Latest news with #ComedyMothership
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Joe Rogan's Comedian Pals Regret Following Him to Texas
A number of Joe Rogan's comedy and podcasting buddies are having second thoughts about following him to Texas. Rogan, who has been criticized for promoting vaccine skepticism and COVID theories on his hugely popular The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, moved from California to the Lone Star State in 2020 in part due to Texas' looser pandemic restrictions. But as Texas-based outlet Chron reports, a growing list of stand-ups who trailed him to Austin believing it could offer a true alternative to the comedy scenes in California and New York, are now rethinking their decisions or openly criticizing the state. 'Texas f---ing blows,' comedian Shane Gillis declared in June on Andrew Schulz's podcast. Gillis hit out at the state, which has its own power grid, while describing how his home had a blackout for three days because of a storm. 'The second we ran out of power, the house was 90 degrees,' Gillis said. 'And just bugs, bugs came in immediately, the house filled with bugs and I'm just laying in the dark.' Gillis relocated from New York City to Austin in 2023, hoping for better tax perks and to be closer to Rogan's stand-up venue, the Comedy Mothership. 'I just wanted to move to a place where you can do stand-up during the week,' Gillis told Theo Von in 2024. 'Forever it was just New York and L.A., now you can do it in Nashville, in Austin.' Gillis, who has appeared numerous times on Rogan's podcast, isn't the only one who is regretting their move to Texas, according to Chron. Brendan Schaub, a former professional mixed martial artist turned stand-up comedian, lamented on his podcast that 'I miss my community and my routine,' last month after moving from L.A. to Austin earlier this year. Tim Dillon, another Rogan-adjacent comic who fled to Austin during the height of COVID restrictions, torched the city in a brutal tirade on Whitney Cummings' podcast in September 2024. He called it a 'soulless city that should be burned to the ground,' and mocked its supposed thriving music scene as just 'three heroin addicts busking with guitars.' Cummings even mocked all the comedians who followed Rogan to Austin believing it would help them be invited onto his podcast. 'He'd rather have someone that makes bespoke knives on, than you, right?' Cummings said. 'They're just hoping the people he's flying miss their flight and they need someone at the last minute.' Dillon has since moved back to Los Angeles, but says he gave Texas a real shot. 'Yes, the taxes are better. And yes, there are benefits to not being in L.A. And yes, L.A is a host of problems,' he said on his podcast. 'But I moved here because, first and foremost, I said, something new will be good. I was wrong.' Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Social media influencer ‘Liver King' released from jail — and is still seemingly challenging Joe Rogan to fight
Social media influencer Brian Johnson — also known as "Liver King" — has been released from jail in Austin, Texas, after seemingly challenging Joe Rogan to fight him in a series of Instagram videos. In a new video posted to his 2.9 million Instagram followers on June 25, Johnson, 47, does not address Rogan by name but refers to the podcast host's Comedy Mothership club because he does not 'want to give any details, nor names.' 'Some guy, he thought if you just put him in jail … have the Violent Crimes Division, have them come arrest him for a terroristic threat, and the whole time that terroristic threat you thought was a bomb or something, inside that box, is actually a present back for you and your Mothership colleagues for having my wife and me at the Mothership,' said Johnson, before claiming the terroristic threat charge has since been reduced. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Liver King (@liverking) In a separate video, Johnson shows off his ankle monitor and reveals that Rogan took out a restraining order against him, which prevents him from coming within 200 yards of the podcaster. Johnson, at times calling Rogan by name, said he has a 9 p.m. curfew and is not allowed out of 'that space,' presumably his Austin hotel room, until 6 a.m. the following day. 'Rogan vs. Liver King,' Johnson added, is still happening. Johnson, in another video, said that he's been ordered to get a psychiatric evaluation this week and then once a month 'for a while.' He reiterated, however, that the videos aren't going to stop. He also repeatedly calls out actor Seth Rogen instead of Rogan himself. 'How do you train for a Seth Rogen kind of fight? He's a very qualified filmmaker, I think,' said Johnson. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Liver King (@liverking) Johnson was booked around 5:30 p.m. local time on June 24 by the Austin Police Department. He was charged with terroristic threat, a Class B misdemeanor, according to police records. Johnson, in a series of videos posted to his 2.9 million Instagram followers between June 23 and 24, expressed interest in wanting to fight Rogan, with whom he's been beefing with online for several years. Johnson chronicled his journey to Austin, where Rogan lives. 'Detectives reviewed the posts and observed that Johnson was traveling to Austin while continuing to make threatening statements,' the police said in a statement obtained by the Hollywood Reporter. 'Detectives contacted Mr. Rogan, who stated he had never had any interaction with Johnson and considered the posts to be threatening. Based on this information, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Johnson on a charge of terroristic threat.' In a video posted by Johnson on June 23, the social media influencer, shirtless and with a wolf head hat on, challenges Rogan to a battle, as meditation music plays in the background. 'Joe Rogan, I'm calling you out,' said Johnson. 'My name's Liver King. Man to man, I'm picking a fight with you. Yeah. I have no training in jiu-jitsu. You're a black belt. You should dismantle me. But I'm picking a fight with you. Your rules. … I'll cut weight. I'll come to you. Whenever you're ready. Whenever you're ready to go.' Johnson continued to document his journey to Rogan in a series of rambling videos, often addressing the podcaster directly. In one video shared on June 24, Johnson tells Rogan, 'We have real tension.' 'Joe Rogan, we don't have to make videos to pretend anymore. All of this is happening. We're coming to you,' said Johnson. 'I've challenged you, man to man, to a fight. Honorable. … You can hold the hand of somebody that you love, because what happens next to you, you're going to need to remember that feeling. You're going to need something more than what you did to give you something to fight for, because I have my family to fight for and that I'll die for them. 'And you're a black belt, [but] you've never come across something like this,' he continued. '[I'm] willing to die, hoping that you'll choke me out. I pray to God, that's a dream come true because it feels good.' Police located Johnson at his Four Seasons Hotel room in downtown Austin at around 6 p.m. on Tuesday night, according to KXAN Austin. In the moments leading up to his arrest, Johnson, in a video posted to his Instagram, is seen embracing his wife, Barbara, and their two sons, Stryker and Rad, while saying a prayer. Johnson is then shown being handcuffed and escorted into the back of a police vehicle in his most recent video, which was posted on June 24. Johnson rose to internet fame as a controversial social media influencer known for leading what he calls an 'ancestral lifestyle' that is driven largely by his consumption of raw meat. Johnson's rise to notoriety and eventual fall from grace was chronicled in the Netflix documentary, Untold: The Liver King, released on May 13, 2025. The documentary also explores Johnson's contentious history with Rogan, and the moment that ignited it. During a December 2022 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan mocked Johnson's assertion that his bulked-out physique was the result of his ancestral diet rather than steroid use. After emails between Johnson and a doctor were leaked in 2022, the fitness influencer was forced to admit that he regularly spent $11,000 per month on performance-enhancing drugs. Johnson was later hit with a $25 million class-action lawsuit, which alleged that the influencer and his company led a 'marketing and advertising scheme,' with his 'dangerous and life-threatening' raw meat diet. The lawsuit was later dismissed.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Comedian Tim Dillon on living in LA, Hollywood's latest failures, and what the Dems need to do to compete
Comedian and actor Tim Dillon recently shared why he chose to stay in Los Angeles, his thoughts on Hollywood's recent misfires and how Democrats could become more competitive, during a sit-down interview with Fox News Digital. After a brief stint in Austin, Texas — a rising hub for stand-up comedy sparked in part by Joe Rogan's new club, "Comedy Mothership" — Dillon decided to return to L.A. Although he thinks the politics of L.A. are "terrible" and expressed a preference for Texans over Californians, the comedian asserted that there is "no comparison" between the two cities in terms of beauty. "L.A. has a lot of problems, but L.A. is a massive world-class city like New York. Austin is a small college town. There's no comparison. Austin's a growing city, but it doesn't have the infrastructure. It's an ugly place, it's kind of brown, and the lake is green, and it's warm and gross, and you know, my job is to be honest about things," Dillon said. Tim Dillon Says Rebranding Of Core American Values As 'Right-wing' Is The 'Craziest Thing' He's Ever Heard While California and L.A. are often the butt of political jokes by conservatives, the comedian made an interesting observation: "California is the most beautiful state in the country. If it wasn't, we wouldn't care that it's being ruined by psychopaths, you know?" Read On The Fox News App As fires tore through entire sections of L.A. in January, Dillon took to his podcast, "The Tim Dillon Show," to tell the world what he thought of California Gov. Gavin Newsom's handling of the disaster. "Entire swathes of the city are gone. There was no water in the f------ hydrants. Nobody cleared any of this brush, they didn't do any controlled burns, they didn't prepare any of these areas," Dillon said, adding that "you go to bed thinking someone's in charge. No one's in charge. No one's in charge. That's the thing." Despite his frustrations, Dillon explained during his interview with Fox News Digital that he chooses to remain in California and advocate for change rather than leave. "I don't live in places because of the politics, per se. I'd rather live in California and argue with people and tell them they're wrong and try to save it, you know? I think they need to elect Rick Caruso," the comedian suggested. Rick Caruso, who unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of Los Angeles in 2022 as a Democrat, was an outspoken critic of Gov. Newsom after the Palisades fires last year. Podcaster Tim Dillon Goes Off On Government Handling Of La Fires: 'Completely, Woefully Unprepared' When asked if there was anything that would make him leave L.A. for good, Dillon replied, "No, I mean, I have homes in New York and L.A. I'm rich, so I can live wherever I want. And, you know, I tend to just go. I'm not as rich as I should be, watch the f------ special." Dillon, whose new comedy special, "Tim Dillon: I'm Your Mother," debuted on Netflix on April 15, is also an actor and provided some insight into two of Hollywood's biggest flops over the last year. The comedian played a prison guard in the ill-fated sequel "Joker: Folie à Deux," and said on his podcast that he saw the failure coming during production. "We would sit there, me and these other guys were all dressed in these security outfits because we're working at the Arkham Asylum, and I would turn to one of them and we'd hear this crap and I'd go, 'What the f--- is this?' And they'd go, 'This is going to bomb, man.' I go, 'This is the worst thing I've ever seen,'" Dillon explained on his podcast. Dillon told Fox News Digital that unlike some movies over the last year that bombed due to politics, "Joker: Folie à Deux" was a failure in "concept and execution." "I think it's just an old-school failure. It's a swing and a miss," the comedian said. Comedian Andrew Schulz Says Democrats' 'Coolness Factor' Is Long Gone, Party Is No Longer Dominating Culture On the other hand, Disney's live-action remake of "Snow White" failed, according to Dillon, due to a mix of politics and poor creative decisions. "I think that Snow White seemed to be a mix [politics and execution] because I think a lot of the decisions made were, like not having dwarfs in the movie called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And you have a very outspoken young actress who, if you want to sell a product to a large number of people, you probably have to curtail some of the opinions of the people in it," Dillon explained. Rachel Zegler, the "outspoken" actress who played Snow White, was making headlines for all the wrong reasons leading up to the premiere of the film. Shortly after President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Zegler took to social media to bash Trump and his supporters. "May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace," the actress wrote on social media, causing a firestorm of outrage from conservatives. Turning to politics, Dillon offered advice to the Democratic Party on how they can become more competitive after their significant loss in 2024. "I think that the party, the Democratic Party, to be a competitive party again, has to moderate some of the positions they have on social issues and get more radical economically. I think that's probably their winning position… removing a lot of the corporate big-money players from their roster," Dillon claimed. The comedian argued that Democrats should elevate candidates who promote "populist economic policy" and have more centrist views on divisive social issues. "The hot button issues, like you know, biological men in women's sports, is a hot button issue. The public rendered a verdict. They didn't want it. Children transitioning, they don't want it. Moderate positions on those issues and adopt more of a populist economic message and I think they'll be very competitive again if they can do that," Dillon article source: Comedian Tim Dillon on living in LA, Hollywood's latest failures, and what the Dems need to do to compete
Fox News
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Comedian Tim Dillon on living in LA, Hollywood's latest failures, and what the Dems need to do to compete
Comedian and actor Tim Dillon recently shared why he chose to stay in Los Angeles, his thoughts on Hollywood's recent misfires and how Democrats could become more competitive, during a sit-down interview with Fox News Digital. After a brief stint in Austin, Texas — a rising hub for stand-up comedy sparked in part by Joe Rogan's new club, "Comedy Mothership" — Dillon decided to return to L.A. Although he thinks the politics of L.A. are "terrible" and expressed a preference for Texans over Californians, the comedian asserted that there is "no comparison" between the two cities in terms of beauty. "L.A. has a lot of problems, but L.A. is a massive world-class city like New York. Austin is a small college town. There's no comparison. Austin's a growing city, but it doesn't have the infrastructure. It's an ugly place, it's kind of brown, and the lake is green, and it's warm and gross, and you know, my job is to be honest about things," Dillon said. While California and L.A. are often the butt of political jokes by conservatives, the comedian made an interesting observation: "California is the most beautiful state in the country. If it wasn't, we wouldn't care that it's being ruined by psychopaths, you know?" As fires tore through entire sections of L.A. in January, Dillon took to his podcast, "The Tim Dillon Show," to tell the world what he thought of California Gov. Gavin Newsom's handling of the disaster. "Entire swathes of the city are gone. There was no water in the f------ hydrants. Nobody cleared any of this brush, they didn't do any controlled burns, they didn't prepare any of these areas," Dillon said, adding that "you go to bed thinking someone's in charge. No one's in charge. No one's in charge. That's the thing." Despite his frustrations, Dillon explained during his interview with Fox News Digital that he chooses to remain in California and advocate for change rather than leave. "I don't live in places because of the politics, per se. I'd rather live in California and argue with people and tell them they're wrong and try to save it, you know? I think they need to elect Rick Caruso," the comedian suggested. Rick Caruso, who unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of Los Angeles in 2022 as a Democrat, was an outspoken critic of Gov. Newsom after the Palisades fires last year. When asked if there was anything that would make him leave L.A. for good, Dillon replied, "No, I mean, I have homes in New York and L.A. I'm rich, so I can live wherever I want. And, you know, I tend to just go. I'm not as rich as I should be, watch the f------ special." Dillon, whose new comedy special, "Tim Dillon: I'm Your Mother," debuted on Netflix on April 15, is also an actor and provided some insight into two of Hollywood's biggest flops over the last year. The comedian played a prison guard in the ill-fated sequel "Joker: Folie à Deux," and said on his podcast that he saw the failure coming during production. "We would sit there, me and these other guys were all dressed in these security outfits because we're working at the Arkham Asylum, and I would turn to one of them and we'd hear this crap and I'd go, 'What the f--- is this?' And they'd go, 'This is going to bomb, man.' I go, 'This is the worst thing I've ever seen,'" Dillon explained on his podcast. Dillon told Fox News Digital that unlike some movies over the last year that bombed due to politics, "Joker: Folie à Deux" was a failure in "concept and execution." "I think it's just an old-school failure. It's a swing and a miss," the comedian said. On the other hand, Disney's live-action remake of "Snow White" failed, according to Dillon, due to a mix of politics and poor creative decisions. "I think that Snow White seemed to be a mix [politics and execution] because I think a lot of the decisions made were, like not having dwarfs in the movie called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. And you have a very outspoken young actress who, if you want to sell a product to a large number of people, you probably have to curtail some of the opinions of the people in it," Dillon explained. Rachel Zegler, the "outspoken" actress who played Snow White, was making headlines for all the wrong reasons leading up to the premiere of the film. Shortly after President Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, Zegler took to social media to bash Trump and his supporters. "May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace," the actress wrote on social media, causing a firestorm of outrage from conservatives. Turning to politics, Dillon offered advice to the Democratic Party on how they can become more competitive after their significant loss in 2024. "I think that the party, the Democratic Party, to be a competitive party again, has to moderate some of the positions they have on social issues and get more radical economically. I think that's probably their winning position… removing a lot of the corporate big-money players from their roster," Dillon claimed. The comedian argued that Democrats should elevate candidates who promote "populist economic policy" and have more centrist views on divisive social issues. "The hot button issues, like you know, biological men in women's sports, is a hot button issue. The public rendered a verdict. They didn't want it. Children transitioning, they don't want it. Moderate positions on those issues and adopt more of a populist economic message and I think they'll be very competitive again if they can do that," Dillon concluded.
Express Tribune
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Tony Hinchcliffe's controversial comedy hits Netflix with Kill Tony specials and solo debut
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe is making his Netflix debut with a series of provocative comedy specials, starting April 7. Known for his edgy humor and unapologetic roasting style, Hinchcliffe will release three Kill Tony specials and one solo stand-up hour on the platform, all filmed at Joe Rogan's Comedy Mothership in Austin, Texas. Hinchcliffe, who rose to fame with his Kill Tony podcast, made headlines last year after appearing at a Donald Trump campaign rally, where his jokes sparked backlash—including remarks about Puerto Rico. Though Trump's campaign distanced itself from the comments, Hinchcliffe's supporters claim his material defends free speech in comedy. Raised in Youngstown, Ohio, Hinchcliffe built his career in Los Angeles after writing for Comedy Central's celebrity roasts and touring with comics like Joe Rogan and Jeff Ross. His podcast, Kill Tony, features up-and-coming comedians performing one-minute sets before being critiqued—often harshly—by Hinchcliffe and guest panelists. The 40-year-old comic has weathered controversy throughout his career, including a 2021 incident involving a racial slur and more recent jokes about slavery and homosexuality. Yet, he remains firm in his stance, telling Variety in 2024, 'Comedians should never apologize for a joke.' As Netflix continues to embrace polarizing stand-up acts—including Dave Chappelle and Ricky Gervais—co-CEO Ted Sarandos defended the platform's decision, saying comedians must have space to push boundaries. With an audience fueled by podcast listeners and conservative-leaning young men, Hinchcliffe's unapologetic comedy is set to test Netflix's balance between engagement and controversy.
