Joe Rogan Experience #1973 - Joey Diaz

Joey Diaz joins Joe Rogan to talk about writing and narrating his new memoir, which he recorded in two and a half weeks while getting off benzodiazepines. The conversation ranges across his childhood working in a funeral parlor, JFK and MKUltra conspiracy lore, the fentanyl crisis, and a harrowing account of an accidental Xanax addiction and months-long withdrawal. Joey explains how being a convicted felon has closed off ordinary jobs, pushing him to sell weed, and how Tim Allen's success convinced him comedy could be a felon's path. They reminisce about the LA Comedy Store days, Mitzi Shore's mentorship, comics who never made it, and Rogan opening his Austin club. The episode closes on a long, affectionate deep-dive into Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden, the Beatles, and James Brown.

• Joey wrote his memoir and narrated the audiobook himself, knocking out the recording in two and a half weeks.
  00:01:06
• Joey reveals he was unknowingly addicted to Xanax (prescribed since 2012, heavily used in the pandemic) and didn't realize it.
  00:38:32
• A hospital assistant during his knee surgery caught that his racing heart was benzo withdrawal, forcing a brutal six-month taper.
  00:48:55
• As a convicted felon Joey says he's barred from ordinary jobs, which is partly why he has sold weed the last three years.
  01:24:52
• Joey admits the day John Lennon was shot was 'the happiest day of my life' because it finally ended his Beatles arguments.
  01:56:26
• Joey says LA's deterioration, not Covid, drove him out, and he illegally bought guns from an Armenian contact out of fear.
  01:09:13
• Joe explains the wild chain of pandemic events that led him to buy a building and open his Austin comedy club.
  01:06:36

• Joey describes embalming up close: they break the spine, drain the blood, and fill the body with formaldehyde.
  00:11:26
• In 1940s Cuba bodies were waked at home without embalming, so rigor mortis sometimes forced families to break the arms.
  00:11:57
• They cite Michael Baden's autopsy view that Epstein had a fractured neck bone indicative of ligature strangulation.
  00:14:31
• Joe recounts MKUltra's Jolly West visiting Jack Ruby in prison, after which Ruby reportedly lost his mind.
  00:20:47
• A lethal dose of fentanyl is tiny, like the amount that would fit on Lincoln's beard on a penny.
  00:34:57
• New Jersey pharmacies hand out only ~19 pain pills, versus ~90-100 in New York and Staten Island.
  00:36:29
• In New York only 327 people were arrested and re-arrested more than 6,000 times for shoplifting.
  01:19:39
• Heavy casino gamblers reportedly wear adult diapers to avoid leaving slot machines.
  00:59:18
• Tim Allen's success convinced Joey that comedy clubs don't run background checks, giving felons an opening.
  01:28:00
• James Brown performed at the Boston Garden two days after MLK's assassination, helping calm the city.
  02:18:46

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