Joe Rogan, Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary deep dive into the prevalence of cocaine in the "wild" 80s": "They just wanted to get paid in coke"

Episode #2240 of The Joe Rogan Experience welcomed world-renowned film directors Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary, both of whom created the all-time great film 'Pulp Fiction,' released in 1994. However, one moment in the episode was about neither the 90s nor filmmaking. Instead, it was about the 80s and cocaine.

Rogan, Tarantino and Avary spoke about how rampant cocaine use was in the 80s, especially in the entertainment industry. In fact, Rogan made the bold claim that Nick's Comedy Stop in Boston offered to pay comedians in either cocaine or money when he used to work there.

"When I worked in Boston at Nick's Comedy Stop, they would offer to pay you in cocaine or cash. There were guys who just took the cocaine. Certain comics, they just wanted to get paid in coke. Yeah, wild times. You know, that's the 80s."

This drew laughter and agreement from both of Rogan's guests, with Tarantino subsequently adding that he and his circle managed to pull themselves back from their heavy cocaine use.

"That was actually even kind of an interesting situation cause it was also one of those things where I was actually really kind of proud of us 'cause we all kind of like, woo, we all kind of went nutty for a little bit with this kind of 'more access to coke' than we normally would have.

"[More access than we] ever had. Because we can't afford that sh*t. So, we all went nuts for a little bit about it, and then we all kind of, 'Okay. Let's bring it together.'"

Check out Joe Rogan, Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary on cocaine use in the 80s (2:32:24):

While the UFC commentator revealed that during his rise as a comedian many of his fellow comics consumed cocaine, Rogan himself appears to have gone a different route.

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Joe Rogan is no stranger to recreational drug use

Cocaine is more synonymous with the film industry, and Hollywood specifically. However, Joe Rogan has always had a stronger link to psychedelics and marijuana. He is an avid smoker, even once smoking marijuana on an episode of his podcast with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, with whom he is now close.

Check out Joe Rogan and J.D. Vance discussing psychedelics (3:01:52):

He has also been an advocate for psychedelic mushrooms, touting their psychological and spiritual benefits, which once led to an argument between him and renowned science popularizer Neil deGrasse Tyson.