#1375 - Edward Norton

Joe Rogan (0:00)

We go. I always know the conversation is going to get off to a good start when I meet a fellow Lenny Bruce fan.

Edward Norton (0:06)

Yes.

Yeah, and I, you know, there's that line in Fight Club, the things you own end up owning you. And I generally am not a stuff guy, but when I came in here, I did find myself going, this is the right kind of place to keep stuff. And I've been wandering around looking at things, and that was my favorite thing that I saw. You have that, a couple of great Lenny Bruce posters, one of which I've never seen.

Joe Rogan (0:34)

Which one?

Edward Norton (0:35)

The one with his, where he, it's really wild. He looks like an Indian guru or something, staring into the middle distance. That's an amazing photograph of him.

Joe Rogan (0:43)

Yeah, I kind of bought as much vintage Lenny Bruce stuff as I could find. And this place has sort of evolved into a semi-gallery. You know, it's, I would like to have a house with nothing in it and then have this place just filled with shit.

Edward Norton (0:59)

No, I kind of agree with that. Also, I think that it's fun when you have people come through a space so that you're actually sharing the things. It's sort of like you're letting someone come in and wander. Some of the best museums in the world are people's individual curations. Some of the best art collections ever made are better than any museum because they're put together by someone and you're finding the threads and things.

So I think when you can assemble things that have meant something to you, but you can put them in a space where other people can bump into them, it's better than letting them just collect dust in your own home where you stop looking at them.

Joe Rogan (1:36)

You have a very unusual perspective for someone who makes a living as an actor.

Edward Norton (1:41)

Why do you think so?

Joe Rogan (1:42)

You're a very thoughtful person. Very thoughtful.

Edward Norton (1:45)

I know a lot of thoughtful actors.

Joe Rogan (1:47)

I do too. I do too, but it's not common.

You got to find them. You got to curate those folks.

Edward Norton (1:59)

It's a funny gig by definition. It's like, if you think about all the yin-yang in it, the paradoxes in it, it's like on the one hand, with guys as actors, there'll be a lot of, you know, there's a certain kind of, not macho, but there's like, you know, men will look to play intense roles and these things. But what you're doing is like, you're playing dress-up.

You know, you're like, and I always liked, I always liked the Dorothy Parker, the famous New York writer said, scratch an actor, you'll find an actress.

I think it's the greatest line. It's not, and it's not how it sounds, just be a little, you know, like, that's not a knock on actresses. No, no, no. But that's the real truth of the whole thing, is like, we put on makeup, we put on clothes, we play dress up, and we pretend to be other people. And it's like, it really is like, you know, when people are like, you know, sometimes my brother and sister will laugh, because I've done these certain things that have a certain kind of iconic intensity or whatever, right?

And they look at me and they're like, are you kidding? Like, have you ever seen the size of his ankles? They're like, my brother's like, he's such a twerp. Like, he's such a, my brother's like two inches bigger than me and 30 pounds bigger and way stronger, you know, my little brother. And he's, and it's always like, he's a theater nerd. He's not like tough. They're like, don't buy the...

Joe Rogan (3:31)

When you played The Hulk.

Edward Norton (3:32)

Yeah, no.

Joe Rogan (3:35)

Or American history.

Edward Norton (3:37)

But I do think there's...

Sometimes it's really funny the way there's a posture in it. Sometimes there's like a public facing posture that some people who are in this trade, this weird thing, will adopt. And it's like, hey man, I hate to tell you, but like, you don't have to live into some... You don't have to live into... I sometimes feel like people are compensating for the fact that what they do, in fact, is play dress up.

Joe Rogan (4:09)

Do you think it's also that they have to kind of project this image to ensure that they get more of these tough guy roles?

Edward Norton (4:18)