Don’t listen to these people who are telling you that he used to be cool.
No, he’s always been a moron, you can listen to his standup from 20+ years ago and tell the guy has always been a surface-level-thinking dope that should have never been taken seriously when it came to serious topics.
That’s why it was great though - he might not be the sharpest, but he was curious. He’d get someone talking and help them to find a way to get to those mind blowing implications you find everywhere you look hard enough. And instead of “for my audience, can you explain XYZ briefly?” He’d genuinely learn about the topic and give the audience a nice into that felt organic
Then he started to reject ideas that challenged his favorite beliefs now and then… At this point, he’s got a lot of favorite beliefs, and he’ll just straight up ruin the interview if he doesn’t like what the guest is saying
He also doesn’t really “interview”. Interviews involve a reporter actually asking intelligent questions and follow-ups. Rogan’s style usually just involves his guest soapboxing for 40 minutes and Rogan just nodding along and maybe occasionally going “I see”.
I think people like Joe because the people watching are also unqualified, and have a half-justified belief that a lot of these science wizards and political professionals aren’t as wise as they think they are and are fucking up the planet, and so they feel like they can relate to Joe and how he looks at things.
I’m not saying it as a good or bad thing, just that I think that’s a big reason for his popularity.
Don’t listen to these people who are telling you that he used to be cool.
No, he’s always been a moron, you can listen to his standup from 20+ years ago and tell the guy has always been a surface-level-thinking dope that should have never been taken seriously when it came to serious topics.
That’s why it was great though - he might not be the sharpest, but he was curious. He’d get someone talking and help them to find a way to get to those mind blowing implications you find everywhere you look hard enough. And instead of “for my audience, can you explain XYZ briefly?” He’d genuinely learn about the topic and give the audience a nice into that felt organic
Then he started to reject ideas that challenged his favorite beliefs now and then… At this point, he’s got a lot of favorite beliefs, and he’ll just straight up ruin the interview if he doesn’t like what the guest is saying
He also doesn’t really “interview”. Interviews involve a reporter actually asking intelligent questions and follow-ups. Rogan’s style usually just involves his guest soapboxing for 40 minutes and Rogan just nodding along and maybe occasionally going “I see”.
I think people like Joe because the people watching are also unqualified, and have a half-justified belief that a lot of these science wizards and political professionals aren’t as wise as they think they are and are fucking up the planet, and so they feel like they can relate to Joe and how he looks at things.
I’m not saying it as a good or bad thing, just that I think that’s a big reason for his popularity.
He was great playing himself on Newsradio. But that’s about it.