#425 – Andrew Callaghan: Channel 5, Gonzo, QAnon, O-Block, Politics & Alex Jones

**Lex Fridman** (0:00)
The following is a conversation with Andrew Callaghan, host of Channel 5 on YouTube, where he does Godzilla style interviews with fascinating humans at the edges of society. The so-called vagrants, vagabonds, runaways, outlaws, from QAnon adherents to fish heads, to O-Block residents and much more. He created the documentary that I highly recommend called This Place rules on the undercurrents that led to the January 6th Capital Riots. And now, a quick few second mention of each sponsor. Check them out in the description. It's the best way to support this podcast. We've got ShipStation for businesses who want to ship stuff. BetterHelp for humans who want to figure out what's going on in their mind. Element for hydration, MasterClass for learning and AG1 for delicious, delicious health. Choose wisely, my friends. Also, if you want to work with our amazing team or just want to get in touch with me, go to lexfridman.com/contact. And now, on to the full ad reads. As always, no ads in the middle. I try to make these interesting. But if you must skip them, friends, please still check out our sponsors. I enjoy their stuff. Maybe you will too. This episode is brought to you by ShipStation, a new sponsor. It's a shipping software designed for businesses that want to save time and money on shipping, whatever e-commerce thing going on, to do the fulfillment for that. So if you're a business owner, you need to ship some stuff, check out ShipStation. There's an incredible commercial. I think it's probably fake from a long time ago. It's either for Walmart or Kmart, I don't remember. And we talk about Walmart in this episode, which kind of warms my heart, if I'm being honest. Actually, I do think it's Kmart. And the commercial is, well, they talk about, I just shipped my pants at the risk of explaining humor. The commercial involves the full on absurdity of various kinds of people talking about shipping their pants and shipping the bed, all that kind of stuff. Anyway, it's hilarious. And I wish people would do edgy stuff like that more often, where the commercial itself is a little piece of artistic absurdity. Anyway, go to shipstation.com/lex and use code Lex to sign up for your free 60 day trial at shipstation.com/lex.
This episode is also brought to you by Better Help, spelled H-E-L-P, help. They figure out what you need and match it with a licensed therapist in under 48 hours. It's for individuals. It's for couples. It's an easy, discreet, affordable way to get going on, you know, taking your mental health seriously. I'm a big fan of conversation, obviously, for exploring the human mind, exploring the dark and the light that lurks in the shadows, in the corners of the human psyche. And in conversation, rigorous conversation, deliberate conversation, careful conversation, empathic conversation is a really good way to shine a light on the darkness and discover the darkness behind the light, if that's fair to say. I had a great conversation yesterday with Ben, favorite barbecue, a buddy of mine. He runs JNL Barbecue that I highly recommend you guys should check out. We talked about life, freedom, country, talked about a lot of things, about love, about love for humans, about love for the art of what you do. The man loves barbecue. He truly loves cooking and the artistry, if I can use that word, kind of like what Jiro dreams of sushi, or Ben dreams of barbecue. Anyway, he is not a licensed therapist. He's not even a licensed barbecue creator because you don't get a license for that kind of thing. His father, grandfather, he's just been in the family. He's been a Texan for like, I don't know how many centuries, but you know, Texan through and through, barbecue guy through and through. But if you want that kind of depth of conversation, but with a little bit more rigor and some, you know, expertise and professionalism and discreteness, then you should try BetterHelp. Check them out at betterhelp.com/lex and save on your first month. That's betterhelp.com/lex. This episode is also brought to you by Element. It's an electrolyte drink, delicious. It helps you get your sodium, potassium, magnesium in the right kinds of proportions. For me, if I had to get rid of everything I consume, the last things that would remain, that would make me still feel good, like say if I'm fasting for many days, which is the thing I kind of want to do, like fast for like seven days or more. I think that's a beautiful experience. But if you do that, you still need water and electrolytes, because if you have those, then you can be happy. Your body could be happy. You could still feel good. And it's just also a fun way to consume water for me. And it's just a fun delicious way to consume water for me. I'm traveling to the Amazon jungle in Maine, so I get to think about all the things I'll consume there. And I'll definitely miss element. The things you miss, but also the things that empowers you when you travel to those kinds of places, is the little habits, the little comforts of home. And element is that for me. And I'm looking forward to a long run today. I don't know how many miles I'll do. Maybe 10, 12, maybe 15 And I'm going to drink element before and I'm gonna drink element after. Before so I feel good on the run, after so I recover well from the run. It's a big part of feeling good for me. Given all the diet, given all the craziness that I do. Get a sample pack for free with any purchase. Try it at drinklmnt.com/lex. This episode is also brought to you by MasterClass. We can watch over 180 classes from the best people in the world in their respective disciplines. Phil Ivey on poker, Aaron Franklin on barbecue and brisket, Carl Santana on guitar, Tamarello on guitar, Terrence Tao on mathematical thinking, Martin scorsese on filmmaking. Boy, would I love to talk to Martin scorsese, just from his MasterClass. You could understand the depth of genius there. There's some directors that I would just love to talk to, for two, three, four, five hours. Darren Aronofsky that I got to meet recently. Boy, what a beautiful mind. I love great filmmaking and I love artists that enable that, whether that's cinematography, directors, actors, all of that, writers, the paintbrushes and the colors behind the art. I love it all. And so MasterClass is a good place to give the early inklings of what it takes to create that genius from the very people that created it. Get unlimited access to every MasterClass and get an additional 15% off an annual membership at masterclass.com/lexpod. That's masterclass.com/lexpod.