The guest
Michael Malice: Soviet-born anarchist author and podcaster; author of The White Pill, known for contrarian political commentary and his show Your Welcome.
What this episode covers
Michael Malice joins Joe Rogan for a wide-ranging, meandering conversation that opens with a hyper-realistic cake bust of Lex Fridman and Joe's plans for a new Austin comedy club. They dig into the psychology of cults (Landmark, the 'Holy Hell' commune that built the theater Joe nearly bought), how the political left and right have swapped positions on free speech and war, and Joe's six years hosting Fear Factor. A long middle stretch becomes a natural-history tangent on bears, ancient civilizations, supervolcanoes, and fish intelligence. The back half turns political: newly released January 6th surveillance footage, the QAnon Shaman's sentence, the Whitmer kidnapping plot, and Malice's book The White Pill about Soviet atrocities and Western journalists who covered them up.
Recommended on this episode
MediaRecommended
Holy Hell
“you should watch the documentary”
“well you should watch the documentary it's on Amazon Prime okay it's called holy hell you can watch it”— Joe Rogan
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Soft White Underbelly
Mark Laita
“it's really good dude really good”
“have you ever seen soft white underbelly on YouTube it's really good dude really good he's a really good interviewer”— Joe Rogan
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Massaro (YouTube channel)
“he's the best”
“did you ever watch that guy Massaro on YouTube who's that the Japanese kid he goes he catches fish and he cooks like literally everything”— Joe Rogan
The guest's own work
BookBy the guest
The White Pill
Michael Malice
“let me talk about this book up here talking about yeah yeah I've been working on this for two years um the white pill”— Michael Malice
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
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Wild Wild Country
“this isn't the case with uh wild what is it Wild Wild Country right is that the one yeah”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
American Splendor
Harvey Pekar
“Harvey Peacock from American Splendor whose R crumbs like bestie right he had a graphic novel about me”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
MILF Manor
“have you heard this show called MILF Manor uh I have we played a preview and I'm hoping it is what we thought it was”— Michael Malice
MediaReferenced
River Monsters
Jeremy Wade
“have you ever had um Jeremy Wade on the show is that the guy from River Monsters no I have not I love that guy though”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Meat Eater
Steve Rinella
“it was for the show meat eater my friend Steve vanilla and his whole crew the eighth is bear meat and it wasn't cooked well enough”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Kill Tony
“because kill Tony you get one minute and the comedians are ruthless and hilarious and they're all like Roseanne's on there”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Mr. Jones
“there's someone named Gareth Jones and there's a movie about him called Mr Jones”— Michael Malice
MediaReferenced
Patriot Purge
Tucker Carlson
“Carlson previously produced a three-part Series in 2021 called Patriot Purge on the streaming service Fox Nation”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Mr. Saturday Night
Billy Crystal
“are you gonna be making a sequel to Mr Saturday night like his big bomb and the look on Billy Crystal's face”— Michael Malice
MediaReferenced
Last Comic Standing
“he was on Last Comic Standing and for a while like caught some heat he's a very eccentric guy”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Fear Factor
“but you're talking to me right I hosted Fear Factor well that's right yeah when I was at Fear Factor for six years”— Joe Rogan
BookReferencedISBN verified
The End of Gender
Debra Soh
“well Deborah talks a lot about this in her book at the end of gender and what she talks about like for a lot”— Michael Malice
BookReferenced
The Politics of Love
Marianne Williamson
“I read her book the politics of love because I did an article about it I kind of think she's just great”— Michael Malice
BookReferencedISBN verified
A Course in Miracles
Helen Schucman
“is that the book A Course in Miracles 1976 book by Helen she must be it underlying premises that the greatest Miracle”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Tropical Fish Hobbyist (magazine)
“the very first paycheck I ever got was writing for an aquarium magazine when I was in high school tropical fish hobbyist magazine”— Michael Malice
ProductReferenced
David August (dress shoes)
David August
“I got a pair from David August they're really nice in their dress shoes but I don't wear them”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
Remington 870 tactical shotgun
Remington
“Hellman grabbed his Remington 870 tactical shotgun and a handful of Winchester XP one ounce copper sabot slugs”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
Winchester XP copper sabot slugs
Winchester
“a handful of Winchester XP one ounce copper sabot slugs that's a big round and headed up the road to his neighbor's house”— Joe Rogan
Big reveals from this episode
- Joe was under contract to buy the One World Theater in Austin for a comedy club before learning it was built by a cult documented in 'Holy Hell'.
- Malice explains The White Pill is the story of the rise of the Soviet Union, the Ukraine famine, and Western reporters like Walter Duranty who covered it up.
- Joe describes newly released January 6th footage appearing to show Capitol Police escorting Jacob Chansley like tour guides.
- Chansley's attorney said exculpatory footage was withheld by prosecutors despite discovery obligations, surfacing only via Tucker Carlson.
- In the Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot, 12 of the 14 people involved were FBI informants, per the discussion.
- Malice confesses he stole a spiny boxfish from the New York Aquarium as a teenager, smuggling it out under his hat.
Worth remembering
- The 'Holy Hell' cult leader reportedly had straight male members pay him for 'therapy' while he was sleeping with them.
- Joe did the first four episodes of Fear Factor sober, then hosted the rest high because it made the job bearable.
- A Fear Factor stuntman was so used to sets he swallowed his chewing-tobacco dip all day rather than spit it out.
- Horses originally evolved in North America, went extinct around 11,000 years ago, and were later reintroduced by Europeans.
- California's flag features a grizzly bear even though settlers hunted every California grizzly to extinction.
- A Kodiak Island man shot a roughly 1,000-pound bear through his front door after it wandered into his house; a neighbor finished it with a slug through the brain.
- The Yellowstone supervolcano erupts roughly every 600,000 to 800,000 years, and the last eruption was about 600,000 years ago.
- Steve Rinella's Meat Eater crew contracted trichinosis from undercooked bear meat.
- Malice's first-ever paycheck was for writing in Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine while in high school.
- Joe notes the Sphinx temple shows water erosion suggesting it predates accepted timelines by thousands of years.
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