476 Marc Maron vs Joe Rogan Drama Retrospective

Summary

Podcast Summary: Joe Rogan Experience Review Podcast

Episode 476: Marc Maron vs Joe Rogan Drama Retrospective
Date: November 19, 2025
Hosts: Adam Thorne & Co-host (Comedy/Podcast reviewer)

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Episode Overview

In this special retrospective, Adam Thorne and his co-host dissect the long-brewing and recently re-ignited drama between Joe Rogan and Marc Maron. The episode explores the roots of their rivalry, pivotal moments that intensified their differences, commentary from notable comics, and the perspectives of the podcasting and stand-up communities. With characteristic humor and insight, the hosts break down what the so-called "comedy civil war" means, whether a reconciliation is possible, and how the powershifts in comedy podcasting reflect broader cultural dynamics.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. Setting the Stage: Rogan vs Maron – Not Just Another Drama

• Adam Thorne calls out the uniqueness of Rogan getting dragged into beef:

  "Rogan stays out of that type of stuff generally and for good reason. You know, it's not a reality Kardashian episode... But you start messing with some of his friends, he's gonna get mad." (00:30)

• The hosts clarify this is a multi-layered feud, sourced as much in personality and podcast “philosophy” as in specific incidents.

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2. Origin Stories & Comedy Civil War

• The drama is framed as ongoing for years, with roots in both personal rivalry and the evolution of comedy podcasting culture.
• Marc Maron as Instigator:
  The co-host dubs Maron “the Robert E. Lee of this comedy civil war.”

  "I think that Mark. Mark is the Robert E. Lee of this comedy civil war." (04:14)

• Respect for Talent, Not the Vibe:
  Adam appreciates Maron’s comedy and acting but calls his podcast “kind of a bit whiny” and not personally inspiring.

  "It's like a bit whiny...he just has a bit of a whiny kind of attitude and energy." (04:30-05:31)

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3. Pattern of Jealousy: History Repeats

• The hosts recount Maron’s public jealousy towards comics like Jon Stewart, Louis CK, and Mitch Hedberg, noting a repeated cycle:

  “You can't be better than Mark, and that's just a shitty way to be.” (06:24) “He called Jon Stewart a sellout...and then hosted the same show himself.” (07:21)

• They speculate on Maron’s podcast (WTF) as his avenue for public apologies and reconciling with comics he previously trashed.

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4. Notable Anecdotes & Quotes

• Jon Stewart’s Dismissal of Maron:
  Jon Stewart directly refused Maron's invitation to WTF, indicating no relationship left to salvage.

  “Hey, man...I just want to let you know there's no love here. I don't need an apology. There's nothing to talk about.” (08:04)

• Stewart also defended Rogan in a contentious interview:

  “I like going on his show. I like the fact that he has these interviews...He can think what he wants.” (11:06)

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5. Podcast Powershifts & Platform Gripes

• Spotify Deal as Catalyst:
  Both agree the drama escalated notably with Rogan’s $100m Spotify deal and Maron’s public criticism of “cash grab culture”.

  “It all started with his press tour for Mark's new...special...when he attacked Joe and the Rogan sphere…” (31:22)

• Maron's criticisms are characterized as jealousy-driven, especially after Rogan’s podcast and related shows surpassed WTF in rankings.

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6. Recent Escalation & “Rogan Sphere” Critique

• Maron’s Public Roast:
  Maron called Rogan a hack and attacked his influence in politics and comedy. He also targeted Theo Von, which the hosts felt “actually depressed” Theo.
• Rogan Goes Nuclear:
  Rogan was silent as attacks occurred but then, on-air with Brian Callan, exploded:

  “Just say Mark Maron. All right. Just say Mark Baron.” (32:58) “Guy sucks. Statistically...his audience is depressed gooners...goes nuclear on Mark Marin.” (33:33)

• Andrew Santino & Schultz Episodes:
  These guests continued the Maron-takedown trend, with Rogan pressing guests privately about their participation in Maron’s trash talk.

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7. Cultural & Content Commentary

• ‘Rogan Sphere’ & Cancel Culture:
  Maron accuses Rogan-adjacent comics of being “middle acts” and criticizes what he sees as cultural hackiness; the hosts argue that Maron conflates critique with envy.
• Discussion about shifting culture, cancellation, and whether “cancellation” can actually occur if a comedian stays funny and relevant (referencing Shane Gillis’s SNL firing and later success).

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8. Podcasting Trends, Quality, and Recommendations

• Maron’s refusal to modernize (stay audio-only vs. video) is seen as a misstep.
• The hosts critique Maron’s current output:

  “Just make your show better. Don’t talk for 20 minutes at the beginning about how your day is...He had great guests—Obama, Leonardo DiCaprio—but he just doesn’t make the interviews that good.” (25:01-27:01)

• They praise other podcasts for adapting and evolving with the medium (referencing Bill Maher and others).

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9. Personal Histories: Rogan & Maron’s Early Relationship

• Maron encouraged Rogan early in his career, which Rogan still respects:

  “Mark took the time to do it, you know. And I think what it highlights...is like, look, no one's all bad. No one's all bad, and no one's all good as well.” (18:32)

• Their 2013 podcast appearances together showed potential for a real friendship.

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10. Endgame: Reconciliation or Cold War?

• Both hosts doubt a public reconciliation unless Rogan sees value in it.
  Adam:

  “I've got a feeling ultimately Joe isn't looking for a fight, and he's willing to have people on and have a chat if he thinks it's worth it. With Marin...he doesn't think it is. He's like, no, I'm kind of done.” (44:53)

• Rogan reportedly said he'd hug Maron if they ran into each other; the hosts seem to believe this is genuine.

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Noteworthy Quotes with Timestamps

• On the nature of the beef:

  "Rogan stays out of that type of stuff generally...but you start messing with some of his friends, he's gonna get mad." — Adam Thorne (00:30)

• Comedy ‘Civil War’ analogy:

  "Mark is the Robert E. Lee of this comedy civil war." — Co-host (04:14)

• Cyclic Jealousy:

  "You can't be better than Mark, and that's just a shitty way to be." — Adam Thorne (06:24)

• Jon Stewart’s non-apology:

  "Hey, man, like I just want to let you know there's no love here. I don't need an apology...nothing to talk about." — Recapping Jon Stewart (08:04)

• Rogan’s explosive moment:

  "Just say Mark Maron. All right. Just say Mark Baron." — Rogan (Quoted by co-host, 32:58) "Guy sucks... his audience is just, like, depressed gooners and just, like, goes off, like, goes nuclear on Mark Marin." — Co-host (33:33)

• Podcast criticism:

  "Just make your show better. Don’t talk for 20 minutes at the beginning about how your day is." — Adam Thorne (25:01) “He had fucking Obama on...he just doesn’t make the interviews that good. I’m sorry.” — Adam Thorne (27:01)

• On potential reconciliation:

  "Rogan said if you ran into Mark, you'd hug him. So..." — Co-host (45:41) "Yeah, and I believe it. Yeah, I believe it to be true." — Adam Thorne (45:45)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Drama intro and context: (00:30)
• Comedy ‘Civil War’ & jealousy cycles: (04:14–07:21)
• Jon Stewart anecdote & refusal: (07:21–08:42)
• Stewart defending Rogan: (11:05)
• Spotify deal and Maron’s envy: (23:16–25:01)
• Maron’s roasting spree and Rogan’s nuclear on-air response: (31:22–33:33)
• The “Rogan sphere” and cultural criticism: (36:27–38:41)
• Reflection on reconciliation possibilities: (44:53–45:49)

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Conclusion

Adam and his co-host provide a thorough, humor-laden breakdown of the Rogan–Maron feud, highlighting insecurities, industry shifts, and recurring cycles among top-tier comedians turned podcasters. The hosts recommend that Maron focus on content improvement rather than comedy beef, while predicting Rogan will likely let the drama dissipate unless there's genuine value in addressing it directly. The episode ends on a hopeful if skeptical note about the possibility of a public reconciliation, underscoring both the entertainment and weirdness of modern comedy’s shifting landscape.

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For any Rogan fan or podcast follower, this episode offers history, sharp takes, and inside baseball on two titans of comedy.

Transcript

[Adam Thorne]

You're listening to the Joe Rogan Experience Review.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

What a bizarre thing we've created now.

[Adam Thorne]

With your host, Adam Thorne.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

This might either be the worst podcast.

[Adam Thorne]

Or the best one. One go.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Enjoy the show. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Joe Rogan Experience Review. We're trying something new today. On this episode, we're going to be talking about the Joe Rogan and Marc Maron drama. I am joined by Adam Thorne, as always. Adam, how's it going, man?

[Adam Thorne]

Oh, good, good. My excited for this dude. This kind of drama is interesting, you know, and. And here's the thing. It's like not to inflate this because Rogan stays out of that type of stuff generally and for good reason. You know, it's not a reality Kardashian episode. You know, he's not trying to just create drama for hits, but sometimes things hit too close to home. And I think Mark, you know, upset Theo, and Theo isn't really prepared to defend himself in that way. And Rogan, Rogan steps up for people, so he may not jump in to defend himself necessarily. He doesn't really feel the need to. He's like, whatever, I'm rich as it doesn't matter. But you start messing with some of his friends, he's gonna get mad. And then he. He kind of, kind of pulled, you know, all the stops out for this one. I mean, we heard the whole story. Yeah.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

And Rogan, like, has his thumb on. On what people are talking about when it comes to drama. For example, Mark Marin said on Instagram Live once that, you know, Netflix has created this cash grab culture that comics can do popup shows faced and make millions of dollars. And that was a statement he made on Instagram. And then Rogan heard that somehow and then texted Bill Bert Kreischer and was like, hey, man, your boy's talking about you. And then it created this massive rift between Bert Kreischer and Mark Marin. And Mark Marin's like, what the going on? So he approached Bert about it. Bert Kano was like, off. You know, Mark looked into it. He found out what was going on. He called Bert. He goes, bert, like, what the. I was talking about Dave Chappelle. You don't do pop up shows for Netflix. And first, like, oh, yeah, you're right. And Mark's like, well, what do we do now? And it goes to show that, like, Joe is defending people. He's like, really making sure people aren't talking and wants them to know when there is some drama. This Marc Maron thing is sprinkled. Like, in all of Joe's past. It really is. It's really interesting.

[Adam Thorne]

Joe, like, jumped to a conclusion on this. Right. And it wasn't about.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

But not at all.

[Adam Thorne]

Okay, I see. Yeah. But here's the thing, and I'm not trying to defend Joe, obviously. I review his show forever. I listen to him a lot. Like, obviously, there's probably a bias there, but I know what it's like also, when you have a bit of a beef with someone, you're kind of on the defensive. You know, it's like you're always watching for them to say something, assuming they're coming out for you or someone else. It's like when you first said that message, I was thinking, bird, I'm like, drunk on anything. You're always thinking bird.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Yeah, you really are drunk.

[Adam Thorne]

Est comedian.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

But it's funny how, you know, a lot of people are looking at Mark and they're like, mark's always stirring up. I don't know. I feel like there's. There's some on both sides for this drama, and this is a real comedy civil war here.

[Adam Thorne]

Oh, yeah.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

I think that Mark. Mark is the Robert E. Lee of this comedy civil war.

[Adam Thorne]

You. You. You're telling me they're going to take his statue down eventually?

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

I think so, dude. At the cat cafe, wherever the that is.

[Adam Thorne]

Let's. Let's be fair to everybody. I think. I think Mark is. Is a frickin great comic. I love his jokes, I love his writing. I like a lot of his acting. You know, I like a lot of the things that he's in. I often will see him in something and be like, I'm going to watch that. And I don't do that for a ton of actors. Like, he just is interesting in that way. But I don't. I haven't really ever been that much of a fan of his podcast. It's. It's like a bit whiny. It's kind of a bit annoying, you know, and he doesn't really have, like, the type of ideals that I get pumped for, you know, he's like. He's like, gentle, you know, I like the guys that are, like, a bit more manly in the sense. It's like, that pumps me up. I'm like, yeah, let's go. Like, that's a podcast that I, you know, I'm saying that it's not like Theo does that, you know, like Tim Dillon. I love those podcasts as well, but it just. He just has a bit of a whiny kind of Attitude and energy a little bit. You know, he really does, man. He does. And I think. I think that's what's coming through. And to be fair, Rogan's little breakdown when he was just like, listen, Marin was super popular, and then with his podcast, and now it's not. It's not even in the top 200. Every time he falls off, he gets better. When Louis CK got real popular, they were friends. He got mad at him. You know, when. Who was the. Who was that really good one line comic guy?

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Mitch Hedberg.

[Adam Thorne]

Mitch Heberg. And, you know, he blew up, got mad at him. You know, it's like, you can't be better than Mark, and that's just a shitty way to be.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

He's not wrong, man. He's really. He's not wrong with. With that criticism on Mark merritt, like in 2009, in a comedy special, Marc Maron was like, I go on cable TV and you know, how much Jon Stewart does this world need? He hated Jon Stewart. He saw Jon Stewart on. On magazine covers and was like, this guy. He's a sellout for doing short attention span theater. That was the show he was hosting. And Mark Marin came up with Jon Stewart. So he's like, Jon Stewart, you know, this guy. This guy's getting. He's a. He's a sellout. He's getting all this, you know, what's funny Rules.

[Adam Thorne]

Shut up. Yeah, dude.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Mark Marin ended up hosting that same very show that he was criticizing Jon Stewart of hosting and being a seller. Oh, it was your jealousy. It was really pure jealousy. And then Mark Marin ended up, you know, for wtf. He was like, using that as like kind of his apology podcast where he has people on like, I love whatever you think about Mark Marin's podcast. I love his episodes with Louis ck. Really great stuff. And his apology to Louie and everything I thought was really cool. And it was awesome to hear them.

[Adam Thorne]

Oh, I haven't seen it. I should out watch that for sure.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

But he reached out to Jon Stewart and, you know, Jon Stewart ended up calling him and he's like, hey, man, like, I just want to let you know there's no love here. There's. I. I don't need an apology. I. I don't think there's any love here. There's nothing to talk about. And Mark was just destroyed by that. And in my opinion, I think Jon Stewart is totally in the right for taking.

[Adam Thorne]

Oh, so John was like, you, period.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

When Mark Marin approached him to be on wtf.

[Adam Thorne]

Wow.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Because he's like, hey, man, like I have a podcast. Wtf? I know we have some history. I'd love for you to come on so we can just figure this out. And that, that's what Mark does to like every comic. He's like, yo, let's just, let's just squash the beef, right?

[Adam Thorne]

But you know what this says to me? And I don't think this reflects poorly on Jon. It's like, actually what this says to me is John really feels it, right? It probably really hurt him. He probably felt really sad about it, you know, it meant something. He probably cared about Mark and what Mark really thought and it hurt. And then he found out clearly that he was a hypocrite as well. And he was like, you know what? He's not who I thought he was. So no, there's no conversation here. That's disappointing, dude.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

And when it came to the Rehab comedy festival, Jon Stewart was interviewed about it and he's like, yeah, there's some pieces of shit like making jokes about it and their stand up and talking about. He's. He's so referring to Bark Marin. He is 100% referring to Mark Marin. Confidence shouldn't be complicated. Through hims, you can skip the guesswork and get access to care that actually fits your lifestyle. Straightforward, stress free and designed around you. Think of hims as your digital front door that gets you back to your old self with simpler 100% online access to trusted treatments for ED and more in just one place. To get simple online access to personalized affordable care for ED, hair loss, weight loss and more, visit hims.comjre that's hims.comjre for your free online visit hims.comjre actual price will depend on product and subscription plan. Featured products include compounded drug products which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness or quality. Prescription required. See website for details, restrictions and important safety information.

[Adam Thorne]

Which is interesting too because in that same interview he really defended Rogan.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Really? For sure.

[Adam Thorne]

Really. And that guy that was interviewing him really wanted to hammer Rogan. And John was having none of it. He was like, I like going on his show. I like the fact that he has these interviews. And you know what? He. It's not his job to like give everyone shit that comes on. He's just talking to him. I like that he has those conversations and he can think what he wants. And I was like, holy shit. That's a fucking just. It was just a cool move and it was smart too. And that's the thing. You cannot and don't ever underestimate how intelligent Jon Stewart is. And if you, if you're not sure, go back and watch his, like, early appearances on the O'Reilly Factor on Fox News, when the Daily show was brand new, he went into the lion's den. He, you know, they thought he was going to get. Basically, Fox was like, you're going to get Ian alive. You're in our territory. He. He held it so well, dude. I mean, he was ready.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Whatever you think about Jon Stewart, you have to at least have some respect for him, especially everything he did for the nine, 11 firefighters, too.

[Adam Thorne]

Oh, yeah, that.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

That was. Dude will go on the front line for people.

[Adam Thorne]

Oh, yeah.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

He's. He's a real one, man. I. I think Jon Stewart is, like, in a top.

[Adam Thorne]

You think he thinks it was an inside job, Dude.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

This is why we gotta have the, the Jon Stewart, Joe Rogan, Alex Jones episode. Yeah, the meeting of the minds right there.

[Adam Thorne]

Well, I think, you know, John. John is happy to go on Rogan. They don't have any beef at all.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

They want.

[Adam Thorne]

They get together every now and again.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

I was, yeah, there's no beef.

[Adam Thorne]

I mean, dude, you know, Bill Ma goes on Rogan, like, no problem. He goes on. They have, like, there's an interesting, you know, relationship with all these guys that are there. Honestly, you know, it's kind of a shame that John Oliver kind of went as extreme his way as he has, because his show is good and he is very funny. But I think an interview with Rogan and him would be excellent. The problem is I think they kind of hate each other, you know, And I'm pretty sure John Oliver has done a whole episode on how much Rogan sucks or podcasts, you know, so you couldn't come back around from that. But my point is, you know, it's not going to be long. For some reason, John will be back on Rogan, and those conversations are fucking great. I mean, dude, they've been doing comedy in different circles for, you know, 30 years. Like, they're friends. They know each other. You can have different political thoughts and not think that someone is an asshole as well.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

That is true, man. And I would love to hear a political discussion between Rogan and Jon Stewart. They have very, very different political beliefs. Where in the Daily show, like, very liberal. A very liberal show where Joe has become a very, like, conservative guy. Like, his podcast is very conservative now. So I would love to see how they discuss certain issues and see what, like, is bipartisan interview.

[Adam Thorne]

The Bill Ma was on it. Not that Long ago. And, you know, they get into the, you know, it's not like it was like super political episode, but there isn't a ton of major disagreements. You start to see that it just brings. It highlights that thing the. Where, you know, most people that are reasonable kind of agree on a lot of the topics.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Right.

[Adam Thorne]

It's more of the nuance. You know, you start hitting those really political talking points like abortion or, you know, lgbtq. You know, it's like you're hitting these talking points that get people revved up. But at the end of the day, people want good health care. You know, they want family values, they want community, they want good roads, they want affordability. Exactly. They want safety, they want law and order. It's like all of that is. Everyone's on the same page.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Well, I would say that Jon Stewart is like a top five requested guest, in my opinion. For me, if I was to see a guest, it would be like number one, Mark Marin, number two. I'd love to see Jon Stewart. Three, Alex Jones. And then I think those three men, if I like in the future, any of those guys are on. We're making an episode right away. Mark Marin especially. That would be the podcast of all podcasts. The. That would be such a great debate. I would love to see that. Mark Baron, I don't think would even do it. He stated that he feels like there's nothing he would get out of it, but I just think it would be some of the most entertaining dude.

[Adam Thorne]

I think he would know he would do it if he was invited because, you know, if anything is telling me something about his kind of personality, it's like he wants to be something. He likes the attention. He wants to be popular. He's falling off, you know, I mean, his acting is like something. But his comedy is not going great. His podcast is going nowhere. Well, it's done to go on Rogan. Yeah, it's done basically to go on Rogan could like, like, everyone knows. It could like reignite something that he has. So he would do it for sure. I don't think Rogan would have him, though. You know, it's like Gavin Newsom. He's not putting. Unless Rogan. Rogan might have Gavin on only to destroy him.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

There's more of a chance of Gavin. There are a hundred percent as more.

[Adam Thorne]

But he's not going to be nice. It won't be one of those. Rogan's just trying to get to know you. If Rogan does have Gavin on, it will be the ugliest Joe Rogan you've ever seen.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

We'll see, man. Dad, you know, I haven't seen a. A Joe pushback episode in a long time, so.

[Adam Thorne]

Dude, Candace Owens was probably the last one for sure.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I think it would be fun to, like, get into some of, like, the origins of the two of them, because I'm not sure if you know this, but what makes this thing so interesting that in the beginning when Joe was an open micr and was doing comedy for, like, five, six months, Marc Maron pulled him aside and gave him, like, advice and was like, hey, man, you're. You're really funny. You should keep going. At the Comedy Connection in Boston in 88. And it's funny that he gave him that advice, and now this is what it's turned into, you know?

[Adam Thorne]

Well, you know, Joe's talked about that a few times. It meant a lot to Joe, and I don't think Joe thinks less of it now because Mark was a bigger player in that game, and it really helped Joe out. It's like, he's talked about those compliments before, and you know what it means to have a comic that you look up to say that. And Mark took the time to do it, you know, And I think what it highlights and it's something important to remember is, like, look, no one's all bad. No one's all bad, and no one's all good as well. But it's like, he's not all bad. He's just, you know, gets bitter because he's not as popular as he wants to be for whatever reason. But, yeah, that's way back, dude. I mean, what was Joe then? Like, 21, 22?

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Yeah, 1988, man.

[Adam Thorne]

Dude, that's like 30. What, freaking seven years ago.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Like, that's. But I think what was really interesting was when Joe was on WTF for the first time, because I felt like that whole episode was Mark trying to get Joe to admit that he sold out with Fear Factor, because the whole episode is Mark on. Well, don't you feel like if Bill Hicks were around, he would on it and call you like a hack? And Joe's like, yeah, he'd probably, you know, make fun of it, but I think it'd be funny. And the whole episode was just Mark trying to be like, just say you're a hat. Just say you're a sellout.

[Adam Thorne]

No, really? I haven't heard that.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

And Joe just doesn't. And it turns into a. A pretty friendly conversation. And then Mark appeared on Joe's podcast in 2013, which is pretty much lost media at this point, and they hit it off really nicely. And Joe even said, like, at the end of the episode, we got to do this more often, which was just cool. And it's like, wow, this. This could have been a friendship. But they.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, I mean, look, I don't think Joe's not.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

He.

[Adam Thorne]

Joe knows how to use his energy. He's not looking to waste his energy on feuds. Many people are. They love to.

[Guest or additional contributor]

Right.

[Adam Thorne]

Mark seems to like that. That's. Okay, fine, do it. But, like, I don't recommend it. It's not good for your mental health. It's just, look, you can get mad at people, you can get frustrated. It's better to let it go. You should focus on yourself, move forward, put that energy into going to the gym. You know, you don't need to stare in the mirror and have some, like, fantasy conversation about what you would say to this person the next time you see him. It's all wasted energy, but people do that shit, dude. And I feel like that's what Joe's doing at the end of that conversation. That's what. He loves podcasts. He's like, oh, shit. You know, I thought you'd be weird, but you're cool. And I'm glad we have this talk. And, you know, I feel a little bit smarter because we had this conversation, so thanks for coming.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

I could totally see Joe Rogan running through fake argument scenarios with Marc Maron in, like, asana or something.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Because, dude, when he was. When he was talking to Brian, dude, he was like. He was like, point, point, point. It was like, damn, dude, you've thought about this.

[Adam Thorne]

Oh, yeah. No, you'. Yeah, he has thought about it. He definitely has. I mean, yeah, look, when I say he knows how to use his energy, everyone has those conversations. Everyone is wasting a little bit of time with it. But I, you know, it's like, how much are you dwelling on it? How much is it coming up, you know, Now? Thought about that because it was concise. And I have to say, it was, like, logically good as well. I was like, that's fucking legit, dude. He's probably right.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

He was throwing statistics out there and everything. And we'll get to that, man, because I think there's a lot to say about Joe literally exploding and just being like. Like the guy who is like, don't want to bring drama into the podcast. I'm not trying to talk drama just to, like, go nuclear. Mark Marin. Well, I feel like a lot of this current Drama started in like 2021 with the Spotify deal.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

When Mark was on Tom Cigar's podcast and was like, you know, I like, literally to Tom goes, I like you because he didn't rent out space in Joe's ass. And then he's like a hundred million dollars for being like, I don't know, man. Referring to like, Joe not pushing back. Which ended up funny enough becoming kind of a criticism later in, in Joe's podcast. And also just on, like on that episode on Tom's podcast, Mark also roasts like the comedy scene in the comics who follow Joe and calls them like, you know, middle axe. Yeah, it's. It that is purely jealousy, I think. You know, there's definitely some criticism there for sure, but it's like, I don't know, dude. It's. It's the, the pattern of super successful. So I don't like it, like, is there with Mark. So to call it like just purely. Something's wrong and I have to say something. And not just coming from pure jealousy, but.

[Adam Thorne]

But think about it in this terms, right? It's like Rogan. There are comedians out there that have much bigger comedy careers than him, clearly. Okay, he has a big comedy career, but a lot of it now is because he's so famous with his podcast. He is not a bad stand up. People give him a hard time. I've seen him live a lot. He's good. If you look at his, like 2006, back then, his specials, like, he had some bangers, dude.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

You know, his last couple, like, whatever. But you know, you look at Chappelle's last couple, they're not as strong as his 2010 stuff. It's like there's, there's a range for it. You know, it's like people start to get too political, whatever points and. But my point is, look at Bill Burr, look at Chappelle. You've got Shane Gillis. Like, there's just big players out there. He's not talking shit about any of them. He would do shows with any of them. He talks about how good they are. He doesn't try to pretend that he's better than them. He wants them to come to his club. You know, he's just, ha. You know, it's just like Mark is just like decided that this person has this thing that he wants, so he sucks. And it's like, why, why you even just fucking do your comedy or do your podcast or do whatever. And here's. Here's another thing, dude. And this probably hurts a lot back in 2021, just like you were saying Rogan got that Spotify deal. Well, that's when my show, our show that we're on, blew up as well. I got into the top 10 on Apple, Bloomberg, for. They all wrote articles about me. Vice, like, Yahoo News, like, you know, Google it. They're there. And I was ranking above Marin show on the fucking review show of Rogan. Well, what's actually really funny is I was ahead of Jordan Peterson then above all the Fox News guys, CNN guys, above Theo. It was when Theo's show was new, but it was crazy just to have so. That's wild, dude. You know, that must be for him. Not that I was on Mark's radar, I'm sure, but, like, all the podcasters were looking at those rankings early on, and because he's not doing his show anymore, guaranteed we rank higher. It's like, sorry, dude. You know, just make your show better. Don't talk for 20 minutes at the beginning about how your day is, like, shut up. Get on with the show. He has great guests. He had fucking Obama on. And this is way before Rogan could get a president or a presidential candidate on. I mean, he had access to excellent guests, dude. He's had Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt on. Rogan hasn't had that. He's had really good access to people, and he just doesn't make the interviews that good. I'm sorry.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Yeah, like, it's like a lot of the episodes are him just being like, who are your guys? You know? And just like, him just being like, I don't know. It's. It's like, I think.

[Adam Thorne]

I'm not trying to on him too bad. I think he's very talented.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

He's good. Yeah. But the.

[Adam Thorne]

The pod is just not that good. I understand why it's dropped off. I kind of didn't understand why it was as popular as it was for so long. I have to be honest.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Well, I don't know. I think it was just like, the whole idea. It's in his garage, dude. If he moved his podcast of, like, video as well and put it on YouTube, I think its popularity could have been maybe doubled. Seriously.

[Adam Thorne]

You're probably right. You know what I think? What. What Bill Ma is doing with his podcast.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

It's kind of like what Mark could have done if he was better. It just happens to be the. Bill Maher is naturally more talented at it because he's kind of taken over. It's like a very similar show almost.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Right.

[Adam Thorne]

The same kind of Level of liberalism. The same kind of interview. Ish style. But Bill is just better. He's more interesting.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Well, podcasting really kicked off in, like, 2008, where, you know, maybe not, like, kicked off compared to, like, you know, when Rogan started doing it, but in 2008, it was, like a strictly audio only thing. Oh, yeah, Very strictly audio only. And I think Mark just sees that as being more traditional, and he sees if he did make the podcast a video thing as well, it would just kind of be selling out maybe. I don't know. It's weird. But then his last episode that he did recently, like, his big final episode, was a video podcast with Obama, where what I thought was interesting about that is Obama brings up Rogan, which pissed off Mark so much. So much.

[Adam Thorne]

But what did he say about it? Do we have a clip?

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Yeah, yeah, I can play a clip. I'll edit it into the. The episode. But this is what Obama said about Rogan on Mark's podcast.

[Guest or additional contributor]

There is still, I think, a power in just people listening to conversations if they listen to the whole thing. Sure. That, I think, is different. You and Rogan, I guess, came up, started right around the same time. Right. And it was interesting to me when people started criticizing, I don't know, Bernie or somebody else for going on Rogan.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Right.

[Guest or additional contributor]

It's like, well, why wouldn't you? Yeah, of course. Go, go. If you have time to go have a conversation with somebody, you know, then that is consistent with democracy.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

All right, now let's talk about this year, 2025, because this is when all the shit really exploded. So it all started with his press tour for Mark's new, like, comedy special. Panicked. Panicked when he attacked Joe and. And the Rogan sphere. You know, Antheo on Howie Mandel's podcast.

[Adam Thorne]

I was like, dude.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

And. And he was on Bad Friends as well, and calling Rogan a hack and attacking his politics and his role in Trump's reelection and really just dumped all these points and. Yeah, that whole Theo thing, I'll be honest, man, his whole thing on his joke on Theo, I actually enjoyed the Ovon. I thought that joke was pretty.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, but. But I like jokes, and so do you, so we get it.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

And it was a funny impression.

[Adam Thorne]

I could imagine that it made Theo depressed, which is sad, because Theo's cool.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

It did. Well, that's just like, what culture is now. Like, you look at the Nelk boys, and they had Netanyahu on. You know, it's just like kind of this weird culture now where it's like, People are just having such, like, weird figures on podcasts, and it's. It's more of a commentary on that.

[Guest or additional contributor]

Yeah.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

And I think he just uses Theo Vaughn to, like, kind of channel it, but I think it's funny. Would Theo Vaughn really have Hitler on the show? No, because it's a joke.

[Adam Thorne]

Huge guess, though. Huge guess.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

That would be quite a get. Massive. So, yeah, like, Rogan silent with the Howie Mandel podcast. Rogan Silent with Bad Friends. And then Rogan just explodes. When Brian Callan comes on the show, he just can't help himself because. Because Callan dances around it and because he knows that Joe doesn't like talking about drama publicly. And Joe goes, just say Mark Maron. All right. Just say Mark Baron.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, he got pissed.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Guy sucks. He. You know, statistically, he's the old. He's out of all Live Nation has the most single ticket sales. He's like, yeah, his audience is just, like, depressed gooners and just, like, goes off, like, goes nuclear on Mark Marin. And then he has Andrew Santino on, which we talked about on our Andrew Santino episode and is like, you know, yeah, man. I think he brings up Mark Maron, and then when Andrew Schultz is on the show, they talk about Marc Maron a little bit. And Joe also reveals that he brought Andrew Santino aside and was like, yo, what was that all about? And kind of, like, was like, explain yourself. What are you doing? And Santino was like, yeah, man, just let him rant. He's. No one gives a about him. And kind of just treated Mark like, yeah, he's just. He's a nobody. But I don't know. Like, you watch that episode, it seems like Santino was, like, really into it and was having a lot of fun and wasn't pushing back at all, but instead was doing the opposite and fueling Mark Maron and kind of like, being like, yeah, you kind of got a point where Mark's whole thing.

[Adam Thorne]

There was kind of a bit of that. But, you know, I have to be honest. It. You know, I would say in my own life, and I am very protective over my friends, but sometimes I. And it's not like gaslighting, but sometimes I, like, feel a bit silly. And if someone I, you know, I'm hearing is talking shit about someone I know, I'll just, like, let them play it out.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

Because I. Because it's, like, a way to get more of that information. He's like, oh, yeah, tell me more what else they do.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Oh, yeah. What a dick idiot.

[Adam Thorne]

But you, like, you Know, you like the person. You just want to hear. Like, where's your angle? Like, what do you think about this? It was just. It's different when you do it privately or just at a bar or it's just a couple of you hanging out. When it's a podcast and everyone in the world's listening, you know, you just kind of curious to why you not kind of standing by your friend or whatever. It says a lot, though, that Joe had him on not that long after that. And it really wasn't brought up. If it wasn't for Santino, I mean, sorry, Schultz bringing it up shortly after that on the pod, it. Nobody would have said anything, dude.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

I think Schultz kind of does have a point, though, of.

[Adam Thorne]

He's not wrong.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Yeah. These comics will, like, you know, get on that on the Rogan sphere bandwagon, and then when they need to promote a special will go on your show. And in my opinion, it's like, either do none or pick one. You know, I don't know, man. And, like, even on that Bad Friends episode, Bobby Lee's like, all right, when is this thing gonna, like, blow over? When do you think? How long is this thing going to last? Like, they obviously seem to agree with Mark. There was, like, negative pushback. And it's not that there was no push back, but it was like, they were almost encouraging it. Now, my big issue with, you know, we all. We talked about a lot of the criticisms to Mark Rogan criticized and talked about every single point about Mark Maron and that Mark made, except the criticism about the Rogan sphere. Like, the main point, he did talk about the whole issue with trans people, where he's like, well, it's. You know, trans people are down. They don't get health care. And then Joe's like, well, they do get health care, but that was about it. That was really it. I would really love to hear what Joe thinks about this whole Rogan sphere thing, because Mark just does kind of a quick version, like his filtered version of the elephant graveyard video.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

And if Rogan addressed Mark's criticisms, he's really at the same time addressing the elephant graveyard video. So that would be quite interesting. I think he's maybe avoiding that for a reason. Mark's saying that it's a lot of hack, and that just on trans people is just hack and using buzzwords. And he's saying, like, also, it's. It's not censorship, it's cultural pushback. You know, which I understand that point of view. Like, it's not that you're getting arrested for saying like, you know the word. You're. You're. It's just cultural pushback with slurs and everything.

[Adam Thorne]

Well, they made such a big issue about this whole. Are we getting cancelled? You know, it was almost like a badge of honor to almost get cancelled. Like Tony almost got cancelled or Joe did or when they came for you and we survived it and it was like, what is cancel culture? Unless you were, you know, straight up using the N word, you didn't get canceled.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Right. And it's it. You come back from it. Yeah. So I don't know.

[Adam Thorne]

Listen, listen, if you're Chris, you don't like, you can't. You can't do that.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Right?

[Adam Thorne]

You can't do that. You can't say the N word 500 times like a Seinfeld character.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Like. Of course.

[Adam Thorne]

Right. But if you just make a Puerto Rico joke, you know, or make fun of a Chinese kid, it's like, you'll survive. You know, even the whole cancellation with Shane Gillis saying some stuff about gay people on his podcast, which honestly, if you go back and listen to it, it was like nothing. Really. Yeah, like nothing. It was SNL just got really up in arms and they made a big mistake because they just happened to fire someone who is very, very funny. Lauren Michaels, not just a great comedian, but really good at making skits. Like he's chappelle level with with both of those things. So they've kind of that up.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Lauren Michaels literally went up to Shane and was like, you can either quit or we fire you. And Shane's like, well, you're gonna have to fire me. You know, it's like a lot of that has changed. The, the like culture has shifted a quite, quite a lot. It really.

[Adam Thorne]

But I love it because he's hosted it twice.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

And I would say in the last decade easily has the best skit that has been made. And it's the Couple of beers 1.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

So good.

[Adam Thorne]

So good, dude.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

So good.

[Adam Thorne]

That is the. I've watched that skit so many times and I'm like, it's genius from start to finish.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Yeah. Well, I think, you know, my overall thoughts on this whole thing is that Mark definitely has some issues and he's always had these issues that he just needs to figure out and have some self awareness. Like even when he go to the gym, bro. Exactly. When he says work out, relax on Howie Mendel's podcast, said he's like, I don't really have issues with comics. It's like, yeah, you do. You Lied. And Joe even talks about that. But again, Joe kind of just cherry picks the points he wants to talk about. And I think that's some criticism on his end from me that it's like, just. Just address this whole thing head on. Elephant graveyard has like 5 million views on that Rogan Sphere episode.

[Adam Thorne]

Oh, yeah.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Seeing a lot of pushback. Also, Joe on Mark's Reddit page. Dude, have you seen the Rogan Reddit page? It is. It's a. It's chaos. It is chaos, man. Oh, it's worse. It's way worse. It's way worse. And Mark's Reddit is rough, but it's bad, man. So I don't know. I think, you know, I would just love them to have a discussion on air, like up on podcast.

[Adam Thorne]

It's worth it. Well, it's like Anthony Jesel neck, too. Yeah. You know, he's. He seems like a better guy, and I love him. Like, he is one of my idols in comedy. He is what made me want to get into stand up. I love his joke writing. I think he's a genius. Like, I've always liked his style. He's just fucking brilliant. But he loves to talk shit. He wants to separate himself from podcasters.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

He.

[Adam Thorne]

He's like, you're not a real comedian. I'm just like, why are you doing any of this? Just fucking write jokes and be cool with people. Like, he's been on Rogan a bunch of times. Like, why you. Even in his recent special, he was like, if you listen to Joe Rogan, you're a retard. And Joe's my friend. I was like, dude, the joke was funny. I liked it. But I'm like, what are you doing here? Like, you're a good comedian. Just. You don't need to do that. Yeah, I don't know what you're trying to do there.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

We'll see what happens now that Mark Maron has stopped doing his press tour for his comedy special. We'll see what happens. I think we might have heard the last from Marin, but if you watch this special or. No, I. I did. Yeah.

[Adam Thorne]

Was it good?

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

It's. It has some moments on it. All right.

[Adam Thorne]

I went Brian Callan's recently, and I. I love Brian Callan.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Okay. Yeah, I've heard.

[Adam Thorne]

Seen him live bunch of times. I've talked with Brian a bunch of times. He's awesome guy. And that last special was. It did not work well for me. I don't know if I was in a bad mood, but it didn't hit.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

It so he's been talking about that on firing the kid where he hit has been like, yeah, dude, I don't know. I'm not super, like, confident with it. He's like. And he's just saying it's like, it's just not the era for specials. It's just not the era for specials anymore.

[Adam Thorne]

It kind of seems like that, though. There hasn't been a really strong special for a minute. I don't know what the last really good one was.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

I think Year of the Dragon was the. The last best one. Nick Mullen's special was phenomenal. Dude, that. That's like, in my opinion, that's like. Like Shane Gillis live in Austin level for me.

[Adam Thorne]

Really?

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Dude is the man. But.

[Adam Thorne]

Oh, yeah. Yeah, he is good.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Yeah, he is really come town. But anyway, and. Yeah, and then even Stabro some, you know, I don't know. But anyway, yeah, Stavros is fun.

[Adam Thorne]

Adam Freeman. Yeah, we need. We need some more. Hopefully Shane drops another one soon. And. And, you know, look, this is the. The first of many. There's tension in the Rogan sphere. People are attacking it for whatever reason, what our opinions are. I mean, just from this part, it's like. I don't know. I don't know if we're defending it or just watching it. We're here to review. I'm just paying attention. It's interesting, and I'm curious to see where it goes. I've got a feeling ultimately Joe isn't looking for a fight, and he's willing to have people on and have a chat if he thinks it's worth it. With Marin, I would say he doesn't think it is. He's like, no, I'm not. I'm kind of done.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

Rogan said if you ran into Mark, you'd hug him. So.

[Adam Thorne]

Yeah, And I believe it. Yeah, I believe it to be true.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

We'll see what happens, man. Yeah, we'll see what happens. Well, this was fun. This was like a fun new format, I think.

[Adam Thorne]

There we go. More to come.

[Co-host (possibly a comedy or podcast reviewer)]

More to come. For sure. We'll have hopefully every week a new topic because there's. Dude, there's so much happening in the comedy world right now and related to Rogan, so I think this is, like, a fun thing to add to the Joe Rogan Experience review podcast. Thank you, everyone, for listening, and we'll see you next time.

[Guest or additional contributor]

Thank you. Laters.