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Most folks know Joe Rogan as the host of the fascinatingly grotesque TV series, Fear Factor. It may be hard to picture that lovable and compassionate personality, so adept at encouraging contestants to swallow that one last cockroach, as a stand up comedian. Nonetheless, there is just no end to this man’s talent.
He has a good deal to say about his time hosting Fear Factor and, as you may imagine, his experiences make for some tremendously colorful material. There are some excellent lines here that had me laughing out loud. In a rant entitled “Pot, Jet Packs and Peace in the Middle East,” he displays an extremely colorful imagination and offers some very clever suggestions for encouraging peace in the Middle East.
The testosterone starts to run a bit heavy when he gets into “Suicide Bombings, Sad Penis and Big Party Girl,” but boys will be boys. The next track has some interesting thoughts on population control and some sketchy lines about child-rearing. This is where I started to wonder whether this disc might be more appealing in DVD format, since the visuals might soften it a bit. Then I heard the next two tracks, “Bisexual Dudes Giving Advice” and “Gay is Funny.” I was not feeling these at all. Despite Rogan’s disclaimer that he isn’t homophobic, he’s definitely not what you’d call open-minded. I’m not the only one not feeling the love. He speaks of how one gay audience member approached him after a show to say that the gay jokes weren’t funny. His response was “So why was everyone laughing?” My response to that would have been “Because they felt bad for you.” But alas, I wasn’t there. And it’s probably just as well.
Nonetheless, “Osama is Right Out of a Comic Book and the Terrorist Cell Phone Network” is pretty damn clever.
If you swing to the right or find comedians like Howard Stern entertaining, you’d love Rogan’s humor. If you’re more open minded with a healthy respect for that which you may not understand, you probably ought to pass on this one. So big congratulations to Rogan – evidently empathy is not a factor for him.
