Joe Rogan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Rogan

Joseph James "Joe" Rogan (born August 11, 1967) is an American comedian and sports color commentator. Born in New Jersey, Rogan learned martial arts as a teenager, earning a black belt in Taekwondo where he became a US champion. A fan of comedy, he began his stand-up career in 1988 in the Boston area and has since recorded several albums and specials.

In the 1990s, Rogan moved to Los Angeles and was cast on the television sitcoms Hardball and NewsRadio until 1998. He started working with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 1997 and has since become a color commentator for them. Rogan has also hosted the reality series Fear Factor and Joe Rogan Questions Everything. In December 2009, Rogan began his podcast named The Joe Rogan Experience with his friend and comedian Brian Redban where they converse with a variety of guests on his topics of interest.

Early life

Rogan was born on August 11, 1967 in Newark, New Jersey. He was raised in Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts until age seven, followed by San Francisco, California until he was eleven, and then Gainesville, Florida. The family then settled in Newton Upper Falls, where Rogan attended Newton High School. He is of Irish and Italian descent. At five, Rogan's parents divorced. His father, a police officer in Newark, has not been in contact with him since he was six years old. Rogan said of his father, "All I remember of my dad are these brief, violent flashes of domestic violence...But I don't want to complain about my childhood. Nothing bad ever really happened to me ... I don't hate the guy."

In his early teenage years, Rogan started to practice martial arts. At fourteen, he took up karate and began to compete in taekwondo competitions; one time his teacher made Rogan, then a blue-belt, fight with black-belt students. At nineteen, he won a US Open grand championship tournament, meaning that as a lightweight, he also defeated competitors of the middle and heavyweight classes. In addition, he was a full-contact champion for four consecutive years in Massachusetts and became an instructor in the sport. He was also a kickboxer, holding an amateur record of 2-1. Rogan retired from competition at 21 as he suffered from frequent headaches and feared worse injuries. He briefly attended University of Massachusetts Boston.

Career

Rogan became a fan of stand-up comedy in his teenage years, but had no intentions of pursuing it professionally at first. He once went with his parents to see Richard Pryor perform, which affected him "in such a profound way. Nothing had made me laugh like that." In the 1980s, Rogan's friends at taekwondo school convinced him to have a go at stand-up comedy. For Rogan, comedy "started for me when I was in the locker room". He performed his first stand-up routine on August 27, 1988 at an open-mic night at Stitches comedy club in Boston, and took up several jobs to secure himself financially by teaching martial arts, delivering newspapers, driving a limousine, construction work, and completing duties for a private investigator. His blue comedy style earned him gigs at bachelor parties and strip shows. One night, he convinced the owner of a comedy club in Boston so he could try a new, five-minute routine. At the show was Jeff Sussman, who liked Rogan's act and asked him to relocate to New York City, becoming his manager in the process. Rogan also cites Richard Jeni and Lenny Bruce as two of his comedy influences.

In 1994, Rogan relocated to Los Angeles, which presented more opportunities. Rogan's first national television spot followed on Half-Hour Comedy Hour on MTV. The network then offered him a role on a pilot episode of a "dopey game show" for $500 with a three-year exclusive MTV deal. Sussman then sent a tape of Rogan's performances to several networks, which began a "bidding war" among them. Rogan accepted a development deal with Disney and accepted his first acting role on the 1994 Fox sitcom Hardball as Frank Valente, a young, ego-centric star player on a professional baseball team. The show aired for two months before it was cancelled. Rogan added, "It was a great show on paper until a horrible executive producer with a big ego was hired by Fox to run the show and he re-wrote it."

From 1995 to 1999, Rogan starred in the NBC sitcom NewsRadio as Joe Garrelli, an electrician at WNYX, a news radio station in New York City. The role was originally set to be played by Ray Romano. Rogan also appeared on MadTV as a guest host, in 1996. He recalled his time on NewsRadio as "a dream gig" that allowed him to earn money while working on his stand-up routines.

Rogan began working for the Ultimate Fighting Championship as an interviewer. His first show took place at UFC 12: Judgement Day in Dothan, Alabama on February 7, 1997, before becoming a blow-by-blow commentator for the promotion in 2002. Dana White, owner of the company, offered him the commentating position, but Rogan declined as he "just want to go to the fights and drink, White eventually hired Rogan for free, provided he gave him event tickets for him and his friends. After around fifteen free gigs, Rogan accepted pay for the job. He won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Award for Best Television Announcer on two occasions. He was also named "MMA Personality of the Year" four times by the World MMA Awards.

In 2000, Rogan signed a three-album deal with Warner Bros. Records and released his first stand-up album, I'm Gonna Be Dead Some Day. He then started work on a concept for a new television sitcom, but development was interrupted after he was offered to host the American edition of Fear Factor on NBC. Rogan declined initially as he thought the network would not air such a program, but Sussman convinced him to accept. Rogan was the host from June 2001 to September 2006. In December 2011, Rogan returned to host the show until July 2012.

In 2002, he appeared on the episode "A Beautiful Mind" of Just Shoot Me as Chris, Maya Gallo's boyfriend. In 2003, Rogan and Doug Stanhope replaced Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla as co-hosts of The Man Show. They continued through the end of the show's run in 2004. His last hosting job was for his own show titled Joe Rogan Questions Everything, which aired six episodes, all in 2013.

In 2007, Rogan confronted comedian Carlos Mencia on stage, accusing him of joke thievery. A video of the incident included evidence and supporting comments from other comedians, including George Lopez, Reverend Bob Levy, Bobby Lee and Ari Shaffir.

In 2009, Rogan began a free podcast with his friend and fellow comedian Brian Redban. The first episode was broadcast on December 24, 2009 and was later titled The Joe Rogan Experience. The podcast features an array of guests who discuss current events, political views, philosophy, comedy, hobbies and numerous other topics. In January 2015, the podcast was listened to by over 11 million people. By October that year, the podcast was downloaded 16 million times each month, making it one of the most popular.

In 2011, Rogan played his first major character in a movie in Zookeeper. He played himself in Here Comes the Boom, another action-comedy starring Kevin James released in 2012.

Personal life

In 2007, Rogan and his girlfriend Jessica had a daughter. They married the following year, and had a second daughter in 2010. The family live in Bell Canyon, California. Prior to their second child, they briefly lived in Boulder, Colorado.

In 1996, Rogan began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Carlson Gracie at his school in Hollywood, California. He is a black belt under Eddie Bravo's 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu, a style of no-gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and a black belt in gi Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Jean Jacques Machado.

Rogan stated in 2010, during an appearance on the Alex Jones radio show, that he was raised Catholic, having attended Catholic school in the first grade, but has since abandoned following any organized religion. He is highly critical of the Catholic Church and, drawing from his experiences as a former member, believes it is an institution of oppression. However, he has also stated that he is not completely opposed to the concept of a "higher power", such as a god, but that no one can know for sure.

Advocacy

Rogan is not affiliated with any political party but has been described as having mostly libertarian views. He endorsed Ron Paul in the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign and has spoken favorably about some of Bernie Sanders' political stances during the 2016 U.S. presidential race.

Rogan strongly supports the legalized use of cannabis and believes it holds numerous benefits. He hosted the documentary film The Union: The Business Behind Getting High and was featured in Marijuana: A Chronic History and The Culture High. He also supports the use of LSD, psilocybin mushrooms and DMT toward the exploration and enhancement of consciousness, as well as introspection. He was the presenter in the 2010 documentary DMT: The Spirit Molecule.

Rogan is an avid hunter and is part of the "Eat What You Kill" movement, which attempts to move away from factory farming and the mistreatment of animals reared for food.

Rogan is opposed to routine infant circumcision and has spoken out about the lack of significant scientific evidence for any benefits to the practice, which he considers not entirely different from female genital mutilation due to its non-consensual nature.

Rogan has an interest in the use of sensory deprivation and the isolation tank. He has stated that his personal experiences with meditation in isolation tanks has helped him explore the nature of consciousness as well as improve performance in various physical and mental activities and overall well-being.