On this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Joe talks about his weight loss journey from 300 pounds to a healthy weight of 175 pounds. He also talks about how God restored his heart, and why you can be a new creation every seven years.
00:00:48.000I don't want to get super spiritual out the gate, but I will because I think God wants me to right now because you saying that.
00:00:53.000There's a scripture in the Bible that says, in Christ, all things are a new creation, which I thought was interesting because it didn't talk about restoring the old.
00:01:03.000It says that in God, we are a completely new creation.
00:01:59.000Not a fixed cycle where everything is swapped out all at once.
00:02:01.000Some tissues renew very fast while others renew slow, slowly, or hardly at all, which averages out to several years if you look at all the cells together.
00:02:12.000So intestinal lining cells renew every two to five days.
00:03:18.000It's like, and I heard Tony Robbins once say that we grossly overestimate what we can do in a year and we underestimate what we can do in a decade.
00:03:28.000And for people that might be listening to this that are dealing with severe obesity, I want to give you this game.
00:03:35.000You will grossly overestimate what you can do in 90 days, but underestimating what you can do in a year when it comes to your health.
00:03:46.000I turned 41 three days ago and it was right around my 39th birthday that I started really considering taking the step to try to make a major change in my life.
00:03:57.000And I thought about it around my birthday because I knew my next one was 40.
00:04:11.000And it felt like I'd already cheated the game.
00:04:13.000I'd had multiple heart issues, you know.
00:04:16.000And I was like, man, I should really start trying to figure this out.
00:04:20.000I felt like I could feel myself dying, Joe.
00:04:23.000You know, and it was crazy because I spent most of my life thinking that when I got to this point, or that I never thought I'd get to this point, we'll start there as far as success.
00:06:26.000So what was, you knew you were doing bad.
00:06:30.000You knew your body was not, it was not going to be able to function at that weight for very much longer.
00:06:37.000And so what was the pivotal moment where you made this decision?
00:06:43.000This is why I wanted to do this with you.
00:06:45.000Thank you for letting me have this space because this is what I want people to hear is that every time I thought I had a critical moment, it was an emotional moment.
00:08:25.000You can imagine I started, and with that mentality, I said, well, the first thing I'll do is, let me, you know, how can I cut back how much I'm eating?
00:08:50.000You know, there's a big person listening to this right now or a drug addict or somebody who wants to change some part of their life that right now is going, I'm going to start next Monday, you know, or I'm going to start Friday or I'm going to start.
00:10:11.000And I've been studying about lying to yourself.
00:10:13.000That when you tell yourself you're going to do something and you don't do it, your body then starts to know that you don't mean what you say.
00:10:19.000So now when you tell your body to do something, your body looks at you like, bitch, you ain't never meant what you said to me.
00:12:18.000You know, like if somebody in your family was a drug addict, you would help with their kids or you would, you know, you would feel a need to help in their absence.
00:13:27.000Jamie, if you don't mind pulling it up, because it's just, it's just, somebody kind of recreated Winnie the Pooh, but for our kids, you know?
00:13:45.000You want to talk about a seven-minute read that will change your life?
00:13:48.000But there's a quote in there that goes, I forgot if it was the mole, but the fox or something looks at the horse and goes, what's the hardest thing you've ever done in your life?
00:15:13.000I was eating for, I had to start figuring out what I was actually hungry for.
00:15:17.000You know, like when we talk about obesity, Joe, there's groups.
00:15:21.000Like, if you're 340 pounds here, 330 pounds here, you know, it's probably, depending on your height, of course, you might be dealing with a discipline issue.
00:15:37.000Like, there starts to be a real thing there, you know?
00:15:40.000And I'm seeing it more now because I talk to tens, 20s of guys that are over 500 pounds that have reached out to me like, please, what is this magic, Yoda?
00:16:05.000First of all, you change the way you think and talk.
00:16:07.000But because 80 to 90% of compulsive eating happens between the ears, not the teeth.
00:16:14.000So the average obese person that's that big, and I learned this from her, is that they're only eating 20% of what they're thinking about eating.
00:16:22.000This is an all-day loop that's in your head.
00:16:31.000Like I would walk in a room like the Predator.
00:16:33.000Like I would, I would do one thing like the Terminator and be able to look you in the eye and be like, there's a bottle of Snickers on that counter.
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00:20:24.000At least their daddy died of obesity because he had mental health issues, but he was a cool fucking dude, man, that did some cool stuff, you know?
00:20:30.000And it was like, I never would have thought I could have this kind of life.
00:20:46.000I'm not thinking right most of the time, you know, to like sit here and look at you now, like, dog, I'm going to be a 70-year-old man with you, Bubba.
00:22:10.000So what happens is when your body goes to burn when you fast, it has to burn through all your insulin before it'll start burning through your reserved fat.
00:22:18.000So when you're at that high of an insulin level in your blood, you're having to fast so you're hardly ever getting to the resort fat burnage because it's just constant insulin.
00:23:09.000So then I started doing research and I was like, well, if I'm not going to do this, I'm going to have to fast to get my insulin levels down a lot.
00:23:14.000So I was fasting and I was losing like next to no weight.
00:24:19.000This lady's the lady who really Gary started this journey for me, and I'll never be able to thank him enough for it, but she brought it home.
00:24:27.000And Gary probably would have, but she had a brick and mortar and was just easier to get to.
00:24:54.000She said, if you took a fourth of a dose of metformin, which 2,000 milligrams is what they would prescribe a diabetic one, let's say we give you 500 milligrams, which is a real low dose once a day, until we just see this marker go down.
00:25:07.000She said, it might take a year because we're not trying to rush it and throw a bunch of GO1s at it.
00:25:11.000We're like, we're just, we're going to do this really slow.
00:29:08.000But you could eat like a bucket of them before you get into the hundreds of calories.
00:29:13.000If you want to have some like raspberries with some salt on them, or not some raspberries, rather some radishes with some salt on them and some celery.
00:29:37.000So like, when I say cheats, like I was hungry, so I go to my nutritionist and go, hey, man, just feed me whatever looks like the most food.
00:30:41.000But I learned how to make all the good stuff better, by the way.
00:30:44.000Like, not better, but Larios is really.
00:30:48.000So a lot of my weight loss has come from, like, I used to always hear you say that you got into podcasting and talking to people about stuff you were just interested in, like conversations you just thought were cool.
00:30:59.000And then I thought about that's like the approach to life.
00:31:36.000Which, famously, him and Mike Doce, I think, are kind of both famously known for the guys who created the weight cutting protocol of today.
00:32:52.000I'm going to go to the pantry and punish myself.
00:32:53.000You know, I'm never going to lose this weight.
00:32:55.000Where it's like, if I'd have just waited for the year and really said, no, man, I'm going to go birthday to birthday.
00:33:00.000Which is why when me and Cam ran on this birthday of mine, it was so important to me because I was like, two birthdays ago was the first day I even thought about changing my life.
00:33:08.000And even last birthday, I was 400, you know, 380 pounds.
00:33:11.000And now this birthday, I'm running a 5K with Cam Haynes.
00:33:20.000You can have a whole different birthday.
00:33:21.000It's hard for people because they want immediate gratification.
00:33:26.000You know, they really want it all to happen immediately, especially in the society that we exist in today where everything, I mean, this is why GLP1s are so enticing for people because you can get immediate gratification.
00:33:37.000You know, and sometimes you got to just, you got to focus on little victories, these little tiny victories.
00:35:11.000Because if you can get around a bunch of other people that are addicted to good things, then you're all just doing good things and you're all feeding off of each other.
00:36:20.000And when you're around a bunch of people that are positive and that are inspirational, then all of a sudden you start holding yourself accountable.
00:36:27.000You're like, you know, what would David Goggins do?
00:36:30.000You know, like, what would Cam Haynes do?
00:37:08.000When I was cheating on my wife, I was hanging around people that were cheating on their wives.
00:37:11.000When I was drinking tons of alcohol and doing tons of cocaine, I was hanging around people that were doing tons of alcohol and tons of cocaine.
00:37:17.000So I'm like, I don't, I want to be an, I want to change.
00:41:19.000So it's like, okay, I need to start changing my, I need to find cooler stuff to put into my algorithm, things, more knowledge, learning stuff.
00:43:13.000This is, look, you want to speculate a little bit together about this?
00:43:16.000I think he was doing the coolest dad thing ever because he goes on there and goes, look, this has been a little overwhelming for me and my family.
00:45:02.000I mean, that sounds cokey and new agey, but I'm telling you, man, if I don't get my time in in the woods at least a couple times a year, three or two, and I really want to do it way more often.
00:45:16.000But it's, it empties all the bullshit out of my life.
00:45:21.000The mountains don't give a fuck what's going on in your life or how many likes your last fucking social media post got or who's upset at you.
00:48:01.000You're not going to find them before they see you coming or hear you coming or smell you coming.
00:48:06.000If you want to hunt them, you have to use bait or you have to use dogs.
00:48:10.000And, you know, that's how they used to hunt them in a lot of places.
00:48:14.000They used to, you know, tree them with dogs, then people would shoot them.
00:48:17.000And people are like, well, that's horrible, too.
00:48:19.000But you have to control their populations.
00:48:21.000If you understand wildlife biology and wildlife management, you must control the populations of predators.
00:48:28.000And then, you know, like John and Jen up in Alberta, where they took me, they know how to cook bear, like really good.
00:48:34.000Jen is an excellent cook, and she'll cook a bear roast, and she rubs it down and puts it in a Traeger, and they'll slow cook it for 12 hours.
00:50:18.000And then they started using their skins, so buffalo hides became valuable, but it wasn't the meat that they were after, which is crazy because they basically almost made them extinct.
00:50:29.000They came like within a hair's breadth of making bison extinct in North America.
00:51:28.000And so then they made market hunting illegal.
00:51:31.000And then, you know, they designated areas public land.
00:51:34.000And, you know, this is the Teddy Roosevelt thing.
00:51:37.000And what they did was really an amazing amazing example of conservation in North America that really doesn't exist anywhere else is our wildlife management and also our natural resources public land management.
00:51:54.000So we have public land in North America where you could apply for a tag.
00:52:01.000You could get it like we did with that mule deer.
00:52:15.000You, it's part of you being an American if you fill out the right paperwork and pay for the tags and all that pays for the management of this land and for wildlife biologists and park rangers and all those kind of different people that game wardens that help you know keep all this stuff managed.
00:52:35.000See, I didn't even know you could hunt public lands until recently whenever Cam and them were fighting back about the bill that was trying to get rid of some of it.
00:53:21.000We're in there the first night, and it's like kind of not nippy, but it's like when the sun went down, it was cool, but it was still, you know, I was so adrenaline up.
00:53:28.000The first night, a doe comes out, Joe, and I thought I was going to shit myself.
00:55:30.000The holidays come with a lot of traditions, gathering with family, cooking those once-a-year recipes, and leaning into the little rituals that bring everyone together.
00:55:39.000That's something I always look forward to.
00:55:42.000But there's another tradition I think we should all start doing during the holidays, and that's taking some time for ourselves.
00:55:48.000This season, you do so many things for the other people in your life.
00:55:51.000You plan get-togethers around everyone's schedule, you spend hours picking out the right gifts and cooking the right food, but you also deserve just as much attention.
00:57:19.000I wouldn't be the charges aren't completely gone.
00:57:22.000So, what I'd have to do is, and this is my hope, is that my goal in this is that I want to reach out to legislation eventually and go, Hey, like, if nothing else, I'd like my run my right to hunt.
00:57:33.000Like, it's done a lot for my mental health, it's done a lot for my physical health.
00:57:38.000Like, it's been a being able to start going on that first bow.
00:57:42.000These are little markers that I put on the calendar.
00:57:44.000You know, when I'm 400-something pounds, and I'm like, All right, next year, Cam said he's taking me on my bow hunt.
00:57:56.000So, I want to go to them and go, Look, I understand if you've ever raped somebody or killed somebody, but I think that every it should there should be some path to redemption, even if it takes 30 years.
01:01:46.000But the problem is, if you want very impressive animals that are mature, which is also better for the entire genetics of the herd, because these are the animals that have lived a full life.
01:06:55.000It's also the concentration clears your mind because it's so hard to do to hit a target, especially at a distance.
01:07:04.000Your whole thing is just everything's got to be like coordinated in sync and on that release and that arrow flies and goes right into there.
01:07:17.000It's one of the only things I've ever done that when I'm standing there, even over a target, especially over a deer, but even over a target, and I pull that bow back, just like you said about the mountains.
01:07:28.000Like, nothing in the world matters right now.
01:08:24.000It's also, you're going to learn how to manage your nerves, right?
01:08:27.000So there's going to, this is a process and it's a journey.
01:08:30.000And so along the way, you're going to have some moments where a deer comes in or an elk comes in where you're, you see your body shaking, freaking out.
01:08:39.000But then in the future, you're going to know, okay, I know when this is coming.
01:09:49.000I said, Camera, you're not mad that we sat four times and I haven't got one yet, especially since I fucked it up once and twice had a pee today.
01:11:51.000I mean, I'm, you know, it's one of the most rewarding things that I've ever done, you know, and especially in terms of like getting pretty decent at it, getting proficient at it and having a bunch of success.
01:13:54.000You know, like, and then he turns and he's like slowly starts walking.
01:13:58.000I was at full draw for like a minute and a half behind this tree, just holding for a minute and a half while this dude was, he was about 25 yards, but he did not like it.
01:15:27.000So right around June is when I really just kick into leg strengthening, leg conditioning, and cardio time.
01:15:34.000Because you know you're going to have to go.
01:15:36.000They live in the mountains, man, which is interesting because they didn't used to be like, they were more like living in the plains until people start fucking with them.
01:15:43.000And then they like realize like the best way to get away from people is to get way up where it's difficult to get to.
01:15:50.000So if you want to get them, you got to go where it's difficult to get to.
01:16:54.000And the first day I came out and I looked up that hill and I looked to the left and I took two steps to the left and I stopped and I told myself, I was like, I'm learning about stories we tell ourselves.
01:17:05.000The story I've been telling myself my whole life was take the easy way out.
01:17:09.000My entire life, Joe, I have always looked for the path of the easiest, like A to B straight line.
01:18:23.000Whatever the hardest thing is, whatever scares me the most, whatever I think is going to be the most daunting of the day, it's like, put that motherfucker on the table right now.
01:18:35.000When you elect to make these decisions, conscious decisions to do a difficult thing voluntarily, you elect to do that.
01:18:43.000Then the rest of your life becomes way easier because the most difficult thing of your day is always the most difficult thing of your day, whether you decide to do it or whether life throws it at you.
01:18:54.000And you can decide to give yourself some shit that's way harder than anything life's going to throw at you.
01:18:59.000And then the rest of life becomes easy.
01:19:05.000It's very important for famous people because for famous, the pressures and the weirdness of fame, most people don't understand the psychological burden that that carries, how that hits you.
01:19:38.000So other stuff that seems difficult for other people that don't work out or don't take on challenging tasks, it's not that difficult for me.
01:20:34.000But when the weight started coming off and I started being able to breathe a little better, like I wasn't just fighting for oxygen every single step.
01:20:42.000And that moment happens, though, if you're patient.
01:20:44.000The next thing you know, you're running with your friends and y'all are talking about the football game and you're firing on all cylinders.
01:20:49.000You said, hey, when you were on that treadmill, you were talking.
01:20:51.000We were watching the Volkanovsky, excuse me, the Pyotr Janab Dwavish-Willie fight.
01:27:33.000But, God, eight hours into something like that is so nice because you know you have so much to learn.
01:27:39.000And if you just look at it that way, like what a beautiful blessing it is to have so many opportunities to do things, so many times that you're going to be able to learn.
01:27:49.000So much time to grow, so much time to get better.
01:33:37.000That's why that is so exciting to catch a fish.
01:33:41.000Shooting an animal and killing it and eating it and knowing that you can eat it for months is that times like a hundred.
01:33:47.000Shooting an animal with a bow is that times a thousand.
01:33:50.000Oh, it made me think about it when I was thinking about animal killing and bows, especially now because I'm thinking about this a lot, obviously.
01:33:57.000But there's this thing that's happening there where it's like the concept that back in the day a man left with this stick and piece of metal or just a stick back then, a shaved stick and a string.
01:34:09.000It was like, if this goes good, I will come back with enough to feed our tribe.
01:34:37.000So some Native American, probably a Comanche, because it's here in Austin.
01:34:44.000And that guy who made that made it himself, attached it with sinew and Twine and put it on a stick that he had shaved down and put feathers on it that he had got from a bird and you know, glue that they had made from they made glue from all kinds of different things.
01:35:05.000And he shot that probably into an animal and it fed his family.
01:36:19.000She was all in until after, like, once we caught, I should have just clipped it, threw it back in, but I was just determined to get, you know, how you are when you're stuck.
01:38:48.000I've got a little Beaumar nose button that touches my nose.
01:38:53.000I feel that on my nose every time where the string touches my nose, this little thing just kind of pinches at your nose, let you know you're in the right spot.
01:39:01.000I'm going to go get Wayne to redo mine.
01:39:02.000He did it, but we had it where it just sat on my nose perfect, and then I lost that weight.
01:39:11.000Yeah, this is like the never-ending problem in my life right now.
01:39:13.000Clothes are either super baggy or I got one size too early, so it's tight, you know, because I'm just having to constantly chase right at his neck.
01:43:39.000But, you know, and I just remember like not knowing what it meant, but just knowing it was different and knowing that like I felt different.
01:43:46.000Like I felt like I felt ashamed even at that age a little bit being in this section.
01:43:56.000And then I talked to my sister the other day and I go, Shelby, man, do you remember the first time that you thought I was an overweight kid?
01:44:05.000And she goes, oh, yeah, I'll never forget it, dude.
01:44:07.000We took you to some store and they had a husky section and you couldn't fit the jeans.
01:44:25.000That's why I said earlier, sometimes when I'm in the pantry, Mary B would be like, who's what version of you is in the pantry?
01:44:30.000Is it the kid you or is it the adult you that's not answering an email?
01:44:34.000Because sometimes this is how deep addiction runs.
01:44:38.000Sometimes that relapse will be caused by literally an unresponded email that you just let sit there and torture you, but you don't notice it because it's just nagging at you.
01:44:48.000Just that, why don't you just tell that guy that you're not interested?
01:44:50.000Why don't you just tell, why are you avoiding that?
01:45:32.000It's like you're just constant, the food is a way of not having to deal with or even say, so I sit Bunny down, I go, baby, I'm probably going to start, give me some grace.
01:45:42.000I sit my whole house down and go, I'm going to try to do an effort to communicate how I feel in real time.
01:45:49.000And I might be abrasive at first because this is a new concept.
01:45:53.000I normally have to go like chew on things for a few hours to make sure I don't misrepresent my thoughts.
01:47:40.000And you doing it publicly is going to change the lives of countless people.
01:47:44.000There's probably a million people right now that are listening to this that are changing some aspect of their life because of what you're saying.
01:47:52.000That's why I didn't hide into it, Joe.
01:47:54.000I've seen too many other celebrities go in the dark and lose a bunch of weight and try to come out with a big reveal.
01:48:00.000And it always just felt superficial and like it just didn't feel right.
01:48:04.000I was like, yo, man, we should just like post about this.
01:48:07.000Like every workout, every day, it's like.
01:48:09.000It's also good because it makes you accountable.
01:48:23.000Because as long as you're not dwelling on other people's opinions and thoughts, because a lot of those people, one of the things that they do when they're saying negative things is they're avoiding introspection.
01:48:35.000They're avoiding their own personal criticism of themselves.
01:48:39.000So they're doing that by putting that on you.
01:48:42.000So by putting negative thoughts on you and negative comments on you, what they're really showing is that they're damaged and that they're avoiding that self-analysis that leads to you having to make changes for yourself.
01:48:59.000So instead, they're just shitting on other people.
01:49:04.000That's a giant addiction that people have.
01:49:06.000Not just to being on social media, but to talking on social media, commenting on social media and being out, you know, just being negative.
01:49:14.000Well, my favorite quote is: the booze mean nothing to me.
01:49:24.000It's like, oh, dude, you think I care about them booze?
01:49:27.000It also reminds me of the story of the donkey, the father and the donkey.
01:49:30.000I don't know if you ever heard this story, but the sons, the father's walking with the son, and the son's riding a donkey, and they're going through this little village.
01:49:37.000And somebody goes, Won't you look at that?
01:51:39.000And the transformation, Joe, that will be something to watch.
01:51:43.000The weight loss, that's been cool to watch, but the transformation, Bubba, I'm coming, dude.
01:51:48.000And what do you mean by the transformation?
01:51:49.000Dude, it's like, I'm going to like, I see myself.
01:51:54.000I've never been able to see myself like this, but like, I'm going to be like in top shape, Joe.
01:52:01.000Like, I was watching you with them kettlebells today, and while I'm running, I was thinking to myself, the next time I do this podcast, if Joe has me back, God willing, I'll fucking, I'm going to do that workout with him and I'm going to blow his mind.
01:52:49.000And he was like, because then if anything ever goes wrong, I know I can throw 250 pounds over my shoulder and I can fire him and carry you out of somewhere.
01:52:55.000And I was like, what a sweet soul that you have secretly been looking at me all these years.
01:53:00.000Like, what if something happens to the jelly and I can't get him up?
01:53:45.000It was just, you know, if I've rolled over one time on my stomach and I was so fat that the way I rolled over, I trapped my left arm under me.
01:53:54.000And my right arm almost wasn't strong enough to get me up enough to let the left arm loose.
01:54:04.000Like I'm going to die right here because I just physically don't have enough strength in one arm to get me from, you know, I roll over like this to get me up off of my other arm.
01:54:13.000I can tell you right now, I could do 20 push-ups, though.
01:56:49.000We looked through all my weight loss before this pod, and he had a note where I went drinking heavy one night, and I was probably 515 pounds.
01:56:56.000And he was just like, even in his note, he was like, not sustainable.
01:56:59.000He can never lose the weight drinking this way.
01:57:38.000The problem with Bert is that that dude, this is what I love about Bert that makes Bert so special is that Bert, you remember when he ran a half marathon or marathon or something without training him?
01:57:46.000Yeah, he ran a whole marathon without any training at all.
01:59:19.000He hasn't really, he's seen me whenever at wrestling, but I think when I show up to this 5K and I do it in 30 minutes, I hope that's the moment Bert's like, all right, baby, I'm with you, Jelly.
02:03:16.000Like, immediately, I was like, we got to go.
02:03:18.000It's just been, it's the, it's the effort.
02:03:21.000But helping the self, knowing you want to change, and then not being afraid to just go ask, not being ashamed to just go to your wife, because that's a little embarrassing.
02:03:28.000And be like, hey, can you just like had the dark chocolate?
02:05:40.000Yeah, that's another thing about phones that makes it very difficult for people to have meaningful conversations because everybody's so attached to their goddamn devices.
02:05:50.000Even while you're talking to them, they're checking this and checking that.
02:06:02.000It's like one of the things that I've said about this podcast is like one of the most unexpected things about it is this education that I've got in talking to people.
02:06:12.000Not just like listening to their stories and listening to whatever their expertise is.
02:06:16.000But it's also just the learning how to talk to people.
02:06:20.000Because you're sitting here for three hours or whatever it is with no distractions and no interruptions.
02:06:27.000And because of that, you learn this sort of ebb and flow of human conversation.
02:06:32.000So for me, it's so hard to have a bad conversation.
02:06:36.000When I'm out with people that are bad at having conversations, to me, it's fucking painful.
02:06:58.000And a lot of those people that are missing that goes into these, the byproducts of lack of connection are addiction, isolation, loneliness.
02:07:10.000These are the side effects of not connecting with people.
02:07:37.000Like, we're designed to talk to each other this way.
02:07:40.000The spiritual fulfillment, the psychological fulfillment that comes from talking to a human being and making a genuine connection and understanding more about that person.
02:07:49.000And then by also doing that, you understand more about yourself.
02:07:53.000Like when someone reveals something to you that's very meaningful and very intimate, like you go, oh, wow.
02:08:00.000Like, what is it about, why does that?
02:08:06.000Or maybe I can, maybe I'm looking at myself the wrong way or looking at people the wrong way.
02:08:11.000And, you know, and you're just like this slow learning process of how to interact with people better.
02:08:17.000And that's all kids today that are on their phone all day long, they're psychologically stunted.
02:08:24.000You know, we're stunting their social growth and their development of just most people don't, most kids today barely know how to communicate with each other.
02:08:33.000Especially even long form like this, it's the ability to really get, you don't really know how somebody feels about something until you really get into a conversation, like a real conversation.
02:08:44.000And these kids aren't having those conversations with each other.
02:08:47.000It's all in micro clips and micro spots.
02:08:50.000And me and my daughter talk about this a lot because lucky for, I was blessed that she's a conversationalist.
02:09:29.000You know, she'd smoke cigarettes and tell stories, and it was just like super charming.
02:09:33.000And, you know, it's, so my daughter grew up a lot like that, and I'm really proud of that.
02:09:37.000You know, she grew up sitting in a room and having those kind of commercial, like real long form, because that's how you know how you really feel about it.
02:09:46.000Was whenever I quit doing things at a surface level, when it started going, yeah, that's cool, but like, really, when was the first time you remember being fat?
02:09:54.000I think people have a hunger for it, which is why this emergence of long-form conversations into the zeitgeist has been surprising to a lot of people.
02:10:05.000Because, you know, when I first started doing this podcast, one of the funny things that Ari Shafiro always said to me that I'll never let him live it down because he was always like, you got to edit your show.
02:10:43.000Because I don't think that people realize how many people are starving for real conversation.
02:10:51.000You know, this is one of the reasons why, like, when that Kamala Harris thing went down, where I had Trump on the podcast and Kamala Harris kept resisting coming on the podcast, they wanted to do it for like 45 minutes.
02:11:02.000They wanted to do it in a conference room with a bunch of aides around.
02:12:36.000I don't know, but something happened where you recognize, like, this is rare that people have conversations this funny, this good, but also this cathartic.
02:12:44.000Like, there's moments we've laughed, we've cried, like, it's every podcast of yours.
02:13:49.000Like the human species itself is a hive.
02:13:52.000And it's one of the things we're learning about the negative impacts of that hive being connected to social media because you're not really connecting with people, but we're also experiencing this thing that's similar to a hive.
02:14:05.000And so there's a writer, Avi Levinovitz, who talks about this.
02:14:10.000And the way he described it rather, is that it's like processed food.
02:14:18.000And instead of real information, like on social media, you're getting this processed thing that's boiled down with no nutrients in it, but you keep consuming it because you're so hungry because you're not getting the real thing.
02:14:31.000You're just stuffing your face with stuffing your mind with process information.
02:14:35.000I think that's an apt way to put it because that's really what's going on.
02:14:38.000It's like we all want real connection.
02:14:43.000We're worried that someone's going to reject us.
02:14:45.000We'll worry that someone's going to be rude to us.
02:14:47.000We're worried that someone's judging us, that someone's going to think they're better than us, or that they're going to think we lack or whatever it is.
02:14:55.000There's this like there's a thing that we all hunger for.
02:14:59.000And I think for a lot of people, what they get if they don't have it near them, if they haven't done what you've done and found a great group of friends, they can get it through podcasts.
02:15:12.000They can get it through people talking and communicating and being real and being interested and being curious and learning and just being cool to each other.
02:18:58.000And then I walk out and I'm like, when I go to do it, right before I go out, they come to me and go, hey, Jennifer Hudson's going to come out at the very end and do hallelujah with you or just do hallelujah.
02:19:07.000You just praise for a minute while she does it.
02:22:02.000That was a really powerful moment because you were talking about how you would listen to that song in prison, you know, and how you went to the Opry and you sat there.
02:24:29.000I remember sitting in my jail bunk when I knew she was born and thinking I had to do something to change my life.
02:24:35.000I came home and I pursued the dream of music by selling mixtapes and t-shirts out of the trunk of my car right here in Nashville, Tennessee.
02:27:39.000To say congratulations on all the great things happening in your career and to thank you for the positive difference you're making in the lives of so many people who need the help.
02:27:49.000And I'll never forget meeting you on the Grand Old Opry and how much it meant to me to hear you say my music helped you get through some really tough times.
02:27:57.000That's one thing country music does really well.
02:28:02.000And who would have ever dreamed back then that I'd be back at the Opry House today to say, Jelly Roll, you're officially invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
02:28:11.000It's an honor to say welcome to the family, brother.
02:28:18.000He wanted to play that for you when you're here.
02:30:53.000I used to, I used to write on my vision board when my wife first got together that your podcast was the number one thing I wanted to do every year.
02:31:00.000Because I always felt like I'd have a Joe Dirt moment on here, you know?
02:31:03.000I always felt like somewhere I'd be sitting here telling my story and the world would be tuning in, you know?
02:31:08.000And it'd be fucked the fact that I'm on your podcast.
02:31:33.000Just through your songs, through your words, through your acts, through your deeds, through your life, through the way you've chosen this new path.
02:31:48.000I will tell you 100%, without doubt, you are changing people's lives and you're enriching people's lives by being you, by being a real person going through a real life moment.
02:32:46.000You know, it's just like, even then I was having a moment where I was like, if they ever actually, you know, I never thought I, like, when Jordan and Jen invited me to the Grand Old Opry, I never thought that would happen.
02:32:56.000I never thought that I'd be allowed to play the Grand Old Opry.