Celebrity

Joe Rogan Debuted His Texas Studio and Fans Aren’t Impressed

Podcaster Joe Rogan recently debuted his first episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience' in his new Texas studio, but fans are not loving the layout.

by John Wolfe

Published on September 9, 2020

3 min read

When Joe Rogan announced his plan to move to Texas, many fans weren’t so sure how it would pan out. At first, fans of The Joe Rogan Experience pointed out that marijuana isn’t legalized in Texas, and wondered if that might have an effect on Rogan. Then, as his new studio progressed, fans became ever more skeptical — things were shaping up differently than expected. Now, with Rogan’s debut episode from his Texas studio available for viewing, fans are more put off by the studio than ever before.

Why did Joe Rogan move to Texas?

When Joe Rogan started floating the idea of moving his studio to Texas, he claimed it was a matter of freedom and space. It seemed as if the podcaster and comedian felt stifled in California.

“I’m going to go to Texas. I just want to go somewhere in the center of the country, somewhere where it’s easy to travel to both places and somewhere where you have a little bit more freedom,” he explained.

“Also, I think that where we live right here in Los Angeles is overcrowded. I think most of the time it’s not a problem. But I think it’s exposing the fact that it’s a real issue when you look at the number of people that are catching [COVID-19] because of this overpopulation issue,” Rogan continued.

“When you look at the traffic, you look at the economic despair, when you look at the homelessness problem that has accelerated radically over the last decade, I think there are too many people here.”

However, Joe Rogan will also be receiving a hefty tax break of up to $13 million on his Spotify deal as a result of the move, leading some fans to speculate on whether or not this might be the real incentive.

Controversial episodes omitted from Spotify

After making the move to Spotify, some of Joe Rogan’s more controversial episodes were omitted from the episode list. It’s still unclear if this was a conscious choice from Spotify, or a technical error.

Fans weren’t thrilled to see episodes removed, and speculated that Rogan sold out by allowing Spotify to censor alt-right pundits and controversial guests like Alex Jones, Jordan Peterson, and Chris D’Elia.

Since then, Alex Jones has claimed that he’s spoken to Joe Rogan, and that the controversial videos will supposedly be uploaded in the future.

‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ fans aren’t loving the new studio

While fans may be happy to see the omitted episodes make a return, they don’t seem thrilled with Joe Rogan’s new studio and its layout. In fact, most fans seem to hate it altogether. The new studio looks something like a glowing red tube, almost sci-fi and ominous in aesthetic.

“Of all the things the new studio could have been, I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be the Death Star’s reactor room. Something a little more natural and earthy maybe. Like a log cabin, lots of walnut and maple. Some frosted glass and lots of animal heads,” wrote one dissatisfied Redditor.

“It’s lit all wrong, makes both of them look like they’re sunburned … it looks like a poor attempt at a replica 1960s Star Trek hallway,” added another user.

“What does this random still from The Last Jedi have to do with Joe Rogan?” joked one commenter.

One user suggested that Rogan start a contest to redesign the studio

“[Dude] there’s gotta be a contest on redesigning the new studio. This s**t is atrocious. Literally fits the 2020 vibe of f***ing shit up. I have no idea if maybe a wider lens may be the only help in this but godd**n it hurts the eyes. And d**n can’t even get focus right,” pointed out the commenter.