Owen Smith Did Yoga with Russell Simmons | Joe Rogan

We're talking about yoga and Russell Simmons. Russell Simmons, he moved to Bali because he's worried about them extraditing him? I don't know if he's worried, but I... Really? This is all conjecture. This is what I've heard. But I just bought him up because... He had a yoga studio here. Did he? Yeah, and he gave me a month free. A month free, high end yoga thing. Like you just show up in your clothes. They give you the mat, towels, blocks, everything. Everybody was awesome. And I went every day for a month and did yoga next to Russell Simmons. Wow. And he was amazing. And I was like really feeling it. I felt great. And then all the stuff happened. It's so easy to slide. Oh man. It's so easy to slide away. Yeah man. I love that guy. I have a funny story. What do you think is more important than stand up? To be polished or to be raw? There's no more important thing. They're both very important. But Joey Diaz is not polished at all. And he's the funniest guy that I've ever seen. No one's ever made me laugh harder. He's not polished. He's raw as fuck. But raw alone is not good because some guys like Jesselnak is very polished. And he's very funny. You're very polished. You're very funny. Yes. There's no one thing. It's like comedy is art. It's an art, right? It's an expression of who you are. If you're a polished person and you try to come off raw, it's going to look corny. So I bought that up because I am, I don't know, young 20s. Def Jam is having auditions. It just moved from New York to LA. Beverly Hills was with it, taping, which was ironic in itself. But I was raw. You remember when you go hit it, DJ, and you have music you like this? I auditioned and Bushwick Bill was one of the judges. It was like I auditioned at All Jokes Aside in Chicago. And I got picked. I was one of the people to get picked to tape Def Jam. First time I was ever flown out anywhere. First time I ever came to, was flown to Los Angeles. I'd been here before. Stayed at the Hotel Sofitel. Whoa. But what happened is I got picked. I was raw. About three months went by. I went on a tour of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minneapolis, where none of those Def Jam jokes worked. So I started getting polished a little bit, right? So when I went to tape Def Jam, I did it. And I got, I think, seven applause breaks. But I didn't get the standing ovation. And I remember when I got off stage, one comedian said, way to keep him seated. And Russell walked right past me. Like, I just wanted him to see me. So I knew I wasn't going to air, right? And I got, that was my first. Wait a minute. You got seven applause breaks. Seven applause breaks. And it wouldn't air? Well, I got a note. I got my first rejection letter saying, thank you so much. But you won't be airing. They aired Rodman. And they aired two other people. And then, so I felt like shit. You know what I mean? Like, I was just like, damn, am I black enough? Like, the whole black thing. Like, damn, I'm not a part of Def Jam. I want to be touring. I can make those audiences laugh. But what I auditioned with, it was straight from Maryland. Like, straight, just raw. Like, all bravado. I wasn't talking about anything. And I went to these other cities. And it was kind of like, I was kind of like finding my style. Right? How many years have you been doing it at the time? I was probably doing it. I started at 19. But I, you know, that's the college start. And then you, but I think I started doing it full time at 22. And I was probably 26, so maybe four years. Arrogant, though. Like, you know, if I was your feature act, I knew, I always kept a time clock. Sometimes I would go long. But I would, but I was very proud of, like, if they said do 12, I would do 12. You know what I mean? That kind of thing. And I was getting stand in locations. But I wasn't talking about nothing. And then I started, like, doing these other states. And I was like, OK, fine. Don't get it. So my objection, I really needed Russell Simmons to like me. Like, you know what I mean? He meant so much to the culture and to, and he just, when he just didn't see me, I just was like, damn, years go by. And the pain of it like diminishes, but it's still kind of in there. But it's, you know, it's like a Marvel villain. Like, like, I gotta, I must. But it kind of, so then Russell has another show. And I didn't even think I was going to get picked. My only goal was just to make him laugh, because he was at the audition. And it was in New York. I was living in New York. He was there, and Stan Latham was there. And years later, I found out I knew who I was. I knew what I was coming to say. I didn't know if it was going to match their show. And what I'm saying is, like, Def Jam prided itself on being raw, you know what I mean? And a new voice. And then I, so I didn't fit like what they were selling. So then when I saw Russell and Stan, I do my act. I see Russell grab his stomach and go over it. So I'm good. If I get the show, I get it. If I don't get it, I'm good. I see Stan Latham go. I see them do the whisper. I literally don't care if I get the show. I did what I set out to do. So all the other comics are staying back to schmooze. And hey, man, I'm there. Like, I left. I left. I ended up getting the show. And this is the show now when Russell was sitting in the audience, and there are comics sitting up there. And I'm doing my act. And I was talking about HBO Hung, that show about white dude with a big dick for real. And I said, what are you doing? Like, that's where we at now. And I did like the stereotype game and all this stuff. And I did one joke. And I remember Russell got up and gave me a pound in the middle of my set. It was like a slow motion. You can see all the comics, like, and I was like, so it was like the full circle of 24 year old me, yeah, beat it. And then 32, 34 year old me, maybe. Russell was like, yo, my man. And then I would go, you know, and I was doing yoga with him for a little bit. But we never hung, it was just like, you know, it was just like, I don't know, it was just like a full circle moment. Call you and say I'm giving you this month free yoga. Was it a part of doing the show? How did that happen? No, he used to be at all deaf. He had all deaf digital. So he moved here. And I think I went there to pitch him something. He was like, yo, nigga, you do yoga, you do yoga? He was like, you come here, and he just gave me a month free. And I was like, I'm gonna take it. And so every morning I would wake up and drive. And I didn't know I was gonna be in his class, like usher Raymond to be in there. He was flexible as hell. Real incredible.