Put on these podcasts and escape into the friendship simulation

March 9, 2025 9:01 PM

The Elephant Graveyard delivers wry, witty, scathing critiques of wayward comedians like Joe Rogan and Jerry Seinfeld. Their newest piece, How Comedy Became a Dystopian Imperial Hell World, explores deep into the alt-right comedy podbro pipeline of the Roganverse. If you need a further palate cleanser, there's always Professional Joke Explainer Myles Anderson, who whimsically breaks down the "comedy" of right-wing comedians such as Theo Von, Tony Hinchcliffe, and Dave Smith, among others.
posted by Christ, what an asshole (11 comments total)

If the above is appealing to you, Comedian Conner O'Malley's Pipe Rock Theory is a hilarious 6 minutes, and might be a good appetizer.
posted by wowenthusiast at 9:40 PM on March 9 [3 favorites]

Huh, I did not expect this to pivot to a hagiography of Tom Green.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 2:53 AM on March 10 [4 favorites]

Rogan is/was a comedian? And other than Seinfeld, I have never heard of any of these people.

I consider myself lucky.
posted by tommasz at 5:41 AM on March 10

Rogan got his big break on NewsRadio which has to be one of the most cursed network sitcoms ever.

Incidentally, the pilot episode had Greg Lee (of PBS's Where In the World Is Carmen Sandiego fame) in the role that Joe Rogan was ultimately cast for, and I sometimes fantasize about how much better that universe must be.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:56 AM on March 10 [9 favorites]

I have never heard of any of these people.

I'd heard of Theo Von because of Rode Rules (or was it Real World, I forget), but when I'd heard he became a comedian, I laughed at that ridiculous idea because he was such a joke (insultingly) of a person on the reality show, I couldn't imagine him being a good standup. And now learning he's a "right-wing" comedian, I feel justified in my initial opinion.
posted by numaner at 6:48 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

Re: Seinfeld

He said "I don't care about Palestine" out loud with his whole mouth on an influencer's video a couple of weeks ago. I already know he's a terrible person WRT Palestine, but a lot of people didn't know that about him, and now more know about him, and I'm watching that second video and realized that was 9 months ago. So he's been going downhill for a lot longer than I thought.
posted by numaner at 7:01 AM on March 10 [5 favorites]

I couldn't plow through that first video, but watched the Seinfeld one. And ... surprised myself. Yes, as much as I am disgusted with Seinfeld now, I can't help but feel sorry for him. Comedy can be such a soul-sucking trap. Almost all other stage entertainers can loose some of their audience and just go on with the show; comedians HAVE to own them all - for the whole time they stand up there alone in the lights.

Perhaps the only ones who can escape being warped are the ones who don't live like that offstage? Or the ones who can hear the voices of those buddies who aren't just sycophants telling them, "Dude, that's not okay."?
posted by Surfurrus at 7:43 AM on March 10

I mostly remember Joe Rogan from Fear Factor (we cast people that you'd want to have sex with). We watched that regularly, until the kiddo (who was a toddler at the time) threw up watching an episode where they had to eat bugs. After that, we quit him cold turkey.
posted by Spike Glee at 8:16 AM on March 10

I was just about to put together a post on Elephant Graveyard which would have led with the "How Comedy Became a Dystopian Imperial Hell World". Essential viewing, I think. A masterful work of polemic and montage as is much of what's going on at the Graveyard. Rise of the Under Toad: The Tragic Life of Joe Rogan is another must see from two years ago if you want to get to the heart of what's truly foul about this "comedy podcast shit entanglement era" we find ourselves in. You end up kind of feeling sorry for poor ole Joe ... but not really.

It's also worth noting just how funny some of this stuff is, and inventive. For instance Lex Fridman & Warlord "Barbecue" Discuss Chaos in Haiti, Propaganda, Combat Ethics. Here a combination of wicked editing and what must be AI voicing allows Randy Bachman (yes that Randy Bachman) to dig deep with Lex (Joe Rogan adjacent humble MIT researcher and podcaster and obvious Putin dupe or plant) on all manner of random stuff. Seriously hilarious twenty-first century mayhem.

Also don't miss the Elephant Graveyard radio show, hosted by Randy.
posted by philip-random at 9:26 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

wtf, there's nothing here but montage overlaid with general statements and circumlocution.

The joke explainer though is kind of brilliant.
posted by Rich Smorgasbord at 11:03 AM on March 10

There is a fascinating clip in the dystopia hell world video (timestamped link here) with Joe Rogan on Tom Green's live-streaming talk show from the early days of the web, and you can absolutely see the moment Joe Rogan realizes there might be something to this internet broadcasting thing. It's a chilling moment, and an excellent piece of internet archival journalism.
posted by grog at 11:33 AM on March 10 [3 favorites]