| NET WORTH: | $95.8 Million |
|---|---|
| Source of Wealth: | Comedian, Podcast host, Actor |
| Born: | August 11, 1967 |
| Age: | 53 |
| Spouse: | Jessica Ditzel |
| Children: | 3 |
| Birth Name: | Joseph James Rogan |
| Height: | 5ft. 7in. (1.70m) |
Joseph James Rogan or known as "Joe Rogan" is an American comedian, podcast host, actor, and also a mixed martial arts color commentator. He started his career as a comedian in the Boston area, way back in August 1988. He gained fame, wealth, and podcast superstardom, after he launched his own podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience", in 2009.
Early Life
Joe Rogan was born on August 11, 1967 in Newark, New Jersey. His parents divorced when he was still five years old. His father, Joseph, was a police officer in Newark. His family lived in San Francisco, California, from ages 7 to 11 and never been in contact with his father. When he was 11, the family moved to Gainesville, Florida.
Rogan attended Newton South High School after they settled in Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts. He participated in the nonprofit organization Little League Basketball. In his early teens, he developed an interest in martial arts. He took up Karate when he was fourteen years old, and started Taekwondo a year after. He would look back on being "terrified of being a loser" as he was still a child, and stated that martial arts gave him not just confidence, but also a different perspective of himself and what he was capable of. He also stated it is martial arts were "the first thing that ever gave me hope that I wasn't going to be a loser. So I really, really gravitated toward it". Rogan won the US Open Championship taekwondo tournament as a lightweight, when he was 19. For four consecutive years, he was a Massachusetts full-contact state champion and became a Taekwondo instructor. At age 21, he retired from competition as he is starting to suffer from frequent headaches and feared he might get worse injuries.
Rogan dropped out early at college after he realized it was pointless while he attended the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Career
Rogan would make jokes and do impressions in front of his friends at his gym, and was convinced by them to try stand-up comedy. He was a fan of comedy since he was a child, and his parents took him to see the film of Richard Pryor, "Live on the Sunset Strip". He performed his first stand-up at an open-mic night on August 27, 1988, at Stitches comedy club in Boston.
While he worked on his stand-up and be financially secure, he had several jobs including delivering newspapers, and teaching martial arts at Boston University. Rogan moved to New York City as a full-time comedian in 1990. Rogan accepted Jeff Sussman's offer to become his manager, after performing at a comedy club in Boston. In 1994, he moved to Los Angeles where he made his first national television spot on the MTV comedy show "Half-Hour Comedy Hour". His appearance on the show led to the network offering him with a three year exclusive contract and a role for a pilot episode of "dopey game show" for $500, which he declined. After Sussman send the tapes of Rogan's performances to several networks, it developed a bidding war, which led Rogan to accept a development deal with the Disney network and secured his first major acting role in the 1994 American baseball sitcom "Hardball". He started performing at The Comedy Store in Hollywood and later on became a paid regular by the owner Mitzi Shore.
In 1995 to 1999, he starred as Joe Garrelli in the NBC sitcom "NewsRadio". Rogan affected his ability to perform stand-up after the loss of his friend and fellow cast member Phil Hartman, after being murdered by his wife. He later viewed his time on NewsRadio as "a dream gig". Rogan worked as a backstage and post-fight interviewer for the martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship, and his first show was on February 7, 1997, at UFC 12: Judgement Day, in Alabama.
Rogan worked as a color commentator in 2001 together with Mike Goldberg until 2016. He won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Award twice, for Best Television Announcer and was named by the World MMA Awards as MMA Personality of the Year, four times. Rogan developed his tentative plans in 1999, to star on his own sitcom on Fox named "The Joe Rogan Show". He recorded his first stand-up comedy album in December 1999 and eventually, the development got interrupted in 2001 after he accepted an offer from NBC, to host the American edition of "Fear Factor". Accepting NBC's offer led Rogan's career to grow. He appeared in several shows including as the emcee for the 2002 Blockbuster Hollywood Spectacular, a Christmas parade in Hollywood, and a co-host for the fifth season of comedy television show "The Man Show".
In 2011, Rogan resumed as Fear Factor's host for its seventh and final season, until 2012. He appeared in an action-comedy film "Here Comes the Boom", that was released in 2012 where he played himself starring Kevin James. In 2013, he began hosting the television show "Joe Rogan Questions Everything", which covers topics discussed on his podcasts. He launched a free podcast on December 2009 with his friend and fellow comedian Brian Redban, and was named "The Joe Rogan Experience" by 2010. The podcast features guests that discuss about politics, comedy, and other topics. The podcast was downloaded over 11 million times in January 2015, and reached 16 million each month by October. Rogan announced on May 2020 that he had signed a multi-year licensing deal with Spotify with an estimated worth of $100 million.
Personal Life
In 2009, Rogan married Jessica Ditzel, a former cocktail waitress and has two daughters. The family first lived in Boulder, Colorado, followed by Bell Canyon, California, and currently moved in Lake Austin, Texas, into a $14 million home.
Net Worth
With Rogan's podcast, Youtube revenue, and stand-up shows, it has been estimated that he earns $30 million per year. As of today, 2020, Joe Rogan has an estimated net worth of $95.8 million.
