The Adam Carolla Show: Rick Caruso Joins Adam Carolla to Talk LA’s Future, Politics & Accountability
Date: November 10, 2025
Location: Live from The Americana, Glendale
Guest: Rick Caruso – Developer, public servant, and former LA mayoral candidate
Episode Overview
This lively episode of The Adam Carolla Show features Adam in conversation with Rick Caruso, delving into Los Angeles’ trajectory, political dysfunction, accountability in government, and real-world solutions to homelessness, infrastructure, and civic engagement. Caruso, celebrated for his private sector achievements and public service, discusses his vision for the city (and perhaps the state), while fielding sharp, comedic, and substantive questions from Adam and a passionate live audience.
Key Discussion Points and Insights
1. Los Angeles Roots and the Decline of “Opportunity City”
[05:21] – [09:20]
- Caruso details his family’s immigration, his father’s journey from coal mining in Pennsylvania to being an LA gardener, and reflects on LA’s diverse, shifting ethnic landscape.
- Adam humorously bemoans the lack of a true “Little Italy” in LA, suggesting Caruso champion that cause:
“We need a place to get gelato and listen to guys play the mandolin... You gotta spearhead this.” – Adam Carolla [08:15]
2. Why Get Politically Involved?
[09:41] – [11:05]
- Caruso expresses a sense of duty and the “exhilaration” he gets from solving complex civic problems, rooted in his formative experience serving under Mayor Tom Bradley.
- He notes LA is “at the edge of a cliff,” echoing the urgency of rebuilders, not career politicians:
“I do enjoy taking very complex problems, taking them apart and putting them back together... I love public service.” – Rick Caruso [10:08]
3. The Palisades Fire: Disaster, Accountability, and Private Sector Ingenuity
[14:02] – [22:10]
- Adam references the recent LA Times exposé on preventable fire mismanagement.
- Caruso argues the Palisades fire was “completely preventable,” links it directly to bureaucratic incompetence, and calls for severe accountability:
“This goes to exactly what we have in the city... we have the epitome of incompetence and we are paying a dear price... The largest disaster that I’m aware of that could have been so easily prevented. And somebody needs to pay. Maybe even criminally accountable.” – Rick Caruso [14:24]
- Shares how advanced planning and private firefighters saved his property and several city blocks, contrasting city inaction:
“If it’s predictable, it’s preventable.” – Rick Caruso [22:03]
4. LA’s Trash Crisis and Failing City Services
[23:00] – [28:36]
- Adam rants about the decline in LA’s cleanliness, noting the contrast when traveling to other U.S. cities:
“LA is just trashy. And I think California... was supposed to be the shining golden state, not golden shower state, because a hobo took a leak on you.” – Adam Carolla [24:56]
- Caruso explains how a billion-dollar city deficit and mismanaged spending have decimated services, doubling trash collection fees and virtually eliminating street cleaning:
“City services suck and they’re only going to get worse.” – Rick Caruso [28:13, quoting Councilmember Yaroslavsky]
5. Homelessness: Failed Bureaucracy vs. Proven Solutions
[34:49] – [41:47]
- Both decry LA’s failed, expensive homeless approach and the devastating effect on businesses and neighborhoods.
- Caruso advocates working with proven non-profits that deliver housing and services for a fraction of the city’s cost:
“The city is spending $900,000 per homeless to house them. This is 35,000 a year versus 900,000... Just so logical.” – Rick Caruso [37:17]
“I remember when I was running for mayor, the hit on me was, ‘You want to criminalize homelessness.’ No, we want to give people a path to a better life. And we want to give people their neighborhoods back.” – Rick Caruso [39:45] - Adam challenges the “compassion” narrative of allowing people to die on the streets:
“There’s nothing compassionate about letting somebody die on the streets.” – Adam Carolla [40:26]
6. Overregulation, Economic Decline, and the Creative Exodus
[46:57] – [55:01]
- Caruso says key industries are being regulated out of California, with business owners, including in entertainment, feeling abandoned.
- Adam offers biting stories about the runaway production crises, highlighting hypocrisy even among progressive industry leaders:
“The most progressive guy in LA will get on a plane and leave the country... if it means saving some money. People will leave to save money or they’ll happily stay if you make it attractive.” – Adam Carolla [53:32]
7. The Need for Builder-Mentality Leadership & Civic Courage
[49:00] – [55:01]
- Caruso praises cities like Glendale, where smart, courageous decisions led to a renaissance.
- They agree: LA and California need private sector-style problem solvers willing to risk not being reelected.
- Caruso:
“It takes courage and backbone and obviously intellect and competency. But it’s all fixable, is my point.” [49:00]
8. Infrastructure and the Bullet Train Boondoggle
[59:06] – [62:11]
- Rick’s prescription for California’s high-speed rail:
“Yeah, you put a bullet in the bullet train.” – Rick Caruso [59:29]
- Adam proposes using the bullet train as a monument to government inefficiency, a teaching moment for local schoolkids. [61:00]
9. Trade Schools, Dignity of Work, and Giving Inner City Youth a Pathway
[64:30] – [68:04]
- Adam laments the lack of black inner-city kids in construction trades, emphasizing the dignity and financial security they offer over gang life and failed college-for-all rhetoric.
- Caruso agrees, lauding union trade schools and promising renewed focus:
“We got to bring trade schools back... It’s a life skill and it never goes away and you’re financially... taken care of for life.” – Rick Caruso [67:43]
10. Audience Q&A: Cost of Living, Olympics, Civic Decline, and Caruso’s Political Future
[69:45] – [97:08]
On Cost of Living and Retirement in LA/California
- Caruso blames rampant fees, regulatory bloat, and lagging housing starts:
“40% of the cost of housing in California is regulation. 40%.” – Rick Caruso [73:16]
2028 Olympics & Civic Readiness
- Caruso laments lack of leadership/planning versus the 1984 Games; voices frustration that events will now be outside city core ([74:05]).
LA’s Political Turn: Why Did LA Decline?
- Gives credit to Tom Bradley, Dick Riordan, Jim Hahn for courageous leadership; says the city lost its way by electing for ideology not competence:
“We need to start electing people that frankly don’t care if they get reelected. Just do the right thing.” – Rick Caruso [83:14]
Caruso’s Future: Will He Run for Mayor or Governor?
- No official announcement, but Caruso promises a decision “in a few weeks”:
“I want to do something that’s good... But I’m at a point very soon I will make a decision...” – Rick Caruso [95:12]
- Agrees to announce his decision on Adam’s podcast first. [96:47]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On political courage:
“He had the backbone and the courage, the strength to do what was right for the residents... at his own political cost. We’ve lost that.”
— Rick Caruso (on Jim Hahn) [82:55] -
On LA’s dysfunction:
“We are getting into 16 years of horrible, incompetent idiots running this city, and I say we need a competent idiot!”
— Adam Carolla [85:42] -
On leadership mentality differences:
“They’re process people. They want to talk about everything... but they never want to roll up their sleeves and just go to work.”
— Adam Carolla [54:16] -
Audience supporter’s plea:
“We need you. We need you.”
— Paula, audience member [94:50]
Important Timestamps
- 04:19 – Adam applauds Caruso’s public/private sector achievements
- 10:08 – Caruso details civic motivation
- 14:24 – Caruso blames city leadership for fire disaster
- 22:03 – “What’s predictable is preventable”
- 24:56/28:13 – Adam and Caruso on LA’s filth and service cuts
- 37:17 – Caruso outlines homelessness cost insanity
- 49:00 – Glendale’s transformation as civic model
- 59:29 – “Put a bullet in the bullet train”
- 67:43 – The renaissance of trade schools
- 73:16 – Housing costs and regulation
- 95:12/96:47 – Caruso describes decision-making on future, promises announcement
- 97:08 – Caruso’s optimism: “God bless LA and the state.”
Tone and Atmosphere
The episode blends Adam’s irreverent, exasperated humor with Caruso’s pragmatic, optimistic perspective. Both skewer political incompetence and bureaucracy, but the discussion is rich with real-world, actionable solutions. The mood is alternately comedic, candid, and serious, buoyed by audience energy and a shared longing for LA’s restoration.
Concluding Insight
Rick Caruso’s core message: Los Angeles is facing a crisis not of inevitability but of leadership—and with backbone, competence, and private sector urgency, it can still be reversed. As Adam sums up, the city’s fate will depend on voters choosing proven builders over “process people,” and Caruso hints he may soon step forward to answer the call.