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Joe Rogan · 2024-06-27

Joe Rogan Experience #1965 - David Choe

Artist David Choe riffs with Joe Rogan on money, sex, psychedelics, the Hadza tribe, AI, and why acting in Beef broke his mind.

Joe Rogan Experience #1965 - David Choe
The guest

David Choe: Painter, graffiti/muralist and gambler who made a fortune from early Facebook stock; host of FX's The Cho Show and now an actor in Netflix's Beef.

What this episode covers

David Choe visits Joe Rogan in Austin for a wide-ranging, freewheeling conversation that swings from his love of the Hadza hunter-gatherer tribe in Tanzania to having effectively 'won' the video games of money and sex. He describes giving his art away for free, asking a billionaire friend for a billion dollars on instinct, and an iboga ceremony that led him to give away 90% of his possessions. He recounts reluctantly becoming an actor in Beef, going method as an angry character, and checking himself into a mental hospital afterward. Joe and David trade thoughts on comedy, religion, superheroes, and a shared belief that AI is birthing a new dominant life form. They keep circling back to human connection, love, and psychedelics as the antidote to a frightening future.

Recommended on this episode

BookRecommendedISBN verified

Empire of the Summer Moon

S.C. Gwynne

“one of the best books I've ever read I've read it twice”
“Empire of the summer moon it's insane book about the Comanche who lived here it's one of the best books I've ever read I've read it twice”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended

Everything Everywhere All at Once

“is like my favorite movie”
“the movie that just won the Oscar everything everywhere all at once is like my favorite movie it had like six guys doing the special effects”— David Choe
MediaRecommended

Blade

“blade was my favorite”
“I used to like uh blade blade was my favorite”— David Choe
MediaRecommended

Eddie Murphy: Delirious

Eddie Murphy

“it's so good so good”
“if you go watch delirious and then listen to his first album which I think he was like 20 or something like that something really young it's so good”— Joe Rogan

The guest's own work

MediaBy the guest

We Are Hadza

“I helped make a film I was the cameraman on this film called uh we are hadza if anyone out there wants”— David Choe
MediaBy the guest

The Cho Show

David Choe

“So I made the show on FX called The Cho show and I made it exactly the way I want”— David Choe

Also referenced (named, not recommended)

MediaReferenced

Beef

A24

“they're on this new show on Netflix called uh beef from a24 and they say the same thing they go Dave have you ever thought about acting”— David Choe
MediaReferenced

Ugly Delicious

David Chang

“I was doing this show Ugly delicious with him on Netflix and Marielle the producer of it is like do you want to be a food uh judge”— David Choe
MediaReferenced

The Chef Show

Jon Favreau and Roy Choi

“he has his own cooking show with Roy Choi called the chef Show on Netflix”— David Choe
MediaReferenced

The Mandalorian

Jon Favreau

“I had heard that he had just gotten the Star Wars gig to do the Mandalorian”— David Choe
BookReferencedISBN verified

Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines, and the Forgotten History

Suzanne Humphries and Roman Bystrianyk

“so it's called dissolving illusions it's all about disease and it's about the early days of uh the 20th century and how horrific the conditions were”— Joe Rogan
BookReferencedISBN verified

The 12th Planet

Zecharia Sitchin

“he wrote these books called uh the I think it was the 12th Planet was one of them and it was all about these ancient Sumerians”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced

Morbius

“I just found Jamie's was morbius morbius was cool”— David Choe
MediaReferenced

Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip

Richard Pryor

“I'm Richard Pryor live at the Sunset Strip oh he has a Blazer and a nice shirt on”— David Choe
MediaReferenced

Explosions in the Sky

Explosions in the Sky

“it was the best like I had Explosions in the Sky playing um I watch Friday Night Lights when I got back to my room”— David Choe
MediaReferenced

Friday Night Lights

“I had Explosions in the Sky playing um I watch Friday Night Lights when I got back to my room”— David Choe
MediaReferenced

The Last of Us

“that is in uh The Last of Us right that uh the gentleman Pascal what is this amazing in that show”— David Choe
MediaReferenced

Survivor

“do you ever watch a Survivor yes so a lot of younger a lot of people don't even know it's still on there”— David Choe
MediaReferenced

One (by Metallica)

Metallica

“when I when I heard uh One by Metallica there's no YouTube video that shows you how to do double bass”— David Choe
MediaReferenced

Dungeons and Dragons

“when I play like Dungeons and Dragons or a role-playing game or or uh RPG like video game”— David Choe
ProductReferenced

ChatGPT

OpenAI

“I fired my lawyer like I asked chat gbt like my lawyer costs 600 bucks every time I pick up the phone”— David Choe
ProductReferenced

Lego

Lego

“I think they're cool I loved them when I was a kid I want to send you this thing”— Joe Rogan

Big reveals from this episode

  • Choe says talking about the Hadza on Joe's podcast triggered donations that 'literally saved their lives' through the Maleka Foundation.
  • He claims he made millions gambling, millions from art, and millions from early Facebook stock, treating money as a 'video game' he has already won.
  • At dinner he asked a friend worth hundreds of billions to simply hand him one billion dollars on pure instinct, and was politely refused.
  • After his 2009 Beverly Hills sellout show he stopped selling art entirely and told his finance team to structure his life to die with zero.
  • He hired a 'rogue' trainer who had a key to his house and physically hit him; his mother walked in mid-session and screamed in terror.
  • Going method as the angry Isaac Cho in Beef destabilized him so badly he checked himself into a mental hospital for a week.
  • A powerful iboga ceremony mocked his hoarding, prompting him to give away roughly 90% of his personal possessions over seven months.

Worth remembering

  • Choe was the cameraman on the documentary We Are Hadza, which films a baboon hunt from beginning to end including the kill and eating.
  • He keeps a freezer full of human placentas and ate his wife's placenta, offering to take friends' placentas too.
  • For The Mandalorian he learned the Star Wars 'Aurebesh' alphabet to make accurate graffiti and refused to be paid by Disney.
  • Joe reveals he named 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu after Zecharia Sitchin's Nibiru / ancient-Sumerian alien theories.
  • The 'Mongolian spot' birthmark appears on over 90% of Native American, 80%+ of Asian and African-descended infants, fading within a year.
  • Archer Lars Anderson revives forgotten techniques, firing multiple arrows from his fingers faster than a gun can shoot.
  • Joe quotes Marshall McLuhan's 1964 line that 'man becomes the sex organs of the machine world.'
  • Choe describes TRE (trauma release exercise), claiming humans and domesticated dogs are the only animals that hold trauma in the body for life.
  • Choe argues comedians should dress like 'clowns' or fools, citing Eddie Murphy's leather suits and Richard Pryor's outfits.