The Total Collapse of The Joe Rogan Experience

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]There was a time when the Joe Rogan Experience was the one place on the internet that had nothing to do with the news. And for more than a decade, that was one of the reasons it became the biggest podcast in the world. But somewhere between 200 million listeners and a $250 million Spotify deal, the show that everyone had come to know and love completely changed. And ironically, the thing Rogan spent the last 10 years trying to destroy is exactly the thing that he's become. From humble beginnings and goodheart of intentions to burning down everything that made it so special.

[00:00:32]This is the rise and fall of the Joe Rogan experience. Now to understand what's happened, we have to go back to where it all started.

[00:00:41]>> Hello world. We are broadcasting live.

[00:00:46]This is uh my office.

[00:00:48]>> It's late 2009 and Rogan is incredibly early to podcasting. But what most people don't know is why he even started it in the first place. See, at this point, Joe was already decently wellknown. He had done news radio and hosted Fear Factor. And ever since 2000, he had an internet blog where he was connecting with his fans. His website in the early 2000s was a place where fans could get to know him better. From blog posts about his psychedelic experiences to threads about conspiracy theories he was getting wrapped up in, his website wasn't a marketing stunt to sell you more comedy tickets. It was just him writing to anyone who wanted to listen.

[00:01:25]And it showed that underneath his entertainment career, there was someone with a deep, genuine curiosity about the world. Really, all Joe wanted to do was share, discuss, and debate the things that nobody else wanted to talk about.

[00:01:38]But a website in the early 2000s could only do so much. And for someone with that much to say, it wasn't going to be enough for long. Fortunately, there was a new media emerging that was catching Joe's interest. But then when Adam Corolla left the radio and went over and started doing a podcast, I think that was really like the first like I knew a that podcast were a thing. I think I'd heard of them, but no one was doing them. And then when Adam like literally just did a radio show on the internet, I was like, "Oh, okay." Even though Rogan was hearing about these new things called podcasts, he had never actually been on one. And in 2007, most people in entertainment hadn't. The concept was still silly, and if you were going on a podcast, you were almost looked at as an idiot. But Tom Green wasn't most people.

[00:02:24]This was a dude who had hosted SNL, had his own MTV show, was on the cover of Rolling Stones, and recently he had just launched the first internet talk show that the world had ever seen. So when the podcast space started forming, Tom Green was already there. And after stumbling across Rogan's website, he invited them on. That one conversation would change the trajectory of Joe's career forever. I think this whole idea that you're bypassing all the the studios, you're doing this on your own, you're doing it live on the internet, I think is [ __ ] awesome. I I I I don't even give a [ __ ] about normal talk shows. Usually, it's just an opportunity to sit down for 7 seconds and it's all filtered and censored. But I think this is [ __ ] awesome.

[00:03:04]>> This You just need to keep doing this.

[00:03:06]>> Um >> this we need to figure out how you make money from this.

[00:03:09]>> Yeah.

[00:03:10]>> It would only take another year before Rogan realized that he wanted a podcast of his own. And honestly, the whole thing made way too much sense. Here's a guy who'd spent years grinding through the entertainment industry and knew all about middlemen and managers. Podcasting had the potential to cut all that out.

[00:03:26]And even though the probability of it working out was small, if it did, it would change the dynamic of media forever. And in December of 2009, that's exactly what happened. See, the world was a complete mess at this point. The stock market had just collapsed. gamble trading at 60. What the heck is going on down here?

[00:03:46]>> The Iraq war was still raging on and everybody was feeling the effects of a rough last few years. But then there was this some comedian in his office high as a kite talking to his psychotic friends for hours.

[00:03:59]>> I've never watched the Twilights, but I seen what those two little [ __ ] half of fruit cakes look like. I can't believe they're vampires. In my day, vampires were bad [ __ ] Barnabas Collins, that's a vampire. Wow, you just went deep. That guy swear that shadows.

[00:04:13]You know, when you were a vampire, you [ __ ] guys. You [ __ ] chicks. It don't matter. You're a vampire. You ain't gay.

[00:04:18]You just sling dick. You [ __ ] dogs.

[00:04:20]IT DON'T MATTER. YOU'RE A [ __ ] ANIMAL.

[00:04:22]>> STUMBLING across JRE in the early days felt like a breath of fresh air. It was a place to escape all the [ __ ] that was going on. And for a few hours, you could forget that you wanted to jump off a bridge, and you could just listen and laugh. And most importantly, you didn't have to be reminded of everything going wrong in the world. But Rogan's a curious guy, and he had bigger ambitions than just smoking weed and telling stories. At this point, the podcast wasn't big enough to pull big names. But it was big enough to start attracting people who would shaped the identity of the show forever. And the first big non- comedian who came on would turn out to be one of the most popular guests ever.

[00:04:59]in the grounds of that cathedral in a chapel outside the chapel I meet a monk and uh he tells me in the conversation we have that he's got the ark of the covenant in that chapel and I said you know can I go can I can I see it and he said no no nobody can see it even the former emperors were never allowed to see the ark of the covenant >> without even realizing it Rogan had just stumbled into the golden formula of podcasting it wasn't celebrity interviews or hot button topics It was sitting down with someone you're genuinely curious about and just talking. 14 years ago, a 2-hour conversation about Atlantis and the Ark of the Covenant just didn't exist on the internet. Rogan wasn't inventing anything, but he was figuring out what podcasting could be. And soon the word started to spread. Now, JRE was by no means breaking through, but these were conversations that just didn't exist anywhere else on the internet. Whether it was Randall Carlson breaking down sacred geometry, Steven Reinella talking about hunting, or Sam Harris's philosophies on life, the show was starting to change and the new guest were sparking better conversations. And something started to happen that Rogan could have never predicted because the more interesting people who came on, the more interesting people wanted to come on. And the more people tuned in, the more interesting people were willing to show up. It was an unstoppable loop in a new media landscape that nobody had ever seen before, and the numbers really started to reflect it. Episodes that were pulling 50,000 views were now pulling hundreds of thousands. But this was still one of the internet's bestkept secrets. The mainstream world hadn't caught on yet. And for a while, that was the part that made it special. It was like listening to a new band that no one knew about yet. Sure, it had a cult following, but the world was still pretty clueless. But you can't keep something this big underground forever.

[00:06:49]And in 2018, one conversation really changed everything.

[00:06:54]>> I tried to convince people to slow down, slow down AI, to regulate AI. This was futile.

[00:07:02]I tried for years.

[00:07:04]>> This seems scene in a movie. The robots are going to [ __ ] take over. You're freaking me out. Nobody listened.

[00:07:11]>> Nobody listened.

[00:07:11]>> No one. By the end of 2018, the Joe Rogan Experience wasn't some small talk show anymore. Wasn't even really a podcast. At this point, they had turned into a cultural force. And the Elon episode was the moment that helped launch it into its prime. Now, guests like Russell Brand, Lex Freriedman, Whiz Khalifa, and Bob Lazar were showing just how dynamic the podcast could be. And the conversations they were having were so interesting, it was forcing people to tune in. I mean, who wouldn't want to hear Bob Lazar talk about working on UFOs or Russell Bran telling about his insane life? It was an opportunity to listen to these people that you had maybe seen or heard about before, but in a completely new way. And they were able to open up in ways that nobody had ever seen before. I have so many friends who've killed themselves. I have so many like Bourdain asked me for help, but I'm like, you're a [ __ ] [ __ ] dude.

[00:08:01]You're an [ __ ] You murdered yourself. You murdered yourself. But you couldn't even show up for yourself. you.

[00:08:15]The beautiful thing about JRE was that it allowed people to open up in a way that media had never seen before, and none of it was centered around politics.

[00:08:23]Sure, maybe it would come up every once in a while, but the vast majority of every conversation was just about the person sitting across the table, their stories, their experiences, their trials and triumphs, their thoughts, their feelings. And there was no better way to escape your boring ass day at work than listening to someone like Matthew Walker talk about the science of sleep or David Cho chasing dinosaurs in the jungle. If you weren't learning some cool [ __ ] you were being entertained. If you weren't being entertained, you were soaking in great life advice. But the one thing it was best at above everything else, which is what made it great from the very beginning, is that it was a distraction from a world that was trying to sell you on fear.

[00:09:03]>> When you're around happy, inspirational people that are successful, it makes you feel better and you get inspired. And if you act on that inspiration, your life will be more fulfilled. There's a great feeling in these overcoming these difficult things cuz life is never this just constant state of I'm at a nine all day and when I'm with my wife I hit 10.

[00:09:28]Yay. And I stay like that. That's not real. Try to watch Jimmy Fallon talking to Kardashian after this. I love the way Joe thinks. I'm glad he understands how we are at a primal level. Joe is one of the only genuine people I see on social.

[00:09:42]It's comforting to know we haven't all lost sight of reality. What made JRE different in this era is that it didn't conform to the mainstream. It was a different type of media that wasn't about fear or politics. It was about honest conversations, interesting theories, motivational talks, and funny stories. It was still the great escape, but you could also walk away from an episode better off than when you started it. Whether that was feeling motivated by David Gogggins to finally put on your shoes and go run, or stimulated by Jordan Peterson and his thoughts on how you should live your life. But just like everything in life, nothing stays the same forever. And what was about to happen in the world would change the podcast in ways that it's never recovered from.

[00:10:22]>> On Monday in China, it suffered its highest number of deaths in one day. 103 people died just in Hube province alone.

[00:10:30]The overall death toll in China is now over a thousand. And more than 40,000 people have been infected worldwide. The show that spent more than a decade giving people a place to escape the news suddenly couldn't get away from it. And out of nowhere, everything was about co.

[00:10:47]Whether it was virus experts, vaccine debates, or Fouchy talk, the pod had done a complete 180. But this wasn't the fall of the podcast yet. This was just a transition because Rogan saw the [ __ ] narratives the media was pushing and instead of letting them get away with it, he decided to push back against it. The only problem was he became public enemy number one.

[00:11:08]>> Rogan, America's most popular podcaster, defended his use of the drug and even credited it with his quick recovery.

[00:11:15]>> There were a medicine that would really help with co every doctor around the world would be using it.

[00:11:22]>> The more that the media attacked Rogan, the more he felt the need to defend himself. And soon, every episode became completely about the pandemic. For almost a year, there wasn't an episode that wasn't about politics or vaccines.

[00:11:35]But unfortunately, this was only setting the stage for what was to come. Because at this point, you can still argue this was a necessary evil. Sure, everyone was sick of these political conversations, but look, they were important. But as the months passed by and co started to fade away, the show wasn't going back to what it used to be. Instead, it was morphing into something new. At this point, it seemed like every episode was either about politics or transgenders or war or cancel culture. And the show was drifting further and further from what it used to be. The people who fell in love with JRE because of Joey Diaz and David Gogggins and Graham Hancock didn't give a [ __ ] about that. And now they were being forced to listen to these political rants every single episode.

[00:12:21]It's not to say that these aren't important conversations, but it's not the conversations that made JRE so special. This had always been the place to get away from all that. It was the podcast that was supposed to be above all that. If someone wanted to listen to Poison all day, they'd turn on the news.

[00:12:37]But in a wild turn of events, Rogan had become the news. And ironically, out of nowhere, the show had become the very thing that it had always been against.

[00:12:48]But the truth about the Joe Rogan experience is more nuanced than just saying it's bad now because it hasn't been destroyed. It's actually more popular than ever. But it's changed. And maybe that's what makes it even worse.

[00:13:01]Because there used to be a version of the show that felt like it was truly different. A time when you can listen to an episode and feel better off for it.

[00:13:09]But now it's fallen into some strange sunken zone that's made it almost unrecognizable. because DMT stories don't hit the same when they're followed by a 30inute Iranian rant in Egyptian pyramids feel a little bit empty after a debate about Gaza. And worst of all, the fear Rogan claims the news is putting into everyone is the exact fear he's putting into all of us.

[00:13:30]>> Well, the real problem is they can do 4 years the border was wide open.

[00:13:35]>> Oh yeah.

[00:13:35]>> And definitely some people from the Middle East got through. The whole situation internationally has been so tense already with what's going on in Gaza, with what's going on in Ukraine.

[00:13:46]It genuinely feels like there's a real possibility that we might be entering World War II.

[00:13:52]>> Look, I'm not sitting here saying Rogan's doing this maliciously. It's just the sad truth of what the show's become. And it's also not saying that these conversations aren't important, but it's all the shows become. As someone who's listened to Rogan for more than a decade and has seen the evolution of the show, where it stands now is almost unwatchable. You used to be able to finish an episode and feel smarter or intrigued or relieved after listening.

[00:14:16]But now it's become the very thing it sought to destroy. And it's so big it's influenced every other comedy podcast in the space. Whether it's Andrew Schultz or Theo Vaughn or Tim Dylan, there doesn't feel like there's a comedy podcast that hasn't followed Rogan into this new role as becoming a news source.

[00:14:33]And maybe it's a good thing for the world. What the hell do I know? Maybe mainstream shouldn't control the narrative. And it's probably good that politicians are forced to go on long- form podcast now. But the one thing I do know is that the Joe Rogan experience has completely changed from what it used to be. And in my opinion, it's a shame that it's probably never going to go back to what it once