Joe Rogan Revealed Why It Is Hard To Interview Kanye ‘Ye’ West

The reason why Joe Rogan has become so rich that fans want to know how much he pays his staff is that he isn't the typical interviewer. After previously being a sitcom and reality show star, Joe has gained so many listeners that he can afford to turn down $100 million because he has conversations with his guests. That loose format is why Joe has done things like anger Taylor Swift's fans and defend Justin Bieber from harsh criticism.

When Joe interviewed Kanye "Ye" West, they had so much they could have talked about, like the music star's past jobs and his divorce that had cost him a fortune. Despite that, Joe later revealed what it is about Kanye that makes interviewing him so difficult.

Joe Rogan Explained That Interviewing Kanye "Ye" West Is Hard Because He Has So Much To Say

On December 24th, 2009, the first episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience" was released. In the fifteen years since then, Joe has spent endless hours having conversations with a very long list of people.

Even though Joe has spoken to so many celebrities and experts on his podcast, there is no doubt that Kanye "Ye' West is one of his most remarkable guests. In October 2020, Kanye was the guest during the 1554th episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience."

That interview left such a mark on Joe that he brought it up during a podcast episode years later. In June 2024, Joe explained what makes interviewing Kanye so difficult.

On June 11th, 2024, Tim Dillon appeared during episode #2162 of "The Joe Rogan Experience.

During the resulting conversation, Joe explained what can make interviewing Kanye so challenging.

As can be seen in a video from the r/JoeRogan subreddit, Joe told Tim about how Kanye behaves during interviews.

Since Kanye "Ye" West first rose to fame, he has never been shy about talking to members of the media. However, that doesn't mean that Kanye has always been on good terms with some major outlets. For example, Rolling Stone published an article in November 2017 about the outlet's "wild history" with Kanye.

As Joe explained, when he was talking to Kanye, it was challenging because he could see the rapper was impatiently waiting to reply.

There was [sic] moments when I was talking. Kanye was like [shaking his head]. He has so much to say.

It is easy to imagine that an interviewer may feel like they are under a lot of pressure while talking to someone like Kanye. After all, it would be tough to feel like your conversation partner was impatiently waiting for each of your questions to finish.

While Joe Rogan revealed Kanye West's desire to speak makes interviewing him hard, that doesn't necessarily mean the opposite would be better. Over the years, there have been many talk show hosts who've talked about how difficult it can be to interview Robert De Niro. In fact, Sharp Magazine published an article about how difficult it can be to interview Robert De Niro in August 2016. The reason the legendary actor can be so difficult to interview is because Robert De Niro never has much to say during interviews.

That said, it is worth noting that while talking about Kanye having so much to say, Joe had a huge smile on his face.

After telling Tim Dillon that interviewing Kanye was hard, Joe wasn't done talking about the highly successful rapper.

In February 2024, Bill Maher spoke about what it was like after he interviewed Kanye West. As a USA Today article from that time revealed, Bill interviewed Kanye for an episode of his "Club Randon with Bill Maher" podcast, but he didn't release their conversation. Bill explained at that time that he didn't release the podcast episode after concluding it wasn't the "learning moment" he hoped their conversation would be.

Joe immediately transitioned to talking about how much he loves Kanye's music.

"I mean, listen, that madness inside of him was why his f****** songs are bangers. They're just banger after banger."

Still not done, Joe went on to state that despite finding interviewing him difficult, he was a huge fan of Kanye's new album at that time. "His f****** new album's amazing. It's amazing, dude."

Joe then explained to Tim that he listened to Kanye's music a lot. In fact, Joe claimed that he listens to Kanye's music more than any other artist.

"We play in the green room all the time. In all my Spotify playlist, I think there's more Kanye songs than anything."

Joe Rogan Revealed That He Worried About Interviewing Kanye West Before He Did

On October 20th, 2020, Joe Rogan welcomed Kanye "Ye" West on his podcast, as can be heard on YouTube. Exactly a month later, Tom Green was a guest on "The Joe Rogan Experience" as can also be heard on YouTube. During Tom's appearance, Joe revealed that he was worried beforehand about interviewing Kanye.

During his podcast appearance, Tom asked Joe about how he decided what questions to ask Kanye. Instead of answering that question, Joe responded by revealing that he was worried about Kanye coming across poorly during their interview.

"Well, with Kanye, we had talked about doing a podcast for a long time. But I was worried [about how] he was gonna come off in a negative way."

As he continued to talk about the interview, Joe explained to Tom what he wanted to accomplish with his Kanye interview.

"He talks sometimes in these streams where they don't end. He goes from one subject to the next subject. And so I was curious about how I was gonna talk to him, and I wanted to make sure that we can do it in a way where other people are gonna appreciate there's a great value in the way he thinks."

While still talking to Tom, Joe revealed what he liked about his Kanye interview. "That was one of the things that I thought was really good about the interviews. You do get a chance to see, like, this is not just a crazy person who buys his own b*******."