Joe Rogan had Mike Tyson on his podcast. After the interview wraps up, Rogan talks about how big a moment it was for him:
Whoo, we did it. Damn. I just sat down and got high with Mike Tyson. I gotta tell you, out of all the podcasts that I’ve ever done that were weird, that might’ve been one of the weirdest ones. Because… you know podcasts are strange anyway. I’m trying to steer the conversation. It seems a highfalutin word to call it an art form. But there is some artistic and creative aspect to it. There’s some engineering to it. Not always, sometimes it just flows. Sometimes it’s just fun.
It’s great that all these conversations are available free through podcasts.
I’m currently reading How to Speak How to Listen by Mortimer J. Adler. In it, he explains how to be effective in one-way communication (speaking, listening) and two-way conversation. He breaks the two-way talk into four types:
This gives us four main types, as follows: (1) social conversation; (2) the personal, heart-to-heart talk; (3) the impersonal, theoretical talk that is instructive or enlightening; and (4) the impersonal, practical talk that is persuasive with respect to action.
Podcasts come in all of these forms (along with some of the one-way types from solo, non-interview shows).
I like that Joe Rogan is able to move between those different types of conversations between episodes (and sometimes within an episode).
- Social conversation — Most of Rogan’s episodes have some element of this. His MMA-focused episodes usually have some upcoming PPV as the overall topic for him to discuss with a fighter. He’s got deep knowledge about fighting so this allows you to listen in on two experts talking to each other.
- Heart-to-heart — Of course, you won’t get the full heart to heart on a public episode. There’s always going to be a difference between fully private conversations and a conversation that millions will listen to. Still, he has friends on that he’s known for years, sometimes decades. It’s great to hear how two stand-up comedians talk when they’re not talking about comedy. That said, go listen to Joe Rogan breaking down Brendan Schaub for something close to a full heart-to-heart conversation. (Schaub walked away from fighting shortly after this. Not entirely because of it, but it’s an element.)
- Impersonal, theoretical — I admire that Rogan is so enthusiastic about talking to smart people. He knows that he knows very little about certain fields and that the best way to learn about it is to talk to an expert. (Sometimes he’ll have two experts on and will act as moderator. These can end up pretty infuriating.)
- Practical two-way talk — Adler describes this as “Practical two-way talk may also be motivated by one person trying to get another or others to do something”. Rogan isn’t trying to hard-sell the audience on things (except when literally doing ad reads). But in some episodes, he’ll be pretty persuasive in getting guests to try floating, cryotherapy, going hunting, or whatever else he’s up to lately.
I added a new “Podcasting” category that I’ll try to add to with thoughts on podcasting as an activity.