Joe Rogan’s Initial Reaction to Live Netflix Special Offer: ‘F*** That’

Before Joe Rogan decided to Burn the Boats on Netflix, he almost opted to skip the comedy cruise altogether. 

“When Netflix said they wanted to do a live special with me, at first I was like, ‘Fuck that,’” he told Adam Sandler on his Joe Rogan Experience podcast. “I don’t want to do that.”

What was the problem? After all, Rogan had already been preparing for just such an opportunity. “I was getting ready to do a special in August of 2020,” he told Sandler. But then COVID hit, shutting down everything except for podcast conspiracy theories. With comedy clubs temporarily closing their doors, Rogan didn’t do stand-up for eight months. 

Once restrictions lifted and comedy stages opened once again, Rogan no longer felt ready to take on a special. “I was like, You know what? I just feel like just working on my material now. I just feel like just working on stand-up, not even thinking about the special.”

And so, Rogan was just doing loose sets at his Comedy Mothership club in Austin with pals like Shane Gillis and Tony Hinchcliffe when he got the Netflix call. “And I said, ‘No.’ I told my manager, I was like, no. I called her on the phone — ‘I don’t want to do that.’”

But on his drive home from the Mothership that night, Rogan started kicking his own ass. “I’m like, Why are you scared to do that? You fucking pussy.” So when the comic got home, he called his manager back. “I go, ‘Don’t say no yet. Let me think about it.’”

Rogan’s fear of doing a live streaming show turned out to be the reason he eventually agreed to get in bed with Netflix. “The next day I said, ‘All right, I’m going to do it.’ And she’s like, ‘You sure?’ I go, ‘Yeah, yeah. I’m gonna do it because I’m scared of it.’”

Sandler was impressed. “That’s ballsy, man.” 

“I was fucking terrified of it,” confessed Rogan. 

“I’m scared thinking about doing it,” Sandler said. “I would never fucking do it. But you killed it.”

Unlike Rogan’s typical stand-up sets, which feature a good amount of “fucking around,” the comic decided to take a more disciplined approach. “I wrote all the bits out by hand. Even the ones I already knew. I wrote all the transitions out. I listened to records. I watched videos. I beat myself into the ground,” he said. “I overprepared.” 

Rogan had the set down so cold that he didn’t even bring notes on stage to remind him of which bits went where. 

“That’s fucking balls,” said Sandler. “I would never be able to do that.” 

The Sandman confessed that he’s gotten spacier as he’s gotten older, using one-word notes like “popcorn” to remind him where he wants to go next. It’s especially useful when trying out new jokes that he hasn’t perfected yet. “I just put the sheet down, go on stage, and try new shit out,” he said. “Nothing better than a new joke.”