Ryan Smart
A guest on Joe Rogan's podcast revealed that his wife warned him about the UFC commentator before he appeared on the show.
Rogan's podcast, 'The Joe Rogan Experience', has ran since 2009 and featured a number of high-profile guests.
The UFC commentator signed a 10-year deal worth $250 million with Spotify, and it is one of the most popular podcasts in the world.
Rogan's hard-hitting questioning and debating style often leads to some fascinating episodes, although they don't always run smoothly - with the 57-year-old once publicly apologising to a guest after an argument ran for over 40 minutes.
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In 2021, Rogan invited American author Jonathan Zimmerman - who is a professor of the history of education - onto his podcast.
Zimmerman had recently authored a book titled 'Free Speech and Why You Should Give a Damn'.
The pair had a three-hour conversation on a number of different topics, including his work, his time as a volunteer with the Peace Corps in Nepal and - unusually - human sacrifice in Ancient Mexico.
Covering his appearance in an opinion column for the York Dispatch, Zimmerman recalled that, prior to his appearance, Rogan had claimed on his show that healthy, young people did not need to get vaccinated against COVID-19 - a comment he would later clarify by stating that he was 'not an anti-vax person' and believed 'they're [the vaccines] safe and encourage many people to take them'.
He added that the argument for young people to take the vaccine for other people 'made sense', and said: "That's a different argument. I'm not a doctor. I'm not a respected source of information, even for me."
The initial vaccine comments and 'harmful' misinformation about COVID-19 that was spread on his podcast, Zimmerman said, led him to talk to his wife - an infectious-disease physician - about the topic of whether it was safe to go on the show.
"'Just don't stand too close to him', said my wife. She knows what she's talking about, unlike some of the quack doctors who have appeared recently on Rogan's show to tout conspiracy theories about COVID-19," he wrote.
"[Before the show] I had to get a COVID-19 test from a nurse Rogan employs ... I asked the nurse how she felt after getting the shot [vaccine].
"'Oh, I'm not vaccinated', she replied, cheerily. I knew that Rogan wasn't, which is why my wife wanted to keep my distance from him."
On his experience of the show itself, and his first meeting with Rogan, Zimmerman wrote: "He's also really nice, which is something you might not pick up from the tweets and headlines.
"Every controversial remark - about COVID-19, or race, or gender - probably makes you think, 'Wow, what a callous jerk'. I can assure you he isn't.
"He thanked me for flying down, asked about my family, and joked about the Austin traffic. We chatted for a few minutes while he waited for his own COVID-19 test results - negative, thank God - and then he ushered me into his studio, which looks pretty much as you'd expect: dark tones, comfy chairs, and a big neon sign with his name on it.
"Rogan is a genuinely curious person, which is something else you don't pick up from social media shock reports.
"He knows what to ask. And he knew what he didn't know, which was the most refreshing thing of all."
He added: "I realise that he has been far too credulous with some of his guests, buying their misinformation wholesale instead of critically assessing it. But I really enjoyed our conversation."