Last updated on January 31st, 2023
Are you sick of hearing about Joe Rogan? About Joe Rogan podcast episodes on every conceivable piece of media out there? We sure as hell are.
Joe Rogan sucks.
It’s profoundly upsetting, but not surprising, how successful this garbage can man is in podcasting. He is, in my mind (the mind of editor Wil Williams, that is), visually represented by a bowl of overcooked instant unflavored oatmeal topped with extremely high-capsaicin hot sauce: he lacks all flavor except an exclamation point of contextless pain.
You don’t have to keep listening to this embarrassing mess of a man and his embarrassing mess of a show. There is no reason for you to continue to listen to Joe Rogan. You do not have to, and should not, listen to Joe Rogan. I cannot believe this is something I have to explicitly say with words in 2022, but here we are.
Before we get any “you have to admit he’s good at” or “he’s a pretty good interviewer” or “he’s pretty compelling” comments, let me simply ask: is this true, or do you only listen to other Joe-Rogan-alikes and not know any better? As someone who professionally knows a lot about podcasts, I have bad news for you: it is the latter. You have been misled.
But don’t worry; there’s also good news: because Joe Rogan is talentless, uninspired, and deeply mediocre, he also does very little new or interesting. This means he has plenty of contemporaries who make works that are, you know, good.
And the Discover Pods staff has provided their recommendations for what you can listen to instead of the dreck we know to be Joe Rogan podcast episodes, so that hopefully you may escape the grody, grody clutches of this man’s content. You don’t have to live like this anymore. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.
Conversations with People Who Hate Me has returned for a new season–and a new book with the same name, authored by host Dylan Marron. The podcast is what it says on the tin, though the “me” has evolved from Marron himself to others, with Marron facilitating the conversation.
This season feels especially tricky and intriguing to me: so far, this season has focused on conversations that don’t feel as traditionally successful as previous installments. From a teenager who struggles to understand why his misogynistic memes are hurtful to an unfulfilled quest to find someone willing to speak with a Twitter-hated artist, this season flirts with failure and ambivalence like few others.
If you’re used to Joe Rogan, you might be unfamiliar with the deeply caring, sincere, kind hosting from Marron. I urge you to consider while listening that maybe being a good person is a good thing, actually.
But this blurb would feel incomplete without answering the obvious question here. Yes, if Dylan Marron ever asked me, I would absolutely be on the podcast to directly tell Joe Rogan I think he’s a bad person who makes bad content. –Wil Williams
Let’s say you want to listen to an interview podcast. Instead of pressing play on one hosted by Joe Rogan, consider pressing play on Gender Reveal, a podcast hosted by Tuck Woodstock. This show explores the vast diversity of trans experiences through interviews with a wide array of trans, nonbinary and two-spirit people.
Beyond the interviews, it also serves as a tool for anyone who wants to learn more about gender. This show reveals the true spectrum of gender by the sheer diversity of every guest. Everyone has different thoughts on what the heck gender is.
There’s always a lot to unpack, and Woodstock is not afraid to unpack it. As a trans person, listening can be validating and cathartic. As a cis person, listening can help you understand the trans/nonbinary/two-spirit experience. Gender Reveal has different vibes with each guest, but Woodstock always has great chemistry with and fantastic questions for whoever is on their show, and it’s truly a delight to listen in. –Tal Minear
Read more: What to Listen to Instead of Reply All
If you set The Joe Rogan Experience in a parallel universe, scraping away the toxic masculinity and pseudoscience and leaving just the deep dives into the fringes of culture, you’d have Eating For Free. Hosted by Joan Summers and Matthew Larson, self-described gossip sleuths, Eating For Free takes deep dives into topics ranging from celebrity NFT scamming and Avril Lavigne’s clone all the way to the rise of Amazon and TikTok’s cultural grip. You’ll get a good dose of Real Housewives, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and Britney Spears theorizing.
Summers and Larson had a well-received transition at the end of 2019 from more conversational episodes to multi-part investigative series. Mid-pandemic, the pair took a break from new episodes but returned in mid-2021.
Even in one-off episodes, the pop-culture gossip is always well-researched and well-sourced, and despite few overlaps with the topics discussed by Joe Rogan, a similar passion, ardor and curiosity is certainly there. Also unlike Rogan, each Eating For Free episode is published alongside a list of links and resources for deeper reading. There’s also a new blog, launched in early 2022, with additional insight into topics discussed in podcast episodes. –Brian Benton
One of the things that draws people to The Joe Rogan Experience is the casual, in-depth philosophical conversations, and no guest draws out these kinds of conversations than frequent JRE guest Duncan Trussell.
Trussell’s podcast The Duncan Trussell Family Hour dives deep into philosophy and spirituality, with a collection of different guests with different spiritual viewpoints. Sometimes Trussell talks to spiritual leaders and educators who dive into the philosophies behind their beliefs. Other times he speaks to people about how their upbringing and the events of their lives have led them to their specific viewpoints of the world.
The show is relaxing to listen to, even if you lose track of the philosophical ball during the conversations. If you want to get a small taste of The Duncan Trussell Family Hour, check out the animated adaptation of the show The Midnight Gospel on Netflix. —Eddie Feeley
If what you’re looking for is engaging conversation with a charismatic host whose interview prowess brings guests to unexpected and deeply personal places, look no further than How’s Your Heart? with Michael Turrentine. Each episode, Turrentine hosts a conversation that is, in the very accurate words of the show’s description, “hilarious, vulnerable, and unapologetic.”
Turrentine balances off-the-cuff, casual conversation with insightful and purposeful questions, prodding his guests to break open the topics at hand further and further until the audience is left marveling at a geode of truth and honesty. And all of this is done while keeping things funny, earnest, and dynamic. Pick a first episode based on show notes that speak to you, then sit back and trust the process. You’ll walk away having laughed and learned–not just about the guest, but hopefully about yourself, too. –Wil Williams
Look, there’s a reason Joe Rogan Podcast episodes number in the thousands at this point. He’s got an audience of like minded people, he interviews anyone, does some research, and is affable. Joe Rogan podcast episodes are well known for an interview style that doesn’t push back, and as such, the host seems to be on board with most of what his guest is saying.
Joe Rogan podcast episodes featuring comedians are fine. He’s a stand up comic. We’re sure skin is thick enough to understand those types are going to say some offensive stuff. We get that.
But you don’t have to go along with fringe theories and sketchy ideas for the sake of booking. And readers, you don’t have to keep listening.
The most interesting podcasts draw the listener in. Subscriptions. Binge listeners. This is what you…
The Dissect Podcast had been floating around in the back of my head for a…
NASCAR podcasts really have the possibility to bridge what we may ignorantly think is a…
Welcome to our guide on the best mystery podcasts! If you're a fan of spine-tingling…
The trial is over, the sentence meted out, but the impacts linger. We'd all do…
The best podcast about history will not only teach us about the past, but will…