There’s no doubt that Joe Rogan has had a career that many could only dream about. From comedian to TV host, to UFC commentator, to one of the world’s most popular podcasters, it’s hard not to be impressed with the 53-year-old’s ever-growing CV.

But while many know Rogan as the host of the insanely popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, where he covers a wide range of topics including martial arts, conspiracy theories, and Kanye West, there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to the multifaceted star (including the fact that he was once meant to fight Wesley Snipes).

Check out below for seven interesting facts about Joe Rogan you may not know.

  1. He’s related to My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way

    Credit: Supplied


    Rogan once revealed in an episode of his podcast that he had recently found out that he and the ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ singer of My Chemical Romance were related – in fact, the pair are apparently second cousins.

    “Yeah, I don’t know him, but we’re cousins,” Rogan said in the episode. Who would have thought?

  2. He never knew his father

    The most popular podcasts on Spotify in 2020 is led by none other than Joe Rogan
    Credit: YouTube

    Speaking to Rolling Stone Magazine in 2016, Rogan revealed that his parents divorced when he was just five years old, and at the age of seven, he moved with his mother to San Francisco, where she remarried a hippie sort “with hair down to his ass.”

    Speaking to the publication about his father, he said, “All I remember of my dad are these brief, violent flashes of domestic violence… He was just a very violent, scary guy. After the split, we moved to San Francisco and that was it. Never heard from him again.”

  3. He was once signed to Disney

    Credit: Disney

    Would you believe that the jacked former UFC commentator was once signed to Disney? In fact, he even had an acting role of the show Hardball, which lasted just one season.

    He later landed a gig on NewsRadio, which proved to be much more successful. He described his character on the show as a “very dumbed-down, censored version” of himself.

  4. He suffers from vitiligo

    Known best as the autoimmune condition that Michael Jackson allegedly had, Rogan revealed that he, too, suffers from vitiligo.
    While undertaking a carnivore diet while detailing the changes to fans, he said, “I also have an autoimmune disorder, its called vitiligo, and my vitiligo improved, I had a bunch of white spots fill in.”In the caption, he wrote, “Lots of aches and pains went away, and I have improvements in my vitiligo. I’m impressed.”

    As the Mayo Clinic explains, “Vitiligo is a disease that causes the loss of skin colour in blotches. The extent and rate of colour loss from vitiligo is unpredictable. It can affect the skin on any part of your body. It may also affect the hair and the inside of the mouth.”

  5. He tried to convince Phil Hartman to leave his wife

    Credit: Disney/21st Century Fox

    In a tragic scenario of what could have been, the podcast megastar once tried to convince the late Phil Hartman – known as the voice of Simpsons characters Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure – to leave his wife, Brynn, when they were close friends in the ’90s.

    Sadly, after ongoing domestic violence and drug issues, Brynn would go on to murder Hartman with a .38 revolver while he slept on May 28, 1998, before taking her own life.

  6. He once hosted a game show produced by Ashton Kutcher

    Credit: CBS

    Ashton Kutcher actually acted as producer on a game show titled Game Show In My Head, which was fronted by Joe and saw contestants hit the streets armed with a hidden camera and a tiny earpiece that would encourage them to carry out ridiculous acts in public. However, the series was short-lived and had just a single eight-episode run during 2009.

  7. He almost fought Wesley Snipes

    Actor Wesley Snipes once approached the UFC to propose a fight between himself and Jean Claude Van Damme.While officials refused to agree for the star to take on  Van Damme, they suggested he fight Joe Rogan instead.

    Joe was apparently on board and was training for the fight, but it was soon shut down due to Snipes running into problems with the IRS. However, he later revealed he believes he would have choked the Blade star out.
    “I just didn’t think that anybody who didn’t know any jiu-jitsu could learn it quick,” he said later in a podcast. “I was already a brown belt by then, and I just knew what happened when a brown belt fights a white belt. I just can’t imagine.

    “I know how to stand up, and even if I wasn’t good at striking anymore like I was when I was a kid, I’m good enough to know what to not do and where to not be. And if I get a hold of someone who doesn’t know jiu-jitsu, I’m pretty sure I’m choking the f**k out of them.

    “He’s never wrestled, he never had a competitive martial arts match, whether it’s a kickboxing fight or karate fight. I was like ‘I’m gonna choke the fuck out of this guy. I’m gonna get a hold of him, and I’m gonna squeeze the shit out of him, and they’re gonna give me a lot of money, and he’s probably not even gonna get hurt.’ That’s what I thought.”

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine