Joe Rogan

Early life

Rogan was born in Newark, New Jersey. He was raised in Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts until age seven, then San Francisco, California to age 11, and then moved to Gainesville, Florida. He is of one quarter Irish and three quarters Italian descent. His biological father, a police officer in Newark, has not been in contact with Rogan since he was six years old. He briefly attended the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Acting

In 1994, Rogan co-starred on the Fox comedy Hardball as Frank Valente, the young, ego-centric star player on a fictional professional baseball team. From 1995 to 1999, he co-starred on the comedy NewsRadio. He portrayed Joe Garrelli, the electrician at WNYX, a news radio station in New York City. In 2002, he appeared on the episode "A Beautiful Mind" of Just Shoot Me as Chris, Maya Gallo's boyfriend. In 2011, Rogan played his first major character in a movie in the Kevin James movie Zookeeper. He played himself in Here Comes the Boom, an action-comedy starring Kevin James released in 2012.

Commentary

Rogan began working for the UFC in 1997, making his debut interviewing fighters at UFC 12: Judgement Day in Dothan, Alabama, before eventually becoming a color commentator for the promotion. He has won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter award for Best Television Announcer on two occasions. He was also named "MMA Personality of the Year" three times by the World MMA Awards.

Stand-up comedy

Rogan began performing stand-up comedy in 1989 and has since recorded several albums and specials, including Shiny Happy Jihad, Joe Rogan: Talking Monkeys in Space, and Joe Rogan Live from the Tabernacle.

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. Mencia later admitted that was true.

Hosting

Rogan worked on the TV series Fear Factor, as a host of the United States version of the show. He hosted from June 11, 2001 through September 12, 2006. Rogan returned as the host of Fear Factor in the rebooted edition of the show, which aired December 12, 2011 through July 16, 2012 on NBC. 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.

Podcast

In December 2009, Rogan began hosting a podcast with concurrent live Ustream and YouTube availability. The podcast features an array of guests in which they discuss current events, political views, philosophy, comedy, hobbies, and numerous other topics. Now titled The Joe Rogan Experience, it is listened to by over 11 million people.

Personal life

He lives in Bell Canyon, California and briefly lived in Boulder, Colorado. In 2007, Rogan and his girlfriend had a baby girl. They married the following year. In 2010, Rogan announced the birth of a second daughter.

Martial arts

During high school, Rogan was a practitioner of taekwondo and gained a black belt at age 15. He became the Massachusetts full contact taekwondo champion for four consecutive years. He started judo at the age of 20 and after a year of training received blue belt. In 1996, Rogan began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Carlson Gracie at his school in Hollywood, California. He is a black belt in 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. He was also a kickboxer, holding an amateur record of 2-1.

Religion

Rogan stated in 2010, during an appearance on the Alex Jones radio show, that he was raised as a Catholic as a child, 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. Rogan has stated that he is not completely opposed to the concept of a "higher power", such as a god, but 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 of Bernie Sanders in the 2016 U.S. presidential race.

Rogan strongly supports the legalized use of cannabis and believes it holds numerous benefits. He hosted the documentary The Union: The Business Behind Getting High and was featured in the History Channel documentary Marijuana: A Chronic History. 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 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.

Comedy recordings

Awards/honors