Bert Kreischer: Joe Rogan’s advice to get the f**k away from Travel Channel | Trending Now

0:00Whether you're watching your favorite NBA team at the arena, the bar, or hanging at home, grab an ice-cold Michelob Ultra and enjoy every moment of the NBA season. Stock up today and watch your team drop buckets with a bucket full of ice-cold Ultra. Michelob Ultra. Superior light beer. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch Michelob Ultra. Registered light beer. St. Louis, Missouri. Must be 21 plus to order alcohol. Alcohol available only in select markets. Hey guys, Graham here. It's Friday, which means we get to share with you another one of our most popular clips from a past interview.

0:38This week, Bert Kreischer. What you're about to listen to is trending this week on our Facebook page. Hope you enjoy. I want to ask you about the tough period in your career. I think it's this 2016-ish time frame. Travel Channel drops you. You had upcoming expected tour dates that go away. The Showtime specials, low rated. Take me to like that moment and what's going through your head at the time. So I was panic. A lot of people are always waiting for the other shoe to drop, you know, like they're waiting for the hammer. And it hit. It hit. I was like, I was this guy, had some success on Travel Channel.

1:17I thought I had it all set out. I had these deals at Travel Channel where you'd make, you know, like, I think like$300 ,000 a year guaranteed. And then if they used you more, you can make more money. And I was making like legit money. And I was, I remember kept going like, my dad had a motto, eat s*** and cast checks. Eat s*** and cast checks. And I was sitting with him having a glass of wine and a cigar behind his house. And he said, so what's going to happen with you? And I said, oh, I don't know, dad, eat s*** and cast checks. I hope this Travel Channel, hope I sign another deal. My dad started crying.

1:47He was like, oh, I think I f***ed you up. He was like, each f***ing cash checks are for the guys without talent. He was, you have talent. You need to, you need to, now's the chance. Now's when you take the chance on yourself. You need to, you need to really roll the dice on you or you'll always regret it. You'll be the guy that stayed at Travel Channel because it was safe. Now's the opportunity. And then ran into Rogan. I've got Rogan, I was on a motorcycle in Vietnam and Rogan called me up. He was like, what are you doing? I was like, I'm drunk. I'm high. I'm on a motorcycle running through rice paddies in Vietnam.

2:18Sun's setting. There's water buffalo everywhere. And he's like, you're the f***ing machine. Rogan's like, get the f*** away from Travel Channel. This is who you are. You're a storyteller. You got to talk about this on stage. This is get that your show sucks. Focus on podcasting. And then all those conversations are happening. And I get a call within the same day. I was supposed to get a vasectomy. We started demolition on our house to redo that house, which I didn't. Once again, I don't have money. I'm always panicking. and I get fired from Travel Channel and my Showtime special premieres. It's the lowest rated Showtime special they've ever had because I took my shirt off.

2:52And then I get pulled off the Funny or Die tour and I called Tommy and I said, you know, I'm not doing the tour with you and Joey and Sebastian and Fluffy and Dane. It was a f***ing banger's list. It was an honor to be on that list. And then I get pulled off and I'm like, yeah, I remember Tom's like, f***, man, that's a lot of money to lose out on. And I was like, oh, it's only$2 ,000. And he was like, huh? I said, I'm only getting$2 ,000 for the weekends, and I got to pay for flight and hotel. So I think I'd end up not even, I'd break even maybe or lose money, really. Tom goes, I think you got the numbers mixed up.

3:26And I was like, no. It's$2 ,000 a weekend. I go, wait, what are you getting paid? And Tom's like, I don't want to tell you. I was like, why? He goes, I think it'll f*** our friendship. I was like, whoa, hold on. And then in my head, I do the math. I go, okay. All right. he's getting$10 ,000 a week. He's getting maybe$15 ,000 a week. Okay, he's got a great Netflix special. He's my friend. I love him. I want him to be successful. I want success for my friend. And I said, you can tell me. He said, are you sure this isn't going to f*** up our friendship? And I remember I put my phone on the desk, on speaker.

4:04I put my elbows on my knees. I was getting ready to work out. At the time, Tom is fat shaming me on Twitter, and it's going viral. Rogan loves it. He thinks it's hilarious. Like, you guys need to do weigh-ins on our show. You should do a fat challenge, see who loses the most weight. And I have this conversation with Tom. And mind you, my house has been destroyed. My house is destroyed. I'm getting on the treadmill. I'm fat as f***ing s***. And Tom's like, 20 grand. And I went, eh, it's not that bad. Are you making 20 grand a weekend? He goes, no, a show. And I went, hold on. You're making$20 ,000 a show?

4:37And he was like, yeah. He's like, I'm sorry. And I was like, no, it really, it really is like the most pivotal thing that ever happened in my career because it forced me to realize just exactly where I was. Well, it's like at a certain point, every athlete realizes I'm not going pro. And at that moment I went, wow, that's my value in this business. And I was like, I can't be real. I got to change it. I got to do things. I got to do what I think is right. And I had already learned how to edit and I'd been doing a vlog. and the vlogs had gotten a little traction. And I really took control of everything.

5:13I started editing videos and putting clips up online and I posted the machine story. I posted fighting a bear. I posted all the stuff from my, I didn't even ask permission. As a matter of fact, I almost got sued by Showtime. I put up all the clips from the special. Machine story goes viral. The Rock reshares one of my fat shaming things with, everything's going in the right direction. Everything seems like it's getting received well. And then we did the fat shaming thing and the loser lost his beard. Now, once again, I had a thought. I was in therapy talking to my therapist about it. I said, I'm really nervous about losing my beard.

5:50And my therapist very casually goes, I wouldn't. I mean, if you said that you could put me on Rogan and all he had to do was shave my face. Do you know how many people Google my face? And then I was like, the weight loss challenge. If I lose, I get my beard shaved, probably more people are going to Google what my beard, what I look like without a, I was like, it's just like a, it's like the guy, it's like when MC Hammer sold shirts, MC Hammer. And he was making double the money. And so we did the challenge. I lost Tom beat me. He shaved my beard. It was one of the funniest moments I've ever had.

6:22The machine story goes viral. And then I did, I started to do my own posters. I started doing everything. Everything was like in-house. It was all me doing everything. And from that moment until today, every show I've ever done sold out. Every show. I remember the first weekend, I asked them, why are you here? And the guys are like, dude, f***ing the machine. I was like, I've retired that story, guys. And they're like, the f*** you have? Before you leave, here's a quick shameless plug. Please follow us at Graham Bensinger on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat for tons of new content each week.