Joe Rogan’s First Paid Gig Was In This Western Massachusetts City

Joe Rogan started uploading podcasting videos to YouTube in his basement about fifteen years ago.

The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) launched in 2009 and now Rogan is worth a cool $120M.

The Spotify deal is largely to credit for this, as he can earn $100,000 an episode!

The iconic podcaster is also a comedian who's first paid stand-up gig was in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Pittsfield is the epicenter and only big city in Berkshire County.

Back then, you could make a decent living as a comic in the Boston area, but you had to do a lot of driving, and much of what I did was way out in Western Mass. As a matter of fact, I did my first paid gig out that way when I opened for Lenny Clarke at a nightclub called Jay’s in Pittsfield. -stagetimemagazine.com

Rogan mentioned this again on an episode of his podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience", with Boston comic legend Lenny Clarke, whom he opened up for that night in 1989.

Jay's In Pittsfield Is Now Shuttered

Rogan, 56, was born in Newark, NJ but attended high school in Newton, MA. He eventually dropped out of school while attending UMASS Boston.

He is not the first famous person behind the microphone with ties to Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Howard Stern said one time on his radio show that a small station in Pittsfield, MA had turned him down. I have yet to figure it out!

Joe Rogan is still the world's number one podcaster and is credited for giving the medium its fame.