Joe Rogan Experience #2377 - Carrot Top
Joe Rogan (host), Narrator, Carrot Top (Scott Thompson) (guest), Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Joe Rogan and Narrator, Joe Rogan Experience #2377 - Carrot Top explores carrot Top on Vegas, Prop Comedy, Fame, AI, and Weird Hollywood Joe Rogan and Carrot Top (Scott Thompson) spend a sprawling conversation talking about the evolution of his prop‑comedy career, his two‑decade Las Vegas residency, and the strange dynamics of fame, criticism, and other comedians’ jealousy.
Carrot Top on Vegas, Prop Comedy, Fame, AI, and Weird Hollywood
Joe Rogan and Carrot Top (Scott Thompson) spend a sprawling conversation talking about the evolution of his prop‑comedy career, his two‑decade Las Vegas residency, and the strange dynamics of fame, criticism, and other comedians’ jealousy.
They swap stories about late‑night TV, gatekeepers like Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, and how Jay Leno, Letterman, and others treated unconventional acts, including Carrot Top’s battles with standards & practices and network sponsors.
The discussion widens into cultural commentary—on Las Vegas as a town, UNLV, sports teams, strip‑style revues, paid protesters, conspiracy theories, NASA and the moon landing, Area 51, and the mythologies around UFOs.
They also dive into AI music and voice cloning, body image and Ozempic, plastic surgery excess, the explosion of modern stand‑up (Kill Tony, arena tours), and why some people are driven to extreme talent—and often extreme weirdness.
Key Takeaways
Prop comedy’s stigma came largely from success and timing, not lack of craft.
Carrot Top explains that he was heavily mocked by other comics mostly after he broke big with a highly TV‑friendly visual act. ...
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A Vegas residency trades rock‑star touring glory for health and stability.
Carrot Top describes 19+ years at the Luxor as allowing him to sleep in his own bed, have a normal daily life, and avoid the physical toll of flying constantly. ...
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Gatekeepers once controlled comedy careers; today podcasts and alt‑platforms do.
Stories about Johnny Carson refusing to book Carrot Top, being forced onto “Team Leno,” and standards & practices killing bits illustrate how a few TV executives used to decide who broke big. ...
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AI is already producing convincing art and voices, blurring authenticity.
They listen to an AI‑generated soul version of 50 Cent’s “Many Men” and talk about Randy Travis’s AI‑assisted song and deepfake conversations (like a fake Rogan–Steve Jobs podcast). ...
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Las Vegas is evolving from mob‑built gambling town to full civic ecosystem.
They talk about Vegas’s roots in mob deals and nuke testing, but also its present as a real city with the Raiders, Golden Knights, forthcoming A’s stadium, UNLV, and large‑scale entertainment like residencies and fight nights, while still keeping its bizarre, hyper‑commercial side (Bodies exhibits, strip revues).
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Body modification and weight‑loss drugs expose deep insecurity and incentives.
From the “human Ken doll” with 190+ surgeries to questions about Ozempic and GLP‑1 drugs, they discuss how people chase extreme appearances instead of working on health and habits. ...
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Failure in front of tiny crowds is crucial for refining stand‑up comedy.
Rogan compares bombing in front of eight people to tapping in jiu‑jitsu: it hurts the ego but teaches you what’s fake and what works. ...
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Notable Quotes
“We live in a world filled with war and famine and disease and pollution and corruption, and you want to concentrate on a prop comic?”
— Joe Rogan
“There’s three things you can see from outer space: the Great Wall of China, the Luxor light, and my cock.”
— Carrot Top
“People in 1980 were essentially wild animals who lived in houses.”
— Joe Rogan
“Once you say ‘pussy’ onstage, you’ve topped it. Now ‘fuck’ is nothing.”
— Carrot Top
“If everybody’s hot and everybody’s nice, it’s just going to be one giant human orgy—and we’ll never invent anything ever again.”
— Joe Rogan
Questions Answered in This Episode
How has the explosion of podcasts and shows like Kill Tony permanently changed the path for unconventional comics like Carrot Top compared to the old late‑night gatekeeper era?
Joe Rogan and Carrot Top (Scott Thompson) spend a sprawling conversation talking about the evolution of his prop‑comedy career, his two‑decade Las Vegas residency, and the strange dynamics of fame, criticism, and other comedians’ jealousy.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Where should we draw the ethical line with AI‑generated art and voices—especially when they’re better than many human performances but can deceive or defraud people?
They swap stories about late‑night TV, gatekeepers like Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, and how Jay Leno, Letterman, and others treated unconventional acts, including Carrot Top’s battles with standards & practices and network sponsors.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Does modern Vegas, with its sports teams and suburbs, still have the same cultural identity as the mob‑built gambling town Rogan and Carrot Top romanticize?
The discussion widens into cultural commentary—on Las Vegas as a town, UNLV, sports teams, strip‑style revues, paid protesters, conspiracy theories, NASA and the moon landing, Area 51, and the mythologies around UFOs.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
In a world with Ozempic and gene editing, what will ‘personal responsibility’ and ‘hard work’ even mean for health and physical appearance in 20 years?
They also dive into AI music and voice cloning, body image and Ozempic, plastic surgery excess, the explosion of modern stand‑up (Kill Tony, arena tours), and why some people are driven to extreme talent—and often extreme weirdness.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Are there forms of comedy (like hyper‑violent or taboo animation) that only work because they’re obviously unreal, and what does that say about our tolerance for real vs. fictional harm?
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Transcript Preview
(drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.
The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music)
Hey.
What's up, buddy?
How are you, man?
Good to see you, my man.
You as well. Thanks for having me back.
What's happening?
I'm very, very good.
It's very funny. Your- you brought a box-
(laughs)
... of your stuff, and one of them immediately started going off-
Yeah.
... like it's an alarm. What is that?
And that's hell, isn't it? Ok-
Is it a FedEx box?
Yeah. (laughs) It's, uh, well, it was a- it's a- it's that commercial that runs for late night, uh, Viagra, Cialis, and it says, "Hey, we'll send you your Cialis and Viagra in unmarked white envelopes." And I always say, "Fuck that. I don't- I want just the opposite. I want my neighbors to know I'm getting laid."
(laughs)
"I want my neighbors to know I have a dick, a hard dick," so it's got sirens and whistles. "My dick's hard. My dick is..." You know.
Uh. (laughs)
So, and that's, you know, it's- it's engineering. It takes a lot of engineering.
We were just talking about you the other night at the comedy club. We were like, "He owns props." Like, you can't do props now. When I was a kid, when I first started doing standup, and I'm sure you too-
Mm-hmm.
... there were prop comics.
Sure.
There was-
You know, the-
... a bunch of guys.
You know, The Wid-
The Wid. Yeah, there was quite a few guys that were really good, that were prop com. But you became so successful as a prop comic, you kind of stole the market.
Oh. Yeah, I guess. Well, there's no-
There's no young comics coming up.
Well, there's no- 'cause nobody wants to be (laughs) a Carrot Top, I think.
(laughs) I don't think that's it.
I think that's- I think that's what it is, like, even shit I- I still get, so I- I think people look and I-
Well, you got shit for a long time.
Yeah, for a while.
I don't think you get shit anymore.
No, not as much, no. But I- but you still get the aftermath of it, like just on the plane today, someone was like, "I don't care what ev- What are you doing?" I said, "I'm doing Rogan." They said, "Oh man, I don't care what everybody else says. You're funny." I'm like, "Well, who is every-"
Oh, what the fuck-
"Like, who's everybody- who's everybody else?"
... kind of compliment is that?
Yeah. Well, they get that- I get that a lot.
The backhanded shitty compliments.
You know, all the people that, you know, "Hey, you- I- I personally think you're funny," that kind of stuff, so.
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