I have been asked about this a thousand times over the past decade, and I've told the story a thousand times, but I've never written it down until now.
photo credit: Paul Mobley
This story goes all the way back to late 2004 - early 2005. I had just attended a comedy show headlined by Carlos Mencia. For those of you that don't know, Carlos Mencia was an up and coming comedian at the time. After earning accolades for his early comedy performances, Mencia went on to host his very own show on Comedy Central called "The Mind of Mencia." It was hilarious! I loved Carlos Mencia.
The show was a smash hit, which seemed to bring the haters out of the woodwork. Once such person was Joe Rogan. Rogan, a color commentator for the UFC and host of Fear Factor, obviously jealous of Mencia's success, began making allegations that Mencia was stealing bits from other comedians. Rogan went on the attack, making disparaging comments about Mencia, labeling the comedian "Carlos Men-steal-ia." I instantly hated Rogan. This tattooed, no-talent bully, was attacking one of my favorite entertainers for absolutely no reason.
Things came to a head in 2007 when Rogan escalated the situation by confronting Carlos Mencia on stage at the Comedy Store. I was in the audience at that show, and something totally unexpected happened in the middle of the shouting match between the two comedians. People in the crowd, including other comedians, began booing Mencia as he tried to defend himself. Apparently it was widely known in the comic community that Carlos was a joke thief and would sit in the back of shows stealing material from other comics. Obviously the average person at home watching Mencia's stand-up comedy specials, or his half-hour weekly show, were unaware of any of this. Rogan was dumped by his agent and banned from the Comedy Store for his actions. All I could think at the time was "good riddance."
Then, to my horror, more comedians began to come forward with allegations and side-by-side video proof that Mencia had indeed stolen bits and routines from them, as well as other comics. I hated Joe Rogan now, more than ever. It's as if Rogan had stripped away a part of my childhood and spit on it.
Now, in today's day and age, we all know how situations like this progress. Anytime something like this happens to your favorite <insert: actor, comedian, sports figure. politician>, you feel the desperate need to scour the internet in an attempt to discredit Rogan to get retaliation for his egregious actions against your favorite actor, comedian, sports figure, or politician.
This is where things went completely sideways for me.
Those of you that know me know that I am a huge MMA / combat sports fan. If you follow MMA at all, you know that Rogan has been a UFC commentator for years and years. At first, I vowed to boycott any UFC events that featured Rogan as a commentator. Honestly, I think that only lasted one or two events before I gave in and started watching UFC matches again (obviously for the fights, not Rogan). That's when I realized something. In spite of how much I hated Rogan, I had to admit that he was actually entertaining and an all-around great announcer, commentator and post-fight interviewer. Despite my hate for this person, I had to give him credit for being a very engaging personality.
Realizing that I am starting to like a guy that I hated for years obviously didn't sit well with me, so I had to investigate. Now, when I say "investigate," I don't mean I glanced over his Wikipedia page and called it good (I don't think he even had one ten years ago), I actually went back and watched all his shows, watched his stand-up routines and watched interviews looking for any reason NOT to like him. The sad part is, the more I watched, and the more I read, the more I really started to like the guy. I now realized that Joe Rogan was right all along and I had been hating on him for no reason.
Joe and I are roughly the same age, we have many things in common and, if you've watched any of his podcasts, you'd see that he is extremely intelligent and, for lack of a better term, just seems like a genuine kinda guy, someone you'd really enjoy hanging out with. He is an accomplished martial artist, an avid hunter, a father and seems like an overall good person. If anyone should apologize to anyone...it sure as hell looks like I should be apologizing to Joe.
Well, that's just great...now I have guilt.
It is pretty obvious by now that, like the rest of the world at that time, I was duped by the Mencia machine. Rogan, at the risk of his career and livelihood, stepped up to expose a man that quite literally stole his way to fame and fortune. Incidents like this speak volumes about Joe Rogan as a person and his character. Let's be honest here, what did he have to gain from this? The answer is nothing. Rogan actually had everything to lose. Millions of Mencia fans, myself included, hated the guy and, at the time, there was backlash against Rogan from within the industry because Mencia was still extremely popular at the time. Joe Rogan should be commended for his actions. He risked his career to stand up for what was right and his fellow comedians.
Anyhow, I think the moral of this story is fairly obvious, as is the lesson I learned. It's the classic "get all the facts before judging someone / book by its cover" scenario. Although it took a few years to realize, I am proud to admit that I was flat out wrong about Joe Rogan.
But wait...there's more!
The icing on the cake, a few short years ago after we moved back to Vegas, I saw Joe Rogan at a UFC event at the MGM Garden Arena, as busy as he was, he still took the time to stop and shake my hand. I wanted to say "dude...sorry I hated on you for no reason" but, that would have probably been pretty awkward without some back story. Back story you can't give in a 5 second hand shake exchange. Regardless, I have no doubt that, even if he knew I hated on him for years, he would have shook my hand anyway...he's just that kind of guy.
I encourage all of you to do what I did, take a little time to learn about Mr. Rogan. Trust me, you will be pleasantly surprised.
Joe's personal website
The Joe Rogan Experience podcast
Joe Rogan on Netflix
That's my "Why I Hate(d) Joe Rogan" story. Now quit asking.