#919 - Neil deGrasse Tyson

Joe Rogan (0:00)

Four, three, two, and boom.

That's a nice hat. I've told you already, but live, I got to tell you, that is a nice hat. It's very kind of Indiana Jones, but-

Neil deGrasse Tyson (0:14)

It's not quite that, and not quite Cowboy.

Joe Rogan (0:17)

Yeah, you're like in the middle of that.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (0:19)

Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan (0:19)

You're riding the wave. You're dancing on the edge.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (0:23)

Well, I have a really fat head, and so there's this website called bigheads.com.

Joe Rogan (0:27)

There's a website for it?

Neil deGrasse Tyson (0:28)

It's a total website for fat-headed people.

Joe Rogan (0:30)

I got to get my friend, Burt Kreischer, a hat then.

I put his hat on, I couldn't believe how big his head was. There was like an inch gap all around my head. I thought I had a big head.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (0:39)

Yeah. So if you know your head size, do you know your head size?

Joe Rogan (0:42)

No, I do not.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (0:44)

So it turns out if you know your head size, that number comes from somewhere. Can I tell you what it is?

Joe Rogan (0:49)

Sure.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (0:49)

So if you measure the circumference of your head, just get a tape measure, like you're measuring your waistline, but do it around your head, and take that number, divide it by pi, then that's your hat size.

Joe Rogan (1:00)

Whoa. It seems complicated.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:02)

Divide by two?

Joe Rogan (1:05)

Why can't it be just like your waist? 32

You know, your waist is what your waist is.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:09)

It just is what it is, right? Just why it can't just be the circumference, right? So what it turns out to be, so what that means is, if you're dividing by pi, you're getting the diameter of the circle that has the same dimension as the circumference of your head. So if you have an oblong head, then what it's doing is finding out what the circle is, the diameter of the circle that has that same circumference as your head.

That's what that's doing. For whatever, whether that helps the hat maker.

Joe Rogan (1:41)

So immediately I started thinking about Dan Aykroyd in Sign Art Live as a conehead. Remember?

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:47)

Well, then you need a tall hat for that, too.

Joe Rogan (1:48)

There's an issue there.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:50)

So, dude, you're still doing stand-up? That's great.

Joe Rogan (1:53)

I'm loving it.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:55)

And I caught you a few months ago. You were emceeing some MMA, was it?

Joe Rogan (1:58)

Well, I'm always doing that, yeah.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:00)

Oh, you're always doing that. I'll catch some of it then. I think it's great you stayed in shape, because I'm a fat slob right now.

Joe Rogan (2:06)

Well, you were ripped back in the day, man. And I was like, damn, Neil, you look good.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:13)

No, I had some street cred back then.

Joe Rogan (2:14)

Do you exercise at all now?

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:17)

No, it's not that I don't have the energy to. It's trying to find the time.

Joe Rogan (2:21)

There's you back in the day. Look at you. Shredding.

How much did you weigh back then?

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:25)

Let me guess. Oh, go on.

Joe Rogan (2:27)

176

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:28)

No, no, no. I'm 6'2. I'm 190 pounds in that. I have big thighs and stuff.

Other wrestlers would have skinnier thighs and things. So I was also taller than anyone I wrestled. So since we're the same height, it meant they had bigger muscles, actually. Because we're the same weight, right?

Did I say that right? I'm taller, but we're the same weight. So that means they have bigger muscles. Because none of us have fat, right? So I had to do things that my lankiness would enable me to do and to accomplish that they couldn't. So I have long reach, this sort of, I scoop an ankle, that kind of thing.

Joe Rogan (3:02)

There's great advantages to having long limbs in martial arts, particularly in wrestling, grappling, because of leverage.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:07)

Yeah, also if you're quick and with long limbs, and I was both, but if they got me in their grip, it was hard for me to get out.

Joe Rogan (3:13)

So what kind of exercise do you do these days?

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:16)

No, nothing.

No, I'm trying. I'm trying. When I'm in, I'm good, but I've just got so much going on. I have to make the time.