Why you shouldn’t copy Joe Rogan
Joe Rogan is undoubtedly one of the most successful podcasters ever. His podcast The Joe Rogan Experience has been consumed by tens of millions of people across the world, and the podcast on his YouTube channel has been viewed more than 2 billion (yes, that’s billion) times.
In 2020, Rogan signed an exclusive deal with Spotify worth $200 million (no, that’s million, not billion).
Yep, that’s pretty good.
Many of the episodes go on for hours. Not just two hours, but three or more hours. Last month, an interview with mathematician Eric Weinstein went for more than four hours. (No, I couldn’t get through it all.)
You won’t believe how many people, particularly blokes, who want to emulate Joe Rogan. They believe that in order to have a successful podcast and be a successful podcaster, you need to match the length of Rogan’s podcast.
On the surface, that makes sense, doesn’t it? The uber-popular podcast is two hours long, ipso facto, mine should be two hours.
What they don’t take into account are the other elements that led to its success.
If I can indulge in a metaphor, it’s like seeing the world through a rolled-up piece of paper. You don’t know what you don’t see.
Let’s move the rolled-up paper tube around a bit.
Joe Rogan has been on stage or TV for more than 30 years. His public image began when he performed his first stand-up comedy gig in Boston in 1988. If you want to build your confidence in public speaking, you couldn’t get a better education than stand-up comedy.
By 1990, Rogan was a full-time comedian, “scratching and grinding” a living in New York.
In 1994 Rogan moved to Los Angeles and secured his first TV break on MTV’s Half Hour Comedy Hour. Later that year, he accepted an acting role on Hardball, a sitcom about a professional baseball team.
That led to another sitcom, NBC’s NewsRadio, where Rogan stayed for five years. Since the ’90s, Rogan has acted in further television sitcoms and comedy shows. Rogan also landed roles in film, including his first, It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.
And, as they say in kitchen knives commercials, that’s not all.
Arguably, Rogan’s most influential gig in the lead-up to his podcast career was as an ultimate fighting championship (UFC) commentator.
Rogan was such a good UFC television host that he won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Award for Best Television Announcer twice, and was named MMA Personality of the Year four times by the World MMA Awards.
This role of commentator gave him exposure to millions of UFC enthusiasts across the US. It’s a particular (blokey) demographic, an audience happy to sit and listen to hours of endless testosterone-fuelled banter.
Rogan got a massive head start on podcasting. He started The Joe Rogan Experience in 2009, well before the podcasting craze sparked by This American Life’s Serial podcast in 2014.
He’s performed on stage as a comedian for many years, he’s hosted television shows and acted in sitcoms. He was already famous and a guru to many thousands of martial art enthusiasts across the United States.
He already had an audience.
That ultimately led to the success of his podcast.
If you want the success of Joe Rogan, first you need to be Joe Rogan. But…
Don’t think a two-hour podcast is what you need. In fact, I would go as far to suggest that Rogan might actually get more listeners if his episodes were under 60 minutes.