The guest
Luis J Gomez: Stand-up comedian, host of the Legion of Skanks podcast, and founder of the uncensored Gas Digital network and the Skankfest comedy festival. A self-described former heavy pothead and ex-New Yorker who built his own platforms to avoid being deplatformed.
What this episode covers
Over a sprawling nearly-three-hour conversation, Joe Rogan and Luis J Gomez range across internet outrage culture, the value of changing your mind publicly, and the American food system (glyphosate, gluten, RFK Jr.). They dig into government inefficiency, NGOs and fire-aid money, billionaires and CEO pay, and a string of dystopian-tech themes: AI voice cloning, simulation theory, Sam Altman's 'Stargate' data centers and an alleged 'portal to talk to aliens,' and missing scientists. Lighter stretches cover lucid dreaming, weed and comedy, casino games, and weird local blue laws. The emotional core is Gomez's mother's death and Joe's account of personally getting Trump to greenlight ibogaine treatment for veterans with PTSD and addiction.
Recommended on this episode
ProductRecommended
Magnesi (magnesium powder)
Moon Juice
“I love it, dude”
“there's a product called magnes which is like a pink powder that a hot chick told me about and I love it, dude.”— Luis J Gomez
MediaRecommended
Waking Life
Richard Linklater
“I was blown the away by this movie”
“When was the movie back in the day, Waking Life, that Alex Jones was in? I saw that on Acid by myself and I was blown away by this movie.”— Joe Rogan
The guest's own work
ProductBy the guest
Gas Digital
Luis J Gomez
“Well, you were really smart about that early on with Gas Digital. Such a good idea, dude. So, I have my own platforms.”— Joe Rogan
MediaBy the guest
Skankfest
Luis J Gomez / Gas Digital
“Stankfest on sale today. the all access pass are pretty close to sold out, but you can still get single day pass. skankfest.com.”— Luis J Gomez
MediaBy the guest
Legion of Skanks
Luis J Gomez
“especially if there's a funny back and forth between you guys, like if you're doing Legions of Skanks”— Joe Rogan
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
ProductReferenced
Perplexity
Perplexity AI
“Do we No. Why don't you uh throw that into our ad or uh sponsor Perplexity? What does it say?”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced
ChatGPT
OpenAI
“I prompted chat GPT. I told a bunch of information about my mom and I was like I want to have a conversation with my mom”— Luis J Gomez
ProductReferenced
Apple Pay
Apple
“That's why I like buying things with my phone. It's my favorite thing. That that Apple face thing.”— Luis J Gomez
MediaReferenced
Pump Up the Volume
Allan Moyle
“Christian Slater. Pump up the volume. He was podcasting from a car before there was podcast. This is 1990.”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Jungle Fever
Spike Lee
“Remember there was that movie uh Jungle Fever? The entire premise of the movie was it's a black guy and a white girl.”— Luis J Gomez
MediaReferenced
Star Trek
Gene Roddenberry
“Plato's stepchildren season 3 episode 10 November 22nd 1968. played by Nishelle Nichols and Captain Kirk, William Shackner.”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Rounders
John Dahl
“one of my favorite scenes from Rounders where they talk about how I always use that analogy in life”— Luis J Gomez
MediaReferenced
Black Mirror
Charlie Brooker
“Black Mirror did a pretty good job. Black Mirror, I can't watch it. It freaks me out so much.”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
The Matrix
The Wachowskis
“You never saw The Matrix? There's a scene where this one dude Joey Pants, he turns on people in the Matrix”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
WALL-E
Pixar
“Wasn't that Wall-E? I never saw Wall-E either. I got to watch it with my kid. Apparently, it's one of the coolest movies ever.”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Total Recall
Paul Verhoeven
“Total Recall was a similar concept, right?”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced
Will Smith Eating Spaghetti (AI video)
AI generated
“an AI video they did Will Smith eating spaghetti from five years ago and he's all up. they keep recreating that with new AI.”— Joe Rogan
Big reveals from this episode
- Gomez recounts using ChatGPT to simulate a conversation with his dead mother and being genuinely moved to tears.
- Joe explains the viral White House clip was misread: he texted Trump about ibogaine, and Trump approved it the next day at the UFC saying 'It's done.'
- Texas dedicated roughly $100 million to an ibogaine initiative for soldiers, police, and others with PTSD and addiction.
- Joe describes Andrew Schultz interviewing a robot on his podcast, and AI bots inventing their own language.
- They marvel that billionaires went from 13 in 1982 to 989 by 2026.
- Axon CEO Patrick Smith reportedly made $164 million (a 110,000% pay increase) making police body cameras.
- A New Yorker investigation quotes a former OpenAI exec claiming the company is 'summoning aliens' via portals.
- Gomez describes his first lucid dream after quitting weed, flying over the ocean for 10-15 minutes.
Worth remembering
- Glyphosate is sprayed on wheat as a desiccant after harvest; a ban was resisted because ~90%+ of US farmers rely on it.
- Italian pasta feels lighter because it uses heirloom wheat, while US wheat is more gluten-dense and higher-yield.
- California has reportedly spent more than $24 billion on homelessness, and Newsom vetoed audits of the spending.
- In 2025 California private employers cut ~31,000 jobs while government added ~20,200 positions.
- Paper straws and paper cups are lined with 'forever chemicals' (PFAS) coatings to keep them from dissolving.
- Atrazine, an endocrine disruptor, can reverse the sex of frogs and disrupt human hormone systems.
- Walmart's CEO total compensation in 2025 was $27.5 million, with a base salary of only $1.5 million.
- Ibogaine comes from the iboga tree and is described as a grueling, non-recreational experience that can shut off withdrawals and addiction.
- The 1968 Kirk/Uhura kiss on Star Trek was the first scripted black-white kiss on US TV.
- Falling backward onto concrete after a sucker punch transfers full body weight to the skull, often fatally.
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