David Lee Roth Worked as an EMT | Joe Rogan

When did you start working as an EMT? That was around the same time, wasn't it? EMT was about 12 summers ago for me. So I was turning 50. And I started going back to school for outdoor med response, camping, climbing. What is it like when you go to one of those classes and they've realized who you are? How weird does he get? Sometimes you can get a little bit up tight because I'm the oldest guy in the room. Okay. And I want to clarify something, Joe. When I became an EMT, shield number 327 466 47th precinct, big shout out to all of you who taught me and tolerated me until I became an EMT and put on that uniform. I wasn't somebody, somebody cleaned the truck up until I put on that uniform, Joe, after training for how many months? It's almost a year for me like this. I wasn't someone, someone clean up the truck. And that was my job starting right off. But uh, I was also the somebody who dragged the oxygen box, all 13 floors up in the Eden walled projects and artist to artist. How many times have you driven past something, whether it's a huge building or a teepee? I wonder what's in there. And then you go, I wonder what's in the refrigerator. I wonder what they listened to in there and I wonder who the, they are. I have a fascination for that. My pop had a big sprawling, I think, is it simply empathy? For people, you know, when the fellas started getting AIDS in the early eighties, he started treating them. He's an eye surgeon and everybody, my sisters and stuff started saying, but this is a time when you think you can catch that shift from breathing it, pop and whatever. And he turned to me, I'll never forget. He said, I don't get to choose my patients. Wow. I don't get to choose my audience. So what was the motivation to start doing that though? Let's go see what's in their refrigerator, Joe. And you'll walk in first cause you're way stronger than me in case there's trouble. And you'll go ambulance. And in case somebody comes at us, you handle it. Oh, I had a, I had a mentor named Keisha who had to pile her dreadlocks up so high that it was as long as from her shoulders to the top of her head, her haircut. It was like she had to, but she put her hat up on top and Keisha walked in that door first on me domestic disputes. She dealt with the guys. You had to be there for domestic disputes. Oh yeah. She's the scariest, right? A very, and you get an eye on your audience, stops being audience starts being the neighborhood. And pretty soon you live in the neighborhood. I was under the train once in the Fulton street station talking to a homeless fella, quick briefing, act like nothing's wrong. See if you can get them to come out. Hey, you hungry? Train breathes. Okay. Subway obtain breathes. It doesn't just sit there silently. And you gotta go grilled cheese. Hmm. I'm laughing now, but that's a nervous laugh. Yeah. And now every one of those folks is in my voice when I sing. Ooh, I like that. I like that thought process. When you decided to do this, was this a conscience, a conscious effort to try to just enrich your experiences? Cross training, cross training. I'll give it the quick rationale. And I also know it's going to change me. Don't know how, but you got to get in it. And after a certain point in your life, maybe, uh, go where there is no shallow end. Challenge yourself. As I move somewhere, that's a foreign language is you can't even read the street signs in Japan, for example. Um, but you know, you start off on the bunny slopes, you don't surf 40 footers right away. I first, you got to move to New York and go through that whole thing of what have I done. But what's, so what's the thought process when you're like, I'm going to be an EMT. I'm going to study for a year. I'm going to train. I'm going to go out there and I'm going to actually do it. I, okay. Sometimes when I go for a walk in the city, my plan is just follow where the sun is beaming. I get to an intersection. The sun is on that far corner. I'll cross over to that and then I'll look down the block and see where the sun is and I'll walk down the block and get into that part. And you do a lot of this by yourself. Oh yeah. I did the same thing with EMT training. Geez. My dad was a doctor. The first numeric badge I got as a boy scout was first aid. I was that guy. And I learned that for skinny guy like me, real power probably came from being cool when everybody else is going, yeah. Cause my dad had to do that. I assisted him in surgeries at a very early age. Oh yeah. And you know, when stuff that made everybody else like this pop good. I have a good ambulance voice. You want to hear it? Let me do that. Okay. You're going to be just fine. Can you imagine though being in an ambulance, you look up and it's motherfucking David Lee Roth telling you, you're going to be okay. You'd be like, Oh, I'm dead. I must be dead. Only twice has that actually happened. Cause I only worked in the hood. I only worked around at night. I only worked, you know, you would never expect to see me once was after Oz Fest. Oh Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. Some poor kid was, uh, you know, uh, drank too much or whatever. And he was out of sorts. And you know, sitting on the corner, somebody phoned him in from the local liquor store. And uh, you could see that this boy finished face, you know, when I leaned over and said to him, Hey, you're going to be just fine. Like the lyrics of an Ozzy song come to life. Yeah. But beyond that, no, nobody ever really did. And uh, you know, Jesus, I weighed 15 more pounds. I was doing the Arnold routine at the weight stack cause I was somebody, well somebody helped me lift this my fourth day. I'm not, I'm not, uh, pretentious about what my fourth days were. So you bulked up for the job. Oh yeah. And uh, I weighed 15 more pounds and I lifted man. I could lift, I lifted people out of bathtubs. I lifted them out of the ocean. I lifted them out of the projects. I lifted them out of the truck. I lifted him into the other truck cause the first truck just broke down in the snow. And uh, how long did you do this for? All sorry, how long did you do this for? I researched once about four and a half summers, four and a half years. Okay. And I, you know, in between, uh, uh, playing and whatever. And again, a big shout out to all my teachers and mentors. Not a day goes by. I don't think about it. And not a day goes by that, uh, I don't use some skill, including that, you know, that'll level your head a little bit. Yeah. Somebody go make some coffee, Joe. So you feel like for a guy like you who was such a gigantic superstar and you just touring these huge arenas and people are freaking out every time they see you for you, it was, um, maybe a good way to balance things out too, because you're seeing people in a life or death situation and dire straits when they're unhealthy and they need help. And you're out there in the down and dirty and the nitty gritty, like, you know, like you said, trucks breaking down, picking people up out of the bathtubs. Well, a lot of what you just described is the first response team. Yes. We always describe our patients, our friends and clients. Okay. But the struggle for our, I'll call it the uniform starts with military police fire. First response, I'll throw in nursing emergency room. And those of us with bells and whistles, you call the ambulance, et cetera. Um, you see that from the inside out. Yeah. And that really will sharpen your vision.