In an interesting conversation that recently surfaced online, podcast giant Joe Rogan shared an intriguing glimpse into an alternate career path that could have dramatically changed his life trajectory.
When discussing potential retirement plans, Rogan initially joked about taking up painting before coming clean: “I was lying,” he admitted candidly. Instead, his genuine retirement aspirations revolve around bow hunting and playing pool—particularly the latter, which apparently holds a special place in his heart.
“If pool was a sport when I was in my 20s, 100% I would have become a professional pool player,” Rogan declared with conviction. “I wanted to play pool all the time.”
What’s particularly fascinating isn’t just Rogan’s attraction to the game itself, but the community surrounding it. For Rogan, pool halls represented a sanctuary of sorts—a gathering place for kindred spirits who, like him, felt somewhat disconnected from conventional society.
“It was a population of misfits,” Rogan explained. “I always felt like a misfit when I was a kid… moved around a lot, my parents broke up when I was young, and I was like, I never felt like I fit in anywhere until I started hanging around the pool [halls].”
In those spaces, Rogan found his tribe: “These guys are just like me. They’re all people that they’re just too ADD to ever keep a real job. They’re just nutty people, and they all had different things that they did for money. But what they were really obsessed with was that game.”
This revelation offers fans a glimpse of how differently Rogan’s career might have unfolded had professional pool been a more viable athletic pathway during his formative years. Instead, his journey took him through stand-up comedy, acting, UFC commentary, and eventually to building one of the world’s most successful podcasts.
While Rogan admits he still enjoys playing pool occasionally, he harbors no illusions about his current skill level, stating humorously, “I try to play pool for money, but I’ll never win any money. I can never beat the best guys.”
Fans shouldn’t expect Rogan to step away from his microphone anytime soon. In the first quarter of 2025, Spotify paid over $100 million to podcasters and podcast publishers globally, including major names like Joe Rogan, Alex Cooper, and Theo Von. These creators host some of the platform’s top shows—The Joe Rogan Experience, Call Her Daddy, and This Past Weekend—which remained among Spotify’s most-streamed in 2024. Though Rogan and Cooper’s exclusivity deals with Spotify have ended, their content still appears on the platform through the Spotify Partner Program, which launched earlier this year and allows creators to earn from ad plays and Premium subscriber views. While Spotify’s payouts remain competitive, platforms like Patreon and YouTube continue to dish out significantly higher sums, with YouTube reporting $70 billion in total creator payouts from 2021 to 2024.
