Joe Rogan is really the king of podcasts at this point. He consistently ranks as the most listened to podcast globally at his parent company Spotify, and he makes headlines for interesting conversations he has had with Dave Chappelle and myriad other celebrities. Of course, sometimes Rogan’s comments can cause a bit of a stir, as happened when he topically commented during Covid, prompting even major names like Jimmy Kimmel to comment on Rogan’s vaccine stance. Whether you love him or hate him, it’s clear he’s an expert in his field at this point, though the podcaster is quick to point out things were not always this way.
In fact, Rogen was recently interviewed as part of the partnership deal he signed with Spotify to continue bringing long-form interviews to the streaming service. It’s been more than 14 years and well over 2,000 episodes since the podcaster started out interviewing, but even he admitted it took him quite a while to find his voice and hone his format. In fact, he candidly told Spotify that he “definitely sucked” when he was getting started out in the business.
I think podcasting is an art form and I definitely sucked at it when I first started. I was curious, but I didn’t understand how to make a conversation flow. I didn’t know when to shut up and listen, and I didn’t know how to make someone comfortable so that you can get the most out of their perspective. I’ve learned how to assist the conversation’s flow instead of waiting for my turn to talk. I learned how to be fully locked in with what the other person is saying.
We’ve seen this a lot with newcomer hosts. Jimmy Fallon used to be way worse about talking over guests when he first started out, and Kimmel’s monologue style has evolved to be more political over time. Those guys, though, had predecessors to learn from whereas the podcasting business was more of a case of starting from scratch. When Joe Rogan was first kicking things off in 2009, we were only a few years out from the dawn of the podcast in 2003. It was essentially a new art form, and it’s one in which the host admits he gained knowledge and experience over time.
I actually enjoyed how comfortable Joe Rogan was about speaking about flaws he had and sought to overcome. He does actually speak a lot on his podcast even today, so it’s reasonable to hear him saying knowing “when to shut up and listen” was a challenge. Yet it was really “trial and error” that got him to a point where guests like The Rock, Taylor Sheridan and more have wanted to appear in the lineup.
So what helped him get to the point where he became more professional?
A lot of what helps is that I’ve done it for so many hours and learned how to do it better over trial and error, but also that I only have people on the show that I’m genuinely interested in talking to. I never do a podcast just because a person is popular. It’s always from a place of 'I think it would be cool to talk to that person.' I’ve also learned so much—not just from all the episodes themselves—but also from all the audiobooks I’ve listened to, articles and books that I’ve read, and documentaries I’ve watched either for the show, or because of the show. I always feel like, in starting this podcast, I stumbled into this fantastic accidental education just by being interested in talking to people, and being fortunate enough that people want to listen.
Joe Rogan also mentioned feeling “extremely fortunate” to be able to do the stuff he’s been doing now for more than a decade. This includes Joe Rogan Experience but also his Paramount+ streaming series Rocky Mountain High.
Meanwhile, JRE doesn’t really show any signs of slowing down. In fact, the host inked a new deal earlier this month that is reportedly expected to be worth up to $250 million dollars over the course of several years and will allow the podcast to be available on platforms outside of Spotify again. Rogan will receive money from Spotify for producing the podcast as well as a cut of the ad revenue.
And I thought Ben Affleck's Dunkin' ads were making him a lot of money.
I appreciate that Rogan is open about how he “sucked” at first, but I think those monetary rates alone are evidence he’s come a long way over the years.
