“He just yells about c*cks and complains that he can’t say the N-word.” —Matt Mahler for Movieweb
Turns out the “Boats” aren’t the only thing getting burned.
Joe Rogan’s new Netflix comedy special “Burn the Boats,” released last weekend on the popular subscription streaming service, left critics unimpressed and fans scratching their heads, as the longtime UFC color commentator shouted his way through an hour of jokes poking fun at COVID, gay men, and cancel culture, among other hot-button topics.
New York Times called it “dumb.”
Variety said the material felt “decades too late” while Movieweb accused Rogan of being “narcissistic and weird.” That said, supporters on social media claimed “miserable” critics were acting “worse than any joke” Rogan made while serving to “drag the world down” with their unflattering remarks.
“I love gay men, but I think about gay men the same way I think about mountain lions,” Rogan said. “I’m happy they’re real, but I don’t want to be surrounded by them. They’re a bunch of dudes who f*ck dudes, I don’t like my chances!”
Rogan also suggested “a pervert wizard waved a magic spell on the whole world.”
Having grown up in the era of Andrew Dice Clay and the late Sam Kinison, who screamed his jokes like a comedic drill sergeant, I didn’t find Rogan’s material to be any more offensive than what most of us have already been exposed to over the years. But pointing-and-laughing is not the same as developing a humorous point of view, an element that was sorely needed (but nowhere to be found) in Rogan’s “Burn the Boats” special.
Daily Beast put it best: “His cult loves it so it doesn’t matter.”