How Seth Rogen Became a Grateful Dead Fan After Being Bemused

Seth Rogan recently shared a fascinating story about how a night in Las Vegas unexpectedly transformed him into a Grateful Dead fan. During a guest appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Rogan reminisced with guest host Kathryn Hahn about their time in Sin City while working on their upcoming comedy series, The Studio. Their two-week visit coincided with Dead & Company’s residency shows at the Las Vegas Sphere.

Rogan described his surprise at the sudden change in the casino atmosphere. “It was like normal Las Vegas for the first week and a half – and then one day our casino was just filled with bald men with ponytails and tie-dye shirts,” he recalled, expressing his initial bewilderment. “We were like, ‘Oh, the Grateful Dead is here!’”

He went on to share, somewhat cautiously, his experience with Kathryn Hahn. “I can’t speak for everyone, but I did a ton of acid, and then went to the Grateful Dead show with everybody, and with you. It blew my goddamn mind! It was really something,” Rogan admitted.

In the same vein, Hahn revealed, “I didn’t know any of the music and I danced the entire time.” Rogan resonated with her feelings and added, “It was weird to hear a band for the first time – and then for them to become your favorite band of all time! ‘I don’t know this song, but it’s the best song I’ve heard in my entire life!’”

Dead & Company’s residency at the Sphere began in May and will continue until August 10. Initially, the band had decided to retire, but the allure of performing in the $2 billion venue was too enticing to pass up.

Guitarist John Mayer discussed the decision in a recent interview with the L.A. Times. “I think what we all love is that there’s finally once again a live-music space race,” Mayer said. He noted that while other industries have evolved rapidly, live music had remained relatively unchanged for a long time. “There’s the social-media space race, the podcast space race, the AI space race. But live music pretty much stayed the same for such a long time.”

While Mayer initially struggled to deny any ego involvement, he eventually conceded, “Well, it’s a little ego.” However, he stressed that the primary motivation was the desire “to delight and surprise people more than they expected to be with this big, empty canvas and this really big palette.”

Watch Seth Rogan Recall His Grateful Dead Experience