After more than 1,800 episodes and an endless list of famous guests, Joe Rogan has finally revealed the one interview he wishes never happened.
Joe Rogan's podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, is one of the most influential and widely listened-to shows in the world.
Launched in 2009, it has featured over 1,800 episodes and a diverse lineup of guests, ranging from celebrities and scientists to politicians and controversial thinkers.
Known for its long-form, unfiltered conversations, the show often dives into topics like health, technology, psychedelics, politics, and conspiracy theories.
With millions of subscribers on both Spotify and YouTube, Rogan’s podcast has become a cultural force, sparking widespread discussion and occasional backlash with each new episode.
In fact, in a recent episode, Rogan didn’t hold back when NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers asked him to name the least enjoyable guest on his massively popular show.
“That might have been the worst podcast I’ve ever done, but maybe a good one too,” Rogan admitted, referring to his two-hour conversation with Dr. Zahi Hawass, a high-profile Egyptian archaeologist and former government minister.
The episode itself started with a discussion about Egyptian history but quickly turned into a lesson in podcast pain.
Rogan confessed that the only reason Hawass even came on the show was because British author Graham Hancock had supposedly patched things up between them.
“That was one of the reasons why Zahi came on because Graham talked to Zahi and was like ‘Zahi wants to do this, we're friends now’, so I was like ‘Bring him in, let's go bring him in, I'll talk to him.’”
But the vibe was far from friendly. Rogan described Hawass as completely closed off to exploring alternative ideas about Egypt's history, something Rogan himself is deeply curious about.
“This is the guy. This is this close-minded fellow who's been in charge of gatekeeping all the knowledge,” he said.
Rodgers, chiming in with his own stories from Egypt, claimed he saw images of “a spaceship, a helicopter, and a submarine” on ancient hieroglyphs. Rogan, clearly more aligned with that kind of thinking, replied: “There’s a bunch of weird images.”
When Rodgers floated the idea of Hawass giving Rogan a personal tour of Egypt, the host couldn’t fake enthusiasm. “Yeah, meh, mmm, if I’m going, I’m going with Graham.”
Even after hosting world leaders, tech moguls, and whistleblowers, it’s clear there are some guests Rogan would rather leave in the archives. And based on this interview, Zahi Hawass is sitting firmly at the bottom of that list.