Richard Marx on Rockstar Life, Groupies & Trying Not to Be a Douchebag

Summary

Adam Carolla Show – Episode Summary

Guest: Richard Marx on Rockstar Life, Groupies & Trying Not to Be a Douchebag

Release Date: November 12, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Adam Carolla Show features Grammy-winning musician and songwriter Richard Marx. The conversation ranges from the realities of rock stardom and resisting groupie temptations to the importance of integrity on the road, the dynamics of opening for other bands, and the ethics of cover songs. True to the show’s style, Adam and Richard riff on music industry stories, politics, and the art of being authentic—sprinkled liberally with Adam’s irreverent humor and candid perspectives.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening Banter and Political Commentary

Timestamps: 03:00–32:00

• Adam and newswoman Alicia Krause discuss professionalism and the problem with teacher’s unions in America.

  • Adam’s take: Elected officials, especially Democrats, are too influenced by teacher unions, to the detriment of students.
  • Alicia agrees, drawing from her homeschooled background, criticizing the use of taxpayer dollars for unions.
  • Adam lampoons politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris, citing their hypocrisy and performative concern for children.

• Humor on Modern Political Shtick:

  • Adam takes jabs at Kamala Harris’s word salad responses on issues like immigration with Alicia providing news clips.
  • Notable quote (re Kamala’s border confusion):

    “She doesn’t understand the point that you’re making when you’re the border czar and someone’s asking if you’ve physically been there.”
    – Adam Carolla, [28:07]

• Observation about Word Salad and Virtue Signaling:

  • Adam is critical of politicians (especially women and people of color in this context) getting a pass on mistakes or hypocrisy:

    “There is a thing where white, heterosexual male politicians sort of have to eat shit…and female ones don’t…If you’re a protected species…you never have people coming at you, going, ‘apologize.’”
    – Adam Carolla, [32:44-33:43]

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2. The Celebrity Guest: Richard Marx Joins the Conversation

Timestamps: 45:02–116:36

A. Life as a Rockstar and Handling Groupies

• Resisting Temptation on the Road:

  • Richard Marx shares how he managed groupie temptation as a young, newly-famous artist:

    “When I became a rock star in 1987, I had a girlfriend...I didn’t want to be a douchebag…immediately…having girls throw themselves at me, my first thought was—where were you two weeks ago?”
    – Richard Marx, [46:53]

  • He explains that fame changes dynamics with women, but authenticity and integrity helped him stay grounded.

  • Adam relates:

    “We hardly know how to do [turn people down]…we’re like someone rescued from a desert island and end up at a buffet—we don’t know to limit ourselves.”
    – Adam Carolla, [50:56]

• ‘Wallet vs. Found Cash’ Analogy:

  • Adam observes how some men rationalize cheating (unexpected temptation) as “found cash” rather than seeking it out (stealing wallets):

    “Most people who find a wallet will do the right thing…Most people who find cash, put that in their pocket…It ends up feeling like found cash more than I’m going out stealing wallets.”
    – Adam Carolla, [51:46–52:35]

• Notable Quote:

  "Did I want to be the typical douchebag who fucked around on the road, or did I not want to be that guy? And so that's what I worked at."
  – Richard Marx, [51:08]

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B. Starting Out, Opening Acts, and Tour Life

• Early Break & Touring with REO Speedwagon:

  • Richard started as a songwriter before performing live. He credits Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon for their support as an opening act:

    “I ended up opening for this band…nothing but generous…Kevin saying, ‘Get there early, you gotta see Richard Marx…’”
    – Richard Marx, [58:24]

  • Contrast with Night Ranger:

    • Night Ranger was the opposite: no soundcheck, standoffish, even cutting off his sound mid-set:

      "At the mark, they turned my sound off. And the audience booed them...it was such a dick move."
      – Richard Marx, [64:31]

  • Lesson Learned in Treating Openers Well:

    “It set the tone for me…going forward as a headliner of how I was going to treat my opening act…”
    – Richard Marx, [66:09]

  • Industry Parallels:

    • Adam compares this to job site culture, where newcomers are often hazed by veteran crews, noting it’s as old as time.

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C. The Realities of Performing: Humbling Moments and Adaptation

• Opening for the Beach Boys:

  • Richard recounts opening for the Beach Boys at the start of their late ‘80s renaissance, describing the challenge of playing to an older, indifferent crowd:

    “I worked my ass off for 45 minutes, and they were like, ‘When are the Beach Boys coming out?’…it was humbling.”
    – Richard Marx, [73:00]

• Adapting to Crowds:

  • Both Adam and Richard discuss tailoring their sets—whether comedy or music—if the crowd isn’t what they expected.
  • Richard:

    “I always have a mic that goes only to the band…if I sense the audience just wants the hits, I’ll drop a song…”
    – Richard Marx, [78:13]

  • Adam relates this to comedians defaulting to their “best of” sets when new material isn’t working.

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D. The Art and Ethics of Cover Songs

Timestamps: 94:42–114:20

• When Is a Cover Good?

  • Both host and guest agree that great covers transform the original, rather than simply imitating it.
  • Adam:

    “If you’re just going to do the same [version], you can’t do it as good as [the original].”
    – Adam Carolla, [103:10]

  • Richard nominates Wallflowers’ cover of the Bee Gees’ “I Started a Joke” as a rare, worthy reinterpretation. [101:31]

• Songs That Are Off-Limits:

  • Richard takes a stand that Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” should never be covered, especially not by white artists—calling it “sacrilege.”

    “No one should ever sing ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ but Sam Cooke.”
    – Richard Marx, [109:39]

  • Playfully, Adam stirs the pot by revealing his fandom for Graham Parker, who did just that, leading to a faux-moral dilemma and spirited mock-argument.

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E. Favorite Songwriters and Musical Influences

Timestamps: 96:25–98:09

• Richard’s Mount Rushmore of songwriters:
  • Peter Gabriel, Sting, Smokey Robinson, Randy Newman, Robbie Robertson, Henley & Frey (Eagles)
  • Adam shares his affection for bands with range like The Who and Jayhawks, and for distinct songwriters like Graham Parker and John Hiatt.

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F. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• The Wallet/Cash Analogy ([51:45]):

  “Most people who find a wallet will do the right thing...but when you find cash, most put it in their pocket.”

• On groupie attention ([46:56]):

  “If they weren’t interested in me before I was famous, I’m not interested in them.”—Richard Marx

• On musical humility after playing to indifferent crowds ([73:17]):

  “It was humbling.”

• On cover songs that shouldn’t be allowed ([109:39]):

  “No one should ever sing ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ but Sam Cooke.”—Richard Marx

• On treatment of opening acts ([66:06]):

  “It's so much easier to be nice than to be a dick.”—Richard Marx

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Key Timed Segments

• Opening political and cultural rants: 03:00–32:00
• Richard Marx joins, music career, groupie stories: 45:02–53:03
• On opening acts and tour politics: 53:34–66:41
• Music industry/performing stories: 72:28–84:49
• Cover songs, best songwriters, and song debates: 94:42–114:06
• Playful sparring over Graham Parker’s Sam Cooke cover: 110:24–114:06

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Tone & Style

Adam’s blunt, candid humor and knack for distilling the absurdities of show business and public life pervade the conversation. Richard Marx brings warmth, industry insight, and a willingness to play along—occasionally pushing back and always quick with a story or a bit of dry wit. The banter is loose, lively, and occasionally self-deprecating.

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For Listeners Interested In:

• Rockstar road stories and the reality behind groupie culture
• Integrity and self-discipline in the music industry
• The politics and etiquette of touring and opening acts
• How performers adapt to different crowds and venues
• The art of the cover song—what works and what should be off-limits
• Favorite songwriters, best bands, and musical influences

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Final Notes

Richard Marx’s new album "After Hours" (with an album cover photo shot by his son) is set for release January 16, 2026. Big Band Boogie, featuring Kenny G, is available now.

Adam wraps the show with a final round of music debates, tour tales, and his trademark blend of comedic ranting and real talk—for fans of classic rock, pop culture, and inside-baseball showbiz stories, this episode delivers both laughs and insights.

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Summary curated by Podcast Summarizer AI – for those who love depth, storytelling, and a good road yarn.

Transcript

[Adam Carolla]

Well, in this episode, Richard Marks. Yeah, pop sensation. All the hits comes in. Have a good time with Richard. Alicia Krause has the news and we'll do that right after this bet online. Hey, it's Adam Carolla from the Adam Carolla Show. Football season is in full swing. So is the NBA. They're off to a run and start. There's no better place to get in on the action than betonline, your number one source for all things sports and casino. Betonline gives you more ways to play with the latest odds, breaking news, live scores and in game betting, so you never miss a moment. From every NFL and college matchup, NBA tip off to the excitement of the UFC fights and NHL futures, it's all there. Betonline keeps you locked in to the action all year long. And when it's time to switch gears, dive into Betonline Casino, packed with hundreds of the hottest slots, classic table games, live dealers with massive jackpots. Plus don't forget our VIP program with exclusive level up bonuses, weekly cash boosts and rewards designed for serious players. Head to Betonline today. That's Betonline. The game starts here. Strawberry me. Let's talk careers for a second. We all gotta have a job, but what you really want is a career. Something that makes you feel like you're actually building something, not just clocking in and clocking out. I talked to Vincent over at Strawberry. Great guy, by the way. First rate people over there, super nice, smart, and they actually care about helping you move forward. I know that firsthand because I talked to Vincent over there. Strawberry Me helps you go from stuck at work to feeling good about what you do. They'll match you with a career coach who gets your goals. You take a quick quiz and bam, you're on your way. They'll help you figure out what you want, what you're worth, and how to get there. Whether that's negotiating better pay, finding a new gig, or finally moving into something you, you care about. Head to Strawberry Me acs to get 50% off your first week. It's your career. Take care of it. That's Strawberry Me. Acs, stop settling. Start building the career you actually want.

[Ad Voiceover/Announcer]

From Corolla One studios in Glendale, California, this is the Adam Carolla Show. Adam's guest today, Richard Marks. Plus the news with Alicia Krause. And now, wherever you go, whatever you do, he will be right here yelling at you. Adam Carolla.

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Get it on. Got to get it on. No choice but get a mandate. You get it on. Thanks for Tuning in. Thanks for telling a friend. I love that about you. Yeah. Richard Marks. Cool guy. Comes in, talks music. We'll get into that. Leisha Krause has the news. She's such a pro.

[Alicia Krause]

I feel like. Is it endearing that you haven't yelled at me, or am I not, like, an official member of the team because you haven't yelled at me yet?

[Adam Carolla]

I don't do a lot of yelling at people. I do a lot of telling people the same thing over and over again, which bothers the hell out of me. But I just realized it's kind of the New World Order is to tell people the same thing over and over and over again, which would account for, like, 40% of my adult life. I feel like it's like, it's close to half. Close to my half is having conversations with people about stuff that's been discussed quite a few times beforehand, but that seems to be the New World Order.

[Alicia Krause]

And since you don't have to repeat things to me, we're okay.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Well, also, I appreciate you.

[Alicia Krause]

Oh, thanks.

[Adam Carolla]

Mm.

[Alicia Krause]

That's so nice.

[Adam Carolla]

You're a pro.

[Alicia Krause]

I'm gonna be grateful for that on Thanksgiving.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Alicia Krause]

Like, what are you grateful for? I'm gonna say that Adam Carolla appreciates me.

[Adam Carolla]

I like people who do their job well. Oh, hey, that's you.

[Alicia Krause]

I'm sending this to my agent.

[Adam Carolla]

Thank you very much. Oh, yeah, yeah. You do a good job. You do a job, and you do it well. Alicia Krause.

[Alicia Krause]

Thank you very much.

[Adam Carolla]

Kaiser, by the way, weekly op ed at the Washington Examiner.

[Alicia Krause]

Yeah. This week I'm gonna be talking about how Teach and JD Pritzker don't care about your children. Surprise, surprise.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, what they care about is. I mean, this is an epidemic problem. But they get paid by the teachers unions, and they get put into office by the teachers unions. And I don't know if you guys think this is as big a problem as I think it is, but I have two kids five years ago, and they're going to high school. And then they're told, you can't go to high school anymore. Cause we're closing the high school. And then I go, who closed the high school? And they go, the governor closed the high school. And then I go, why don't we reopen the high school? And then the teachers unions, who pay the governor and contribute to the governor, say, because we said, no. I don't like that form of society. I would like a society where you took no money from the teachers unions. I don't Know why the teachers unions are allowed to give you money? Because then you do their bidding, which is what happened in Chicago. And even the cdc. Rochelle Walensky got totally corrupted by the teachers union. So I don't want the officials that are making decisions to be corrupted by a group of people who don't feel like going back to work. That's just me.

[Alicia Krause]

You were talking to the gal that was homeschooled all 12 years and dropped out of college. So I'm no fan of teachers unions either.

[Adam Carolla]

And they're all the worst people. And they really are. Every single one that's doing the Charlie Kirk neck dance turns out to be a teacher. The next two days later you find out she teaches elementary in Illinois somewhere. So not heroes. Mostly cowards. And I'm done. And if you weren't in a union, I'd be fine with it. But you are. They love unions. They get controlled and put in office by unions and then they become beholden to the union.

[Alicia Krause]

Yep. What really sucks about it is that it's our tax to paying for that union that then just chooses to elect Democrats too.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes. Who will do what they want them to do.

[Alicia Krause]

Anywho, do you like to play chess?

[Adam Carolla]

Meanwhile, it hurts the kids. But that's not what they care about. That's what they talk. You know who talks about the kids the most? Nancy Pelosi. She does everything for the children. When she's not eating Haagen Dazs in front of a double wide refrigerator, she's worried about the kids.

[Alicia Krause]

Or calling Trump vile.

[Adam Carolla]

Or gaming the stock market. She's worried about the kids.

[Alicia Krause]

Sixteen and a half million dollars worried. That's what she allegedly made because of stock options that she made while in Congress.

[Adam Carolla]

She's worried about the children though.

[Alicia Krause]

Uh huh. She should give them that 16 and a half million dollars.

[Richard Marx]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't play chess. I don't play chess. I don't speak a second language and I do not play an instrument.

[Alicia Krause]

Oh, interesting.

[Adam Carolla]

All stuff that I've deemed me unfit. I don't have the skill set for it.

[Alicia Krause]

I agree.

[Adam Carolla]

Or the patience.

[Alicia Krause]

I understand.

[Adam Carolla]

Or the something. I can build a house. Cause that's doing something.

[Alicia Krause]

But that takes brain.

[Adam Carolla]

Sitting and studying. I can't do it. Yeah, no. It takes a certain kind of an active learner. I'm an active learner.

[Alicia Krause]

Well, I bet you you could play chess better than Kamala because we have this really funny video I don't even want to lead into it. I just feel like you just need to observe and Be in awe of the level of, I don't know, just unawareness. Yeah, okay.

[Adam Carolla]

But to be fair to her, can I say this? There is a trap. There's a trap where it's like you surround yourself with black women and all they do is nod. Everything that comes out of your mouth, they go, oh, yeah, I think it's.

[Alicia Krause]

Everybody in leftist media.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. But you don't realize someone is filming it and then it comes out later and you look like an asshole. Here's what I'm saying. Let's just say I just went in a room with a bunch of wild racists and I was like, man, they shouldn't let these Asians drive. And everyone's like, yeah. Mm, mm. And I don't know. Was the Holocaust? Did that really happen? And they're like, you go, Adam, you go. And I was like, feeling good about myself, but someone was filming it. And then later on they put it on the Internet and then I look like an asshole.

[Alicia Krause]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

Don't get used to the people in the room.

[Alicia Krause]

Oh, you got to think of the larger audience.

[Adam Carolla]

She surrounds herself with softball like minded cows who nod their head at everything she says. And she goes, right. Really what you need is to get my friends or my family around you going, huh, I don't know about that. I don't know. Be careful where you go there.

[Alicia Krause]

What about even registered Democrats that maybe voted for Biden and then didn't vote for her.

[Adam Carolla]

Right, right. Like somebody to stop you on your verbal retarded role. Okay, so listen to her talk about nothing and then listen. But it's.

[Alicia Krause]

Oh, she says something, but that something is a straight up lie, Is it not something?

[Adam Carolla]

And then it's just people around her going, mm, mm. Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Kamala Harris (quoted/interview clip)]

Was aware of my opponent's strategy.

[Adam Carolla]

Mm.

[Kamala Harris (quoted/interview clip)]

And I wasn't about to fall prey.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I'm doing my black woman or.

[Kamala Harris (quoted/interview clip)]

Fall into those traps. And part of his strategy and those around him was to try and take me off our game and message. And I wasn't about to be distracted by those little. Those flames that he was trying to throw to get me away from.

[Alicia Krause]

My.

[Kamala Harris (quoted/interview clip)]

Highest priority, which was talking to people about the economy and their well being in terms of their financial well being. And that's so I was. I understood the game that was being played, and I made a decision that I wasn't gonna get played.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, yeah. Do it in the voice. Yeah. Uh huh. Go keep saying retarded shit, Indian lady. Here we go.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah.

[Kamala Harris (quoted/interview clip)]

Three dimensional chess.

[Adam Carolla]

I'm telling you, yeah.

[Alicia Krause]

She was playing three dimensional chess.

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Alicia Krause]

And she clearly lost, but she's bragging about it.

[Adam Carolla]

She should have been playing Stratego because she had no strategy. Strategic. All right, so here's a weird thing. I got a lot of thoughts.

[Alicia Krause]

Oh, there's a lot of thoughts to have. Just from that 1:52 clause.

[Adam Carolla]

You may not feel comfortable with all of that.

[Alicia Krause]

Oh, God, you know me well.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I know you well.

[Alicia Krause]

Yep. Just. Could we limit the level of the B word? And I don't mean black, I mean the other B word.

[Adam Carolla]

Now listen to me.

[Alicia Krause]

Uh huh. Yes, sir.

[Adam Carolla]

First off, if you watch this tape, let's just say. Dawson, let's just say you went into a coma a year ago and you woke today and I showed you this. You go, when did they film this? I go, two days ago. You go, oh, my God, she's the president. Kamala's the president. Oh, dear God. Oh, dear God. She won. She won. And I'd go. I'd go, no, no, no, she didn't win. She didn't win. And then, Dawson, you'd go, wait a minute. When did she tape this, A year ago? No, no, she taped this on Monday. Well, no, she's saying she won. She's saying she beat him with strategic and he'd be like, no, no, she's that nuts that she's talking like she won, but she didn't win. This is like a football coach in a post game presser up there going, listen, we knew they were going to try the onside kick to start the second half, but we were ready for them. Coach, you lost 42 to 9. We were on to their Statue of Liberty and their throwback and their hook and lateral. We were on to all of it. Yeah, but coach, you lost. So she's saying she was onto him and then they were cheering her on, but she lost, which is delusional. Now here's an interesting thing.

[Alicia Krause]

I don't disagree. I'm not uncomfortable with that so far.

[Adam Carolla]

You're gonna get uncomfortable.

[Alicia Krause]

Brace myself.

[Adam Carolla]

That's gonna come. All right, the thing that's funny, and I don't wanna make this up, but she's been on this book tour for like six weeks or something.

[Alicia Krause]

Oh, it's been a solid six weeks for sure.

[Adam Carolla]

Maybe more.

[Alicia Krause]

She's got a lead up to the Black Friday sale. Christmas gifts for all the radical leftists in your life.

[Adam Carolla]

Keep that B word out of your mouth. So she's been out on this tour, right? And here's a phenomenon. When she first went Out. She talked about the election and 107 days, and it wasn't really enough time to get her message across. And she kind of talked about Joe Biden and sort of basically starting in a hole. You know what I mean? She had disadvantages. She had to try to climb her way out of the hole.

[Alicia Krause]

It wasn't her fault.

[Adam Carolla]

Wasn't her fault. Wasn't enough time. That was a month and a half ago. She's now talking like she won, right? She's evolved to. According to my calculations, 121 days from now, she's gonna think she won the election. She's going on a trajectory that started with, hey, man, it was stacked against me. I was left this deficit. I did the best I could, but I only had enough time.

[Alicia Krause]

I wish I could.

[Adam Carolla]

And it came a little short. Right now she's talking. I figured out what they did, and I threw it right back in their face. Now she's talking about winning, or it sounds like she won if you watch. Right? Right. Okay, so what is going on? All right. There is a thing that goes on that I've been yelling about for a million years, which is the sort of procedural people. The people I have said. I've studied women for years, and I have said that when a woman. Like, if you say, not you, you were homeschooled. But any woman I've been with, where I'd go, hey, the cable's out. Can you call the cable guy and get him to restore the cable? Right? And then I go out of town, and then I come back five days later and the cable's still off, Right?

[Alicia Krause]

I have that shit dealt with in.

[Adam Carolla]

Like, five minutes, homeschool. Then when I say to my woman, hey, the cable's still out. I thought I told you to see about fixing the cable. They say, defiantly, I called the cable guy. And then I go, what'd he say? He didn't pick up. I go, when was that? And I go, four days ago. And I go, all right, we don't have any cable. But I always studied it because I realized to them, it sort of felt like something. Now we didn't have cable.

[Alicia Krause]

Like, I did a thing.

[Adam Carolla]

I did a thing.

[Alicia Krause]

I did the right thing. I was supposed to do.

[Adam Carolla]

It's satiating. You know where I'll see it a lot?

[Alicia Krause]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Women, as it pertains to working out, they go, has that hotel got a good gym? And I'll go, I don't know. I'm gonna hit the gym before we go out tonight. I go, yeah, go ahead. Then at some point it turns into the next day and they go, I'm gonna hit the gym before we head home. You know, I go, yeah, go ahead and hit the gym. And then I realized after three days, no gym appearance, but enough Jim talk to feel like I did. That got a little. Now it's not that they feel like they worked out, they just feel like it was talked about enough.

[Alicia Krause]

And if you talk about it, you're solving the problem. Maybe even if you're not actually solving.

[Adam Carolla]

The problem, there's a little bit of a satiation. Right. So if you go, look, I'm gonna go straight to the room and I'm gonna raid the mini fridge and I'm just going to eat Toblerone and skip the gym and mini vodka. Then you're going to sit there in your own.

[Alicia Krause]

Sounds like a fun night.

[Adam Carolla]

I know, but you're going to sit there in your own shame.

[Alicia Krause]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

If there's enough gym planning. But it doesn't happen.

[Alicia Krause]

Oh yeah, you feel just happened to slam the mini vodka.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't know, but there's an. Look. Yes, you feel a little. I mean, look, we've all.

[Alicia Krause]

It's kind of like how people do the online shopping thing, even though they have credit card debt and their paycheck hasn't hit yet.

[J.Lo (quoted/interview clip)]

Right.

[Alicia Krause]

It's that.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, look, we've all done a version. There was somebody who's sick in my life who was in the hospital and I found out and I talked to another person. I'll leave the details out. But I said I'd like to go visit the guy. And they went, okay, he's over at UCLA and it's a thing. And here are the hours and stuff like that. And I was just sitting there and I was looking at my schedule and I was like, God, I'm going to Boston, I'm going to Buffalo. I'm just. My schedule's just packed, you know. So like, when I gonna get to that? I gotta get over to ucla. I gotta get the pass. I gotta get up there. And literally 12 hours later, as I was sort of working it out, I got a text that said, you know what? He really shouldn't have visitors. The doctors are worried about germs and this, that it's just immediate family, whatever. And I thought to myself, well, I'm glad I was on record as wanting to go visit. I didn't visit. I don't count.

[Alicia Krause]

That counts.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, it's like, I didn't do it. I never did it. I never did It. And I feel a certain amount of shame about it. I never did. But it was like the following morning, I got a thing that said, don't do it.

[Alicia Krause]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

And so now I get to go, well, okay, I'm on record or I tried or something. I feel satiated now. I never saw him. I just. But that's what was on a text, Right? So there's an. Now if I wrote a text going, I'm going to stay home and eat Toblerone and drink many bottles of vodka. I'm not going anywhere, then I would feel bad. Right?

[Alicia Krause]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

So there's a. There's a, like a satiation thing.

[Alicia Krause]

But she has people around her like Kamala in this scenario. Not just.

[Adam Carolla]

I'm just saying dudes don't have it.

[Alicia Krause]

You don't think so?

[Adam Carolla]

No. Dudes are like, I want cable. And it's like, I called the guy and we still have no cable. Good. Now we're assholes.

[Alicia Krause]

I think dudes totally have it. If dudes didn't have it. Well, I think it's human nature. I understand what you're saying about women, and it could be with different things, but I think if dudes didn't have it, then we'd have a heck of a lot more billionaires out there. We'd have more entrepreneurs. We'd have more maybe cures for cancer. If, like, just humans naturally were like, I'm going to do this thing and not just talk about doing the thing, but actually doing the thing.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, I don't know exactly what you're saying, but I am saying as it pertains to feeling satiated because you called the cable guy but no one ever picked up. Guys just get frustrated by that, like, a to do list and don't feel like they can check it off that list and feel stupid because now they feel like they wasted time and they still don't have cable.

[Alicia Krause]

Everyone should be homeschooled by a Navy brat and an Eagle Scout.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes. Because there's a certain amount.

[Alicia Krause]

Because then you get the.

[Adam Carolla]

There's a satiation. And so when all the ladies from LA City Council get together and talk about raising the poor and treating people with dignity and giving people a hand up but not a hand out and.

[Alicia Krause]

All kinds of sanitation glass, and they.

[Adam Carolla]

Go, now we're going to Chipotle. And they all break and they go home and nothing happens, but they feel like something. We had a meeting, we did discuss it, but nothing happened. That's what I'm saying. You can watch Kamala, who's The word. She's the word salad. Kamala, Kamala, Kamala. You can watch Kamala, the word salad queen using her salad to talk herself into something that didn't happen. Now somehow she beat Trump on paper or has a moral victory.

[Richard Marx]

Oh, no.

[Alicia Krause]

She played the strategy. She strategized.

[Adam Carolla]

Right. But you can see where she's going. There's no such thing as a dude just talking about what it could have, should have. He's just going, fuck it, I lost. I'll run next time. She's talking like she won.

[Alicia Krause]

I actually, I think that though there are liberals out there, men and women that do the same thing. Like Pete Buttigieg thinks that he was like the greatest transportation secretary ever.

[Adam Carolla]

No, it's. There are plenty of deep leg crossers, deep leg crossing men who think like chicks and do this. Yes, I 100%. There are plenty of dudes. Gavin Newsom does it. It's all the pablum talk. It's the opposite of Trump. Trump's like, hurry, hurry, hurry. What's going on? Let's cut a deal. I don't want any of this. This is. Slow down, let's sit down. Let's sit a seat at the table.

[Alicia Krause]

Remember all the good things I did. And it's like, well, what happened in Palestine, Ohio, man?

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Alicia Krause]

But he's planning on running in 2028.

[Adam Carolla]

Buttigieg, good luck.

[Alicia Krause]

Yeah, maybe she said some funny stuff about him on the book tour too early.

[Adam Carolla]

Buttigieg.

[Alicia Krause]

Yeah, she pretty much said, like, she didn't pick him because he was white and gay.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, they do have a.

[Alicia Krause]

Imagine Donald Trump saying that. How much coverage it would get in the news.

[Adam Carolla]

They have a problem with gay dudes. And that side of the aisle.

[Alicia Krause]

They have a problem with white dudes.

[Adam Carolla]

I think white dudes and gay dudes. Yeah, yeah. No one wants to vote for gay dudes on their side of the aisle. But also he's incompetent, so we got that going. He's the guy let you know about racist bridges. So. Pete Buttigieg. All right, listen up. If you've ever worried about the safety for your home, well, now's the time to check out Simplisafe. This year, they're giving my listeners early access to their Black Friday sale. 60% off any new system. That's their biggest deal of the year. You're not going to beat it anywhere else and any time of the year. Here's what makes Simplisafe different. It's real security because it can actually stop crime before it starts Most systems just alert you after someone's already inside. Too late. Simplisafe has live trained agents who can see what's going on outside your home and actually talk to the intruder, telling them they're on camera and the cops are on the way. So that'll scare them off before it gets started. They called active guard outdoor protection and it works. I've used Simplisafe for years. I trust these guys to protect my family, to protect my home, my dog as well. No contracts. Easy to set up two eyes in there. Simply safe. And you can check everything from your phone. So if you're traveling, it's all there. It's simply safe. Right, Dawson?

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[Adam Carolla]

All right, so she's heading down a path where she's talking herself into a victory here.

[Alicia Krause]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Okay, great.

[Alicia Krause]

And then she will be the victorious endorser of whoever the Democratic nominee is in 2028.

[Adam Carolla]

But you understand what she's doing right here is not different than when she's asked, have you been to the border? And then she goes, we've been to the border. Everyone's been to the border. Have you been to the border? I've not been to the border. So you're not. Hey, I've not been to Nova Scotia, but that doesn't mean I haven't been born. I don't even know what you're asking. She says, that's all part of the salad. Like, you are in charge of the border. You've never been to the borders of the border, Right? In your mind, somehow you've been to the border, but you've never been to the border. This is all part of the delusion of I beat Trump using my strategic advantage and I've taken care of the border, except for I didn't do either thing. That's a. And it's rewriting history in her brain. And then actually, the border. The thing that's craziest about the border clip, it's oftentimes people stick to a sort of narrative. I want the border clip, Andrew. And the reason I'm saying that is.

[Alicia Krause]

It'S a good one.

[Adam Carolla]

People usually pick out the big chunks, the meat and the potato of the clip. But there's often little more things sprinkled in there. Yes, there's little deeper things. And the craziest part about I've been to the border, I haven't been to the border, was the very end where she goes, I don't know what you're asking. It's like, okay, you're in charge of the border. What if I just made you in charge of Knott's Berry Farm? And then I said, have you been to Knott's Berry Farm? You wouldn't say, I don't know what you're asking, that she said, I don't know what you're asking at the end. Which is an insane thing to say, because the sanest thing in the world is to ask if you've been to the border. If you're in charge of the border now, you can. The beginning part is double talk and bullshit. The second part makes her clinically insane. Here we go. Do you have any plans to visit the border?

[Kamala Harris (quoted/interview clip)]

I'm here in Guatemala today. At some point, you know, we are going to the border. We've been to the border. So this whole.

[Adam Carolla]

You can pause it right there. We're going to the border.

[Alicia Krause]

We've been to the border in Guatemala right now. Like, the hands.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, it's also just an insane thing to say. Like if you said to me if you've ever been to Nova Scotia, and I'd go, we're going to Nova Scotia. We've been to Nova Scotia. That's an insane thing. Or I could say the Bunny Ranch in Laughlin. I'M going to the. I've been there.

[Ad Voiceover/Announcer]

You going to a Lakers game?

[Adam Carolla]

Anytime. I'm going to it. I've been there. Yeah. It's an insane thing to say about welding school. It'd be insane to say if you're going to. We're going to. I've been to welding school.

[Alicia Krause]

I think it's also funny that she, like, just throws out, well, I'm in Guatemala, as if that's supposed to be the border.

[Adam Carolla]

To be fair to her, she did not know. She's going to the whatevers to figure out the systemic something or whatever. All right. But it's the end part that's the good part.

[Kamala Harris (quoted/interview clip)]

We are going to the border. We've been to the border. So this whole. This whole. This whole thing about the border. We've been to the border. We've been to the border.

[Adam Carolla]

You haven't been to the border, and.

[Kamala Harris (quoted/interview clip)]

I haven't been to Europe. And I don't. I don't understand the point that you're making.

[Adam Carolla]

She doesn't understand the point that you're making when you're the border czar and someone's asking if you physically been there.

[Alicia Krause]

And this was him doing this interview after she had been criticized by Republican congresspeople for not going to the border. So it was in a conversation around all of that.

[Adam Carolla]

And also, it's pretty standard fare in that if there is a tornado, then you go to Kansas and you walk. It's what politicians do. You're not putting up a fence. You're not triaging any folks that are dehydrated from the walk or anything. You show up, you walk around, you take a couple of pictures, and you leave.

[Alicia Krause]

She could have or should have staged a picture like AOC did.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Go find some fencing and cry. Grab a knee and weep for the kids in the cages. Like J. Lo. And then you dedicate your halftime show to it.

[Alicia Krause]

There you go. Except nobody saw that part.

[Adam Carolla]

The Kids in the cages.

[Ad Voiceover/Announcer]

Yeah.

[Alicia Krause]

Didn't. She ended up having to toss it out.

[Adam Carolla]

I cut up a funny thing. I don't know if Dawson can find that. I watched her special or her documentary. Right. Her doc. Yeah. And it was all talk about kids at the border. And then the halftime special came around and she just shook her ass the entire time and didn't say anything about the kids, which made me laugh. And we intercut it and it was funny.

[Alicia Krause]

I think I've seen that one before. It is quite hilarious.

[Adam Carolla]

It shows kind of what a clown she is or how insincere whatever. I don't know what she is. She wants people to think she does this, but she shakes her ass for a living.

[Alicia Krause]

I think when it comes back to Kamala, I mean, jlo, Kamala, anybody, right, that when they have, when they espouse these ideas or they say these things with such, I guess, passion, or like, you think that like, what is happening with their spouses and their friends and their family around them that don't step in and be like, hey, so that was a little crazy that you said that you were playing 3D chess and that you out strategized Trump and were able to avoid his, you know, hits on you.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't know. I don't know that they're able to.

[Alicia Krause]

Circle back to not having enough time or like all the progressive causes you want to help.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't know that they can prevent it because she's just saying it.

[Alicia Krause]

They can't prevent it, but they can. Like.

[Adam Carolla]

But no, for me, I agree with what you're saying. If she had.

[Alicia Krause]

But that's what a good friend would do.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes. Look, well, look, anybody, anybody should be like, look, you're the border czar. We're gonna fire up Air Force Two, we're gonna take you to the border, you're gonna walk around for 15 minutes, El Paso, get right back in the plane and go right back home. And then you can say, I've been to the border. Because we're not gonna put you out there in front of all the press and you've never been to the border. Cuz they're gonna ask and then we're gonna look like idiots. So I don't know why they didn't figure that out. Or they can just prep them and go, look, they're gonna ask. So then you go, hey, I'll tell you what, I've never been to the border. But as soon as we're done with this interview, I am going to the border and I will report back on it. Not like be confused by it or.

[Alicia Krause]

Pivot right, pivot to my staff has or I've been reading, talking to these leaders. Sometimes this happens with people on the right, by the way too. Like, not just to pick on Kamala. Cause she has low hanging fruit and easy to pick on.

[Adam Carolla]

Buttigieg is a low hanging fruit. Go ahead. If Trump didn't work, you know, that'd be a perfect thing for Trump to work into his buttigieg thing and then do the thing where they go, will you call him fruit? Cause he's. No, I'm Not. What do you mean? I didn't even think of that.

[Alicia Krause]

Okay, that one got me. That was a good one.

[Adam Carolla]

Go ahead.

[Alicia Krause]

Is that they sometimes say things like, your job when you're a politician at that level is to just be prepped for this kind of stuff. Like, it is so easy. And maybe I think it's easy cause I've been in communications and production stuff for a really long time in conservative media, but sometimes I see people and I'm like, did you not have an answer ready for this? Did you not prep ahead of time?

[Adam Carolla]

I'm with you. You can say this. You just go, look, I got a whole team and I got info and stats and I'm briefed. I don't need to physically go walk in the dirt. I can see how many people are coming across on a daily basis. I get briefed every morning about what's.

[Alicia Krause]

Going on in the border Republicans, the bad guys.

[Adam Carolla]

Cause they don't care. Like something. Right?

[Alicia Krause]

It's just right there. It's like with the Karen Bass fiasco of, like, being in Ghana. And then she gets asked by that reporter coming back from the airport and it's like you had an 11 hour flight and you couldn't come up with what you were gonna say.

[Adam Carolla]

I'm gonna tell you something else that may upset you.

[Alicia Krause]

So far, nothing's upset me.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, really?

[Alicia Krause]

Maybe I'm not as genteel as you think I am.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, okay. There is a thing where white, heterosexual male politicians sort of have to eat shit and apologize, but the female ones don't. If you're a protected species, like if you're black, lesbian. Yeah. Or all the above, then you never have people coming at you going, apologize. You become an endangered species. So they leave you alone and. And you're not used to it. And so you get Lori Lightfoot up there and they're like, you closed down all the salons. Why'd you get your hair cut? Cuz I like the way I look and I can't do it myself. Then I'll go, you know what? You know what? I'm telling you. The biggest douche on the planet, Gavin Newsom, when he got busted for French laundry, he had to backpedal.

[Alicia Krause]

Yep.

[Adam Carolla]

He went. Yep. Should have, should have done. Should have practiced what I preached. You know, should have. This is on me. Meanwhile, I gotta do better. L. A Burns, Karen Bass, doesn't give a fuck. Fuck off. Because I'm a protected species. They come up their whole career that way. That's why they're there so they don't.

[Alicia Krause]

That's how they get to the crazy Kamala saying, I was so strategic. I was playing 3D chess.

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Alicia Krause]

And they actually believe it because they've just spent the last 20 years lying about everything.

[Adam Carolla]

London, Bree.

[Alicia Krause]

Never saying, sorry, London Breed.

[Adam Carolla]

The mayor of Chocolate. No. She was like, oh, San Francisco. She went to a Toni, Toni Tony concert when she locked everyone down. And they were like, why'd you go to a Tony, Tony, Tony concert? When we told everyone to stay at home, she was, hey, the music hit me.

[Ad Voiceover/Announcer]

I was moved by the spirit.

[Adam Carolla]

I was moved by the spirit of the music. And there's Tony who tours, and then there's Tony Tony, who can be found together on rare occasions. But Tony, Tony, Tony, not once in a lifetime opportunity. So fuck off. But that's not really what politicians. Politicians go. You know what? I understand practically. It doesn't look good. I'm telling you, women of color go, fuck off.

[Alicia Krause]

But I do have to say Trump does this. And I think that's why Republicans love him so much, that there is an element of. He was unapologetic.

[Adam Carolla]

No, I know, but he.

[Alicia Krause]

What he had done and what he does and how he does it. And a lot of Republicans are like, oh, that's.

[Adam Carolla]

No, I agree. But there's a difference between getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar and have someone go, what about tariffs? You go, fuck you. I like tariffs.

[Alicia Krause]

You caught with your hand. The prostitute.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, it's getting busted is what I'm talking about. Not like any policy. You know what I'm saying? I agree. He doesn't apologize either.

[Alicia Krause]

He's like, I don't wanna apologize for being thrice married and saying the P word.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, yeah, yeah. But I think there's a difference between if Trump and he doesn't. And I agree. But there is a difference between you saying all salons are locked down and now I'm going to a salon versus something that a. You did in the past. You use this language or you stepped outside your marriage or you did whatever in the past and. Or some policy thing we don't like. All right, do we have. Sorry, do we have J. Lo? I cut this together. I deserve full credit for this.

[Richard Marx]

Edited.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't know what year this is the year of her halftime show. And they followed her around leading up to the halftime show. And I cut this together. Sorry.

[J.Lo (quoted/interview clip)]

The cages. The image of the cages, for me, like, I couldn't believe what I was watching. There's just certain things.

[Adam Carolla]

Turn it up a little bit. Please, what is my message?

[J.Lo (quoted/interview clip)]

This is a dark subject matter, but if we can get the message across in a beautiful way where it's soft and it can be received, then maybe more people get the message. I'm trying to give you something substance, not just us out there shaking our fucking asses and fucking belly dancing. I want something real.

[Adam Carolla]

Just start shaking her ass.

[J.Lo (quoted/interview clip)]

This is about human rights. I'm facing the biggest crossroads of my life, but to take out the cages and sacrifice what I believe in, which.

[Adam Carolla]

Is shaking, never being there at all. Ass, ass, ass. All right, so we're getting back to the word salad double talk, which is in their head. They're crusaders for children.

[Alicia Krause]

I did a thing because I talked about it on documentary for 40 minutes.

[Adam Carolla]

But when the lights go on, shake that coulee bitch. Yeah. So she act like she did something. She did nothing. She did nothing. However many kids were in cages, there were there before and after her parents. She brought light to nothing. I like that they have to play. I just want to hear the top one more time because I like. They have to play the sad music and then they show. I love it when CNN just finds like a three year old crying and goes, look at this, look.

[Alicia Krause]

You don't really love it when CNN just finds a three year old crying.

[Adam Carolla]

It's funny. That's funny.

[J.Lo (quoted/interview clip)]

The cages. Oh, the image of the cages for me, like I couldn't believe what I was watching. There's just certain things as a human being you don't do. What is my message?

[Adam Carolla]

All right. Anyway. All right. She does nothing but no accountability. But she acts like she does something, and that's the new world order.

[Alicia Krause]

She'll still be invited. It's like when she went to play for some fascist in the Middle east, you know, that was abusive to women, but he paid her like half a million dollars.

[Adam Carolla]

Did he keep kids in cages?

[Alicia Krause]

Probably. And some wives, too. Who knows? I can't remember the exact nation, but she took like an undisclosed amount of money. And some people were like, wait, why are you going to play for this, like, oil chic that mistreats his own people and she still fundraises for the the dnc, so there's no accountability ever.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, let's do one more.

[Alicia Krause]

One more story. Stephen Colbert has now said the quiet part out loud. This is from our friends over at the Daily Wire. He admits that late night TV tells you how to think. We have a clip of this in a recent interview with gq.

[Richard Marx]

I'm curious what you feel like. The great affirmative Cases for a show like yours.

[Stephen Colbert (quoted/interview clip)]

Why should shows like mine continue to exist? Or like Kimmel or Jimmy or.

[Richard Marx]

And I said, everyone plays with great affection. Which is why I'm saying why.

[Stephen Colbert (quoted/interview clip)]

Oh, we're like your friend who at the end of the day paid attention to the news more than you did. And you're aware of it. You just didn't do the detail work that we did. And then we curate that back to you at the end of the day. But it's really more about how we feel about it. I, as the person who met who, like, is the vehicle for that, how we felt about today. All those things that might have made you confused or angry or anxious or happy or surprised or something like that. I feel that way at the camera or to the audience really. I'm really performing for the audience. And the camera captures it.

[Adam Carolla]

He's a hero.

[Alicia Krause]

What happened to just being funny?

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, man, you gotta get people vaccinated, man. So you gotta put the humor out the window. Yeah, he's a pompous guy and he's prickly and people don't understand that about him.

[Alicia Krause]

But it's so interesting that he's like, well, you didn't have time, so I'm gonna do it for you and then I'm gonna tell it through my lens. It's like. But then they also wanna shut down conservative media or Joe Rogan or you or Ben Shapiro and others. Right.

[Adam Carolla]

It's funny.

[Alicia Krause]

He's. But you guys essentially do the same thing. You've just always been honest about it.

[Adam Carolla]

He looks at himself as one of those meal prep services. Like, you work hard, you got a lot on your plate. You don't have time to make a home cooked meal for as little as $10.99 a day delivered to your door. We had new menu, menu changes every week, kid friendly menus as well. For those picky eaters. That's where Colbert Colbert cuisine. He'll bring it right to you. He'll shovel it in your face and you'll like it, bitch.

[Alicia Krause]

It's not funny. Used to be Colbert comedy.

[Adam Carolla]

Now it's Colbert cuisine. All right. J. Lo has performed in Saudi Arabia for the children in the Cages, most recently at the Formula One Saudi Arabia Arabian Grand Prix, April 2021. So a few months ago. And then when she's done hammering checks over there, she'll get back to the kids in the cages. That's all. All right, Alicia, good job.

[Alicia Krause]

Thanks, sir. Good to see you.

[Adam Carolla]

As per usual, Richard Marks is going to join me in studio right after this. O'Reilly Auto Parts. Yeah, you know the jingle. These guys are the guys who keep your car on the road so you don't end up stuck on shoulder looking like a dope. Friendly, helpful service people who actually know their stuff, not just some kid who'd rather be on his phone. I always used O'Reilly and I still do. I used it when I needed them. You know, I needed to work on my truck, my old Isuzu Trooper and stuff back when I was swinging a hammer. Now I do it for my race cars. Thousands of parts and accessories stocked in store or online so you don't have to panic when the check engine light appears. Need wiper swap? Need brake lights? Let's say something's out. Well, these pros can help you find what you need or hook you up the local shop if you're not a DIY type. Although I kind of hope you are. So whether you're a gearhead or you don't know a lug nut from a donut, they'll walk you through it. No attitude, just real help. Stop by O'Reilly Auto Parts today or visit us@o'reillyauto.com Adam that's o'reillyauto.com Adam Hydro well, you know those workouts where you finish and you wonder, hmm, did I actually get any stronger? I can't tell. Well, with hydro, no guess. And in 20 minutes you work 86% of your muscles, arms, legs, core in one smooth, low impact motion. The new Hydro Arc well takes it further with a massive 24 inch HD screen and powerful sound for an immersive experience. It tracks your power, endurance and precision. Each time you row with Hydrometrics gives you real insight to your progress. Plus, Arc personalizes your workout so you don't have to wonder which class to take. It adapts to you. Workouts are filmed with Olympians in breathtaking locations, keeping things fresh and motivating. I do my workout at home. It's just 20 minutes, so there's never any excuses. I got my flight delayed the other morning and I just went, you know, well, it's delayed, you got time and I just knocked it out in 20 minutes. And you can see your progress and see how much you improve every time. It's hydro, right, Dawson?

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[Adam Carolla]

Don'T miss.

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The Ace man this November in the Lone Star State in Austin. This Wednesday night at Cap City Comedy Club with Brian Callan in Fort Worth. Thursday, November 20. Two shows, 7pm and 9:30 at Hyenas Comedy nightclub. Then it's off to the Woodlands, Texas, which is near Houston, for two shows. Friday, November 21, at the Do Si do the Big Barn. Then Saturday, November 22, the ace man's at the Rattlesnake Roadhouse in Walnut Springs, Texas. Grab tickets and enjoy the show.

[Adam Carolla]

More [e-mail] Richard Marks is back in studios. Got an album. It's coming out. It'll be available January 16th, coming up next year after hours. But you can check out Big Band Boogie, which features Kenny G, who I don't think I've ever spoken to, but that'll be available as we speak. Is that right, Richard?

[Richard Marx]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

Richard, I just saw you walking out, I don't know where, in New York on tmz. And somebody shoved a microphone in your face and said, what about all the ladies? Or something. And then you said something like, well, if they weren't interested in me before I was famous, then I'm not interested in them. And then people in the studio, TMZ said, but that's why you get famous. So I'm interested in that philosophy.

[Richard Marx]

Okay, well, first of all, you should talk to Kenny G at some point because he will surprise you. He's one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life, really. And body. He's not who you think he is. He's not some sweet. He's really smart and really funny. He flies airplanes. He's a really. He's a journeyman. He's a really, really interesting guy. We've been friends for almost 40 years.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Richard Marx]

Great guy. Yeah. So actually what happened was that I was doing an interview with somebody recently, and they asked about, you know, back in the day and temptation on the road. And because I was in a relationship really early on, my first wife, who I was married to for 25 years, we were. We dated for a few years. So when I became a Rock Star in 1987, I had a girlfriend, which was inconvenient in certain ways. Cause it was like, I'm finally getting all this attention.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Richard Marx]

But I didn't want to be a douchebag.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Richard Marx]

But what occurred to me was immediately when I found myself having girls throw themselves at me, my first thought was, where were you two weeks ago? Where Were you a year ago? And I realized, even at 23, that it was the power of MTV and it was photographs, and it was like, I didn't have game up until then. So it didn't really mean anything to me. It was sort of like, easy to go. Yeah, I'm sure you threw yourself at Jon Bon Jovi last week, you know.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Well, all right, so let's try to figure this out. See, I had some of the same trajectory. Not the same, but I was on mtv, and I did understand what it was like to go from the guy who drove a truck and worked on construction sites and stuff to the guy was on mtv. And then it was a different dynamic with women.

[Alicia Krause]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

So I. A couple things I figured out that women, like, they go, well, you wouldn't do that with a stranger, but you would do it with the guy from MTV who, whether he was hosting a show on MTV or his videos were being shown on mtv. And then I realized, I think for women, they need to think they know you. And when you're on TV or on stage or somewhere, they think they know you. Or what it is, is you're safe. Because if you meet a guy at a bar and you just go home with the guy from the bar, you don't know who that guy is. And they've seen enough movies where the guy had the Ted Bundy good looks like and turned out to be American Psycho guy, they've seen enough of that. But you. I see you on MTV or I know you from the radio or whatever it is.

[Richard Marx]

If anything untoward did happen with a stranger, they're gonna go, Steve Schlaminsky. And nobody know who that is. But they could say, Adam Carolla felt me up when I said no.

[Adam Carolla]

Richard Marx felt me up when I said no.

[Richard Marx]

So there was that protection too, probably, Right?

[Adam Carolla]

So women sort of want to know, like, they know who you are, or at least they feel like they know who you are. And then they feel thus sort of safe with, that's that guy, not some guy I've never met before. And then it gets into your part, which is, oh, she's only doing that because you're on tv. And then most people in bands or on TV would say, that's why I got on tv. That's true for this. And then I don't even know if that's a strike, because if you sort of want to really break it down, you go, well, you're with her because you saw her from across the room, and she's such a beauty that you want come and talk to him. Why is that not frowned upon? But yet them seeing you on TV or hearing you on the radio frowned upon because they're only with you? Because, I mean, everyone's only with somebody for a limited number of reasons. For guys it's mostly aesthetic, and for women it's aesthetic. Meets that guy I saw on TV or what have you.

[Richard Marx]

100%.

[Adam Carolla]

Right. So I don't know.

[Richard Marx]

I don't know that we're figuring this out.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't think we are. I think we're just agreeing with me. No, but I, but I will say this as a person that used to be a civilian.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

As we all started high school, all that goes on with that. And then you're out and women are coming at you. You don't have a muscle built up to ward them off.

[Richard Marx]

Well, it's not about warding them off. It wasn't like, oh my God, I hate this. It was never that.

[Adam Carolla]

No, but not to give. I mean, not good looking women, a lot of good looking women are good looking when they're 13 and they have a life full of telling guys, no thanks, but no thanks. Guys don't have a life of telling people, thanks, but no thanks. We hardly know how to do it.

[Richard Marx]

Right.

[Adam Carolla]

We're like a guy, someone who gets rescued from a desert island and end up at a buffet. We don't know to limit ourselves. And I think that's where the trouble comes in for guys.

[Richard Marx]

Which is really what the whole basis of the conversation was in the interview, which was it was less about what we're talking about and more about what kind of person did I want to be, even at 23, having a girlfriend who was amazing and who I ended up marrying and staying married to for decades, had my three sons with. Did I want to be the typical douchebag who fucked around on the road or did I not want to be that guy? And so that's what I worked at.

[Adam Carolla]

So I've distilled it down even further.

[Richard Marx]

Go.

[Adam Carolla]

Which is the difference between people who find a wallet and people who find cash. Most people who find a wallet will do the right thing.

[Richard Marx]

Correct.

[Adam Carolla]

They'll see ID in it. They'll go, I gotta return this to the lost and found at the front of the mall or whatever. When you find cash on most people, put that in their pocket.

[Richard Marx]

Right. And that's a good analogy.

[Adam Carolla]

And I would never go out cheating. Like I'm going out, right? Trying to go to the bar, my girlfriend's at home, I'm like cheating. When you go out and you're out of town and literally you're checking into the hotel or whatever and someone walks up and starts talking to you, it ends up feeling like found cash more than I'm going out stealing wallets.

[Richard Marx]

Oh, shit, man, I wish I had had that analogy back then. It was just. It was like as if a hundred dollar bill was on the ground at the hotel when I was checking in, honey.

[Adam Carolla]

And Your wife of 25 years was with you since when? Before I had a record deal, before anything.

[Richard Marx]

That was a big part of it too. But she was the first and she was beautiful and she was successful.

[Adam Carolla]

And did she recognize your talent and sort of know that there was something here?

[Richard Marx]

She did, but when she met me, I. A 21 year old struggling musician. How rare and unique. In LA, right?

[Adam Carolla]

And that was in LA, I was.

[Richard Marx]

A dime a dozen. She believed in me, she thought I was talented. But she also fell in love with me as a person. So, you know, and we were together for a couple of years before I got a record deal. And then when things happened, they happened so fast that the next thing I knew, my first single was a hit and I was on the road and I didn't come home for 15 months.

[Adam Carolla]

Really? Yeah. Were you. Were people opening? Were you opening? Like, how'd it go? I'm always curious on the who opened for who, because the stories are always great about this band on the way up or that band on the way down or whatever that was.

[Richard Marx]

We put out the first single, which was a song called don't mean nothing, 1987. I had help from Joe Walsh, played the guitar solo on it. Randy Meisner and Timothy Schmidt.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's got a.

[Richard Marx]

We're singing background vocals.

[Adam Carolla]

It's. It's got a little. Life's Been Good to Me. Don't Be Nothing. Totally.

[Richard Marx]

I was a huge Eagles fan.

[Adam Carolla]

I. I love Joe Walsh.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah. So Joe Walsh. I didn't know Joe Walsh back then. Somebody I knew who knew someone who knew him like three people removed. Played him the demo of that song and he went, I like that song. See if he wants me to play guitar on it. Do I want Joe Walsh to play? Let me think about it. You know what I mean?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Richard Marx]

So a week later, he comes in, plays the solo, plays some extra parts. Such a great guy. I still know him to this day. In fact, just recently, we were at a party together maybe six months ago, and I hadn't seen him in a while and I got to put my arms around him. And I said, you know, it's been a while since I've told you. Thank you for playing on my first record. It was a huge help to me. And he's such a classy guy. So the song took off.

[Adam Carolla]

He's got a good sense of humor.

[Richard Marx]

He's very funny.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. And a lot of people don't have that in rock and roll. Or maybe. Oh, here's a question. And we're gonna circle back.

[Richard Marx]

You're not gonna let me answer the question, are you?

[Adam Carolla]

No, go ahead.

[Richard Marx]

You got bored?

[Adam Carolla]

No, no, I am. But I had something pop to my head, which is there used to be a lot of bravado amongst musicians. They had bravado, like, especially those bands from the 90s, from, like, the UK and stuff. Like, they came in with kind of tough guy Personas and even rock and roll. And now you see, like, Gene Simmons and he's like, schmaltzy and funny and everyone's let their guard down or something.

[Richard Marx]

He's 75 years old.

[Adam Carolla]

Right. So is it an enlarged prostate or is it a different time? You know what I mean? Like, people, rock and roll used to have, like, a little bit of Persona. Like, I don't fuck around, I don't joke around. And Joe Walsh was a guy who screwed around back in the day when everyone else was, like, making tough faces.

[Richard Marx]

Being every anti Don Henley.

[Adam Carolla]

Right. Everyone else was like. Everyone looked tough and bad. And I don't think it's an age thing. I think it's a societal thing where, like, people let their guard down. Let them see you a little bit.

[Richard Marx]

No, I think it's characters. It's like in the Eagles, for example, you had Don Henley, who was super serious and still is. He's one of the most uptight, serious people, seemingly. And then you had Walsh as the foil, just like you had Michael Jordan and you had Dennis Rodman.

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Richard Marx]

You know what I mean? Yeah. And that's. And the sum of those parts makes something really great. But I see what you're saying. I mean, but I also.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, like, guys are going out, screwing around, doing funny interviews and stuff like that. I just. I didn't see that in the past.

[Richard Marx]

It wasn't what we were supposed to do.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, it was, like, mysterious. And the guys, like the English bands that were like tough guy bands, like, they were real short with their answers and tough, and they didn't smile. And it was like a bravado. It was a Persona thing. And now people just kind of. I don't know, maybe it's social media or something.

[Richard Marx]

I mean, even the guys in Oasis have found a sense of humor, right? Even those guys will talk shit now.

[Adam Carolla]

So you're out touring. Joe Walsh don't mean nothing, right? And now you got a hit, and now you're going out touring.

[Richard Marx]

And I immediately hit the clubs. Immediately hit the clubs, but kind of nice clubs. And I'm. This is like a week after the song comes out.

[Adam Carolla]

And before that, where are you playing? What kind of thing? I'm not.

[Richard Marx]

I'm not. I mean, I didn't have much live experience. I was a studio guy. I was a songwriter. I wrote for other people.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, okay.

[Richard Marx]

I was not a guy who played in a bunch of bands.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, okay.

[Richard Marx]

So I was kind of new to live performing, right. And I was finding my way. I deliberately put a band together of guys who were road veterans, who were great performers, not just great players, but, like, really good showmen so that it could sort of come cover me while I learned how to be a frontman. And we, you know, the first couple weeks, you know, we played to 12 people here and 15 people there. And then the radio and then MTV added the video. And then all of a sudden things started to go great, right? Maybe six or seven weeks into that, I get a call saying, REO Speedwagon's doing a summer tour. They want you to be the opening act.

[Adam Carolla]

Mm.

[Richard Marx]

So I do a whole summer tour with REO Speedwagon. Now, I could have opened for any band or any one of those bands who just wouldn't give you a sound check, resented you. Well, I ended up opening for this band led by Kevin Cronin, where they're just nothing but generous and nothing but fans of what I'm doing. And I'd hear them doing radio interviews and Kevin saying, you know, hey, you know, we're on tonight at 8, but get there early. You gotta come and see this guy. We believe in this guy, Richard Marks. So I toured with them for a summer, and then I ended up opening for Night Ranger a couple of times. They were not very nice, but Beach Boys had me on for a couple of shows. That was a trip. But cut to then. I do theaters. Coming off of the REO tour now I've gone from clubs to, like, two to 3,000 seat theaters. And we're selling those out because now we're on the third single, which is a hit, culminating with the following summer where I play the exact same venues that I played with REO Speedwagon, except I'm headlining.

[Adam Carolla]

You're coming back I did all the.

[Richard Marx]

Same thing as a headliner.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, There is a nice moment that everyone should hopefully experience when they perform, which is sort of going back early. Well, not early, but years ago. I went and booked some shows outside of Seattle, in Kirkland, at a club, smaller club, I don't know. 225.

[Richard Marx]

What period of your career is this?

[Adam Carolla]

Well, this is weird. Cause it's like done with the radio and done with man show and stuff. And then I was sort of about 15 or 16 years ago, I just went out, I started doing standup. I needed a job essentially. There wasn't radio contracts. Podcasting was fledgling. I didn't really get paid to do podcasting, but I just did it. And then it was the first time in my career I didn't have a contract. I just had to go out and find, make money, go on the road. I had young twins and I needed to go out and make money. So we did a show in Kirkland, Washington. And it was like the first show sold out. So we added a second show and the second show sold out and we had a third show. And I was doing like 90 minutes or 100 minutes of comedy. I'd do like three hour and 40 minute shows or something. I didn't know any better. And then the next night was the same thing. We just kept. And then. So when we're done, I said, well, we did these like six shows and there were like 300 seats. And we sold everything out. And we sold like 1800 tickets. But I had to do six shows. Next time we come back, what if we did the Moore Theater in Seattle where the. Oh God.

[Richard Marx]

Capacity.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, it was like 1800, maybe 2000 seats. And it was also MTV. It was Pearl Jam did their video there, where Eddie Vedder's Swinging from the Rafters or the Light Rig. And I'm like. Then a year later, we came back and sold that place out. And I was like, one show, 1800 people. And I remember thinking, oh yeah, this is nice. This is how to do it.

[Richard Marx]

Working. It's called Working Smarter.

[Adam Carolla]

Feels good. So REO Speedwagon guys are real nice.

[Richard Marx]

Super nice.

[Adam Carolla]

Are they Boston guys?

[Richard Marx]

Chicago.

[Adam Carolla]

Chicago guys.

[Richard Marx]

Which is where I'm from.

[Adam Carolla]

Cause REO Speedwagon is the name of a fire truck.

[Richard Marx]

Correct.

[Adam Carolla]

That I remember. But it's out of Chicago. And those guys are cool dudes.

[Richard Marx]

The best. Kevin Cronin and I are still pals to this day.

[Adam Carolla]

And do you think it's kind of a top down? Does it like trickle down good and bad you know, like companies, we go in where the boss is a dick and everyone's a dick at the place, but you realize it's kind of the boss setting the tone.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah, probably.

[Adam Carolla]

Everyone was nice.

[Richard Marx]

Everybody was nice. Everybody in the organization. And it was a great experience.

[Adam Carolla]

And not so much with Night Rain.

[Richard Marx]

We cut to, you know, actually there was a period there where REO took, like, a month off, and then we were gonna pick it up again where I was gonna go back and do shows with them. So I'm like, I can't not work. So I'm playing clubs and theaters on my own. And then I get an offer to play a few shows with Night Ranger. Great. So I go open for them, and I go in with the only experience I have under my belt is reo. I get to the Night Ranger gig, and I don't get a sound check. These guys are like, there's an edict. Like, you don't look at these guys in the hallway like, go fuck yourself, you little twerp.

[Adam Carolla]

Right, right.

[Richard Marx]

And they. I remember this one show, I think it was in Seattle, actually, at a. You know, like an arena.

[Adam Carolla]

Night Ranger is comprised of guys from other bands who've come to form Night Ranger.

[Richard Marx]

No, I think you're thinking of what was the band with Ted Nugent.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I am thinking of that.

[Richard Marx]

I forget the name of the band. They had that one big hit called High Enough.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Richard Marx]

Can you take me High enough?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, yeah. That was.

[Richard Marx]

That was one of the guys from Night Ranger.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, that was one of the guys.

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[Adam Carolla]

Damn Yankees.

[Richard Marx]

Thank you.

[Ad Voiceover/Announcer]

The Nuge was in that band, too, right?

[Adam Carolla]

The Nuge, is it? But Night Ranger's not that. No. Oh, okay.

[Richard Marx]

Night Ranger was a band that was created from wherever they were from. I forget.

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Ad Voiceover/Announcer]

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[Richard Marx]

But check this out. So I. I like. And my record is really doing well. And so we're closing the show. I get 45 minutes.

[Adam Carolla]

To close?

[Richard Marx]

No, to open.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, to open.

[Richard Marx]

So I'm opening for Night Ranger, right. Same set that I did with Aria Speedwagon.

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Richard Marx]

Well, the audience is so fucking crazy. And it's like, there's all these girls. Cause I'm on MTV every minute, and we get to Don't Mean Nothing, which is the close of my opening set. And we're doing this call and response thing with the audience. And I swear to God, I realized we're gonna go over maybe 20 seconds, right? And at the mark, they turned my sound off.

[Adam Carolla]

Really?

[Richard Marx]

And the audience booed them right into their set, like, even into their first couple songs, the audience is booing Night Ranger. Cause it was such a dick move.

[Adam Carolla]

I've heard other artists I've spoken to talk about, and it's like literally five seconds past the allotted mark and they've gone.

[Richard Marx]

I just feel. I just chalked it up to small penises, basically. That's what I.

[Adam Carolla]

It's a weird thing. And I get it. I'm just having a flashback to sort of dude bravado stuff. I remember as a carpenter, I'd walk onto job sites where the guys were already been there for like four months. And then you'd walk in and for some reason, they had to break you for like the first month. You know what I mean? They couldn't be cool. They're all douchey to you. They're all like cliquey dudes.

[Richard Marx]

Did you watch the show Landman?

[Adam Carolla]

No, but I've heard of those.

[Richard Marx]

Okay, so there's that all over. It's like it's as old as the oldest time.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. And then at some point, they want you to come out and have a beer with them. But you gotta pass this break in period or something. But it doesn't have to be that way. Everyone could be Ario's Speedwagon and just keep on loving you instead of only one way to rock or whatever. What was that? Was that one way. Who did. Was Night Range only one way to rock? What was Night Range? They had a couple you tell me you love me. Yeah, that's right.

[Richard Marx]

And sister Christian.

[Adam Carolla]

But it smacks of an insecurity, 100%.

[Richard Marx]

And with REO Speed, with my experience with REO Speedwagon, it would set the tone for me going forward as a headliner of how I was gonna treat my opening act. So everybody who ever opened for me got a sound check. Unless there was some. If there were technical issues or something where we literally couldn't give the opening act a sound check, I would go to their dressing room and apologize personally and say, guys, I'm really sorry. I hope you understand. We'll get you one tomorrow. It's so much easier to be nice than to be a dick.

[Adam Carolla]

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[Adam Carolla]

Did those guys. Well, it also makes good sense. Dollars and cents. And it's decent. But what I'm saying is, is like, you know, there's a guy named Rob Mills and he was a PA at the man show and he runs reality TV for NBC right now and has the corner office. So I wasn't a dick to rob. But if I was and I was pitching a show to him now, he wouldn't do it. He'd remember me as a dickhead. Exactly. And you never know where people are going.

[Richard Marx]

I mean small businesses.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't know who opened for you, but that somebody may have opened for you that turned out to be somebody. Several who were like the folks that opened for you. Like.

[Richard Marx]

Well, Wilson Phillips opened for me when they were just starting out and then they had just blew up. Yeah, there were definitely acts who did really well. But that's not the point. The point is they were fellow artists. They were felt like. I feel like I also have this thing about musicians trashing other musicians work publicly. I think it's really a fucked up thing because we already have critics and there are plenty of musicians whose work I don't like. But I would never talk about it publicly because it's just. I just feel like we have to have a code.

[Adam Carolla]

We have to have a code comedians have that should have that too. But it doesn't happen. But. But I agree. So you go from the REO Speedwagon loving embrace to the fire of Night Ranger. But lesson learned, you go, I know what that feels like and I'm not gonna make anyone feel that way.

[Richard Marx]

Coming back to the REO camp weeks later and I literally hugged every one of the band members and I was like, I missed you guys so much.

[Adam Carolla]

So you said the Beach Boys were interesting. And I watched the multi part doc recently with the Beach Boys. Interesting, interesting. Lot of personalities going on there. I could see where that would be a very interesting. Depending on where you caught the Beach Boys. Because the Beach Boys were top of the heap and then struggling and then back up again. Like where were they?

[Richard Marx]

Very beginning of their renaissance. Which still to this day, I mean, these guys are out there working their asses off.

[Adam Carolla]

And what was interesting about.

[Richard Marx]

Well, I used the word interesting.

[Adam Carolla]

Was Brian Wilson there? No, he was not touring at that point.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah, I did just a couple of shows with them in arenas, opening for them, same set. And you gotta remember like this is probably 1988 and they have that big song from Cocktail. Yeah, the made up name Kokomo.

[Adam Carolla]

Going to Kokomo.

[Richard Marx]

Massive single. So the Beach Boys are back on MTV. They have a top 10 single, maybe even a number one single for all I know. So they're doing really well. But I'm feeling like, wow, this is another great opportunity for me to get in front of, you know, 15, 20,000 people as I'm on my first album. And I'm feeling really good at this point. I'm six or seven months into my touring career and I've become a showman. And I like, I know how to get an audience and dancing from studio.

[Adam Carolla]

Guy to showman from the Wrecking Crew onto the stage.

[Richard Marx]

So I walk into those gigs not cocky, but confident, like I know what to do. In fact I was like, I'm going out in the audience, I'm gonna run out in the audience. And as soon as I hit the stage I notice that the audience is a decade, if not more older than my usual audience. And there's a little bit of a painting. I'm looking at a painting a little bit. And whereas usually when I would start singing the first song, people are up and they're, like, excited. And these people were sort of like, who are you again? And I worked my ass off for 45 minutes, and they were like, when are the Beach Boys coming out? Right? And it was humbling. So the word wasn't. Shouldn't have been interesting. It was humbling.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Is there something to be gained from that experience? And it's getting a little cathartic, because I know what it's like to go on the road and just play to your crowd. And then you come back, and then you go to the Improv on Melrose on a Wednesday night, and you walk out and you realize, oh, they're not here to see me. They're just here. They're just hanging out. And all of a sudden, the stuff that was popping is not really popping anymore. And you're pedaling the bike a little. You're going, okay, I gotta pick up the pace a little bit. I gotta work a little harder. And then I usually drive home thinking, well, that wasn't nearly as much fun as the last show. That was in Florida, where everyone was there to see me. But then I think, oh, I guess it's kind of necessary to get in front of that crowd and kind of earn it. Like, work. Work a little bit harder, and it's good. And if you can have a set, whether it's a standup set or music set, that'll work in front of that crowd, it'll work anywhere. Cause it's bulletproof.

[Richard Marx]

Can I give you an example?

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Richard Marx]

Very recent. Maybe, like, beginning of the summer, I played a show in Quebec City with Rod Stewart, with my band. And it was a huge, huge. It was part of a festival. Rod was closing the show, and he asked me if I would come and do the show and open for him. But we did a long set. We did a proper show. I don't know, maybe 30,000 people, something like that. And it was from the minute I started singing to the minute I said, have fun with Sir Rod. It was a party. The audience was incredible. Like, it couldn't have gone better. And then Rod asked if I would come and do a show. He was supposed to do this big stadium show with Billy Joel, but Billy Joel canceled everything because he's ill. He's got health issues. So then Rod is playing Jones Beach, Not Jones Beach. What's the place in Jersey the PNC used to be called the Garden State Art Center. You know that place? It's a shed.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Richard Marx]

It's like. You know, there's like, maybe 4,000 people in the pavilion and another 10,000 on the lawn. And I won't bore you with the minutiae, but the only way that it made sense for me to go and do that show. And I love Rod, and we've become friends in the last couple years, and he's always been a hero of my book, but I just love hanging out with him, and I love any opportunity to be with him. But the only way it could work is if I did it solo acoustic, which I've done many times in theaters. And I love playing a show that's just me because I get to tell stories and kid around. And, you know, my show is like. I always say that my solo show is. The show is what happens in between the songs. Because if I can make everybody laugh and I can get to kind of make everybody feel like they're just hanging out with me, I. I've won. So I'm feeling good about it. And I get out there, and it's just me and my guitar, acoustic guitar. And I had to work my ass off. But I kept the first couple songs. I started to panic a little bit, like, wow, not only is this not really working, but Rod might even be in the wings watching this.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Richard Marx]

And I just stayed the course, and I kept being funny, and I kept singing my ass off. And the last two songs, I got a standing ovation, and everybody was really. And I was like. But it could have gone sideways.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. There is that interesting feeling when you're kind of up there. I guess it's like a bad first date where you're halfway into it, and you go, this isn't really flowing like I thought it would. And especially if your expectations are sort of like, here's what I'm gonna do. And then you walk out there, and you get a few minutes in, and you're like, this is not working. Yeah. And then.

[Richard Marx]

And then you. Well, you know, I think a dumber person would have switched gears completely and, like, panicked a little bit and tried to do something. Tried to fit a square peg in a round hole. I knew that what I was doing works.

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Richard Marx]

I just needed to stay the course, and I needed to remember that this is not my. This is. Some of these people are here, and they love me, and they know my songs. But a lot of these people Are just here to see Rod Stewart. I need to charm them. I need to win them over.

[Adam Carolla]

How much Now? I've certainly had it where I've gone, oh, I'm not going to do this next joke or these next jokes. I'm going to do something different because I've sized this group up and they don't want that. They want something else.

[Richard Marx]

They don't want the rape joke.

[Adam Carolla]

Right. Everyone else, but not them. So do you ever slide into. Let's just do a Beatles song? Like, do you ever just go, I'm gonna mix and match here.

[Richard Marx]

I pivot all the time. But not like that.

[Adam Carolla]

Pivot into.

[Richard Marx]

I'll look at the set list and I'll go, like, if I do. If there's a song on the set list, which I know has killed at various places, but the venue was a certain thing. It's a song that wasn't a hit, but it's a song I'm really proud of that people seem to really like. I'll sense the audience and I'll go, they just want the hits and I'll just drop it. Or I have a mic. I always have in the band shows, I have a mic that only goes to the band members. So if I step on the button, I can go over during a solo. I'll go, hey, we're dropping whatever. We're dropping the next song. Just go right to satisfy. Dropping the next song. Just go right to don't mean Nothing. And everybody hears me. And that happens all the time, where you gauge the way a crowd is responding, Even sometimes when the crowd's great. And I'll look down and I'll go, I need to keep them, and I don't want to do this right now.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Yeah. So I think. I don't think it's so much different with standup, which is, like, you want to get out of the gate with something strong, and then you want to finish with something strong. And then the middle will be, like, sprinkled in good stuff with some stuff I'm trying out or newer stuff or different stuff. And then sometimes you'll go, screw it. I'm going to hop past. I'll talk to comedians all the time where they go, like, I'm going to go out and try all this new stuff tonight. And then they go out there and, like, one minute in, they go right back to the, like, best of. Because the hits. Because they.

[Richard Marx]

But can we talk about that? Because this is one of the most fascinating things. And I've, you know, I've Known some great standups over in my life and spent time with various people, and it always fascinates me. You just said best of. Which is such a weird thing in terms of standup, because I. You know, I'm now 38 years into my career. I feel really blessed. I can go and do 90 minutes of nothing but hit singles that I wrote and recorded or wrote for other people that people know. And if I don't do those hits, the audience is gonna be fucking pissed.

[Adam Carolla]

I know.

[Richard Marx]

If you go out and you do the same, you do a tour and it crushes you, come back a year later and you do the same material, they're gonna go, we heard that last year.

[Adam Carolla]

There is that thing. I mean, I think comedians are constantly jealous of singers and performers for that reason. Because there's the hits. They can do them in their sleep. But that was on the last special, and now they got to mix it up. And creating the new stuff is the. A difficult, tedious, kind of feels like homework. Part of the job that they all hate. I have basically found that you can do a bunch of new stuff and then slide in an oldie but a goodie. And they're pretty much into it. Like, A, the last time you were in town was two years ago. And B, they were drunk and different audience. Yeah, it's like they, you know, like, sometimes I will say, like, I'll go, who was here last time I was here? And it'll be like two people, like, go, yeah, I'm sitting. I'll go, all right. I'm just gonna do some of this shit. I've found as long as the order is sort of not the same and the thoughts are different and there's enough new stuff sprinkled in, you can kind of mix some of the leftovers with some of the new stuff.

[Richard Marx]

George Carlin was one of the only people who had hits that he would do repeatedly, year after year. Seven words you can't say on television.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, right.

[Richard Marx]

The religion stuff. Like, he had his hits that he kept playing. Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

He was one of the comedians that was almost like a musician in that people want to hear the hits. But, yes, the greatest. I mean, the part that I think a lot of people but Kameen especially, like, knowing that there's a hit that is four minutes long, that's 33 years old, that you created. I mean, that's why when somebody goes, oh, you know, I wrote Stairway to heaven in 20 minutes or something, everyone goes, oh, my God. Because of how much you've gotten out of that. 20 minutes. But no one should ever feel sorry for comedians because it's their job and it's easy. And then also, it does kind of force you to go change all the time. It's a little uncomfortable, but it does mean that at the end of Dave Chappelle's career, he's gonna have 10 specials that are all gonna be different, versus the best of album that's come out for the third edition or whatever that is. So touring, opening. Who else did you open for? Is there anybody we can think of?

[Richard Marx]

That was pretty much it.

[Adam Carolla]

So then the album hit so hard that you were headlining and no longer opening?

[Richard Marx]

Yes, and then I headlined for a long time. And then when my kids were starting school, I kind of stepped back from touring for several years, and I moved to Chicago to raise my kids in Chicago, and I started focusing more on writing and producing other artists. And so I was home a lot more. I didn't perform that much. And then maybe in 2005, I started touring again. I actually did a whole month of shows with Joe Cocker in just in Germany. We did 20 shows in 20 cities in Germany. When was this, 2005 or 2006? And it was amazing.

[Adam Carolla]

How was Joe Cocker back then?

[Richard Marx]

He was phenomenal. He was absolutely phenomenal. And they were huge arenas, and it was the first time in a long time I was an opening act again. But again, they were so generous with me. Joe was great. So I've opened here and there, but I think. I'm trying to think. Think if I've done any other tour as an opener, I really don't do that, but I gladly will with, you know, somebody like Rod. People who I. There are. Actually, there are artists I wish would call me and go, hey, I know you're not. I know you're a headliner, but, like, would you want to open this, like, these huge acts? I would. There were several. I would go, yeah, let's go.

[Adam Carolla]

Who would you like to open for?

[Richard Marx]

Rod.

[Adam Carolla]

Rod.

[Richard Marx]

I would like to do a tour with Rod. And, you know, there are some other bands, and, I mean, there's a lot of people out there I think are great. If Bruno Mars said, hey, we want to have a little, like, nostalgia, 45 minutes of your hits. Okay, where do I. I'll do it for free.

[Adam Carolla]

You know, Rod Stewart, I like his deeper cuts better than his hits like Handbags and Glad Rags. First cut is the Deepest Killing of Georgie. Yeah, I like his deeper stuff.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

In a weird way, it's kind of like David Bowie and that, like, Hunky Dory album and, like, the deeper stuff I like better than the poppier radio spin stuff.

[Richard Marx]

I get it.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't know. Maybe. I don't know if it's because it's better because you get that sort of claim it as your. You feel like that's your own. Downtown Train is great, like, more than Hot Legs or more than the hits, like the Hitty List.

[Richard Marx]

I love Hot Legs. I love Hot Legs.

[Adam Carolla]

You don't like it more than Downtown Train?

[Richard Marx]

I think it's. I don't know. I like them for different reasons. And you just said something that I always sort of like, cringe, which is the word better. There's no such word in music. Like, it's better if you like it more, but you know what I mean. Are we gonna have a fight? Are we gonna have our first fight?

[Adam Carolla]

I mean, I think. Well, it's interesting. I think you can say that something artistically is better than something else, even if it's a matter of an opinion.

[Richard Marx]

Oh, you can opine that it's better, but it doesn't make it better.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, I can't make it better for the person that likes it more.

[Richard Marx]

You can't factually say that something musically is better than that. It's only, like, in your mind. I could do this all day long. And we take Bowie as a great example. We could go down a list, and I'd go, well, that's better than that. But that's just what I think.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, but I would argue that you're an expert.

[Richard Marx]

No, nobody's an expert on YouTube.

[Adam Carolla]

You are. I would argue that while it's not like your journeyman pipe fit or something like that, where, you know, coarse thread from fine thread or whatever it is, I would argue that all the time in the studio and all the time you've spent creating music and all the artists you've been exposed to makes your opinion more valid than somebody that hasn't had that experience.

[Richard Marx]

Here's what I would give you. When it comes to, like, talent, in terms of singing, for example, or playing.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Richard Marx]

Then I feel like there are those of us who have a learned opinion where I can go, I know you like her voice, but she's terrible. She's not a good singer, but if you like her voice, that's all that matters. And I hear what you're saying, but the people who have bought my cars and my houses through my life were not professionals, and they weren't. They didn't. They just like what they like.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. The people that supported you and paid you so you can get the house and the cars. I don't know. There's certain bands, like, I love the Jayhawks. And every one time everyone goes, I don't know who the Jayhawks are. And then I play them the Jayhawks, and then they all love the Jayhawks. So I realized there's some sort of universal goodness that are the Jayhawks, and there's certain other bands that are that way. I'm trying to think so. Like, the Eagles have songs I hate Same.

[Richard Marx]

But the Eagles have songs I fucking love.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes, I agree.

[Richard Marx]

But is there an artist who you like? Everything that they do? Everything. Like, I'm a huge Peter Gabriel fan, but there are, like, I don't ever need to hear excellent Birds ever again. I just don't. It just doesn't appeal to me.

[Adam Carolla]

It's a good point, because it's a sort of a Fleetwood Mac conundrum where it's like, there's really good songs you like and then songs you never want to hear ever again. And I don't know that you can do it with bands that have big hits.

[Richard Marx]

Prince. Prince was as brilliant as they come.

[Adam Carolla]

No, there's plenty of Prince songs I hate there.

[Richard Marx]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

But for me, in the big. Like the bands that are huge bands.

[Richard Marx]

Who's your favorite band?

[Adam Carolla]

I could probably go the who in that. I don't love every who song, but they had such a crazy variety of songs. You know, the sort of Quadrophenia stuff and the Tommy stuff and then just weird Squeeze Box stuff and, like.

[Richard Marx]

Is it wrong that Eminence Front is my favorite.

[Adam Carolla]

What is your favorite hood song?

[Richard Marx]

Eminence Front.

[Adam Carolla]

I need to hear that.

[Richard Marx]

You don't know it.

[Adam Carolla]

What album's it on? Bom Bow Bow.

[Richard Marx]

It's mostly an instrumental.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, that song. I never knew the name of that song.

[Richard Marx]

Eminent.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, I never knew. He said that. I was, like, leaving in his. Yeah, that song. That's a good song.

[Richard Marx]

I love that song.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Pete Townsend on his own sort of Rough Boys, and that stuff's good. Empty Glass. I would go, who in that? I like a band to be a little interesting, and I like all their crazy, different stuff and along with their just straight rock from. From Back the Day. So, I mean, you know, you always got the Beatles, you always got Led Zeppelin. But I'd say the who, because I've just found I like the variety. And for me, I guess, interesting is a part. And I always like. I like. Leonard Skynyrd is like Southern rock, but Then you listen like, give me three steps. And this guy talking about what a pussy he is and he just wants to run, you know, just please. You'll never see me again. You'll never see me again. And that's not like tough bravado stuff, it's kind of funny stuff. And Lynyrd Skynyrd had like a lot of interesting layers. Not just the straight sort of southern rock kind of a lot of those.

[Richard Marx]

Bands back then kind of thing. What they were known for. The couple of songs that they were known for at rock radio or be even the crossed over to pop radio. They had all kinds of tracks and songs that, you know, maybe the drummer wrote a song that you wouldn't even be aware of. But it's really cool and different and interesting. But you gotta. Those are the days of albums and album cuts.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Richard Marx]

When FM radio would play songs that weren't. The singles like those days are long gone.

[Adam Carolla]

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[Richard Marx]

Every suspect was a train killer.

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[Adam Carolla]

What is going on here?

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[Adam Carolla]

No. I don't know that the next generation or anybody younger than us will ever really know the magic of like you go oh, I'm gonna buy this Thin Lizzie album from, you know, 1979, because I like this one hit on it. But then you start listening to the whole album, and then there's all these deep cuts and they don't even get played on the radio. But you know them because you've got the album. But no one would know them now because they just get the hit and they just download it. They're not gonna have that weird experience of these way off the. Off the beaten path songs. So I think that's cool. And I do. I disagree, though, in the sense that I do think some songs are just magnificent works of art and others I don't like Man Eater from Hall and Oates.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Don't like it.

[Richard Marx]

But do you like Kiss and my list?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, because my list is pop and nice and fun and, like, light and breezy and, like, it feels easy.

[Richard Marx]

I have a game I play with people where, like. And I've used Hallow notes a bunch of times where I'll be with somebody and I'll go, what's your favorite hollow notes song? And they'll go, I don't know. I guess Kiss on my list. Like, well, are you sure it's Kiss on my list? And they go, what do you mean? I go, well, what do you like better? Kiss on my list or you make my dreams come true? And they go, oh, you make my dreams come true. And I go, oh, what do you like better? You make my dreams come true or say it isn't so? Oh, I love say it isn't so. And we just go. I would go down all these Hallow Notes songs, and then you definitively can say what your favorite Hallow Note song is. I do it with all kinds of artists and bands. It's just. It's a good drinking game.

[Adam Carolla]

It's not gonna be adult education.

[Richard Marx]

I was gonna. I swear I came this close to saying adult. No, it's not my favorite.

[Adam Carolla]

No. Student body's got a bad reputation. No, no, no, no.

[Richard Marx]

That was Daryl trying to be rock, like, super rock. It didn't work for me either. But I can't say it's not a good song. It just didn't appeal to me.

[Adam Carolla]

I'll say it's not a good song on your behalf. But then, I don't know, like, for me, Smokey Robinson, Tears of a Clown is my favorite pop song of all time because it's got a great bass line, it's got great lyrics if you really listen to what he's singing about.

[Richard Marx]

What if we went, bah bah bah ba da da ba ba Like a circus, like, that's fucking brilliant.

[Adam Carolla]

And it's got a bassoon in it.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah. It's different. It was unique.

[Adam Carolla]

It's different. And it's got a killer bass line and it sounds great.

[Richard Marx]

People don't know the depth of that guy's songwriting. He's one of the greatest songwriters who ever lived.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, who are. Who do you have on, like the Mount Rushmore?

[Richard Marx]

Peter Gabriel.

[Adam Carolla]

Peter Gabriel.

[Richard Marx]

Sting, as a songwriter. Smokey. My favorite songwriters. Randy Newman.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, yeah. Well, Randy Newman's funny.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah. Well, but. Except when he's not. And some of his songs are just heartbreaking.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Richard Marx]

Big fan of Robbie Robertson's songwriting. Big fan of Henley and Fry.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, they had a lot of hits.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Cannot argue with that.

[Richard Marx]

Songs I really, really love. You know who else just recently passed away who was one of my favorite songwriters was J.D. souther, who wrote New Kid in Town with them.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, I was about to say, I don't like a lot of Eagles songs, but I like New Kid in town a lot.

[Richard Marx]

J.D. souther.

[Adam Carolla]

And sometimes I have found when you go, geez, I don't really like these guys songs, but I do really like this song. How do I reconcile that? And then you find out somebody else was involved with that song.

[Richard Marx]

Did you like Henley's Heart of the Matter? Do you know that song?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, it's a good song.

[Richard Marx]

J.D. souther.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, right. So this is good. I'm able to wrap my mind around this now because like I said, I. I don't like Eagles songs per se, but some I really like. And Heart of the Matter is a really good song.

[Richard Marx]

Such a great song.

[Adam Carolla]

And New Kid in Town's a beautiful song.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

And I'm like, well, then why do I like those songs if I don't like these guys songs? I don't like Heartache Tonight, for instance.

[Richard Marx]

Bob Seger wrote that.

[Adam Carolla]

That does sound seeger y, doesn't it?

[Richard Marx]

Yeah. What you discovered in this. And I'm so glad that I provided this information from you going forward, what you like was J.D. souther.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, what are Dawson. Now you can figure that out. The JD Souther.

[Richard Marx]

JD Souther, you know. Do you know his one hit, JD's hit, when the World is Ready to fall, You're Only Lonely.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I love that song. Did he sing that? Oh, he sung that.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah, he had that. And he had a hit with James Taylor called Her Town 2. Used to be Her Town 2.

[Adam Carolla]

That was J.D.

[Richard Marx]

Souther, too. We Just lost him last year.

[Adam Carolla]

You know what the craziest remake was? James Taylor doing Handyman remake? Yeah.

[Richard Marx]

Oh, you mean covering the 60s song.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, because the original was the craziest song. It was like. And then his version of that, that was brilliant, which is interesting. So I don't really need bands covering songs the exact same way they were originally done at all. But if you're Cat Stevens and you want to do Sam Cooke's Another Saturday Night, and you want to do, like, a calypso version, then I'm all in.

[Richard Marx]

Sam Cooke was my favorite songwriter of all time.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, really?

[Richard Marx]

And my favorite singer of all time.

[Adam Carolla]

He was pretty great.

[Richard Marx]

And my favorite band, actually of all time is not a rock band. It's Earth, Wind and Fire.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, they're great, too. So now you have two songs. You got Sam Cooke, Another Saturday Night, which is awesome.

[Richard Marx]

Right.

[Adam Carolla]

And then you have the Cat Stevens version of it, which is like a different song. So now we get two songs versus. Oh, I heard this the other day. David Essex, Rock On. And then the guy from Melrose Place who covered Rock, Michael Damien, who covered Rock on. And he did it the same. They're both horrible. And I heard them both on the same day. I swear to God. Andrew was in the car. I put on the 90s channel on SiriusXM, and I heard Michael Damien, Rock on. And I was like, oh, it's the worst cover ever made. And then I switched it over, and I heard the 80s version of the worst song ever originated, which is Rock on, which is horrible.

[Richard Marx]

Well, hey, it's nothing if not consistent.

[Adam Carolla]

It's like, what was the other. There should be a. I'd like you to be a part of this. I'd like to be a part of it as well. A sanctioning board for you remaking songs.

[Richard Marx]

It's like, no, I'm sorry, It's not allowed.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, first off, someone, Michael Damien would come in and go, I'd like to remake Rock On. And I'd go, get the fuck out of here. Get out of here. Get out of here. And he'd go, you don't get it. I've heard it all. Get out. I don't.

[Richard Marx]

Okay, write this down. Because in case you forget or have somebody write this down, here's a really obscure cover that I really love that I don't think anybody knows. Remember the Bee Gees song? I started a joke.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes. One of the saddest songs ever written.

[Richard Marx]

The Wallflowers covered it for a movie soundtrack.

[Adam Carolla]

Really?

[Richard Marx]

And it's so fucking Great. Jacob Dylan's voice on Ah started a joke.

[Adam Carolla]

It is one of the saddest, most melancholy songs ever. It's a great song that people, you know, predates the whole Saturday Night Fever thing and all that kind of stuff. But it is a beautiful song.

[Richard Marx]

But you gotta check out Jacob's. And it's the Wallflowers, but it's Jacob. I'm a huge Jacob Dylan fan, too.

[Adam Carolla]

Zoolander is the movie with the COVID that's in that.

[Richard Marx]

Yes, it is. That's exactly right.

[Adam Carolla]

Okay. Saddest song ever. Linda Ronstadt's Long, Long Time. I think Her Heart Goes On.

[Richard Marx]

It's very sad.

[Adam Carolla]

It's so sad.

[Richard Marx]

Has anybody ever covered that?

[Adam Carolla]

I don't think so. I don't know. But I don't know that you could do it better than she did it. Now with my rock song or my cover sanctioning Body, when Cat Stevens comes in and goes, I want to do Sam Cooke's Another Saturday Night, I would go, hold on. Oh, you're going to have trouble beating Sam Cooke's version of this, because that is an excellent.

[Richard Marx]

Who's on the song? Just you.

[Adam Carolla]

Just me and you.

[Richard Marx]

Oh, okay. Just.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Alicia Krause]

Oh, okay.

[Adam Carolla]

And then he'd come in and give me the calypso vibe.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

And I'd go, oh, okay.

[Richard Marx]

That's what you're cooking.

[Adam Carolla]

We're doing something different here. Okay. Because if you're just going to do Sam Cooke's version, you can't do it as good as Sam Cook.

[Richard Marx]

Thank you.

[Adam Carolla]

I think. Think somebody did Smoking in the Boys Room. No. Radar Crew did Smoking in the Boys Room.

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[Adam Carolla]

No need for that.

[Ad Voiceover/Announcer]

That's exactly Tommy James and the Shondel song Black Crow is doing hard to Handle. The Otis Redding song, possibly one of the top five covers of.

[Adam Carolla]

All right. Hey, wrap it up. I'll take it.

[Richard Marx]

Y.

[Adam Carolla]

That's fine. Yeah. There's always something there to remind me. Which was a Dionne Warwick song that.

[Richard Marx]

Got, like, 80 naked eyes.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Like, they did an 80s version. Okay, I'm open.

[Richard Marx]

That was cute.

[Adam Carolla]

You taken. It's different enough. It's when it's just the same and it's a shit version of the same.

[Richard Marx]

It's like, you know. Yeah. People cover songs, and they are faithful to the original. It can be tricky, I think. Okay. It's a good thing we have all this time on our hands, that we can have this committee and spend our time.

[Adam Carolla]

Somebody has to do it, or we're gonna end up with horrible covers.

[Richard Marx]

With more horrible covers. We can't allow it.

[Adam Carolla]

We're gonna end up with another rock on.

[Richard Marx]

Right? We can't have it now.

[Adam Carolla]

There's two rock ons. Wait, what? Dawson, there still is one song.

[Richard Marx]

But wait, are you more mad at David Essex for writing it and recording it or more mad at Michael Damien for cover?

[Adam Carolla]

I'm more mad at him for covering it.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah, I am, too. And I don't even know why, because he seems like such a nice guy.

[Adam Carolla]

The original version of it was horrible, but it didn't exist. And fine.

[Richard Marx]

The Michael Damian song, by the way, was number one. It was number one single.

[Adam Carolla]

That's how.

[Richard Marx]

So we can both go fuck ourselves.

[Adam Carolla]

I know, but you do now. You're coming around to my side, which is. There is such a thing as Bath. And that's it. Rock on by Michael Damien is bad. What was. Dawson, I'm looking at you. I know. And I'll think of it after Richard leaves the studio and I'll have to chase him down the street screaming it. But there was a song that was a horrible song that got remade, and it was made the exact same way. And it's every bit as bad and it made me every bit as angry and I don't know, look up, like, top 10 remakes or something. Cause it's gonna.

[Richard Marx]

Can I confess something?

[Adam Carolla]

It's gonna make me angry. Yes.

[Richard Marx]

Can I confess something, please? In this moment, like, literally 45 seconds ago, as you were saying, you know, we gotta figure, Gotta try to remember. I was thinking about. I just said earlier, I don't like musicians talking shit about other musicians. And so I had this remorse about even saying anything about the Michael Damian cover. And so I was about to say, you know what? I just want to go on record. But I was, you know, and then I remembered that in the 80s, when that song was a hit, Michael Damien went on some radio show and talked shit about me.

[Adam Carolla]

So what?

[Richard Marx]

Yeah, so I'm okay with it. I'm okay with it.

[Adam Carolla]

To be fair, he's not a musician. So it's not like you're talking shit about a musician.

[Richard Marx]

And I'm not saying anything about his acting or his hair or his good looks.

[Adam Carolla]

No. What is the song, Dawson? Well, you're not.

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[Adam Carolla]

Dancing in the street? Yes, it could be. Okay, that's.

[Ad Voiceover/Announcer]

That was like Martha and the Van, Right?

[Adam Carolla]

Right. But that is my favorite cover. That is a horrible, horrible cover. But we can chalk that up to coke.

[Ad Voiceover/Announcer]

And Lenny Kravitz should have never done American Woman.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, you're right. I think it's American Woman and Lenny Kravitz, which is the guess who. It was a guess who. I guess it's not bad. It's super repetitive. We don't need it. But Lenny Kravitz, we did not need redoing American Woman at all.

[Richard Marx]

How about Michael Jackson's cover of Come Together?

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, I don't know if I've heard that one.

[Richard Marx]

It's definitely different.

[Adam Carolla]

Where is that song or what is that song?

[Richard Marx]

It was like post Thriller, I don't remember. I don't think it was a single or anything like that. But I remember hearing it and going, that's really good.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, well, you know the aforementioned Joe Cocker, A little help my friends, if you want to do your own.

[Richard Marx]

And that's a totally different version than the Beatles version.

[Adam Carolla]

Right. And famous. Now we have two songs.

[Richard Marx]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

Just like we have with Sam Cooke.

[Richard Marx]

It's a twofer.

[Adam Carolla]

Sam Cooke, the way he died is the craziest thing ever, right?

[Richard Marx]

Yeah. And it's never really been explored to my satisfaction. I think that there was a huge cover up at the time. Look, it was 1965. 66. You know, a young black man gets shot in a motel in la. You think people are gonna like dive into solving that crime at that time?

[Adam Carolla]

No, they.

[Richard Marx]

I mean a very successful young black.

[Adam Carolla]

Man started his own label company. Yeah.

[Richard Marx]

Owned his own publishing.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Richard Marx]

He was a very forward thinking guy, very smart. Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

He went out to a club. I was like flashing some money around. Went back to the motel, had a girl, had a hooker. She ripped him off.

[Richard Marx]

Well, I think she was part of it. She targeted him.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, yeah. There was like a grift with like the madam and the hooker. And then they set their sights on a guy and they got. And then they went back down and gave her the money and stole the money. And then he basically came running down to the front desk in his underpants or naked or something. And the person, the knight, just shot.

[Richard Marx]

Him without even thinking who also though.

[Adam Carolla]

May have been in on it.

[Richard Marx]

Right.

[Adam Carolla]

Because that's the motel they used.

[Richard Marx]

Depends on which book you've read. Cause obviously you've read like what I've read. Cause I'm fascinated by what I've seen.

[Adam Carolla]

And the cops were just like, eh, it's a Black guy, it's 1963. Like, what are you gonna do? Keep moving here?

[Richard Marx]

Nothing's happening. I think that there's something. I wish somebody would make a miniseries or docuseries or something about that. Cause I think there's so much. Just a lot of people who would have answered some questions are dead now.

[Adam Carolla]

But South Central, 1964. Yeah.

[Richard Marx]

Can I. I'm gonna unequivocally state that Change Is Gonna Come should never be cut by anybody else. I think that that is sacrilege.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Richard Marx]

No one should ever sing A Change Is Gonna Come but Sam Cooke.

[Adam Carolla]

This is interesting.

[Richard Marx]

The one that killed me the most.

[Adam Carolla]

Uh huh. It's so beautiful. Yes. Okay.

[Richard Marx]

Well, the absolute one that drove me up the wall was either the first or the second Clinton.

[Adam Carolla]

Inauguration.

[Richard Marx]

Yeah, but what's the word? Yeah, I guess it's the inauguration where it's televised and it's a party and people are performing. Roger Clinton came out and did an up tempo A Change Is Gonna Come. And I wanted to crawl through the TV and just tell him to shut the fuck up.

[Adam Carolla]

I.

[Richard Marx]

Cause it really unnerved me for this.

[Adam Carolla]

You know, I'm having.

[Richard Marx]

First of all, no, certainly no white person should ever sing it, even at karaoke.

[Adam Carolla]

I'm having a very sad realization right now. Richard Marx. And I feel like we're on a good enough footing that I can be up front with you.

[Richard Marx]

Go do it.

[Adam Carolla]

One of my favorite artists is named Graham Parker, and Graham Parker's an English guy. Part of the sort of the New Wave thing, I remember had some hits and sung background. Actually, one of the few had a hit called Endless Nights where Bruce Springsteen sung background for Graham Parker, which is kind of an interesting concept, hearing Bruce as a backup singer in a song. I do think Graham Parker sung A Change Is Gonna Come.

[Richard Marx]

Well, he's dead to me then.

[Adam Carolla]

He's English. I don't know. Do you get a little more leeway with white guy? English white guy?

[Richard Marx]

No. It is forbidden.

[Adam Carolla]

If you made the same Graham Parker sung that Sam Cooke song you keep talking about.

[Richard Marx]

Bravado. If I find out that you. And I don't care who you are, but especially if you're a white dude and you're gonna. I'm gonna do A Change is Gonna Come. I'm gonna fight you.

[Adam Carolla]

Graham Parker may have sung I will.

[Richard Marx]

Make it physically impossible for you to carry that mission out.

[Adam Carolla]

Play the first 30 seconds of Graham Parker live alone in America.

[Richard Marx]

Having so much fun with doing it. Just live.

[Adam Carolla]

It's acoustic, live performance.

[Richard Marx]

There is no point to this. There was no. Nothing, nothing to be gained from this. Nothing. There was no upside.

[Adam Carolla]

I knew it would upset You.

[Richard Marx]

No, there was no fucking upside to this.

[Adam Carolla]

I understand you're upset.

[Richard Marx]

Other than just a jerk off on his part.

[Adam Carolla]

Okay? You watch what you say about Graham Parker, all right? Mr. Pop hits over here. This guy's keeping it real. Playing the club of Chit Chester. All right, sure. Coming up. Hard Scrabble. Come on, man. You haven't paid your dudes like grand. Also featured in a movie that track. One of Judd Apatow's favorite musicians is Graham Parker.

[Richard Marx]

But he used changes.

[Adam Carolla]

No, he put him in a movie as Graham Parker. No, no, no, no, no. I'm just saying what am I to do morally? There's only one person in all of Glendale Burbank who knows Graham Parker covered Sam Cooke's. A change is gonna come. Then I have the Richard Marks attacking. Anyone who would dare to cover that physically would attack Graham Parker.

[Richard Marx]

We're talking Class 1A felony for covering that song.

[Adam Carolla]

And yet I have to sit with the knowledge of knowing that my Graham Parker cover to Change is gonna come.

[Richard Marx]

Not only that, but I think that what you're not saying is that you're like. What you're not saying out loud is like. And you're kinda okay with was acoustic.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't know.

[Richard Marx]

He's already.

[Adam Carolla]

You're right. I'm making apologies for the man. Look, you're right.

[Richard Marx]

All due respect to Graham Parker, I like Graham Parker, but I hate him now.

[Adam Carolla]

That's it. You're done with Grand Parker? Really?

[Richard Marx]

It's like he might as well have like shot an old lady on the street as covering that Sam Cooke song.

[Adam Carolla]

Okay, maybe we can find some comic art. Actually, it's.

[Richard Marx]

If I met him, I would just say, what were you thinking?

[Adam Carolla]

What were you doing?

[Richard Marx]

There was no upside, only a downside.

[Adam Carolla]

I think we can finish on a high note. Do you like John Hyatt? No.

[Richard Marx]

Let's just stop right there.

[Adam Carolla]

Right? This just hasn't gone. Why should we stop?

[Richard Marx]

This is like that gig at the Beach Boys that I was opening for.

[Adam Carolla]

This is like saying, look, John Hyatt.

[Richard Marx]

If I had a nickel at him for every time I was doing an interview and somebody said, what do you think of John Hyatt? I would now have a nickel.

[Adam Carolla]

I love John Hyatt. I think he's a great songwriter.

[Richard Marx]

I haven't heard anything about him in a while. But I'll tell you this. I run into him back when I was like in the second album, third album, like late 80s, early 90s. I ran into him at some radio events and stuff a Gentleman.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Richard Marx]

And I think he's very talented. I haven't seen him in a while, but I think the last time I saw him. You're a fan, right?

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Richard Marx]

So am I wrong that he did some shows with Lyle Lovett together?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, he would have done shows.

[Richard Marx]

That's the last time I saw him. I was in some town and they invited me to the show. Oh, no, no, no. It was a Sundance Film Festival thing. And I was performing and somebody said, hey, John Hyatt and Lyle Lovett are doing a set. They'd love you to come over. So I went and sat and hung out with those guys, and then I watched their set. And I had met John before. He's really, really sweet. I'd never really met Lyle before. Loved him, too. Like, super. Like, I would go have a beer with those guys any second.

[Adam Carolla]

Good. All right. Back from the Graham Parker Sam Cooke fire. For that, you've earned a plug after hours. Name the album. It's coming out early January.

[Richard Marx]

My son took the album cover photo.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, he took the photo.

[Richard Marx]

Isn't that cool?

[Adam Carolla]

And. Oh, that's beautiful. Nice talented guy. Big band boogie is out as we speak. Me, I'm gonna be in Austin, Texas, Cap city comedy. I'll be there with Brian Callan. Very funny. Doing stand up. That'll be tonight and Saturday in Los Angeles at the upstairs in downtown. And you can go to AdamCroll.com for all the live shows because I'm coming all over to town near you. And until next time, Adam Crow for the last Alicia Krause and Richard Marks saying mahalo.

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[Richard Marx]

Every suspect was a train killer.

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Then buckle up for drive. World War Z.

[Adam Carolla]

Every human being we save Just one.

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Less fight and Charlie's Angels, damn, I hate to fly. Launch into sci fi adventure with the fifth Element and laugh through the mayhem in Tropic Thunder.

[Adam Carolla]

What is going on here?

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