Andrew Schulz

High-Level Overview

Comedian and Flagrant co-host Andrew Schulz joins Joe Rogan in March 2025, days after releasing his Netflix special Life, which grew out of his and his wife's struggle with infertility and IVF. The conversation is warm, fast and full of laughs, ranging from ayahuasca and Neal Brennan's cynicism to free will, simulation theory, how comedy clubs develop talent, the Democratic Party's messaging problems, DOGE, hunting logistics, Schulz's obsession with the racket sport padel, shoulder rehab, stem cells, sauna and cold plunge science, and the way fatherhood rewires a man's priorities.

Beneath the banter is a steady theme: how people build character, whether through will, hard challenges, honest art, or the responsibility of raising children. The conversation swings between comedy craft, politics, fitness and recovery, and heartfelt reflection on parenthood.

The Discussion Explores:

• Ayahuasca, cynicism as a creative superpower, and ditching "bitch ass" thinking
• Free will versus determinism, and Rogan's simulation-and-consciousness theory
• Why Democrats should make politics a class issue, and a results-based way to fix inner cities
• Comedy craft: the Mothership as an artist colony, Kill Tony, strong openers and honesty on stage
• Padel, shoulder health, stem cells, peptides and recovery protocols
• Schulz's infertility struggle, stress-induced breathing problems and why IVF access matters
• Japanese kaizen culture, honoring craft, and the pull of fame in America
• How fatherhood changes a man, and why every adult was once someone's baby

Deep Dive into Main Ideas

Ayahuasca, Cynicism and Getting Out of Your Own Way

The episode opens with Oprah doing a show on psychedelics. Rogan jokes that ayahuasca carries spiritual street cred while mushrooms just make you "some asshole at a party," but both acknowledge a ritual can give people a meaningful reset. Schulz describes Neal Brennan, who has tried ayahuasca, as having cynicism as "one of his like superpowers": it made him a brilliant joke writer and a perfect creative partner for Dave Chappelle, pairing insecurity with Chappelle's confidence, but it's also debilitating. Brennan told Schulz the experience freed him to create without beating himself up.

Rogan recalls a moment at 21 when he caught himself hoping the comic after him would bomb and recognized "what a bitch ass way to think that is." Martial arts taught him that kind of thinking is weak. Schulz extends the idea to office life, where people perform a fake version of themselves for eight hours a day, which he connects to the show Severance and to why corporate DEI programs faced little resistance: people were already pretending. They also discuss how power reveals and amplifies weak character, and Rogan explains how he paid his Mothership staff for about two years before the club opened without feeling burdened, advising listeners to "Decide what you think about in this life."

Will, Determinism and a Simulated Reality

Asked whether he believes in free will, Rogan says will is real but fleeting, dependent on hormones, sleep, genetics and experience. "It's 100% will, he says of David Goggins running on destroyed knees and Gordon Ryan training every day of the year. He notes that many hyper-ambitious people come from hardship, while Schulz says he's driven without much trauma; Rogan says a shit talking artist just needs to love the craft and want to improve. Schulz recalls not celebrating a birthday or drinking for about a decade while asking himself, How can I be undeniable?" He now takes time off between specials so his next hour reflects real change instead of variations of the same jokes.

Rogan then lays out his view that reality may be a simulation shaped by consciousness, inspired by a book by Tom Campbell that he's listened to twice. He suggests the world may render itself only when observed, like a video game map, and that the events of recent years look scripted. Schulz, who has been thinking constantly about time since becoming a father, responds with his own philosophy: "Don't think about the end of the game, play the game." He praises Everything Everywhere All at Once for showing that meeting life's nothingness with kindness is heroic, noting "it's very easy to just submit to nothingness." Rogan explains that hard physical challenges, what Steven Pressfield calls resistance, keep him mentally level, and that even three days off training leaves him anxious.

Politics as a Class Issue, and a Results-Based Fix

Schulz argues the Democrats' biggest mistake was abandoning class politics. Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whom he notes performed about as well as Trump in her district, succeed because they talk about money. He recalls being called racist during the "Bernie bros smear, and says the same playbook was used against podcasters after Trump's appearances. If eggs are expensive I can't care about your bathrooms, he says, capturing his view that voters want abundance and access. He recommends Democrats Make it a class issue, listen to how people feel, and find a disruptive, authentic leader rather than the 22 politicians Rogan plays reading the same scripted shit ain't right" speech.

Rogan proposes spending the equivalent of foreign aid on America's troubled cities through private contracts where "the only way you get paid is based on results": lower crime and juvenile detention, better test scores, accessible healthy food and community centers. Schulz points out California spent about $24 billion on homelessness while it got worse, and cites El Salvador's crackdown on gangs as an example, while acknowledging the civil liberties concerns. He credits his childhood recreation center with keeping kids out of trouble. On DOGE, both agree nobody should defend waste, but Schulz wishes Musk's communication brought people together rather than antagonizing them, while Rogan says Democrats' refusal to acknowledge any waste is costing them credibility. He urges people to hope Trump does well because "He's the captain of the ship."

Comedy Craft: Artist Colonies, Openers and Honesty

Rogan describes the Comedy Mothership as an artist colony rather than a business, a place where comics hang out, write, and get paid better than elsewhere. He credits Mitzi Shore of the Comedy Store, who liked to say "the inmates are running the asylum," with teaching him everything about developing comics; the club's bar is named after her, and Rogan tears up talking about her. Mitzi threw him on after Martin Lawrence and Andrew Dice Clay, and Schulz says following Dave Attell at the Comedy Cellar similarly humbled him. Rogan takes Joey Diaz on the road precisely because Joey is hard to follow: "nothing will make you work harder than being embarrassed."

Schulz praises Tony Hinchcliffe's generosity during Kill Tony interviews, which help new comics discover what is genuinely funny about themselves. He shares a couple in Spokane who told him "this is our first night out in eight years," which he thinks about before every show. Both insist caring is cool, that audiences can tell when a performer isn't locked in, and that you can only be great at being yourself. Rogan recounts watching Bill Hicks clear most of a Boston room while staying perfectly composed, and says Hicks made a generation want to be profound. He also tells Woody Harrelson he'll help him try stand-up.

Padel, Shoulders and Recovery Science

Schulz calls himself possibly the biggest evangelist for padel, a fast-growing racket sport mixing tennis and squash in a walled court. He loves it because "there's always hope": the ball can be played off the back wall, and skill and placement can beat power. He plays three or four times a week, takes weekly lessons, and built his whole workout routine around protecting his shoulder so he can keep playing. His physical therapist steered him away from surgery by building muscle and mobility.

Rogan shares his rotator cuff story: a full-length tear that an orthopedic surgeon said needed surgery, which he says was gone on an MRI six months after stem cell injections and rehab. He now does 70-pound kettlebell work pain-free, though he stresses surgery is sometimes necessary, citing Jiří Procházka. His shoulder and spine routine includes dead hangs from a bar for at least a minute, the Teeter DEX decompression machine, and Crossover Symmetry resistance bands for rotator cuff work. They discuss BPC-157 and why drug-testing rules ban recovery aids. Rogan repeats the Finnish finding that sauna four times a week for 20 minutes at 175 degrees was linked to a 40% decrease in all-cause mortality, with smaller benefits at lower frequency, and cites a Japanese study in which cold immersion before exercise raised testosterone while cold after exercise suppressed it.

Infertility, IVF and a Body Under Stress

Schulz opens up about the struggle behind his special. When he and his wife couldn't conceive, he developed a feeling that he couldn't take a full breath, which a doctor tied to stress; he'd sit on benches near the Comedy Cellar box breathing. Tests showed the problem was his sperm, and even after following every recommendation (pills, no alcohol, baggy underwear, icing), his numbers got worse, so they turned to IVF. The breathing issue vanished once they got pregnant. He says it was the first time a psychological problem affected him physically, and that before he knew the issue was his, he assumed, like many men, that it was his wife.

Talking about it on stage unlocked a flood of messages from people, including close friends, who had quietly gone through IVF. Schulz says protecting IVF access was one of the things he asked Trump about, since some anti-abortion advocates oppose discarding embryos, and he praises Trump's executive order expanding access. Rogan points to microplastics and brake dust as possible factors in declining fertility. Rogan also recalls how Tony Hinchcliffe sounded when he was first canceled, a moment that made him fear for his friend, and both say public pile-ons can crush people's ability to breathe and function.

Kaizen, Craft and the American Fame Obsession

Schulz admires Japanese culture's refusal to do things halfway, telling the story of a DJ who took up music after a cancer diagnosis and played with total commitment. Rogan explains kaizen, the practice of refining something until it approaches perfection, using his Nissan GT-R Nismo as an example of the same car refined for two decades. Schulz notes Tokyo gave him the best pizza and steak he's ever had, and mentions a Japanese hotel he says dates to the year 703 that the same family has run for 52 generations.

He sees a trade-off: such cultures may stifle individual dreams, but they give honor and purpose to carrying on a family trade, which American dream culture undervalues. Rogan agrees that making excellent shoes or cabinets is a great dream, and that America overvalues fame, to the point where being a mother isn't respected. Schulz says his wife left a career working on AI projects at Apple, with an MBA, because her dream was to be a mom, despite feeling social judgment for it.

How Fatherhood Changes Everything

The episode's emotional center is parenthood. Schulz, who became a father at 40, says every feeling he has had as a parent is the most cliché feeling possible, and it has given him a new kind of discipline and purpose. He argues the online "manosphere misses fatherhood, which he sees as the defining experience of manhood. Rogan says kids made his work ethic stronger, recalls Louis C.K. telling him when you have children, you just got to let it change you," and adds, "I think about everybody as a baby now," even the gin-blossomed man with a pot belly. Taking chances is a muscle, he says; people who never build it struggle to take their first leap at 35.

Schulz says "failure is not an option once you have a kid," and that fatherhood heightens what matters and erases the trivial. He asks for empathy for new parents anxious about vaccines, saying it's terrifying to inject something into the most perfect thing you've created. Rogan argues pharmaceutical companies have always put profits over safety, citing the Sacklers, and they briefly discuss public sympathy for Luigi Mangione as a sign of desperation over health care. They end on AI, with Rogan noting Musk's estimate of a 20% chance things go badly, and a plug for Schulz's special and Derek Poston's upcoming Don't Tell Comedy special.

Conclusion

This is Schulz at his most open and Rogan at his most encouraging. Their conversation keeps returning to the same idea from different directions: character is built by choosing difficulty, whether that means following better comics, refining a craft like a Japanese artisan, rehabbing a shoulder to keep playing padel, or letting fatherhood change you. Along the way they offer a pointed critique of Democratic messaging, a results-based idea for fixing cities, concrete recovery tips, and a moving account of infertility that many listeners will recognize. It's a funny, generous episode with real substance.

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