American comedian (born 1964)
Adam Carolla (born May 27, 1964) is an American radio personality, comedian, actor and podcaster. He hosts "The Adam Carolla Show", a talk show distributed as a podcast which set the record as the "most downloaded podcast" as judged by "Guinness World Records" in 2011.
Carolla co-hosted the syndicated radio call-in program "Loveline" with Drew Pinsky from 1995 to 2005 as well as the show's television incarnation on MTV from 1996 to 2000. He was the co-host and co-creator of the television program "The Man Show" (1999–2004), and the co-creator and a regular performer on the television show "Crank Yankers" (2002–2007, 2019–present). He hosted "The Adam Carolla Project", a home improvement television program which aired on TLC in 2005 and "The Car Show" on Speed in 2011.
Carolla has also appeared on the network reality television programs "Dancing with the Stars" and "The Celebrity Apprentice". His book "In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks" debuted on "The New York Times" Best Seller list in 2010, and his second book, "Not Taco Bell Material", also reached "The New York Times" bestseller status.
Carolla has made numerous guest appearances on political talk shows as a commentator. He hosted a weekly segment, "Rollin' with Carolla", on Bill O'Reilly's "The O'Reilly Factor".
Early life.
Adam Carolla was born on May 27, 1964, to Jim and Kris ("née" McCall) Carolla. Some sources list his birthplace as Los Angeles County, California, while others list it as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He grew up in the Los Angeles San Fernando Valley, and his parents separated when he was young. Carolla was not given a middle name by his parents; on his driver's license application he listed his middle name as "Lakers" as a joke. The application was processed without notice. His maternal step-grandfather was screenwriter László Görög.
Carolla was raised in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles. He attended Colfax Elementary School, Walter Reed Junior High, and North Hollywood High School. Carolla did not receive his high school diploma until years later as it was held by the school until a library fine was paid. Carolla can be seen paying off the book and receiving his diploma in an episode of his 2005 television show, "The Adam Carolla Project".
During his youth, Carolla played Pop Warner football for seven years; he later suggested that being involved in sports saved him from a chaotic home life. During his senior year at North Hollywood High School, Carolla distinguished himself in football. In December 1981, he was named to the First Team Offensive Line, Central Valley League, one of 8 leagues at the time in the LA City Section of the California Interscholastic Federation. In October 2020 he spoke of being recruited by "7 or 8" schools including UC-Davis, Cal Poly Pomona, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
He began living on his own at the age of 18. He briefly attended Los Angeles Valley College, a community college, where he was placed on academic probation before dropping out to work in a series of jobs, including carpet cleaner, carpenter, boxing instructor, and traffic school instructor. Although broke, Carolla, his friends, and roommates owned a 1963 Cadillac limousine.
In the early 1990s, Carolla studied improvisational comedy with The Groundlings and was a member of the ACME Comedy Theatre troupe.
Radio.
In 1994, Carolla volunteered his services as a boxing trainer to prepare Jimmy Kimmel for a bout being staged by KROQ-FM's morning radio program "Kevin and Bean". Kimmel was a regular on the show as "Jimmy the Sports Guy" and he was set to fight another KROQ personality in a boxing exhibition which was being billed as the "Bleeda in Reseda". Carolla parlayed this opportunity into a long-running friendship and business partnership with Kimmel as well as a recurring role on "Kevin and Bean" as cranky woodshop teacher, Mr. Birchum.
"Loveline".
In October 1995, after being signed to the William Morris Agency by Mark Itkin, Carolla was offered the job of co-hosting the evening radio call-in show "Loveline." His co-hosts were the physician Drew Pinsky ("Dr. Drew") and metal DJ Riki Rachtman. Carolla received the offer after Pinsky heard him on "Kevin and Bean" (Rachtman left the show the following year.) "Loveline" was broadcast on KROQ-FM in Los Angeles and was syndicated nationwide on the former Westwood One radio network.
While the format of the program was primarily that of a call-in show wherein listeners would ask questions about sex and relationships, Carolla would often spend much of the show ranting about various topics from fart jokes to extended parodies of radio morning shows, including mocking the format's penchant for useless and repetitive weather and traffic reports. In contrast to the reserved, thoughtful Pinsky, Carolla served as the loud, funny side of the show. Carolla's character was described by one reviewer as "a toned-down version of Howard Stern minus the huge ego".
In a late-2003 "Loveline" episode, Carolla said that Hawaiians are "dumb", "in-bred", "retarded" people who are among the "dumbest people we have". The comments were met with anger in Hawaii and resulted in "Loveline"'s cancellation on Hawaiian affiliate KPOI.
"The Adam Carolla Show".
In October 2005, Carolla was announced as the host of a new morning radio show on the Infinity Broadcasting network. His new show would replace the popular syndicated "Howard Stern Show" (which was moving to satellite radio) in twelve of the 27 markets in which Stern had been broadcast including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Diego, Phoenix, and Portland, Oregon. "The Adam Carolla Show" debuted in January 2006.
In early 2008, actor Gerard Butler sat in and observed Adam Carolla on "The Adam Carolla Show" in order to prepare for his role in "The Ugly Truth" as a cynical and crass talk-radio host allegedly based on Carolla.
On February 18, 2009, "The Adam Carolla Show" was canceled as part of a format switch at KLSX to AMP FM, a new top 40 station. The final show was Friday, February 20, 2009.
Podcasts.
"The Adam Carolla Podcast".
Carolla started a daily podcast on February 23, 2009, at his personal website, which would evolve into the ACE Broadcasting Network. The first Adam Carolla podcast was downloaded more than 250,000 times in the initial 24 hours, and by the third podcast, it was the number one podcast on iTunes in both the U.S. and Canada. During the debut week, the Adam Carolla podcast recorded 1.6 million downloads. In the second week it recorded 2.4 million downloads. By the fourth episode of the second week, featuring former "Adam Carolla Show" sidekick Dave Dameshek, the show was downloaded more than 500,000 times. Adam stated that bandwidth cost more than $9,000 a month as of May 2009.
At the end of 2009, "The Adam Carolla Podcast" was selected by iTunes for its end-of-the-year awards as the Best Audio Podcast of 2009.
On the April 4, 2010, episode of "The Adam Carolla Show", Carolla referred to Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao as a "fucking idiot" and said of the Philippines: "They got this and sex tours, that's all they have over there. Get your shit together, Philippines." A spokesman for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called Carolla an "ignorant fool". Carolla subsequently apologized via Twitter.
On May 18, 2011, Carolla noted on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" that "The Adam Carolla Show" had taken the Guinness World Record for the most downloaded podcast ever from previous holder Ricky Gervais by receiving 59,574,843 unique downloads from March 2009 to March 16, 2011.
In 2010, Carolla posed for the NOH8 Campaign. In August 2011, Carolla released a podcast where he mocked a petition to the producers of "Sesame Street" that demanded Bert and Ernie get married on air. He said on air that gay activists should "[j]ust get married, and please shut up" and that "Y.U.C.K." would be more memorable acronym than LGBT, and referring to transgender people he asked: "When did we start giving a shit about these people?" GLAAD characterized the previous remarks by Carolla as offensive, including an assertion that "all things being equal", heterosexual parents make better parents than homosexual parents. Carolla responded: "I'm sorry my comments were hurtful. I'm a comedian, not a politician."
"Patent Troll" Lawsuit.
In 2013, Personal Audio filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Lotzi Digital, Inc., producers of "The Adam Carolla Show" and several other podcasts on the Carolla Digital Network, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The suit alleged that owner Adam Carolla and his network of content infringed on Personal Audio's patent 8,112,504.
Using the crowdfunding site FundAnything.com, listeners contributed more than $475,000 (as of August 2014) to support Carolla throughout the legal proceedings.
Personal Audio dropped the lawsuit July 29, 2014, stating that the defendants were not "making significant money from infringing Personal Audio's patents". However, Carolla countersued, having already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars mounting a defense against claims he deemed unfounded. Among claims sought by the countersuit was a request that the initial patent be invalidated. On August 15, 2014, Carolla and Personal Audio filed a joint motion to dismiss after reaching a settlement, the details of which were not made public but included a six-week "quiet period" during which neither party could speak to the media. Both parties' claims were dropped without prejudice and, as such, could be refiled at a later date.
Television.
1996 through 2004.
From 1996 to 2000, Carolla and Dr. Drew hosted "Loveline" on MTV, a television version of the radio show. Carolla began his first original television series with "The Man Show", along with partner and friend Jimmy Kimmel, on Comedy Central from 1999 to 2003. He left "The Man Show" at the same time as Kimmel. Carolla has continued his work with Kimmel as a writer and guest on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!". He also appeared on an episode of "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" around this time.
Carolla and partner Daniel Kellison are the heads of Jackhole Productions. The two created the television show "Crank Yankers" for Comedy Central, which revived the Mr. Birchum character. The show premiered in 2002 on Comedy Central and returned to MTV2 on February 9, 2007, running again until March 30, 2007. The show screened in Australia on SBS Television and The Comedy Channel between 2003 and 2008. The show was again revived in 2019, returning to Comedy Central.
Corolla also starred in the role of Spanky Ham for the Comedy Central adult animated series, Drawn Together.
2005 through 2008.
From August 2005 to November 2005, Carolla hosted the talk show "Too Late with Adam Carolla" on Comedy Central.
Also in 2005, Carolla was featured in a home remodeling program called "The Adam Carolla Project" wherein he and a crew of old friends renovated his childhood home. The 13 episodes aired on the cable channel TLC (The Learning Channel) from October through December 2005. The house was then sold for 1.2 million dollars.
In 2006, Carolla appeared on the special summer series "Gameshow Marathon" as a celebrity panelist on the Match Game episode.
On the February 18, 2008, broadcast of his radio show, Carolla announced that he would be one of the contestants on the next season of "Dancing with the Stars". Later in the broadcast, it was revealed to Carolla that his partner would be Julianne Hough. He was voted off on the April 8, 2008, episode after his performance of the Paso Doble, after incorporating a demonstration of unicycle riding in his dance routine.
On June 16, 2008, Carolla was selected to host a pilot of an American version of the popular BBC show "Top Gear" for NBC. In December 2008, NBC decided not to pick up the show.
2009 to present.
On February 21, 2009, a day after his Los Angeles-based morning radio show was canceled – as part of a format change at KLSX-FM – CBS ordered a comedy pilot, "Ace in the Hole", starring Carolla as a husband and father who works as a driving instructor. Carolla created and wrote the pilot with Kevin Hench ("Jimmy Kimmel Live!"). Carolla stated that Pamela Adlon was to play his wife and Windell Middlebrooks would play his best friend. During his March 30, 2009, podcast, Carolla briefly described the show as being ""All in the Family", essentially", with Carolla playing a similar role to that of Archie Bunker. On the July 23, 2009, episode of the "Adam Carolla Podcast", Carolla announced that CBS was not picking up the pilot for the 2009 season, "in any way, shape or form".
On October 22, 2009, it was reported in