Bobby Lee is a comedian and co-host of TigerBelly and Bad Friends podcasts. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Bobby's Twitter: https://twitter.com/bobbyleelive
Bobby's Instagram: https://instagram.com/bobbyleelive
TigerBelly Podcast: https://youtube.com/c/TigerBelly
TigerBelly Merch: https://thetigerbelly.com
Bad Friends Podcast: https://youtube.com/c/BadFriends
Bad Friends Merch: http://badfriendsmerch.com

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
Full episodes playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4
Clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41

OUTLINE:
0:00 - Introduction
0:59 - Wedding
6:58 - Video games
12:36 - Grappling
17:41 - Sex robots
20:40 - Khalyla
27:24 - Parenting
38:05 - Darkest moment
46:21 - Fame
56:36 - Carlos Mencia
1:03:25 - TigerBelly
1:17:03 - George and Gilbert
1:24:13 - Power
1:37:17 - Meaning of life

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If you and I were able to go into Skyrim, right, and walk around and live together, would we make love?

No, no, no, no, because we like girls, man.

The following is a conversation with Bobby Lee, a standup comedian and podcaster and 1 of the funniest humans on the planet.

And just someone who brings joy to my heart with a mix of non-sequitur absurdity, darkness and the singing voice of an angel.

In all seriousness, Bobby is just a beautiful human being.

I've been a fan of his for 20 years, since his time on MADtv to today with his podcast, Tiger Belly, that he does with his other half, the love of his life, Kalilah, and the podcast, Bad Friends, that he does with Andrew Centino.

To support it, please check out our sponsors in the description.

I've been a fan of yours for many, many years.

I think you're 1 of the funniest people in the world.

I've been a fan since Matt TV days 20 years ago to today with Tiger Belly.

So given that, given your status as a world-class comedian, How did it feel that you were not invited to Andrew Schultz's wedding and I was?

And the whole time I was thinking, isn't that funny that Bobby Lee's not here?

Yeah, all my life I always felt like people didn't like me and they didn't wanna invite me to things.

I think that's fundamentally the reason why I do what I do.

I did some revenge fantasies about how I'm gonna get revenge on him and stuff.

Like have a big wedding, invite everyone, you know what I mean, except him, stuff like that.

And then just write him a letter like, see that's how it feels or whatever.

But instead of that, cause I'm in therapy and stuff, I'm just kind of like trying to let it go.

Your exception is successful, me, domain.

You know, I'm doing a Netflix show tonight with Andrew Santino at the Comedy Store and this and that, but like last night, you know, I just felt like I wasn't a part of, in fact on stage I go, I even mention it, I go, Netflix, they don't like me.

And I just say things like that, they're not true.

And this is something that I wanna correct with myself because I have this internal dialogue that's based on just the past and 99% of the things that go on in my mind aren't true and I'm just at a point in my life where I don't wanna live like that anymore.

Really, because I'm the same way, I'm deeply self-critical all the time.

And that's kind of an engine that drives you to do stuff.

Yeah, but it doesn't give you the kind of freedom that I would like.

but some of the day I spend being extremely self-critical and that drives you, because I'm afraid I'll become ultra lazy otherwise.

Because I love life, I love being comfortable, I love just relaxing.

I need very few things in life, and so I'm afraid I'll just get super lazy.

So if I went to your house in Austin, do you have a couch?

I recently got, this is the first couch I've gotten ever, because the guests were complaining, because I also record the podcast there.

The guests were complaining there's nowhere to sit.

I have no chairs, no couch, I sleep on the floor, like a mattress is on the floor.

Not out of principle, I think, out of some kind of minimalist momentum.

I'm not a hoarder, but, because I can throw things away, but I have a shopping addiction, I think.

Like when I'm on the road, like I was in Oklahoma for 2 weeks, I just, I bought a bunch of stuff, you know what I mean?

And then, oh my god, I went to Todd Snyder and I bought, I bought these shoes.

But you're wearing them, so they're actually, you're using them and they're giving value to your life.

Yeah, but this is the last time I'm gonna wear these.

This is like a wedding, but it's a red carpet dress.

I don't know what I'm wearing, but because I'm on a native show called Reservation Dogs, right?

I just wanna get into the spirit of things.

Yeah, this is, because if I was ever native and I was in a tribe back in the day, you know what I mean?

No, I'm gonna weave baskets with the ladies.

And I would make, after the hunt, I would probably make some, so some of the guys make love to me.

Yeah, because I'm gay, not just because, you know.

Joe Rogan is the definition of alpha male?

If there was a picture of alpha male in the dictionary, it

But you can throw on, what was the last time, let me call you out on that, when was the last time you threw away something that's actually valuable?

Like something valuable to you or valuable in general?

Most things that I buy aren't valuable to me.

There are things that are valuable to me that are like keepsakes for my family and stuff that I will keep forever.

So like in terms of like an old photo of my father or whatnot.

But when it comes to Aviator Nation sweats, like if somebody came over to my house and goes, hey, can I have 6 of those sweatshirts or whatever?

My brother's come over to my house and just done a clearance, you know what I mean?

So the self-critical voice is serving no purpose in terms of, because you're pretty, you know, I'm a fan of yours, so you're known to be a little bit lazy sometimes.

Yeah, so the self-critical voice, don't you think that it's serving a purpose in fighting off the laziness, beating off the laziness?

The self-critical voice that I have, I've been able to compartment, how do you say it?

And I'm able to like, I'm a good avoider.

So for instance, right now, to avoid, I've been playing Stardew Valley.

No, it's a, you can play it on your Switch, but it's on the Xbox, and it's a farming simulation game.

And so I like to farm, you know what I mean?

And so playing video games and doing stuff like that distracts me from what really is going on.

If I could live in a world, you played Morrowind and Skyrim.

I played a little bit of Morrowind, but I didn't like the graphics back then, but I really played the, can I swear on this podcast?

I played the fuck out of Oblivion and Skyrim.

Like 8 characters, played it all the way through, I have to do all the quests, that type of thing.

What's your favorite thing about those games?

So like Stardew Valley, for instance, right?

same thing as Skyrim, the reason why I like it.

There's a lot of like, I have to collect a lot of these things.

I have to just constantly pick things up, you know what I mean?

Like for instance, in Skyrim, there's a mushroom called blisterwort mushroom that you can pick and then you can make it into some sort of formula, right, potion?

So I would spend like literally human 12 hour days just going to every cave and picking up as much blister work as I could.

So you're actually the randomly generated quests that these games do, that's designed for people like you.

Yeah, there's always something to do, and I find, like when you play a game that's linear, like there's certain games where you have to go this way.

I like open world games where I can make choices and I can grind if I want.

Would you stay in that world if you could live in that world in the Elder Scrolls world?

In reality or become like an animated thing in there?

If you look at Skyrim, you mentioned graphics, it's starting to get realistic.

Like I'll sometimes just walk around, I mean it's been a while, but I'll just walk around in Skyrim.

You can, there's code you can turn off enemies and you just walk around.

You can just listen to music and just walk around.

No, no, no, if you and I were able to go into Skyrim, right, and walk around and live together.

I would, because we don't have to find a bandit.

But I thought you said it's all but the potion,

You could be the guy that defends our place, right?

I'll gather all the blisterwort, all the whitecaps, all the mushrooms, I'll get all the food, you know what I mean?

Right, or Winterhold, and I'll do all the crusts that have nothing to do with, you know what I mean?

No dragons, but we would have a banquet, we'd invite the Dark Brotherhood, right?

The Fighters Guild, we'd definitely invite them.

I'm a thief guy, yeah, I'm a thief guy for life.

And you still wouldn't invite Andrew Schultz to that?

So I met him at the Montreal Comedy Festival and him and I are kindred souls.

We've communicated on the phone, this and that, and to me, and then he invites Whitney Cummings, which Whitney is a good friend of mine, but what I'm saying is that I know Andrew as well as Whitney knows him.

I don't think that Whitney knows them more than I do.

What if it was a competition, like it was a tie, you know, like, and be it like a Bobby Lee versus Whitney.

What, in what way do you think she's better?

Right, so she's a comedian, she has all these alpha males coming and he's like, all right, I have 1 more seat left.

Whitney or Bobby, but Bobby is, although I don't think there was a lot of Koreans there, so he could've used that card.

Right, but I think he went for, you know, Whitney's a woman, it's better for optics.

Okay, so she was a diversity hire for the wedding.

I have to say, I don't, it was Joe Rogan.

Are those the only comedians that were there?

I spent the whole time talking to Joe, so I think,

no, I don't think there was that many comedians.

So I'm kind of joking about, it was a pretty, pretty small wedding.

As a grappler, to you, if I don't know jujitsu, is there only 1 kind of grappling that you like?

Yeah, there's levels to this game, I think.

That's a surprising fact that you've dropped that.

It almost feels like a lie, Because you've said that before that you were a wrestler in high school, it doesn't make sense.

Well, it's funny that you say that, because, and I'm gonna cause a little controversy here.

But Joe Rogan, 1 time came to me, when he lived in LA, this is years ago, he said, you're a liar, you've never grappled.

And I go, yes I did, you're a fucking liar, no you didn't.

And at that time, I didn't have any photos to prove it, but if you look at my Instagram, I have photos.

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Bobby Lee: Comedy, Skyrim, Sex Robots, Love, Fame, and Power | Lex Fridman Podcast #287