"He doesn't so much take you on a journey but shows you snapshots of various harsh and colourful roads all leading to the same distant destination." Mike Stephenson heads down to Leicester Square to check out opinionated US stand-up Joe Rogan.
You probably haven't heard of Joe Rogan unless you're a a fan of Fear Factor or a follower of certain stateside UFC coverages, but he has a sharp contrarian intelligence that belies these dubious credentials and has flown largely under the radar as a comedian. He represents all of the awesomeness about the USA without any of the suck. He's loud, lewd and relentlessly honest, as well as disarmingly thought-provoking. Rogan looks like a jock. Stocky, powerful and wombat-shaped, he's a man's man. But he stands for a lot more than that; he's the quintessential neo-stoner, not just live and let live but shout and let shout.
This is made all too evident by the oinking caterwauls of his meathead crowd. He doesn't need to throw the show out to audience questions, they do it on their own, sporadically throughout most of the set. Many of them ask his opinion on all things UFC, which is a little alienating for those of us who are just interested in comedy, but he caters to the noise with accessible knowledge and superhuman levels of patience. A lot of them repetitively call for him to jukebox bits of his old material and like a pro, he kicks them to the kerb. He doesn't need old jokes, he pulls new ones out of the air at the drop of a hat. It all makes for an atmosphere a bit like a boxing match or a street fight, and if anyone is equipped to deal with it, it's Rogan. He relishes it in fact. I think a lot of them just want to be subject to his legendary ability to strike hecklers down with a single lash. He doesn't disappoint.
The contrasting combination of Rogan's patient disposition and high-octane energy are a testament to the polarity of his audience. Few comedians can so readily appeal to rowdy thugs as well as deep thinking psychedelia enthusiasts. He doesn't so much take you on a journey but shows you snapshots of various harsh and colourful roads all leading to the same distant destination.
One moment he's outlining the transcendent potential of the human mind (very much a component of sensory deprivation flotation tanks and of course the hallucinogenic culture of weed, mushrooms and DMT and everything in between); the next he's making taunting playground descriptions of some of the hardest, most dangerous fighters in the world, one of which is propped up below, stage right alongside an apparently ubiquitous porn actress. I forget their names but they provide a lot of starting points for Rogan's mockery and they take it all in good humour. It's a nice touch, having a fighter and a porn star on hand. All he needs is a chef and a drug dealer and he'll have a full complement of representatives for sensory decadence. Good clean fun, I'm all for it.
Joe Rogan is at the Leicester Square Theatre on Friday 15th October at 10:30pm
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