Despite the fact that their surnames are spelled differently, there is often still confusion regarding whether or not Seth Rogen and Joe Rogan are related.
Rogen and Rogan are not related. Their backgrounds are very different. Seth Rogen was born and raised in Canada, while Joe Rogan is from the east coast of America. Rogen’s ancestry is from Eastern Europe, while Rogan’s is from Western Europe. Both men now live in California.
For more on the careers of Seth Rogen and Joe Rogan, parallels between them and how they are not related, keep reading.
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen is a Canadian actor and writer, born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1982. His parents are both Jewish, having met at a kibbutz in Israel. He studied karate for ten years during his youth.
He discovered his love for comedy as a child but started pursuing it as a career in his early teens. By the age of 14, Rogen was performing stand-up routines at bars, and at 16 he placed second in a Vancouver amateur comedy contest, competing against many comics twice his age.
Also at 16, Rogen moved to Los Angeles after being cast in Judd Apatow’s comedy series “Freaks and Geeks” but the show and its successor, “Undeclared”, were each canceled after one season. Rogen struggled for a few years before the success of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up” propelled him to mainstream fame.
Joe Rogan
Joe Rogan is an American MMA commentator, comic and podcast host, born in Newark, New Jersey in 1967.
Rogan is a quarter Irish and three-quarters Italian, with his parents divorcing when he was 5 years old. He lived with his mother, moving coast to coast a couple of times, firstly to San Francisco, then to Florida and eventually to Newton, Massachusetts, where he grew up.
Rogan discovered martial arts as a teenager, first studying karate before committing himself to taekwondo. Rogan found success in taekwondo but retired from martial arts competition after suffering frequent headaches.
He dropped out of the University of Massachusetts Boston, feeling that college was pointless for him. After encouragement from his friends, Rogan entered stand-up comedy at 21 years old.
After moving to Los Angeles in 1994, Rogan performed in some small acting roles, before signing a development deal with Disney. Despite having no formal acting training and little experience, Rogan starred in NBC sitcom “NewsRadio”.
In 1997, Rogan first worked for the Ultimate Fighting Championship as an interviewer. The UFC was still in its relative infancy and Rogan, who was now studying Brazilian jiu-jitsu in addition to kickboxing, was an ideal candidate. Rogan quit the role after two years as his salary was not covering his travel costs.
After a change in management, new UFC president Dana White asked Rogan to become a color commentator. Rogan refused but later agreed to work for no money if the company would provide free tickets for him and his friends. Rogan eventually started working for pay and has been with UFC ever since.
In 2009 he launched his free podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience”, where Rogan interviews a diverse range of guests, as well as hanging out with his friends. The “JRE” is one of the most successful podcasts in the world.
Rogan recently signed an exclusive deal to move the show to Spotify for a rumored $100 million.
Seth and Joe
Seth Rogen and Joe Rogan have a lot in common. From their early studies of martial arts to entering the entertainment world via stand up comedy. Today, they both live in California and are vocal supporters of legalized marijuana.
For all the ways their early careers mirrored each other, one thing they do not have in common is their family. Seth Rogen, with an E, and Joe Rogan, with an A, are not related.