‘The funniest guy that’s ever come out of Australia’: Controversial podcaster Joe Rogan sits down with Adelaide-born comedian James McCann
Controversial podcaster Joe Rogan spoke to the Adelaide-born comedian about everything from Barry Humphries to Bob Katter.
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Adelaide-born comedian James McCann has sat down with controversial US podcaster Joe Rogan to discuss everything from an exodus of Australian comics to the nation’s housing crisis.
The pair engaged in a wide ranging almost three-hour conversation uploaded to Joe Rogan’s YouTube channel with more than 20 million subscribers on Friday.
Early in the conversation, Rogan dubbed McCann, who frequented the Adelaide Fringe Festival before moving to Texas in 2024, “the funniest guy that’s ever come out of Australia”.
But McCann quickly corrected Rogan and introduced him to the late Australian comedy legend Barry Humphries.
“No, we had Barry Humphries, I’ll never be better,” McCann said.
The Adelaide-born comic later continued that Australian comedians were moving overseas following Covid.
“Covid radicalised a lot of people,” McCann explained to Rogan.
“We were in Melbourne when it kicked off.
“One of the only places you could do shows was in Adelaide.”
He then described the cost of living crisis in Australia.
“The rent’s out of control, the inflation is so much worse,” McCann said.
“No one in my generation is buying a home.
“Immigration is like, it’s silly, we’re not building houses in line with that.”
He argued comics began moving away from Australia “in a way no one was moving overseas”.
“For the first 10 years I was doing comedy I think a couple guys went to the UK and that was it,” McCann said.
He referenced Australian comedians spending time in the US such as fellow Adelaide comedian Amos Gill, Aaron Chen and Blake Freeman.
During another part of the discussion, when speaking about surrogacy, McCann told Rogan about “a breakout case in Adelaide … there’s maybe 1000 siblings”.
McCann was referring to the story of Adelaide woman Katherine Dawson, who was born through IVF and conceived via a donor.
When attempting to track down her biological or “donor father”, she discovered she may have as many as 700 half-siblings as he had donated across multiple clinics.
McCann also introduced Rogan to the viral “may a thousand blossoms bloom” clip of Queensland MP Bob Katter speaking on same-sex marriage and crocodile attacks.
“He’s the man,” McCann said.
“He needs more power in our government.”
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Originally published as ‘The funniest guy that’s ever come out of Australia’: Controversial podcaster Joe Rogan sits down with Adelaide-born comedian James McCann
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