He has described his parents, who met on kibbutz Beit Alfa in Israel, as 'radical Jewish socialists'. He attended Vancouver Talmud Torah Elementary School and Point Grey Secondary School, incorporating many of his classmates into his writing, and took up kyokushin karate for ten years. He was also known for the stand-up comedy he performed at Camp Miriam, a Habonim Dror camp. Īs a child, Rogen did not want to pursue any career other than comedy, stating, 'As soon as I realized you could be funny as a job, that was the job I wanted.' He got his start in show business at age 12 after enrolling in a comedy workshop taught by Mark Pooley. His early comedy routines involved jokes about his bar mitzvah, his grandparents, and his camp counsellors. During his teenage years, he would perform stand-up comedy routines at places like bar mitzvahs and small parties, later shifting to bars.
