Joe Rogan is a super successful stand-up comedian, podcast host, UFC commentator, actor, and former Fear Factor host. But he wasn’t always famous and at the top of the game.
Rogan spent periods of his life dead broke, living with his grandfather, and scrambling just to make ends meet. He pushed through using perseverance, hard work, and determination not to “become a loser”.
This deep-dive article will take you on a journey of things you probably don’t know about Joe Rogan, some Fun Facts about his life, and make you more familiar with his past. Let’s “Praise Odin” and get into it.
1) He made a song called “Voodoo Punanny”
In 2000, Rogan released a comedy album called I’m Gonna Be Dead Someday, that includes a few songs, notably – “Voodoo Punanny”. The album also featured his long time buddy Bryan Callen in the skit “Getting Pumped”.
2) Not a fan of UFC using gloves
Rogan would prefer that the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters not wear gloves, and instead be a bareknuckle brawl.
On JRE MMA Show episode #26 with Big John McCarthy, Rogan says “I don’t like gloves, I don’t think guys should have to wear gloves.”
“Why should you have padding on your knuckles that makes your knuckles more effective, when you don’t have it on your shins, you don’t have it on your elbows, you don’t have it on your knees.”
McCarthy counters Rogan’s argument by saying it’s all about perception, and bareknuckle fighting would be perceived as very dangerous.
3) Rogan has the same birthday as…
Rogan was born on August 11th, 1967. Other famous people born on his birthday are:
- Hulk Hogan, former pro wrestler – August 11th, 1953
- Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder – August 11th, 1950
- Chris Hemsworth, actor and Avenger’s Thor – August 11th, 1983
Coincidentally, on his birthday two notable died, Robin Williams on August 11th, 2014 and Andrew Carnegie on August 11th, 1919.
4) Another famous Joe Rogan?
Long before “Joseph James Rogan”, the podcasting Joe Rogan we love and admire, there was another famous Joe Rogan.
His name was “Bullet Joe” Rogan and was a famous negro baseball player (1914-1938), who played the majority of his years for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro leagues. In 1998, “Bullet Joe” Rogan was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
5) Fanny Pack
At the beginning of JRE podcast #858 with Jesse Ventura, Rogan and Ventura discuss their mutual admiration for fanny packs. “First of all, Mr. Ventura I’m a big fan, but I’m an even bigger fan now that I know you are pro-fanny pack. This is huge for me.”
Ventura describes his love for fanny packs because he can carry a lot more stuff, like his passport, travel necessities, reading glasses, and sunglasses. Ventura says, “What can be better than a fanny pack to carry all that?”
Also, Macaulay Culkin described Rogan’s fanny pack as a “nice leather one” on JRE podcast #1153.
6) Real or Fake Joe Rogan?
Although this audio clip almost nails Joe Rogan’s voice, it was created by Dessa, a machine learning AI company.
Rogan is actually quite weary of Artificial Intelligence. Here is a picture of Joe Rogan that his daughter ran through a deepfake app that made him look like a girl:
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7) Rogan’s Craziest Dream
“It was the strangest f***ing dream of all time. It was so bizarre because it was so stupid but so real.”
On JRE podcast #130, Rogan described the strangest dream he’s ever had about a werewolf and a gorilla having sex and doing 69.
Rogan said that the Alpha Brain supplement that he takes causes crazy dreams that are easy to remember, and that others that take it have reported crazy dreams as well.
8) Urban Dictionary hilarious definition of ‘Joe Rogan’
Urban Dictionary is an online dictionary of slang and hip words. On the site, the top definition for Joe Rogan is defined as watching porn while your girlfriend is right beside you.
To use in a sentence:
- I was Joe Roganing and then my girlfriend woke up for a midnight snack.
- I had to be sneaky because I was trying to Joe Rogan last night.
- Dude, I Joe Roganed for a 30 second quickie last night.
9) Addict Folder on his phone
On JRE podcast #1406, Rogan told Brian Redban that he had put all his social media into one folder that says ‘Addict’ to help remind himself of what social media does to him. Rogan also said that he got a smaller iPhone, by choice.
Don’t know if he’s sticking with it, but Rogan is a bit worried about phone and social media addiction:
Rogan says about people always on their phones, “What’s important about people is looking them in the eyes, talking to them, hugging them, shaking their hand, communicating honestly.”
10) He can do the splits
Rogan, a long time practitioner of martial arts, can do a split and has very good flexibility.
Rogan works yoga into his workout plans each week and has mentioned that he likes use Sunday to plan the upcoming weeks workouts so he doesn’t have to think about what workout he needs to do.
In 2018, he stated on the podcast, “fasted cardio is what I like to do, or fasted yoga, it’s my most recent thing.” Fasted yoga is doing yoga while on a 14 or 16 hour period of not eating any food.
11) Rogan once fell asleep going down on his GF
I had to dig deep into the archives to find this one. Rogan stated on his old blog, that has now been archived, that he once fell asleep while eating out his girlfriend from extreme exhaustion.
Before Rogan was famous, he would grind out crazy hard days just trying to make it. Displaying extreme perseverance, he would deliver the Boston newspaper in the morning, work for a private investigator during the day, and then do stand-up comedy at night. Rinse and repeat.
He was so tired at night that he started snoring while eating out his girlfriend and she busted him.
12) Rogan played little league baseball
Growing up, Rogan played some little league baseball but eventually found his passion in martial arts.
Rogan used those baseball skills later while starring on the baseball sitcom Hardball, his first TV show. He played a cocky center-fielder named Frank Valente. The show was short-lived, cut after 1 season, and aired during the 1994 MLB strike.
13) The Office stars went to Rogan’s high school
Rogan attended Newton South High School in Newton, Massachusetts and graduated in ’85. Unbeknownst to him, 12 years later a pair of actors would attend the school and go on to star in the The Office.
B.J. Novak and John Krasinski attended Newton South, with both graduating in ’97. Novak has done some stand-up comedy and was an actor, executive producer for The Office, while Krasinski, playing Jim Halpert, has gone on to produce some big works, including the movie A Quiet Place and the TV series Jack Ryan.
14) Cousins with My Chemical Romance’s lead singer
Rogan is cousins with Gerard Way, the lead vocalist and co-founder of the rock band My Chemical Romance. Although, as of October 2019 the two have never met.
According to Rogan and Gerard Way, they both share the same grandmother “Rosie”. On JRE episode #1372, Kevin Smith says, “how crazy is it that two people in the same family became super-f***ing famous and don’t even (know each other).”
15) Rogan was a champion martial artist
As a teenager, Joe was a very successful martial arts competitor but eventually gave it up due to injuries and migraines.
He won the Massachusetts full-contact Tae Kwon Do championship 4 times in a row, and the US Open Tae Kwon Do championship in the lightweight division.
Amazingly, he went on the win the super-impressive Grand Championship, by also beating the middleweight and heavyweight champions to become a Grand Champion.
16) Broke and living in the ghetto
Long before becoming a successful stand-up comic, Fear Factor host, UFC commentator, and world-renowned podcast host, life was not easy for Joe Rogan.
In the early stages of his stand-up comedy career, Rogan moved in with his grandfather for 6 months in Newark, New Jersey on North 9th street, in the “ghetto”. Dead broke and having his car repossessed, Joe described it as a very rough place “surrounded by poverty and crime…I was broke as f***.”
17) Rogan owns a heckler
One thing is certain, you do not want to heckle Joe Rogan when he is on stage. In 2017, at a stand-up performance in Washington, D.C., one unfortunate heckler learned this valuable lesson. Rogan absolutely destroyed him and then had him removed by security.
18) He almost fought Wesley Snipes in UFC
Joe was in negotiations to fight Wesley Snipes for an MMA fight but ultimately the negotiations fell apart. Snipes, the Blade movie star was in deep trouble with the IRS and needed money to pay off his debt.
With Snipes at 5’9” and about 180 pounds, and Rogan being 5’8” and around 190 pounds (depending on what diet he is on), the fight surely would have been an entertaining one. However, you would have to give the edge to Rogan because of Snipes lack of jiu-jitsu skills.
Rogan said, “That was actually supposed to happen. That wasn’t just a rumor…(Snipes) doesn’t know jiu-jitsu at all, how is he going to keep me off of him?”