Ian Edwards — Veteran stand-up comedian and TV writer (Kevin Hart's 'The Big House,' among others), originally from Jamaica. A 30-year friend of Joe Rogan from their early Boston/New York comedy days.
The gist
Joe Rogan and Ian Edwards, friends for roughly 30 years, reminisce about coming up in the Boston and New York comedy scenes and the grind of building an act, finding a 'flow state,' and learning that regional material doesn't travel. The conversation pivots into a long, detailed appreciation of boxing history, especially Muhammad Ali, plus the brutal toll of CTE on fighters they know. It then turns to geopolitics and conspiracy: Vietnam and the opium trade, Iran-Contra, 9/11 and the Iraq war, the 2008 crash, COVID as the 'biggest transfer of wealth,' and the 1933 'Business Plot' against FDR. They close on artists getting exploited by labels and networks, and Ian plugs his new self-released special.
Big reveals
- Ian tells of a faded actor ('Bling') who walked out of a club mid-show after being demoted from headliner, illustrating comedians' bitterness.
- Ian recounts bombing in front of ~2,000 people at Temple, getting booed off, which taught him to drop regional material.
- Ian describes his first true 'killing' on stage as an out-of-body high he got addicted to before ever doing drugs.
- Joe reveals Brendan Schaub took repeated concussions sparring Shane Carwin, even days before fights, and urged him to quit.
- Joe argues Reagan's 'I don't recall' on Iran-Contra was likely a legal dodge, not yet dementia.
- Joe relays Bill Murray's claim that Bob Woodward's book 'Wired' fabricated John Belushi, making Murray doubt the Nixon story.
- Ian was inside the World Trade Center the day before 9/11, having taken the PATH train through it.
- Ian announces his special 'Untitled' is free on YouTube with all ad money going to LA fire victims.
Things worth remembering
- Joe calls Kill Tony 'the number one place where a comedian can break out in America today.'
- Joe names Ali vs. Cleveland 'Big Cat' Williams his favorite fight to watch, prime Ali before his forced retirement.
- The story that Ali's torn glove was deliberately cut to buy recovery time vs. Henry Cooper is an urban legend; it only added a few seconds.
- Joe claims a major factor in the Vietnam War was control of the opium trade, paralleling Afghanistan's poppy fields.
- Joe and Ian frame COVID lockdowns as the biggest transfer of wealth ever, with ~70% of LA restaurants going under while big chains thrived.
- They contrast banned raw milk with legal glyphosate (Roundup), citing cancer and Alzheimer's links near golf courses.
- Smedley Butler testified in 1934 that wealthy businessmen plotted a fascist coup to overthrow FDR; no one was prosecuted.
- Scientology's Sea Org reportedly uses a symbolic billion-year employment contract.
- Joe and Jamie helped revive Johnny Thunder's 1969 song 'I'm Alive,' which later appeared in commercials before Thunder died.
- Joe cites Sean Strickland saying he has about $4 million banked, holding him up as a financially smart fighter.