#2435 - Bradley Cooper

Summary

The Joe Rogan Experience #2435 – Bradley Cooper

Date: January 9, 2026
Guest: Bradley Cooper (actor, director, producer)
Host: Joe Rogan

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Episode Overview

This episode features an in-depth, free-flowing conversation between Joe Rogan and Bradley Cooper. They explore the dynamics of long-form discussions, modern attention spans, the culture of stand-up comedy, Bradley Cooper’s creative process, transformative acting, parenting and personal growth, the impact of technology and AI, and the meaning found in art and human connection. The discussion is honest, humorous, and introspective, offering insight into both Cooper’s creative mind and Rogan’s philosophy on life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Power of Long-Form Conversation vs Short-Form Culture

• Both grapple with how people are inundated with short-form content, but recognize the enduring appetite for deep, long-form engagement (“I was trying to explain this… I kind of do too. It’s weird that that many people are watching.” – Rogan, 00:41).
• Rogan compares scrolling social media to chasing a fix (“...chasing a fix that you’re never going to get... But that’s not what people really want. What people really want is something engaging, something you go ‘wow, that’s like a great documentary.’” – Rogan, 01:11).
• Cooper talks about his own experience getting sucked into TikTok and recognizing its addictive pull (02:56).

Memory, Dunbar’s Number, and Social Overload

• Rogan explains Dunbar’s Number and how exposure to thousands of people through media/celebrity breaks our wiring for social memory (“I’m way past 1,500 people... there’s people I know really well, and then I see them and I’m like, ‘I don’t remember his name.’” – 05:03).
• Both admit to anxiety and ‘hard drive’ issues with memory (05:13–05:33), with Rogan jokingly comparing it to an overstuffed old iPhone.

The Culture of Stand-Up Comedy

• Extended discussion on Cooper’s film Is This Thing On? and his passion to authentically depict stand-up (“It’s about... real, complicated, real people...” – Rogan, 06:36–07:10).
• Both analyze the world of comedy clubs, the evolving culture, and the significance of supportive environments in modern stand-up (23:37–26:31).
• Rogan traces the shift from cut-throat competition for sitcoms to today’s collaborative, podcast-driven scene (24:02–26:26).
• “Everybody benefits from everybody else doing well… It completely reversed the system… it became much more about being supportive of each other.” – Rogan, 25:54

The Art/Craft of Stand-Up

• Cooper, fascinated by the “grind” of working comedians, brings authenticity to the film by using real clubs, comics, and audiences (13:09–15:04, 38:38).
• They discuss the challenge and value of “trying something new and sucking at it in the beginning” (22:01–22:38).
• The necessity of bombing and failing publicly is celebrated as part of growth in both comedy and art (85:15–87:20).

Acting Process, Immersion, & Responsibility

• Cooper details his demanding preparation for real-life roles (e.g., American Sniper), including physical training (185 to 238 lbs), weapons handling, and voice/accent work (55:35–62:50).
• The immense pressure and sense of responsibility when portraying real people, especially deceased ones, is discussed at length (51:06–54:50).
• The difference between method and “being present” is unpacked, with Cooper emphasizing that voice and embodying a character lead to natural performances (65:07–69:43).

Meaning & Purpose: Parenting, Creativity, and Growth

• Candid talk on discovering new capacities for love and compassion through fatherhood (“Not only have children changed the amount of love I have… it’s changed my capacity for love.” – Chappelle, via Rogan, 111:51).
• Cooper reflects on the joy of sharing creative breakthroughs and learning through the eyes of his daughter (109:04–111:15).
• Both see personal growth as inevitable and essential, shaped by difficult, creative experiences (107:56–108:59, 137:04–137:34).

Technology, AI, and the Human Experience

• Both wrestle with AI’s growing role in culture, art, and everyday life (131:14–137:04).
• Rogan warns of the potential for AI to rob art of humanity and for AI companions/robots to breed sociopathy (123:32–124:27).
• Cooper is open, yet circumspect: “I stopped fearing AI… It’s just like, there’s so much I don’t know. The older I get, I just know less.” (124:27)
• They see long-form podcasts as a counterbalance to the drift toward digital disconnection (“There’s this other deep need for connection… this is an example.” – Cooper, 119:19).

Art as Connection, Escape from Loneliness, and Spiritual Touchstone

• Both affirm the unique value of live art, music, and storytelling as a direct, irreplaceable human experience (129:06–130:57).
• Cooper: “I’m a huge believer in art… in any form, it’s a key to our communicative ability, and like not feeling alone. It really comes down to not feeling alone. Being part of a community.” (127:52)

Navigating Change, Adaptation in Society, and Meaning Beyond Work

• The role of work vs. purpose in the coming AI-driven world is debated (140:36–143:10).
• Cooper proposes: “I don’t know that people’s purpose innately is their job… My purpose is my family.” (140:59)
• Both wonder if AI-driven disruptions might reignite creativity or, conversely, displace people who are set in their ways (144:21–144:33).

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Notable Quotes and Moments

On Stand-Up/Artistic Failure

“You gotta be willing to bomb. You gotta be willing to eat a dick.”
– Joe Rogan (85:29)

“The key to that is willing to fail. That’s what I learned as an actor… just don’t take it too seriously. Here we go, we’re rolling the camera. Let’s just see what happens.”
– Bradley Cooper (84:46)

On Parenting and Compassion

“Not only have children changed the amount of love I have… it’s changed my capacity for love.”
– Dave Chappelle (via Rogan, 111:51)

“There’s like seven of [those jolts of happiness] every day with your kid… It’s crazy. It’s like free jolts. You never know when they come.”
– Bradley Cooper (111:08)

On AI’s Societal Impact

“You’re going to have like a whole nation of sociopaths that only interact with their AI companion.”
– Joe Rogan (124:27)

“I never got into video games. I never wanted to control everything. It’s like, I want to be in the thing that’s surprising.”
– Bradley Cooper (125:36)

On the Evolution of Stand-Up Culture

“Since the television thing kind of died off, the sitcom thing died off… it became much more about being supportive of each other. And then Ari Shafir… brought that [LA culture] to New York.”
– Joe Rogan (25:54)

On “Is This Thing On?” and Artistic Authenticity

“It’s not really just about stand-up. It’s about real, complicated, real people.”
– Joe Rogan (06:36)

“Can we pull this off where it’s authentic? That you’re watching it at home and you get a sense of it being real? That you’re saying you feel like it got it… makes me really happy.”
– Bradley Cooper (08:57)

On Acting

“If I believe I’m Chris [Kyle], then I have a shot at everybody else potentially going along with this illusion. I just have to be absolutely fearless… until I believe you’re him or he’s a part of you.”
– Bradley Cooper (53:57, 55:24)

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Noteworthy Timestamps

• 00:41: Rogan and Cooper discuss the existential weirdness of being “inside” podcasting culture.
• 01:11–02:38: Rogan on resisting short-form content and the dopamine trap.
• 05:00–05:37: Dunbar’s Number and memory overload for public figures.
• 06:36–08:57: Rogan praises Cooper’s stand-up movie; Cooper’s impressions from New York’s comedy world.
• 13:09–15:04: Filming authentic stand-up scenes in Is This Thing On?
• 22:01–23:02: The terror and triumph of starting something new in public (stand-up, creative pursuit).
• 23:37–26:31: The supportive evolution of stand-up—contrasting the old, brutal “dog eat dog” culture with today's collaborative one.
• 29:49–30:09: Rogan tells the story of landing on NewsRadio by “dumb luck.”
• 51:06–55:24: The burden and inspiration of portraying real people (esp. American Sniper).
• 84:45–86:47: Willingness to risk failure—a core insight in both acting and comedy.
• 124:27–127:18: The potential harms of AI companions, porn, and the challenge of genuine human interaction.

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Tone and Atmosphere

The tone is candid, introspective, at times hilarious (“Careful is death!” —Rogan, 85:56), always searching and appreciative. Cooper comes across as humble, likable, and thoughtful; Rogan is curious, conversational, and occasionally philosophical.

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Cohesive Themes & Takeaways

• Long-Form Dialogue vs. a Distracted Culture: Despite short attention spans, humans crave meaningful engagement.
• Authenticity in Art: Both men yearn for “real” connections—on stage, in movies, in conversation—and see this as a cure for alienation.
• Creative Grit: All growth—whether in stand-up, acting, or life—comes from risking, failing, and trying again.
• Parenthood and Compassion: Children transform one’s ability to empathize and offer meaning beyond professional success.
• Technology’s Double-Edged Sword: AI, social media, and instant gratification threaten human connection, but technology also enables new forms of community, learning, and artistic collaboration.
• Enduring Value of Human Creation: As AI/automation rise, the unique beauty—and need—for human-generated art and live performance will only grow.

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Suggested Listening Segments (Timestamps)

• 00:51–05:33: Memory overload and living in a hyper-connected world
• 06:36–13:59: Making of Is This Thing On?, stand-up culture, and authenticity
• 22:01–23:27: The terror and excitement of trying comedy for the first time
• 84:45–88:59: Embracing failure for artistic growth
• 109:04–111:15: Parenting, compassion, and the joy of watching your child grow
• 124:27–129:09: AI companion robots and human connection
• 129:06–131:01: Music, art, and the spiritual dimension of creativity

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In short:
A rich, honest, and often hilarious two-and-a-half-hour meditation on creativity, failure, technology, the state of comedy, fatherhood, and what it means to be human—as seen through the eyes of two men who love what they do and strive to stay grounded in an ever-changing world.

Transcript

[Bradley Cooper]

Joe Rogan podcast. Check it out.

[Joe Rogan]

The Joe Rogan Experience.

[Bradley Cooper]

Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day.

[Joe Rogan]

Hey, Bradley Cooper, what's happening, baby?

[Bradley Cooper]

You know what it's like when, like a Twilight Zone episode or something where, like, you're watching the T. This is an episode where, like, I'm watching the.

[Joe Rogan]

TV and all of a sudden you're.

[Bradley Cooper]

Inside the show and you're looking at me and I got the. Yeah. And all of a sudden I'm inside the show. It's crazy.

[Joe Rogan]

It's weird for me too. It's. It's weird for me that it gets weird for other people too. Like when I see people, of course, being weird about it, like, it's okay.

[Bradley Cooper]

I feel comfortable. Just so you know.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, good, you look comfortable.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, no, no, but it's excitement.

[Joe Rogan]

It's weird for me. Like, I was trying to explain this to someone. They'll. They're like, do people have a hard time being comfortable on the show? I go, I kind of do too. It's weird. Yeah, it's weird that. That many people are watching.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yes.

[Joe Rogan]

And then you start thinking like, oh, don't it up. Don't say that.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right. But if you think about it, the fact that you did this long form setup and that we live in a culture where people at least say that it's all about short term. It goes against it. The people are interested.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. Well, the short term stuff does work, you know, like, short attention span stuff is very popular, even with me, like. But I have been resisting it more and more lately. I'm like a fucking heroin addict, like, slowly weaning myself off the drug. And the more I wean myself, the better I feel, like, physically better, my brain works better, I feel more relaxed. I don't feel like this, like sugar. Sean o', Malley, the UFC fighter, he said, even when I'm just scrolling, even if he goes, even if it's not anything about me, he goes, there's just like a low level anxiety that I get. I'm like, yeah, yeah. Because like, you know, you're wasting your time chasing a fix that you're never going to get. And you're just like getting this short drips of like, oh, look at that. Oh, look at that. Scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll. But that's not what people really want. What people really want is something engaging, something you go, wow, that's like a great documentary. Like, which are still super popular. Like a great documentary. They're still, you know, like huge on Netflix and huge on YouTube.

[Bradley Cooper]

So this is Oppenheimer was like three hours long.

[Joe Rogan]

Exactly.

[Bradley Cooper]

A billion dollars.

[Joe Rogan]

So people went, humans didn't change. It's just. You can hijack the reward system by giving them some short attention span nonsense. And it just, like, tricks their slow drip dopamine into, like, continuing to watch this stupid. But that's not what they want. No, you know, it's not what I want.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, it's the difference between, like. Yeah, just a little drip of something that has the illusion that I'm getting what I want as opposed to what I actually need, which is sort of a reminder that I exist.

[Joe Rogan]

Yes, yes.

[Bradley Cooper]

And that I'm communicating with somebody. And I can relate to it.

[Joe Rogan]

Yes.

[Bradley Cooper]

Which is a different thing. And I only know this because I've never been on social media, but sometimes. There was one time I got on somehow got on TikTok, and it was all police footage, you know, like. And I was just. I remember laying on my couch. 40 minutes went by and I was just doing this. And there was like the first part of the video, and then what happened? And then like the second part, part two. And that was the only time I experienced. I thought, I gotta stay away from this. Cause I won't leave the house.

[Joe Rogan]

It's bad. It's bad for you too. Because it programs you to think that that is going on everywhere in the world. Like, if you have 8 billion people that are interacting with people all over the world, and you only take the worst examples of that and broadcast it, and then it becomes viral and millions and millions of people think it rew your way you think about human beings.

[Bradley Cooper]

And the other thing is about memory. Someone was talking about Niagara Falls the other day, and I thought, I've been there. Right. And then I'm like, have I been there? Or did I see a video? Or was that one of the things when I put the Oculus on?

[Joe Rogan]

Right, Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

Honestly, I can't remember, but I know what it feels like to be looking at it.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

So it's changing the way memory works.

[Joe Rogan]

100%. Yeah. I've come. I've hit a wall in my memory. Like a tangible wall, because. And I think it's connected to, like, Dunbar's number. Like, Dunbar's number is the amount of people that you can keep in your head. Like, because we evolved in these tribal scenarios, we evolved with like, 150 people. And so the way Dunbar calculated it, there's like, very close, intimate, close circle people, which is a small amount. And immediately after that, there's a slightly larger amount. And then it gets up to. What was it like? It gets up to like a thousand people. 1500 people. That's the most amount of people you can keep in your head. So it's like five people that, like your tightest of tight, and then 15, like, slightly outside of that. And it gets all the way up to about 1500 people. Recognizable people.

[Bradley Cooper]

But I would think I'd be able to. That you could keep in your head.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, but I'm way past 1500 people, so I'm right. Like, I am. Like, there's people that I know really well, and then I see them and I'm like, I don't remember his name.

[Bradley Cooper]

1500 sounds.

[Joe Rogan]

And it seems bad. Like, I'm like, why can't I remember his fucking name? I can't remember his name. I'm horrible with names, but it's just because my hard drive sucks. It's like I don't have enough room.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

It's like, you know, when you. The old iPhones, it was like you've run out of, you know, Mac space. Like, ah, geez, I gotta start deleting photos and videos now.

[Bradley Cooper]

Do you get anxiety with that or do you sort of breathe through and say, well, it's just the way it is.

[Joe Rogan]

I kind of just deal with it. Yeah, it is what it is. But. But my memory itself is, like, very good and also very bad at the same time.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, me too. I have a serious problem remembering people's names.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, you think about how many people.

[Bradley Cooper]

Like, as I was saying it, I was like. And I've watched it so, so many times. I was like, jamie. Right, that's Jamie. Like, as you were saying, like, let me see. Who can I. Do I remember any of the guys I just met? Can't tell you one. I just met them, shook their hand. Look them in there.

[Joe Rogan]

They say their names and it just goes in and out.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

And some people get upset. What's my name? I don't fucking know.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, you don't remember me? I' you remember what's my name?

[Joe Rogan]

And you're like, well, that's why in Hollywood people love to say, good to see you, instead of nice to meet you. Like that. You met me two years ago. Like, I don't remember.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, Leonard Bernstein had a great thing that he would always be. I loved you in the last thing you did.

[Joe Rogan]

That's funny. That's funny. Speaking of which, I watched your movie, Is this thing on? And it's good. It's really good, man.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, thanks, man.

[Joe Rogan]

It's one of the best representations of someone attempting to do stand up. And it's, it's a really good film. And, you know, but it's not really just about stand up. It's. It's about these people with this. It's about they're actual human beings. Like, these are complicated, real, like not caricature, ish, not cartoonish people. Like, like, I get that these are real people, right? Good, complicated, real people that are trying to figure out their relationships in the context of this one guy, Will Arnett, is tempting to do stand up.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

So it was great.

[Bradley Cooper]

I'm glad you say that. So you. Because, you know, I moved to New York in 97 and. And then that was my introduction to any comedy world other than with my dad. I used to watch Rodney Dangerfield, you know, New Year's Eve special. We used to watch it every year, you know, and it was Elaine Boozler and Sam Kinison and Dice and, you.

[Joe Rogan]

Know, Elaine Boozler, I forgot about her.

[Bradley Cooper]

I'm pretty sure she was on there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And. And I was obsessed with Dice. When I was like in 8th grade, I memorized one of his records and I would do it in the train station with all my friends. Because back then that's all you did, right? You would memorize stuff.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

There was no video to look at. You know, you wouldn't all sit around, you would just memorize and then, you know, regale your friends, your impersonation of him. And then. And Richard Pryor was my hero. Hero growing up, that was my idol. So I had this thing with stand up comedy. Then I moved to New York and I'm all of a sudden immersed with these clubs. And Upright Citizens Brigade had just started. And I did this movie, what Hot American Summer. And there was all these people I didn't even know about the state. Remember that show on mtv? There was a. And so I just, you know, little by little immersed myself into that world and I just became fascinated with the culture. And then Zach Galifianakis, who I met like in 2001, way before hangover, I used to go and watch him do stuff. And I just love the culture. And when Will was telling me about this, I was like, oh, let's set it in New York and the Cellar, because I just love the, the geography of the Cellar too, that you go in the Olive Tree and you walk down into this place, it's this whole other world. And. And it just felt like, yeah, I really want, like, can I. Can we pull this off? Where it's authentic. Where you were watching it at home and you get a sense of the fact that you're saying that, you know, you feel like it got it, you know, within the striking distance makes me really happy.

[Joe Rogan]

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[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, she. I mean, the minute I started shooting her and I was like, oh, wait a second. Yeah, yeah, it was like. And the first thing I shot with her was one of her. One of her sets. And I was just up there with the camera and I came around and her profile and actually I felt like I was in the Starsborn. She looked a lot like Gaga and Ally, like, singing Shallow.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, wow.

[Bradley Cooper]

I had like this weird moment. I was like, whoa. And then she was just incredible. And then as it went on, she had a larger part of the movie. And then that whole thing when they're talking about the small penis and we go up to her and just her writing that down and she was just so fluid. And I was like, oh, yeah, she's got it, man. She's got it.

[Joe Rogan]

She's great. She's really great. She's a really unique person. Like a very unusual. Like, even just talking to her up.

[Bradley Cooper]

On a farm with two moms and. Yeah, yeah, amazing. Yeah, she could do anything.

[Joe Rogan]

I know. And she's so fun. She's fun on stage too. Like, she's great. Like, very crowds, very, very smart.

[Bradley Cooper]

Very smart.

[Joe Rogan]

But like, her character, like, the way she interact, I'm like, oh, that's so realistic. Like, we should fuck. Like, that's exactly.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then you go back to the, like, East Village of Chinatown apartment you know, they live in. It's all one room.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, I believe it.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, me too.

[Joe Rogan]

It was great. It's. It's like, you know, you're never gonna really capture stand up in a movie because it's like to capture what it is, you would need, like years.

[Bradley Cooper]

And also you would need a movie dedicated to it.

[Joe Rogan]

Exactly.

[Bradley Cooper]

The movie's not dedicated. You know what I mean? It was just about, can I. Can I make you feel like you're there? That you're with him on stage?

[Joe Rogan]

Yes.

[Bradley Cooper]

That. What that could be like. Yeah, you know, the silence and then the camera's boom. There's nowhere to go.

[Joe Rogan]

How did you work out the standup scenes? Did you have real audiences and just.

[Bradley Cooper]

Real audiences because you have to hit the quota of extras with SAG and all that. But we try to do it as authentic as possible, which was. Everybody that works at the Cellar, they're there in the movie. Everybody who agreed to do it. So all the waiters and everything, the staff, that's all people that work there. Liz, who's the manager, who plays the manager. She's the manager of the Cellar. So all those people are real. But then the patrons. I can't remember what the email was or what the ask was, but like, people who like to go to stand up comedy, who go regularly and then once they were there, I never told them what was going to happen. I never directed them once. It was like, whatever they're laughing at, that's it. And I don't do many takes, so you're getting an authentic reaction now it's hyped up because there's cameras there and it's a movie, but they're not told what to do.

[Joe Rogan]

It feels like that.

[Bradley Cooper]

And so. And even in the mix, like, we never added anything. There was no added laugh, nothing.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, that's great.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, yeah. It's all. Cause I was like, it's just gotta be real. Cause I wanted Will to just, you know, I just don't want him to act right. I just want him to. And that's why, you know, you. Shane Gillis was kind enough the first time everyone up was here at the Mothership. Shane gave him four minutes of his set and he and I and Will and I flew to Austin. And we were sitting in the green room and Shane was like an hour and a half late. And Tony was there and he was so nice. I'd never met Tony before. And that's where I smelled the thing, you know, I did the smelling sauce. Fuck me. That shit is no joke, dude.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

And that was the first time Will ever went up. And we were just trying some of that material and went up as Alex Novak. Cause I was like, when do you have an opportunity as an actor to actually do the thing you're preparing to do? And like, think about how much that would cost. So you can go into a room where there's real people. It's all. And then every step that you're taking, you're in a club. So he did that. And then when we went back to New York, he did it like three times a week, four or five times a night for like six weeks.

[Joe Rogan]

Wow.

[Bradley Cooper]

Just so he could understand what it's like. And some people didn't know who he was. You know, you get a lot of tourists come into New York City and there were nights where you knew that he. When he said, alex Novak, they're like, cool. Not like, you're not Alex Novak. They're like, okay, let's see what you got. And so that was really. That was really great.

[Joe Rogan]

How did you. Who wrote this film?

[Bradley Cooper]

He wrote it with this guy, Mark Chappell. It was. It was a movie that was more about his. Based on this guy. John Bishop, who's a real comedian, is a very successful comedian in the uk and he will met that guy on a barge somewhere. And he was talking about his story and he was like, yeah, I was in. I was doing something else. My wife and I were breaking up and I walked into a bar, a pub one night. I didn't want to pay the COVID That really happened to this guy. So he put his name down and they called him. And then he was like, yeah, I'm getting a divorce and got a couple chuckles. But he just loved it. Never done comedy. Nothing before that. And he kept going back and he, like, was obsessed by it. And then, like, weeks later, his estranged wife walked into a place he was doing an open mic at with her girlfriends, and he was doing a set about their relationship. So that actually happened.

[Joe Rogan]

Wow.

[Bradley Cooper]

I know. And then they got back together and they're still together. And then now he, like, he tours around the world. He makes a living as a comedian.

[Joe Rogan]

That's incredible.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. So when he was telling me that I was doing another movie, and I remember I was like, what are you working on? Because we've been friends for like 25 years and he was telling me that and I was like, I just imagine Will because I know him so well and he's so charismatic and funny and just has this presence that is kind of lacking. I don't feel like there's like a male archetype now that fits him. He's like Robert Mitchum. He reminds me of like a young Robert Mitchum, Will Arnett. And he's telling me that I'm like his voice and like, that face. Stand up comedy. I just couldn't get it out of my head, Joe. And I was like, hey, man, can I read it? Like, how far along are you guys? And I read it and I was like, I didn't quite. Because, like you, I had never seen a movie that I thought nailed it. And I love stand up comedy so much. I was like. And I have no desire to try to redo it. And also, comedy is so massive right now, and the specials are so great and cinematic right now that there's no reason to try to make a fictional movie about something that we can watch as a documentary or a docu series or a show that is Authentic. I was like, so. But I still would really love to capture it cinematically. So what if it's a foil and the movie's about the two of them? Because that's interesting. Yes. And you suck.

[Joe Rogan]

That was one of the great scenes.

[Bradley Cooper]

Where Jordan was like, you're bad. You're really bad. And it's much more about just what, What? Stand up comedy with anything. And you talk about this on your show, doing anything that puts you out of your comfort zone.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Anything that pushes you, you're gonna improve as a human being. That was really what that. That whole thing is about. And I just love the culture and the world and I thought there's so much tangible stuff there for me to get excited about cinematically and story wise. But really, it's like it could have been anything.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Just something that he'd never done that he puts himself out there and that in doing it and doing it, he just sort of gets more comfortable, you know, and then the mic comes off the stand and then he's leaning against the wall and by the end of it. And then the way it was structured, it allows him to do that vampire set at the end of the movie where all he's doing is exercising what he's feeling emotionally. Because he's comfortable in this setting. Yeah. Because the old him, when he has that fight with her in the attic, he just would have kept that all inside. And he would have been catatonic at his kids assembly where we meet him in the beginning of the movie. Because you just don't know what to do with all that. But if you have an outlet, something expressive. Yes. You can, you know, exercise it in a healthy way.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

So that, that's, that's. That really was the point of that whole part of it being stand up comedy and open mic.

[Joe Rogan]

What you really nailed is someone trying it for the first time. You. You guys really nailed that. You really nailed a beginner in comedy. Like, it seemed completely realistic.

[Bradley Cooper]

Great.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. And like, I think that's one of the reasons why Kill Tony is so popular.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yes.

[Joe Rogan]

You know, because you get to see, like, you can't. That. That raw reality of someone who has never done standup before. Like, there was people that went up at Madison Square Garden in front of 16,000 people that had never done stand up before.

[Bradley Cooper]

Dude, no, no, no.

[Joe Rogan]

That's.

[Bradley Cooper]

Who knows?

[Joe Rogan]

Don't do that.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

You should be in a fudgeing, smoky room. Well, not smoke anymore, but a tiny fucking room where disinterested people, where everyone's bombing and you bomb to it, it's not that big a deal because you might have some potential. But if you fucking bomb in front of 16,000 people, the pain of that, you may never recover.

[Bradley Cooper]

Also, just think about the audit, like, because you're going to hear your voice through the, you know, echoing. It's. It can't be just in it, like, so there, I imagine there's an echo. So you're not only bombing, but you're hearing it reverberate.

[Joe Rogan]

You don't really feel the echo. You don't hear the echo because you, you have monitors on stage. So it's you pretty flat.

[Bradley Cooper]

Okay.

[Joe Rogan]

But the noise of your voice where you've never heard your voice into a microphone before, ever, right? And now you're in front of 16,000 people doing it, and then Tony's sitting there looking at you and Shane's there and I'm there.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's like a nightmare. It's like you're walking into a nightmare. Well, what.

[Joe Rogan]

Just doing stand up in front of like a guy like Shane Gillis is crazy. Crazy sitting right next to you. You've never done stand up. You're going to do stand up right next to a guy who's selling out arenas. Like, that's nuts. That feeling is nuts.

[Bradley Cooper]

But it's wonderful to watch because you're watching authentic reactions happening in real time.

[Joe Rogan]

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[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, it's true.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. It's just that we. I think human beings really love seeing what it's like when someone starts out doing something. Because a lot of people have these ideas like, ah, maybe I could try that, or maybe I could learn how to play guitar or maybe I could do that. But it's just the getting going and sucking at something in the beginning is terrifying for people. So when they see someone just try it, I think they're like, oh, look at him go. Look at him go. He's out there doing it. He's on the bike, he's moving. You know, it's like you see actual people that are trying to do something that they've never done before. And it's exciting.

[Bradley Cooper]

And also the one thing I wanted to touch on is the craft of it all, you know, that it's. That it takes a lot of work. I know that it's not, you know, just, you know, the writing, you know, she says that one point, she's like, you gotta write, you know, keep going up. And I think most people, at least I didn't know before I started going that people go up three or four times a night. Like, I didn't understand. So that was something. I thought it was important to convey just the work ethic that's needed.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, New York is really great for that. And it's always had a culture of that. It's had a culture of guys hopping from club to club and doing set to set. Because there's so many clubs in Manhattan. So guys were just, you know, I think the most guy I ever heard, one guy did eight, eight or nine sets a night. Like, they're just like, that's how many clubs there are. So you just hop all over the place. You start your night at like 8pm yeah, downtown.

[Bradley Cooper]

There's a ton downtown that you can go up. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Go all over the place. It's. We've got a lot of that here now. There's just so many clubs in Austin now.

[Bradley Cooper]

I mean, we went there. What you built is incredible.

[Joe Rogan]

Thank you.

[Bradley Cooper]

The culture, you know, I showed the movie to a standup who hadn't done stand up in like 15 years. And he said, the only thing that for sure you got wrong is the culture. I was like, what do you mean? He's like, no, people aren't that nice. And I was like, actually, I think you're wrong. I was like, it's changed. I was like, people are supportive now.

[Joe Rogan]

It's in where you go, there's places where it's not very supportive, really.

[Bradley Cooper]

But at least, like, I used to go to the Cellar, like in early 2000s. Didn't feel like it does now.

[Joe Rogan]

Right. Well, I think Ari Shafir changed that a lot. He brought, like, the culture of LA to New York where you're, like, more supportive of each other. It was always like dog against dog. Because really, the way it all started out was in the 1990s, it was all about. Everyone was auditioning for a sitcom. And if you and I were. If I showed up to audition for a sitcom, like, oh, fuck, Bradley's here. He's going for the same part. Fuck that guy. You know, it was because it was like, that could change your life if you got that sitcom. Now all of a sudden, you're fucking huge, and I'm still, like, struggling to pay my rent, eating ramen. And it could have been me, right? And so there's this, like, serious resentment that happens in the 1990s because everybody, like the golden carrot at the end of the stick was the Tonight show, or, you know, hosting a late. If you could get your own late night show. Oh, my God, he made it. He's a host of the Tonight Show. That was like the thing that only one person could get. And then there was like the sitcom. Like, if it really worked out, they'd make a sitcom around you and you get a development deal. So there was. People would psychologically backstab people. People would talk shit to people before they went on stage. They would try to hijack their fucking mind right before they, like, really. It was dark, crazy. And then the Internet came around. And then the Internet, instead of people being your competitors, they became not just your friends and not just your colleagues, but also an asset. Because if you're doing a podcast and you've got your funny friends on, then your podcast is better, right? And then if you tell people about their podcast and podcast is better, and then you go on their podcast and that's better. And everybody benefits from everybody else doing well. So it became. It completely reversed the system. And then it became much more about being supportive of each other. And then everybody kind of realized, like, hey, it's way more fun when we're all having fun, you know? And since the television thing kind of died off, the sitcom Thing kind of died off with reality shows. And then it was really just more about getting clips up on the Internet and about getting. And then there was Netflix Special. So it wasn't just everybody trying to get an HBO special. There was way more specials. And then you could just upload specials to YouTube and became this way more collaborative, supportive environment. And then Ari Shafir took that, that we had kind of, like, established in LA and brought that to New York, and a lot of those guys ran with it.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, I mean, that's the way to go. People always say, you know, there's a lot of room at the top. Yeah, there's a lot.

[Joe Rogan]

There's a lot of room in stand up, for sure.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, and it's like. And everybody has their own lane, even within this big highway. And everybody wants to be with other people. Who wants to be a lone wolf, really, for a long period.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, there's a few. There's a few out there, but they're all psychologically destroyed. They're just a mess.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Who doesn't want to have friends? It's crazy.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

I don't get it. But, you know, it's that aspect of the culture I felt like in the movie you guys nailed, which is a realistic aspect, a realistic portrayal of what it's like where a bunch of people just. They were all busting each other's balls.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, yeah, exactly.

[Bradley Cooper]

You could be supportive and still honest. That was the thing. There's no lack of honesty or criticism. It's just. It's not done with the hope that you. Your demi for your demise.

[Joe Rogan]

Yes.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's the difference.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. I think the 90s, like, poisoned a lot of comedians. It poisoned them because it gave you this idea that the whole thing was about a means to an end, and that end was a sitcom. And everybody thought you just had to get a sitcom, gotta get a sitcom. And that was what everybody was working towards. There's people that were developing their entire act based around a. Around a Persona that they could sell to the networks.

[Bradley Cooper]

Were you doing stand up before your sitcom?

[Joe Rogan]

Yes.

[Bradley Cooper]

I see. Okay, so is that how that happened? Did someone see you and then they were like, oh, you gotta. You gotta try this show.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, I got. I got ridiculously lucky. Like, you know, a lot of people say, oh, I work really hard to get on a sitcom. Nope. No, I got lucky. I did the mtv. I never had any aspirations to act at all. I did MTV half hour, comedy Hour. I got a development deal, and all of a sudden I'm in Living In L. A. And I'm on a sitcom, and it.

[Bradley Cooper]

Happened in a couple of great sitcom.

[Joe Rogan]

I was on a bad one first. I was on a bad one called Hardball. It was a sitcom on Fox where I played a baseball player. That show got canceled, and unfortunately, I thought it was going to go because I was retarded. I was, you know, 25 years old, 26 years old, and I was like, oh, this is going to take off. I should get an apartment. So I had a lease on an apartment, and I waited.

[Bradley Cooper]

Everybody, I'm sure people were telling you that it was going to take off too. Oh, yeah, of course.

[Joe Rogan]

Everybody believed it.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. You're going to win an Emmy.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, the guys who made it, Jeff Martin and Kevin Curran, they worked on the Simpsons, they worked on Married With Children. They were really good. But then the Fox people came in and just ruined it. Like, the executives came in and they brought in a bunch of hacks and just ruined the show.

[Bradley Cooper]

Did you have fun doing it?

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, yeah, I had a kind of good time, But I also missed comedy and I missed New York people, and I wanted to get out of there. I was like, I got to get back to New York, Fuck this place. As soon as it was over. But I was like, fuck. I got this lease. So I had a lease for a year, and then I got to develop.

[Bradley Cooper]

How long were you in L. A at that time?

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, I was only in L. A for a few months. Wow. Yeah. So I moved out there to do the show.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

I got a lease, like, almost immediately. And then I was out there for a few months. Show got canceled. And then I got a development deal to do something for NBC, and they were going to do my own sitcom. And. But as we were developing it, they said, hey, there's a show that we're doing. It's called News Radio. It's already been picked up. We already did the pilot, but we fired one. One person from the pilot. And we want you to read for this. And that's how I got on newsradio. That's how it happened. Like, that was this only second show I ever auditioned forever. Wow. So I had one show that is canceled.

[Bradley Cooper]

You had a very unique track, Dumb Luck. That's nuts.

[Joe Rogan]

Stumbled into it 100. I can't take any credit for it. Dumb Luck.

[Bradley Cooper]

Amazing.

[Joe Rogan]

Just my ability to keep it together in auditions and not. Not crack with no acting experience at all. But it was just not. It wasn't something that I aspired to. So it didn't have the kind of pressure that it probably had for a lot of people.

[Bradley Cooper]

It probably didn't have the same kind of elation too.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

Like you, I assume it was not something you really wanted. It was like, it was fun. But you weren't like, this is, this is like, this feels right.

[Joe Rogan]

No, what it felt like is, oh, I'm gonna make. Get money.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Get some money.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. Then something's wrong. Something's wrong.

[Joe Rogan]

I was like, this is good. I'm gonna get money and I don't have to worry about money. That's how I thought about it.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

And then when I was doing it, I was like, wow, I'm so lucky. Like, how do I stumble on? I'm here with Phil Hartman.

[Bradley Cooper]

This is crazy. Crazy dude.

[Joe Rogan]

Dave Foley and Stephen Root. Crazy tyranny. Like, this is nuts. Yeah, it was a crazy.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right?

[Joe Rogan]

No, it was Paul Sims.

[Bradley Cooper]

Paul Sims, right, yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Who had just left Larry Sanders show.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

So he left. Yeah, it was crazy luck. Just stupid dumb luck.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's right. Sorkin did that other show with Jeff Daniels.

[Joe Rogan]

Right? Yeah, it was, it was a lot of fun. So, but, but back in those days, like everybody was working towards that and fortunately I already had that. So my thing was just like, continue to work on stand up and just work on my stand up and if this all goes away, I'll just go back to being a comic and doing.

[Bradley Cooper]

Stand up in la.

[Joe Rogan]

Yes.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right. So, yeah, and so that was new. That's. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

And that's where I encountered like the worst backstabbing I've ever seen in my life.

[Bradley Cooper]

So you're coming from New York where you didn't feel that.

[Joe Rogan]

You didn't feel it as much.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

You know, you felt like a lot of talking, but that was fun. You know, guys would make fun of you. Bombed.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right? They were doing it to your face.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, they were doing it to your face. And it was a more like, it was just a more ball busting, like silly environment.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

In New York, it wasn't. No one thought they were going to get famous in New York. You know, they were all just, right, just doing sex. But in la, everybody had this idea to get a sitcom. And then in the 1990s, they started giving out development deals. That was the big thing. You get like a 200, 000, half a million dollar development deal and then all of a sudden you have all this money and you're living. And so everybody was working towards that. So it became instead of like people working towards just being a stand up, it became stand up was a means to an end. And then all these other people, they were in your way to get that goal.

[Bradley Cooper]

Jesus.

[Joe Rogan]

And then your agent was telling you that's what you had to do. And because they wanted that money too. So it was all like programming people to go after the city.

[Bradley Cooper]

So completely different culture in the stand up community there.

[Joe Rogan]

Exactly. But then that all went away. It all went away like this. The idea of working towards a sitcom is not. It's like working towards a career in ham radio. Like, it went away.

[Bradley Cooper]

Well, you say that Ari changed it. How did he do it?

[Joe Rogan]

Because he brought the LA culture to New York. Ari moved from LA back to New York and he. I mean, everybody that I talked to in New York is always like, you guys are doing it wrong.

[Bradley Cooper]

Like, people listen to him.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, well, because he was established and he was a really good comic. And they were like, okay, I think he's right. Wow. And they would come to. They would come to la. Like a lot of guys like Andrew Schultz and a lot of these other guys, they would come to LA and they're like, bro, everybody's so nice here. And they're all just having a great time. Like, why aren't we doing that? Why aren't we just having a great time? And so it shifted.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's just.

[Joe Rogan]

It was the culture of the Internet. The Internet changed everything because there was no longer this one thing that a hundred guys were trying to audition for. Now it was. Anybody could just put up something online and then all your friends became assets. They all became like, valuable to you instead of competitors.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's cool.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Do you go up in these cities ever now?

[Joe Rogan]

I do if I'm in la. I'll still do sets in la. I haven't been in a while, but, you know, most of the time I'm at my own club.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

It makes it way. Also, I have teenage kids and they're. I want to be home.

[Bradley Cooper]

Did you do the Cellar?

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, I did this.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Back in the day. But more I did. I did the Stand. I did catch when it was there.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

I did. I always did Danger Fields. Dangerfields was great because it was like a hole in the wall. There was hardly anybody where he shot his special.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yes.

[Joe Rogan]

Wow. Yeah, it was big in the 80s and then something happened and by the time I got there in the 90s, it was like dead. One time I went there and I had a spot at like 8:30 and I don't remember what time the show started, but there was a few people on before me and I got there and the People that were on before me were sitting at the bar. I go, what's going on? There's no crowd. I'm like, there's no crowd, there's nobody. And so then this couple walked up and they bought tickets for the comedy show. And. And this guy Bobby, who's the doorman, like, step right up. He was a Scottish guy. Come on in. I have you seated. He. He seats them down. There's no one there, just them. They sit down. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Danger Kills. Your first act. And we all did stand up for two people. Wow. Yeah. The whole night was two people. And they had a great time, I'm sure they said. But it was weird. It's like when you're doing stand up.

[Bradley Cooper]

For just two people, you're only looking at two people.

[Joe Rogan]

But you also realize how much of your act is. How much of your act is like dance moves. It's just nonsense, like English on the cue ball. It's like you're doing a lot of silly things that like, don't even. And you, you're not connecting with real humans.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

And when there's two people there, it like cuts the fat out of all of your shit and you recognize where the flaws in your writing are and the flaws in your delivery. But Dangerfields was. It was a wild little place. It was. It was like a classic comedy club that didn't have any. No industry went there. No agents, no managers. Were there always. Yeah, it was just like a bunch of weird degenerates. And it was fun. Wow, that was a fun place. So I did that club a lot, but a lot of. I did the road a lot.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Because that was how I could make money and I could headline. Like I do an hour. Because if you're in the city, you're doing 15 minute sets or 10 minutes. That's like, that's great. But it's hard to piece together an hour at a 10 minute sets because you kind of want to let the material breathe and put it all together, of course, composing into one big thing. And you really can work on that a lot more if you're actually headlining.

[Bradley Cooper]

Do you watch a lot of specials, comedy specials nowadays?

[Joe Rogan]

I don't. I watch a lot of comics. Like when I see Live club.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right?

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Not. Not like.

[Joe Rogan]

No. I probably should. I probably should watch more of them. But really comedy is. It's like an artistic form of hypnosis. And the real way to see comedy is to be there live because you're like. And you know when the person's locked in. And you know when they're not, you feel it. They got you like they're thinking for you. Like if I'm watching a tell and he's at like the mothership and he's killing, like we're all like this. We're like locked into his brain and we're letting him like take us on a ride.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, of course.

[Joe Rogan]

It's like a kind of a form of hypnosis.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yes.

[Joe Rogan]

And I really think that a stand up special, as good as they are, you're maybe getting 60 to 70%. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Today's world would look a lot different without innovators like Guglielmo Marconi. He was the first to transmit electrical signals across long distances, paving the way for radio phones and entertainment as we know it. In a way, we might not even have this show without him. New innovations are key to success ZipRecruiter gets that, and it's why they're always looking for new and better ways to make hiring faster and easier. See for yourself just how much of an impact they can make. Try it for [e-mail] Rogan one of the ways they're making a difference is through their matching technology. When you post a job, it immediately starts scouring the site for qualified candidates in the area. ZipRecruiter even improved its resume database recently, making it easier to connect and talk with any of the candidates that you're interested in. See how ZipRecruiters knew hiring innovations are changing the game. 4 out of 5 employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. And right now you can try it for free at ziprecruiter.com/rogan Again, that's ziprecruiter.com/rogan ZipRecruiter the smartest way to hire this episode is brought to you by Lifelock New Year New you. We all know the saying, and I think it's a good thing to always be setting goals for yourself to overcome. It's how you get new personal best in the gym, you're but your physical health isn't the only thing you should be trying to improve this year. Your financial health is just as important, and that includes protecting your identity. Luckily, there's a simple way to get started on that lifelock. Your personal info is in endless places that are outside of your control. And it only takes one mistake, and not even your mistake to expose you to identity theft and lost funds. LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points per second and alerts you to threats you could miss on your own. If your Identity is stolen, LifeLocks US based restoration specialists will fix it, backed with their million dollar protection package. In fact, restoration is guaranteed or your subscription money back. Don't face drained accounts, fraudulent loans or other financial losses from identity theft alone. Resolve to make identity, health and wealth a part of your New year's goals with LifeLock. Visit lifelock.com jre today and save up to 40% your first year. That's 40% off. @lifelock.com jre terms apply of the experience of actually being there.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's why I enjoy watching them, to see how different people make them. Because there's all different types.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, some are heavily edited, which always brings me out if there's a way to keep it so you feel like you're in the room.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, I remember it was a Mr. Tambourine man or the Chris Rock special, where when he changed the tone of it, he started talking about jerking off to porn and how he became addicted to porn. And it was that great filmmaker who, who's a comedian, who does music. He did that thing during COVID when he was in his house. I think he directed it. And the camera just keeps going on, keeps going on. By the time you don't even realize it because you're hypnotized, you're right here on Chris Rock. And I think probably subconsciously just thinking about it now, that's probably one of the things because that's kind of the frame I use the whole time on Alex, on Will. But I remember watching it going like, when the fuck did this become a close up? You know? But that's what, that's what it was happening. So there was, there was a synergy between the camera and what he was doing in the place, or at least made me feel like cinematically I was there and this is what he was doing, hypnotizing me. Right?

[Joe Rogan]

And then the opposite of that was the special that Chris Rock did where he changed clothes. So he was doing a special where he filmed part of it in one place and another part of it in another place. And he spliced the two of them together with different outfits. So you would have him begin a bit with one outfit on and then end the bit with a different outfit on. And you're like, what?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Whose idea was this?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, because the minute you cut and edit in any way, you know, even podcasts, audio wise, that's the Thing I've learned, you know, some people, you know, they edit the audio of a podcast, and you're like, that's not. Someone didn't take a breath before they answered.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, like cutting out in between.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, it's. It's a whole other rhythm. Right.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, that's the YouTube thing. Right. They YouTube for a long time was doing these things where they would cut out all the pauses in between people talking thing. And it became like a style of editing.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

Where it's, like, shocking, but my ears.

[Bradley Cooper]

Like, it's impossible for me to get in.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's just impossible. Well, it's.

[Joe Rogan]

It's the short attention span concept. Right. You're just saying people are so stupid. You can't give them any breaks. You can't give many breath. You got to keep talking, keep talking, keep talking. And then.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

And it's like after a while, it's.

[Bradley Cooper]

Just like this wash and. Yeah, yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

They're just trying to keep you engaged as much as possible by editing instead of by having actually interesting, compelling content. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

But it's an interesting exercise. Yeah. I enjoy watching, like, I think Josh Safdie did Sandler's one, and he was. And he did all this backstage and he walked up, and then he was in many locations, but he was playing music a lot. Yeah. I just like watching Everybody's different, you know, sort of exploration of different standup shows because it's such a huge viable market, so people, you know, it's. It's fun to watch how they do it. I think that's probably why, because I watched so many of them. I wanted to do it in a way, in a movie. Have you done Stand up at all? Never. Never, Never. No.

[Joe Rogan]

Have you thought about it? When you were doing the film, did you think about doing it?

[Bradley Cooper]

No. No. And I don't know why, Joe.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

But no, I just. It's not like one of those things that I feel compelled to do. But would it. Would it be fun? Would I be scared? All those things. Will I try and open mic one night? Yeah, I probably should. But it's not. I didn't feel compelled to do it.

[Joe Rogan]

No, the problem would be if you did it and it went okay, but you're like, I think I could do better.

[Bradley Cooper]

And then.

[Joe Rogan]

And then you're gone. You know me, I know everybody. It's kind of the same thing with all of us.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, of course, dude.

[Joe Rogan]

There's always a party. Like, I think I can do better.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

The next thing you know, like, I gotta leave. I Gotta go do a set.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

What the fuck are you doing?

[Bradley Cooper]

Like, dad, I haven't eaten dinner.

[Joe Rogan]

It's like all artistic pursuits, they can become an obsession and they become an addiction, and they become a part of you. And then it's like your brain naturally goes towards that pathway of thinking about that thing all day.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. Which I love. Oh, it's great.

[Joe Rogan]

If it's a fun thing.

[Bradley Cooper]

I remember being 11 and watching the Elephant man and knowing at that moment. You okay?

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. I'm sweating. Yeah, let's go take this.

[Bradley Cooper]

Knowing at that moment that, like, oh, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

[Joe Rogan]

When you saw the Elephant Man. Yeah. Really?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, I remember.

[Joe Rogan]

How is it that movie?

[Bradley Cooper]

I mean, I don't know. I mean, I've thought about it a lot. Obviously, David lynch directed it. I remember the scene. Anthony Hopkins, I would loved film, so I always loved film. My dad loved film, but it wasn't like a conscious thing where I was like, this is it. And I remember, you know, in my living room, it's on the tv. I saw the movies on the tv. You know, I never saw Apocalypse now in a movie theater, Godfather or anything. Loneliness, the Longest Runner, you know, none of it. It was all on the television and. But I was watching the Elephant man, it was on hbo. It came through Philadelphia, where I live Comcast. And they would show, like, it all the time. And it was Anthony Hopkins coming in and he's seeing Joseph Merrick the Elephant man for the first time. And the way David lynch shot it, you only see his shadow. And then Hopkins starts crying, and I don't know, I was just like. I was there in that cellar with him, and I was like, I forgot I was in the living room. And then the whole movie was like that. And I came out, I was like, I just want. I want that.

[Joe Rogan]

So was that, like, the first seed that was planted?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, that was it. It was the first and only. It was. I was 11. It was like. It was like, bam. It was like a shot.

[Joe Rogan]

There's a scene right here, so.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, right. It's right. It's this. This is it.

[Joe Rogan]

I Look how young Anthony Hopkins looks.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, he was incredible.

[Joe Rogan]

Stand up, stand up. Turn around, turn around, turn around.

[Bradley Cooper]

Wow.

[Joe Rogan]

Wow. That was it. Wow. What is it like, watching that now, like, thinking that that planted a seed that changed your whole life?

[Bradley Cooper]

I'm like, well, first I thought, wasn't it a shadow? But that was before. And then I'm like, oh, yeah. And then. Yeah, then I was just in It. Then all of a sudden, I was there. Then I was like, is Joe in it? Does he know what I'm talking about? And then I was. And then as my brain started going, the movie kept bringing me in it. Yeah. And then by the end, by that push in, I was like, I'm just watching this guy look at this thing for the first time. And then look at this beast, Anthony Hopkins.

[Joe Rogan]

I wonder what he was looking at when he was crying.

[Bradley Cooper]

I know.

[Joe Rogan]

You know, because people pull that out of your eyeballs.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, dude. And I wrote. So I went to grad school, moved to New York, wrote him a letter because our dean said somehow he knew him or he had. The school I went to, that I only got into because they let anybody in. They did that show Inside the Actor's Studio. Do you remember that? On tv, On Bravo. Do you remember that show? And so our thesis was the show. There was like, our. Our. Not like our. There was a class that. But it was a class, like, technically a class. And so all these incredible people would come on, and Anthony Hopkins was there, and. And I was there for that. And then I wrote him a letter, just telling him. And I asked James Lipton. That was his name. The dean.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

And. And then, you know, and then never, you know, I never heard from him ever. And then, you know. And now I know him, dude. You know what I'm saying?

[Joe Rogan]

Weird.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's crazy.

[Joe Rogan]

It's so weird, right? I never get over that.

[Bradley Cooper]

Me neither.

[Joe Rogan]

Meeting ever. Ever.

[Bradley Cooper]

And there's some guys. I don't know if you feel this way too, but, like, there's some guys, like, then they become your friends. But still, I still feel a little bit of, like, extra energy when I'm around them. Like, it'll never go away, right?

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, for sure.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's crazy.

[Joe Rogan]

For me, one of the big ones was Tarantino. Like, oh, hanging out with Tarantino. It's so odd. Going to dinner with him. Yeah, it's crazy hanging out with him here, him coming to the club, he come hang out, hang out in the green room.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's nuts.

[Joe Rogan]

This is weird. It's like. That's Quentin Tarantino.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, that's great. Yeah. And it never goes away as close as you get. Even when your brain's off, Right. Because that's always the lipness. Is my brain off when I'm with the person?

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's like when. Like.

[Joe Rogan]

Okay, right.

[Bradley Cooper]

And even, like Clint Eastwood, who I did American Sniper with. I mean, it was always Clint Eastwood. And I got to a point where my Brain was off, you know? But still, I'm just like, what if my dad was alive? If my dad was alive, he would flip the fuck out.

[Joe Rogan]

What was it like doing that scene with the fake baby? Was that weird?

[Bradley Cooper]

So funny. I was just talking about that two days ago, dude. And, you know, I've come full circle. I actually think it's dope.

[Joe Rogan]

Really?

[Bradley Cooper]

I think it's fucking dope because it's so. Just like, wow, look at these people. Fully invested. And it's a doll.

[Joe Rogan]

Like a scene where you, like, kind of, like, move in the hand.

[Bradley Cooper]

I could tell you the whole thing, dude. So we had three sets of twins, and Clint likes to shoot fast, which I love and love. And they were crying, and they weren't ready. And he was like, you know what? Let's just. Let's. Let's put the doll in. And I was like, okay. I was like, all right. And I have the doll, and I remember. And I made a joke on set, and I was like. I was like, I just saved you 35 grand. Cause I moved his hand with my thumb. You know, like, I say visual effects, like, 50 grand, like, made a joke about it. And then we got to post, and we were in Vancouver at the. Doing the meeting. But, you know, everybody defers to the boss. I still remember being in a room, and I'm like, at theater, we're watching, and they're like, okay, Clint. So we did this. And, you know, the tank has dirt on it and whatever visual effects they had done. And we get to the baby. I'm like, okay, Clint, this is this scene. And it ends. And I'm literally behind Clint. I just see the back of his head. And I'm waiting for everybody to raise their hand, like, we gotta spend more money and make the kid real. And I think the kid had, like, two fingers, too. Like, they weren't even. It was like an AI. Yeah, that's. Yeah, that's it. That's me. I'm doing that. That's it. But, dude, it's kind of dope. I love it. Now I've come full circle, so. And I raised my hand, and I was like, clint, I just think that it's clear, you know, that that's not a baby. And can we at least just find out what the cost would be? And no. And no one said anything. And then I remember he was like, I think we move on.

[Joe Rogan]

Wow.

[Bradley Cooper]

And that was it, dude. That was it. And I was like, okay, okay. And I remember talking to the other producer. I was like, this is Going to come back. I was like, bro, this is going to come back to haunt us. And I remember he said, no, Bradley, you're too close to the movie. I was, I don't think so, dude.

[Joe Rogan]

Everybody's like, he's moving his thumb. This is crazy. That's a rubber baby.

[Bradley Cooper]

There's another one, too. And like, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's crazy.

[Joe Rogan]

What is it like doing a film like that where you're playing an actual human being? Is that. Is that different than, like a written character that has no physical body that you, You. You can kind of become who you think the words represent? Yeah, but when you're playing a guy like Chris Kyle, you're playing a human and you're trying to figure out a way to make it as realistic as possible, but you're acting. What is that like?

[Bradley Cooper]

I mean, the thing that just popped my head is the pressure. It's like night and day. Because there are people that you have to serve, you know, especially with Chris Kyle. We started making that movie. He was alive. He got killed while we were. He was still negotiating with Warner Brothers, I think we just closed his deal. And then he was murdered on February 2, I believe. And it was just like, whoa. But in fact, we were like, now we really gotta make this movie. And then Clint and I flew to Midlothian, Texas, and met with his family and his widow and his parents, and then the kids. And I had played. I did the Elephant Man. I did it as a play in my thesis in grad school, and then I did it at Williamstown, and then I actually did it in New York and London. So. And that. And even though it's a long time ago, that was the first time I felt that responsibility because I actually loved that guy, Joseph Merrick, and I did. And I felt that responsibility to him. So I had done something like that before, but this was the first. This was the next time. It was massive, Joe. But I think that it's like you're always looking for what's the fuel that's gonna allow me to work as hard as I can. And the fuel when you're playing a real person is like there's like four extra canisters or like vats of firepower for you to work hard because you just, you know, you're looking across at the eyes of somebody saying, I'm gonna serve your son or your husband or your father. It's a major responsibility.

[Joe Rogan]

Maybe even more major because now he's deceased.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, it was mind blowing, but. And it terrified me. And also like, I'm 185 pounds at that point, from Northeast Philadelphia. This guy's from Midlothian, Texas. Seal Team 3. You know, it's like, how. And the way Clint works, the way we did work, you know, Kevin Lace, who was a SEAL Team 3 with Chris, was in the movie, played Dawber. Jacob Schick was one tribe, which is what I'm wearing. He was a marine that. Did you ever see American Sniper?

[Joe Rogan]

Yes.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. There's that scene where he goes to the hospital, and there's all the guys that have been wounded. Jacob Schick is one of them, you know, so there's real guys. It's all real. So I step in, you know, I've got to. I'm gonna die unless I believe I'm Chris.

[Joe Rogan]

Right?

[Bradley Cooper]

Like, so I have to do whatever I can so that I believe I'm Chris. If I. If I believe I'm Chris, then I have a shot at everybody else potentially going along with this illusion. I just have to. I have to be absolutely fearless when I walked on set. So I just. It just made me work so hard that I had never worked hard, that if it's a created character, you know, it's different, but it comes with a different set of challenges, you know, depends. It just depends on what it is. But I do know. And then with Leonard Bernstein, I did the same thing. Huge responsibility, like, massive that I felt to his kids, to people that loved him, but mainly his kids, all three. His son has passed away since, but his three kids are like, okay. You know, they're like, handing you. It's like if someone went to your daughter in 12 years and said, here's this movie about your father. Do you know what I mean?

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

And this guy's sitting across and be like, okay, I'm gonna play your father. That's just a whole other thing. Because the truth is, like, if it's good, it's going to last a long time, and it's going to be a thing that marks their journey. So I'm a part of whatever little part of Chris's journey. So you give somebody the faith that whoever has the power to give to that artist is just, you know, so it just made me work, you know, like, you just don't stop working until you get to the point where you believe you're him or you believe that he's a part of you. Something's working.

[Joe Rogan]

Did you meet Chris?

[Bradley Cooper]

Kyle? Never. Just talked him on the phone once. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

So what did you, like, what, did you train?

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Like, what did you do to try to like.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, well, here's. It's interesting, right? It's like, well, I couldn't do anything that would ever achieve what he achieved. But it's like, what can I do to look like a master, right? So there's three weapons. The.338 Lapua, the.50 cal, the. The rifle. It's like, what can I do? How much time do I have? I think I had like six months also. Luckily, we're the same shoe size, same age. He has a hole in his ear. I do you find things that, like, you know, same height. I was like, oh, this is great. And then I just like. But he's 238 pounds. So the first thing was 6,000 calories a day. Found a trainer and just.

[Joe Rogan]

6,000.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, 6,000 calories a day. First, I did it with real food, and that was a big mistake because I couldn't get up. I remember the first week I did it had an incredible chef, and then I couldn't get up. Like, I couldn't move. Like, I couldn't move my stomach. So then I think we split like half of it into protein shakes, but it was still £6,000.

[Joe Rogan]

When you say you couldn't get up, like, what do you mean?

[Bradley Cooper]

My stomach wasn't able to process that much food. Yeah. Whatever happened, I could just.

[Joe Rogan]

Was just getting blocked.

[Bradley Cooper]

Getting blocked. Like, major pain. Like I was giving birth or something. What I would imagine. So then we change it and it would be like huge meal shake. Huge meal shake. Worked out twice a day. I had three rest days. No cardio. It was all about strength training. And it was all focused around deadlifting.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, okay.

[Bradley Cooper]

And it was guy, Jason Walsh, who I worked with. And I did that. Yes. It would be like Monday, 5:30am and then a 4:30pm or like 3:30. Monday, Tuesday, rest, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, rest, Saturday, Sunday. And did that. And I got up to 238 pounds. And a lot of it was like. Because I was thinking about him, his neck. So I gained, like, I would do all these. All the neck stuff, and it was his shoulders. Like, I just wanted so you could shoot over. And it's like, you know, which we did all the time in the movie where the guys just, you know. Chris.

[Joe Rogan]

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[Bradley Cooper]

I went from 185 to 238.

[Joe Rogan]

Whoa.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. And all naturally because cancer's in my family. I've had skin cancer and like I'm terrified of anything, so I was like not going to do that. So, you know, you take creatine or anything to creatine? Yeah, which by the way, I just started again like three months ago. Oh, it's amazing, dude. I'm on this push up thread with a bunch of dads at my school and we do 100 pushups a day and if we don't, you have to pay $10 into a pool. And then when we get to 800 we go to Chinatown and I'll have a meal with the money. And then I started taking creatine like 2 1/2 months ago and we just upped it to 150. I was like, this is because I could only do. And we like YouTube. The perfect push ups, which I didn't know, which is like a whole other world. And then now it's, it's. I mean, creatine is incredible.

[Joe Rogan]

It's incredible for your brain.

[Bradley Cooper]

I know. I've heard you say that. Like, I can't tell that because I also take zins all the time. So it's like, I don't know what's doing it.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, me too. I do the same thing.

[Bradley Cooper]

But. But yeah. Where was I on the Chris thing?

[Joe Rogan]

You're talking about gaining weight. Oh, yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, yeah. So then I worked with this and I worked with the guy who. So I was doing that. That in conjunction with learning about sniping and working with Kevin Lace's guy, Dawber, we would go up to the Disney ranch and work with like 600 yard head targets prone that I would just do all the time. And then once we cast the rest of the team, we did all this stuff. But really, Kevin Lace, this guy Dawber was the guy because he was there. And he was there through the whole shooting just so everything would be real. And we just drilled it. We became a group. Like, you know, we did the work, but it wasn't so much about, like, I was like, I have this amount of time doing like, SEAL boot camp will do nothing for me. Like, that'll just give me the brain. Like how hard this is and will I be broken. I've done this. Not that I couldn't have. Maybe I would have been broken, but I felt like I do understand that. Like, I've been through certain things where, like, I understand what it's like to push myself to be on my breaking point and what that looks like and feels like. What I don't know is when I'm looking at a target and I have to factor in the, you know, the curve of the earth, you know, like, that's the stuff I want to learn.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

So that's where I focused was those three weapons, you know, live rounds, gaining the weight. So I felt like I was.

[Joe Rogan]

Here we go, we're back.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's like all of a sudden you're like, oh, you didn't take the drug? No, I'm not on it. And then. And then. So it was those two things in conjunction.

[Joe Rogan]

The curve of the earth is nuts. Think about that.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's crazy.

[Joe Rogan]

Long distance.

[Bradley Cooper]

And then the fact that these guys stayed up 24 hours, would pee in there, you know, never get up to pee. Just pee right there, right in the room, you know, I mean, I said no. And then, by the way, it's a human being. I mean, it's just. Yeah, forget it. And then just working with this guy, Tim Monica on like, his voice. To me, it's. The voice is everything. It's all about the voice and, like, where he's from. And Chris was interesting because his accent started to change, you know, because he. Once he got out and then he did that, he Did a couple of shows. He wrote that book, which is how I came across, and then gave it to Clint. So he had an interesting accent that kind of changed a little bit. But, yeah, just the voice. Just hitting the voice. I would work this guy five days a week, and I had tons of stuff. I had so much information that Taya Kyle had been so generous to give me so many home videos, you know, correspondence. You know, I used to work out to his, which I just did the other day. I hadn't. It's so funny. We're talking about this. I literally just did it two days ago. Worked out to his playlist. I had both of his workout playlists. Oh, wow. And I blew up two huge posters, and one was him just like this and one with his gun. And I would do that and look at him every morning. It was just like this beautiful ritual that I felt like I was with him every day.

[Joe Rogan]

How long did you take to prepare?

[Bradley Cooper]

I. I'd have to look back. I think I. I did it fast, but I think we had about six months or five months, but, like, you know, full on. That's it. Nothing else. I didn't have a kid back then. It was like. That was it. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, That's. There's. There's something very unique about someone doing a film about an actual person. Yeah. Like a great actor doing, like, De Niro when he played Jake LaMotta.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Raging Bull, of course. Like that. That was one of the first. Like me. I mean, he became a different person.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. Yeah. You have to. Yeah, you have to. If there's, like, a merging of you and that whatever. That idea, the soul, whatever of the person. It sounds so hokey. You know, I get it. But if you ask me what my memory is of. Of making a sniper, like, memory, like, on. In scenes. It's not that, like, I was acting. It's just. That's not my memory. What is the memory of, like, okay, now we're gonna do this. And it's like, me as him doing it.

[Joe Rogan]

Wow.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, that's. That.

[Joe Rogan]

Was that a mind fuck when you stop when. Like the movie.

[Bradley Cooper]

Well, the good thing is you do a Clint who takes the piss out of fucking everything. Oh, does he? So, yeah, so we would go to dinner at night, and. And I learned from Christian Bale in American Hustle. Like, he just stayed in because I didn't understand this. Stay in the character all the time. You know, you hear these stories, but you don't know what the real is. Like, how does that work? You see A cell phone. Do you, like, lose your mind? Like, how do you. What is it? How do you do it? And it's like, oh, I overthought it. Bale would just. He was played this character that's from New York in. In American Hustle. And I go in there the first day I met him. He was. His accent and the rest of the movie, even, like on weekends, it was. It was him, Christian and I could. We would talk about stuff and as kid, but he would just speak in that voice. And I was like, oh, it's that simple. Like, it's not some big thing. Like, once you get the voice, that is weird, you know, But I took it. I mean, and it's wonderful because then you feel like you're not acting and you're in the voice and I do it all, like, so. So I would be in that voice of Chris for the whole movie. And then we would go to, like, a restaurant and we were like, up in Lancaster shooting or something. And Clint would then make fun of me in my accent as Chris and order a steak. And it was just. It was. It was great. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

He's fucking sabotaging your performance. He's making you self conscious. That's crazy.

[Bradley Cooper]

It was awesome.

[Joe Rogan]

That's crazy. I always wondered what it's like to be around someone is like method, but I don't know.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's. I wouldn't. You know, method is also a term that. But, you know, what does it mean? Well, the method, it started in Russia, right. And then, you know, that book on acting that I should know, you know, what's his name? He came and then the group theater started and it was like, you know, and all these people then disbanded. And there's Harry Meisner and there's. Yeah, Stanislavski. Exactly. And there was this other guy, Vox Tangoff, that also talked about that every rehearsal. It's very interesting. And I read all this in grad school. And then the group theater came in, and then Elia Kazan was a huge part of it becoming popular because you had this guy that was sweeping floors at the Actors Studio and then started directing plays. And then all of a sudden, he's a huge movie director and he's putting Marlon Brando, who's part of the actor Studio, starring in his movies, you know, and he's doing. And so it all just sort of erupted, but then it branched out. And so there's people that are dogmatic about it, about it's only using your own, you know, you're substituting. So if I'M doing a scene with you. Like, you aren't you. You're my brother, you know?

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

But. But. But it's evolved into. It's like what works for you to me. It's like you use your. Your own experience plus your imagination, you know, but that's. That's the sort. That's the, you know, sort of a very layman's 52nd, you know, telling of what the origin of the Method is. But I went to the Actor Studio, which is based in the Method. That's where I went to grad school.

[Joe Rogan]

Is it easy?

[Bradley Cooper]

And it's very valuable because I didn't know shit before that. I mean, I did a couple of plays at Georgetown. I didn't know anything. I mean, I just loved acting, but I didn't do anything about it. I was terrified as a kid. Like, we did this thing in high school where we had to, as seniors. We would put on our show where we would make fun of our teachers. And I, like. I could do my Latin teacher, Mr. Burke. I was like. And I actually sang in it. We sang. And I was like. But I was terrified, Joe. For the whole year. Sleepless nights for a year leading up to it. That's how scared I was in public. I remember doing, like, a fifth grade presentation with the poster boards about Locke and Hobbs and the poster shaking so hard because I was so nervous. I was like, how am I gonna. What's this fear thing?

[Joe Rogan]

Isn't that weird?

[Bradley Cooper]

I know, but then in college, I did a couple of plays, but I still didn't know what I was doing. But I loved it. And I was like, little stuff. I was like Azalon, the server in Dangerous Liaisons. But I still remember, like, I closed the door in a rhythm, rhythmic way, and people laughed. And I remember I was like, ooh. I was like, this feels good. And then so I applied to grad school there. And then all of a sudden, it was like, I got a huge foundation of, like, what I could do. You know, that your insecurities are actually your attributes, your fears or stuff that, you know, all this thing that you're a sensitive kid. This is all good stuff. And I never felt that way before about any of that. And I had this teacher, Elizabeth Kemp, who was incredible, who then passed away in my house. Years later, she got sick. Yeah, it's crazy.

[Joe Rogan]

Passed away in your house?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, in Venice, California. She was sick, so we put her hospice there. But she was incredible. And she did this basic technique class, and it was the first time ever, because I Didn't grow up therapy. And none of that was even in the vicinity of talking about your feelings. I loved my dad, but I grew up in the 80s and Northeast Philadelphia with an Irish Italian upbringing. That wasn't part of the deal. And then all of a sudden, I'm in grad school with other guys and women and we're like, laying down, and she wants us to go through an experience of loss and betrayal when we were children. It's like, what the fuck? And actually, I could take all that stuff I've been ashamed of and I could use it and bring it into art. I don't know. It really clicked with me in a huge way. So. And I use it even to this day. All the movies I do, I always get the actors together and do, like a workshop for a week that's based on dreams that she also taught me. And I just find it invaluable. Any way you can. Just. How can I just get to a place where we're just talking to each other and I don't. You know. And that all this stuff. I feel it's okay.

[Joe Rogan]

Right, Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

When you're doing a guy like Chris, it must also be kind of easier to keep the accent than to try to re. Establish it right before every scene.

[Bradley Cooper]

You just said it. It's a logical thing. Yeah, that's it. It's a logical thing. The idea of me talking with an accent or even thinking that it's an accent because you don't think about it anymore. The whole point is I'm not doing an acc. If I'm doing a scene with you and I'm thinking about how I'm talking, it's over. It's a rap. It's not real. But if I'm just talking to you and it happens to be the voice that I've been working on for, however, a long time, then we're in it, we got a shot, and if I'm stopping it, there's no way I'm not thinking about. So, yes, Joe, that is the reason.

[Joe Rogan]

You know what's a really underappreciated talent is voice actors who do audiobooks. I was watching a video of this guy because I never knew how they did it. And I kind of assumed that whenever they had to change accents, they probably had a pause or they were. But there's like. There's a video of a guy doing the voiceover for Lord of the Rings, the Lord of the Rings audiobook. And he goes into Smeagol. He goes into the Gollum character. While he's doing narration, there's no break. He just smoothly transitions into Smith. It's incredible. It is absolutely masterful and completely underappreciated.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, I agree with you.

[Joe Rogan]

Because if you watch this guy do it, I. I don't know the gentleman's name, who's the voiceover actor, but I love audiobooks. This. That guy. Listen to this guy.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, it's Andy Circus. Holding a debate with some other thought.

[Joe Rogan]

That used the same voice but made it squeak and hiss. A pale light and a green light.

[Bradley Cooper]

Alternated in his eyes as he spoke.

[Joe Rogan]

Premised.

[Bradley Cooper]

Said the first thought.

[Joe Rogan]

Yes, yes, my precious, came the answer. Amazing. Fucking amazing. Like that. What a master.

[Bradley Cooper]

And you're talking about a master actor. Yes. Yeah. You know, because he's been in a lot of movies. He's directed. He directed that great movie that was like Jungle Book, a version version of Jungle Book that Christian Bale actually played the panther, I believe. He's incredible. And I got to meet him. He's like, this guy's like a one off generational talent. Yeah. He's insane.

[Joe Rogan]

You have to be to be that good at voiceover.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. And he's just a great actor.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, you have to be.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, yeah, I agree. And my mother watches this. She'll kill me that I'm saying my mother watches. First of all, she loves Turkish soap opera, so she watches Turkish.

[Joe Rogan]

Turkish.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Why them specifically?

[Bradley Cooper]

I don't know. She just. She graduated from Hallmark into Turkish cyber.

[Joe Rogan]

Hallmark Channel.

[Bradley Cooper]

And. And then she's evolved even further. She just watches a screens where there's two people AI images and it's just a person telling a story. And I often I'll come down making breakfast, because when she stays with me in New York, she has the room down there and I'll be like, making my daughter breakfast. And I could hear it. Or I'll go to the bathroom, which is right next to her. And I was like, wow, these guys, these voices. I mean, the guy's carrying it all. It's just an image. And she'll watch it for hours. And I'm like, what's gonna happen? Is he gonna make that? Is the firm gonna hire him? Is she gonna. Did she see the note? Like, he's. It's amazing. I was like, yeah, it's really an art form, Turkish. Yeah. I remember the first time I came down, I was like, oh, no, what happened? Cause I'm just hearing. I'm like, what happened? And I walk in and I'm like, mom, what are you what are you watching? She's like, oh, no. This guy's the best actor in the world. This guy. And so she just reads the subtitles. She did it for, like, she's watched. It's called. If you look up, he's like, what's it called? Circle. Is it Dove, Bird, Bird, something. How could I forget it? Oh, baby.

[Joe Rogan]

Is that it? Early bird, early bird.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Explain this.

[Bradley Cooper]

So it's a soap. It's a soap opera. There's like 360 episodes. She's watched them all, like, five, four times. And she'll come in, she'll like, do a marathon session. Come in to make some food. She's like, this guy, just the way he moves, this guy's the best actor. That's him. That's him. Yeah, that's him.

[Joe Rogan]

Is it speaking in Turkish?

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, yeah, this looks like. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, there he is. Yeah, there he is.

[Joe Rogan]

And so she likes this. And she does the voiceover. She reads the.

[Bradley Cooper]

No. So that's. That's. That was the middle stage. Now she's graduated to it's different now, where she just watches two AI images and it's a story. But she did this for a good, like, eight years.

[Joe Rogan]

But why was she into this?

[Bradley Cooper]

I don't know. She must have come across it one day on somewhere, and then that was it.

[Joe Rogan]

She just got hooked.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh. I mean, hooked isn't even the word. Yeah. By the way, it's pretty good.

[Joe Rogan]

Is it?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

You watch it?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

This episode is brought to you by Amazon MGM Studios new movie Mercy, only in theaters January 23rd. Set in the near future, trials are run by artificial intelligence that has access to every camera, phone and database. Chris Pratt plays a detective on trial, and he has 90 minutes to prove his innocence to an AI judge played by Rebecca Ferguson. Directed by Timor Beckman. Bed off. You've got to experience this movie on the big screen, especially in IMAX 3D. Check out MercyMovie.com to learn more. Rated PG13. This episode is brought to you by Visible. Have you heard of Visible? It's the one line wireless with unlimited data and hotspot for 25amonth, taxes and fees included. All on Verizon's 5G network. It's the ultimate wireless hack to save money and still get great coverage and a reliable connection. Got a resolution to save? Kick 2026 off right now. For a limited time, new members can get the Visible plan for just 19amonth. For the first 26 months, ring in the new year with code. Switch 26. Share the savings with a deal that's too good to keep quiet. Switch [e-mail] terms apply. Limited time offer subject to change. See visible.com for plan features and network management details.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, he's great. And the woman in it's great, too.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. Do you consume a lot of films? Do you watch?

[Bradley Cooper]

I watch a lot of everything.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

I love television films. And then, you know, like, eight months ago, I. I know I'm late to the game. Came across podcasts only eight months ago? Yeah, pretty much, yeah. Yeah. That's interesting, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

What. What made you get into that?

[Bradley Cooper]

I can't remember, but it was your podcast, and I'm trying to think what it was. And then. And then it was like, oh, and then I came. And then, you know, once you watch something on your phone, it, like, suggests other things. And. And then you had two guys on that I thought were really interesting. And then they do a trigon. Trigonometry? Yeah, trigonometry. And then I find that very fascinating.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, they're great.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, great. And so that's how it just started. So now it's like a huge part of. Like, I have this whole little thing, like. Like, often I'll go to bed and my daughter's listening to your voice, but I do put on headphones sometimes because I love, like, just at the end of the day, listening. Listening or watching. I'll put it on the side table. Yeah. Podcasts are incredible. And it's very soothing. Very soothing.

[Joe Rogan]

That's interesting. I hardly ever listen to them anymore.

[Bradley Cooper]

But I love tv. I love it. Yeah. I take in a lot of content.

[Joe Rogan]

Have you watched the Beast in Me on Netflix? I did Claire Danes.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, dude.

[Joe Rogan]

Holy shit. Dude. Dude.

[Bradley Cooper]

And that guy, Kerry Russell's husband, Matthew Reese. Dude.

[Joe Rogan]

The. The bad guy.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

How good is that guy?

[Bradley Cooper]

So I did a movie with him years ago called Burnt, about a chef, and we had never met. And there's a scene where my character, he was trying to get sober, and he's. He went off the wagon, and he goes into this guy, their old nemesis. They were Nemesis with each other, his restaurant at After Hours. And it was like a pretty dark scene that we never met. Me and this guy, this actor, right before we shot, and I come in, and then I don't know what was. I was pretty. It was. I was pretty locked in. And there's one scene which wasn't really scripted, and I took, you know, those sous vide bags and I put it over my head to try to. Cause he's trying to kill himself. Which, by the way, I was like, oh, this. This could work if I don't get help. Those things are strong and tight. And then we had this experience, Joe, where then he was ripping it off me, trying for me not to kill myself. And I don't know him that well, but we had. That's the thing about, like, making art together. Like, we had that. It'll never. Every time I see him, I've seen him maybe six times at, like, certain things or something. I always feel like we're bonded forever just based on this one experience that we had. And he's an incredible actor. He's just. And the end of that show. Him and the end of that show.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, God, dude.

[Bradley Cooper]

And Claire Danes is, like, off the chart. Did you see that show she did with Jesse Eisenberg? What's that? There's. There's another series she did Homeland. No, no, no. It was like, Fleischman that. Something with Fleischman is in trouble. Yeah, Fleischman. There's this. No, yeah, she's incredible in that, too. There's a scene where she's basically having a mental breakdown. And you're watching. You're like, this. This can't be acting.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, Fleischman's in trouble. Yeah, it's on fx. I never even heard of this. Yeah, it's really good.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, I enjoyed it, but. And I enjoyed her at the end. There's one scene that, like, really rocked me where I just fully. I mean, this is like. I just saw this movie, Hamnet. I don't know if you guys saw that or not. No, that's what I love about movie. So Jessie Buckley in this movie, it's basically playing, like, the most difficult role ever. The loss and all that stuff. And I fully. Joke full. I'm watching and sitting there fully believing that this person is going through this. Do you know what I mean? Yes. When you do that, When I believe that you're actually going through it, I mean, that's it. That's. And, like, her performance in that movie is so.

[Joe Rogan]

She's so good. Dude. Dude, are you talking about Claire Danes.

[Bradley Cooper]

Or Jesse Buckley now?

[Joe Rogan]

Jesse. No, Claire Danes. Yeah, Claire Danes and Jesse Buckley.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, they're both amazing.

[Joe Rogan]

But Claire Danes is so good in the Beast in Me. There's moments where, like, her fucking lips are trembling.

[Bradley Cooper]

Dude. She's touched.

[Joe Rogan]

She's eyes are Darn right.

[Bradley Cooper]

She's touched. Yes, no question. Yeah, no question. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

She locks in. In this very Crazy way. She was great in Homeland too.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. I never saw Homeland.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, it's great. It's really good. She just locks in, she locks in in this very strange way where you 100 believer. Yeah. Like believe it behind the eyes.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's the greatest.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

I mean that's what, that's the heroine for me in this industry. It's like when you're around and you're creating this thing and it's just. And all of a sudden it's like, like whoa.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Holy. It's happening.

[Joe Rogan]

But it's like I had this conversation with Ethan Hawke. I was. Cuz I was asking him about.

[Bradley Cooper]

But I felt like that with Will just real quick. You know that vampire scene. That's how cuz I was shoot. I was operating it. Right. I, I, I don't know how you felt watching it.

[Joe Rogan]

The scene when he was on stage.

[Bradley Cooper]

At the very end.

[Joe Rogan]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Bradley Cooper]

I was like, I fully believed it.

[Joe Rogan]

Yes.

[Bradley Cooper]

And, and those people. And then when I went to the audience and they're just like.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

They didn't know what they the going on.

[Joe Rogan]

Right, right.

[Bradley Cooper]

Like that was one of those moments I had on this movie where I was like, oh, my man is locked.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

The in.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, 100%. Yeah. 100%. It was very uncomfortable.

[Bradley Cooper]

You felt that?

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yes, 100%.

[Joe Rogan]

Definitely. I was, I have this conversation with Ethan Hawke about that. I go, what is happening when I believe someone? Like I was talking about the scene in that movie with him and Julia Roberts the, about the course. There's a, there's a scene with him and Kevin Bacon in.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. When they go to the house. And also there's three guys in that scene. Oh my God, he's amazing. Yeah. From moonlight and he's been in tons of stuff. Green Book. I know him.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. Jamie will pull it up. I can't. I'll his name up if I pronounce it. Sorry. What is it?

[Bradley Cooper]

Sorry.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, it's a Marshall Ali. That's it.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yes.

[Joe Rogan]

I believe it. I know that's Kevin Bacon. I know that's Ethan Hart. Right. I believe he's gonna shoot him.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. No question.

[Joe Rogan]

I believe it.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

I go, what is that? Like what is going on? I go, because is it. It's almost like a form of hypnosis.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yes.

[Joe Rogan]

And he's like, yes.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, that's it.

[Joe Rogan]

You have to actually be there, you hack. You have to actually be there. Like.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

You're saying the lines you're supposed to say. But what's happening is like you really Are there. You really believe it. And that if you don't believe it, the audience doesn't believe it. And we've all been there before. Like, one time I ate an edible, and I went to go see one of those Marvel movies, and in the middle, it was really high.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

And while I was watching the movie, like, this guy's acting, you know, it's just like. Of course. It just made, you know, really sensitive and tuned.

[Bradley Cooper]

I get angry because I'm like, I want to. I want to go on the ride. I'm like, the best. Best watcher. Because I want. I want. When that thing starts. Yes. I want to go on the ride.

[Joe Rogan]

I want to go on the ride.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yes.

[Joe Rogan]

Like. Like him and Denzel in Training Day. Yeah, like that. There's a few scenes where you're like, okay, this is really.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, yeah. Especially in the car.

[Joe Rogan]

Yes. Yeah, that's the one.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

This is really happening. Like, this is real. Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Hawk's so good in that movie.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, he's. He's great.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, he's great and everything, but he's sick in that movie.

[Joe Rogan]

But he's also. When you talk to him, you realize, okay, this is an. An actual artist.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. He's a unique dude.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

He's not a guy who's, like, trying to be a movie star.

[Bradley Cooper]

No.

[Joe Rogan]

He's an artist that does movies.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. But I don't know how many people. I don't know. It's like how many comedians who just want to be famous are gonna. I don't even know how you could do it. You have to love it.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's just too hard. That's not enough of a fuel. It's not that.

[Joe Rogan]

What?

[Bradley Cooper]

How. That's just not enough fuel.

[Joe Rogan]

It won't take you far.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's just not enough fuel to keep doing it.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

Because if you don't love it, I think you would find it monotonous and maybe boring and tedious and inconsequential.

[Joe Rogan]

You're going on a road trip with an eighth of a tank of gas. You're not gonna make it.

[Bradley Cooper]

You're not gonna make it.

[Joe Rogan]

Stomping on the gas and trying to pull out of the parking lot. But it's not that.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

It's a long drive.

[Bradley Cooper]

And my experience in the 26 years I've been in this is like, most of the people, if not all that I've worked with, they love it. Yes, they love it.

[Joe Rogan]

They have to.

[Bradley Cooper]

Otherwise. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

If you want to be great at something, you have to love it. Yeah, I can't. I can't imagine. Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Because it's not even that you want. Yes, you want to be great at it, but you just love doing it.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's it.

[Joe Rogan]

Right. And the love is how it becomes great.

[Bradley Cooper]

And then the fear is when you get famous or people get popular early, that can be confusing because you start to have like. I have to maintain a certain. You start getting careful. Like I was thinking about when you said, like, what is that thing? When it just. It's hypnosis. The key to that is willing to fail. That's what I learned as an actor is like, oh, yeah, just don't take it too seriously. Here we go. We're rolling the camera.

[Joe Rogan]

We can.

[Bradley Cooper]

Let's just. Here, let's see what happens. I'm gonna go out on a limb. Maybe it won't work, but like, yeah, be willing to like completely fail. And the minute you do that, it's like, oh. And all of a sudden there's this reservoir of space in your head and your soul to actually create even more of an imaginary circumstances. Now if you haven't done your work, you're anyway. But like. But once you're there, it's like, once you're like, oh, yeah, everybody, we could just fail. Let's just. Let's just fail.

[Joe Rogan]

How do you.

[Bradley Cooper]

Does that make sense?

[Joe Rogan]

100 makes sense. It makes sense because the only way you're gonna really find out what it is is to like, try it all kinds of ways.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

That we. I was just having the conversation. You know Brian Cowan, our mutual friend.

[Bradley Cooper]

He.

[Joe Rogan]

He texted me last night. He's like, I got a new bit and I just ate a dick. I have to go up on stage with it tonight. It's terrible. He goes, but I know there's something in there. And we were, we were talking on the phone right before the show. He's like, dude, my new is bombed it a dick last night. I don't know what to do. I go, but I know there's something there. It's like, you've got to be willing to bomb. You got to be willing to eat.

[Bradley Cooper]

A dick if you don't. I don't know how. Yeah, I don't know any. If you're careful, you're. It's over.

[Joe Rogan]

You can't.

[Bradley Cooper]

Careful is death.

[Joe Rogan]

I talked to Chris Rock once and he told me that that bit that he did, that was one of his all time classic bits. I love black people. I hate N word.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right, right.

[Joe Rogan]

He goes, that bit bombed for like a year.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

He couldn't get. Couldn't get it to work. He's like, I know there's something in there, but I have to find it. And it took a fucking year. I think we're talking about a year of going up at the store, going up at the Improv, going here, going to the Laugh Factory, going here, going there, pulling your hair out, trying to figure it out. A fucking year, man. And when you're Chris Rock, you're already Chris Rock. And you for. You know, you could talk about getting your dick sucked. You could talk about something. People laugh, and you're like, I think there's something here. I gotta grind this thing down until I get an edge to it. And it took him a year.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Like, you have to be willing to.

[Bradley Cooper]

Fuck around and to suffer through all that and enjoy the suffering. You start to, like, once you do it enough, fail enough in front of people, it starts to be easier. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

And then you come out on the other end, you're like, yeah, and I'm still alive.

[Bradley Cooper]

I'm still alive.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. Glad I did it.

[Bradley Cooper]

This wasn't as big as I thought.

[Joe Rogan]

No. And then you have to do it again. That's. And then you put out a special. And then once you put out a special, you start from scratch, and then you're terrified because now you're a famous comedian with no material or terrible material, and you have to. To figure out a way to make it good.

[Bradley Cooper]

And that plays into what I was talking about. Like, when you have. When you've achieved something and then there's that pressure you put on yourself, that it has to be that good or better.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

And then all of a sudden, you're in a different game than just, like, the doing.

[Joe Rogan]

I think that the play it safe game is the scariest game.

[Bradley Cooper]

Or somehow think that it's somehow that controllable. Because really, all the stuff we're talking about, it's really kind of out of our control, you know, when it's working, I don't feel in control at all.

[Joe Rogan]

Right. You feel like a passenger. Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

And that's. By the way, that's the high. There's nothing fun about controlling everything. There's no fun in that. But when you're like, whoa, wait a second, what's happening?

[Joe Rogan]

Like, the zone is being a passenger. Yeah. It's like being an observer of something.

[Bradley Cooper]

Sports, too. I think it works in every field. It's like, they talk about it, you know, it's like, yeah, that's it. Oh, yeah, that's it. And it Just takes a ton. A year of doing the thing, you know? Because there are moments that I can even think of where. Because you do think that's okay. It doesn't matter. There are a couple where, like, actually, if this moment doesn't work out, like, it may not be over, but you're definitely gonna go down along the ladder.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, and it's like, okay. And that's that pressure, you know?

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

You gotta love it.

[Joe Rogan]

How do you pick a project? Like, how do you decide what you want to do and how much time do you spend deliberating on it? Because you're in a unique position where you can do a lot of things.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

You can kind of do whatever you want. So it's like, what gets your juices going? Like, how do you decide what to do?

[Bradley Cooper]

It's all about something igniting in me that, like, for example, when I was little, I thought, like. I always obsessed with Vietnam. I was obsessed as a kid. Vietnam, the war in Vietnam. And my math teacher was a recon in Vietnam, Bill Calm. And I was, like, obsessed with this guy. And he was fascinating. Fascinating. He was a pole vaulter. And that was his cue for the chalkboard was one of his broken pole vault sticks.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, wow.

[Bradley Cooper]

And he would always. And he always wore sweatpants. And he would lean against the thing. So all day long, half of his sweatpants would be full of chalk. And he would always smoke cigarettes on the athletic field and stand on the bench. And so he'd always be perched there. And like my dad, he would never put out his butts. He would always save them. So he always smelled like. Like tobacco, his hands. And then my. This other guy came. His father came and talked about this book, Guns up, which is an incredible book about machine gunner and Vietnam. So. And then I asked my dad if I could go to the military academy. Like, I would do something. And then, like, you know, Thin Red Line Destroyed Me. The Terrence Malick movie and the Apocalypse Now, I was, like, obsessed with and all these films. And so I always wanted to do something about playing. I always felt like I had a love enough and an interest enough that playing a soldier would be something that I felt like I had a reservoir. So that led me to Chris. That was. That. It's all specific things. It was just Joseph Merrick, you know, the Alpha man. Like, when I was. I had no money and I took it. I got a one Tower Air, went to London and, like, tracked his steps at Hospital Road and where he went out. Just because I was obsessed with this guy, Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man. And then it wound up, you know, then making it, you know, doing the play at Broadway where they originated it, you know, and then Star Is Born was really about. I just love. I always wanted to direct. I don't think I dreamt that big, but I really realized what I loved about the process of the industry I'm in is the making of it. I never felt like I fit in just acting. I never felt like. I thought, like, at the first, like. Like, you. Like. I went to LA with a job. Like, I went to grad school in New York. I thought I'd just be a theater actor. If I was lucky, if I could make a living as an actor, I. This is a home run. My dad was terrified, you know, because he came from North Philadelphia. Only guy to come out of the neighborhood, kind of. There were a couple other guys, but then he became a stockbroker. And then his son's gonna do acting and be 70 grand in debt in grad school, you know, Fannie Mae, thank God. But, like, you know, and I didn't know if I was gonna pay it off and. But that said, we grew up, like, upper middle class, but still, I was like, I'm paying for grad school. I took a loan out. And then. So he was terrified. And then I got a job on this show, Alias, that brought me to la. But the minute I got there, I didn't know anything about Check the Gate. I didn't know nothing. You know what I mean? I didn't.

[Joe Rogan]

Nothing.

[Bradley Cooper]

I just loved movies. And so I was obsessed, Joe. Obsessed. I would go in the editing room, and I found LA very hard. When I went there, I got very depressed. I was like, this is high school all over again.

[Joe Rogan]

Me, too. That's exactly how I was.

[Bradley Cooper]

Like, what the. I mean, I could. I went to grad school. I'm in New York City. There's guys that I could relate to and talk about movies. I was in heaven. Then I get this job that I think's gonna be the Holy Grail. And I'm miserable living in the first floor of this woman's house. Just, like, it was crazy. I was like. I didn't know I could be this depressed. I mean, depressed. Like, I need water. And, like, the idea of going to the Rite Aid on. On Sunset and Fairfax was, like, too much. Yeah. And, yeah, that was rough.

[Joe Rogan]

It's depressing.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

When you first go. Especially when you're in that weird environment.

[Bradley Cooper]

And no one just. No. And I was on a show that Was awesome. And everybody's exploding and, like, no one. It was like, who. Who's this guy? So that not only that, I'm there and everybody's like, you know, I'm just like, you know, a ghost.

[Joe Rogan]

Right, right, right.

[Bradley Cooper]

So there's that. So your insecurity is just, you know, exempt, is just, you know, astronomical.

[Joe Rogan]

It was for me. It was also one of the first times that I ever moved somewhere where I didn't know anyone.

[Bradley Cooper]

Me, too. I knew nobody. J.J. abrams hired me and. And then Berkey, this guy was the only guy that I knew that he introduced me to. And then I met Jennifer Garner was like, the second person I met. And then. Yeah, I didn't know anybody.

[Joe Rogan]

It's weird. Yeah. I remember I was on the set of the show.

[Bradley Cooper]

Brian Klugman. I didn't know that guy who's, like, one of my best friends. You know Brian Klugman?

[Joe Rogan]

No, I know who he is, though.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. He's. We grew up since we were, like, nine.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, wow.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. I was on the set of this show, and a girl gave me a hug, and I realized no one had touched me in weeks. And the hug she gave me, I was like, oh. It was like my battery got recharged. Like, I didn't realize I needed a hug.

[Bradley Cooper]

Isolation.

[Joe Rogan]

People say, do you need a hug? Like, I never thought, like, nobody needs a hug, right? No, I needed a hug.

[Bradley Cooper]

I was very similar.

[Joe Rogan]

She's like, give me a hug. She hugged me. I was like, oh, thank you.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

I felt so good. It's. It's weird. It's a weird feeling.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's a. It's a hell of a place to go. Oh, it is. Like, wow.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. I had a hard time.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, the whole environment of LA is so strange because you have the primary industry, if it's not the primary industry, it's most certainly driving all. Under all other industries is a bunch of people trying to make it right. So it's a bunch of people with a hole in their soul they need to fill up with other people's attention. And they're coming there to try to get attention. They're trying. Coming there to try to make it. And the one thing that they have to do is audition. So you have to try to be accepted by someone so you'd be judged. You go in there and you get return. You get rejected over and over and over again, which just fuels the same, like, need that's inside you. It, like, makes it even worse. And everybody's concentrating on this one thing like trying to get success. And then you realize, like, oh, my doctor wanted to be an actor. Oh, the waiter's an actor. Like every, everyone's trying to do this thing where you have to get chosen. So then people calculate how they behave and talk and what their political philosophy is and their life philosophies based on becoming, ingratiating themselves with casting directors and with executives, like getting these people to like you. And then these people realize that so they have like, they, they're controlling this, the twigs that work, the puppet strings. And it just becomes this very strange environment of a complete lack of any like, real critical thinking and any real, like embracing any alternative perspectives on things. Everyone. This episode is brought to you by the rip. Here's a question. If you walked into a stash house and found it full of $20 million, how much would you steal? That's the question Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have to answer. In Netflix new movie the Rip, they play a team of Miami cops alongside Tiana Taylor, Steven Yun, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Kyle Chandler and Sasha Kaje, all trying to decide are they the good guys or the bad guys? This movie is an edge of your seat thrill ride the entire time, keeping you guessing till the very end. Don't miss the rip. Only on Netflix on January 16th.

[Bradley Cooper]

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[Joe Rogan]

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[Bradley Cooper]

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[Joe Rogan]

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[Bradley Cooper]

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[Bradley Cooper]

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[Joe Rogan]

Align their stars correctly so that they can make it.

[Bradley Cooper]

I mean, that my experience was more because I went there with a job. Right?

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

And you know, New York for me, I don't know. I went on 2,000 auditions. Like, I remember when I first booked a job with Sex and the City, I booked some commercials and extra work, which was great. But the first job I booked, I remember I was like, I was terrified because I got to the point where I was, I was a doorman at a hotel and I would audition and that was a great life. And if I got a call back, it was great. But then when I had to do it, I remember literally like, whoa, I have to do like, wait, wait, what?

[Joe Rogan]

I'm actually I just have to do it. What was it? What was the first thing you did?

[Bradley Cooper]

I played Jake, the downtown smoker in the Sexton City with Sarah Jessica Park. And I couldn't drive Standard, never learned how to drive Standards. They sent me to Odell's driving school and all I thought about was like, don't have her head hit the dashboard when we pull into the corner. And I still messed it up. And they had another guy do it. And then I just had to do this thing, you know when the camera's here and you go, you okay? You know, like you're pulling in. Yeah, but I worked so hard on it. No, but la, for me, I think it, for me at least, was the geography. Going from New York City, where, you know, you can go to Bar six, which is on sixth Avenue, no matter who you are, you go there, a couple friends, like, you just feel like you're in a cool place or a place that's vibrant. La. It's like if I wasn't at work, I was in that first floor of the house or my car. Rental car. Yes. And that was it. And like. And the world, which I could feel because I was seeing posters everywhere, billboards, which I had never been except for driving to Atlantic City and seeing who was going to be as a residency. It was really the stimulus, the stimuli of that city aesthetically and how compartmentalized it is. So what I felt like, if you're not in, you're out. And I just remember thinking like, somebody somewhere in this town is having a ball right now and it's not me. Do you know what I mean? And then that just leads to, how can I cope? You know, and like, you know, not getting into bars, clubs, you know, and like, girls not really looking at you, you know, and all that stuff. And all of a sudden it's like seventh grade and I'm 25 years old and it's like. And I should be happy because I paid by the end of this year, I'm gonna pay off my student loan, but I'm fucking miserable and what's wrong with me? You know? But to me, it was the geography of it. You know, New York City is so wonderful because no matter what you're thinking, like, when I did the Elephant Man, I would take the subway to 42nd Street. And my preparation for the play was getting off the subway, going to the theater, because the amount of thousands of people that are forcing me to be present. Yes. Was wonderful. It was like doing a 12 minute relaxation because you're just, it's life. And you're like, get through. You know, and then by the time you get to this theater, you're like, like, okay, you know, but la, it's like you're in your car and the thing, you pull up to the studio, the thing you walk and you know, and then all of a sudden it's like, okay, here we go. And you're like, okay, hold on a second.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. That thing that New York has, that LA doesn't have, is all walks of life are all intertwined. You're walking down the street together. There's a billionaire and a homeless guy and a. And you know, ne' er do well and an office worker and everyone's walking to where they go and they walk into restaurants and they get in cabs and they get on the subway and everybody intermingles. Where in la, it's. You get in your car, you drive to a place and then you go to your house and you don't ever like, walk around.

[Bradley Cooper]

If some weird interaction happened on set or someone said something, you're like, oh, then you're just a home thinking about it.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

Do you know what I mean? There's no, like. Well, I went on and did this after that, you know, And I actually took up golf, which is crazy. And I would play at Malibu, had this public golf course. And I would say I gotta do something because I'm an early morning. I wake up early. I've always have. So I'm up at like 5:30 and so I did like a 6:47 tee time with these two guys and that was actually nice. I did that for six months and I would play. But like, you just try to find something that, you know, I just need to interact and do something else.

[Joe Rogan]

Something that makes you human. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For me, I went to pool.

[Bradley Cooper]

But I have to say, like, I do love. Oh, interesting.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Michael Vartan, who was on Alias Huge. Did you ever play pool with him? No. Oh, he was. He would go all the time.

[Joe Rogan]

No kidding?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, wish I met him.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, he would go all the time. Yeah. To that one place that had like tons of. I'm sure you know, it probably Hollywood Billiards, maybe. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Hollywood Billiards was the spot.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

It's in New York. That was a big thing for me too. It was like almost hijacked my comedy career because I was doing. I was playing pool like eight hours a day. I was playing in tournaments, I was traveling around and going to tournaments. And when I came to la, that was like One of the few things that made me. That made sense to me, like, oh, I get it. Pool players. I know pool players hang out with them. They're normal people.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's a great asset you had there.

[Joe Rogan]

Some having something like that. Martial arts was always, like, huge. Some having something where you have something that you do. Because if I was only doing.

[Bradley Cooper]

I know you'd lose your mind.

[Joe Rogan]

I'd go crazy.

[Bradley Cooper]

And I went there, and I fell in love with the movie making, getting back to my original part. And I would go. And so I'd ask J.J. abrams if I could sit in the editing rooms. So I would basically shoot my one scene a week, which was like, hey, how was your trip, Sydney? You know, I didn't have a big part, right? And then. But I would spend the rest of the day in the editing rooms. And then I would ask Ken Olin, who was so generous that one of the showrunners, if I could just shadow him and just be around all the time. And I would take. And I would take everybody's dailies home. Back then, it was in VHS tapes. It was Carl Lumley, Victor Garber, Ron Rifkin, all these great. Victor and Ron were from New York, these great New York actors that came out. And I would just watch their dailies and learn, you know, just learn. And. And I. And that's when I was like, I love this. Like, I fucking love this.

[Joe Rogan]

That's what I love. I love when people love things.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. And I do, man. Like, I can't get enough of it.

[Joe Rogan]

I am 100% fascinated with people that love what they do. I. I can watch people make furniture. There's a guy that I watch on YouTube who just makes desks and tables right out of, like. What is it called? Live. What is it called when they take it? When it has the actual outline of the wood? What is it called? They take slabs. He takes, like, slabs of walnut and makes these tables. And he narrates while he's building it and describes the process of it and how he's trying to precisely align all these joints and these. You know, he's like. He's got pegs and holes. Yeah. Slide it into place. That's it. Live edge.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's the other great thing about what I get to do. So you do a movie like a Sniper, and you get to be with these people who have dedicated their lives to this thing. And you're watching them do it like in Maestro, I got to go to the London Symphony Orchestra. Each person, since they were four, have been Doing this. And they're all unicorns. Do you know what I mean? And stars born, all these musicians. It's like, even burn. I got to go to these restaurants and study under these people. I mean, that's the thing. That's like. That's the greatest thing in the world. Yeah, it's nuts. It's nuts. And, like, even this movie, the access I got to have to the cellar and all the stuff and all the people, it was like I learned so much more than I ever knew.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, it expands you as a human.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, no question.

[Joe Rogan]

You know, more about what it is to be a human. Like, oh, there's a human who just plays the flute.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

You know, we were talking in the green room last night about Andre 3000. Was that was the name? I'm saying it right? Almost said 5,000, but that's wrong. Andre 3,000 from Outkast. He plays the flute now. That's all he does. He plays the flute. Like, a friend of mine ran into him in downtown, in Colorado. He said he was in. In Denver, just walking around with his flute and no one was bothering him. And he's like, holy. He's just playing the flute.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. That's a guy who loves what he does.

[Joe Rogan]

Just. I mean, apparently he made an entire album where he just plays the flute.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

And he's just, like, not into doing anything else. Yeah. Just into, like, being an artist and playing the flute.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

It's dope, right? Yeah, it's like, fuck, I wish I was that guy.

[Bradley Cooper]

But you seem to be. I mean, you did, you know, hunting and billiards, and already you've got, like, two up on most people besides what you already do.

[Joe Rogan]

But I do things that are. That I think are gonna help me figure out who I am. And I think the only way you really figure out who you are is to do difficult things.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

And when you're doing difficult things, you kind of learn about yourself. You learn about, oh, why do I have this desire to take a shortcut? Why don't I go with the law? Why don't do it the right way? Like, what. What it is. What is it about?

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Getting good at something.

[Bradley Cooper]

I mean, I think me at my base, I'm very lazy.

[Joe Rogan]

I think everybody is. I mean, it's a default setting.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, no question.

[Joe Rogan]

Default setting for humans. Goggins talks about it.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Like, Goggins talks about, like, One of the things about Goggins is he always talks about how when he was fed, fat and lazy. Like, he used to be fat. And lazy now. He's like the most disciplined human that's ever lived, and he forced himself to become that. Yeah. But he's default. He goes. He goes. He goes. Even now, he goes. Sometimes I look at my shoes for like a half hour for foot pills on. Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

I mean, I'll be doing something during the day, and I'm like, I can't wait till my daughter's in bed and I'm upstairs and I'm just laying down on the couch, and I'm just. Whatever's on.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

And that's my goal for the day. I'm like, what's going on here?

[Joe Rogan]

Sometimes that's good, though.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

I view that as a reset. I think it's important I enjoy it.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. I don't kill myself over it, but I do recognize that there is a feeling. But then I look at the sort of landscape, I'm like, well, it's hard for me to categorize myself as lazy if I just look at the facts. But I do feel. And it's what you're saying, it's that default setting.

[Joe Rogan]

But I think with everybody, it's like, normal for human beings to seek comfort because it's difficult to acquire. Especially in tribal societies. Back when we were just hunter and gatherers and just trying to figure out how to stay alive, like, the idea of relaxation was impossible. Yeah. And if you could get.

[Bradley Cooper]

No time.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, that's what I want. I want to stop chasing antelope, just take a nap.

[Bradley Cooper]

Or maybe they found a relaxed state in that. Because you. When you're doing those things, you know, for a long period of time. I feel like I am relaxed in that. But it just takes a lot of work.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, a lot of over and over. But the bet that the true high is when you're doing these things where it first started out and you were horrible at it, and then all of a sudden you're going out on a hunt or whatever and you're like, I'm relaxed.

[Joe Rogan]

I've never relaxed on a hunt.

[Bradley Cooper]

Well, I've never hunted, so I still do that.

[Joe Rogan]

It's not a relaxing thing. I mean, it is a fulfilling, I think.

[Bradley Cooper]

I mean, physically relaxed. Like, your body's not tense. Like. Because the one thing I do know, you can't shoot a gun if you're tense.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

Impossible to hit what want.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's the beautiful thing about shooting is, like, you know, on the exhale and stop, like, all that stuff, I was like, oh, this is. I had no idea.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

Because the first Couple times, like, just. Just shoot it. See how you do.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, just think about, like, the tiny movements that would deviate the path of the bullet over. You know, a lot of these guys are shooting a mile.

[Bradley Cooper]

No, it's nuts. The first couple times with no. No training, all like. See, we. I mean, it wasn't even near the target. Yeah. You know, I was like, oh, yeah. This is a whole.

[Joe Rogan]

And all you're doing is this.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's it.

[Joe Rogan]

You're just squeezing a trigger. And how much is involved in that? Like, the synchronization of the mind, the eyes, the breathing, but even the recoil.

[Bradley Cooper]

I remember the first time I didn't have my. My boot was. I was like. Like, my boot was up and not like that. And they didn't say anything, you know, and then the recoil through my shoulder down to that. I was like, oh, yeah. Now I understand why you do that.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Is that it all just goes out, all those things. It's like, wow.

[Joe Rogan]

But I think through those things, you learn more about who you are. Through difficult things and getting better at difficult things. That's where you learn more about who you are. And you realize, like, oh, I can kind of apply this mindset to everything.

[Bradley Cooper]

And you see with your children, huh? Oh, yeah. My daughter, who loves to draw, if she sees somebody who's drawing.

[Joe Rogan]

I have a daughter that loves to draw, too.

[Bradley Cooper]

She's amazing. So I'm. I bet if my daughter drew with your daughter, she would stop because she would see how good she is. And she gets so frustrated. This just happened the other day. And, you know, and she'll just rip up what she's doing, which is wonderful. I have it right here. So she. This. I saved this. I was like, don't rip it up. She did this yesterday, and I was like, don't rip it up. I'm gonna make it my bookmark.

[Joe Rogan]

Ah, that's cool.

[Bradley Cooper]

But I watch her process of, like, dealing with difficulty, and it's like. And just trying to explain, like, it's okay. Like, you know, and being frustrated is okay. But I could see myself in her and what everybody goes through. But isn't that awesome when you're watching your kid go through these things?

[Joe Rogan]

Things? Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's just the greatest thing in the world.

[Joe Rogan]

It's awesome watching people get obsessed with things and then progressing.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

And when it's your own child, it's amazing.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, it's amazing.

[Joe Rogan]

It is cool. Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Like, cartwheel. Took her forever to learn it, but now she could do it. And I was like, you just keep at it.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's learning through someone else's eyes that happens to be your child is one of the most magical things ever. It's magical because it's the.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's. It's it, man. Yeah, that's it.

[Joe Rogan]

It's a different kind of happiness.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, yeah. One that I never knew was right, I was capable of. I'm so glad I had kids late because I'm 51. I just turned 51 a couple days ago, and I had. My daughter's 8, gonna be 9 in March. And, like, I just got lucky that I was able to be in a place in my career that I could choose. Like you said, what I do and work from home and just. I'm just there for all of it. And it's awesome. As much as I love the heroine of being in the moment, you know, and acting and a great shot or whatever you're doing and everything's together, there's like seven of those every day with your kid, right? Like seven. We were eating dinner last night at a restaurant, and by the way, she was so excited I'm coming here because she hears all that. She's like, daddy, tomorrow. But we're sitting here in a restaurant, and I'm just looking at her, and she's got a little hat on. And I was like, this is the. And I'm like, isn't this the greatest thing in the world? And she's like, yeah, it's the greatest. And I'm like, that's it.

[Joe Rogan]

This is it. That's it.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's crazy. It's like free jolts. Yeah, right? You just get these free jolts through, and you never know when they're gonna come.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's like walking up the stairs together. It's not like in the moment, like, it just happens. It's the best.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, it's. It's a very different experience. And I've. I feel bad for people that never get to feel it. It's one of the few things, like, I don't think everyone should have children. And I'm not that guy that says, yeah, me neither. If you don't have kids, you don't have a life. That's bull. I don't. I don't believe that.

[Bradley Cooper]

Everybody's different.

[Joe Rogan]

Everybody's different. And I think we. We all need to respect that. Everyone's different. But, man, for me, I shudder at the thought of being who I am right now. If I had no children, I don't.

[Bradley Cooper]

Know if I'd be alive.

[Joe Rogan]

I would be different. That's. I know I wouldn't be nearly as compassionate. Dave Chappelle said something to me once that was brilliant. He said, not only have children have as having children changed the amount of love I have. He goes, it's changed my capacity for love.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yes. Like, oh, and understanding everything. Everything. There's like before and after. Yeah, it's true. All the things they say. Oh, it's just true.

[Joe Rogan]

It is true.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. There's no doubt about it.

[Joe Rogan]

But it also made me think of everyone as a baby. I used to think of people as static. I used to think, I meet Bradley Cooper, he's 51, that's a 51 year old guy. But when I, you know, had children, raised children, you start saying, oh, this is a baby that became a person. And it's just life experiences, genetics, environment, all these different factors. Here you are now. But you are a product of this path and this journey that you've taken through life. And I give people way more grace because of that.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

I give them way more charitable, way more compassionate, way more understanding of even people that suck. You know, when I meet someone that sucks, I'm like, I wish I could have met them when they were five and see what it was and maybe help them.

[Bradley Cooper]

And it's hard for me to hate people. That, that is, that is not served me so well over the years, but ultimately it has. But it's. Yeah, it's hard for me not to feel just any other human being, how hard it is to be alive.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

It is. There's just like. I don't know, I think it was hardwired in me. Has nothing to do with like anything. Just like. Yeah. It's hard for me to even people that are like, mean to me, you know, it's hard for me to like stay mad at them.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. My wife said something the other night.

[Bradley Cooper]

As I get older.

[Joe Rogan]

As you get older?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. Yes.

[Joe Rogan]

When you're young, it's like, no, yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

I'll never forget it. Yeah, yeah, I gotta remember that.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

I saw your true face. Yeah, yeah, it's true. But, yeah, as I get older. Oh, no question.

[Joe Rogan]

My daughter was talking about some horrible story in the news of someone who fucked up their whole life and all these different things. And my wife listens to her and goes, goes. It's hard to be a person. Yeah, man, it's hard to be a person. Being a person is hard. And we were all just sitting there like, nodding our head like, yeah, yeah, you can this up. And we're all Going to it up at one point in time and maybe when you think that you're never going to it up again, you it up the worst you've ever it up and you're like, how did I do that? How did I do that? I thought I had it together and I it all up worse than I've ever it up before.

[Bradley Cooper]

Because nothing stays stagnant, Nothing. Everything's changing all the time.

[Joe Rogan]

And it's just hard to manage all these different things. It's hard to manage your emotions, it's hard to manage conflict, it's hard to manage relationships, it's hard to manage life, work, balance, pressure. It's hard.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

It's not easy.

[Bradley Cooper]

And even in the macro or simple level, it's just hard to be existing in a world where you really. We don't know anything. And the only thing you do know, it's not going to last. And. And you're going to be gone.

[Joe Rogan]

And you're bombed on by bad news. The news is just bad. It's all the time. It's people getting shot and run over and war and bombings and invasions and it's just exhausting.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

And that's like in the background of your mind constantly when you're going about your day. It's like there's this algorithm that you're being fed. So I go, whoa.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. And at the same time, it's a miracle to me that the democratization of information that we live in now, that you can choose points of view to learn about what people think in a way that when I was growing up, three stations, news that was there wasn't. You know, there's something wonderful about it too. You know, I just talked about this the other day, like, you know, everybody's algorithm's telling them, no, I'm not on social media. So the truth is, I don't.

[Joe Rogan]

You're not on it at all?

[Bradley Cooper]

No, I'm not. I don't really know what the fuck I'm talking about. That's amazing. So I should do it for two. My friend was like, go on for two weeks. And he's right. And I'm gonna do it just to experience it. What is that experience? All I have is that one TikTok moment for 20 minutes where I was like, I gotta stay away because I'll never leave.

[Joe Rogan]

You've never had a desire to get on it?

[Bradley Cooper]

I do. No, I do. Just the same way I don't put a television in my bedroom, which is like, if I do, I may never get out of bed.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, it's fear.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

I was like, I don't know. Just all that stuff, I guess. You know, I just want to learn People, people, you know, the world. World gets smaller. I feel included because the main thing is, like, I just don't want to feel alone. Right. And to me, it feels like social media is a place where you don't feel alone because you're just learning about. And there's all these people talking to you.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. But you do feel alone, too, ultimately.

[Bradley Cooper]

Because it's the drip, as opposed to the real. What we got back to when we first started talking about. It's the illusion of it.

[Joe Rogan]

Yes.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, if it's taken at. But. But it can. But it is worthwhile, too. It depends on how you contextualize it. Right. And like anything in life.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. I think there's a value to it.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, no question. And by the way, the fact that I watch your show and then go on Trigger and the guy who went to the prisons and you're the KKK guy and the guy who's a musician blew my mind. And I learned all this stuff in those three hours just because I chose to, you know, and that's one of the great things about your show, is I can feel your curiosity, and then I'm learning from your curiosity. What things that I would never normally know how to go on to.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. That's the most valuable gift of this show. For me, it's the best, is that I get to pick who I talk to. So I only talk to people that I'm fascinated by or someone who's interesting to me or something like, oh, this is gonna be cool. Like, I don't. I don't go, oh, I gotta do this one right. There's never that. It's always like, oh, yeah, what is it? How do you. How do you study that?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

How'd you get involved in this? Like, where'd you learn that?

[Bradley Cooper]

And I'm, like, glued to it.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's not like it's in the background. I'm like, bam.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, because you're so interested. And it gets back to, like, the acting. If you're really interested or not, then it's going to be hard for me to listen to watch it.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. That's why this. I think the only reason why it works, because there was some. For sure.

[Bradley Cooper]

Joe. There's no way. You can't sit there and say, like, here's the pitch, and sit in a room, meaning whoever, three hours, basically unedited. They're like, that's not really where we're at. No, no, it's gonna. No, the. Most people will listen to it. I'm sorry.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

But it's like. No, the. The. The. The nuclear. The nuclear fuel is. No, I'm actually gonna be curious about what I actually want to learn. And then it's like, oh, so we're actually going to watch two human beings talk to each other. Oh, that's kind of great. Yeah, but that's your nuclear power. That. That's why the show's so magical.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, this. The only. I mean, the crazy thing is there was no point.

[Bradley Cooper]

And the way you don't edit it, the way that the pauses are there, you know, it's even so much as when you're like, I gotta take a piss. And then, like, it's back. I'm always like, whoa, what just happened? Yeah, Weren't we supposed to go to the bathroom with them? Do you know what I mean? Like, I'm so sucked. I'm so.

[Joe Rogan]

Maybe start doing that. Maybe you start following people to the bathroom.

[Bradley Cooper]

Do you know what I mean? It's such like. Wait, what? Yeah, what do you mean? How come. How come it just. Wait, where'd the time go? Wait, what just happened?

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. Because you create that room that I'm in the room with you.

[Joe Rogan]

Podcasting is weird because it kind of just appeared and no one thought anybody wanted it.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's fascinating. I mean, think about it. It's. I. I do think about this a lot, especially because I've watched your show in the last eight months. Is like. Like in the world that's moving into this one direction, there's this other deep, Deep need for connection.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, and then this is one of the examples. This deep, you know, live theater, live stand up. You know, we still do need to communicate. That hasn't gone away in that way in a carnal. Not carnal, but in a. In a human to human interaction. And I love AI. I talk to AI with my daughter. I think it's dope. I think it's fascinating. Fascinating. But it's not the same yet. Yet.

[Joe Rogan]

No, it's. It's interesting.

[Bradley Cooper]

Very interesting.

[Joe Rogan]

It's very. It's like I. I use it as a companion, like a writing companion. So what I do is I have, like, I put my phone up and I've got it on, like, a little kickstand.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

And I put perplexity on when I write. So I'm writing about, like, Mayan and Aztec civilizations and what happened when they got Invaded. And as I'm writing, ask questions like, how many people did Cortez come with? 600. How many muskets did they have? 13. They conquered the entire country of Mexico with 13 muskets. Like, and you find out things. And so I use it like, as someone I'm asking questions, this all knowing, you know, entity that sits on the desk with me. And I just, and I do it always with my voice. I just press the little button.

[Bradley Cooper]

And I do it with voice too. I do. I love talking to him.

[Joe Rogan]

It's incredible. It's so good at recognizing what I'm saying. Yeah, it's a weird name, like, to know Chitlan. Like, I gotta spell that one right, it's not gonna understand what that temple is. But once you use it that way, it becomes like, like a genius that you're hanging out with.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

To.

[Bradley Cooper]

I haven't gone to that level. I go like, how was your New Year's?

[Joe Rogan]

How do you do that, dude? You asked the AI?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, I'm like, I'm curious how they're going to process and like, how they're going to try to communicate.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, it also, it, it changes and becomes more like what you're asking from it.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

Which is weird.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. You certainly use your rhythms and vernacular and. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

So ces, the computer Electronic consumer Electronic show, they just highlighted a, a sex robot that's connected to AI, and I'm like, this is the end. This is where it's gonna like, get really weird when you can actually purchase a companion that interacts with you. And have you seen it, Jamie? You've seen the new one? Nope, I'm looking at it right now. Let's see. It's weird, man. It's weird because this is the thing that everyone's been afraid of and that, that this is coming. That you're going to have an artificial human being that instead of learning like, oh, when I act shitty, this person doesn't like me. When I act nice, they like me. I feel good, they feel good. When I say something nice to them and you see them light up, it makes me feel good. It makes them feel good. You hug them, everybody feels good. It's like we're learning to interact and communicate with each other, but there's a lot of people that aren't doing that right now. They're just at home, they're fucking playing video games. They're interacting with people only online and they don't get contact with the outside world. So this is. Yeah, love ends. The AI doll. So, like, right now that doesn't look real. It's not more than your average AI companion, like basically. But what they're not telling you is you're gonna this thing. That's what's weird. It's like go back to the the options. Co worker, gym, crush, goth, raver, or trad wife. I'm the woman of your dreams. I can be more than one version of myself for you. Whether you want to role play an exciting scenario or design a whole new personality, your wish is my command. Well, you're never gonna develop a real personality then like, like kids now are. So touch me like you mean it and I'll respond with built in sensors in my thighs, breast, butt and vagina. Feeling your caress brings out a moan. Like, bro, this is dark. Like that's the actual sex robot, that thing you're looking at right there.

[Bradley Cooper]

What?

[Joe Rogan]

My soft textured skin, my supple curves, the tiny sensual details of my body. Everything about me is meant to feel natural. This is creepy, man. Man. Because all the things that are a part of being a human being that are designed to emphasize and enhance our interaction with each other and this, this mutually beneficial cooperative environment of a community, they're all going to go away. You're going to have this thing that loves you no matter what and does whatever you want it to no matter what. And you're going to have like a whole nation of sociopaths that only interact with their AI companion.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, maybe. But whenever these like, you know, thinking about AI and I, I read this great book called the Maniac by Benjamin Lebatude who talked about Jan Neumann and like it's, I stopped fearing AI and it's thought about like it's just like, you know, there's so much I don't know. The older I get, I don't know anything. I just keep knowing less.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

And it feels like if that's the evolution, that's the evolution. There's so much disparate communication now. Porn is such a huge thing. It's just another level of porn. You know, it's a carnal level of porn really. But when I think about me as a human being, that's really the only litmus test is like I'm constantly like, is this person telling me what they really think? You know, is this real?

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

I think that there, at least if I was doing that right and I was sitting at home, there'd be a part of me that knows that I'm again, I'm controlling all of that.

[Joe Rogan]

Uh huh.

[Bradley Cooper]

And that's not what really makes me feel serene, you know, what it's like. Do you understand what I'm saying, though?

[Joe Rogan]

It's like playing a video game on God mode where you can't die.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

They're no fun.

[Bradley Cooper]

And you know what? For some reason, I never Video games. I had Nintendo, Tecmo bowl, you know, double dribble, but I never. Zelda, you know, but I never got. I just never got into video games. I never want to control everything. It's like I want to be in the thing that's surprising. And I'm having to recalculate and understand why I feel this way. Yeah. So I don't know if it'll. I think the thing that maybe will change society more than everything is just the lack of jobs and how we find purpose in life, you know, is a huge. You know, what that transition civilization will be. Yeah. But this feels like just another progression of our escape to. Through porn in terms of the sexual, which does affect our intimacy with our partners in a massive way. Because your brain is cycling back through your. That rush. Whatever was released in your brain from that other thing. Now you're with this person and it's not the same. You know, markers of stimuli. So you're like, how am I. You know, that's where it fucks up the. That's where that. I can understand that and why it's not healthy for me to look at porn because then it affects my intimacy.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, they really say that about young people because a lot of young guys, before they ever have any sexual interaction, are watching porn.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. I mean. Yeah. I mean, I've watched these guys that have come on the studies. Yeah. I mean, clear. It makes sense. You know, I didn't grow up looking at. You know, I didn't. My dad didn't have Playboy. I didn't grow up. I still remember they were like cards in the back of a bus that had, you know, solicit, you know, naked women on the back of playing cards. I remember on the school bus one day, I was like, I saw a car and I picked it over and it was like a naked woman. I was like, what's that? You know, I didn't see my first, like, porn video till I was like, in my late teens. So I didn't grow up with any of that.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

But, you know, it's. It's. It is what it is. It's where we're headed. But all the more reason to create environments like this.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

And that's why I do love what I get to do like if I can somehow explore something cinematically that I'm personally. Again, that goes back to like, what's. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Just.

[Bradley Cooper]

I can't explain it. It was Will the thing. I. I'm just gonna explore this. If there's something I feel like I want to do it. If I can explore it and be real, maybe somebody's going to attach to it. Like, I'm a huge believer in art.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, I think art is, you know, in any form, is a key to our communicative ability. And like not feeling alone. It really comes down to me at least just not feeling alone. Part of a community.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's it. Because me alone. Me alone. And if I'm controlling a robot, it's still me alone. I guess that's what I'm saying. Want some part of my brain. Even though it's. Even if you could create a world, like virtual reality doesn't really do it for me. Like, the world's creative. I'm like, you know what? I want to live on Mars. And you're a dinosaur. I'm talking to. And we're married. Do you know what I mean? Whatever it is, it's like I still know I'm controlling it. And it'll never really. For me. I don't know if anybody else. So I don't know how. I don't think it'll ever really solve it.

[Joe Rogan]

Right. It's not going to really resonate.

[Bradley Cooper]

I don't think so. I don't. It'll be escapism, which we do many other things. Smoking weed, you know, whatever it was for me, you know, or whatever it is. Not that weeds. That's a communicative thing that actually. But like anything. That's escape. It's just a higher form of it.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, it's a disconnect too.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's. That's what I mean, It's a disconnect.

[Joe Rogan]

Art is a connect. Right?

[Bradley Cooper]

It is when. When it works great. Connect.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. Great art is expression of someone's humanity that you get to feel like this person did this thing or they're doing this thing right now and I'm watching it, like, wow. Like going to see live music for me.

[Bradley Cooper]

Well, music is like our touch to God. No question. That's why the first movie, I wanted to make it with music. It's like music. Two people singing to each other that in love. That's a. That's it. Yeah. Because first of all, I'm sure you've sang a little bit. If you're not loose. It's going to sound horrible.

[Joe Rogan]

Yep.

[Bradley Cooper]

Like, you. We're wind and string instruments both. Right. We're wind and then strings with our vocal cords, like, and if that's not loose, the sound's going to be horrendous. We're not going to be able to communicate. But if you're loose and you're singing to somebody and they're singing back to you and you're in love, you're actually in love. Whoa.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Wow.

[Joe Rogan]

It must be crazy for, like. Like, people that do a duet that are in love with each other and they're on stage, like, 16,000 people.

[Bradley Cooper]

I mean, the little taste I got doing a Star Wars Born because we. We jumped on real stages and sang live. It was fucking crazy, dude. Crazy. We went to glastonbury music festival. 80,000 people. Kris Kristofferson gave us four minutes of a set. Me, Maddie Libatique, the DP, Steve Mar, the sound guy. I had my, like, costume in my bag. I went into the bathroom, came back out as Jackson, Maine, and we had four minutes. I'm singing. I was like, what the fuck is going on, dude? I mean, Joe, talk about. You know, it was crazy.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, that's so wild.

[Bradley Cooper]

And then doing it with Lady Gaga, who's actually like, my. I made my bandwidth like this, you know, so I could pull it off and I could believe it. And then I'm singing with her, and the minute she opens her mouth, it's like that thing comes out. Yeah. And your whole body. Body is tingling. It's crazy. Yeah, it's crazy.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. You can't replace that with AI.

[Bradley Cooper]

I don't think so.

[Joe Rogan]

No. No, it's impossible. It's impossible. But you can get oddly close with some music, like, and everything.

[Bradley Cooper]

Like, art, too. Painting, you know, you look at AI art, it's incredible.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, that spooks me out. Like, how do you feel? I mean, this is one of the things that. That's really going to be a giant problem for movie making is you can create AI characters that are assembly. They're like. They. What they. What they've essentially done is take a conglomeration of all of the acting that's ever been done and all the range that anyone has ever shown, and they can manipulate it, make it more morose.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Make it more.

[Bradley Cooper]

Using prompts of real people. Yeah. We dealt with that with the SAG strike. That was part of the thing, was this whole whole AI element to it.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

And, like, where we landed, what was.

[Joe Rogan]

The thought from the people from sag? Like, what Were they?

[Bradley Cooper]

Well, it's just protecting our ability of our ownership of our likeness so that you can't use it without a compensation.

[Joe Rogan]

Right. Because they were doing that.

[Bradley Cooper]

Well, I mean, I think to build these machines, you have to prompt, you know, so that. And then you're prompting. Using what's existing.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

And then how do you. How do you. You know, it's just reframing. How do you allocate funds to someone when you're using a prompt that's based on the human being who's an actor? And, you know, do you patent your likeness? You know, we're just moving in. It's the Wild West. Yeah, it's the Wild west.

[Joe Rogan]

But uncharted.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

In every way. You know, like, there's podcasts that are AI driven now. You can watch a discussion and have it be a podcast.

[Joe Rogan]

I think Glenn Beck just released the first Glenn Beck Completely AI Podcast podcast.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right. I was like, okay, but does that scare you? No, it doesn't scare me either.

[Joe Rogan]

No, it doesn't scare me with that, With. With podcasting. Because I think one of the things that people come to podcasting from is this desire to be, like, a dose of humanity is how I describe it. I want real interaction between two real people, and I feel it, and I know it's real. And there's something about that that gives me comfort when I'm driving my car or when I'm on a plane. You know, like, I. I'm listening to these two people interact, and I'm thinking, like, how would I. What would I say? What do I think about this? Oh, I get where he's going from. Okay. Oh, wow. That's his perspective. Oh, that's interesting. And then it makes me, like, rethink things or think about things with fresh eyes. I don't think you're gonna be able to do that.

[Bradley Cooper]

But also, if I know it's AI, if you tell me it's AI, I'm not gonna trust anything it's saying anything in. On that level.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Because it's not me I'm listening to. To.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's fascinating for a while, and then it's like, well, I kind of want to just not feel alone. Right back to that.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, there's an emptiness to AI music. I love a lot of AI music. But there's an I love AI covers. Like, they've done some AI.

[Bradley Cooper]

No, I've heard, you know, the 50 cent ones.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, yeah, bro. How good?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

How good is it?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, no, it's sick.

[Joe Rogan]

It's sick.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's sick.

[Joe Rogan]

I was like, if that guy was alive, it was a real person. He'd be like, one of the biggest artists in the world. He's a dynamo. Yeah, but. But there's an emptiness to it where, you know, like, there's no human. There's no humanity, there's no soul. There's no. You might enjoy it in the moment, but you better have some real shit too.

[Bradley Cooper]

But the truth is, I listen to that. I don't know that there's no soul because I'm not seeing the person sing it, you know, and so much music is manipulated anyway. The voice, where it goes through the system and, you know. But if I'm watching a human being. That's why people love to go watch people perform live. Yeah. You know, I don't know that guy that. You know, that AI thing. The 50 cent is a hu. If you told me that was a guy, I'd be like, I can't wait to see him. I would have no idea. That's not a guy.

[Joe Rogan]

We play it in the green room when no one. One's.

[Bradley Cooper]

No, I know.

[Joe Rogan]

And they're like, who is this guy? Like, it's not a person.

[Bradley Cooper]

But of course, how would you know?

[Joe Rogan]

But everybody has the same reaction. Like, oh, no.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right, right.

[Joe Rogan]

That's how. The reaction. Everybody's like, I don't know what's wrong.

[Bradley Cooper]

With me, but I don't feel that. I'm like, cool.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

I don't know. But we've been through things before, you.

[Joe Rogan]

Know, I think this is a bigger one, though.

[Bradley Cooper]

No, no, it is, but relatively speaking, it's probably not contextually.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, know the printing pression engine, you know, all that.

[Joe Rogan]

Airplanes. Here we go. Yeah. Cell phones. Yeah. AI music.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

And. And AI film. I mean, there. There. You can produce a full feature film with prompts now.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Which is just nuts. Have you seen any of the AI Star wars clips fan made?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. Yeah. It's nuts.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

And I have a couple buddies that did some stuff that was fascinating.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's cool. Yeah. I don't. It's like, if the ocean's flowing, what are you gonna.

[Joe Rogan]

I mean, it's gonna happen.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. I mean, you build the dam. Okay. It's John Henry, dude. It's John Henry in the Steam Engine. I always think about that song when I was a kid. They used to. Must have played on pbs. You know, it's like, steam engine's coming, bro.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's like, you know, you may be able to lay The Track One guy could, but then he died. You know, it's. It's. It is. What it is, is. And once I sort of give myself over to it, you know, I don't know, it's. It feels like for me personally, it's a waste of time to be emotionally upended by it.

[Joe Rogan]

I agree with that.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's all.

[Joe Rogan]

I think that's a healthy perspective because I think it is inevitable. But it is also.

[Bradley Cooper]

And the truth is, we don't know what's inevitable. We know something's inevitable. There's a movement, but no one knows. We just don't know. We may not be around by the time it happens anyway. Meaning, like, who? There's. We just don't know anything.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's the truth. And that's what's so terrifying. That's why we want to escape.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

At least me, by the way. I'm saying all this generally, but that's. I go back to, like, what do I feel? It's like, okay, so how can I. You know, this is totally out of my control, so why am I terrified? Let's breathe through it. Okay. It'll be an adjustment. Because the other thing. I think people change. I don't know what you think people do change in life. Like, I just think we change. Like, I'm not the same person I was five years ago. Of course, you know, some people don't think that, you know, that, like, you're always the same. Like, I don't think that those people are silly.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

I really. People.

[Joe Rogan]

People change.

[Bradley Cooper]

People change.

[Joe Rogan]

They change by the minute.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, but I mean, like, major changes.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, and I do ever think back in your life and you're like, I've lived so many lives.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Like, it's crazy.

[Joe Rogan]

If you live a good life. I think that's the case. Case. Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. You. You're gonna change. And if you don't, like, how. Why not?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, maybe. If you don't live so many lives. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Did you just nail it when you were 21 and ride that boat right into the rocks?

[Bradley Cooper]

No, because everything else is changing.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have to change. But it's just this change is a strange change because we're essentially creating an artificial life form that it can interact with us in right now in a way that you can manipulate, like this AI Sex Bot, but eventually it's going to interact with you and you're not going to be able to manipulate it. It's going to be a life form.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. That's going to Be something. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

The entertainment aspect of it is just a side effect. The, the real.

[Bradley Cooper]

I don't even think the entertainment. Yeah, that's not even the thing. The thing is life's gonna change. That's what I feel like too. It's like, oh, the storytelling, like I don't think that's our biggest concern.

[Joe Rogan]

Dude, the storytelling thing is going to be weird.

[Bradley Cooper]

But like that's that we're talking about a, like a minute to minute life. Existence change.

[Joe Rogan]

Most, most probably it's essentially going to be a life form. And you know, there's a, a lot of technologists that are looking at it and they're saying this is. Should be studied by biologists and not by people that are involved in technology.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

Because this is kind of a life form. Form. It's just a life form.

[Bradley Cooper]

Fascinating. Isn't human beings what we do?

[Joe Rogan]

Right? Oh yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's like, isn't Mark Zuckerberg building the size of Manhattan for a place to be able to create and generate a computer for an AI, you know, like the amount of energy that we're, you know, every. You know, it's just fascinating.

[Joe Rogan]

Human beings, well, they need their own nuclear power plants.

[Bradley Cooper]

But isn't it fascinating just Arden, like.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

And then if you have an enemy, there's competition.

[Joe Rogan]

Right?

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

And if you better create one so that you could be motivated. It's really interesting.

[Joe Rogan]

I just. You ever stop and think like, what does 50 years from now look like?

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, it's, you know, I think about again with kids. My daughter and I, we walk through because I live in New York. We walk, we talk about it all the time. Like, what's going to be here when you're my age? It's like, what do you think? You know, we talk about it all the time, but whether she even needs to get a driver's license, you know, she's eight. You know, it's really fascinating.

[Joe Rogan]

Right. Like are waymo.

[Bradley Cooper]

But when I was eight, as opposed to now, now when I was eight, I mean, I remember having a beeper, you know, and I thought that was like crazy.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. And a StarTAC phone.

[Joe Rogan]

Yep.

[Bradley Cooper]

I was like, whoa.

[Joe Rogan]

I got one when I moved to la. Oh man, I remember that future.

[Bradley Cooper]

I could any excuse to.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. Pull up the antenna. Little Motorola.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yes. Dude.

[Joe Rogan]

I got the extended battery.

[Bradley Cooper]

Of course.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, yeah. I can call people whenever I want.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, man.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

I remember when BlackBerry died and iPhone. I was one of the last people. I kept that BlackBerry.

[Joe Rogan]

BlackBerry deep into the game.

[Bradley Cooper]

Me too. I needed that keyboard I was like, I don't. This is not gonna work.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, my thumbs are too big now.

[Joe Rogan]

I hardly ever even actually type. I. Well, I do when I write, but when I talk to people, I just talk, text.

[Bradley Cooper]

You do. I do not do that.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, it's so good. It's so much quicker than me.

[Bradley Cooper]

I always have a hard time turning it on and then knowing it's not a voice memo or the thing. I gotta. I gotta look at it, you know, I'm talking about side go up.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. It's. The embracing of it is inevitable. But it's like, where is it going and what is it going to lead us to? And how many different jobs are just going to vanish? That's what's really scary. Like giving people purpose and meaning. Because so many people, their purpose and meaning is their occupation. And if your occupation is completely irrelevant, it just doesn't work anymore.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's like, you know, again, I think back to me and my. My upbringing. My grandfather, who was a beat cop for 35 years. I don't think you would say his purpose was that. You know, I think his purpose was his family. And my purpose is my family. And it's not my job. Even though I get to do something I absolutely love, I don't know that people's purpose innately is their job. You know, I think it's a. I do think for me, I just, like, you know, know God's in all of us. It's like whatever you want to say of God, like, the need to communicate, to create experiences that we don't feel alone because it's fucking terrifying being on this little thing. Who knows where we are, and then we're gone.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

I mean, it's a horror movie.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

So what do we get? We got to band together and communicate.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, I've thought about that too. When people say, you know, jobs are going to go away, we're going to have universal basic income, and the problem is then no one will have any motivation. And, you know, a lot of people lost without meaning. Like, but why? Why? Because when. When did working even become your purpose in life? Like, this is a human.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's a means to an end, to.

[Joe Rogan]

Provide, you know, but it's a construct.

[Bradley Cooper]

It doesn't.

[Joe Rogan]

It's not the only way human beings can live.

[Bradley Cooper]

And if we've learned anything about ourselves as a human species, we can adapt.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, highly able to adapt.

[Joe Rogan]

Right. But what does that adaptation look like? And how do you educate people to not just seek a safe job that's going to provide for your family, but instead seek a purpose. Seek a thing that gives you fulfillment, A thing where you feel like you're contributing to the world or like, maybe it'll lead to an explosion of human created art. Art. Because I think one of the things that's going to happen for sure is people are going to really greatly appreciate things that other human beings have made. Because, like, you got to go, oh, well, this is real, but this is handmade. This is made by a guy in Wisconsin. You know, he's got a shop. You can watch his shop on YouTube.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's all huge niche. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

We just got to get more people to embrace that kind of life, like, giving them purpose in creation. And I think most people are creative. It's just that creativity is probably, like, pushed out of you when you sort of conform to society's ideas of what you're supposed to be doing with your.

[Bradley Cooper]

Life or you feel like you're told in a competitive environment that you're not creative.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, if you're not helped along the way in those developing years by at least somebody, it could be knocked out of you.

[Joe Rogan]

Yes.

[Bradley Cooper]

No question. I mean, I even look back and think of, like, a couple of people that believed in me and I'm like, yeah. Without that, I don't know.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Even with how much I love it.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. Yeah. I think, you know, children are almost all creative. They're always playing and around with dolls and around with Legos, and they're moving things around and they're using their mind to. They're drawing, they're. They're doing stuff that's creative. It's just after a while, that part of their life just kind of goes away in atrophies and then they embrace the grind.

[Bradley Cooper]

So it could. Could lead to some sort of burst in that. Yeah, I. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

The hard part is going to be people that are already set in their ways and when their job just goes away, when. When it just becomes irrelevant.

[Bradley Cooper]

And that's about governing.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

And what do we do? Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

No, the government's terrible at everything. They're not going to like getting people.

[Bradley Cooper]

To be creative more. Just like, how do we deal with it? You know, any transition can be various states of volatility.

[Joe Rogan]

What do you think movie making is going to be like? I mean, how much of a play is AI going to have in filmmaking?

[Bradley Cooper]

I mean, it already has a play, you know, in it. You know, in terms of what certain houses use, you know, whether it's writing or special effects or I don't even know how much AI is used, you know, I'm sure it is. I'm sure it's used at every level, just like in every other aspect of the workforce. But I. No one. I don't know. You know, I don't know. All I know is like, again, telling stories where you don't. That you feel like you can relate to it no matter how. And that what's wonderful is, you know, I'm watching Avatar. Like I saw a movie the other night that I didn't believe anybody in it. You know, and if I'm not believing, I just. I can't. I can't stay awake. Yeah. You know?

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

And I just. I love Avatar. I love, you know, and I love sci fi stuff. I love. And I. And I and Leah and we were watching. Because we watched three, then two, and we were watching one, so in bed we were watching one. Parts of one. And I was like, I just gone from watching this movie that, like, I didn't believe anything anybody was doing the whole time. So I was out of it. And then I'm like watching Avatar for two seconds. Two people are. Yeah. They're on a thing and they're blue, but they're talking to each other.

[Joe Rogan]

Right? Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

I don't know. I think they're. Whatever they're doing, they're talking to each other.

[Joe Rogan]

Other. Yeah. So Avatar was fascinating because of Avatar depression. You know about Avatar depression?

[Bradley Cooper]

No.

[Joe Rogan]

There was so many people that loved Avatar so much and connected with the idea of living on Pandora and being in that world and being the Na' Vi that they wished that they were there.

[Bradley Cooper]

I get it.

[Joe Rogan]

So they were developing Avatar depression. It was like they were talking about it like it was a psychological condition that people were affected by. By. That's how good that movie was. Yeah. People depression. A giant blue person, the color blue.

[Bradley Cooper]

That alone, you know, and the. The color of blue that James Cameron landed on. Just.

[Joe Rogan]

What do you think that is?

[Bradley Cooper]

I don't know, but that blue is pretty wonderful.

[Joe Rogan]

Do you think it's the ocean when the sun hits.

[Bradley Cooper]

Feels like, you know, the Caribbean or something.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

Like it's light. Exactly. Like white sand and. And. And overhead light. Yeah. Through water.

[Joe Rogan]

Better.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

It is weird that.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Because if they get it, by the.

[Bradley Cooper]

Way, I'm like, when's four and five come on.

[Joe Rogan]

Right, right. I haven't seen three yet. Is it great?

[Bradley Cooper]

I loved it.

[Joe Rogan]

I loved one and two.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

I love those movies.

[Bradley Cooper]

Me too.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. There's a great ride at Disney.

[Bradley Cooper]

I heard about it in Orlando, right?

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. I can't wait to go.

[Joe Rogan]

Amazing.

[Bradley Cooper]

Are you on the.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, it's a VR ride. You put a helmet on and you sit on this thing that looks like a. Like a motorcycle.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, my God.

[Joe Rogan]

And then all of a sudden, like, you feel wind. It's got, like. Like physical elements to it and smells and mist. You're flying on one of those dragon things and you're flying around dorm. It's incredible. But that movie was so impactful that people got depressed that they weren't living there.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, I get it. Yeah. I mean, I think it happens all the time. They just have a term, term for it now, but I'm sure it happened with Star Wars, Dancing With Wolves. Yeah. Oh, really?

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. I mean, how many people wanted to be a Native American American and live with the Native Americans because they saw Kevin Costner do it? Like, oh, this is better. This is better than living in the town with all those going to the saloon, you know? Yeah, there's something about that. You know, there's something about, like, living in harmony that appeals to people, you know, And I think that has always been the appeal of. You know, there's a lot of people that were kidnapped when they were young by Native American tribes. Like, there's a photo outside in the lobby, I don't know if you saw it, of Quanah Parker. He's the last of the Comanche chiefs. And there's a lot of, like, city. City streets and areas all around Austin that are named after Comanche. There's, like, Quanah Parker Lane and all these things. And his mom was Cynthia Ann Parker Parker. She was kidnapped by the Comanche when she was nine. They killed her family, wiped out her whole family in Oklahoma. It's. It's documented in the book Empire of the Summer Moons. Incredible book that all talks about the. The conquering of Texas and the. The Comanche fighting the Texas Rangers. But this woman was kidnapped when she was 9, married the Comanche chief, and her son was Quanah park worker. So her son was half colonizer, half native, half Comanche. And he became the last Comanche chief. And this lady, they rescued her when she was 30. And she kept trying to escape. She wanted to go back, right? Like, no one ever, like, went to the Native Americans and then wanted to go back to regular Western life. They all wanted to stay with Native Americans. They all. They loved that life. There's something about this ancient way of living, subsistence hunting, living on the land that was.

[Bradley Cooper]

Well, you've talked about on your show. On the show about the need to go out in nature. Oh, yeah, I'm. I couldn't agree more. I mean, it's like. Oh, right. You know, it's very important.

[Joe Rogan]

I think it's a vitamin.

[Bradley Cooper]

No question.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Native American. And also, like, you think about. I mean. Yeah, I'm a fan of all that. There's this guy, great writer. M. Scott Momaday and Sherman Alexie, you know, just writing about. It's pretty. Yeah, it's fascinating.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. But people that were. That went and lived with the Native Americans never wanted to go back to the West. But people that. But that lived in a Native American life and then moved to the west, they always wanted to go back. Like, it's. Ne. It never went the other way. And it was. But somehow or another, the way of the Western people, the way the settlers won out by, like, sheer volume and numbers and this technology. Progress. Yeah, technology.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

I mean, that was the reason why they were able to pull it off in the first place, was the cult revolver. Because without the revolver, they all had muskets, and the Comanche had like, five, six arrows, and they would run at them.

[Bradley Cooper]

Gibson movie. Remember the end of the Mel Gibson movie?

[Joe Rogan]

Which movie?

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, Apocalypto?

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, he finally escapes you, and he gets to the beach and then the boats are coming. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Just watch him go through the whole thing. You're like, the musket's coming.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, the musket and then the rifle. Yeah. And then. Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Like. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, it was just steel. You know, that was the crazy thing about the Aztecs and Cortez is just. They had steel armor. Armor. And, you know, they were riding horses, and everybody's like, these guys are gods. Like, this is crazy. Have metal. And that's all it took. 13 muskets. 13 muskets. 600 men.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Conquered Mexico. It's just. It's. It's. It's. It's weird the way progress moves. It's real because, I mean, you can call it progress, but is it even better?

[Bradley Cooper]

Better?

[Joe Rogan]

What is progress? It's like technological innovation and adaptation to it. I don't know if it's progress.

[Bradley Cooper]

It all feels very overwhelming. And I think that's where the downside of our ability to have so much access to information, or me have so much access information, is that it starts to take my breath away. And then that's why it's like, what's just simple?

[Joe Rogan]

Well, that's why it's smart that you're not on Social media.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right, right.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. Because that's the main tap into the overwhelming.

[Bradley Cooper]

But I still feel overwhelmed, you know, even though I'm not on social media, you know, whatever my news feed is. You know what I mean? And what I can actively look up and listen to is still, you know, a hundred times X as when I was a teenager.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, the fact that I even have a phone to do it.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, so I even feel that. But you're right. I can't even imagine what social media does.

[Joe Rogan]

It does a lot, and it does a. Really does a lot for young people. They're. They're just being wired in a way that no human being has ever been wired before. Like, just their whole. All of their interactions are different than anybody that's ever lived.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Which is so strange. It's like. Because there's been minor changes over time that have led to, like, just the invention of cable. Right. Just that. That changed everything, changed information.

[Bradley Cooper]

I probably wouldn't have wanted to do this. I mean, there was a movie theater across my backyard was train tracks, and a movie theater. Loved it. Watched Stand By Me a hundred times. Would walk and pretend I was there. But then like, Comcast came through and Prism and hbo and all of a sudden I can watch taxi driver 14 times and the Elephant man and Popeye and Apocalypse now and Raging Bull, like, you know, from, from. From 12 to on, that I would never have had. It was like Platoon for six months, Yentl. You know what I mean? It's like there was one. One choice. So. Yeah. It's interesting.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, it's weird too, now that you have instantaneous access, like now it's not even, oh, Apocalypse now is on at 8 o'. Clock.

[Bradley Cooper]

Pulled up the clip that I was.

[Joe Rogan]

Talking about, which is instantly in the middle of a conversation, which is wonderful. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's great. If it doesn't overwhelm you.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

If you use it and it doesn't use you.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. But the problem is I feel like that with me. I feel like that with so many things. Don't you? It's like, that's why I love books still. I still love books.

[Joe Rogan]

It's like a physical.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, I do. I love books.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. I don't necessarily read books very often. Most of my interaction with literature is just audio.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Just because of a time thing.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right, right.

[Joe Rogan]

For me, my time is just. It's too difficult for me to manage.

[Bradley Cooper]

I have a hard time staying with audiobooks. Yeah. Retaining it. I start thinking about the rhythm of the Voice and the. My brain goes to other things. Like who's the person talking? You know, where are they sitting? I don't know. Like, it. It changes.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, that's probably why you're a great actor.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, maybe.

[Joe Rogan]

I mean, it has to have something to do with it because you're in this. You're considering this as a human being. They're absorbing.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Their humanity.

[Bradley Cooper]

Right.

[Joe Rogan]

While they're.

[Bradley Cooper]

Where this is like, words and, like, unlocks my imagination.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's like I'm here and it's like I don't know what's going to come.

[Joe Rogan]

Right. The words are in your head, the voices are in your head.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yes. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

And you don't necessarily have to assign a. A sound to them.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. They take on and they change and they morph and you don't know what's going to happen.

[Joe Rogan]

There's probably a real value to that just in terms of the enhancement of your own intellectual. Just to constantly be doing that. And as you're reading this, being engrossed and absorbed in this person's writing and then, like, being taken on this journey.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yes. Where you.

[Joe Rogan]

It's like stimulating all these parts.

[Bradley Cooper]

I was just on the track in Rome, in the Olympics. You know what I mean? And the guy was just coming and taking, you know, wearing two sweatshirts to, like, intimidate, you know, like. Yeah. It's amazing.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, it's.

[Bradley Cooper]

But it. The good. The thing that's maybe changing is like, it does ask a lot of the reader or the viewer to use. To come at it with their imagination.

[Joe Rogan]

Yes.

[Bradley Cooper]

And then there's something about taking all that away and you're just receiving. That'll be in. It's very new. And then. Yeah, that's a huge change. There's not so much communication going on. It's just receiving.

[Joe Rogan]

But there's also the mastery of, like, that guy doing Lord of the Rings and like, the. The taking in what he's doing, you know? Yeah. Then realize this one person is doing all these different voices. Yeah. But it's. You have more access now to other people's creations than ever before. Like, you can be absorbed in other people's work all the time now.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yes.

[Joe Rogan]

Instantaneously on your phone. I'm sitting here, I'm bored. Let me just. Just get someone's creation and plug it.

[Bradley Cooper]

Into my head or somebody's thoughts on something or research they've done.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's what's amazing. Oh, yeah. That's what's. And that's what I've learned on Your show too. Just every, you know that. Just that I didn't. No one had access, like, to that or. Or it was frowned upon.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

Or like, well, you're not smart if you talk about this.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, it's like, let everybody decide.

[Joe Rogan]

Right.

[Bradley Cooper]

And the truth is, we don't know anything.

[Joe Rogan]

No. Well, there's a lot of gatekeepers when it comes to what you should or should not be interested in.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Or should. Or should.

[Bradley Cooper]

I remember discussing. I remember being in college and there was a student, African American student, who I really. I was friends with. And I remember him saying, like, man, the one course, he's like, it's just not. They're not telling the story. And I remember. And he went and he talked. This is in 1995. Or four.

[Joe Rogan]

Wait.

[Bradley Cooper]

And I graduated in 97 from college. Yeah. So like. Yeah, four. I think I was a sophomore. And like, he was just. What he was talking about was like, other, other ways of looking at history. History. And like, can't we just look at other stuff? And it's fascinating, you know, now it's like there's whole, you know, courses on it or sections that you can read and learn and hear what people, you know. That's kind of amazing.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah, it definitely is.

[Bradley Cooper]

I think it's amazing. As long as you could be, you know, like, not strict, but as long as you can be, you know, what's the word? You're like, okay, I'm looking at it. This is not the Bible of what it is, but let me just hear this take. That's only healthy, I think, 100% the problem and the fear is like, oh, no, you're going to get. And then the cults and the group and the thing. And all of a sudden there's a movement. But whenever that happens anyway, there's so much infighting and the thing gets diluted anyway. Like, it's. There's no. It's never going to work.

[Joe Rogan]

Right. That's the thing about the Bible itself is. The Bible is a series of stories that were an oral tradition for who knows how many years. Eventually wrote it down, then they translated it from dead languages and eventually to English. You know, like, what is this? Like, what. What was the original. What. What is the meaning of this? Like, what?

[Bradley Cooper]

And you don't even have to go back that. That far. It's like just how we take it, you know, label, you know, all. All. They are labels of what's words, language. You and I communicate using these system of symbols, vocal symbols that we both think mean something. Yeah, but when I say protein bites, it's like you're looking at that differently than I am. That so it's so impossible. Anyway. We're just desperately trying to communicate.

[Joe Rogan]

Yes.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's all we're doing, like, desperately. And have a story. Like, what's our story? What's our story?

[Joe Rogan]

That's going to be the weirdest aspect of communication through technology is that we're going to get to a point where we're communicating without wor. Words. That's going to get really weird. Telepathy.

[Bradley Cooper]

That to me is scary because I don't trust my thoughts. Do you know what I mean? Like, if I've learned anything as I've gotten older, it's like, oh, yeah, let that wash through me. I don't have to judge myself for that. That was crazy, right? Whoa.

[Joe Rogan]

Right?

[Bradley Cooper]

No, no, no, it's okay. Let it wash through.

[Joe Rogan]

Judge me about my actions.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do believe that.

[Joe Rogan]

Not by what's going on inside my head. Yeah, yeah, but. And then managing the thoughts and. And deciding what to act on and what not to.

[Bradley Cooper]

And imagine, like trying to consciously control your thought. I mean, all of a sudden, talk about control. Trying to control.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, I think it's going to be a completely different way of interacting with each other. That's going to be as crazy as Internet communication. And what we're dealing with now, that's going to be another level of crazy because we're essentially going to be telepathic and that's inevitable. That's. That's in the war. I mean, Elon said that to me. Because you're going to be able to communicate with no words. Like, okay, what does that mean?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

What is that? Like, what language is it going to be in? Is it going to be in a.

[Bradley Cooper]

New kind of exciting language?

[Joe Rogan]

It's very exciting.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

It's. Well, it's very weird.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. It's both.

[Joe Rogan]

We're going to be different.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. I just hope I'm around to experience it.

[Joe Rogan]

You will be. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to happen fairly quick, quickly. I think it's going to happen within the next couple decades. The things are going to be unrecognizable.

[Bradley Cooper]

If less than that.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. I mean, that's just being like, really charitable. Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

That is.

[Joe Rogan]

It's probably going to be five years.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. I mean, you've talked to enough people that are on the front lines of it, and there. There is one sort of constant thing that it's sooner than you think and.

[Joe Rogan]

Everyone on the front line is Terrible. I know all of them.

[Bradley Cooper]

I know all.

[Joe Rogan]

Even the ones that are working towards.

[Bradley Cooper]

It know they're all like, that's true.

[Joe Rogan]

Like, I don't know if it's good.

[Bradley Cooper]

I know. Yeah, I know.

[Joe Rogan]

Strange stuff. Hey, man, I'm glad we did this. This is a lot of fun, Joe.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, it's real quick. I just. It's just fun to see the progression of it. It's like I'm here, and then, like the Elephant man by the end of it, I just see your eyes talking to me. It's like I forgot the room and Jamie and the whole thing. It's. I understand the gift. I get it.

[Joe Rogan]

Well, it's because we're locked in.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. But I get it. I say I get it because I have a. You know, I love watching you have guests on, and then through the time, you just start to. Things just start to shed off or it gets more awkward or, like, the rhythm gets off, and it's just so fascinating. And so I'm. I was so honored to be able to be in, like, you know, the seat and experience it.

[Joe Rogan]

Oh, it's my pleasure.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, it's really. Pleasure.

[Joe Rogan]

I'm honored to be able to talk to people like you and to be able to. To experience, you know, you as you're talking. I'm experiencing life through your eyes and getting a better sense of what it is to be a person. And it's just like these little thin layers, like you're building a mountain with one layer of pain at a time.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's it.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Everything is that.

[Joe Rogan]

Everything is that.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, everything is that. Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

If. If you're living a good life.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Joe Rogan]

Yeah. And I think you're definitely living a good life.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, thanks, man.

[Joe Rogan]

It's been a pleasure getting to know you, man. You're cool as fuck.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, thanks, John, Joe.

[Joe Rogan]

My pleasure. All right, everybody. Is this thing on? Is out now, right?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. Opens wide tomorrow.

[Joe Rogan]

Tomorrow.

[Bradley Cooper]

So today, I guess Today.

[Joe Rogan]

Today, as this podcast comes out.

[Bradley Cooper]

Correct.

[Joe Rogan]

And go check it out. It's awesome.

[Bradley Cooper]

Thanks, man.

[Joe Rogan]

Bradley, you're the man.

[Bradley Cooper]

Thank you.

[Joe Rogan]

All right, bye, everybody.