The guest
Matt Rife: Stand-up comedian who blew up via viral crowd-work clips; relentlessly touring theaters and prepping his next special.
What this episode covers
Matt Rife joins Joe Rogan for a loose, wide-ranging conversation that opens with Matt's severe chronic insomnia and his hobby of ghost hunting around the world, including a solo visit to The Conjuring house. They spiral through cryptids (Bigfoot, mermaids, giants), animal danger (chimp attacks, bears, hippos), and the science of domestication, from the Soviet silver fox experiment to feral pigs reverting to boars. The middle turns conspiratorial, covering Russian troll farms, manufactured online conflict, OnlyFans economics, AI deepfakes and TikTok trends. The back half drifts into stand-up craft (arena timing, in-the-round shows), Joe's old Quake obsession, true-crime media, and a long, weed-fueled riff on consciousness, aliens, vampires and the origin of the universe.
Recommended on this episode
MediaRecommended
The Conjuring
“my favorite franchise”
“The Conjuring movies are [ __ ] great by it's my favorite franchise they are fun and there's so many of them”— Matt Rife
MediaRecommended
Survivorman
Les Stroud
“the show is amazing”
“oh my God the show is amazing when was this on he used to go like it was a while back and he used to go legitimately by himself”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
Chimp Nation
“you got to watch it”
“have you ever seen chimp Nation on Netflix I don't think so you got to watch it it's wild”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
Painkiller
Peter Berg
“it's incredible”
“he created that series uh painkiller on Netflix if you haven't seen it's [ __ ] incredible but it's about the Sackler family”— Joe Rogan
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Black Bird
“very good”
“he's watch on Apple TV seen it no what is that very good it's about based on true story”— Joe Rogan
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The Fourth Kind
“my favorite Abduction movie I've ever seen”
“it's a really good movie it's my favorite Abduction movie I've ever seen and obviously nobody believes her”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
Alien
Ridley Scott
“the scariest scary movie ever”
“alien one was like that to me is the scariest scary movie ever what that movie was terrifying”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended
Quake
id Software
“an amazing 3D online Death Match Game”
“Quake is uh an amazing 3D online uh Death Match Game where you're running around with like rocket launchers and rail guns”— Joe Rogan
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
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The Nun
“if you want to be smart they branched off with the nun they branched off with Annabelle and I love the way they tie in the story”— Matt Rife
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Annabelle
“they branched off with the nun they branched off with Annabelle and I love the way they tie in the story for each one”— Matt Rife
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Alone
“watch that show alone on Netflix yeah it's it's similar but this was like one guy with his own cameras doing this everywhere”— Joe Rogan
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The Wizard of Oz
“have you seen that video of of somebody hanging in the background of The Wizard of Oz”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
Build-A-Bear
“builda bear is responsible for a lot of deaths oh people don't talk about that enough I don't think Bill the bear is responsible”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Yogi Bear
Hanna-Barbera
“Yogi Bear we turned we turned one of the scariest animals in the forest buddy hey boo boo let get us a picnic basket”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
Tickle Me Elmo
“she came out with a Tickle Me Elmo and the chimp lunged at her oh God oh my God”— Joe Rogan
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The Social Dilemma
“did you watch social dilemma yes I did crazy I had the guy uh who uh who did it Triston Harris come in”— Matt Rife
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Cops
“I always wondered that about cops like how do they do they have to sign they have to sign waivers right on the show Cops”— Joe Rogan
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Live PD
“I told you that that show that's been going on it was called live P it's called something else now”— Joe Rogan
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Above the Law
“it's the [ __ ] guy from above the law everybody's seen Above the Law”— Joe Rogan
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60 Days In
“you watch that show like 60 days in 60 days in prison no is it 60 days in the name of it”— Joe Rogan
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Richard Jewell
Clint Eastwood
“the guy who played like Richard jeel in the Richard jeel movie and he's the Olympic Park bomber too”— Joe Rogan
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Twilight
“the whole Twilight thing as long as he doesn't kill me you know he's like he's out there eating sucking deers dry”— Joe Rogan
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Quake III Arena
id Software
“this is Quake 3 Arena and so it's these wild Graphics this looks fun it's fun very very early 2000s”— Joe Rogan
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Quake Champions
id Software
“the new new version of it what is the new the online Quake Champion the one they're playing yeah”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Halo
Bungie
“more than Halo people love play Halo play but it's kind of the same sort of thing it's a first person shooter”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Guitar Hero
“this guy's playing a guitar playing Guitar Hero oh my God banjo hero he's playing Guitar Hero”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
Xbox
Microsoft
“what this guy doing he's playing Xbox get the [ __ ] out of here bro get the [ __ ] out of here bro”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
Buffalo Trace
“when I drink Gatorade I never go but if I drink Buffalo Trace I'll I'll drink Buffalo Trace and go”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
Gatorade
“I like [ __ ] Gatorade [ __ ] I like a lot of things when I drink Gatorade I never go”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
American Spirit
“supposedly those American Spirits are better because it's just tobacco but all of it is like burning leaves in your lungs”— Joe Rogan
Big reveals from this episode
- Matt Rife reveals severe chronic insomnia: he's overdosed on 30mg of melatonin, smokes indica every night to sleep, and claims he once stayed awake for nine straight days.
- Matt goes ghost hunting around the world and says he toured The Conjuring house alone, witnessing objects move on cue.
- Matt jokes he and his crew 'bought land in Wyoming' and is ready to start a cult, riffing on how easy it would be.
- Matt reveals he's shooting his next stand-up special in September and is building a brand-new hour from scratch.
- Matt performed at one of Dave Chappelle's birthday shows at Madison Square Garden, his first time on a stadium-size stage.
- Joe reveals he spent thousands of dollars installing a T1 line in his house just to play the video game Quake better.
Worth remembering
- The Soviet silver fox domestication experiment (Belyaev, started 1959) showed foxes' ears flopped and jaws shrank within a few generations of selecting against aggression.
- Domesticated pigs released into the wild grow tusks and thicker hair, reverting to a boar-like form within months.
- A PBS Eons video claims whales and wolves descend from the same predatory land-animal ancestor.
- OnlyFans reportedly brought in roughly $2.5 billion in revenue in 2022.
- Gigantopithecus, a real primate up to ~9 feet tall, was identified from a giant molar found in a Chinese apothecary shop.
- Russian troll farms reportedly ran 19 of Facebook's top 20 Christian pages, manufacturing online conflict at scale.
- 'Clinical vampirism' (Renfield syndrome) has over 50,000 blood-drinking cases in psychiatric literature from 1892-2010.
- Elizabeth Bathory is credited by Guinness with up to 650 victims, but historians argue she may have been framed to seize her lands.
- The Zodiac Killer was never caught; a recent viral 'DNA' identification claim was flagged as inaccurate and not from the FBI.
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