Joe Rogan Experience #1985 - Steven Wright

Steven Wright and Joe Rogan spend the conversation as two comedians talking shop about the art form they love. Wright explains his unique writing process, how he stumbled into his absurdist style, and his belief that thinking and silence are real creative work rather than laziness. They reminisce extensively about the legendary 1980s Boston comedy scene and the killers it produced, and how the documentary When Stand Up Stood Out captured it. The talk ranges across Texas wildlife laws, the origins of parking meters, exercise as a creative tool, the early days of Rogan's podcast, wrongful convictions, and Rogan's new Austin comedy club. Wright closes by discussing how he wrote his novel Harold, which began as a story posted on Twitter.

• Wright started standup at age 23 after watching an open mic at Boston's Comedy Connection, having loved comedy since 16 from The Tonight Show.
  00:03:44
• Wright reveals his absurdist style emerged accidentally from influences (Carlin's everyday observation plus Woody Allen's joke structure) plus his own mind, never a deliberate choice.
  00:19:27
• Both comics describe driving with no radio and doing mundane labor as the source of their best ideas, with Wright arguing 'doing nothing' is actually doing something.
  00:44:49
• Rogan recounts getting Elon Musk to smoke weed on the podcast, after which Tesla's stock dropped about 6% and it triggered top-secret-clearance issues.
  01:09:24
• Wright says playing Boston's TD Garden, after starting at open mics there, was the most emotional set he ever did.
  01:38:30
• Wright explains the audience is part of the editing process; he tries a joke three times and cuts it if it fails, trusting the crowd as the editors.
  02:00:50
• Wright reveals his novel Harold began as a story he wrote two sentences at a time on Twitter before deciding to turn it into a book.
  02:01:21
• Rogan describes how a cluster of world-class comedians moved to Austin during the pandemic and built a brand-new scene around his comedy club, only two months old.
  02:24:49

• Wright did his first set in July 1979 at Boston's Comedy Connection, then on Warrington Street at the Charles Playhouse, before Nick's existed.
  00:02:40
• Comedian Richard Jenny once performed four completely different one-hour sets over a single weekend without repeating a joke, demoralizing the other comics.
  00:10:34
• Wright wrote his early sets, like the electrolysis pony bit, by scanning newspapers for odd words to spark ideas.
  00:25:44
• Rogan names Adam Curry as the very first podcaster, with Adam Carolla, Marc Maron, and Kevin Smith among the other early ones.
  01:01:35
• Physicist Michio Kaku built a particle collider in his garage in high school in San Jose using about 22 miles of copper wire.
  01:08:22
• There are more tigers in private collections in Texas yards than in the entire wild of the world, due to Texas wildlife loopholes.
  01:14:05
• The first parking meters in the United States appeared in Oklahoma City in 1935 after the city tried marking tires with chalk.
  00:42:11
• The Lakota had a sacred clown called the Heyoka whose societal job was to mock everyone, including the chief, to peel away ego.
  01:17:42
• Wright recounts a story of a Brazilian weatherman jailed for a wrong forecast and Italian scientists convicted (later exonerated) for failing to predict an earthquake.
  01:21:18
• Rogan's Austin club has two Open Mic nights and all its door staff are comics who auditioned for their jobs with standup.
  02:25:50