Joe Rogan Experience #2127 - Eleanor Kerrigan

Eleanor Kerrigan joins Joe Rogan for a loose, comedy-heavy conversation rooted in their shared Comedy Store history. She recounts being the youngest after five older brothers, why she idolized male bodybuilders as a kid, and how she only became a comic in her 40s after twelve years waiting tables. They trade stories about Comedy Store legends like Don Barris, Joey Diaz, Duncan Trussell, and Steve Hofstetter. The talk veers into Ambien-fueled mishaps, transgender culture debates, Muslim immigration in Canada, US military bases worldwide, and CIA conspiracy theories about rock and roll. It closes on the joys and grind of life on the comedy road.

• Kerrigan says if she had been 12 today she is '100%' certain she could have been talked into transitioning, having begged her mom to let her be a boy at age seven.
  00:44:31
• Kerrigan reveals her gay best friend waited until both his parents had passed before transitioning, out of respect for them.
  01:01:30
• Kerrigan admits she does not use AI yet but a friend pushes her daily to download ChatGPT.
  01:36:35
• Kerrigan confesses she waited tables 12 years before leaving and returning a year and a half later as a comic, calling the delay 'mental illness.'
  01:44:51
• Kerrigan reveals her special No Country For Old Women is free on YouTube, released March 1st.
  02:01:59
• They learn the US has roughly 750 military bases in at least 80 countries, more than the ~520 Apple stores worldwide.
  01:07:49

• Kerrigan's mother had 10 children; during one pregnancy her kidneys were failing and doctors operated, moving the baby aside.
  00:02:37
• They cite a 2023 case of a man who shot at five people and used an Ambien defense claiming no memory.
  00:22:24
• A 1987 Toronto man was acquitted of killing his mother-in-law after driving 15 miles while allegedly sleepwalking.
  00:20:21
• Jim Morrison's father was a rear admiral involved in the Gulf of Tonkin incident that escalated the Vietnam War.
  01:18:49
• Rogan describes AI tech that translates a podcast into Spanish, German, and French including matching lip movements.
  01:33:57
• Hitler was reportedly on amphetamines; they watch 1936 footage of him appearing jittery.
  01:34:51
• They discuss a man in Belgium sentenced to a year in jail for sharing racist memes in a private group chat.
  01:11:30
• Kerrigan argues a female comic starts at '-3' with an audience while a male comic starts at zero.
  00:15:42