Joe Rogan Experience #2088 - Yannis Pappas

Joe Rogan welcomes comedian Yannis Pappas for a sprawling, free-associative conversation. They open on Greek history, ancient psychedelics and the birthplace of democracy before moving into a candid discussion of trauma, where Yannis details his EMDR therapy for panic attacks that began after he was shot in his early 20s. The bulk of the episode is conspiracy and media-skepticism territory: Epstein, 9/11, Russian troll farms, the Whitmer kidnapping plot, January 6th, and how foreign governments manipulate online narratives. They also speculate about AI, real-time translation phones, brain chips and 'mind reading,' and weigh in on Israel-Gaza, the US border, and immigration. It closes on the personal: fame's corrosive effects, plagiarism in comedy, and the challenge of balancing the road with raising kids.

• Yannis reveals he does EMDR therapy twice a week over Zoom to reprocess childhood trauma and panic attacks that began after he was shot in his early 20s.
  00:13:33
• Joe describes Brian Muraresku's finding that ergot, an LSD-like psychedelic, was in Eleusinian Mystery wine vessels, possibly fueling the experiences at democracy's birthplace.
  00:08:50
• They claim a total of 12 informants were ultimately involved in the FBI's Gov. Whitmer kidnapping investigation, with key 'plotters' being undercover agents.
  02:00:10
• Joe calls the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra the best smartphone you can buy and demos its real-time AI language translation.
  01:32:06
• They argue Israel-Gaza is genuinely complicated, noting sympathy for Israel flipped within a couple of months after the October 7 attack as Gaza was leveled.
  02:05:53
• They discuss Yale's Skull and Bones as a CIA-linked society for grooming powerful 'sociopaths.'
  02:28:34

• Alexander the Great became king at 20 and built one of history's largest empires by age 30, undefeated in battle.
  00:06:18
• A large plane hit the Empire State Building in 1945 at the 79th floor and the building did not topple.
  00:29:49
• 'Grok' means 'to understand' or 'fathom,' a word that originated from a science-fiction novel.
  01:50:49
• The Rabbit R1 AI device shown at CES is set to cost about $200.
  01:35:15
• A former FBI security analyst claimed up to 80% of Twitter accounts may be fake.
  01:20:43
• New York City leased the Pakistan-owned Roosevelt Hotel to house migrants to help Pakistan's struggling economy.
  02:15:10
• A son of one of the Buc-ee's owners was charged with 28 counts of invasive recording at properties in multiple cities.
  02:18:48
• Yannis says he only does stand-up about three nights a week so he can be home with his kids the other four.
  02:19:18

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