Michael Rogan Popular Books

Michael Rogan Biography & Facts

Joseph James Rogan (born August 11, 1967) is an American UFC color commentator, podcaster, comedian, actor, and former television host. He hosts The Joe Rogan Experience, a podcast in which he discusses current events, comedy, politics, philosophy, science, martial arts, and hobbies with a variety of guests. Rogan was born in Newark, New Jersey, and began his career in comedy in 1988 in the Boston area. After relocating to Los Angeles in 1994, he signed an exclusive developmental deal with Disney and appeared as an actor on several television shows, including Hardball and NewsRadio. In 1997, he started working for the UFC as an interviewer and color commentator. He released his first comedy special, I'm Gonna Be Dead Someday..., in 2000 and hosted the game show Fear Factor from 2001 to 2006. After leaving Fear Factor, Rogan focused on his stand-up career and hosted more comedy specials. He launched The Joe Rogan Experience in 2009; by 2015, it was one of the most popular podcasts in the world, regularly receiving millions of plays per episode. Spotify obtained exclusive distribution rights to The Joe Rogan Experience in 2020 for US$200 million. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, the podcast has received criticism for spreading conspiracy theories and health misinformation. Despite this controversy, Rogan’s audience grew significantly and in 2024, Rogan renewed his deal with Spotify for an estimated $250 million. Early life Joseph James Rogan was born in Newark, New Jersey, on August 11, 1967. He had one Irish grandparent, while his three other grandparents were all of Italian descent. His parents divorced when he was five, and he has not been in contact with his father since he was seven. He recalled, "All I remember of my dad are these brief, violent flashes of domestic violence. But I don't want to complain about my childhood. Nothing bad ever really happened to me. I don't hate the guy." At the age of seven, he moved with his mother to San Francisco, California. When he was 11, they moved to Gainesville, Florida. They later settled in Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts, where he graduated from Newton South High School in 1985.Rogan participated in Little League Baseball and developed an interest in martial arts in his early teens. He recalled being "terrified of being a loser" as a child and said, "Martial arts gave me not just confidence, but also a different perspective of myself and what I was capable of. I knew that I could do something I was terrified of, and that was really difficult, and that I could excel at it. It was a big deal for me." Martial arts were "the first thing that ever gave me hope that I wasn't going to be a loser. So I really, really gravitated toward it." At age 14, he took up karate and started taekwondo a year later. When he was 19, he won the US Open Championship taekwondo tournament as a lightweight. He was a Massachusetts full-contact state champion for four consecutive years and became a taekwondo instructor. He also practiced amateur kickboxing and held a 2–1 record; he retired from competition at age 21, as he began to suffer from frequent headaches and feared he might sustain worse injuries. He attended the University of Massachusetts Boston but found it pointless and dropped out early. Career 1988–1994: Early stand-up career Rogan had no intention of being a professional comedian, but was a fan of comedy from a young age, later saying of Richard Pryor's special Live on the Sunset Strip, "It affected me in such a profound way. Nothing had made me laugh like that." His friends from gym and Taekwondo school, whom he would make laugh with impressions and jokes, convinced him to try stand-up. At 21, after six months preparing material and practicing his delivery, he performed his first stand-up routine on August 27, 1988, at an open-mic night at a Stitches comedy club in Boston.While living in Boston and working on his stand-up, Rogan held several jobs to secure himself financially, including teaching martial arts at Boston University and in nearby Revere, delivering newspapers, driving a limousine, doing construction work, and assisting a private investigator. Meanwhile, his blue comedy style earned him gigs at bachelor parties and strip clubs. One night, he persuaded the owner of a comedy club in Boston to allow him to try a new five-minute routine. At the show was talent manager Jeff Sussman, who liked the act and offered to become his manager, which Rogan accepted.In 1990, Rogan moved to New York City. As a full-time comedian, he was "scratching and grinding" for money and stayed with his grandfather in Newark for the first six months. Rogan later cited Richard Jeni, Lenny Bruce, Sam Kinison and Bill Hicks as comedy influences. 1994–1999: Hardball and NewsRadio In 1994, Rogan relocated to Los Angeles, where his first national television spot followed on the MTV comedy show Half-Hour Comedy Hour. The appearance led to the network offering him a three-year exclusive contract and a role in a pilot episode of a "dopey game show" for $500. Rogan declined, but it prompted Sussman to send tapes of Rogan's performances to several networks, which sparked a bidding war. After a period of negotiation, Rogan accepted a development deal with the Disney network. He secured his first major acting role in the 1994 nine-episode Fox sitcom Hardball as Frank Valente, a young, egocentric star player on a professional baseball team. Rogan called the hiring process "weird", as the network had no idea if he could act until he was asked by Dean Valentine, then-president of Walt Disney Television, to whom he replied: "If you can lie, you can act, and if you can lie to crazy girlfriends, you can act under pressure." The filming schedule was a new experience for Rogan, who started to work 12-hour days. Rogan later said: "It was a great show on paper until a horrible executive producer with a big ego was hired by Fox to run the show and he rewrote it." Around this time, Rogan began performing at The Comedy Store in Hollywood and was hired as a paid regular by owner Mitzi Shore. According to Rogan, he performed at the club for the next 13 years for free and paid for the venue's new sound system.From 1995 to 1999, Rogan starred in the NBC sitcom NewsRadio as Joe Garrelli, an electrician and handyman at the show's fictional news radio station. The role was originally set to be played by actor Ray Romano, but Romano was let go from the cast after one rehearsal and Rogan was brought in. The switch caused Rogan to work with the show's writers to help develop the character before the show was set to launch, which he later described as a "very dumbed-down, censored version" of himself. Rogan befriended fellow cast member Phil Hartman, who confided his marital problems to him. Rogan claimed he tried to persuade Hartman to divorce his wife five times, but "he loved his kids and didn't want to leave." In 1998, Hartman was murdered by his wife. The loss affected .... Discover the Michael Rogan popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Michael Rogan books.

Best Seller Michael Rogan Books of 2024

  • While Time Remains synopsis, comments

    While Time Remains

    Yeonmi Park & Jordan B. Peterson

    NATIONAL BESTSELLERThe North Korean defector, human rights advocate, and bestselling author of In Order to Live sounds the alarm on the culture wars, identity politics, and authori...

  • Ask A Footballer synopsis, comments

    Ask A Footballer

    James Milner

    'Ask a Footballer is a fine read, showcasing how an unassuming man has forged success, winning the Premier League twice, the FA Cup and the Champions League' Matthew Syed, The Time...

  • Six Graves to Munich synopsis, comments

    Six Graves to Munich

    Mario Puzo

    An explosive, nonstop thriller following one man’s trail of violence across postwar Europe from the bestselling author of The Godfather. Michael Rogan was an intelligence of...

  • Escaping the Rabbit Hole synopsis, comments

    Escaping the Rabbit Hole

    West Mick

    The Earth is flat, the World Trade Center collapse was a controlled demolition, planes are spraying poison to control the weather, and actors faked the Sandy Hook massacre…. All t...

  • Escaping the Rabbit Hole synopsis, comments

    Escaping the Rabbit Hole

    Mick West

    Revised and updated for the first time in 2023Now includes strategies for debunking conspiracies regarding the coronavirus pandemic, election fraud, QAnon, UFOs, and more. The Eart...