W. Kamau Bell Calls Joe Rogan ‘Bad for Comedy,’ Possibly Racist

Joe Rogan has done more for comedy than most people on the planet.

The 58-year-old’s “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast is the ultimate platform for new and established comics. One appearance can introduce a stand-up talent to millions of listeners.

It remains one of the biggest podcasts in the audio space and a haven for today’s funniest voices.

Plus, Rogan established the Comedy Mothership in 2023. The Austin club, hailed by comics for its impressive design and dual showrooms, helped transform the Texas city into a comedy Mecca.

It’s not New York City or Los Angeles, but more than a few comics (Shane Gillis, Tyler Fischer, Tom Segura, Tony Hinchcliffe) have relocated to Austin thanks to the Rogan effect.

Tell that to W. Kamau Bell.

The woke comic complained at this week’s Atlantic Festival that Rogan is bad for comedy. And he was just warming up.

Speaking to extreme-Left pundit Jemele Hill, Bell described the current comedy scene as toxic due to woke’s decline. 

For years, comedians had to watch what they say or self-censor for fear of professional reprisals. It explains why R-rated comedys all but evaporated from multiplexes.

The problem came to a head when the far Left attempted to cancel Dave Chappelle in 2021 for telling jokes about the trans community. That Netflix special in question, “The Closer,” also included Chappelle’s poignant tribute to a late trans comic.

The woke mob ignored that, focusing on the other material. Netflix had his back, though, and the woke wave started to fade. Now, roast jokes are back, and rebel stand-ups like Tim Dillon, Ryan Long, Gillis and Andrew Schulz are in high demand.

Again, tell that to Bell.

He implied to Hill during “The Politics of Comedy” chat that Rogan and his ilk were responsible for Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension. The “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host said Charlie Kirk’s murderer was part of the MAGA movement on Sept. 15.

That was a lie, one he still hasn’t retracted. He has been suspended ever since.

Bell started by saying stand-up comedy exploded in America thanks to free speech. Giants like George Carlin and Lenny Bruce suffered so that future comics could flex their rhetorical skills without concern.

He’s right, of course. Yet he proceeded to defeat his own logic by attacking modern comics who don’t abide by the woke rules.

Hill, who like Kimmel, initially misled about the motivation behind Kirk’s murder, asked Bell to address comedy at the moment. Bell said he could speak for all comedians, save “a subset of comedians in the Joe Rogan universe.”

“I’ll be speaking AT them,” he continued, “because they did this to us.”

“The powers that be, Trump and the Trumpettes, have decided that comedians can’t say what they want to say anymore. They’re fundamentally redefining America as a place that I don’t wanna live,” he said. “If this country doesn’t have free speech, then we’re not America.”

Where was Bell, a supporter of Antifa, over the past decade? He stayed silent over the serial attacks on free speech sparked by his woke allies.

Later, he claimed without evidence that Rogan’s endorsement of Trump near the end of the 2024 presidential campaign was “bought.” He then said other comics who similarly endorsed Trump, like Hinchcliffe, were also “bought.”

“You sold your soul for very little,” he said.

He then circled back to Rogan.

“It is so gross what Joe Rogan has done not only to discourse in this country but just to comedy,” Bell said.  The woke comic claimed that Rogan’s comedy pals insist they must tell jokes that cruelly target the trans community and use the “N-word” – particularly if the comic in question isn’t black.

“He has made comedy worse again,” he added, ignoring how folks like Carlin, Richard Pryor and Dick Gregory opened up comedy for all voices and opinions.

Hill then asked Bell if comics like Theo Von, Hinchcliffe and Rogan, because they supported Trump’s re-election bid, were responsible for Kimmel’s suspension.

“Yes,” Bell said, laughing. That ignores how affiliate groups like Nexstar and Sinclair yanked Kimmel’s show off their airwaves as advertisers began bolting from the program.

The comic then accused Rogan of bigotry by saying he mostly interviews white guests and “doesn’t talk to everybody.”

Well, he can’t talk to everybody, but he did extend an invitation to Vice President Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential campaign. Her team declined the opportunity.

Bell also insinuated that Spotify is the reason Rogan became such a podcasting giant, ignoring the fact that Rogan had built up his fan base before the Spotify deal went down.

Rogan, like liberal peer Bill Maher, routinely interviews guests from across the political spectrum. Bell isn’t a fan of that approach. 

He said moments when a liberal like Ezra Klein debates a conservative like Ben Shapiro represent “two white guys who are basically endorsing White Supremacy.”

“Stop taking comedians that seriously, ” he warned later in the conversation.

Couldn’t agree more.