If you know him a little bit and then they’re gone, that sucks.
Joe: Are you close with your dad?
Eric: I never met my dad. You know, single parent. You never met my dad. So thanks for bringing that up.
Joe: I don’t know mine either. Mine’s name is Joe Rogan. Shit, he’s out there someplace.
Eric: He’s out there. Yeah, I’ve never met my dad. And then I thought, people — did you ever want to meet your dad? Did you ever see…
Joe: You know what’s funny? My mom — I mean, I met him. I knew him until I was like six.
Eric: Oh, that’s worse. I never knew. So I think that’s when — if you know him a little bit and then they’re gone, that sucks. The good thing is, it made me realize that you can’t count on people, but you can count on trust issues. I did definitely become someone that people count on, and count on people.
Joe: That’s what you do. I have a tight group of friends. Like, me and my friends are very close.
Eric: I get it. I would do anything for my friends. And family too. See, I have a certain — there’s a certain level of loyalty that I have because of that.
Joe: Yeah, well, you understand it. Where someone who grows up in a big household filled with people, and the family was always there and everyone was there, you might take people for granted a little bit. You know, whereas for me, camaraderie and closeness and all that shit means a lot to me. It’s very, very important.
I had the name for like a week
Eric: I remember asking my mom about my dad when I was like, I don’t know, 17, 18. You know, and she got really offended. She was like, “I raised you.” And that made me think, like — but women have their secrets. Like, they have their things. And I didn’t want her to — I don’t regret her. I didn’t want to pry, and I didn’t want to find out, like, maybe he wanted to be in my life. But my mom was like, no. Who knows, you know? My mom, she could have been vindictive like that, but I don’t know. But I didn’t hold it against her.
But she told me his name, and she was like, if you want to do this on your own, you know, that kind of thing. And I had the name for like a week. And then I forgot it. And that told me that it didn’t matter. So ever since, I never worried about it.
Joe: Good for you. Yeah, there’s some people that it bothers them for their whole life.
Your bond with your kids
Joe: I’ll tell you one thing though: when you have kids, your bond with your kids — I mean, I would assume that everyone’s bond with their children is very tight, because it’s an unbelievable love connection that you have with children. It’s a true unconditional love. It’s not just true unconditional — it’s like they’re a drug. Like, they give you love to the point where, like, my daughter, my youngest — we were playing the other day in the pool, and there was a point in time we were just laughing about something together, just laughing, and I’m looking at her face and she’s laughing, and I felt like I was on drugs. I was like, the love that I have for these people is so intense. And it’s also — I didn’t get that when I was a kid.
I didn’t know exactly what you’re saying, man.
I was a latchkey kid
Joe: My parents, my — you know, my mom worked, my stepdad was a really good guy, but no one was ever around. You know, there’s just — there was no — and when they were done working, everybody was tired, you know. I was a latchkey kid, you know. When I was like seven years old, I lived in San Francisco. I would go out and do a magic show on Fisherman’s Wharf by myself, just wander around the city. They would open the door, you just leave.
Eric: Seven. I can’t imagine that. I spent a lot of time by myself too, because my mom was working and, like, by herself, trying to make it, trying to make sure that I had a good life. So I was just by myself, you know.
Joe: Eric, if you have kids with this young lady or another young lady, your connection with that kid will — it’ll blow your fucking mind. It’ll change who you are.
Eric: I feel like that’s what I’ve been lacking. That’s why I’ve been more open to, you know, thinking about these kinds of things.
Joe: You seem like a dad.
Eric: Yeah.
Joe: Well, because I’m looking, I’m picturing you a dad.
I’ve been taking care of people my whole life
Eric: Right. My whole life I’ve been like, you know, I’ve been like that role for so many people in my life, right? You’re holding a baby and turning over drunk. I’m taking — yeah, man. I’ve been taking care of people. I’ve been taking care of people my whole life, man. It’s crazy.
So that’s why I always feel like — I’ve already had — one of my best friends in the world is like someone that I’ve had to take care of. You know, he’s had a little drinking problem. And yeah, but I’ve been there the whole time. And even though people would be like, you know, you have to, like, you know that people — they think that you have to let them hit rock bottom and get — but I’m just not like that.
Joe: Yeah, I’ve been through that too. I had a very good friend of mine, that’s my best friend, who died of heroin, and he was always fucked up. There was always something. It was always — he had a crack problem for a while, and then he got on pills, and it was — he was either snorting it, or it was like — Artie Lange very much reminds me of this guy, and Joey Diaz did a little bit too. When I first met Joey, it was like right after my friend Johnny — well, it was right before Johnny had died. Johnny was still alive. But I’d known people like Joey because of my friend Johnny. You know, it’s just, I always was there for him.
I was always trying to take care of him. I was always trying to help him. But it was just, he was — always there was always something going wrong, and it never — but there was these brief moments, man, where he’d be fine and we’d be laughing and we’d have the best time, and that’s why you fight for it. It’s those times. Because I was always thinking that one day he was going to get it together.
Comedy has been dampering my own depressions
Eric: I had the same thing with my friend. It’s like it’s still going on with me right now. It’s like, you know when you have — when you deal with someone that deals with depression, real depression? You know, lost his mother, and, you know, how that affected his whole life. And it’s like, so I’m there, and he’s younger than me, so I feel this mentorship, and I just feel like a loyalty that I just can’t shake.
Right. So that’s that. And I know when I go to therapy, I want to ask, why am I this way? Right, you know? And then I realized that comedy has been dampering my own depressions, or my own feelings, because I feel like I’m dealing with it in some way. So sometimes I go and talk about things, and I talk about things in a way I just know holds bar, because I want to get this out, right? I feel like this, you know, or if I don’t like something. And then combine that with, we live in a society right now where people don’t want to necessarily hear an opinion that is not theirs.
Joe: Well, there’s definitely a little of that, right?
Eric: And so then therefore we get this, like — it becomes tougher and tougher to do what we do, but it’s not going to stop me from doing it. But it’s sweeter and sweeter when you pull it off, you know, especially controversial shit.
Joe: Yeah, you just got to navigate the waters.
Eric: That’s exactly what I feel like I’ve been doing. And I think I did it with this special. I think I tried to talk about things in a way where I was like, okay, you may not agree, but you don’t have to vilify me, you know. You don’t have to, like, you know — but anyway, it all goes back to, like, who we are as people because of, like, our parents, you know, right?
And it’s like, I love my mom, I love my stepdad. Stepdad’s a great guy. I’m glad he’s in my mom’s life. You know, they’re off in Spain right now. They moved to Spain like — like I say, like a year and a half ago. And so they’re there, you know, and I’m happy that she’s happy in a later part of her life.
That’s awesome.