Joe Rogan: Connecticut 'Has No Hope'

CONNECTICUT — In case you didn't know, comedian and podcast host Joe Rogan doesn't care much for Connecticut.

Connecticut came up on Rogan’s Sept. 7 when comedian/actor Sam Morril recounted his experience at The Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport. The venue was nice, but the crowd, not so much, he said.

“I did a gig there once, and I got chased off-stage,” Morril said.

“There is no hope in Connecticut,” Rogan, a North Jersey native, said. “...it’s not a real state, it’s a highway between New York and Boston.”

The Joe Rogan Experience is the top podcast on Spotify. He is also a UFC color commentator and former host of NBC's Fear Factor show.

Rogan also bashed Hartford as “barely a city” with “a few insurance buildings.” He has refused to do comedy sets in Connecticut for 15 years.

“Chappelle bombed there, when I saw that, I said ‘oh he’s in Connecticut,” Rogan said, referencing Dave Chappelle’s infamous 2013 Hartford appearance where he stopped telling jokes mid-set and walked away from a hostile crowd.

Chappelle did another Hartford set exactly a year later to a much more receptive crowd.

It’s far from the first time Rogan has dissed the state, and it probably won’t be the last. Generally, he talks about the state’s proximity to New York and Boston and calls the people in the center of the state “weird,” and once compared them with the Game of Thrones wildings. He also isn’t a fan of the cold weather or the casinos.

State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff responded on social media to Rogan by writing, "Hey @joerogan, after listening to your rant about Connecticut, I “hope” you never stop here. The rest of us who love our state will enjoy the great beaches, parks, trails, restaurants and superior quality of life rather than pretend laugh at you."

Whether Rogan truly hates Connecticut in his heart or just likes to poke fun at an easy target is anyone's guess.

"I don't really hate Connecticut, I'm talking [expletive]," he said during another podcast.

He also claims most people who live in the state are looking to move.

A 2013 Gallup poll found that 49 percent of Connecticut residents would leave the state if they could; only Illinois had a higher percentage.

But whether people actually move after threatening to leave the state is another matter.

Most millennials stick around. About 70 percent of young adults who grew up in Connecticut stayed in the state, according to a U.S. Census study. Another 5 percent moved to New York City and 4 percent went to the Boston metro area.

Connecticut’s migration woes changed during the pandemic, as many out-of-state residents flocked to the state for homes with more space and land. The Hartford-East Hartford metro area ranked third nationally for the largest net migration increase from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The metro area went from losing more than 7,200 residents in 2019-2020 to gaining more than 1,700 between 2020-2021.

There were about 16,500 net moves into Connecticut during 2020, according to a state analysis of the United States Postal Service change-of-address data. The state experienced more than 7,500 net departures in 2019.

Listen to the Joe Rogan Experience clip here. (Warning: profane language.)