The Joe Rogan Experience #2433 – James McCann
Date: December 31, 2025
Host: Joe Rogan
Guest(s): James McCann, Brian Callan (appears as a guest/co-host throughout), Jamie (producer)
Episode Overview
This episode of The Joe Rogan Experience features comedian James McCann in an engaging, freewheeling discussion that spans ancient history, contemporary politics, media credibility, crime, technological change, and the strange—and sometimes dark—corners of human society. With Brian Callan joining in for much of the conversation, the tone is lively, irreverent, and often introspective. The trio riff on topics ranging from prehistoric relics to AI, the failings and absurdities of modern politics, societal change, gender, religion, food, and more, all with their trademark humor and skepticism.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Prehistoric Relics and Ancient History
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Mastodon vs. Woolly Mammoth (00:24–01:19)
- Conversation opens with banter about a mastodon tooth on the table.
- Distinction between the extinct species, with the help of a sponsor's factoid: Mammoths were taller, grass-eaters; mastodons, shorter, stockier browsers.
- Discussion touches on relics being carved and sold as keepsakes.
- McCann: “They don’t know how they died out…people killed them all, people of 10,000 years ago with sticks, or some cataclysm killed most megafauna.”
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Comedic Parallel: Dogma in Science and Comedy (03:04–04:28)
- Brian reflects on resistance to new ideas in both science and comedy: "It happens in every discipline...people don't like new comedians..."
2. Comedy Fads and Cultural Change
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Prop Comedy Cycles (04:28–06:12)
- They discuss the cyclical nature of trends like prop comedy and “ukulele women.”
- Joe quips: “It’ll be cyclical. It’ll come back...”
- Brian reminisces about prop comics from the 1980s and how some performance styles go in and out of vogue.
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Australian Comedy and Gun Control (06:12–07:41)
- Joe recounts “people pretending to be retarded in Australia” as a comedic trend and segues into a discussion on Australia’s gun laws and societal violence.
- Discussion of an incident where a Muslim man stopped a shooter, and how political sides react.
3. Violence, Race, and Societal Uprisings
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Media Narratives on Heroism & Identity Politics (07:41–09:51)
- Exploration of how acts of heroism are interpreted through cultural/religious lenses.
- Brian: “We want to pretend that people exist in groups…imagine you’re a peaceful Muslim and you have to deal with this...”
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Right-Wing Extremism, Definitions, and Ideological Drift (11:07–12:26)
- Discussion on government's efforts to reclassify various extremisms, blurring typical left-right boundaries.
- Joe: “Now they’re trying to reclassify globalized jihadism as a form of right wing extremism…”
4. Crime, Poverty, and Urban Decay
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Roots of Crime in Poverty, Not Race (14:00–17:51)
- Discussion about the causes of crime in American cities, referencing Appalachia and black communities.
- Brian: “If you have a community where people are selling drugs…you’re gonna get a lot of violence, whether it's Italian, Armenian, or any community…”
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Systemic Failures & Coping Solutions (21:21–24:19)
- Consideration of entrenched poverty and crime in places like Baltimore.
- Joe: “All those people in that community, if they had been born and raised with different families in a different place, completely different outcome. A giant percentage of who you are is dumb luck.”
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National Guard, Policing, and Precedents (24:19–26:46)
- Talks about the use of the National Guard in cities and historical precedents (like integration in the South).
- Brian: “You have to be a big fucking reason to break that separation [between army and civilians].”
5. Critique of Media & Political Class
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Legacy Media vs. Podcasts & Public Distrust (28:06–32:14)
- Discussion of the decline of trust in mainstream media, the New York Times app, the “bubble,” and how podcasts win the audience.
- Brian: “You can’t proclaim yourself to be intellectual by only listening to one perspective…”
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Political System, Corruption, and Lack of Reform (37:41–44:14)
- Exposes bipartisan patterns of politicians profiting from insider trading and being unaccountable.
- Joe on Singapore’s solution: “If you’re a politician in Singapore, you get a huge salary, but you are not to ever be corrupt.”
- Brian: “If you catch them corrupt, you gotta shoot them in front of everybody... That's the only way you're gonna stop it.”
6. Guns, Freedom, Technology, and the Threat of AI
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American Tolerance for Chaos & Guns (44:54–46:03)
- They discuss American attitudes on personal freedom, guns, and the Second Amendment.
- Joe: “Tolerating chaos allows you to have the guns...”
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UAPs and Military Tech (45:49–47:12)
- Brief, wild detour into speculation about UFOs and instantaneous nuke delivery.
- Brian: “The first thing [the US] tried to do [with UFOs] was use it as a method of delivering a nuclear bomb.”
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AI Anxiety, Social Upheaval, and Fake Media (64:08–76:28)
- Concerns over AI music, video, universal basic income, and the erosion of traditional skills.
- Joe expresses deep unease: “But when I see the [AI] video, I get the heebie jeebies...”
7. Social Change, Gender, and Population Decline
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Freedom of Speech, Overregulation, and Social Engineering (91:59–92:52)
- Discuss the difference between US and Australian freedom of speech and gun rights.
- Joe: “We don't love freedom the way Americans love freedom.... People seem really calm about that.”
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Birthrates and Cultural Trends (92:52–94:49)
- Declining birthrates in Japan, South Korea, and among the global middle class; ties to feminism and changing relationship norms.
- Brian: “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with not having kids...you can have a full and fulfilling life.”
8. Food, Health, and Societal Decline
- US Food Supply vs. Traditional Diets (109:08–113:41)
- Dissects the negative health impacts of US industrial agriculture, gluten intolerance, and chemical additives in bread and meat.
- “About 200 years ago, we started stripping the bran and germ...to make flour shelf stable, [now] nutritionally dead.” [113:00]
- Joe expresses a yearning for simpler, organic lifestyles, “I yearn to live like a poor person…”
9. Religion, Ritual, and Societal Cohesion
- Catholicism, Ritual, and the Power of Religious Art (134:35–140:08)
- In-depth on what drew McCann to Catholicism, comparing megachurches and the ancient Latin Mass.
- Joe: "You go into this place, and this place is insane...it feels like God’s house when you’re in."
- Pedophilia Scandals, Historical Context, and Commentary (141:07–145:02)
- A nuanced, occasionally dark framing of the Catholic Church's abuse scandals within the broader context of historic and present sexual abuse in society.
- “It introduces the standard by which you can go, it's wrong to be a pedophile,” [142:36]
10. Trans Issues, Culture Wars, and Social Media Influence
- Changing Attitudes, Media Bans, and Social Media Manipulation (147:21–153:44)
- Discussion of the rise and fall of youth transitioning numbers and the impact of social media policies.
- Brian: “Post 2024 numbers have dropped off a cliff...You literally wrote on Twitter that a male could never be a female, you'd be banned.”
- Explores foreign influence and bots on US social discourse.
11. Political Polarization, Coalitions, and Power
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Fractures on the Right, Conservative Coalition Breakdown (156:01–159:55)
- Rogan and McCann analyze the current chaos on the American right, its diverse constituencies, and the inability to sustain a unified movement post-Trump.
- Joe: “Unless there’s a unifying figure, their natural thing is to fight with each other...the end of the Trump era.”
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Epstein Files, Scandals, and Distrust in the System (161:42–167:10)
- Jamie updates on the release of new Epstein documents, failed redactions, and government messaging.
- Joe: “But don’t make it look like you’re covering up...Just release it.”
12. On Castrati, The Weirdness of History, & Irreverent Farewells
- Castrati (male singers castrated before puberty to keep high voices) become a bizarre closing subject, with McCann and the crew debating the odd enthusiasm for the phenomenon in Italian history, the mechanics, and the “lust for strangeness” in culture and art.
- [Joe, joking on the lasting desire for castrati:] “Why can’t we, if we’re going to have all the trans kids, doesn’t one of them go identify as a castrati?”
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)
-
On the death of the mammoth/mastodon:
“There’s two theories. One, people killed them all…[or] a cataclysm. It killed so many different animals almost instantaneously.”
— Brian Callan [01:26] -
On media echo chambers:
“You can’t proclaim yourself to be intellectual by only listening to one perspective…”
— Brian Callan [28:49] -
On modern poverty and crime:
“A giant percentage of who you are is dumb luck. And if the people that got the worst luck to be born in a crack house…you're not going to do anything but what everybody else is doing.”
— Joe Rogan [21:39] -
On corruption in politics:
“If the politician is bad, you could shoot him…that’s the only way you’re gonna stop it. It would have to be a totalitarian dictatorship.”
— Brian Callan [42:29] -
On American exceptionalism:
“We have guns. That’s part of it, I think—heavily armed country.”
— Brian Callan [45:02] -
On AI anxiety:
“But when I see the [AI] video, I feel like I get the heebie jeebies…”
— Joe Rogan [80:11] -
On the Catholic Church and ritual:
“You go to this place…and this place is insane. It feels like God’s house when you’re in.”
— Brian Callan [139:18] -
On the fracture of the American right:
“Unless there’s a unifying…figure, their natural thing is to fight with each other. And that’s what’s happening now…It’s the end of the Trump era.”
— Joe Rogan [158:29] -
On the absurdity of historical castrati:
“Why can’t we, if we’re going to have all the trans kids, doesn’t one of them go identify as a castrati? Couldn’t one do it?”
— Joe Rogan [177:43]
Important Segments (Timestamps)
- 00:24–01:19: Mammoth/mastodon and ancient extinction debate
- 03:04–04:28: Comparisons between sciences/comedy and resistance to the new
- 14:00–17:51: Poverty, crime, and societal solutions
- 21:21–24:19: Entrenched criminality and failed interventions
- 28:06–32:14: Lamenting the decline of media trust
- 37:41–44:14: Widespread corruption among politicians
- 64:08–80:28: AI, technological change, and discomfort
- 134:35–140:08: Religious ritual, Catholicism, and the power of awe
- 156:01–159:55: The collapse of coalitions on the American right
- 161:42–167:10: Epstein files, government redactions, and institutional trust
- 174:02–178:08: Castrati, Italian music history, and the wildness of human customs
Closing Thoughts
This episode is classic Joe Rogan Experience: sprawling, provocative, and packed with humor about humanity’s oddities and contradictions. The tone is equal parts skeptical, curious, and amused—briskly jumping between heavy topics (political corruption, societal decline, existential threats) and irreverent banter (prop comedians, penis cones, castrati). Rogan, McCann, and Callan approach entrenched issues without easy answers, never shying from controversy or dark jokes—yet underlying it all is a steady call for curiosity, honesty, and humility in the face of change.
Whether riffing on the failings of media and politics, or the implacable rise of AI, the episode captures a sense of cultural, societal, and existential crossroads.
For listeners seeking a particular subject, use the timestamps above to jump to key moments and themes. The episode is wide-ranging, unscripted, and characteristically Rogan in spirit—diving into the comic, the cosmic, and the deeply human.