I’m old enough to remember the sitcom News Radio. That was one of Joe Rogan’s first gigs! He starred on that sitcom with Dave Foley, Maura Tierney, Phil Hartmann and Andy Dick. After that, he hosted reality shows and announced UFC shows. I think the UFC gigs are what shifted everything for Rogan – he became a relatable, muscle-bound bro beloved by a certain toxic male demographic. I just find it useful to go back to the start of everything to see where everything went off the rails. How one f–knut actor became the North Star for incels and douchebags. Rogan currently has a very lucrative and popular Spotify show, but he’s also decided to dip his toe back in the entertainment world. Not acting, but stand-up. Netflix gave Rogan a “comedy special.” It went poorly. The special is called Burn the Boats and it’s his first “special” since 2018. He basically stood up there and ranted about vaccines and transgender folks.
Joe Rogan’s latest special, named “Burn the Boats,” debuted live on Netflix on Saturday night and amplified some of the controversial views he has discussed on his podcast before. Yet he was also self-deprecating about his perceived impact on culture. “That might be misinformation,” he said, as the tag of a joke early on. “Don’t say you heard it from me, because I am known for that sh-t.”
Rogan discussed his skepticism of COVID vaccines early in the special.
“COVID was just so strange,” he said. “And we lost a lot of people during COVID, and most of them are still alive. There’s a lot of people that I don’t f–k with anymore. Before COVID, I would have told you that vaccines are the most important invention in human history. After COVID, I’m like, ‘I don’t think we went to the moon. I think Michelle Obama’s got a d-ck. I think Pizzagate is real. I think there’s direct energy weapons in Antarctica.’ I’m just kidding — I don’t think Michelle Obama’s got a d-ck, but I believe all of that other sh-t.”
Later, he skewered the blowback about COVID discussions on his podcast, saying, “If you’re getting your vaccine information from me, is that really my fault?”
Elsewhere in the special, he followed in the footsteps of comedians like Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais, who have been criticized for jokes about trans people in their specials. Rogan started his similar batch of material with a run of jokes about “pregnant men” and then broadened it to his viewpoint that trans acceptance has been happening too quickly in American culture.
“I’m open-minded,” he said. “I just want to know what happened. It’s almost like a pervert wizard waved a magic spell on the whole world. ‘With a wave of this wand, you can walk into the women’s locker room with a hard c-ck, and anybody who complains is a Nazi. Abracadabra!’ And it just works! And everyone just accepts this new reality, and it’s f–king weird. I just think we need standards. You can’t just put lipstick on and now you can sh-t in the women’s room!”
Later on, he turned his attention to gay men, saying, “I don’t hate anybody. I love everyone. And I love gay men. But I think about gay men the same way I think about mountain lions: I’m happy they’re real, but I don’t want to be surrounded by them. They’re a bunch of dudes who f–k dudes. I don’t like my chances, OK? They’re not unicorns — they’re just men who f–k men. And every man who’s ever lived is a shifty c-m salesman, OK? 100%. Especially the ones who say they’re not.”
I need a shower after reading all of that. What has always struck me about the “trans panic” and the selective obsession with bathrooms is that all of their supposed concerns are confessions. They’re always talking about what THEY would do if they went into women’s bathrooms (rape), what they would do if they were gay (rape) and what they want to do in their vision of a perfect society (rape without consequences). The anti-vaxx stuff is so… exhausting. We’re apparently still doing it in the year of our lord Beyonce 2024. I have one subtle agreement with Rogan, which is that “vaccine conspiracies” are sort of the gateway-conspiracy for all of the other bullsh-t. If you’re gullible and stupid enough to believe that vaccines are a government conspiracy to implant 5G in your brain, you’re more susceptible to believe that IKEA and Pizza Hut coordinate a trafficking ring.
Sidenote: all of the people screaming about trafficking conspiracies are always so f–king silent about Donald Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
I remember a time when there was no Joe Rogan.
If you want an example of the opposite kind of stand-up comedian, check out Hannah Gadsby or Josh Johnson.
I also heartily recommend Hannah Gadsby!
Rogan can’t even go back to being the bad hair host on “Fear Factor”.
I like News Radio and I barely remember him in it. So many other notable comedic actors on that show. As far Rogan, he is WAY past his expiration date. And yes, I too need a shower after reading that excerpt.
Apparently, I’ve been living under a rock because I hadn’t heard about this great partnership. WTF NETFLIX? This needs to be removed and they need to apologize. And I need to cancel my subscription. I only keep it for GBBO anyways. And that’s kinda going to sh#t, too.
The lady doth protest too much. Something you would like to share Joe? This is a safe space. It’s always telling when these so called straight guys seemed to be too obsessed with gay and trans people.
For the life of me, I cannot understand this guy’s popularity.
He allows small people (mostly white men) to feel good about being small, hateful, spiteful, jealous, and single. He affirms their weakest, worse traits for them. He tries to normalize bigotry. He is truly a vile and worthless human being.
He makes dumb guys feel smart and validates their hatred.
We turned on Netflix last night just to see what was available and this was on the main screen and my husband was like, is there a way to block certain people on here? I said the best we could do was “downvote” it or whatever, which we did. But still, ewwww, right there on the main screen.
He’s so vile.
I wish I knew why Netflix keeps recommending this show to me – I don’t even watch their comedy specials but so far it’s right there on my home screen and I’ve gotten two emails reminding me it’s available to watch.
Even back when he was hosting shows on MTV, he’s creeped me out, and he’s only gotten worse.
Boring!
Ugh, my brother started listening to Rogan a couple of years ago and now he’s literally a neo-Nazi. The pipeline of stupid to outright dangerous is so real and I’m just exhausted from all the contempt and pity I feel towards these men.
My husband has also been drinking the Joe Rogan kool aid for some years now. There’s been a clear shift in his way of thinking, which I deeply dislike. I actually had arguments with my husband during the peak of COVID over ivermectin, vaccines, and the blatant misinformation he was spreading. My husband has become quite bigoted and I detest it (constantly mocks non-binary people and thinks it’s hilarious to say he identifies as a toaster etc). It’s literally the only podcast he listens to, and it’s rotting his brain and any sensibility he had.
I’m now at the point where I can tell when he’s spouting some Joe bullshit. And don’t get me started on the Elon fanboying 😫
Same. I can empathize, my husband loves Rogan. I told him the other day I didn’t like the hateful asshole he was becoming. Told him to talk to his brother about his nonsense, not me bc I don’t want to hear it. Rogan is dangerous.
I have so much empathy for you – my husband was a regular Joe Rogan podcast listener/watcher and it was only when Rogan started being an idiot about vaccinations that he stopped watching. He still believes most of the rest of that cr*p, though I like to think I’ve blunted it to some degree. Maybe I’m fooling myself. At least I got him to vote for Biden in the last election because he understood that we couldn’t let Trump have another term, but he keeps bringing up Kennedy to me this year despite the vaccine disinfo and I do not understand. Anyway, just jumping in to commiserate with you – good luck, I hope things improve at home!
The algorithms have been shown to lead people, especially young men, deeper and deeper into hateful “alt-right” sites. (“Alt-right” because I’m probably not allowed to type something more accurate.) Rogan has gotten rich being an enthusiastic part of the pipeline. That’s his only value.
Ugh. Netflix is up next in our streaming rotation and I was looking forward to Umbrella Academy and the “fancy rich people do crime” mini series with Nicole Kidman, but now I’m thinking I’ll push it off until Christmas so I don’t give numbers to Joe Rogan. Even though I would never watch it, I don’t want to be a part of “new subscribers” that could be associated with him.
Joseph is as stupid as he is ugly.
Rest assured, Mr. Rogan, gay men have far better things and people to do than be around you lmao.
I really hate that Chapelle gets lumped in with these idiots at all because, having watched this special, his jokes weren’t at all this lowbrow gay panic bullshit. He was asking a broader question about where’s the acceptable line for comedy and whether any group should actually be safe from it given that we’re willing to laugh at every other sharp jab he’s made in the best at various minorities. Disagreeing with him is fine, but, IMO, this isn’t the same as what Gervais and Rogan have done.
I believe Rogan has said that he’s. on HRT for low testosterone. If that’s true I think part of the vitriol he spews may be due to his deep-seeded fears of his own inadequacy as a man and insecurity of his masculinity. He’s so easily threatened and so are his followers. They vote for Trump because the desperately want to go back to the social order of the early 19th century where white men ruled completely and could say/do whatever they wanted to minorities and women (who had absolutely no say in anything).
💯 Secure, confident men don’t talk like that. Aren’t attracted to talk like that.
Oh he revealed some things there. I hate that I laughed out loud at “shifty c*m salesmen.” He doesn’t want to be around gay men because he “doesn’t like his chances” that he might fall for one of their sales pitches. So he’s not a perfect 0 on the Kinsey Scale. He has to avoid temptation. I wonder how much of his bombast functions to distract from the funny feelings he gets from being around shirtless muscle men.
I said on another post that RFK JR, Musk, and Rogan were mediocre men who ended up rich and are now pumping steroids/testosterone into their bodies.
The insecurity they feel is absolutely tangible at this point.
The only point where he’s somehow right is “If you’re getting your vaccine information from me, is that really my fault?” except that he should have said something more like “if you’re getting any type of information from me then you’re just a stupid idiot”.
That guy is just plain disgusting and I really don’t understand what Netflix’s goal is except that they just want to be edgy. They just end up looking gross for plateforming such a stupid person.
Pass. Hard pass.
I am so looking forward to the tired, old, expired ideas of shame, oppression, and bigotry Republicans brought to be replaced with the vibrant, heartfelt, dedicated energy that the new wave is bringing. Onward and upward Baby! Let’s go Kamala!
My heart bleeds for those who canceled Netflix because of the donation to Kamala. Little did they know they’d be missing out on seeing one of their heroes spew his hatred into the airwaves.
If he looks like a bellend, talks like a bellend and acts like a bellend…
🎯
Funniest thing – he’s getting dragged for looking like a minion.
The only thing I agree with him – that there’s a big possibility Kamala will beat Trump.
I still remember back when no one took Joe Rogan’s opinions seriously because he was just a random semi-funny comedian talking out of his ass. Throwing a bunch of conversational goop at the wall and seeing what stuck. Well, over time, he learned what stuck. And now we have this Joe Rogan. He is what his listeners made him. He gives the people what they want. I feel like he’s what Art Bell could have turned into if his soul had been eaten by capitalistic worms.