#1400 - Tony Hinchcliffe

Joe Rogan (0:00)

Three, two, one, boom. Check out this new Richard Pryor, Plasticell.

Tony Hinchcliffe (0:07)

Live on the Sunset Strip.

Joe Rogan (0:08)

Iconic.

That was really the first thing that I ever saw that maybe truly understand the power of stand-up comedy. I was 13 years old, I think, maybe 14 My parents took me to see it, and we were in the audience. I remember thinking, how is this guy so funny just talking? How is this possible? I was thinking of all the movies that I had seen that were really funny. I don't remember what was out back then. Maybe Stripes, which was a great movie that I loved.

SPEAKER_3 (0:37)

So funny, so funny.

Joe Rogan (0:39)

But this guy was way funnier. And all he was doing was talking, and I couldn't believe it. I remember there was a moment in the movie where he was killing, and I just turned and looked at the people in the audience, and people were just flailing up and down.

There was just a whole body was laughing. They were throwing their bodies around. I was like, this is incredible. I've never seen anything like this.

Tony Hinchcliffe (1:01)

Super powerful.

Joe Rogan (1:02)

Dude, it hit me hard. It wasn't like I wanted to be a comic right then and there. I really didn't want to be a comic for another eight years, but fuck, that was crazy.

Tony Hinchcliffe (1:13)

What were those things on back in the day?

Joe Rogan (1:16)

Movies. Go to the movie theater.

Tony Hinchcliffe (1:17)

Oh, you saw that in a movie theater?

Joe Rogan (1:19)

Yeah. Whoa. Yeah, that's why there's so many people around.

Did you think I just went to people's houses and there's a lot of people over there?

Tony Hinchcliffe (1:26)

No, I thought maybe it was on HBO or something like that. I thought you were talking about the audience in that crowd. Like the reaction shots.

Joe Rogan (1:31)

In 1981, this movie must have come out in 80 or 81, if I'm guessing correctly. I think we might have looked this up before.

Have we? Yeah. Is it 81? I think I was 14 Might have been 82

Jamie (1:50)

It was recorded during 81 and 82 So it was released March 24th, 1982

Joe Rogan (1:55)

Okay. There you go. So beginning of 82 So I was probably 15 then.

Fuck, man. I'll never forget. Never forget being in that audience, being a young kid.

Just looking around at all these people laughing so hard.

Tony Hinchcliffe (2:08)

Who took you to that?

Joe Rogan (2:09)

My parents.

Tony Hinchcliffe (2:10)

Wow.

Joe Rogan (2:11)

This is how good this weed is. We just talked about who took me. We just talked about it as a theater. You're like, where did you see this?

Like, no, Tony's become like a crazy old man.

SPEAKER_3 (2:22)

Where did you see it? No, the fucking theater.

Joe Rogan (2:25)

I told you the people in the theater, I was looking around.

My parents. Yeah, my parents took me.

Tony Hinchcliffe (2:30)

That's so cool that they would do that.

Joe Rogan (2:31)

Yeah. They're cool people. They're hippies.

Tony Hinchcliffe (2:35)

I believe that's the special where he talks about a guy named Tony from Youngstown, Ohio.

Joe Rogan (2:38)

Maybe it was either that or or live.

Tony Hinchcliffe (2:41)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (2:42)

Was that the one where they were threatening them? I can't remember the gangster one.

Tony Hinchcliffe (2:48)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (2:49)

Those guys? I think that was Live in the Sunset Strip.

Tony Hinchcliffe (2:53)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (2:53)

You know what the story about it is? The story about that is that Prior was there earlier in the week, and he didn't have good sets.

Like that the one that he filmed, he just caught magic. You know, but but that earlier in the week, you know, that guy's life was chaos. Just chaos.

Tony Hinchcliffe (3:15)

And who could he relate to? He couldn't even call a friend that was like, you know what I mean? He can call Kevin Hart back then and be like, Hey, how do you feel about this?

Joe Rogan (3:22)

Right, right. It's not like you can call Dave Chappelle or Eddie Murphy. No, it was just, well, he did have a conversation with Eddie Murphy when Eddie Murphy got in trouble with Richard Prior, with Bill Cosby, rather. It's a famous story because Bill Cosby is telling Eddie Murphy he was too dirty.

He was telling him to clean it up while he was raping people.

SPEAKER_6 (3:44)

Oh, my goodness.

Jamie (3:45)

Jesus Christ.