Joe Rogan addresses controversial vaccine comments, rips cancel culture, at unapologetically tasteless Milwaukee show – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
No one can really “cancel” Joe Rogan.
But he clearly loves to see people try.
Barely five seconds after stepping on stage at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee for a 65-minute set Saturday, the controversial comedian and host of the hugely popular podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” was yelling about being “canceled yesterday” as if it was a point of pride.
Rogan didn’t talk specifics about the latest scandal — on Friday’s podcast, he criticized vaccine passports, suggesting they’d bring the country closer to a dictatorship. But Saturday night, he addressed the backlash to his suggestion on an April episode that young, healthy people didn’t need to get the COVID-19 vaccine, including criticism from Prince Harry.
That prompted Rogan — who claimed Saturday he was high and in his underwear at the time he saw Harry’s comments reported on CNN — to comically fantasize about taking mushrooms with the royal.
“I say dumb (expletive),” Rogan said Saturday, in the closest he came to a mea culpa. “If you’re getting vaccine advice from me, is that really my fault?”
Critics suggest Rogan should be more responsible with his platform. But Rogan doesn’t listen to critics. He doesn’t apologize. He never holds himself accountable, and dismisses anyone who tries to make him. He says whatever he wants on his podcast with whoever he wants, whether it’s Bernie Sanders or InfoWars’ Alex Jones.
And it’s made him incredibly successful. The former “Fear Factor” host and “NewsRadio” cast member (and ongoing UFC commentator) is headlining arenas, albeit just the lower bowl at Fiserv Forum Saturday, and hosts the most listened-to podcast in the United States, according to Edison Research. It’s why Spotify offered him a deal reportedly worth over $100 million.
So why would Rogan tarnish his brand, and risk his fortune, by being thoughtful? As he suggested Saturday, he’s too old to be woke.
Instead, he complained about cancel culture, and for a moment Saturday, expressed genuine concern about what this age of social media-fueled criticism might mean for comedy.
That’s a topic ripe for smart skewering in 2021, but Rogan, who again Saturday proclaimed himself an idiot, isn’t the man for the job, nor is that the man his fan base wants him to be.
Instead, he thumbed his nose at political correctness with tasteless jokes.
He tried to balance the offensiveness with some progressive talking points — discussing the unfair double standards regarding sexual histories for women compared with men, for instance.
There was an occasional disclosure to make it clear he didn’t really mean what he was saying — he supported the gay community, he suggested Saturday, before dropping homophobic jokes.
And some jokes at his own expense — recounting a degrading TSA experience, or sharing the stupid thoughts that ran through his head as he talked to a smarter person like Elon Musk — sought to make him more endearing and relatable.
But too often, Rogan opted to be provocative for the sake of being provocative. He made nasty Nazi jokes, belittled WNBA players, used the appalling “R” word over and over again.
Was he sticking it to the culture police? I guess. Were people laughing? Sure.
But the shock tactics were easy and cheap and, ultimately, dull.
And whether Rogan cares to recognize it or not, there could be consequences.
There was a moment Saturday when he exhibited a hint of self-awareness, admitting he had said the “N” word in the past — not because he was racist, he suggested, but because he was repeating a Chris Rock bit.
Rogan’s multiple uses of that word, caught on camera, became the basis for a compilation video that made the rounds online, which Rogan suggested Saturday was embarrassing for him to watch.
During a moment of quiet in the arena Saturday, after Rogan referred to it as the “N-word,” there was one fan who gleefully, appallingly urged Rogan to “say it.”
Rogan didn’t take the bait. He has his limits. But it’s disturbing, though not surprising, to know that he has fans who don’t want him to have any.
Rogan’s openers include Milwaukee native — and a controversial comic
So what will the success of Joe Rogan mean for comedy? I’m guessing more guys like one of his openers Saturday, Tony Hinchcliffe.
He’s like a faded Xerox copy of the headliner — he’s also into podcasting, and like Rogan, recently relocated to Texas — but with dumber and more blatantly offensive jokes. His targets Saturday included transgender athletes, Amy Schumer and Helen Keller, with a lot of “R” words and the six-letter “F” word, delivered with a cocky Christian-Slater-meets-Matthew-McConaughey drawl.
Hinchcliffe experienced his own justified career setback this spring after he said racist jokes at a set, prompting his agents to reportedly cut ties, according to TMZ. But by bringing him on the road Saturday, Rogan ensured that the fallout was short-lived.
The best part of Saturday’s show was that it gave Milwaukee native Lara Beitz a chance to perform for a big audience in her hometown, five years after she left for L.A. after she said she wasn’t given a chance to perform at a local club. She’s clearly having the last laugh, winning over Saturday’s crowd with a smart, affirming 15-minute set born from tough subjects, from men’s patronizing behavior, to being a single woman in the pandemic, to her mother’s bout with breast cancer.
The takeaways
- This was the largest show in Milwaukee yet to use Yondr, which requires audience members to put their phones and smartwatches in pouches after getting through security. The Yondr portion alone added a few extra minutes to what was already a long wait to get in and to leave the arena. There’s a significantly larger Yondr show coming up at Summerfest, when up to 23,000 fans go to see Dave Chappelle at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater Sept. 11. So plan accordingly.
- The rising number of COVID-19 cases across the country due to the delta variant has prompted Live Nation to permit artists to require masks and proof of vaccination or negative COVID tests for concerts, and the Cactus Club is implementing that same policy for all shows beginning Monday. But it’s the only venue in Milwaukee to do so thus far; a few Pabst Theater Group shows will have those criteria, per the artists’ request. Signs at Fiserv Forum Saturday encouraged people to wear masks if they were unvaccinated, and gave permission for people to not wear them if they are vaccinated — although the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines suggest everyone should wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Every employee at Fiserv Forum had a mask on Saturday, but about 99% of showgoers did not.
Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.
Piet also talks concerts, local music and more on “TAP’d In” with Evan Rytlewski. Hear it at 8 a.m. Thursdays on WYMS-FM (88.9), or wherever you get your podcasts.