#955 - Al Madrigal

Joe Rogan (0:06)

For sure? Live?

Al Madrigal (0:08)

Al Madrigal, how are you, buddy?

Joe Rogan (0:10)

You're a fucking responsible guest. I just want to give you props for that. You took your phone, you shut that bitch off, and you put it aside.

Al Madrigal (0:15)

Well, it's a big thing for me also, just as a comedian in comedy clubs. Like, you start seeing the comedy store become popular, and I started noticing a bunch of chicks in there just looking at their phones nonstop.

And I even put this thing on my phone, it's an app called Moment, that tracks how long I'm using it and what I'm using. So if I get over a certain amount, I'm like, I gotta fuckin put this thing down.

Joe Rogan (0:37)

That's very smart.

Al Madrigal (0:39)

We're all monkeys.

Joe Rogan (0:40)

Yeah.

Al Madrigal (0:40)

Fuckin looking down at this thing is fascinating. The dopamines, I mean, I have a 15-year-old son, and nonstop.

Joe Rogan (0:48)

Yeah, Whitney Cummings was explaining all the actual chemical responses that go on. Like, you literally do become addicted to that phone.

Al Madrigal (0:56)

Sure. And there's a lot of good shit on there.

Joe Rogan (0:58)

Yes, it's the problem.

But I mean, how many times do you find yourself about to go to bed and just hitting refresh, checking Twitter feeds, maybe some interesting news stories coming up? Maybe there's something I missed. Let me go check Instagram. Maybe there's a crazy picture that I didn't see.

Al Madrigal (1:12)

It's okay to miss it.

Joe Rogan (1:13)

It is okay to miss it.

Al Madrigal (1:14)

It's totally okay to miss it.

Joe Rogan (1:16)

I admire what Ari did. He stepped away from the whole fucking smartphone completely.

Al Madrigal (1:20)

Just had a full conversation with him about it yesterday because I said you had three things happen that allowed you to completely check out and go on this trip of yours. I go, you have no kids.

You have no kids, you have no wife, you have no family.

Joe Rogan (1:34)

No dog, no cat, no fucking nothing.

Al Madrigal (1:36)

His name is Plank. He moved to New York. I sold him, I sort of gave him all of my furniture because he was moving to New York when I was leaving New York. So I'm like, dude, have all this shit.

Joe Rogan (1:47)

Oh, that's right. You were there for The Daily Show.

Al Madrigal (1:49)

There for The Daily Show and then I took off. I was commuting back and forth because I left my family in LA and I took the gig. So on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Thursday, I'd work in New York and then I'd fucking fly back.

Joe Rogan (2:00)

Oh, Jesus.

Al Madrigal (2:01)

It was a horrible mistake. Trust me.

Joe Rogan (2:03)

We talked about that before you did it. And I was like, man, I don't believe you're doing this.

Al Madrigal (2:06)

I killed myself. My back is all fucked up. I was telling Callan, like I said, I told him I was a cashew shaped and-

Joe Rogan (2:14)

Oh, you're humping forward?

Al Madrigal (2:15)

Oh my God, it's horrible. Like if I crack my whole back, when you're in an airline seat constantly and you're just constantly all stressed out and your sleep is all fucked up, it's not good. So I got cast in another show, I got the fuck out of there and I gave Ari all my things. But Ari has, like you said, no fish, nothing. And then he has financial freedom because he's got the show on Comedy Central, he's got a great podcast, he's got all the kinds of shit going on.

And then he also has this attitude that allows him to do something like that because I don't have those three things. I have the financial freedom I got, but I have these three dependents, I have two dogs, and I don't have the attitude. If I'm not working non-stop, I feel crazy.

Joe Rogan (3:04)

You should tell people what you're talking about because a lot of people that are tuning in to this podcast probably don't realize that Ari, our good friend, checked out of Civilization for three solid months, at least, right? I think maybe more.

Al Madrigal (3:16)

First of all, he's rocking a flip phone. He doesn't have any apps, so he doesn't, he has no smartphone. But then he just decides to go away and check out. No one's communicated with him. We're sort of in business together on this All Things Comedy thing, and he's on our board of directors, and I need to tell him about shit, and didn't even bother, like, we did a Skype, and he's like, I'm gone. And then people on his show, the Comedy Central show, they're trying to get ahold of him. Nobody can get fucking ahold of Ari, and he loves it.