Me, on the Joe Rogan Podcast: “I Said, ‘Good Day, Sir!’”

As I’ve been tweeting, repeatedly, I will soon be on the Joe Rogan podcast: January 7, to be exact.

If you haven’t listened to Rogan, I highly suggest you take the time to check him out.

My own experience of Rogan is probably typical: I first saw him on News Radio, where he regularly stole scenes from far more experienced actors. Then he reappeared as host of Fear Factor, a reality show in which contestants perform physical stunts at daunting heights and speeds or are merely asked to eat something gross.

I’ve never much cared for reality shows. But something about Rogan himself made me a regular viewer: He seemed genuinely decent; on a show that could have been purely exploitative, he actually rooted for the contestants.

Many years later, I spent about nine months practicing Muay Thai boxing, first as research for a story and then because I enjoyed it. I also started to follow Mixed Martial Arts on television and saw him serving as broadcaster. Dude was ripped, and knew his jiu-jitsu holds. But I didn’t really know the half of it till one day, after I finished writing Fringe-ology, a friend asked me if I’d heard his podcast.

I’ve been an avid listener ever since.

His podcasts are less interviews than great conversations. Guests range from authors like Sam Harris and Dennis McKenna to fellow comedians and MMA fighters.

He gives his guests room to talk. But Rogan, a stand-up comedian by trade , is ultimately the star—out at the edge of the culture, using the technology of the internet to take his art straight at people, unfiltered. In a purely professional sense, Rogan would make for a good case history in a college course on the modern entertainment industry. He is an object lesson, in fact, in how a talented guy with a following can now bypass the traditional middlemen in publishing and distribution and conduct an entire career in DIY fashion. But there is something more afoot. Rogan’s podcasts reveal him to be an intense student, always adventuring, searching for the next experience or piece of information that might make him more than he was the moment before. He talks—a lot—about his experiences with psychedelics and his regular use of a sensory deprivation tank. And he revels in the mysteries of life—from the origins of the universe to alien visitation (or not) and what happens when we die.

Personally, I think the key to his already considerable and growing success is that his personal stories serve as an invitation to his audience to set about living their best possible lives. Or, at least, that’s what keeps me listening. What’s more certain is that a community is growing around him, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to talk with him.

Please, do listen to the show when it goes live. And, in the meantime, enjoy this bit of Rogan as he first appeared on News Radio.

Good Day, Sir!