Joe Rogan: Burn the Boats

In a recent interview Joe Rogan was asked the fairly typical and predictable entertainment industry question, what inspired you to make this new special? Joe's response was.anything but typical but to anyone who has listened to Joe's view on his own comedy, it was predictable.

Joe went on to complain about the lack of real comedy in today's PC world, the lack of comics who are brave enough to stand up to Cancel Culture, Joe also lamented that if freedom of speech was to be saved the silent majority needed a voice, a strong voice to stand up against...them. Joe then said that he sees himself as the new Bill Hicks!

Big shoes to fill.

After watching Rogans new special i can honestly and confidently say that Joe is not the "new Bill Hicks". Joe is in fact the opposite of Bill, in every way possible. Without going into a detailed review of Burn The Boats it would serve you well to know, if you enjoy anything about BH, you will not enjoy Burn The Boats or Joe Rogan.

Joe Rogan is not a comic.

I feel like Joe Rogan doesn't actually do stand up, he just yells at the top of his lungs about all the subjects he discusses on his podcasts and makes funny faces and noises in a "daddish" sort of way to add humor when he's really not doing or saying anything that funny. I'm actually a fan of Joe but his last 3 stand up specials have been very... mediocre to say the least. I feel like he has sooo many fans across so many different platforms that his audiences give him a false sense of what's actually funny by laughing at everything he says because he's Joe Rogan and people want to laugh and have a good time with him, which is ok... just isn't good comedy in my opinion. Still a few chuckles here and there. 5/10.

Being a listener of his podcast I refused to believe he was still capable of writing and performing comedy. He's a completely and utterly humorless person whose entire concept of comedy is based on screaming, whenever a guest makes a joke in a normal tone of voice it goes over his head and he thinks they're being serious.

He has no understanding of sarcasm, irony, or absurdism except for probably the mental images of men wearing dresses that come from the all-caps Facebook memes he relies on for his source of science, news, and information.

I believed there was no way he was capable of writing and performing anything even remotely funny, therefore other people must have been writing his material for him. Turns out I was half right.

I like Joe Rogan's podcast. He often gets very interesting guests, seems genuinely interested in them, asks interesting questions and let's them talk at length. He's perhaps a bit 'conspiracy theory'-heavy for my taste but whatever - I enjoy his podcasts. So, I also wanted to enjoy this show and I'm not here as part of a "review bomb."

In short, Joe Rogan just isn't funny. He doesn't have "funny bones" or natural wit and he can't improvise. If a joke tanks (and many do in this show) he can't pivot to a fallback as even very-average comics learn to do. If he does come out with a smart gag, he will kill it with his delivery. He has weapons-grade confidence, but that won't save any set he does.

He's got a huge following but so did Dane Cook. There's a phenomenon where unfunny people can, by sheer force of will, generate a following. As someone who admires Rogan for his thoughtful, insightful podcasts, he really, really needs to stop doing stand-up.

I've enjoyed past Rogan specials, as well as seeing him live at Massey Hall and other venues in Toronto. You expect a certain amount of meathead nonsense and conspiracy talk which may or may not be genuine. But the thing I've always found grating has now become a constant in this show: yelling everything as though he doesn't have a microphone. I know that's how the show is going to start, along with the cheap pandering to San Antonio but it just never lets up and it becomes draining. And the ratio of actual laughs to applause breaks - excluding the times he solicits it by referencing his move to Texas, Fear Factor, the podcast, is not going in the right direction.

I realize that not giving a glowing review if this will result in the usual nonsense of having labels hurled but I'm not even American, so save it.

There are some funny bits but overall, it's just a lot of energy to try and sell the bits as being funnier than they are.