Joe Rogan is known for many connections to the entertainment world. A comedian at the start, he has worked as an actor, a game show host, and as a UFC commentator. However, Rogan has recently received widespread attention due to his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. In particular, Rogan garnered attention inadvertently via a call by 60s musician and activist Neil Young. Young called for Rogan’s podcast to be pulled by Spotify due to activity Young described as misinformation. However, Rogan’s listeners number around 11 million per episode. In a surprising twist on cancel culture, Spotify pulled Young’s music catalog from the platform.
| Celebrated Name: | Joe Rogan |
| Real Name/Full Name: | Joseph James Rogan |
| Gender: | Male |
| Age: | 54 |
| Birthdate: | August 11, 1967 |
| Birthplace: | Newark, NJ |
| Nationality: | American |
| Height: | 5 ft. 8 in. |
| Weight: | 194 lb. |
| Sexual Orientation: | Straight |
| Marital Status: | Married |
| Wife/Spouse | Jessica Ditzel |
| Children/Kids: | Two daughters – Lola and Rosey; Joe has one step-daughter, Kayja Rose |
| Dating/Girlfriend Name: | N/A |
| Is Joe Rogan Gay? | No |
| Highest Political Office: | N/A |
| Profession: | Comedian, Actor, Color Commentator, Podcast Host |
| Colleges Attended: | University of Massachusetts – Boston |
| Degrees: | N/A |
| Salary: | $100,000 per episode via Spotify |
| Net Worth in 2021: | $100 million |
Biography: Early Life and Family
Rogan’s life is one of blue collar origins. His father was a police officer; however, after his parents divorced, Rogan and his mother moved around the country. They finally settled in Boston.
Growing up, like many middle class children of the time, Rogan participated in extracurricular activities such as Little League. He was introduced to karate at age 14, a sport in which Rogan still has a major interest today. He learned Taekwondo, and later became a kickboxer. This would pave the way for his career as a color commentator at Mixed Martial Arts events.
Sports have always been an integral force in Rogan’s life. Rogan has said that his participation in sports gave him a great deal of confidence. Rogan won the US Open Championship Taekwondo tournament at the age of nineteen. He went on to become a Massachusetts full-contact state champion, a title he held for four years. He eventually became an instructor in the field as well. He also competed as an amateur kickboxer. Unfortunately, Rogan would leave competitive sports due to frequent headaches.
Rogan attended college at UMass in Boston, but would eventually drop out; Rogan found college – at least for his own purposes in life – “pointless.”
Personal Life
In 2009, Joe Rogan married Jessica Ditzel. Rogan would eventually adopt Ditzel’s daughter from a previous relationship, Kayja Rose. Rogan and his wife would have two daughters of their own, Lola and Rosey. Rogan and his family live in Texas.
As a whole, Rogan keeps his personal life private. However, Joe shares that although he was raised Catholic, he is an agnostic today.
Age, Height, and Weight
Joe Rogan is 54 years of age. He is 5′ 8″ in height, and he weighs 194 lbs.
Net Worth
Joe Rogan’s estimated net worth sits at $100 million, mostly generated from his income as a content creator and entertainer. Ironically, Joe Rogan’s experiences as a martial arts athlete paved the way for his initial entrance into the entertainment world as a comedian. However, Rogan says that being an actor was much more lucrative than his work as a stand-up. Rogan has famously said that he does acting jobs in order to be able to buy expensive items. Rogan was also a television show host, namely on Fear Factor, which ran from 2001 – 2006.
Rogan has entertainment credits in a number of areas – he has released stand-up comedy records, co-host of Comedy Central’s The Man Show, comedy specials, a popular website and web series, movie roles, and much more.
Each of these specials, spots in movies and on television, and even his website was able to contribute to Rogan’s overall net worth. However, Rogan’s current contract with Spotify – $100 million for his content – is likely the biggest contributor to Rogan’s overall net worth. Time magazine has even said, “Spotify IS Joe Rogan.”
According to Business Insider, Rogan was the highest paid podcaster during 2019. His podcast is downloaded approximately 200 million times per month. In 2019, the podcast made $30 million.
Career Outside of Politics
Rogan says he never intended to be a comedian, but, his time competing in martial arts actually propelled him to his career in comedy and eventually acting.
Rogan has said of his career path: “I didn’t have a direction until I became a comedian. I was pretty nervous about my future. I couldn’t imagine myself working a 9-to-5 job.”
Rogan considered becoming a professional kickboxer; however, Rogan began experiencing a few minor health issues that made him rethink the choice. Rogan was known as a jokester at the gym, and their encouragement would lead him to give stand-up a try. His first gig was at a Boston club, Stitches.
Rogan learned quickly that stand-up comedy didn’t pay well, so, he taught martial arts, delivered newspapers, drove a limo, worked in construction and even as a private investigator. Eventually, Rogan landed a manager, which helped his comedy career to take off.
Rogan moved from Boston to New York, and then to Los Angeles, where he would began supplementing his comedy career by acting. He originally appeared on the Half Hour Comedy Hour on MTV. He would eventually move on to play Frank Valente in Fox’s Hardball. Between 1995 and 1999, Rogan would star in NBC’s NewsRadio. While working on NewsRadio, Rogan learned how to work with the writers to develop a television character. Eventually, Rogan would say, he became weary of playing the same character week after week. During this time, however, he continued to do stand-up as much as possible, sometimes doing so for free because of his acting jobs.
Although Rogan was becoming well-known to many Americans due to his acting gigs, he would become a household name for his time as a “color commentator” for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) mixed martial arts sports organization. Rogan’s background in martial arts made him a natural choice for the job of backstage interviewer. When Dana White took over the UFC in 2001, the two men became friends. Shortly after, White would hire Rogan for the “color commentator” position that Rogan is famous for.
Rogan’s time at the job rewarded him with being named Best Television Announcer twice by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter; he was also awarded MMA Personality of the Year four times.
In 1999, Rogan signed a deal with Warner Records to release three records; the first was released in August 2000. Even then, the internet was integral in propelling Rogan’s career as Napster offered his record for download. Rogan also launched a website – JoeRogan.net.
2001 saw Rogan become the host of a reality game show, Fear Factor. Guests were asked to do outrageous things such as eat bugs or moldy food as well as allow spiders to crawl over their arms or legs. Rogan said later he thought that due to the show’s content it would never be successful, but Rogan hosted the show for a total of five years.
Ironically, many of the things Rogan accepted as jobs were taken with the intention of using things he observed on set as a part of his stand-up comedy routines.
Rogan has held a multitude of television spots – he has hosted Christmas parades, appeared as a guest on multiple shows, and as a co-host on Comedy Central.
Between 2005 and 2009, Rogan still worked some television spots, but he was also promoting his comedy career as well. He also began to utilize the internet to further his career. He launched a web series, JoeShow. He filmed comedy specials that aired on subscription cable channels. He also hosted a game show on CBS that only aired eight episodes.
Although Rogan remained relevant, his career had not yet reached its pinnacle. He hosted Fear Factor for a second time for one year before the show was cancelled. He appeared as a major role in the comedy Zookeeper. He continued to post blogs on his website. He launched a comedy special from his website, and hosted a SyFy network television show. This show only lasted for six episodes, but was much like his podcast that is so popular today. It also helped to develop Rogan’s reputation for asking questions.
At first, Rogan’s podcast was free. Rogan and friend Brian Redban hosted, and they described the podcast as basically the two men sitting in front of laptops discussing various topics. Within one year, the podcast had been renamed The Joe Rogan Experience, and it was on iTunes Top 100 podcasts. By 2011, XMSirius Radio had picked up his podcast. The podcast continued to grow in popularity, and was downloaded millions of times per month. In mid-2020, Rogan announced he had signed a licensing deal with Spotify for $100 million. Today, the highly popular podcast is heard exclusively on Spotify.
Recently, Rogan’s name has become a household name once again – and this time it is intertwined with an unlikely opposing figure. In late 2021, Rogan invited Dr. Robert Malone, a respected virologist onto the show. Dr. Malone had actually worked in the area of mRNA vaccines, much like those created to prevent the coronavirus. Malone had many negative things to say about the vaccines, and Rogan was slammed for sharing what many have deemed “misinformation” or “disinformation.” Although Rogan has made other claims about COVID-19 (when Rogan’s daughters had the virus, he shared that because they are young and otherwise healthy, their experience with the infection was fairly mild), his interview with Dr. Malone brought a huge number of critics out of the woodwork.
When 60s folk singer and political activist Neil Young publicly announced he was giving Spotify an ultimatum – either remove Joe Rogan or remove my music, the American public waited to see if Rogan would fall victim to cancel culture. In a surprising move, Spotify elected to remove Young’s music rather than renege on their multi-million deal with Rogan.
Other musicians would threaten to remove their music from Spotify, and the company has since said they will provide a warning prior to Rogan’s podcast that some of the topics of discussion may contain misinformation. However, Americans tired of seeing celebrities “cancelled” because of a comment or a political stance are hailing Rogan as a hero. While Rogan has never claimed to be a conservative or a member of either major political party, conservatives have certainly come to Rogan’s defense. Rogan himself has said of the controversy, “I’m just asking questions.”
Rogan is simply a representative of many of those who grew up in the 80s and 90s – he supports same-sex marriage, women’s rights, recreational drug use, and more. At the same time, Rogan says he is a strong supporter of freedom of speech as well as the Second Amendment. Rogan has politically supported Bernie Sanders as well as Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson.
