Fear And Loathing

Joe Rogan looks for relief through laughter

by Ben Kharakh

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As host of NBC's Fear Factor, comedian Joe Rogan has seen some pretty disturbing stuff. But the truth these days is stranger than reality TV, and people stuffing their faces with buffalo testicles and cow eyeballs doesn't even compare to the evening news. While his stand-up takes on plenty of heavy issues, he just wants his audience to laugh — and take a second look at Britney's crotch.

City Paper: What scares you?

Joe Rogan: I was on a radio show in Georgia, right before the 2004 elections. One of the hosts runs this silly, right-wing Web site full of silly, dumb shit. He literally asked me this question: "Who do you think al-Qaida wants to win?" Like, how much do you believe that al-Qaida is the reason the world is fucked up? If you look at death and destruction, the United States government is far scarier to me than al-Qaida. Let's look at that. Let's look at what we're doing. Let's look at what we're doing to "try to make the world a safer place." We're scaring the fuck out of everybody, including us.

CP: What do you think is scarier: the stunts on Fear Factor or the news?

JR: The news is far scarier and far more disturbing than anything you could ever see on Fear Factor. Horrific acts of war, financial injustice and acts of incompetence are looked at as commonplace and are just accepted. The "newscasters," the people that are supposed to be informing the general public, should be either removed from their positions or jailed for hooking people on this dependence on celebrity information. We're in the middle of a gigantic conflict that has horrible repercussions for the entire globe and people are concentrating on Britney Spears' vagina.

CP: Where do you see all of this leading?

JR: I don't know, but I don't feel good about it. I see these presidential candidates running in a position to guide people, but not guiding them. They're all spokespeople for the system. No one is really saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, we need to really re-evaluate how we view all of our predetermined patterns of behavior and our ways of looking at life in general. You're all going to die; everyone is, including you and I. These are all temporary experiences we're going through. How can we make this temporary experience better for everyone involved?"

CP: Do you hope to provide the answer to that question with your comedy?

JR: I don't ever hope to accomplish anything other than make people laugh, but the way I want to make people laugh is by giving them a window into the way I look at life. Humor is one of the few ways that you can introduce an idea into a reluctant mind. If I'm onstage and I make you laugh, even if you don't agree with me, you go, "I don't even agree with that but that was pretty good. That was funny. That guy's got a point. That's actually a good point."

Joe Rogan Thu., April 3, 8 p.m.; Fri., April 4, 8 and 10:30 p.m.; Sat., April 5, 7 and 9:15 p.m., $20-$34, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., 215-496-9001, heliumcomedy.com