Joe Rogan

I was first introduced to Rogan a few years ago by a good friend and when I was told he was a stand-up comedian I had the response that most people have “the Fear Factor guy does comedy?” 

In fact he does, and he does it very well.  Coming out of Boston, Rogan has a loud, physical, in your face style that cannot be touched.  He talks about it all, not only the typical stand-up subjects of sex, religion, and race, but also about science, philosophy, and other things.  How is he able to make these topics interesting and funny you ask? Well I have no fucking clue, he just does, which is the genius of his act. 

I have been lucky to be able to see him twice live so far, once in Sal’s Comedy Hole (now closed down) in Hollywood, and once at the Pasadena Ice House.  The first live comedy show I ever saw was him at Sal’s.  I took my Israeli father with me, who does have a sense of humor but I wasn't sure of how he’d respond to a lot of cussing and dick jokes.  At the end of the show my dad turned to me and said “you know, he’s a smart man”.

Although he doesn't do it anymore, Rogan was famous for letting the crowd ask questions at the end of the show.  People literally asked whatever they wanted and on a limb and in the moment he would answer with either a story or quick response, both always being funny. He has since stopped doing this because he doesn't like how it ends the show on a weird note.

At the Ice House he has created a show that he does once or a couple times a week where he headlines and has about eight other comics feature under him.  This is a place where they all work out new bits and tighten them up accordingly, and for the most part they are never disappointing.  Rogan kills two birds with one stone by having a podcast in the greenroom at the same time as the show is going on.  So you can listen to a group of comics shooting the shit before they go on stage in “The Icehouse Chronicles”, a podcast produced by Rogan’s tech guy Brain Redban who owns Deathsquad Studios, a great source for comedy podcasts.

Joe has a podcast called The Joe Rogan Experience which I listen to religiously.  It started out as him and Redban sitting on a couch and answering Twitter questions.  Now it is one of the biggest comedy podcasts with over 360 episodes and still going strong.  Joe brings on guests that are fellow comedians, which is how I found out about most of the comedians in this blog, plus many others.  It is because of his podcast that so many people that listen to it can learn about so many other comedians and upcoming shows.  The best part about this podcast is that it isn't only comedy; his guests also include MMA fighters and commentators, nutritionists, journalists, authors, and physicists to name just a few other occupations.  It’s a great podcast to listen to if you want a little bit of everything. His latest comedy special "Joe Rogan, Live from the Tabernacle" was a home-fucking-run.  It is available for download on his website for only $5, so go get it!

You can find all of this stuff at Joerogan.net and Deathsquad.tv, and I highly recommend seeing him live.  He never performs alone and always has his friends feature so the shows are always a good time.  So he’s a stand-up comedian, MMA commentator, marijuana enthusiast, has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, is a partial owner of Onnit Laboratories (an excellent source for real fitness equipment and health products), and does a variety of other entertainment related things,  the most interesting man in the world can suck a dick, it’s this motherfucker!

This is what got me hooked a few back ago

                                          some stand-up