Joe Rogan

Recently I had the good fortune to watch two Joe Rogan comedy specials on Netflix Streaming.   The man is seriously funny.   As so often happens when I discover something I like, I go on the Interweb and look for more stuff by the same person.  With regard to Joe Rogan, this is what I found.

NewsRadio.   A network sitcom from 1995-1999.   The main actors are Dave Foley – best known from “The Kids in the Hall” – and Phil Hartman, best known from Saturday Night Live, particularly his dead-on portrayals of Reagan, Bill Clinton and Frank Sinatra.  Sadly his wife had some serious issues and killed him and then herself.  Not good.  Maura Tierney, the patient mom in “Liar Liar” opposite Jim Carrey, and Stephen Root, later playing Milton in “Office Space” and more recently the Man in the High Castle himself, plays the boss.  

Where does Joe Rogan fit in this?  He’s the radio station’s electrician, who comes in periodically to make off color remarks and set up Dave’s laptop for Internet porn. 

UFC/MMA.  He became interested in jiu-jitsu, karate, and mixed martial arts, eventually achieving more fame and notoriety as an announcer (e.g. for UFC) than a participant, according to his website he achieved black belt at age 15.  [I took aikido for several years in the late 90s and finished up with a first degree black belt.   I suppose a Steven Seagal blog may be coming up in the distant future, but no promises.]

Fear Factor (2001-2006 and 2011-12).   I zoned out on this when it was on, as I’m not a fan of reality shows, let alone one which has the contestants doing all sorts of weird, gross and disgusting stuff.  He may have been an excellent host for all I know, but the subject matter of the show is too far distant from my interests to induce me to watch simply for his sake.

The Zookeeper (2011).  Kevin James' marginally memorable film about a zookeeper.  Rogan plays his romantic rival for the love of Stephanie (Leslie Bibb).  He seems to be playing an evil version of himself, in any case far more entertaining than James, and in that regard competitive with Ken "Venom" Jeong and the animals themselves for being the true stars of this movie.  

PodCasts.    These are long but intriguing.   So far I’ve only seen the one with the mushroom guy, Paul Stamets (#1035), but he’s done many others.  Most are with MMA people and fellow comedians, but here’s a nonexhaustive list of the ones who I recognized and interest me:  Kevin Smith (three times), Anthony Bourdain, Doug Benson, Bobcat Goldthwait, Tommy Chong, Maynard James Keenan (singer for TOOL), Andrew Dice Clay, David Lee Roth, Paul Stanley, Joe Perry, Gary Johnson, Jesse Ventura, Jordan Peterson, Scott Adams, Ronda Rousey, Jay Leno, Roseanne Barr, Diamond Dallas Page, Larry Sharpe, Elon Musk, Henry Rollins, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Russell Peters, Dave Foley, Andy Dick (both on NewsRadio), Adam Corolla, James Hetfield, Shirley Manson, Jamie Foxx, Pauly Shore, Russell Brand, Danica Patrick, and Mel Gibson.  As I said, non-exhaustive.  These are fairly long, so I have neither the time nor patience to watch them all.

Standup Comedy.   By now I’ve seen several amateur comedy shows at clubs and one professional:  Russell Peters at Atlantic City.  Rogan himself has been doing it for 20 years, but as yet I haven’t seen him and don’t see that he’s currently touring.  I have seen his two Netflix Comedy Specials.  These are stand-up shows filmed for and shown on Netflix:  the ones I’ve seen are his two most recent:  Triggered (2016) and Strange Times (2018).  Add him to Ali Wong on my list of comedians I care enough to consider seeing live.

Politics.  Rogan is libertarian, so I share his views.  He’s pro-weed and pro-liberty, and not shy about supporting libertarian causes and candidates (Larry Sharpe and Gary Johnson were both on his show).   Not only that, he’s vocal about this in his comedy shows, so by all means knock yourself out.  Somehow I doubt he’ll run for any office, but we’ll see.  Who imagined we’d have the current President?