Joe Rogan Experience #2492 - Ari Shaffir
Joe Rogan and Ari Shaffir reconnect after Ari's 7-month solo travel sabbatical through South America, discussing psychedelics and drug policy reform, ancient mysteries and unexplained archaeological sites, the UFC's weight-cutting problem, and the cancellation of Ari's Comedy Central show 'This Is Not Happening.' The conversation ranges widely from geopolitics and corporate corruption to pizza shapes and stand-up comedy.
Summary
Joe Rogan welcomes back Ari Shaffir after a seven-month disappearing act that took him through Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, and other parts of South America. Ari explains that this was his third extended solo travel period, during which he stayed mostly off the grid, got ahead on his podcast 'You Be Tripping,' and had what he describes as the best mushroom trip of his life. The conversation begins with Ari recounting his experience seeing an Oasis concert in São Paulo and casually hanging out in Ecuador drinking yerba mate during the COVID pandemic.
The duo dive deep into psychedelics and drug policy, discussing MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD veterans (MAPS studies), psilocybin research at Johns Hopkins, and the recent political momentum around psychedelic legalization. They praise Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick for allocating $100 million to an ibogaine initiative after being personally convinced of its merits by advocates like Rick Perry and Brian Hubard. They also discuss the absurdity of MAPS researchers insisting people call MDMA by its clinical name rather than 'Molly,' and joke about the Johns Hopkins psilocybin playlist available on Spotify.
The conversation shifts to unregulated edible horror stories, including Joe's terrifying experience being stoned on an unknown-strength edible while riding the BART under San Francisco Bay during Fear Factor filming, and a story about a jiu-jitsu instructor who turned out to be a wanted rapist — whom Joe says he could 'see the darkness in' while high on THC pills. They discuss the idea that psychedelics can make you see through people's facades.
The pair discuss geopolitics and corporate malfeasance at length: the symbiotic relationship between terrorism and U.S. military spending, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the abandonment of military equipment, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Israel's bombing of Lebanon including the killing of a journalist, and Coca-Cola and Dole's alleged use of paramilitary death squads to suppress labor unions in Colombia and Guatemala. They also discuss Ross Perot's warnings about NAFTA and the destruction of Detroit's auto industry.
UFC weight cutting comes up as a major topic, with Joe explaining the difference between official morning weigh-ins and ceremonial weigh-ins, and arguing the sport should ban weight cutting entirely by adding more weight classes. He discusses how Kurt Angle's refusal to cut weight gave him a competitive edge in wrestling, and how the heavyweight division officially dates back to 1738 — when Rocky Marciano's 185-pound championship weight would be considered light heavyweight today.
The conversation touches on ancient mysteries and archaeology: the megalithic stones at Baalbek in Lebanon that predate Roman construction, the Nazca Lines in Peru (which Ari flew over), elongated skulls found near Nazca with 30% more cranial capacity, the Derinkuyu underground city in Turkey discovered when a farmer followed his missing chickens, and the Long You Caves in China — massive man-made caverns with no historical record of their construction. They also discuss Machu Picchu's dual construction layers suggesting a pre-Incan civilization built the sophisticated interlocking stonework.
Ari's comedy career dominates the final portion. He details how Comedy Central cancelled his critically appreciated show 'This Is Not Happening' in retaliation for him choosing to release his self-financed special on Netflix rather than Comedy Central. Joe recalls offering to host the show for free to keep it alive. Ari announces that he has now produced a new version of the show called 'The End,' filmed at The Box in New York with 23 comics including Shane Gillis, Bobby Kelly, Duncan Trussell, and Miss Pat — financed and distributed through Tom Segura's Yucko platform (referred to as 'Seagora') with profit-sharing for participants. He describes a claymation prologue created by artist William Child that bridges the gap between the show's cancellation and its revival without being sentimental. The episode closes with Ari reflecting that after telling people in 10 countries he's a stand-up comedian, 100% of them reacted with genuine amazement and delight — reinforcing his view that it's the coolest job in the world.
Key Insights
- Ari Shaffir describes how Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, originally staunchly anti-drug, personally met with ibogaine advocates Rick Perry and Brian Hubard, heard how the substance helps veterans addicted to opioids and suffering from CTE, and subsequently allocated $100 million to the Texas Ibogaine Initiative — which Rogan frames as a rare example of an intelligent politician updating their position based on new information.
- Joe Rogan argues that UFC weight cutting is a form of sanctioned cheating that rewards athletes who cut weight more efficiently rather than those who are genuinely the best fighters at a given size, and proposes that random, unannounced weigh-ins throughout training camp would be the only real solution — noting that boxing's 18 weight classes versus the UFC's 8 creates far too large a gap between divisions.
- Rogan and Shaffir discuss the Long You Caves in Zhejiang, China — 24 massive man-made caverns discovered in 1992 when farmers drained local ponds — noting that despite China's extensive multi-thousand-year historical record-keeping, there is no documentation of who built them, when, or why, with archaeologists only able to estimate they are over 2,000 years old based on pottery fragments found inside.
- Ari Shaffir recounts how Comedy Central cancelled 'This Is Not Happening' not due to poor performance but as retaliation after he chose to release his self-financed special on Netflix instead of Comedy Central, with Joe Rogan confirming he personally offered to host the show for free to keep it on air — and noting that Comedy Central no longer exists as a meaningful entity, while the show has now been revived through Tom Segura's independent platform.
- Ari Shaffir claims that after telling people in 10 different countries during his 7-month sabbatical that he was a professional stand-up comedian, every single person reacted with genuine amazement and delight at the idea that such a job could exist and pay rent — leading him to conclude it is the objectively coolest job in the world, entirely independent of his level of fame or success.
Topics
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