Joe Rogan, Netflix Special review - US podcaster leaves the controversy - and the jokes - at home

Before Joe Rogan gained fame for his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, he has been, variously, a comic,  presenter of goofball television shows and an analyst of UTC bouts. Now with  his Netflix Special he’s returning to his first occupation, as a stand-up. It was recorded at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas.

Rogan, as his fans will know, is not short of opinions (with his politics on the right of the spectrum in the United States) and can turn a smart phrase. But in Burn the Boats he muses on the quotidian rather than the weighty political subjects often discussed in his podcast, and the show never really takes off.

Delivered in a one-note shouty voice, the hour is hardly a gag fest as Rogan talks about liking weed and hallucinogenics,  the reason aliens have become associated with anal probes, and men being caught masturbating on  Zoom – original in neither subject matter nor his take on them.

There are a few teases that something meaty might be on the way, though; talking about taking a DNA test, Rogan reveals he has some Neanderthal genes. “I want my cave back,” he declares. Are we about to hear his views on Native American ownership of the land in a clever callback to an earlier gag? Or maybe an exploration of nature versus nurture? No, he says the punchline and is off to the next bit of anodyne musing. It’s the same when Elon Musk, Covid, conspiracy theories and Alex Jones are mentioned. 

With the last subject, there is a sense of Rogan having his cake and eating it, of pointing to a controversial subject but not making an effort to dig into it, still less write an intelligent joke about it. “Alex Jones was right about a lot of things,” he says. “He was wrong about one big thing,” with a knowing wink to the audience.

The only edgy moment comes when Rogan talks about being accused of being transphobic, but  goes off at a tangent (one of the many in the show), somehow drawing a line between Mrs Doubtfire, Little Red Riding Hood and “men in dresses”. 

What a shame, as anyone who has heard his podcast knows he can be laugh-out-loud funny, even if you may disagree with the political sentiment behind the lines; much is presented here as a great insight but in fact sounds like a bloke boring on about whatever random stuff comes into his head.

“I’m a professional shit-taker,” Rogan declares at one point. Possibly, but on this evidence not a comic who likes to dig too deep into it.

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