Sam Tallent
American stand-up comedian, novelist and host of the Chubby Behemoth podcast
Sam Tallent (American stand-up comedian, novelist and host of the Chubby Behemoth podcast) has appeared as a guest on 1 episode in TMT. Topics they speak about most include American literary fiction and MFA programs, Brut (novel), GLP-1 receptor agonists.
In their words
Positions and remarks grouped by topic, each with the exact quote and where it was said.
American literary fiction and MFA programs
Tallent says the best contemporary fiction is coming from Japan and France rather than the United States.
“The best literature now, the best fiction, comes out of Japan, it comes out of France”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2575 - Sam Tallent (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 1:21:43
Tallent argues that MFA-trained writers produce contemporary American fiction lacking real human experience.
“the books that come out are completely devoid of any kind of real human experience, because these kids have lived in these ivory towers of knowledge”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2575 - Sam Tallent (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 1:21:43
Brut (novel)
Tallent acknowledges that, for his first hardcover release, he deliberately aimed to write commercially appealing genre fiction.
“I wanted to write something that was an easily sellable bit of pulp fiction”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2575 - Sam Tallent (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 3:23
Tallent says Brut began as a short piece about a hitman whose gun jams, which Random House encouraged him to expand.
“I got 30 pages about a hitman killing a guy with his gun that's jammed”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2575 - Sam Tallent (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 2:04
Other remarks
Tallent characterizes the woke versus anti-woke debate as fundamentally about empathy.
“was my whole issue with the woke versus anti-woke. It just felt like empathy versus lack of empathy”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2575 - Sam Tallent (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 2:10:10
GLP-1 receptor agonists
Tallent says he lost weight by first quitting alcohol and then taking Mounjaro under his physician wife's guidance.
“I quit drinking and then I got on Manjaro, which is like I took it because it sounded like Italian food”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2575 - Sam Tallent (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 1:35:40
Stand-up comedy craft
Tallent says he views himself as a product maker and believes comedy should not be political.
“I don't think anyone should be political in comedy ever”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2575 - Sam Tallent (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 1:08:34
Fame
Tallent, quoting Denis Johnson, argues that the collapse of legacy media has led people to blame popular podcasters rather than analyze what happened.
“When drastic changes occur It's much easier to say it's a crime and ask who did it as opposed to saying It's a failure”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2575 - Sam Tallent (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 38:58
Kill Tony
Tallent describes the London O2 Arena Kill Tony show as the worst experience of his career and says it made him question wanting to be an arena act.
“do I want this? Do I aspire to be an arena act? This was the worst thing that ever fucking happened to me”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2575 - Sam Tallent (Nov 3, 2026) · Listen from 33:32
Appearances
#2575 - Sam TallentThe Joe Rogan Experience · Nov 3, 2026 · 2 h 49 min
Joe Rogan and comedian-novelist Sam Tallent discuss Tallent's hitman novel Brut, a disastrous Kill Tony arena show, comedy careers, literature, fitness, and the rise of AI.
Often appears with
- Joe Rogan · 1 shared episode