Joe Rogan and Carlos Mencia is an old story. But it’s still a story that’s worth telling. Rogan has had his time as a comic in his early days and the color commentator still does stand-up shows from time to time. However, was he responsible for damaging a comic’s whole career?

Carlos Mencia was the host of the famous show Mind of Mencia on Comedy Central. The show was later canceled in 2008. However, Mencia’s career took hits early on when Rogan accused him of stealing a joke on live TV. Here’s what fellow comedian Aries Spears had to say about it in a recent interview.

Did Joe Rogan kill Mencia’s career?

In 2005, Joe Rogan accused Mencia of stealing his jokes from someone else during a live performance. The Comedy Store event had Rogan chastised for his act, and then Rogan and their relationship faded away fast. Now, Aries Spears has opened up about the issue in a recent interview.

Spears sat down with Vlad TV, where he detailed how almost every comedian gets accused of stealing jokes. However, the thing with Mencia was just blown out of proportion, thanks to Rogan’s involvement. The comedian’s career slowly spiraled to the point that it almost didn’t exist very soon.

“Joe Rogan, by the way, I think single-handedly destroyed his career,” said Spears. “. . . Just because you saw him do it first don’t mean they did it first, right? They just got on television, which is a wider audience. That don’t mean they’re the original author.” Even the interviewer seemed to be of a similar opinion.

“People have similar styles sometimes but with Carlos this is something that went to a whole different level. He’s, I believe, the first comedian that ever got canceled,” said DJ Vlad as he spoke with Spears. Do you feel like Rogan was wrong with this one? He reflected on the situation years later and recounted how he just felt bad.

Rogan admitted to feeling ‘bad’ about the Mencia incident

Joe Rogan admitted that he hadn’t done anything similar to the Mencia incident since then. Going off on fellow comedians is just not his thing because he learned from the incident. He confessed that it was a “bad” feeling to know that he hurt somebody’s career.

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However, Rogan still stood by his decision. He felt like he protected someone else’s intellectual property when he accused Mencia of stealing a joke. Moreover, Mencia was a much more popular comic than anyone else around the same time. Now, years later, Rogan is superiorly popular and Mencia’s career is still struggling.

Will he ever make a grand comeback to the comedy scene? Will Rogan host him on JRE? What is your take on the incident? Did Rogan cross the line? Let us know in the comments.

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