Joe Rogan Interview

INTERVIEW WITH JOE ROGAN FROM TheCelebrityCafe.com ARCHIVES

DM) You are recently engaged. Do I know who she is?

JR) No, no, no. I do not do "the celebrity" thing. I have a "no head shots" policy. I enforced a "no head shots" policy a couple of years ago, and I have been happy ever since.

DM) Why did you enforce it?

JR) I got tired of actresses. Man, they are brutal--always problems, dramas, call backs and stupid $#!+. It is boring.

DM) You are officially a "celebrity" though. Do you ever get in that mode yourself?

JR) No, dude. My interests are so far outside of show business. I do show business for the cash.

DM) So this is a job to you?

JR) Yes, acting is a job to me; but stand up comedy is what I do. If I had one calling in life, it would be a stand-up comic.

DM) When I first got your bio, I admit I had no idea that you did stand-up; I only knew you from television doing the comedy show, "News Radio."

JR) Yeah, most people do not know. The worst thing is when people do not know, and they come to see me in a comedy club. They expect me to be like the guy from TV.
So, there are all these warnings saying, "This show contains the most extreme language and material you can ever imagine." There are all kinds of warnings that I make them put up because there have been so many problems with people coming to the show and saying, "Oh my god!"
It is not even foul; it is honest and unedited. I think all of the best comedy is unedited because your mind is unedited and uncensored. The uncensored thoughts are the ones that are really going to ring true in your mind because they are honest.
I think Jerry Seinfeld is a very funny comedian, but it is a different kind of comedy than... say, Richard Pryor. When Richard Pryor would tell you something, you would know 100% what he was thinking. There are no filters or barriers between his mind and yours.
Here is the world from my eyes--that is what I do. I am 100% honest on stage. Sometimes when it comes to things like sex or people that piss you off, or whatever, some people are not equipped to deal with pure uncensored thoughts. Some people can handle it and love it; but some people cannot.

DM) Why did you do "News Radio" then?

JR) For the cash. It is a lot of money, dude--and it's fun. I would not do a bad sitcom for the money, but a good one is a lot of fun.

DM) The reason I jumped on that question is that you are known for one--and you love the other...

JR) You know what, I am known slightly for the other. People who are comedy fans know me as a comedian, although not as well. What television does do is it gives you more exposure for people to see your stand-up--that is how I look at it.
News Radio was also a helluva lot of fun. That was one of the most fun experiences of my life. It was a dream job. To do a show where you get along with everybody and it's fun--well, that is rare.

DM) You also had such talent on the cast.

JR) Well it was an unusual cast. To get a cast like that together is probably a once-in-a-lifetime proposition.

DM) You must have learned a lot about comedy for your stand-up from the cast. Like from Phil Hartman for example...

JR) Phil was never stand-up.

DM) But he's known for his comedy...

JR) Well, he was a very funny guy, but he was never a stand-up comedian.

DM) Then what is the major difference between the two then?

JR) A comic is somebody who goes on stage with his own material, his own thoughts and expresses himself. Phil Hartman just had excellent timing and was very funny. There is no doubt in my mind that he could have been an excellent stand-up comedian.

DM) Well, the reason that I phrased the question in that way was that originally I thought the skills of comedy were the same.

JR) Comedy is just saying whatever is funny?

DM) Right. To me, I thought that the elements of one aspect of comedy could be transferred to the other.

JR) For example, what I learned from Phil, is that he was very professional. He was very studied. He was very methodical about going over his lines. It was very inspiring actually. I mean, I did not learn anything about comedy per se, but I did enjoy working with him--and I certainly enjoyed watching him. He was hysterical. His comedy and my comedy are very different.

DM) Are stand-up and sitcom comedy that far apart?

JR) Oh, they are different worlds, and many comics cannot make that jump. A lot of stand-up comics cannot make the jump because they cannot act. And the big difference with acting and just regular stand-up is that acting is immersed. People are talking to you, and you have to react properly. It is not all about you; it is about the moment. It is about creating a scene. It has to be realistic. It has to flow together, and you have to work off each other. Many comics are very selfish people, and they have a hard time working with other people. They have a hard time with other people doing lines with them. They want to overpower the situation and be the center of attention.

DM) Do you find yourself better skilled at doing stand-up or sitcom comedy?

JR) I certainly have a lot more experience doing stand-up; I have been doing it for 12 years. I do like stand-up better, but acting is not that difficult for me. I am an aware and objective person; I can see while doing a scene what needs and does not need to be done--I am good at figuring that out. To me, it is a different thing; it is like a different part of my brain.