#1031 - Jamie Kilstein

Joe Rogan (0:05)

Welcome back to Civilization, Jamie Kilstein.

Jamie Kilstein (0:07)

Hi.

Joe Rogan (0:08)

Dude, so a lot has changed since the last time we spoke.

Jamie Kilstein (0:13)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (0:14)

And for people who don't know, you used to be the host of, or one of the co-hosts of Citizen Radio, like Super Progressive, Lefty Podcast, and you were a vegan, but now you ate a steak with Stan Ho.

Jamie Kilstein (0:29)

All hell's broken loose.

All, I don't know what's happening. I don't know where I am.

I remember, I was thinking about being back in the studio, and I never met Jamie before, and I was like, all right, everyone's being really nice to me. I'm like, literally feel like I'm like, this isn't a trick. Joe sent me very nice emails, and I'm like, but I'm a very trickable guy. And I came in, and yeah, everyone's just lovely and nice. Yeah, man, a lot of change. I went into hiding. I went into hiding.

Joe Rogan (0:59)

What happened, because I only got a peripheral story of what went sideways. But some people, girls accused you of...

Jamie Kilstein (1:07)

Well, yeah, this is the fucking worst time for me to be like, you know what, now that everyone's talking about Weinstein, it's time for Kilstein to make his return.

Joe Rogan (1:15)

Weinstein, Kilstein, it's too similar.

Jamie Kilstein (1:17)

I wrote, yeah, it's very dewy and predatory.

When I wrote Stan Hope, when the Weinstein thing happened, I was like, hey, man, you want to push off this return? He's like, you're fine.

Yeah, so here's what happened. So, it kind of started where I was a comic for years, and as it got more progressive, it got more into that judgmental territory, I guess, where I feel like I definitely became one of those people who would just be on Twitter all day. And instead of sort of talking about real issues, it just becomes like, who are we mad at that day? Who used the wrong word that day? Who can we get fired that day? And it's Twitter mob stuff, and it happens on the right, and it happens on the left. It's just like, kind of just people who are sad who just live in their box, which I was one of them, right?

Joe Rogan (2:06)

That's why I think this is such an important conversation, because you've kind of stepped away from it and you see it for what it is. I think people don't realize it when they're caught up in the swirl of it, the momentum of it, that it's almost like a natural human behavior pattern. It's very tribal.

Jamie Kilstein (2:20)

Yeah, well, it's tribal, and it's physically addictive, you know, like, I've like gone back and forth with like, drinking and not drinking a pot and not smoking a pot. And I can tell you that the thing I was addicted to the most was Twitter. It was refreshing Twitter. It was like, you literally get dopamine hits from that. Like, I remember when I first tried to get off Twitter, I like, I was fighting with some fucking stranger in my living room on Twitter, and I was like, you know what? Fuck this, I'm gonna go take a walk. I don't need to be involved in this guy's life. I closed it.

And before I even knew it, I'm like walking in the park, fighting with some other guy on my fucking phone. And I'm like, it follows you. Like, if someone's calling you a cunt, they're calling you a cunt at dinner with your girlfriend. They're calling you a cunt when you go to like your brother's graduation and you're just like refreshing it, waiting for someone to tell you that you're good.

And sort of so that, I got addicted to that more than anything. And especially when I finally got an audience with like the left of left.

I mean, just to be very clear, it's not like I'm going to come on the show and suddenly like do a fucking Shawn Michaels heel turn and be like, I'm Johnny Rape Joke. Those fucking bitches all had it coming.

Joe Rogan (3:37)

You're just being a person.

Jamie Kilstein (3:39)

Well, and that's what I like wasn't doing for a very long time, is I feel like, I don't want to speak for people, but I feel like with me, I always needed something to like define me, right? Where it's like, I'm a progressive or I'm a vegan or I'm just jujitsu. And whatever I would become kind of currently obsessed with, I would sort of like throw the other shit away and kind of like shit all over that.