The Joe Rogan Experience
The Joe Rogan Experience is a podcast hosted by American comedian, presenter, and UFC color commentator Joe Rogan. It launched on December 24, 2009, on YouTube by Rogan and comedian Brian Redban, who was its sole co-host and producer until 2012 when Jamie Vernon, who would eventually take over production, was hired to co-produce.[3][4] By 2015, it was one of the world's most popular podcasts, regularly receiving millions of views per episode,[5] also including a wide array of guests, including business magnate Elon Musk, whistleblower Edward Snowden, Senator Bernie Sanders, and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. From December 2020 to February 2024, the podcast was exclusively available on Spotify,[6] with highlights uploaded onto the main Joe Rogan Experience YouTube channel. The podcast was originally recorded at Rogan's home in California, before moving to a private studio in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. Production was relocated to Austin, Texas after the podcast was exclusively licensed on Spotify in 2020.
Although most episodes feature entertainers, academics, comics, UFC fighters, and other non-political figures, The New York Times described the podcast as an "unlikely political influencer" in the 2020 U.S. presidential election after presidential candidates Andrew Yang and Tulsi Gabbard both saw measurable surges in popularity and fundraising after making guest appearances on the program. Bernie Sanders received Rogan's endorsement after appearing on his show, and the Sanders campaign promoted it through its online channels. The podcast has been described as a "boundary-free arena", a platform for the intellectual dark web, and has featured a diverse ideological mixture of political guests. Rogan has been criticized for hosting far-right guests and has been accused of using racially insensitive language.[7][8][9] He has also been criticized for his views on the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines, and for hosting a number of guests who expressed views that contradicted medical consensus. Supporters of the podcast have praised Rogan for his advocacy of free speech.[10]
History[edit]
Origins and launch[edit]
The podcast originally began in early 2010 when Rogan hired Brian Redban, a self-taught video editor and an employee at a Gateway 2000 computer store in Ohio, to work for him full-time to film, produce, and edit videos for his website.[11][12] Rogan had noticed video work that Redban did for comedian Doug Stanhope and invited him to film him and his group on stand-up comedy tours.[11] Redban accepted and relocated to California in the process, following Rogan with a camera and "recording everything".[11] After several years, Redban noticed that fans were demanding an increasing amount of content from Rogan and for it to be delivered faster. This prompted the two to seek new ways of quickening what was a lengthy editing process to make their website and content more interactive.[13] Coupled with his interest in popular live video streaming services of the time, Redban wanted "to do the same thing I was filming, but live," and set up live streams on Justin.tv from the green room at Rogan's various comedy gigs.[12][13] Redban had no prior experience with audio engineering, so he taught himself how to operate the mixing board and microphone setups through his subsequent podcasts.[13]
Format[edit]
There are at least four types of episodes, as labeled on YouTube and Spotify. These are the "main" general category (of which there are over 2000 episodes), "JRE MMA Show", "Protect our Parks" and the "Fight Companion" episodes, which are streamed live.
Reception[edit]
The podcast has been described as "an important node of the intellectual dark web",[7] and has featured a diverse ideological mixture of political guests, including Democratic presidential candidates and conservative figures. In a more critical article for National Review, writer Theodore Kupfer wrote that the podcast, hosted by "A weed-smoking DMT-obsessive whose most cherished political cause is the quest to end male circumcision", has become "one of the last bastions for civil discussion in contemporary America".[10]
In August 2010, nine months after its launch, The Joe Rogan Experience entered the list of Top 100 podcasts on iTunes.[23] In February 2014, the podcast won a Stitcher Award for Best Overall Show of 2013.[105] In 2017 and 2018, the podcast was Apple's second-most-downloaded podcast.[7] In January 2019, the podcast won Best Comedy Podcast at the iHeartRadio Podcast Awards.[106][107]