do a What part of Mexico? Last episode I shot.

2:29:06 if you're hanging So everybody that's worried It's like, And then you tell them that in Detroit, 47 of the people can't read yeah in detroit yeah It's a different world, man. I thought I was in Thailand. Fuck yeah, they party every day. here i hear it coming across the room like a couple of dudes were there they're you know they No, but I don't know if I did really.

2:32:01 uh one time some parasite and um i remember it would it would leave like a year long I was painful a year long it lasted yeah well until I got to him and sort of when it was like that. Oh my God. Your roof of your mouth's fine. Oh. belly too if i go somewhere and now because of this, it's just like, oh, here we go. What does that show? And seeing things and hearing things

2:34:53 There's more cells on us I was thinking one time. We really are like an ecosystem. idea that you have like this whole ecosystem going on in your body that you have to support. Place is good, right? I need it. And when I would do, I do, there's so many programs, right? But it tastes so good. Fried cheese pizza. So when your fat starts getting diminished, your body starts craving fatty things?

2:38:25 we need to get that stuff I really love And it just felt great. and you're sleeping outside all the time, you get sand in everything, man. Your life hangs on the balance of water. fireball and then i'll have to sit down and i think i'm sitting down for like two minutes and it's if you're going without water and you're dying from dehydration, are horrible.

2:41:06 everything to do with survival to me the very first question is where's my fresh water coming You can't. you just fucking water fresh water divining rods and they were in my hands oh crap and I was doing it and sure enough and then we dig and we found water I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It's like one of those weird moments like, oh, crap, oh, crap.

2:42:39 You know, you connect in an energetic sense, right, to everybody. and these wires like this. And I think those divining rods, and it's stuff and it's like more vibrant energy all the time so i think when you get into And my personal explanation is just that there's, I always say thank you about, you know, like I told you, when I start off Survivor Man, I would be thankful in the morning

2:45:09 drought i'm grateful that i was survivor man and still am and uh and i i'm i'm just getting started You got the iTunes. So lesstroud.ca, can get all all my stuff there you know it's gonna happen And now I get a chance I mean, think about Atmosphere that you're in would sound so like a relaxing podcast. Yeah, it's a great I was addicted to, whose line is it?

2:47:05 No. Yeah. So just do it if you think about it. Yeah. You kind of do, you just don't release all of it. No. Yes. You could definitely do that. Yeah, that Anything going on you want to tell the people about, Brian? Yeah, tomorrow I'll be in San Diego with Doug Benson. But Duncan Trussell's in what the fuck am I talking about? Ice House Comedy Club, it is

2:48:56 And from there, you can also buy a beautiful Psychedelic Kitty Cat t-shirt.