The guest
Sam Tallent: Stand-up comedian, novelist (author of Running the Light), and host of the Chubby Behemoth podcast who tours internationally and recently bought a house in Detroit.
What this episode covers
Joe Rogan and Sam Tallent open by comparing notes on running comedy clubs, with Joe explaining the Comedy Mothership's comic-first pay structure and no-food policy. Sam shares stories from touring obscure countries like Estonia and Hungary and how punk-rock survival mentality shaped his stand-up. The conversation drifts into creativity and the Muse, the grind of the road, and book and movie recommendations. They riff at length on history, politics, media manipulation, AI, and the absurdities of American culture, closing on cockfighting lore and Founding Fathers as rooster fighters.
Recommended on this episode
BookRecommendedISBN verified
The War of Art
Steven Pressfield
“I used to give it to comics when they would or any kind of creative person when they came on the podcast”
“have you ever read pressfield's war of art... I used to give it to comics when they would or any kind of creative person”— Joe Rogan
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Blindsight
Peter Watts
“it's a science fiction vampire book that I love it's really good”
“this is it it's uh Peter Watts it's called Blind sight and it's a science fiction Space movie about... vampires... it's very good”— Joe Rogan
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Warlock
Oakley Hall
“you should read warlock... it's really cool... it's really good”
“you should read warlock which is exactly what you just described... it's like a postmodern Western it's really cool... it's really good”— Sam Tallent
MediaRecommended
Furiosa
George Miller
“it's so badass dude... the whole movie was storyboarded too so it looks like a graphic novel”
“you see furiosa... it's that again but they figured out how to do War for with like Kites and stuff as well... it's so good”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
Mad Max: Fury Road
George Miller
“remember how great it was and you left the theater going movies are the best”
“did you see the most recent Mad Max before this yes remember how great it was and you left the theater going movies are the best”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
Dune: Part Two
Denis Villeneuve
“there's very few movies that are like actually something you need to see in the theater... Dune 2 is one of those”
“our Dune 2 is one of those yeah if you can stay awake oh really I took so many edibles went to Dune 2”— Joe Rogan
The guest's own work
BookBy the guestISBN verified
Running the Light
Sam Tallent
“people get tattoos of my book... they'll get like running the light on their body and I'm like what were you going through”— Joe Rogan
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
ProductReferenced
Juju Mufu smelling salts
Juju Mufu
“that's Juju mufu is bodybuilder dude he's got this uh brand that tells him it's called Ah that's the real one”— Joe Rogan
BookReferenced
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Steven Pressfield
“and then he wrote The Legend of bager Vance and he wrote like some great screenplays and books and just became like very prolific”— Joe Rogan
BookReferencedISBN verified
Get in the Van
Henry Rollins
“I remember reading I think it was Henry Rollins book get in the van where the first trip he did with Black Flag”— Sam Tallent
MediaReferenced
The Patriot
Mel Gibson
“that scene in the that Mel Gibson movie The Patriot where the guy gets hit in the face with a cannonball”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
John Wick
“love the first one the first one's the best one cuz the first one all the motivations are clear... the last one was just so cartoony”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Holy Hell
Will Allen
“the documentary is called holy hell and the guy who was the cult leader was a gay porn star who is also a hypnotist”— Sam Tallent
MediaReferenced
Joker
“he's so he scared the out of me in the Joker oh my God and then the riots happened like a year later”— Joe Rogan
Big reveals from this episode
- Joe explains the Comedy Mothership was built so the money goes to the comics, opposite of corporate clubs that he says rob comedians.
- After Fear Factor ended, a big club chain tried to cut Joe's pay 25% claiming he wasn't a draw, so he refused to work for them for about two years.
- Sam tells how he almost bought a theater built by a cult led by a gay-porn-star hypnotist (documented in Holy Hell) before Adam Eget warned him off.
- Sam reveals he lost about 50 pounds this year mainly by cutting back on booze.
- Sam describes living in an anarchist commune called Goblin House in upstate New York from ages 18 to 22.
- Joe recalls his manager asking if he had a gambling problem after his first development deal, when he was actually just eating lobster every night.
- Sam confesses he recorded two rap songs online under the name Clandestine Apostles with his wife and friend Pat.
Worth remembering
- The US government reportedly spent millions trying to develop a 'gay bomb' to demoralize enemy soldiers.
- Andrew Jackson fought multiple duels; only one in 1806 resulted in shots fired, killing Charles Dickinson.
- The quote 'comparison is the thief of joy' is often attributed to Roosevelt but may trace back to Mark Twain.
- Mark Twain personally published Ulysses S. Grant's memoir, turning it into a bestseller that rescued Grant financially.
- Colorado has one of the highest premature birth rates, attributed to low oxygen at altitude affecting pregnant women.
- Joe claims 19 of the top 20 Facebook Christian pages were run by Russian troll farms, the other being Westboro Baptist Church.
- An article claims the fighting rooster was nearly chosen as America's national bird and that Washington and Jefferson were rooster fighters.
- Abraham Lincoln reportedly earned the nickname 'Honest Abe' for his impartiality as a cockfighting judge.
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