Joe Rogan: Anthony Bourdain and the Burdens of Constant Travel

One of the things that I learned from watching Bourdain's original show, the No Reservation Show, that it changed my opinion on things, because I didn't have a strong opinion on food before that, other than that I really liked it. I didn't think of it as an art form, and watching his show and seeing the passion, his appreciation for food and for the way it's grown and brought to table and the production of it, and then ultimately the flavor of it and the taste and his admiration for chefs and you guys as well. His admiration for it and his appreciation for the way everything's put together made me realize, oh, this is an art form. It's a craft, and you know Tony did something. Tony was the most faithful, most like, we were so lucky to be on that ship with him, you know, that he took us aboard. And you could see he had the same apprenticeship we did, you know, like suffering and like big bistro kitchens and stuff. And you think about it, the guy, he didn't make the promise to himself that when he'd get rich and famous, he was going to buy a big house and not talk to people. He helped every cook, not walk out of the kitchen and get famous, but get a voice, you know. And the television show, the work he did in private is massive. And not look like a dirty guy that makes the pasta in the back, you know. All of a sudden, it's like, yeah, the manager in the suit and the owners, but who's the guy in the back, you know? No, he had appreciation for everybody, and he had a real passion for the process. And the marginal character is, you know, there's lots of commercial restaurants in the city of Montreal, and any given city that he went to, he's able to isolate, let's say, the marginal characters in every city that, you know, we're historically bound, kind of. Fred and I practice a weird faction of French cooking called Cuisine Bourgeois, and only kind of Tony and a handful of other guys could look at what we do and go, huh, fuckers. They're up to that. No one's up to that. He curated. You know, like, he's screwed. You guys are into that, really. He goes, you guys are the only people, like the last of the Mohicans that do this kind of food. And we know, you know, we can't stop. We got to keep on. We're like, what a great guy to get it to. Yeah, because nobody does. Right. Nobody understands like, you know, the rabbit hole or down. Tony did the cognizant. Yeah, he mean, he really did deeply influence my appreciation for food. The way I think about it and again, treating it as an art form, which I just thought it was just delicious. I didn't think of it as like, oh, these guys are making temporary art. They're making art that you're going to you're going to enjoy now, you know, and you can't put it on film. I mean, you can, but you're not going to get it all. You're just going to want to go out and experience it. Yeah, ultimately, food is you can't we go and do like we were asked to do like demonstrations. You know, you can go in a big stage, five thousand people to talk about food or make like little crackers with smoked salmon on stage. Food is not fit for a stage. No food is for a table for us to enjoy. You know, with a fork and knife, we talk about it and go hunting. That's that's what food is. People offers food shows all the time. And I mean, I can't doesn't work. And it's like, what's the concept? Well, you guys can be in a pickup truck and you go and visit your suppliers and maybe have a bottle of wine with them after. I was like, dude, like we worked hard not to copy our like fellow, you know, culinary. Yeah, you look at food. It's like it's ours. TV producers are out there just like blatantly proposing the previous show to you again. You know, well, that's one of the things right after Anthony died. There was some talk about back Ramsey doing some very similar show. And the outcry against it was enormous. I mean, he was just getting assaulted online. I mean, it was crazy. Everybody that I was talking to our agent who did it, who represents us for our book. And she was saying like that was the same all the big production companies like are being berated by people pitching who's going to be the next Tony. Right. You know, I don't want to say that. But one of the character and you guys and you could take over. Yeah, you could do it because you guys. You know the way he went in West Virginia and it wasn't like Republican Democrat like he went to places. He's like, yeah, sure. I have my views. But let's break bread, you know. And I always said that that like all our countries are divided on issues, but there are nobody that overlaps them with a coherent vision. Everybody loves each other when there's delicious food on the table. And guys like you with like a clear view and a rational and science based and evidence based view on things and like Tony just have such a voice now in our countries that it's I could see you doing a food show. I love food. I don't I'll never do a food show. I just can't imagine. No, because you ask good questions. I like doing shows. I mean, I love having guys like you on and talking about food, but it takes a special type of person to want to travel 300 days a year, you know, and that's essentially what Tony was doing. And I think that has a massive toll. It takes a massive toll on your body. It takes a massive toll on your psyche. I don't family. Yes, it's not healthy. There's not enough melatonin or like CBD or like it's not a cleanse is to help you with that. I travel more than enough already. And I've cut my traveling way back. I'm down to only 10 UFCs a year now. And I do, you know, comedy around that and stand up comedy. But I consciously make the effort to travel much less because I just don't think it's good. I just don't think it's good for you. And and also that road life, you know, the drinking and all that other stuff that comes with it that accentuates all the problems that you have with with travel. And I think that's also one of the things that was was dragging Tony down when he would talk about the sadness and the loneliness of being on the road. I can't help but from knowing him and partying with him, I can't help but thought that a lot of that was probably accentuated by the alcohol consumption. And you know, you guys could speak to that now that you're you're you're clean and you're not experiencing those rugged hangovers every morning. I was I was worried for Tony that way. Just that, you know, the hotel living planes, trains and automobiles constantly. And it wasn't like for a year. It was like, hey, it's a 12 years. It's a sad life. I had to watch River Monsters at 11 in the morning burping Jameson. And I'm referring to many occasions in our lives where you're like you're traveling in a way. You're traveling in a hotel room and you are in a beautiful place, but like you just you feel weird. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've taken steps to mitigate some of that. One of the big ones is I travel with friends. I bring really good comics to work with me on the road so that when I'm in these cities, I'm in these cities with friends and we just go. It's like they're family. So we go. We go eat together. We'll go work out together, you know, and try to keep the unhealthy shit to a minimum.