#bryan callen

On February 10, 2007, Joe Rogan confronted Carlos Mencia at The Comedy Store over Mencia stealing jokes from many comedians. I had been doing stand-up comedy for less than a year and, along with Michael Richards’s notorious performance at The Laugh Factory, these were the pinnacle “viral” moments of that year. In 2007, Mencia had more popularity than Rogan. The incident led to Rogan being banned from The Comedy Store at the time.

Flash forward now 14 years and things are dramatically different for both Rogan and Mencia. Mencia has been outed as a joke thief and perhaps a sociopath and his career has never been the same as he travels around the country doing shows that last long enough that comedy club staffs are likely falling asleep. Rogan, on the other hand, has become the most influential comedian in the business to the point that somehow he was considered a legitimate debate moderator by former President Donald Trump.

How did we get here? How did Joe Rogan go from being a man that stood up for joke authenticity and the “code” of stand-up comedians to a man encouraging you to not get vaccinated and giving a platform to voices that are everywhere from conspiracy theorists to flat out racists?

Rogan’s rise from basically the host of a show where people eat disgusting stuff to an actual influential political voice is admirable. He was on the forefront of comedy podcasts and his The Joe Rogan Experience aligned perfectly with the rise of UFC and his status as a commentator with that sport. In its early days, The Joe Rogan Experience was an impressive show. I was amazed at Rogan’s ability to have an engaging conversation that led to podcast episodes lasting sometimes over 3 hours. But, with the right guests, the listener didn’t get bored. That’s a skill in a medium where 1 hour is usually sufficient before a listener starts tuning out a voice or subject matter. Rogan brought on his quality friends in comedy or even within UFC and had conversations specific to those topics. Sure, he’d have the occasional alien talk with some sort of expert in that field or would get inquisitive about mind-altering drugs, but for the most part, it was a grounded, casual conversation.

At some point, things went off the rails. Part of that came with Rogan, for reasons that are unclear to me, no longer taking responsibility for what was being said on his podcast as if he was unaware of its huge popularity. The early days of The Joe Rogan Experience were over. No longer could Rogan simply have casual conversations with his guests, be “too high,” or any other such relaxed excuses especially as Rogan began to discuss far more serious issues in the political and social spectrum and doing so with guests completely unqualified to be talking about those subjects. Rogan’s guests included his certain stable of comedians from Tom Segura (hilarious) to Tony Hinchcliffe (WTF?) to Brendan Schaub (he is not a comedian). And, yet, Rogan continued to do that. He continued to have free-flowing conversations with no fact-checking under the idea that it is comedy but was actually having a serious, influential impact on his hardcore fan base.

This is, depending upon who you ask, more insulting and offensive than the joke theft Rogan so prided himself on exposing. Forget Denis Leary dancing on Bill Hicks’s grave. Forget Mencia taking a small, hackneyed joke from Ari Shaffir. This is now as if Leary is telling you not to vaccinate yourself based off no facts. This is now as if Mencia gives a stage to racists and anti-trans speech without any counterpoints. Rogan has become worse than what he supposedly once stood for in the comedy community.

The disciples of Rogan who have no doubt found success due to their connection to him and his podcast only have continued the lack of responsibility. Bryan Callen and Brendan Schaub toured during the pandemic spreading COVID-19 to themselves and others while spreading conspiracy theories on the topic. Andrew Schulz’s Netflix special (which I admit I’ll never watch) apparently contains a bunch of material lacking facts and blaming China for COVID-19. Chris D’Elia took no real accountability for his sexual misconduct, chalking it up to addiction and thus insulting all addicts in the process of trying to resurrect his career. And then there’s Tony Hinchcliffe who recently was simply racist towards his host (a.k.a. co-worker) on a show in Austin.

When you offer no rules to individuals lacking rules to begin with, you bring out all the worst of the Wild West components to comedy. Lenny Bruce may have opened the door but now Joe Rogan is shitting on it. Yes, it’s amazing to have “free speech” but if we take no responsibility for what we say and do no research on what we’re speaking on, then comedy might as well just be a lunatic screaming on a park bench. And, in some ways, it has become that. There are no punchlines, just random insults with no actual joke structure. Give Mencia credit. At least he stole jokes that had punchlines. Rogan is just endorsing garbage to be spewed under the guise of comedy.

It saddens me because I actually like Rogan but I like a Rogan from another era in comedy. I like a Rogan that stood up for the younger comedians. I liked a Rogan that stood up for the ethics of comedy. I also like a Rogan who is an intelligent, analytical UFC commentator who clearly knows his stuff on mixed martial arts. That Rogan has taken a back seat to whatever he is now as a podcast host and political influencer. Now this Rogan is the one that punches down, is one that makes no effort with his mind or with his humor, is one that honestly will keep the money rolling in for the more ridiculous, the more inaccurate, and the more controversial.

To this day, just as I did when I started doing comedy in 2006, I research what I talk about in my jokes. It’s important to me that, given the opportunity to have a stage, I provide an audience with accurate details related to my humor. It’s a matter of authenticity and it’s a matter of respect. But with the nature of how comedy is operating now where the lines have become so blurred that the satire has now become the actual comedian, that kind of responsibility and mutual respect is disappearing. I’m actually more incentivized to spew inaccuracy, hate, and confusion. How that is considered beneficial for society and entertainment is beyond me but I suppose that’s what happens when you operate more on “clicks” than laughs and more on “freedom” than responsibility.

May the Fourth Schooled Style

Put on a happy face... 🤡