Link: https://youtu.be/I3xg_pQj-4M

Duration: 160 min

Short Summary

This episode details the career trajectories of late-blooming entertainers like Taylor Sheridan and Oliver Anthony, who achieved success after age 40. It further explores the logistical differences between music and comedy touring alongside the evolution of MMA fighting careers. The discussion concludes with insights on risk management through physical activities and the intersection of creative workflows with ancient history.

Key Quotes

1. "I think everybody who's sane gets imposttor syndrome." (00:09:17)
2. "These people are all vampires. They're all just trying to suck on your neck. Don't let them. Don't let them." (00:13:34)
3. "That's why I became a comedian. I'm pretty sure you know it's all the same kind of mindset. Like there's something about you that wants to be famous, right?" (00:22:17)
4. "It's kind of a fun story that me and my wife always joke around about because like one time she was taking the kid, we were all supposed to go to Disneyland, but I I had to do this podcast." (00:15:20)
5. "Find something you love and let it kill you." (00:58:18)

Detailed Summary

Episode Synthesis: Career Paths, Risk Management, and Industry Evolution

Career Trajectories and Late-Blooming Success

• Taylor Sheridan describes his career as a rags-to-riches story, experiencing professional struggles until nearly age 40 before creating Oscar-nominated works and shows like '1923' and 'Yellowstone'.
• Oliver Anthony achieved instant fame with his song 'Richmond', performing his first live show for an audience of 20,000 while working as a heavy equipment salesman earning up to $7 million.
• The speaker contrasts the ideal of touring in one's 20s with their own experience of beginning to learn music touring at age 40.
• In the realm of acting, James Gandolfini portrayed the complex character of Tony Soprano for seven years, featuring a lead who was a murderer and thief yet remained lovable.
• Actors like Daniel Day-Lewis and Gary Oldman are cited as masters who create distinct personas for every movie, with Oldman notably transforming for roles such as Dracula.

Industry Dynamics: Touring, MMA, and Audience Engagement

• Music tours typically require three continuous shows per weekend (Thursday through Saturday) to efficiently manage rental costs for buses and staff salaries.
• Standup comedy is financially easier to tour than music because it eliminates the need for large moving equipment and salaried staff.
• A notable standup tour in 2007 featured Charlie Murphy and John Hefron on the Bud Light Maxim tour, covering 22 dates in a single month.
• Austin has emerged as a major comedy hub with seven clubs on one street, hosting 17 to 18 world-class comedians, partly due to the migration of talent during the pandemic.
• The Pride era in Japanese MMA drew crowds of 90,000 in venues like the Tokyo Super Dome, contrasting with the quiet, technically focused audiences at a UFC event in Japan with 16,000 attendees.
• During the pandemic, UFC Apex hosted world championship fights with minimal crowds of 50 to 100 people in a cage that is 40% smaller than standard size.

Physical Risk Management and Personal Activities

• Engaging in challenging activities like Jiu-Jitsu helps actors tolerate the stresses of fame, a priority shift for Speaker A that occurred after the success of 'Yellowstone'.
• Insurance requirements often restrict actors from high-risk activities such as skiing or jiu-jitsu to prevent production shutdowns caused by injuries.
• The speaker discontinued motorcycle riding after three friends suffered accidents involving a shoulder injury, a broken leg, and a car collision, following a close call on the Pacific Coast Highway near Big Sur.
• Gordon Ryan, a 30-year-old Abu Dhabi champion, trains 365 days a year, often two to three times daily, and predicts submission moves for world champions on paper.
• Antoine Bourdain took up jiu-jitsu at age 58 with no prior athletic experience, eventually achieving blue belt status and transforming his physique to have a six-pack.

Creative Processes, Nature, and Historical Perspectives

• The speaker's joke writing process involves drafting 2,000 words in essay form to extract a single paragraph for a joke, a method used to maintain a personal feel in songwriting.
• For the last album, 8 out of 10 songs were written immediately before recording in a 'pressure cooker' environment without demos.
• Grizzly bears can run at 45 miles per hour and reach heights of up to 9 feet, with the largest recorded grizzly weighing 1,600 pounds in Alaska.
• Carbon testing of footprints at White Sands, New Mexico, dates human presence to around 22,000 years ago, pushing previous estimates back from 13,000 years.
• The Younger Dryas impact theory suggests a comet impact 11,800 years ago created the Great Lakes and eliminated 65% of North American megafauna, including woolly mammoths.