Adam Carolla

Adam Carolla (born May 27, 1964) is an American radio personality, television host, comedian, and actor. He is currently the host of The Adam Carolla Show, a talk show distributed as a podcast.

Carolla is also known as being the co-host of the radio show Loveline from 1995 to 2005 (and its television incarnation on MTV from 1996 to 2000), as the co-host of the television program The Man Show (1999–2004), and as the co-creator and performer on the television program Crank Yankers (2002–2007).

Carolla has been featured in television shows, talk radio shows, films (appearing in both independent films as well as those of the major film studios), Internet media, podcasts, and other media outlets.

Carolla recently announced he will be releasing a book entitled In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks.

Early life
Carolla was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to an Italian-American father, Jim Carolla, a psychologist; and his mother, Kris (née Novello), a sex therapist with a degree in Chicano studies. Adam's parents did not give him a middle name. As a joke, he wrote "Adam Lakers Carolla" on his driver's license application. His driver's license still gives his full name as "Adam Lakers Carolla."

After living in Menominee, Wisconsin and Secane, Pennsylvania, the Carolla family relocated to the San Fernando Valley in California, and Adam was raised in North Hollywood, Los Angeles. His family is often a topic on his radio show; he claimed that his parents were uninterested in his upbringing, and still have no interest in his life. He describes his family as good people, fair and honest—but often claims that they were opposed to anything that involved getting off the couch and doing something or as Adam calls it burning calories. He also alleges that his family was incredibly cheap; Carolla would get small amounts of money, usually coins, for his birthday instead of gifts, and he did not go to any funerals growing up.

Carolla attended Colfax Elementary School, Walter Reed Junior High, and North Hollywood High School. Carolla never received good grades, graduating with a 1.75 grade point average. He claims to have majored in ceramics. Carolla did not receive his high school diploma until years later, claiming he owed the library $19.95 for a copy of We The People (ISBN 0-385-41903-1).

He was voted class clown and was the captain of his football team. Carolla played Pop Warner football for seven years; he later suggested that being involved in sports saved him from a chaotic home life.

He began living on his own at the age of 18. He briefly attended Los Angeles Valley College, a junior college, where he was placed on academic probation before dropping out to work in a series of jobs, including as a carpet cleaner, carpenter, boxing instructor, and traffic school instructor.

Early comedy career
Carolla claims that his goal from youth was to write comedy. He did not envision working on-air on the radio, or on-camera in movies and television. In his spare time he worked on his comedy skills, training with The Groundlings and attempting stand-up, but he didn't believe either of these were a good fit for him. He did perform sketch comedy with ACME Comedy Theatre for a few years, during which he worked with M.D. Sweeney (later, his business partner in a restaurant venture), Paul Rugg, and John P. McCann (with whom he wrote and performed a number of sketches involving Manly Men Doing Manly Things).

During Carolla's early twenties, while working in various jobs, he grew fond of listening to talk radio. In his late twenties he was listening to the radio when the participants decided to settle a dispute by staging a boxing match. He called the station but got nowhere and finally went to the station presenting himself as a boxing instructor available for training. That was when he met Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel was, at the time, a radio personality on the KROQ morning show Kevin and Bean as "Jimmy the Sports Guy." Carolla met Kimmel while training him for a charity boxing match sanctioned by KROQ, and the two became friends. Carolla asked Jimmy how he could get into radio; Jimmy replied that Carolla should create a character. Carolla eventually joined the show's cast as "Mr. Birchum," the ornery and misanthropic Vietnam-veteran shop teacher.

Loveline
Carolla was offered the job of co-hosting Loveline with physician Dr. Drew Pinsky in 1995, replacing Riki Rachtman. Pinsky selected Carolla personally, after hearing Carolla's earlier radio work. Loveline is a syndicated radio program produced by Westwood One, and was also a television show on MTV for four years. On Loveline, Carolla often gave extended commentary about matters having little to do with the official subject matter of the show. Common topics included: Carolla's dislike of the negative effects of religious zealotry; criticism of celebrities; complaints about politically-originated policies that make little sense; junior colleges; traffic/parking enforcement as pure revenue-generation; superfluous red left-turn arrows and other "wastes" such as the abundance of police officers available to serve traffic citations while none seem to be available for important issues like counter-terrorism; and incessant radio weather and traffic reports ("How many traffic reports have you listened to? Thousands. How many times have you actually changed your route based on a traffic report? That's right! Never!" ). His impassioned criticisms and observational humor became a central characteristic of the show.

During his time on Loveline, Carolla gradually drew an increasing fan base to the program. Carolla, on Loveline after earlier attempts at traditional stand-up comedy, eschewed traditional stand-up methods, such as scripted comedic "bits". Carolla has claimed that he has no "act", referring to himself as a "comedy factory, as opposed to a comedy warehouse", distinguishing himself from comics who prepare material. Carolla preferred to use his time on the airwaves—and the subject matter of Loveline as an inspirational springboard—to launch into comedic rants. Carolla's presentation of his views frequently fits the description of black comedy. While Carolla distinguishes himself as being self-educated, he frequently refers to his formal education in abysmal, self-deprecating terms. Carolla claims to have genuinely forgotten several of his own past jokes, insights and innovations that have caught on with fans, attributing his forgetfulness to his "no self-esteem".

He did not return to the show as he has often said Dr. Drew was offered 3 times the money he was. During his final shows on Loveline, the fanbase that he had cultivated was, in his own words, larger than he expected. Carolla often claimed that he had no idea of the effect he had on his audience, saying frequently that, among the small staff in the Loveline broadcast studio, "no one cares"; he repeatedly drew attention to the apathy of his co-workers—with extended, comedic complaints about the staff, including Pinsky (they both stated they had become very close during their work together). He repeated sentiments of fan appreciation on-air during his last few Loveline broadcasts, consciously breaking from his black-humor comedic tone to thank his fans in earnest, explaining that the opportunity for his own morning radio show similar to Howard Stern's was an opportunity he could not pass up.

On May 13, 2009, Adam returned to Loveline as a guest. During a typical discourse with a caller that was giving short, unaccommodating responses, Carolla snapped jokingly "Oh, Jesus Christ, I don't miss this God-damn show one second!" Adam said being on Loveline was like "visiting your grandfather at the morgue".

In 2009, Carolla returned as co-host of the program on July 5 and July 6, and August 10 through 12.

Carolla also returned as a guest alongside Dr. Drew and Psycho Mike on July 19, 2010.

The Adam Carolla Show
On November 1, 2005, Carolla announced that he would leave Loveline to pursue a position in morning radio, replacing Howard Stern&mdash;with Stern's approval&mdash;in a number of West Coast markets. Adam's last night on Loveline was November 3, 2005, to allow him to have time to prepare for his morning debut in January, 2006. He stated that he would love to continue to do Loveline by recording it immediately after his morning show, but Westwood One insisted that the show must be broadcast live. On October 25, Infinity Broadcasting officially announced that it would be replacing Stern with Carolla on several radio stations in the western United States.

On February 18, 2009 it was confirmed that The Adam Carolla Show had been 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.

The Adam Carolla Podcast
Carolla started a daily podcast on February 23, 2009 at his personal website. In the initial 24 hours, the first Adam Carolla podcast was downloaded over 250,000 times and, as of 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 second week of the show, the fourth episode of the podcast featuring former Adam Carolla Show sidekick Dave Dameshek was downloaded over 500,000 times. Adam stated that bandwidth costs over $9,000 per month as of May 2009.

Controversy
In late 2003, Carolla stirred up controversy when he announced on the air that Hawaiians are "dumb." Carolla further elaborated that Hawaiians are "stupid," "in-bred," "retarded" people who are among the "dumbest people we have." These comments were met with anger in Hawaii.

On the April 4, 2010 episode of his podcast, Carolla referred to Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao as being illiterate and having brain damage, and that he prays to "chicken bones." He also said the Philippines "got [Pacquiao] and sex tours, that's all they have over there." Filipino leaders, including President Gloria Arroyo, and the Filipino press demanded an apology from Carolla, who later apologized via his Twitter account.

Television
Carolla began his first original television series with The Man Show, along with partner and close friend Jimmy Kimmel, on Comedy Central from 1999 to 2003. He left The Man Show at the same time as Kimmel, after having been reportedly offered $50,000 per episode to stay on. Carolla has continued his work with Kimmel as a writer and regular guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live. With partner Daniel Kellison, they are the heads of Jackhole Productions and created another television show named Crank Yankers for Comedy Central, which revived the Mr. Birchum character.

Carolla has also done voiceovers for cartoons, including Commander Nebula on the Disney animated series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Death on Family Guy (replacing Norm MacDonald who only did one episode) and Spanky Ham on Drawn Together.

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.

In 2006, he appeared on the special summer series Gameshow Marathon as a celebrity panelist on the Match Game episode.

In August 2007, Carolla guest hosted Jim Rome Is Burning.

Recently, he has appeared as a guest on several episodes of Comics Unleashed.

On the February 18, 2008 broadcast of his radio show, Adam 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 Adam that his partner would be Julianne Hough. He was voted off on the April 8, 2008 episode after his performance of the Paso Doble.

On June 16, 2008 Carolla was selected to host a pilot of an American version of the popular BBC show Top Gear for NBC. NBC declined to pick up the show.

On the February 13, 2010 episode of Carolla's CarCast podcast, Adam broke the news that The History Channel has picked up Top Gear US. On the March 26, 2010 episode of CarCast, Carolla stated that he will not be co-hosting Top Gear US due to scheduling conflicts with his NBC project, which was not picked up.

On February 21, 2009, a day after his Los Angeles-based morning radio show was canceled &mdash; as part of a format change at KLSX-FM &mdash; CBS ordered a comedy pilot starring the actor/comedian. "Ace in the Hole" stars 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 will play his wife and Windell Middlebrooks of the Miller High Life commercial fame will 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 Variety that Carolla had struck a deal with NBC to produce a half-hour pilot for a sitcom. The report was later confirmed on January 4, 2010, and was the first comedy pilot ordered by NBC for the season. The untitled project, written by Carolla and Kevin Hench, was a single-camera endeavor that starred Carolla as a contractor and father who attempts to rebuild his life after his wife leaves him.

Carolla was set to executive produce the project along with frequent collaborators Kimmel and Hench, as well as his agent James "Babydoll" Dixon, Jon Pollack from "30 Rock," Gail Berman, Daniel Kellison, and Lloyd Braun. Universal Media Studios, BermanBraun, and Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel's own Jackhole Industries Carolla were producing the pilot.

As of June 2010, Carolla claims that his NBC pilot has not been picked up, and is now "dead."

Film
In 2006, Carolla finished work on The Hammer, a semi-autobiographical independent film that he co-wrote and co-produced, in which he stars opposite Heather Juergensen. The film is based loosely on his own life and is filmed at a gym he helped build with his co-star, Ozzie, who is played by Oswaldo Castillo, his friend in real life who he met while building the gym when they both worked in construction. The film made its world premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City and shortly thereafter received a positive review in Variety. The film was released on March 21, 2008.

Adam made a short appearance in Jeff Balis' Still Waiting... (a sequel to Waiting...) playing a pick up artist guru.

Adam has written a new movie titled Deaf Frat Guy: Showdown at Havasu. It has been sold and will begin filming shortly.

He would voice the title character in the independent short film Save Virgil.

Personal life
On September 28, 2002, Carolla married Lynette Paradise. Lynette gave birth to their first children, twins Natalia and Santino "Sonny" Richard Carolla on June 7, 2006. On The Adam Carolla Show, Adam repeatedly mentioned the birth was originally scheduled for June 6, but that he and Lynette decided to push it back one day as to avoid the symbolic 666 (06-06-06).

Regarding his religious beliefs, Carolla has stated, "I am not agnostic. I am atheist. I don’t think there is no God; I know there’s no God. I know there’s no God the same way I know many other laws in our universe. I know there’s no God and I know most of the world knows that as well. They just won’t admit it because there’s another thing they know. They know they’re going to die and it freaks them out. So most people don’t have the courage to admit there’s no God and they know it. They feel it. They try to suppress it. And if you bring it up they get angry because it freaks them out."

Regarding his political beliefs, Carolla has stated, "My feeling is this whole country is founded on the principle of 'if you are not hurting anyone, and you're not fucking with someone else's shit, and you are paying your taxes, you should be able to just do what you want to do.' It's the freedom and the independence."

Carolla returned to the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race for the 2010 race, where he lost. He previously competed in the race in 2003, where he also lost.

Honors
Asteroid 4535 Adamcarolla is named in his honor.