The Celebrity Death Joe Rogan Still Can't Get Over

Long before Joe Rogan became a media mogul through podcasting, he was a cast member on the sitcom "NewsRadio" in the 1990s. While on the show, Rogan became friends with the show's star, Phil Hartman, who was tragically killed by his wife in 1998 in a murder-suicide. Years later, the UFC commentator spoke about how Hartman's death impacted him. "It was awful. It was like something you never thought would happen to someone you know," Rogan said on "The Nerdist" podcast in 2014. The comedian added that Hartman's death served as a warning on how dangerous abusive relationships were.

Several years later, Rogan spoke about the "Saturday Night Live" alum's murder on his own podcast and how surreal the experience felt. "That was one of the weirdest moments of my life," the podcaster said on "The Joe Rogan Experience" in 2019 while discussing Hartman. "Getting phone calls that he was dead. The phone just kept ringing," he added. "It just, it didn't seem real. Who would kill that guy? He was the nicest guy," Rogan said. He also reminisced about partying with Hartman while working together and how they once went to a strip club.

Following the untimely death of Bob Saget in January, Rogan took to Instagram to pay homage to the fellow comedian. "I'm going to miss him very much. RIP," he wrote. Besides these deaths, there was another celebrity passing that especially rocked Rogan.

Joe Rogan once again opened up about a friend's death on an episode of his podcast, as he discussed how difficult it was to process Anthony Bourdain's suicide. "When he died, I was f***ed up for a while," the comedian said on "The Joe Rogan Experience" on September 7. Bourdain died in 2018, and Rogan revealed how he had struggled to fully move on. The podcaster had a keepsake to remember the renowned chef and TV host by. "I have an old phone that — I change my number all the time — and I keep this number because I have text messages from him," Rogan said. The former "The Man Show" host said he would scroll through old texts and photos from Bourdain when he felt nostalgic. In fact, Rogan felt especially tortured because he believes Bourdain's death could have been prevented. "I think if I was there, I could have helped," Rogan added.

The two celebrities had appeared on each other's shows. Bourdain was a guest on "JRE" for Episode 138, while Rogan accompanied the traveling chef on a hunting expedition for a segment on "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown." In 2016, during a Reddit AMA, Bourdain said that he spent a lot of time with Rogan, but not on a jiujitsu mat. "So as much as I love the guy, I'll do anything with him; shoot animals in the brain, canoe trip, hot tubbing, whatever. But I'm not rolling with the guy," Bourdain wrote in response to a fan.