In 2020, Joe Rogan moved from Los Angeles to Austin after visiting and realizing he didn’t have to wear a mask at a restaurant. Many of Rogan’s compatriots in the stand-up space followed him to Texas to be closer to his “anti-cancel culture” comedy club. For some, it was a desire to escape what they saw as out-of-control homelessness, crime or high tax states like New York and California. But in recent interviews, some of Rogan’s pals seem to have learned that Texas isn’t paradise, either.
Last month, comedian, podcaster and former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub made comments about Austin that were widely noted by YouTubers whose whole schtick appears to be clipping and mocking podcasters. Schaub, who Rogan has had on The Joe Rogan Experience multiple times, moved from Los Angeles to Austin earlier this year, but has said on his show, The Fighter and the Kid, that he misses Los Angeles.
“I miss my community and my routine,” Schaub said in June. He recalled a conversation with a fellow LA-to-Texas transplant, who told Schaub that Austin “is no LA.”
Schuab is far from the first. In September 2024, Tim Dillon, a Los Angeles comedian who hosts podcast The Tim Dillon Show, called Austin “a horrible city without a soul” on a podcast with actor Whitney Cummings. Lured to Austin by the promise of low taxes and a “new” experience, Dillon quickly soured.
“It’s a soulless city that should be burned to the ground and everyone that lives here should be summarily executed,” Dillon joked. “It is not the ‘live music capital of America,’ it’s three heroin addicts busking with guitars. There is zero talent here in any capacity. There’s three restaurants that are good and I’ve been to all of them twice.”
Dillon, who moved to Austin shortly after Rogan, announced in the summer of 2021 that he would be moving back to Los Angeles. Dillon said that the COVID-19 pandemic and Rogan’s 2020 decision to move to Texas made him want a change of scenery, and that while he had “never loved Austin,” he was willing to give it a chance, even though it wasn’t a “world-class city.”
“Yes, the taxes are better. And yes, there are benefits to not being in LA. And yes, LA is a host of problems,” Dillon said on his podcast. “But I moved here because, first and foremost, I said, something new will be good. I was wrong.”
Another Rogan associate was more direct with his criticism of Texas. “Texas f–king blows,” comedian Shane Gillis said in a June episode of the Andrew Schulz podcast, recalling a storm that left his Austin home without power for three days. “It’s hot as f–k. The second we ran out of power, the house was 90 degrees and bugs came in immediately.”
“They’re on their own power grid, like f–king idiots,” Schulz added.
I have to give them credit for creative descriptions:
Schuab, Gillis and Dillon are far from the only comedians to not see what Rogan sees. In January, New Orleans-native comedian Mark Normand called Austin’s comedy scene “a punchline.” Normand has also declared that “moving to Texas is over,” and last summer complained about Texas’ weather and Austin’s homeless population.
“That city is a boiling pot of evil goo, just circling a dish,” Normand said in July 2024.
There’s more. As a Los Angeleno I’ll restrain myself except to say that although I’ve never lived there, I’ve actually always found Austin to be a cool town when I’ve visited. (It’s certainly way cooler than some other places I won’t name…)
But I have to say that this is a leopard face eating situation I can’t help but enjoy. L.A. was hardly an authoritarian hellscape during the pandemic. You could get anything in the world delivered to your door, there was a ton of outdoor entertainment, restaurants and clubs moved into parking lots and parks and on the streets and the traffic and air were clearer than they’ve ever been. The idea that it was so terrible that you had to move to Texas so your could be free was just ridiculous.
Now today, we have unidentified masked federal police rampaging through the city abducting people off the streets because people like Rogan and these guys all moved to Texas and endorsed Donald Trump. So thanks for that.