I mean, I watched him ever since he appeared on News Radio back in the late 90's, and he seemed like a regular actor. I didn't even know he was a stand-up comic, but back then stand-up comics almost always got gigs on sitcoms as side characters (Dave Chappelle and Jim Bruer were going to get a spin-off show from Home Improvement after an episode they were in, it was tacky as fuck).
And then Joe Rogan was on Fear Factor, and the show felt like rock-bottom garbage tv, but he kind of came off looking cool because he would egg on the contestants to do gross things, and at certain times