Home Joe Rogan Episode
Joe Rogan · 2024-06-27

Joe Rogan Experience #1991 - Protect Our Parks 8

Comedians Shane Gillis, Ari Shaffir and Mark Norman eat mushrooms with Joe Rogan and riff on cults, the Bud Light boycott, UFC and aliens.

Joe Rogan Experience #1991 - Protect Our Parks 8
The guest

Shane Gillis, Ari Shaffir & Mark Norman: Stand-up comedians and recurring 'Protect Our Parks' panelists who do an unscripted, increasingly drunk and psychedelic group hang with Rogan

What this episode covers

This is the eighth 'Protect Our Parks' panel episode, an intentionally chaotic comedy hang rather than an interview, with Joe Rogan joined by Shane Gillis, Ari Shaffir and Mark Norman. Over the course of the episode the comics eat psilocybin chocolates, shotgun beers and steadily lose their train of thought while bouncing between bits. Recurring threads include the Bud Light controversy (with Ari defiantly drinking it on camera), cult stories tied to Rogan's Mothership comedy club, the death of Comedy Central's comedy slate, and a long run of UFC fight breakdowns. They also detour into conspiracy theories about the moon landing, UFOs, cattle mutilations and demons. It is almost entirely raunchy improvised banter with very few genuine product or media recommendations.

Recommended on this episode

BookRecommended

The Immortality Key

Brian Muraresku

“there's a great book on it”
“there's a great book on it um the immortality Key by this guy Brian mer rescu it actually opened up a field of study at Harvard”— Joe Rogan
MediaRecommended

Holy Hell

“my favorite cult movie ... amazing cult documentary”
“my favorite cult movie is the movie about the building I bought holy hell it's a [ __ ] amazing cult documentary”— Joe Rogan
ProductRecommended

Cherry Coke

Coca-Cola

“Cherry Coke is really good ... the best Cherry Coke”
“Cherry Joy way from Cherry Coke is really good cherer the best Cherry Coke”— Joe Rogan

Also referenced (named, not recommended)

MediaReferenced

Fire in the Sky

“this is the dude Travis Walton from that uh movie Fire in the Sky did you ever see that movie Fire in the Sky”— Joe Rogan
MediaReferenced

Diff'rent Strokes

“I was 13 with that guy the Hoover salesman from Different Strokes”— Ari Shaffir
MediaReferenced

NBA Jam

Midway

“don't play a video game with him yep oh big j a big video gamer ... what game are you playing uh NBA Jam”— Shane Gillis
ProductReferenced

Bud Light

Anheuser-Busch

“Bud Lights abandoned me how they abandon you they never reached out”— Ari Shaffir
ProductReferenced

MyPillow

“something happened with the my pillow guy well like his business has been affected by all this uh being connected to you know”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced

Pepsi Spice

PepsiCo

“that's Pepsi spice ... he buys Pepsi spice.com and then he makes a whole Diary of him eating Pepsi spice and dying”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced

Zima

Coors

“you can't chame a man with a zema and a fanny pack zema ... I used to drink zema and people used to get mad”— Ari Shaffir
ProductReferenced

Molson Canadian

Molson

“they'll buy Bud Light and Blue's Bud Light exactly mson blue ... Canadian beer is a higher percentage of alcohol”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced

Saturn

General Motors

“Saturn did a whole campaign marketing to women and they [ __ ] Skyrocket in women in sales”— Joe Rogan
ProductReferenced

Ford Raptor

Ford

“yeah Raptors are cool they're [ __ ] they're a [ __ ] yeah I had one of those they're awesome”— Joe Rogan

Big reveals from this episode

  • Rogan cites research (via 'The Immortality Key') that ancient Greek wine was laced with ergot, an LSD-like fungus, which he argues inspired Greek philosophy and democracy.
  • Rogan reveals his Austin comedy club building (originally the One World Theater) was built by the Buddhafield cult, the subject of the documentary 'Holy Hell.'
  • Ari Shaffir recounts that Comedy Central threatened to fire his entire crew on two weeks' notice unless he turned down a superior Netflix deal, which he says collapsed the network's comedy output.
  • They discuss research that leaded gasoline lowered the IQ of half of Americans, costing over 800 million cumulative IQ points before being banned in 1996.
  • Rogan notes the MyPillow founder lost roughly $75 million in revenue and was pulled from Sam's Club, Costco and Bed Bath & Beyond over his Trump ties.
  • They recount Brian Redban's legendary troll of buying PepsiSpice.com and posting a fake diary of Pepsi Spice destroying his health.

Worth remembering

  • Ergot fungus with LSD-like effects was found in ancient Greek drinking vessels, opening a field of study at Harvard.
  • Suspected Chinese spy 'Fang Fang' (Christina Fang) allegedly courted multiple US officials, including a congressman and an Ohio mayor, for intelligence.
  • Cattle mutilation reports describe organs removed with surgical precision and blood drained with no clear method, with over 10,000 incidents by the end of the 1970s.
  • Canadian beer such as Molson is described as having a higher alcohol percentage than American lagers.
  • A study cited suggests the intensity of a psilocybin mushroom experience does not depend on body mass index.
  • The UFC's Apex Center uses a cage about 40% smaller than a standard octagon, with only around 100 spectators.
  • Leaded gasoline for cars was banned in the US in 1996.
  • The John Wayne Bobbitt severed-penis story is recounted, including that it was found, reattached, and led to him making adult films ('Frankenpenis').