Joe Rogan Experience #1794 - Monty Franklin
Narrator, Joe Rogan (host), Monty Franklin (guest), Guest (guest), Narrator, Guest (guest), Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Guest (guest)
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Narrator and Joe Rogan, Joe Rogan Experience #1794 - Monty Franklin explores joe Rogan and Monty Franklin Roast COVID Rules, Culture, and Comedy Joe Rogan and Australian comic Monty Franklin bounce through a long-form, highly informal conversation covering pandemic policies, masks, COVID treatments, and regional attitudes in places like Florida and Hawaii. They drift into immigration and visas for comedians, bizarre animals and wildlife in Australia and the U.S., and a string of extreme nature and crime stories—from kangaroo fights to wrongful convictions. The latter half leans into stand-up comedy culture, the Comedy Store's history, the craft of joke-writing, and the evolution of MMA and UFC stars. Throughout, the tone is irreverent and skeptical toward institutions, focused on how people and systems behave under pressure.
Joe Rogan and Monty Franklin Roast COVID Rules, Culture, and Comedy
Joe Rogan and Australian comic Monty Franklin bounce through a long-form, highly informal conversation covering pandemic policies, masks, COVID treatments, and regional attitudes in places like Florida and Hawaii. They drift into immigration and visas for comedians, bizarre animals and wildlife in Australia and the U.S., and a string of extreme nature and crime stories—from kangaroo fights to wrongful convictions. The latter half leans into stand-up comedy culture, the Comedy Store's history, the craft of joke-writing, and the evolution of MMA and UFC stars. Throughout, the tone is irreverent and skeptical toward institutions, focused on how people and systems behave under pressure.
Key Takeaways
Cloth and surgical masks offer limited protection compared to N95s.
Rogan relays infectious-disease expert Michael Osterholm’s view that only properly fitted N95 masks meaningfully filter tiny particles, calling cloth and loose surgical masks largely symbolic, especially when rules are inconsistently applied (e. ...
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Regional COVID responses varied wildly and shaped social reality.
They contrast Florida’s near-normal behavior and open tourism economy with Hawaii’s strict testing, masking, and lockdowns, arguing that people in open states often acted as if the pandemic barely existed while tourist-dependent, tightly regulated regions were economically crushed.
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U.S. immigration for artists is expensive, slow, and status-driven.
Monty explains that obtaining an O‑1 visa and green card as a comedian required proving he was an “alien of exceptional ability,” spending around $20,000 on lawyers, travel, and paperwork to convince authorities that American entertainment was incomplete without his presence.
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Eyewitness testimony and some forensic methods are deeply unreliable.
Rogan cites work with Innocence Project ambassador Josh Dubin, noting how faulty eyewitness IDs and “junk science” like bite-mark analysis have led to wrongful convictions and death-row sentences, while prosecutors sometimes withhold exculpatory evidence to preserve their win records.
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Comedy thrives on risk, authenticity, and forgiving human flaws.
They discuss Louis C. ...
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Physical sex differences still matter in elite sports, even amid gender debates.
Rogan and Franklin argue that male puberty and lifelong testosterone exposure give meaningful performance advantages, making cases like a trans woman dominating women’s swimming controversial; they suggest separate trans categories might ultimately be fairer than forcing integration.
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Modern MMA greatness is a mix of genetics, breadth of skills, and mindset.
In breaking down fighters like Kamaru Usman, Khamzat Chimaev, and legends from Pride and early UFC, Rogan emphasizes that champions combine exceptional bodies, cross-disciplinary skills (wrestling, jiu-jitsu, striking), obsessive work ethic, and near-zero “quit” in high-pressure moments.
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Notable Quotes
““Wearing your underpants on your face doesn’t work. It’s a face diaper.””
— Joe Rogan
““I had to prove to the government that me not being here was an injustice to the entertainment industry.””
— Monty Franklin (on his U.S. visa)
““We lost our fucking mind. It shows you how goofy people really are if something goes sideways.””
— Joe Rogan (on pandemic overreactions like arresting a lone paddleboarder)
““If the cost of telling the truth is the loss of our Twitter account, then so be it.””
— Joe Rogan paraphrasing Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon
““To be a great fighter all the pieces have to be in place… amazing genetics, superior work ethic, crazy discipline, and a mind with no give-up in it.””
— Joe Rogan
Questions Answered in This Episode
Where should the line be drawn between symbolic public-health measures and scientifically effective interventions, and who should be responsible for communicating that distinction?
Joe Rogan and Australian comic Monty Franklin bounce through a long-form, highly informal conversation covering pandemic policies, masks, COVID treatments, and regional attitudes in places like Florida and Hawaii. ...
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How can justice systems reform the use of eyewitness testimony and forensic ‘junk science’ to prevent wrongful convictions without undermining public trust?
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In a world of increasing gender complexity, what policies could balance inclusion with fairness in competitive sports, especially at the elite level?
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Does cancel culture meaningfully improve accountability, or does it mostly create social punishment without paths to redemption for artists and public figures?
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What personal qualities or life experiences most reliably predict who becomes truly great in high-risk, high-performance fields like stand-up comedy or MMA?
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Transcript Preview
(drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience. (rock music)
Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. Oh.
There you go. Jesus.
That's a ... what the British would say, a proper cigar lighter. (lighter clicks)
Was that your British accent?
Yeah, it was terrible. Can't tell if I'm from New Zealand, Britain, Scotland. (laughs)
No, it was as shit. It's a ... (laughs)
(laughs) How many people, like, that don't know you're from Australia think you're British? 'Cause they, like-
I never get it. I always get Australian.
Really?
I've never been called anything else. Uh, maybe a ... Maybe New Zealand or, or, um, British o- once, but ...
But that's amazing 'cause you lived in Florida for a year. That basically is another country. They don't know what the fuck's going on in the rest of the world.
I love it. It's so funny.
The people that stay in Florida-
(laughs)
... Florida, it's like they ... It's like 1985 and they just said, "No, we're just gonna stay here." Everything's fluorescent and the buildings haven't been updated since ... Everything's strange. And- What part of Florida are you living in?
We were in Orlando for a year.
Oh, okay, so that's Disneyland. That's a, that's a weird place anyway. Disney World. That's a weird place anyway because it's all Disnified.
Yeah. It's like D- Disney ... Like, half the people work for Disney in Orlando-
Yeah.
... just walking around and stuff. It's, uh, it's a strange place. I, I, I enjoyed the time that we were there, but I'm glad that we're leaving. Sorry, Orlando.
(laughs) It's a fun place to stay during the pandemic, I'm sure.
Yeah, I mean, everything was op- ... Well-
'Cause they act like it doesn't ... it's not real. (laughs)
Well, no, they ... Nothing happened there. There was no pandemic.
(laughs)
Everyone just lived their lives and carried on and went to boat regattas and made out with each other in the streets.
Yeah, I was talking to Stanhope and, uh ... Stanhope, by the way, never got COVID, which is amazing. Amazing. I mean, if anybody's been compromised-
He probably got COVID 20 years ago and he's had it that whole time or something and ... (laughs)
It's a joke he has. He says he's been experiencing COVID-like symptoms for the past 30 years. But he, uh-
(laughs)
He was traveling to, like, Wyoming and Montana, and he goes ... And they were like, "You know, we never had any restrictions." There's places that just never locked anything down.
I wonder if there's ... I mean, was ... No, I was gonna say Hawaii, but Hawaii was pretty locked down, wasn't it?
Oh, they're, they're still locked down. I was just there.
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