I think that approach is valuable and "softballs" are only bad if you're assuming Rogan is a journalist, which he isn't. He's a comedian, an entertainer, and a conversationalist (and, of course, a martial artist). People tune in to hear him have interesting conversations with interesting (and often wacko) people.

That's his appeal--few people would be interested in hearing him grill his guests. We have CNN for that. Saying he "lobs softball after softball at them" is true but not really a bad thing given that he doesn't claim to do otherwise.

He's not an interviewer. He just has conversations with people, sometimes friends, sometimes famous scientists, and sometimes people with interesting stories.

You're free to listen to the uninterrupted hours of talk directly from the guest and form your own opinion. That's usually a far better way to learn about someone than following an opinionated interviewer asking "hardball" questions that don't get clear answers anyway and will reduce the caliber of guests to appear in the first.

You realize he doesn't have people on to grill them right? He has done well over a thousand shows with hundreds of different people. When you say 'most of his guests' are you talking about John Carmack, Tony Hawk and Rhonda Patrick or are you talking about the one time he had the guy who started the 'proud boys' on? I think a lot of people take this all or nothing stance on one bad guest out of recreational outrage without actually watching him.