Raanan Hershberg: Stand-up comedian and filmmaker, 17 years in comedy, regular at the Comedy Cellar; released the special 'Brave' and made the short thriller 'Memory Room'.
What this episode covers
Joe Rogan hosts comedian Raanan Hershberg for a freewheeling conversation that opens on cold plunges and stimulant addiction before diving deep into the craft of stand-up comedy. Hershberg shares his struggles with Adderall addiction, anxiety, panic attacks on stage, and his relationship with a girlfriend recovering from open-heart surgery and a stroke. The pair explore history's brutality, from the abuse on the set of The Wizard of Oz to Nazi drug use and the depravity of Emperor Nero. The back half turns to conspiracy theories, with Hershberg arguing for incompetence over conspiracy while Rogan defends the JFK and Epstein cases. They close on the fragility of modern civilization and Hershberg plugging his special and film.
The guest's own work
Brave
Raanan Hershberg
“definitely check out my special Brave came out uh like not too long ago on YouTube called Brave”— Raanan Hershberg
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich
Norman Ohler
“this gentleman Norman oler was on my podcast two weeks ago and he wrote All About the Third Reich dude it's crazy and speed”— Raanan Hershberg
Best Evidence
David Lifton
“if you want to go crazy read a book called best evidence by David lton who was an accountant who went over read the entire Warren Commission”— Joe Rogan
Relentless Enemies
National Geographic
“this documentary Relentless see you find one of the images of the Jack look at look at what she's built like jeez”— Joe Rogan
The Wizard of Oz
MGM
“The Wizard of Oz yeah no it was it was it is the most watched movie I read a book about the making recently it was interesting”— Joe Rogan
Mindhunter
Netflix
“I was really into keer the guy in the mind Hunter series oh I was into before now he's like everyone knows him”— Raanan Hershberg
Big reveals from this episode
- Hershberg became addicted to Adderall, escalating to 90mg a day, accidentally took bath salts, and ended up in rehab.
- Hershberg's 37-year-old girlfriend had open-heart surgery early in their relationship and recently suffered a stroke leaving a permanent blind spot.
- Hershberg endured roughly four months of constant dizziness and on-stage panic attacks after weaning off Paxil.
- Hershberg says repeatedly facing on-stage panic attacks, rather than avoiding them, is what eventually cured them.
- Discussion of a Canadian man who beheaded a Greyhound bus passenger, ate his organs, and was later granted full freedom.
- A California woman stabbed her boyfriend 108 times after smoking potent marijuana and was deemed not criminally responsible.
Worth remembering
- A study suggests ADHD traits may have been an evolutionary advantage for hunter-gatherers, helping foragers cut losses and move on.
- On The Wizard of Oz set, Judy Garland was reportedly groped by cast members, slapped by the director, and the actors playing the witch and Tin Man were injured.
- The 'radium girls' developed cancer and rotting jaws from licking radium-coated brushes while painting watch dials.
- Pervitin, a form of methamphetamine, was sold over the counter in Germany and used widely, including by the Nazi military.
- In the documentary Relentless Enemies, a pride of female lions stranded with water buffalo evolved to become unusually large and muscular.
- John F. Kennedy wore a tightly laced back brace that may have kept him upright after the first shot, setting up the fatal kill shot.
- Emperor Nero had a slave boy named Sporus castrated and married him as a replacement for his dead wife Poppaea.
- A New Yorker article questions whether Nero was as monstrous as history records, suggesting possible smear campaigns.