Opinion: Joe Rogan’s Return to Netflix Is a Victory Lap for Right-Wing Comedy
Since 2018, the podcasting magnate moved to Texas to escape the terror of progressive California, downplayed the severity of COVID-19, spent the height of the pandemic performing stand-up shows that doubled as super-spreader events, fearmongered about trans people and immigrants, promoted figures like Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, Chris Rufo, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., transformed the Austin comedy scene into a safe space for reactionary artists, and inked two nine-figure deals with Spotify.
When Joe Rogan takes the stage on Saturday for his live special Burn the Boats, he will do so as one of the richest and most influential men in American media.
Rogan is comedy’s kingmaker, as Bloomberg described him in a recent feature, with the power to turbocharge careers by hosting comedians on his podcast or giving them plum spots at his Austin club, the Comedy Mothership. He is also comedy’s king, possessed of a seemingly divine power to do whatever he wants and suffer no consequences.