2009–present: Latest endeavors and podcast
Rogan hosted the short-lived CBS show Game Show in My Head, which aired for eight episodes in January 2009. It was produced by Ashton Kutcher. The show involved contestants who try to convince people to perform or take part in increasingly bizarre situations for money. He agreed to host the show as the idea intrigued him, calling it "a completely mindless form of entertainment".
In 2010, Rogan accused comedian Dane Cook of joke thievery.
In 2011, Rogan resumed his role as Fear Factor host for its seventh and final season (until 2012). Rogan took the job, saying he "would hate to see somebody else do it". Later in 2011, Rogan played his first major film character, Gale, in the comedy film Zookeeper. He was also working on a book around this time that he tentatively titled Irresponsible Advice from a Man with No Credibility, based on his blog entries on his website. Rogan played himself in Here Comes the Boom, another action-comedy film starring Kevin James that was released in 2012.
In December 2012, Rogan released his sixth comedy special Live from the Tabernacle exclusively as a download on his website for $5, following Louis C.K.'s example.
In 2013, Rogan hosted the television show Joe Rogan Questions Everything on the SyFy network, which aired for six episodes. The show covered topics discussed on his podcasts, including the existence of Bigfoot and UFOs, and featured several comedians, experts, and scientists with the aim of trying to "put some subjects to bed ... with an open-minded perspective". SyFy agreed to produce the show without a pilot episode. The production team gave Rogan some creative control over the program and aimed to present it in his own words where possible.
In December 2009, Rogan launched a free podcast with his friend and fellow comedian Brian Redban. The first episode was recorded on December 24 and was to be a live weekly broadcast on Ustream, with Rogan and Redban "sitting in front of laptops bullshitting". By August 2010, the podcast was named The Joe Rogan Experience and entered the list of Top 100 podcasts on iTunes and in 2011, was picked up by SiriusXM Satellite Radio. The podcast features an array of guests who discuss current events, politics, philosophy, comedy, hobbies, and numerous other topics. By January 2015, the podcast reached over 11 million monthly downloads. By October that year, the podcast was downloaded 16 million times each month, making it one of the most popular free podcasts.
On May 19, 2020, Rogan announced that he had signed a multiyear licensing deal with Spotify worth an estimated $200 million, making it one of the largest licensing agreements in the podcast business. The deal made The Joe Rogan Experience available on Spotify starting September 1, 2020, and exclusive on the platform from January 2021. The podcast is available with both audio and video within the Spotify app and video is no longer streamed or uploaded to YouTube. The podcasts are typically released one day after recording, to allow time for the producers to make clips of the podcast. Clips from the video version will continue to be available on YouTube. In February 2022, Spotify removed 113 episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience over the course of a few days owing in part to some of the episodes having been perceived to have racist and insensitive language.
In February 2022, singer India Arie shared a compilation of Rogan saying the racial slur "nigger" on The Joe Rogan Experience on Instagram. Rogan apologized, calling his past language "regretful and shameful" while also saying that the clips were taken out of context and that he only quoted the slur to discuss its use by others. The footage in question was first published by the political action committee PatriotTakes, an affiliate of the liberal PAC MeidasTouch. This resulted in allegations of a defamation attempt by MeidasTouch, which the founders denied in an interview with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, instead attributing the source of the footage to Alex Jones who was a recurring guest on Rogan's show. Rogan described the video compilation as a "political hit job". A number of UFC fighters, including Israel Adesanya, Terrance McKinney, Michael Chandler, Aljamain Sterling, Frankie Edgar, Darren Till, Marlon Vera, Ben Askren, and Brendan Schaub, defended Rogan.
Spotify had refused to carry 42 episodes of the podcast when it acquired the exclusive rights. Spotify says it spoke to Rogan about his "history of using some racially insensitive language", and it says (in an internal memo) that Rogan selected 70 episodes which were removed on February 4, 2022, all of which pre-date the COVID-19 pandemic.
In early 2022, the video platform Rumble offered Rogan $100 million to switch from Spotify. Variety reported that Rogan had declined the offer.
In December 2024, Spotify confirmed that The Joe Rogan Experience was the top podcast on its platform for a fifth consecutive year.
Rogan is a co-founder of the supplements and fitness company Onnit, which was sold to Unilever in 2021. Rogan frequently advertises for Onnit products on his podcast. In April 2024 a lawsuit was filed against Onnit, alleging that its 'Alpha BRAIN' supplement performed no better than a placebo in a clinical study and that the product was surrounded by "false, misleading and deceptive advertising".
In 2022, Rogan purchased the historic Ritz theater in downtown Austin, Texas, and renovated it into a comedy club known as the Comedy Mothership. The venue officially opened in March 2023 and features multiple performance rooms dedicated to stand-up comedy.
