O’Doherty: Laughter is resistance

If you’re an old-fashioned, blue-pill TV comedy fan, you can invest $1,000 a ticket to see Jerry Seinfeld on the Ides of March at The Wheeler Opera House. But if you’re a stand-up fan in the red-pill vein of podcast sensation, MMA commentator, and multi-media thought leader Joe Rogan, you’ve already enjoyed comedy great Brian Regan at The Wheeler. And if you’re just a confused parent like me, you couldn’t wait for New Jersey’s Tom Papa, a Rogan acolyte, whose absolutely hysterical Netflix special Home Free proves why he’s a must-see when he takes The Wheeler stage on Feb. 2.

No matter your red- or blue-pill preference, stand-up comedians are bringing the greatest insight into the state of our nation’s unprecedented political affairs. If you must label me, I prefer “flaming old-school, JFK liberal and economic centrist.” My family is from Catonsville, Maryland — home of the Berrigan Brothers and the Vietnam draft-defying “Catonsville Nine.” So, I also identify with the social justice side of the pews at Aspen’s St. Mary’s Catholic Church. I aspire to become the Elizabeth Paepcke liberal, with a Boogie Weinglass laugh — both Baltimore-to-Aspen locals who were schooled that deeper understanding and engagement can bring people together. I seek understanding in ideological opponents’ perspectives — as well as their information bubbles.

Headphones to the heart

In the last 10 years, I’ve been radicalized by nature — the Rocky Mountains. My partner in that journey is someone no self-respecting Democrat can admit: Joe Rogan.

According to Spotify Wrapped, I’m in the top 2% of listeners of The Joe Rogan Experience. When I first got into Rogan, he was the only person interviewing bow hunters, outdoorsmen, astronauts, Wim Hof, and Mike Tyson for three hours straight! Long-form content streamed through my headphones on Roaring Fork hikes, Highlands skinning, and bright-sun Sneaky’s turns in Snowmass.

Rogan’s podcast is listed as comedy, but he was prescient about Biden’s decline and the Wuhan lab leak. Out of respect for a dear friend — and for science itself — I wasn’t swayed by Rogan’s anti-COVID vaccine stance, but I understand why many people identified with his doubts. Rogan is no doctor — but my personal friend Dr. Brian Garibaldi is.

Garibaldi’s most famous COVID patient? Donald Trump in 2020. This Snowmass Cirque Dykes enthusiast snowboarder and elite lung professor was Trump’s lead COVID doctor at Walter Reed, shipped in by Johns Hopkins. Get this: Garibaldi now leads Northwestern University’s Center for Bedside Medicine. Trump’s COVID doc is a bedside manner expert — what would Regan, Rogan, and Papa do with that?!

Today, I’m at Jackson Hole with Cousin Nick O’Tanko, waiting for snow, at a brain conference, and Garibaldi is dreaming about spring break weeks ahead on Big Burn and Hero’s.

The warrior dad electorate

As an Aspenite, Rogan’s emphasis on personal responsibility, wellness, nature, comedy craftsmanship, and even skiing with his family resonates deeply. I think he makes me a better dad — like a cross between Seinfeld and my coach Jeff Wickersham, founder of thewarriordad.com.

The party of naval officers JFK and Jimmy Carter is pushing away dads like me and Rogan. My family comes from the same political tree as Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. We even hosted her last event in Baltimore, her native lands. Big D — my grandfather, Pat O’Doherty — was a Baltimore trial lawyer who represented Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro Jr. (Pelosi’s father) and the Maryland Democratic Party pro bono. Masculine strength was a winner for our party then.

I am a dad. This is my party. And I’m taking it back — with every tool those Rogan guests taught me. Hell, without all the fee-chasing DC consultants and Hollywood distractions, I know Vice President Kamala Harris could have smoked a joint with her fellow San Franciscan Rogan and had laughs with searing insights. He brings the real out of people.

But we decided to fake it — to put our heads in the sand when it came to understanding men and young men. Don’t say Paepcke’s Aspen Ideas Festival didn’t warn us about this with a talk featuring dad Ideators Gov. Wes Moore, Richard Reeves, and Michael Strautmanis called “Our We Failing Our Boys?”

The information war & the jester’s role

If you read “How to Win an Information War” by Johns Hopkins professor Peter Pomerantsev, you’ll learn how the British used German-speaking comedy on clandestine radio networks to troll Nazi leadership. They sowed discontent through vicious comedy, mocking the gluttony of Nazi elites while everyday Germans rationed food.

This is the lesson Rogan’s network teaches us. Mel Brooks satire beats Russian dossiers everytime. If the first thing they do is fire all the lawyers, the best resistance is a network of comics.

My comics are in Snowmass every second Tuesday night of the month. Comedy fans take over the sweaty-windowed upstairs of Stew Pot to watch young, funny locals like Jordan Lowe, Michael Coyle, and Layla Goldberg. They bring the laughs that arm my personal resistance.

Pelosi, Rogan, and the pugilist columnist

The Democratic Party is my forever party.

And Rogan, wittingly or not, built me to fight for it.

So look out for your Pelosi loving, Rogan laughing mash-up, podcasting, pugilist columnist at The 2025 Aspen Laugh Festival begins March 11. I’ll be laughing through the tears.

Thanks to Rogan, Pelosi, and Lace-Up Boxing’s Coach Arielle Gallagher, I became a real fighter — a boxer.

I lost the 2023 New Jersey Light Heavyweight Masters Championship to another man named Manuel (same name as my roofer).

Like silly Elon, Democrats fashioned an “X,” like “Latin X” to describe him. But, unlike Elon, Manny is an American from birth.

Fighters like me call Manny by one word — champion.

And I want to earn his vote.

Damian O’Doherty has worked and raised his family in Aspen/Snowmass since 2017. He can be reached at damiancolinodoherty@gmail.com