From MMA fights to presidential debates? Online podcast host Joe Rogan has been “nominated” by the internet community as a possible moderator for the 2020 Presidential Debate between current President Donal Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. The popular internet host may not be the first thought people have in regards to political debates, but don’t count out Joe Rogan just yet. This fiery commentator may be a good change from the traditional moderation, especially in such a tumultuous year.
As most people know Rogan as the crass podcast host, a trip down his life is in order. Joe Rogan was born in the state of New Jersey before moving to San Francisco, California, at the age of seven following his father’s leaving. He then moved to Florida at the age of eleven, then the future comedian moved to Massachsettes just outside the city of Boston. Joe Rogan took up an interest in martial arts, more specifically karate, at age 14 and taekwondo afterwards. Rogan claimed that as a child he was “terrified of being a loser” according to an interview with Stephanie Haynes in 2014, and that by doing martial arts he found something he could excel at.. At the age of 19, Rogan had won the US Open Taekwondo championship as a lightweight. However, he had retired from fighting at 21 due to frequent headaches and fear of sustaining more serious injuries.
His road into stand-up comedy began in a taekwondo studio where he worked as an instructor after his clients said that he should give it a shot. With a very raunchy and blue collar style of comedy the fresh comedian had been finding gigs here and there. However, one show connected him with a manager named Jeff Sussman, taking Rogan’s comedy to the next level. With his comedy career going well, Rogan was approached to air on some TV shows, and after some highs and lows he found himself at an interviewing for the UFC. When the company switched management in 2001, he once again found himself under their employment as a color commentator. Rogan’s hectic and highly interesting career did not stagnate with a job commentating mixed martial art fights, rather the comedian began hosting Fear Factor for their first seasons. Following his wild and crazy time on the fear based challenge show, he returned to his comedy career. He made a couple comedy specials and did some work for Comedy Central before returning to host Fear Factor for another season, as he just couldn’t let anyone else have the fun.
Yet Rogan’s newest claim to fame is in his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, which began in 2009. In 2020, it was signed to a deal with Spotify. Rogan’s podcast was quintessential to his media following as a “debate moderator” for the 2020 presidential debate. The podcast has many highly regarded celebrities or public figures such as Elon Musk, owner of Tesla, and Edward Snowden, famous American whistleblower. From many of these podcasts, and their guests, the meme community had found plenty of content. With the showcase of Elon Musk smoking on the show, the meme culture roared with a still frame of the billionaire wielding a joint. With such a large platform like Spotify connected to him, and the entire meme community at his back, it is no surprise that he has been found as an interesting possibility as a commentator for the debate.
With 2020 being full of twists and turns, having Joe Rogan moderate the Presidential debate does not sound like such an outrageous idea. Though not being affiliated with any specific party, Rogan does hold a more liberal outlook. Regardless Rogan’s podcast has been known to delve deep into the past of his guests as well as look heavily into present occurrences. Having a direct and open person running a Presidential debate may be a good thing, especially someone with a more blue collar outlook on life. As interesting as the presidential debate will be regardless of the moderator, having a hard hitting comic delivering questions to the two nominees would be quite the show.