Ted Nugent Rejects Your Labels and Identity Politics

Summary

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The Adam Carolla Show

Episode: Ted Nugent Rejects Your Labels and Identity Politics
Date: March 11, 2026
Main Guest: Ted Nugent
Host: Adam Carolla
Location: John Clay Wolf Studio, Texas

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Episode Overview

In this lively and candid episode, Adam Carolla sits down with legendary rock musician and outspoken cultural commentator Ted Nugent. The conversation centers on the themes of personal discipline, the flaws in identity politics, meritocracy in American institutions, and the preservation of American rugged individualism. Ted shares stories from his life, both on stage and off, offering his characteristic blend of humor, intensity, and unfiltered opinion. The episode also touches on iconic moments from rock history, the perils of substance abuse in entertainment, and critiques of modern cultural and political trends.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Value of Discipline and Rugged Individualism

(Timestamps: 03:40—06:26, 08:57–09:00)

• Ted Nugent opens by commending Carolla’s grounded, practical worldview, awarding him the “Ted Nugent Swinging T. Rex Scrotum Award for truth, logic and common sense.”

• Both agree that growing up with hands-on, “self-sufficient” upbringings instilled discipline and practicality.

  • Nugent: “My dad raised me to be an asset to the family and not a liability, which means we had to do all the chores together... self sufficiency, true independence, declaration of independence that your parents declared upon you, that stayed with me to this 77.4 years of the American dream.” (04:19)
  • Carolla: “Wash your own car, chop your own wood. Metaphorically, just go make. Do not go to Grubhub and have people bring food to your house. Make your own food...that’s part of remaining sane.” (06:08)

• The pair worry that technology and convenience drugs (like Ozempic) are erasing opportunities to build discipline and resilience.

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2. Critique of Identity Politics and Labels

(Timestamps: 12:32–16:41, 17:37–19:28)

• Adam and Ted discuss how society is too quick to label people, often dismissing what they've contributed (using historical examples of Ford and Lindbergh).
  • Carolla: “It’s easy to go, that guy’s this and that guy’s that, but what has he done for you lately?... We do way too much labeling. We hang labels on everyone, then we want to throw them out. My thing is, where’s the rubber meet the road? What did they do?” (13:18)
  • Nugent: “Identity politics does not even enter my life. Can my plumber plumb without a leak? ...I have a golden dome that rejects such counterproductive thought processes. I just don't give a rat's ass about any of that.” (14:19)

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3. Meritocracy vs. Corruption in Institutions

(Timestamps: 21:18–25:23)

• The conversation pivots to the decline of meritocracy in entertainment and prestigious institutions (Oscars, Grammys, Harvard), replaced by “representation politics.”
  • Carolla rails against the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for inducting less-deserving artists based on identity over achievement.
    • Carolla: “If it’s just merit, then Ted Nugent is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Joan Jett isn’t...But then there’s politics.” (16:19)
    • Nugent: “In my world of music, that meritocracy is runaway controllable. It’s literally nobody’s going to hire anybody except the best drummer, the best bass player, the best singer...So that being the best that you can be, that demand and that pursuit and accomplishment...is alive and well.” (25:23)
  • They compare this to the enduring popularity of the Super Bowl: “We want a meritocracy.” (22:10)

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4. The Power and Spirit of Rock & Roll

(Timestamps: 09:39–12:15, 27:29–34:30)

• Nugent details his musical origins in Detroit, the influence of Motown, and how the city’s environment shaped his “aboriginal, wilderness-oriented” style.
  • Nugent: “My music is more aboriginal, more down to earth, more wilderness oriented. So yeah, it all started the minute I could pay attention to the music on the radio that my dad wouldn’t turn off.” (11:19)
• The pair geek out over iconic guitar licks and the legacy of bands and drummers, including ruminations on classic musical moments and the raw character of early recording sessions.
  • Nugent plays Motown licks and classic riffs like “Stranglehold.”
  • Nugent: “We approach every song, every lick, every night, like we’re auditioning for James Brown’s band.” (27:29)

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5. Racing Stories and Risk Taking

(Timestamps: 36:25–46:05)

• Ted Nugent shares thrilling stories from celebrity races—the Toyota Grand Prix, off-road racing, and going 200mph with Parnelli Jones.
  • Nugent describes his aggressive approach to racing and how it exemplifies his life, blending humor and bravado.
    • Nugent: “My life is a dangerous, dangerous vehicle that I drive very fast. But smart. I drive it smart.” (45:58)
  • They reflect on how past race drivers took real risks, drawing a metaphor to modern life and risk-taking.

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6. Staying Sober and Substance Abuse in Show Business

(Timestamps: 52:19–66:11)

• Ted recounts a string of encounters with icons like John Belushi, Keith Moon, Jimi Hendrix, and Keith Richards, lamenting how substance abuse made genuine connection and artistic exchanges impossible.
  • Nugent: “But the next step is to discuss the welding. I want to talk...But those that you can’t talk to, you can’t take it to the next desirable human level.” (64:49)
  • Nugent: “All these incredible geniuses that thought getting high would benefit something. What? So that just fortified my military, militant, anti substance battle cry.” (55:38)
  • They agree that substance abuse might fuel some creation, but mostly it inhibits meaningful achievement and relationships.

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7. The ‘Buddy Rich Bus Tape’ & Demanding Excellence

(Timestamps: 27:53–28:36)

• The famous “Buddy Rich bus tape” is referenced as a humorous but instructive model for demanding excellence and discipline in a band.
  • Nugent: “If you don’t play this perfect tonight, we’re gonna go Buddy Rich in the bus...So that demand and accomplishment—if I may—of absolute martial arts...is alive and well.” (27:56)
  • Carolla: “I got a boner. Are you kidding me? I love this shit. I wish more people do this shit.” (28:36)

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8. Music vs. Comedy—Jealousy & Audience Expectations

(Timestamps: 32:45–34:01)

• Adam discusses comedian envy for rock musicians: “Comedians are all kind of secretly jealous of musicians…If you don’t play Stranglehold or Cat Scratch Fever, you’ll be in trouble.” (32:45)
• Nugent demonstrates classic riffs, further contrasting the performance experiences.

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9. Calm Under Fire: Adrenaline Management

(Timestamps: 48:50–51:28)

• They compare the need for calm under pressure in hunting, race car driving, MMA, and crisis situations.
  • Carolla: “The calmest people you’ll ever meet are either race car drivers or MMA fighters.” (49:07)
  • Nugent: “I have to be more attentive, because I’m not calm. When I think about the things that stimulate me, I get real uppity, which helps the energy...But when it comes to my bow hunting life...best fighters, best race car driver—they’re kind of easy going.” (49:34)

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10. Ending with Positivity, Advocacy & Priorities

(Timestamps: 72:46–75:10, 76:07–76:57)

• Nugent’s clean-and-sober lifestyle and hands-on youth camp (“Ted Nugent Camp for Kids”) are cited as sources of his fulfillment and way to instill the next generation with discipline.

  • Nugent: “We have a Ted Nugent camp for kids for 36 years training thousands and thousands of kids in the heartland to be disciplined...starting with being clean and sober.” (76:12)

• Adam closes with reflections on contemporary culture’s tendency to focus on negatives and anxiety, suggesting “having the right priorities” and “telling people to stop telling me what’s wrong with you all the time.” (74:28, 75:10)

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Notable Quotes

• Ted Nugent (on discipline):
  “My parents forced discipline upon me. If I didn't paint the fence properly, my dad made me do it over again. But you're talking about the joys and the fulfilling gratification of self sustenance.” (06:26)
• Adam Carolla (on meritocracy):
  “We want a meritocracy…We just assume those are the best for that job.” (23:58)
• Adam Carolla (on Rock & Roll Hall of Fame):
  “If it’s just merit, then Ted Nugent is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Joan Jett isn’t…But then there’s politics…and they don’t like your politics.” (16:19)
• Ted Nugent (on identity politics):
  “Identity politics does not even enter my life. I just don't give a rat's ass about any of that.” (14:19)
• Adam Carolla (on substance abuse):
  “Nobody thinks you become a better roofer when you're high. And nobody thinks you become a better plumber.” (57:53)
• Ted Nugent (on his Sober Principles):
  “Clean and sober. Because everything works really good. The brain knows what Mr. Soul is doing. Mr. Soul knows what Mr. Heart is doing.” (73:08)
• Ted Nugent (on priorities):
  “I attribute a lot of [my happiness] not just to dedication, work ethic, defiance, middle finger glory, but clean and sober. Because everything works really good.” (74:12)

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Memorable Moments

• Nugent’s story about winning the Toyota Grand Prix with a daring rolling start—anticipating the flag girl’s arm movement (40:12–43:30).
• The riffing over greatest guitar licks, with Nugent playing live.
• Extended riff on the absurdity of Yoko Ono sabotaging a John Lennon–Chuck Berry performance:
  • Nugent: "Oh, you worthless bitch." (67:37)
• Ted and Adam’s “middle finger glory” jokes.
• Discussion of Buddy Rich’s notorious “bus tapes” and calling for more “Buddy Rich” energy in life (28:29–28:55).

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Deeper Dive: Institutions, Representation, and Political Critique

(Timestamps: 79:25–104:56)

• In an extended segment, Adam and Alicia Krause (the show’s news reader) eviscerate California Governor Gavin Newsom’s evasive, “word salad” answers when pressed on policy. Adam contrasts Newsom’s lack of specifics with the need for tangible solutions in government, echoing themes of merit and practical action discussed with Nugent.
  • Carolla: “Manage the forest, fix the reservoirs, get water flowing through the hydrants, get rid of the crazy homeless people, fill the potholes, pick up the garbage, clean up the graffiti, and then we can talk about the trans issue.” (94:13)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Discipline and upbringing: 03:40–06:26, 08:57–09:00
• Identity politics, labeling: 12:32–16:41, 17:37–19:28
• Meritocracy, Rock Hall, Oscars/Harvard: 21:18–25:23
• Music origins, Motown influences: 09:39–12:15, 27:29–34:30
• Buddy Rich/excellence stories: 27:53–28:36
• Racing stories/risk-taking: 36:25–46:05
• Calm under pressure/adrenaline management: 48:50–51:28
• Substance abuse in entertainment: 52:19–66:11
• Nugent’s camp & youth discipline: 76:07–76:57
• Governor Newsom/politician critique: 79:25–104:56

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Conclusion

This episode offers a spirited, unfiltered dialogue between two cultural iconoclasts. Ted Nugent and Adam Carolla dissect the virtues of self-reliance, the dangers of abandoning meritocracy, and the hollowing out of historic American institutions. The show delivers not just pointed critiques of contemporary culture and politics, but also nostalgic, inside stories from the front lines of rock & roll, motorsports, and American comedy. It’s an engaging listen for anyone interested in grit, discipline, and calling out the bullshit surrounding labels, identity politics, and political posturing.

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Transcript

[Adam Carolla]

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[Adam Carolla]

Thanks for tuning in to the Adam Carolla Show. You can watch the full show on YouTube. Just search Adam Carolla show and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also get the podcast wherever you like to listen. And for extra content, ad free episodes and more, you can head over to our substack and sign up today. We all like a little bit of nicotine, right? I know I do. I like something after a long day's work. It's nice to relax. And that's why I use Lucy. They're 100% pure nicotine. That's always tobacco free. Sometimes I pop one in one of their 4 milligram mint pouches and I'll use it while I'm doing my yard work, homework, whatever I'm working on, it just keeps me going. Their breakers pouches are great too. Each pouch holds a capsule that can be broken open for a little extra flavor. Look, we all need a little treat at the end of the day. And now you can set yourself up with a subscription so they can be shipped right to your door. I love Lucy. You love it too, am I right, Dawson?

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[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, get it on, Got to get on the show. Mandate you get it on. I'm in Texas, I'm at John Clay Wolf Studio, and Ted Nugent has joined me. I'm a huge fan of Ted's work on and off the stage.

[Ted Nugent]

Well, I would like to present you with the Ted Nugent Swinging T. Rex Scrotum Award for truth, logic and common sense. Because every time you speak Adam Carolla, you hit the NER of We the people in the asset column. Working hard, playing hard, America. I mean, in all sincerity, thank you for that.

[Adam Carolla]

Thanks, Ted. Well, Ted and I were talking off the mic and, you know, he said, what gives you your common sense and your logic? And I think I said, I think it's my building background.

[Ted Nugent]

I actually said, because you're a carpenter.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, it helps you stay logical, grounded, reality on reality's terms. But you said for you, it was sort of chopping your own wood that kept you who you are.

[Ted Nugent]

Rugged individualism, that's not even legal anymore. But yeah, my dad raised me to be an asset to the family and not a liability of the family, which means we had to do all the chores together and do all the chores from the time we could walk. I think I was walking at eight months. But bottom line is I just met a couple little girls at John's Auto Museum here today. And they came up, the dad wanted to introduce them to me. They were what, maybe five and six years old, and they knew my song Fred Bear. And I gave them guitar picks. But I made sure I asked them, do you do chores? Have you ever done the laundry? Do you vacuum? Have you done the dishes for your mom? Then here you can have a Ted Nugent guitar pick. So I think that self sufficiency, true independence, declaration of independence that your parents declared upon you, that stayed with me to this 77.4 years of the American dream.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, we're getting into trouble because of technology and Ozempic and everything that's going to do the work that you should be doing. And people talk about stuff like all these weight loss drugs and injections. And I say, I don't like them. And then people go, why not? People want to lose weight. And I say, I'm not really approaching it from a physiological standpoint. I'm approaching it from a mental standpoint. I want you to have some discipline. I don't want you to take a shot and lose your discipline. So I want you to not eat that donut because you want that donut, but still don't eat that donut. I don't want you to not want the donut. You can numb yourself up and it's sort of, you know, the dishwasher was invented and the clothes washer was invented, and all these inventions made life easier. But at a certain point, we removed all the gravity and everyone's just kind of floating out there losing their muscle mass. And that's what I'm kind of worried about. And that's why I do tell people, wash your own car, chop your own wood. Metaphorically, like, just go make. Do not go to grubhub and have people bring food to your house. Make your own food. And people say, why do you have to do that? Or you have enough money to avoid that. And it's like, that's part of remaining sane.

[Ted Nugent]

Well, Adam Crowley, you got the Nugent family here in this studio with my buddies, my guitar buddies, my sound buddies, my hunting buddies, and all I can say is, duh. I mean, hello. This is the conversations we have all the time. I think the key takeaway from your statement, there is discipline. My parents forced discipline upon me. If I didn't paint the fence properly, my dad made me do it over again. But you're talking about the joys and the fulfilling gratification of self sustenance. And as a hunter, I mean, I got to be optimally aware of my surroundings, get close enough to a deer for real food. And you're talking the Nugent family language. But not just the Nugent family in the Corolla clan. It's my band, my friends, my neighbors. I guide hunters from all around the world every year since 1979, and they come and share a Ted Union campfire because I'm so much damn fun. But ultimately, these are the conversations that we have. And these are people from usually urban environments that get turned on and stimulated by gathering firewood, learning how to start a fire, how to turn a fish into food, how to identify the actual sources of our quality of life, which are air, soil and water quality, which can only come from wildlife habitat, which is the battle cry of the hunting, fishing, trapping, conservation, ranching, farming, landowner community. So I know we could go back and forth. You use the term grounded. My sons and my daughters, my wife shimane who's here talking about effervescence, the ultimate compliment, and I know you get it. And it's referenced to Adam Carolla all the time, but I hear it all the time because I'm always out and about on the not so mean streets of America. And they say, I met your son the other day. He's really down to earth. I met your daughter last year. She's really grounded, really sensible. It's alive and well. Media will tell you it's not. Hollywood would tell you it's toxic. The government will tell you it's unnecessary. But when you supply your own quality of life, hands on down to earth, grounded, boots on the ground, you go to bed with a shit eating grin on your faith going, you know, I can take care of business. And my beautiful, dangerous little petite wife, Shamane, she hunts with a bow. And Monero. And she provides us the ultimate diet, which is the only clean food left. And that's wild game. So you're talking my language, I'm talking your language. But it's not just us in this studio on microphones. I bet you your audience listenings are nodding their heads going, yeah, no shit. Yeah. You think? Duh. So it's alive and well. It's alive and well.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. People sort of yearn for pragmatism.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

And what makes sense. And for you, still touring, by the way, still playing. I mean, I was looking at your bio when I was driving here and it said started 1963 to present, which is kind of in a crazy amount.

[Ted Nugent]

Is that what it said? Because I actually started in 1957 at the Michigan State Fairgrounds. But I'll give you an extra.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, how. So how did this all begin? So the only job you've ever had, I mean professional is show business, is rock and roll, is music. Did you teach yourself to play the guitar?

[Ted Nugent]

Well, Joe Podorcic at the Capitol School of Music on Grand River. A fill in for James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt, the gods of the Motown funk brothers. He was a fill in. Bass player. Joe Podorski just passed away a couple years ago. We first played the Michigan State Fairgrounds playing honky tonk and boogie woogie, which I'm going to play for in this acoustic guitar because it's the foundation of all the moving, inspiring, rhythmical, driving, uppity music of our black founding father, others. But I, I was there. And if you ask this question to Billy Joel or Steven Tyler or Sammy Hagar or any great authoritative, soulful musical forces, they'll tell You Elvis Presley on Ed Sullivan. We already were moved by this new Chuck Berry invention, this new electric guitar by Les Paul, because I was born in 48 and he had just electrified the guitar. Instead of being a background folkie strummer, it became a driving rhythmical force that identified our favorite music. All my. All our favorite music starts with a killer guitar lick. Except when Little Richard comes in, his left hand on the piano covers them everything. But the point is that I was so turned on by this defiant, uppity, really out of the ordinary, unprecedented, anti Frank Sinatra, anti Rat Pack music that had so much more velocity and energy that all of us were completely engrossed and stimulated by it. So a lot of us decided to be. Didn't want to just listen to it. I want to do that. So I started playing the guitar when I was like 6 years old and I took lessons. But then my guitar teacher, Joe Pedorcik showed me the stuff that I really wanted to hear, not the traditional music lessons.

[Adam Carolla]

So you're in Motown. Motown, yes. You grew up in Michigan?

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

How far out in Detroit or how far in Detroit?

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah. 159-23-251. Florence in Redford, which was Detroit, 19, Michigan. My telephone number was Kenwood 12345. I was born there in 1945, right next to the Rouge river in Detroit proper, in the Rouge River. So I had the electronic inspiration of this new uppity rock and roll music. You know, blues and gospel and rhythm and blues gone electric. But I also had the Rouge river. And as Chuck Berry influenced me. And my dad coming out of World War II in Korea, he was already a bow hunter and it was a wildlife paradise right across Hazleton, right across the street from my house. So the bow hunting and wildlife played an equal powerful role, which is why I. My music is more aboriginal, more down to earth, more. More wilderness oriented. So yeah, it all started the minute I could pay attention to the music on the radio that my dad wouldn't turn off.

[Adam Carolla]

By the way, I think the Rouge is where Ford built big bomber plants.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes, that Ypsilanti. What's the name of the airport in Ypsilanti? Willow Run. Willow Run Airport. I know I deer hunt at Willow Run Airport today. This last year.

[Adam Carolla]

Really? You know, I sort of tell people this because I find it interesting and I don't know if this will reson with you, but Ford was a pretty famous anti Semite and also he had Lindbergh as his test pilot, who was also an anti Semite.

[Ted Nugent]

Really? I had no idea.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, well, Ford used to put anti Semitic newsletters out at the dealers and stuff like that. Oh, yeah. Eventually the dealers were like, hey, could you not pull those off the truck? It's. We got some Jewish buyers who may be interested in F150. Probably the F100 back then. But here's. Here's my point. Ford has been accused of being an anti Semite historically, and so did Charles Lindbergh.

[Ted Nugent]

Wow.

[Adam Carolla]

But Ford built those bombers, and Lindbergh tested those bombers. And then they liberated Europe with those bombers. And when they liberated Europe, they liberated most of the camps where the Jews were being exterminated. So I tell people all the time it's easy to go, that guy's this and that guy's that, but what has he done for you lately? And I'll take. I'm sure anyone in that camp would not care if the guys who were liberating them were anti Semitic or not. They were being liberated. And we do way too much labeling. And this guy's a mean guy, or this guy's a misogynist, or this guy's a racist, or this. We hang labels on everyone, and then we want to throw them out. My thing is, like, where's the rubber? Meet the road. What did they do? Lindbergh risked his life testing those bombers. Ford, of course, built those bombers and the European campaign with those bombers. So, you know, they can be both.

[Ted Nugent]

Well, identity politics does not even enter my life. I mean, I just want to know if. Can my plumber plumb without a leak? I just want to know who my pilot is. I don't care any of his personal habits. I want to know his flying record. Because the most important thing in the world is my life. I thought I'd mention that, and Mrs. Newton agrees. Yeah. Isn't that fascinating that you brought that up? And I had no idea, because toxic politics, hate bigotry, racism, identity politics. It's like I have a golden dome that rejects such counterproductive thought processes. I mean, I just don't give a rat's ass about any of that.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, at the end of the day, it's not pragmatic. And if you're a super pragmatic person, then you should not really care what color anyone is or what religion or what their sexual proclivities are. You just want to hire the best mayor or elect the best mayor, the best electrician, the best plumber, the best governor. You just want the best. I mean, it's a very pragmatic thought. The ones where you start Figuring in people's gender and their race. Those aren't pragmatic thoughts. You might not end up with the best pilot. You just want the best plumber and the best pilot. I was thinking about you and maybe talking about you, I think last week, because somebody brought up the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. Is that what that is? And they just keep letting artists in there that have nothing to do with rock and roll. And also ones that, frankly don't have the track record people like you have. Now, speaking of identity politics, I think someone like Joan Jett is only in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame because she's a female and because she's a lesbian. I think if you remove that, then you just have someone who played two crappy cover songs for hits. And that's the reason she's in there. As a matter of fact, there's no other logical reason she's in there. But if it's just merit, then Ted Nugent is in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame and Joan Gent isn't. But Ted Nugent is essentially rock and roll like. You are the poster child for rock and roll. So for you not to be in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame can only be about politics.

[Ted Nugent]

I know you like shocks in life. I'm going to shock you because I think Joan Jett should be in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame just because of her music. But not yet, because you have to get Styx in first. You have to get Night Ranger in first. You have to get. What's the Canadian band? That's Phil X is playing.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, all right.

[Ted Nugent]

Triumph. Triumph should be. I can name a hundred.

[Adam Carolla]

Wait a minute. Is UFO in? No.

[Ted Nugent]

Exactly.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, if you're a phone, Joan, you got to clear out, make room for ufo.

[Ted Nugent]

And I never forget somebody brought up during an interview, they said, we saw the Rolling Stone list of top 100 guitar players, Ted, and what do you think? That Joan Jetta is in there? And I go, my first. It's on tape. I said, I love Joan Jett. She's a garage band. Dirty, nasty, uppity. She's my favorite lesbian and some of my greatest memories included as lesbians. The point is, is that she's not in the top 100 guitar player list. Because I've got a hundred guitar players that are really virtuosos and adventurous.

[Adam Carolla]

Right? But Rolling Stone has to. Rolling Stone. All right, first of all, those pussies. I'll tell you, they have no band. They have the same bands. They have to love. They have to love Lou Reed. Yes, fucking Lou Reed sucks. But they're also bought and paid for. Those pussies over at the Rolling Stones, I know exactly who they love. They all love the Beastie Boys. They all love Lou Reed. They all love Velvet Underground. No one will say anything about Joan Jett. They're all bought and paid for. And they're cowards, by the way. Yes, when Joan Jett cracks the top 25 guitar players of all time, then the list is corrupted. And by the way, it's not even a slight against Joan Jett. She's just not good enough to be there. And I love Rock and Roll Sucks. And Crimson and Clover's another crap remake. I mean, she remade two shit songs and got into the Rock and Rol hall of Fame, so Ted Nugent should be there only. But then there's politics, and they don't like your politics. But I don't even know if they know your politics. I mean, you hunt, so that's a strike. And you. You get your own food instead of doing the factory farmer thing. But I guess it's voting for a Republican. I don't know. It's a weird set of rules. You open up.

[Ted Nugent]

All of which I break, by the way.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes, you. You open up. You essentially say, I'd like to open a museum. And I. And you go, well, who's gonna be in the museum? Who's gonna be featured in the museums? And you go, the greatest painters of all time are gonna be featured in this museum. And then you go, oh, okay. And then you have a crappy painter in your museum, and that's Joan Jett. You go, why is her shitty art hanging in here? And you go, wait a minute. Ted Nugent? That guy's a great painter. No, no, we're not letting him in the museum. Well, then what? Why did you start a museum?

[Ted Nugent]

But, you know, as you look across at me here, Adam, I can't hardly speak because I'm laughing so hard. It doesn't affect me at all.

[Adam Carolla]

Except I like honesty.

[Ted Nugent]

I'm a big fan of honesty, and it's all so dishonest, but I'm having the greatest musical year of my life. My New Year's Eve show, we played in Ardmore last week with these incredible virtuosos. Phil X, Jared, James Nichols, and a young black kid from Connecticut named Am Band. Jason Hartless and Johnny Big. We played music that God hasn't even authorized yet. We did stuff that Chuck Berry and Bo did. And Little Richard are rolling over their graves going, damn it, I wish I would have done that. So I'm so inspired by the energy, the piss and the vinegar, the music loving of the audiences every night. And no, I'm not selling out stadiums. We had like a couple thousand people here and there. But I come home with a bag of money and a buddy with a jet to sleep with my wife and my dogs. Am I. Am I missing something here? It's about the music. I'm literally living my dream with the Lords in 1960, playing the VFW on Grand river in Detroit. It's raw, it's primal, it's energetic. We're still exploring the guitar neck. We're still exploring rhythms, we're still exploring chord mutilations and raw, primal, aboriginal musical orgies every night. So I don't need no Rock and Roll hall of Fame. And if you go on social media and check out the testimonials from people, or if you followed me here and had the motorcycle guy, stopped me at John's Museum and thank me for the music, thank me for standing up for the Second Amendment, thank me for standing up for accountability from my elected employees. I am having the time of my life. Not only is 2026 going to be the best year in my life, but it's going to be the worst for my energy, my enemy, my enemies. And I'm not going to put any energy into pissing off my enemies just by having a good life. It drives them batty. What a dream.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I was gonna say that, but, you know, it hurts the integrity of the Rock and Roll hall of Fame and it brings things into question. And I don't know why these iconic brands, whether it be the Oscars or the Grammys or the Emmys or Harvard, want to destroy their brand. When I was younger, and I don't even have to say younger, I just mean, you go back 10 years, somebody, if somebody went to Harvard or Yale or Cornell or Stanford, that meant something. Like, I could remember when we would look at bios when we were hiring writers for the Man Show, I'd say, oh, this guy went to Harvard.

[Ted Nugent]

Oh, that was so positive back then.

[Adam Carolla]

That was back then. If I see that now, I'm like, I don't want this pussy anywhere near this product. Probably his brain has probably been scrambled over there. I don't want any of that. I want a guy worked at a logging camp or was in the military or played some AAA baseball in some town you never heard of. Like, I want some discipline. But what I'm saying is Oscars, they do the Best Picture every year, and nobody cares because they destroyed their brand. Nobody watches, you know, and all these institutions that were Tiffany institutions, you know, Harvard, that meant something. The Oscars, you won a Grammy, that was a big deal. Now it's like it's all politics and who cares? And the Rock and Roll hall of Fame did that to themselves. You know, I believe the reason sports grows while everything else retracts. You know, if you look at the numbers for The Super bowl versus the numbers for the Oscars in 1975, they're probably about the same audience. Now you get 100 million for the super bowl and nothing for the Oscars. We want a meritocracy. You know, we watch the US hockey team win a gold medal and it was 25 white guys. And I didn't hear one person say, how come there's no representation? There's no Hispanic, there's no Asian representation. Now it's just 25 white guys. And everyone went, okay, I guess those are the best we could put on the ice. And nobody said a word because it's a complete. Now you do something with the Oscars or the Emmys and you have 25 white guys nominated and nothing, they're going to shut you down.

[Ted Nugent]

They'll never let it happen.

[Adam Carolla]

They wouldn't let it happen. So we. Now why are we so attracted to the Super Bowl? Because it's a meritocracy. You go to the USA Hockey team with 25 white guys, you go back to the super bowl, you got 11 black guys on the defensive side of the ball. No one blinks. We just assume those are the best for that job.

[Ted Nugent]

I think they are.

[Adam Carolla]

They are.

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, you know, here's the reality. There may be some Jewish defensive back sitting on the bench who never gets on the field, maybe who might be better, or an Asian punt returner.

[Ted Nugent]

No, they find. No, they'd find him.

[Adam Carolla]

There might be, but the coach believes these are the 11 best. And, and the coach, when they're making the selection for the US men's hockey team, those are the 25 best chances we have of bringing home gold. And once we sign off on that, we sign off on that, that's the best. But so many systems, Harvard, Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, they've all been corrupted it right. And so now we wonder, is that the best? And so when you see the poor 19 year old black guy walking across the quad in Harvard, you think, is he here because he's a smart. Now that's unfair to him. Heartbreaking because he may have had a higher SAT score than Anybody, you know, but we question it, and that's what they've done. They've made us question it.

[Ted Nugent]

You know, you're touching a lot of points there. Again, ditto, ditto, ditto. Common sense turns me on. But I always say when I talk to people, I do interviews. I probably done more interviews than anybody that ever walked the earth. Because I'm different. I'm an anomaly. I'm a. I kill my own food. I train with the military. I've been a cop for 41 years. I only hire the best of the best. I only surround myself with the best of the best. And, you know, in my world of music, that meritocracy is runaway controllable. It's literally nobody's going to hire anybody except the best drummer, the best bass player, the best singer. And not just the best in the normal assumption of what is the best, but the most soulful. He might have not have a beautiful voice. Me, for example, but soulful. The forehead veins are popping like Mitch Ryder and Jerry Lee Lewis every song. So that being the best that you can be that demand and that pursuit and accomplishment of. Of absolute martial arts excellence is alive and well. And I suspect you, Bobby. Look at Bobby over there. He's like a martial arts technician helping us get this podcast and this interview across on equipment that actually works. So you surround yourself with the best of the best, and nobody gives a damn whether he's gay. I don't care. I don't care. Nobody cares.

[Adam Carolla]

Comes on to me. Then it becomes an issue. But during the daylight hours, Bobby, he's just fine, so long as he doesn't pick up the bottom.

[Ted Nugent]

See, Bobby, you owe me a residual because you just use the middle finger. And I have a patent on that. I didn't invent it, but I perfected. But the point is, Adam, I always say, and I can express myself unambiguously, nobody's ever heard Ted Nugent talk and go, geez, I wonder what he meant. I never went to college. I was too busy learning stuff. And I didn't know what the word entrepreneur meant. I still have difficulty spelling it. I. But I knew that I had to get the band to be tighter than all the other bands in Detroit, which was almost impossible because the bands in Detroit were just monster, soulful. Mitch Ryan, the Detroit Wheels, the Motown Funk Brothers, the Bob Seeger and the Last Herd, Brownsville Station.

[Adam Carolla]

Brownsville Station was smoking in the boys.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes, Michael Lutz was my bass player. Cub Coded guitar player. These guys were animals on stage, but they were not Just entertaining, but they wanted to be. We approach every song, every lick, every night, like we're auditioning for James Brown's band. Are you aware? You got to be. If you're not aware of this, you're going to thank me for making. Making you aware of this. Of the Buddy Rich bus tape.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes, yes.

[Ted Nugent]

It's a beautiful moment.

[Adam Carolla]

I love it.

[Ted Nugent]

That's how I operate my band. I go, if you don't play this perfect tonight, we're gonna go Buddy Rich in the bus. And I'm gonna start punching, throwing stuff at people. So. So that demand and accomplishment, if, if I may, of absolute martial arts. James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Motown Funk Brothers, the grind of Elvis's band, the tightness that Jordan is alive and well.

[Adam Carolla]

Okay, so the, the famous Buddy Rich bust.

[Ted Nugent]

I love that guy.

[Adam Carolla]

He just chewed out everybody.

[Ted Nugent]

Oh, he's screaming like a madman.

[Adam Carolla]

He made me look genteel and he told guys he'd send him home.

[Ted Nugent]

He was awesome.

[Adam Carolla]

He was great. It is kind of interesting because when they play those tapes of guys, whether they're football coaches or band leaders yelling at people, everyone else goes, can you believe? And I'm like, I got a boner. Are you kidding me? I love this shit. I wish more people do this shit. We wouldn't have so many fuck ups wandering around. Need a little more Buddy Rich in our lives.

[Ted Nugent]

That's the story of my life. But I'm such a diplomat. I have the first of all. All my musicians are the best ever. From the Royal high boys in 1957 to the Lords in 1960. I keep in touch with Tom Noel, my drummer from 1960. We opened up for Billy Lee and the Riviera's and the new band from Detroit, Martha and the Vandellas. Gene Pitney had the number one song, A Town with Without Pity, Waltley Casino. I'm watching these guys and I'm watching the band behind Martha and Vandelas.

[Adam Carolla]

What, what do you think? I'll start then. Because you're Motown guy and come from that region. I, I think probably the best pop song ever written was Tears of a Clown by Smokey Robinson. Because it has like a piccolo in it, it's got like an oboe in it. It's so beautifully arranged.

[Ted Nugent]

You ready?

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Ted Nugent]

I heard the original four track recording of that. Each individual track from Motown, Barry Gordon, the team. I heard it. And the way the Funk Brothers bass drum ensnare sounded it. That's the holy Grail to this day. And what year was that? 61.

[Adam Carolla]

A little later I would say in

[Ted Nugent]

the 60s on the radio.

[Adam Carolla]

In the 60s, yes.

[Ted Nugent]

All. All the. And the technology today has actually taken away from that raw, noisy, earthy, smoky club sound. But that's what we aspire to. That's why my music is so impacted.

[Adam Carolla]

It needs. You know, if you look at photographs of boxing matches, prize fights from the 40s and the 50s, there were black and white and everyone in the front row smoked cigars. So you'd see this kind of haze and it'd be black and white. And they're so iconic and they look so much better than the digital 4K, non smoking, high def ones, you know. And part of it's a little counterintuitive. You go, well, the cameras are so much better now and the lighting so much better now. And it's like, yeah, but you're missing it. No, you're missing what they had back then.

[Ted Nugent]

Don't want clarity. We want atmosphere. I'm talking about Baker's Keyboard Lounge over on dequinder Avenue in Detroit, where the Funk Brothers would go after the recording sessions. They were paid studio musicians, union guys. They'd go to Baker's Keyboard Lounge and just jam and play. And Robert White, White Power. Robert White, the guitar player, Motown front brothers that created. I Got Sunshine On a Cloudy Day.

[Adam Carolla]

You play a lick and let me see if I can tell you that I'll sing the first lyric.

[Ted Nugent]

But talking about inspiration. So they go to the Baker's Keyboard Lounge and just jam. And that's where all these patterns and song progressions came from that. Because it was smoky and they were drinking and they were laughing and it was casual.

[Adam Carolla]

That's how much shells on the floor.

[Ted Nugent]

Y. That's how my rehearsals are. It's so easygoing. It's disciplined because we. We hump the music spirit. And the music spirit of our most powerful influences are the James Brown tightness, the Chuck Berry uppity energy, Little Richard defiance and irreverence, and the Motown authoritative music. And I'm 77 years old and I accomplished that. God have mercy on my soul. Every song, every night. My band is so tuned in that we would qualify to play Baker's Keyboard Lounge with the funk brothers in 1960. That's how authentic my music remains to this day.

[Adam Carolla]

I think, you know, comedians are all kind of secretly jealous. I'm a comedian of musicians. Yeah, no, you are. But you get paid to play and everyone. Because if you don't play Stranglehold or Cat Scratch Fever, you'll be in trouble.

[Ted Nugent]

How about that lick?

[Adam Carolla]

That's a great lick. I can hear the drums coming too.

[Ted Nugent]

What a great. I got goosebumps, Adam.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. And the drums, when they kick in, did that move that. They don't do it. They don't do that move anymore. That's a very 70s right when it kicks in. Right when the drums kick in.

[Ted Nugent]

My guy, Jason Hartless and John Quits. They play it. Absolutely. That was Cliff Davies, God rest his soul. He was a drummer for a jazz band in England called if. And I taught him how to be a funk brother. And we became soulmates and blood brothers and funk brothers and kickers of real soul music. I tell. What a great band.

[Adam Carolla]

What do you think? What do you think? I wrote down on the way here some of my favorite licks.

[Ted Nugent]

There's so many.

[Adam Carolla]

There's so many. And. And Stranglehold is. Is definitely one number.

[Ted Nugent]

One number. Have you ever seen the movie Invincible? The way they use that in this movie. Invincible.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Ted Nugent]

Unbelievable.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, here's what I wrote down.

[Ted Nugent]

Want me to play them? I'll grab this guitar.

[Adam Carolla]

I wrote down Paranoid.

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah, I don't know Paranoid, but all right. Yeah, that's. That's a killer lick.

[Adam Carolla]

I wrote.

[Ted Nugent]

I wrote Sabbath.

[Adam Carolla]

Right. That's well Ozzy.

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

I wrote down Burn by Deep Purple.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes, absolutely. Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

I wrote. Here's a weird one. Remember Hocus Pocus by Focus?

[Ted Nugent]

Absolutely.

[Adam Carolla]

You got a yodel to do that song.

[Ted Nugent]

That's right.

[Adam Carolla]

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[Adam Carolla]

I also know you love cars. You love racing cars, you love off road racing. You said you did the mint 400 a few times.

[Ted Nugent]

I off road raced here today.

[Adam Carolla]

You did a. You say you did Pikes Peak.

[Ted Nugent]

I won Pikes Peak. Yeah. In a Class 1 buggy. Unlimited horsepower. A single seater.

[Adam Carolla]

When it was dirt or asphalt, it was.

[Ted Nugent]

It was a closed course with iron. Iron. Iron.

[Adam Carolla]

It wasn't the Pikes Peak hill.

[Ted Nugent]

No, it wasn't the hill climb. It wasn't a race.

[Adam Carolla]

It was a race. Ever do the 500 of the 1000?

[Ted Nugent]

You ready? You see, I've got a lot of piss and vinegar, right? You like my piss and vinegar.

[Adam Carolla]

I do.

[Ted Nugent]

You like my energy, you love my attitude.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Ted Nugent]

You know where this comes from?

[Adam Carolla]

Should come out with a new flavor called Ted Nugent's Piss and Vinegar Flavor.

[Ted Nugent]

Vinegar. Story of my life. So anyhow, the reason I'm like this.

[Adam Carolla]

Shake it for you.

[Ted Nugent]

Drink it as an inward.

[Adam Carolla]

Get the piss and the vinegar separate.

[Ted Nugent]

Two separate, like, put them together like epoxy and they'd be really thick and gooey. But anyway, my point is, the reason I'm like this, the reason you might be attracted to some of my middle finger glory. I did the Indy 500 track with Parnelli Jones in a Roush Mustang. I thought I had a substantial scrotum at the time. I don't have a scrotum compared to Parnelli Jones in a Roush Mustang around the Indy truck track. We went 200 miles an hour and I. About my pants. He had balls of a T. Rex. And he blessed me with that experience. What an experience.

[Adam Carolla]

Parnelli Jones, legendary race car driver. I passed very recently. I've interviewed him before.

[Ted Nugent]

I keep in touch with his son.

[Adam Carolla]

Roush Detroit guy.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes, I got Roush engines and two of my Broncos.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, they make. Well, they, they kind of do everything, but they, they. They make engines for aftermarket and Ford and that kind of stuff. Roush is a super interesting guy.

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah, I can tell you some interesting American.

[Adam Carolla]

But you did the Toyota Grand Prix several times.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

Was a thrill. I've done it five times, so I loved every second of it.

[Ted Nugent]

I don't want to dominate this interview, but you got to hear this story. And I'll try to keep it to the short story version.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, if we can coax you out of your shell just for one story.

[Ted Nugent]

But this, this is why I'm like this. I was invited to do it. I did a couple times and I won a couple times. And then they invited me again against Gene Hackman and Bruce Jenner. I take part of the responsibility for his altercation. The point is, I'm against some really talented super guys that way more capable than me.

[Adam Carolla]

I will say quickly, celebrities are bad at politics, but there's a lot of them that are good at driving.

[Ted Nugent]

Rockford, what's his name?

[Adam Carolla]

Jim. Yeah, James.

[Ted Nugent]

Him. The Rockford. I do Rockfords in the parking lot all the time and running cars. The point is, so I'm invited and

[Adam Carolla]

I. Gene Hackman can drive.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

Bruce Jenner.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

Could drive.

[Ted Nugent]

I beat him.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes. These guys can drive.

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah. I'm not from Detroit, so I was cheating. So I'm getting I in the Toyota. It's a Toyota Corona, whatever that's called. It's turbocharged. It's a real performer. They got roll cage, I got the whole suit on everything. And so we're doing the qualifying laps and I didn't know that in a celebrity race if you are the fastest, you don't get the pole position, you get put to the back. So I gave it all I got and Parnelli and Mickey Thompson walked the course and they said, here's your apex, here's your one to take the high bank here. Here's where if somebody's in your way, get them out of the way. So I gave it all I got and I had the fastest qualifying time. So they put me in the back for number 14 in the. In the gaggle. I said, well, that's not fair. If I'd have known that, I'd have done what Gene Hackman did and gone slow.

[Adam Carolla]

Lower.

[Ted Nugent]

So anyhow, so I'm in the back. You're gonna just. I know you love me now, but you're about to love me even more. This is awesome. This is where God comes into my life again. So I'm in number 14.

[Adam Carolla]

What year is this?

[Ted Nugent]

This is 79. 80. Maybe. Maybe 81, I don't know. So I'm in the back and I'm. We're coming around for the parade lap to show everybody the two side by side cars and 14 of us. And we're coming to the straightaway in front of the Grandstands I'm watching this Playboy bunny up there. I'm watching the Playboy bunny. She's got the flag. She's gonna do the green flag and give us a go ahead. So Parnelli showed me how to gas and accelerate a turbo engine so you get maximum torque in the gear you're in. I'm in second gear, coming to parade lap, and I see the Playboy bunny. Just her arm starts to flex. I can see her because I'm a deer hunter, so I can see her. I can see her bicep from 100 yards away, and I can see where she's going to lift the flag. And as soon as she. Her arm moved, I torqued that Toyota and got on it. And as she's coming up the flag, I'm already going. But that's legal because she's moving the flag. Right. It's legal. Okay. You have to wait for the bounce.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, let me just coach everyone up real quick on a rolling start.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

You know, because F1 does a standing start. Right.

[Ted Nugent]

I've done that.

[Adam Carolla]

We all done it. The rolling start is everyone cues up one on the right, one on the left. Usually the person on the pole is going to be to the inside of the first turn. So if it turns left. Yeah. If you set the pole, then you'll be on pole position and that'll be on the best side of the track. And you'll go two by two. And the people in the front will set the pace. Not too fast.

[Ted Nugent]

I had not heard that. But go ahead.

[Adam Carolla]

And they set the pace. And if one of them takes off, they'll start the race again. They'll black flag it. And then you look for the green flag to drop off into the.

[Ted Nugent]

Do you have to wait for it to drop or can you. You get it when it's lifted.

[Adam Carolla]

You should wait for it to drop. But that person is waiting for everyone to queue up to make sure everyone's around the corner. But I've jumped a few too, where just. You see them inhale and you just go, yes, it's great. I'll tell you what's the equivalent too. When I used to play football, you could block a punt because the punter would be looking at the long snapper and you'd see the punter, they wouldn't have a counter. His hands would just go like that. And when you saw a space move, that's enough.

[Ted Nugent]

You go.

[Adam Carolla]

Now no one else goes because they can't see him watch. But you can see him watch the hands.

[Ted Nugent]

So I'm watching the playboy bunny's hands, and that flag is just starting to come up. And I torqued that Toyota super turbocharged thing, and I'm. I'm ready to launch. Well, I got 1312 cars in front of me.

[Adam Carolla]

Right, right.

[Ted Nugent]

And we're going in front of the grandstands. Of course, I'm the Motor City drive, so people expect me to be the Motor City mad. I don't expect me to be the Motor City madman because I'm not the Motor City madman, though I am the Motor City madman. I'm also a very thoughtful, pragmatic, down to earth, disciplined Motor City madman. So I got that Toyota all torqued up and her hands going up, and I'm already going down the middle of a pack. And by the first curve, Adam Carolla. I had gone past every car, and I was the first car in front of all 13 others going in the first curve. And I took off everybody's door handles and mirrors to get the there. It was awesome. And I won that race.

[Adam Carolla]

And you wanted.

[Ted Nugent]

There's footage of it. I mean, I went. But I was started in last. And by the first turn, right hand sweeper, I was already the first car because I saw that pretty little hand coming up with the green flag in my. That's my cue. They were pissed off. Did we lose something there? Get Adam back on. Yeah. Gene Hackman. Gene Hackman threatened to beat me up afterwards.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, really? Well, he'll be missed.

[Ted Nugent]

What a great actor. I love that guy. I know. Animosity, but I was here to win. Parnelli said, you're here to win.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, you need to win. Parnelli. Yeah, he passed recently as well. And Parnell, those guys raced cars when it was super dangerous.

[Ted Nugent]

Dangerous, no technology advantages.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, not only that, I've been to Reno, to a car museum to see Dan Gurney's Porsche. It's the only Porsche F1 car they entered. It's a Porsche. Built an F1 car in, like, 1965. Dan Gurney is 6 foot 4.

[Ted Nugent]

They had to make it special. Yeah, I remember that.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, they did the Gurney bubble on the GT40. But the whole point is, when you sit down in this car, on the right is a fuel tank, and on the left is a fuel tank, and it's molded so Dan Gurney could sit in the middle of a fuel tank with no bladder and no safety. Anything. Just an aluminum fuel tank that was carved out for Dan Gurney's ass to sit in between 40 gallons of race fuel. And he's 6 foot 4, his head hung out of that car 2ft. And the roll bar, which was a foot below his head, was so flimsy that when we were pushing it out into the parking lot, the guy owned the car, said, don't push it by the roll bar. The roll bar bend.

[Ted Nugent]

Unbelievable.

[Adam Carolla]

So that's what those guys did. They essentially risked their lives, by the way. That was part of the sport. Part of the sport was taking your life to do this.

[Ted Nugent]

Well, the most important promotional footage for all racing is the crashes. But, Adam Carolla, you just brought a great scenario to my attention here. But I would offer the metaphor that God has created my American dream car with a gas tank on the left and a gas tank on the right with a flimsy roll cage, and I just floor it anyway.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, that's my life. That's what you want.

[Ted Nugent]

My life is a dangerous, dangerous vehicle that I drive very fast. But smart. I drive it smart.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, you're still there.

[Ted Nugent]

My presence persons today. Well, no.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Look, if you're gonna handle firearms like you do, all sorts of dangerous things that cut and kill you, you have to be responsible. That's.

[Ted Nugent]

Pay attention. I've been clean and sober my whole life because to get close to a deer with a sharp stick is the ultimate challenge available to man. I really believe that. It's kind of overwhelming claim, but if I don't pay attention to my conduct, how I place my foot, how I read the wind, how I read the sun, how I trained with the hand, eye coordination, spirit breathing, lung coordination of the mystical flight of the arrow, somebody's gonna have to buy chicken for me. And that's never happened. The point is, is that I apply that sense of aliveness to everything I do and to aspire to that higher level of awareness, whether it's a chainsaw or rocking my grandchild to sleep or meeting the two little girls at the museum this morning and having a fun conversation with the parents or doing an Adam Carolla interview or playing the guitar and guiding my band or driving fast or tweaking my engines for maximum horsepower. I really believe that a higher level of awareness will bring you the only supreme happiness, real happiness, not fake happiness, because of a high, an outside influence high. That's where I am in 2026. And for me to be able to claim gravity defined reality because it's gravity defiant that after 7020 concerts, that last weekend was the best two hours of music in my life, that's just ridiculously unbelievable. But it's because we practice and we talk about the grooves and we Talk about the movement, the dynamics and the sound. The sound of the drums going all the way back to that Motown 4 track. I remember the sounds drummer. You. That's not the sound. You have to have the drum. My drummers get the sound. My bass players get the sound. My, my Gibson Birdland. The, the tone I get is just intoxicating. And the movement of the music, and that's just an example of how I approach everything in life. And as I witness Adam Carolla with things that you do do, obviously you, you seek the mountaintop and everything you do, you don't do. You don't stop halfway up the mark. This is high enough.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. I mean, listen, I'm probably the greatest casual, easy.

[Ted Nugent]

I, I'm the. I remember I spent three hours every afternoon in a tree, completely quiet. I don't move an inch. I'm waiting. So I'm the, I'm the master at absolute flatlining calmness while still maintaining a high level of radar attentiveness. It's, it's, it's.

[Adam Carolla]

Is so intoxicating. No, no, I, I get it. You have to have a sort of low resting pulse.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

And then you have to be able to sort of pounce, but you can't walk around.

[Ted Nugent]

Well stated. Yes, exactly.

[Adam Carolla]

Wound up all the time because. Well, like the calmest people you'll ever meet are either race car drivers or MMA fighters.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

Because they're, they're saving it. Their pulse rate is so low because if they were wound up normally, then when they went to the arena to get in the cage, they would explode with anxiety.

[Ted Nugent]

Waste of energy.

[Adam Carolla]

Right. So they're all very sort of detuned.

[Ted Nugent]

You know, I've always said that. My hero, Fred Bear, the world's greatest bow hunted. All my, all my favorite bow hunting friends. That's why I have to be more attentive, because I'm not calm. When I think about the things that stimulate me, I get real uppity, which helps the energy of the performance with the music. But when it comes to my bow hunting life, which is equally important and time consuming and dedicated as my music. Fred Behr, if he did an interview with you and I or with you, we'd still be on the hellos. I mean, these guys, the best bow hunters, the best fighters, the best race car driver, they're kind of, you know, when they carry on a conversation, they're kind of, kind of easy going and, well, you know. Have you noticed that?

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, I'll tell you what I noticed. It makes me think of it it's like, you ever hear flight recordings from airplanes that are having catastrophic failure?

[Ted Nugent]

Air disaster is my favorite.

[Adam Carolla]

And you hear the guys just like, yeah, we got a right wing on fire.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

No, we're not gonna be able to make it back to LaGuardia.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

We're currently looking for rivers to ditch in.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes. The guy Sully, on the Hudson river, his voice recording that day.

[Adam Carolla]

Right. So wound up, people would be screaming, we're all going to die at the top of their lungs, which is not going to help.

[Ted Nugent]

You know, I've been in situations like,

[Adam Carolla]

you hear Sully, you're right, he had a bird strike. He lost both engines. No, they're not making it to the airport. There's 157 souls on board. And he sounds like you woke him up from a nap.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

And he's awesome. He's explaining where his keys are so you can move his car. I think they're in the wooden bowl by the front door. I think if they're not there, they may be in the car. But that's what he sounds like.

[Ted Nugent]

And that's a real talent. And you may not believe it, sitting across from me on this day in February, or first day of March, 2026, but I can actually attain that condition. I actually can get there. When we've had emergencies in life, I've had a number of them. I take control and I am really calm because I need to get this wounded guy in the back of the truck, and you need to quit screaming, and I need to get your shirt

[Adam Carolla]

to wrap around the wall. But that takes a lot of training. And then when you train a lot, then you can go into the. That execution mode versus we're all going to die.

[Ted Nugent]

I've done rage at the U.S. marshals, arresting murderers and stabbers and shooters and carjackers and people that our court system keeps letting out to do it again. And talking about adrenaline management. Oh, yeah, talking adrenaline management when you kick down that door.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, you were telling me off the air, I think you had a couple of John Belushi stories. Yeah, so, so, and, and I do love the old stories from the old days. And you were around for all of it because you were fixture early and often. And you saw, I mean, you, you, you had hits before SNL even came on the air.

[Ted Nugent]

Sure.

[Adam Carolla]

And so you, you got to hobnob with a lot of these people and see them. But I didn't know what your Belushi story was.

[Ted Nugent]

Well, certainly we all, all genuflected at the genius of John and Dan, what they delivered, what they created, what they performed. I mean we're just in awe, these people and I, I always want to meet as many as I can. And traveling 300 plus dates a year with the Amboy Dukes and then with the Damn Yankees and in my band. I'm here, there and everywhere. And like I was telling John at lunch today, I would go out after a concert in LA with Rodney Dangerfield, Robin Williams, Sam Kinison and, and, and the Afro guy. What's, what's my hero?

[Adam Carolla]

Richard Pryor.

[Ted Nugent]

Richard. Why did I not know that name? Just now with, I'm hanging out with these guys and, and, and Bruce Willis, who's a funny guy. And we'd go to Thai restaurants at three in the morning and they're all fascinated with the hardware on my back belt. And we had jokes about in the office. You can imagine how much funny jokes those guys made about me carrying a gun and going out at 3am at a Thai restaurant. So I got to hang out with dream masters, the masters of the craft. Parnelli Jones and Fred Behr and Chuck Berry. I played bass for Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. I got to meet the Motown heroes. I played with the Motown Funk Brothers at COBALT hall in 64. My God. So my point is I wanted to meet John Belushi. I did a sold out concert two nights in Chicago 70 late 78. And they said John Belush and Dan Aykroyd are filming a movie. The, the famous movie Blue Brothers. And they bought a club and they'd like to send a car and have you come by the club and jam. They got some of the duck done of the Donald Trump, the master. I go, yeah, I haven't jammed with him yet. And Steve Cropper. I said yes, right after I get off stage. Let's go.

[Adam Carolla]

Matt Guitar Murphy.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes. Gods of Thunder. The gods of soul music. The masters, the tenors.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Ted Nugent]

So I said oh, that's awesome. So. And I could tell you this about my experience with Jimi Hendrix and Chuck Berry and Bon Scott and, and, and all the heroes. And so I, we pull up this club and it's 12:31 o' clock in the morning. And we go in and it's real dingy and dark. And I'm okay with dingy and dark.

[Pluto TV Announcer]

Dark.

[Ted Nugent]

But there's distant, my favorite music in the background. Maybe some Motowns, maybe some Chuck Berry music. And I go in and it looks like an outtake from Scarface. The worst moment, there's John behind a desk with a pile of Cocaine. And they were completely gone. And they couldn't. They couldn't form syllables. There was no. If they invited me down, you would think it would be about the music that we share a love for, or the excellence that we might share, or the entertainment.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, you thought you're gonna jam or

[Ted Nugent]

maybe some Lenny Be Bruce stories or something. And once again, no can talk, right? So I just. This. God. God damn it. So I turned around and left. And I don't know how long was before he died, but the same story with Jimi Hendry, same story with Bon Scott, same Corey story with Keith Moon. All these incredible geniuses that thought getting high would benefit something. What? What? So that just fortified my military, militant, anti substance battle cry because all these different experiences. I spent two nights with Keith Richards in New York City. My hero, this Chuck Berry baton handled. He's handing me the baton from Chuck Berry. And we couldn't talk. He couldn't talk.

[Adam Carolla]

He was too up the whole time.

[Ted Nugent]

What I said, God damn it, I'm with Keith. He was hanging around me because he wanted to know all about my guns. Funny story, but we're at Studio 54. I'm like repulsed by what I'm witnessing, but I'm with Keith Richards, so I can handle anything. But we couldn't talk. And he. The Stones first albums had Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard and Motown songs on it. The first Stones, the first Beatles songs also. So that American soul music influence was an unbelievable connecting rod that I had with my hero, old Keith Richards. We couldn't talk. God, but I tried. I stuck it out two nights in a row, but never got.

[Adam Carolla]

Because he was just so messed up.

[Ted Nugent]

So just a drooling, slobbering, and Keith, I love you. I. I worship their musical authority to this day. And I know he's in pretty good shape for being as old a man as he is, but what you can imagine the letdown after letdown because of substance abuse, abuse, where there was no humanity. I wanted something, humanity.

[Adam Carolla]

The thing about the. The drugs and in the drinking and everything else, but probably especially drugs. It takes down a lot of comedians and it takes down a lot of musicians. And nobody thinks you become a better roofer when you're high.

[Ted Nugent]

Exactly.

[Adam Carolla]

And nobody thinks you become a better plumber.

[Ted Nugent]

Well, I always say, I don't want anybody high except my musicians and my comedians.

[Adam Carolla]

But the problem with drugs and comedians is a lot of people think, oh, I'll lose my creative ability because it's a mental. It affects your brain. So nobody thinks you'll be better at boxing when you're high. And nobody thinks you'll be, again, a better plumber or electrician or framer. Meaningful stuff when you're high. But people who write songs think, maybe, maybe I could write a better song if I was high. And so I think a lot of them fall prey to that, or at least they get a pass. Because if you pull over a long haul trucker and he's high, you go, hey, man, get out of that truck. You can't do your job. But if you find a musician or comedian or a poet who's high, you think, maybe that's how he does his job.

[Ted Nugent]

And oftentimes it is.

[Adam Carolla]

Oftentimes a lot of those guys wrote songs that we're aware of and that we love when they were pretty up.

[Ted Nugent]

And I acknowledge it, and I was with Sam Kinison night after night after night. Going upstairs at the Comedy Store was like an outtake from Scarface again. And I go, you guys have got to be kidding me. I mean, I suppose didn't word get

[Adam Carolla]

around that they didn't want to hang out with Ted Nugent? What a buzz kill. This guy's talking about bow hunting. I'm trying to get a freeze going.

[Ted Nugent]

But I took Sam and his brother. Was it Bill?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Ted Nugent]

On a Ford Bronco ride through a forest that I planted. I had these thousands of acres in Michigan with these giant forests that I planted. And I'm driving to my Bronco and I'm driving over some of the forest I planted just to inspire Sam to go wild, to show him what a real wild man looks like. And I don't know if you notice, as a comedian lover as you are, as a comedian as you are, there was a moment in Sam Kinison's career where his scream got a little more intense. That was after my Bronco ride because I was taking down 6 year old 12 foot trees with my Bronco and really pushing the envelope of life and death just to inspire Sam and his brother. But we became good friends and he did clean up. And he married the girl from my Little Miss Dangerous video. They got married and they were on their way to Las Vegas that night when he was hit head on by a drunk driver. Yeah, it's like Stevie Ray Vaughn got clean and died in the helicopter. And I got to jam with Stevie. And by all accounts, he was a super soulful, gentleman, kind, conscientious, fun loving guy. And he. When they finally get clean and sober, these terrible accidents take place. So it was heartbreaking. All right.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, I was thinking about getting clean and sober before, but now, since I don't want to die on the road. Yeah. You know, the thing that was crazy about the Sam Kinison thing is a guy hit him and killed him, a young kid. And the kid wasn't very remorseful about it at all. Like, I remember kind of, he was like, eh, shit happens. You know, it was a weird take. It's weird when somebody takes somebody's life and is sort of casual about it afterwards.

[Ted Nugent]

Soulless. I could see.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. There's a. It is kind of a. Kind of a soulless thing. Yeah. So you were there, you saw them all. You were in, and you caught them after the show, you know, when they were partying a lot. A lot as well. And. Yeah, you going down and. And jamming with the Blues Brothers and that All Star band they had behind them would have been awesome.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

Here's a deep cut. Since you brought up all these guys and all these famous guys and these session guys. Nikki Hopkins.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes. The piano for the Stones. Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

Piano for everybody.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

The who.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

Graham Parker played with.

[Ted Nugent]

Played, by the way, the ambulance for the whole. At the Southfield high school in 69 in the gymnasium. You.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, so you guys opened up for the who. One of my favorite bands in 69.

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah. At a high school.

[Adam Carolla]

At a high school. I love those stories.

[Ted Nugent]

And I got to meet the guys and again, Keith was so out of it and I ran to him off and on. He'd always. Whiskey and all stuff. And he. They, they. They couldn't believe that I wanted to

[Adam Carolla]

partake or didn't want to partake, and

[Ted Nugent]

I wouldn't partake and I had to leave.

[Adam Carolla]

The thing about drums, drums are so visceral that it's probably one of the few things you can do really up.

[Ted Nugent]

Probably because it's violent. The best drumming is violent.

[Adam Carolla]

It's like. Yeah. Like you can fight and you can. And you can play the drums.

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Those are things you can do well.

[Ted Nugent]

A lot of these guys I jammed with, Eddie Van Halen, and he was always ripped. And God bless him, I love him. Thank you for enriching our lives with your genius music and your adventurous guitar magic. I love you people, but it would have been nice to have a conversation with him.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Ted Nugent]

And every time. Here's an example. He was always completely up and played like a miracle worker. And Jimmy. Jimmy was stoned most of the time, but he. He was going into unprecedented sonic territory that was just mesmerizing to everybody, especially super music lovers.

[Adam Carolla]

Are we Talking Kimmel or.

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah, no, we're certainly not talking Jim Hendricks. That's a funny story unto itself, but Jimi Hendrix and all these other guys. So I. I'm a music fan before

[Adam Carolla]

I'm a musician, but I never really thought about the Ted Nugent conundrum.

[Ted Nugent]

Oh, it's a conundrum.

[Adam Carolla]

Being such a huge fan of these guys and having these guys being so fucked up all the time that after the concert you couldn't really sit down and talk to them. And I don't. You know, I'll tell you, to the folks that aren't clean and sober or are.

[Dawson]

But

[Adam Carolla]

I've experienced this by showing up to the party late, not metaphorically, like literally. Like, what is. Is if you show up to a party at 8 and the party starts at 8 and everyone starts drinking at the same time, you're together at midnight, you're on about the same page. It's happened to me that I've had a show to do or something, and I showed up to the party after. And you get there at midnight and everyone's fucked up and you're not. And you look around and go, I can't talk to these people. And so your entire career is basically the guy who showed up at the party at midnight after everyone had been drinking all night. And you're trying to communicate with them and you can't.

[Ted Nugent]

As a genuine lover and admirer of their craft. And you can't even discuss it, which I think art and musicianship and creativity. My heroes are welders. I want to learn how to do that welding. I want to make a bridge that never falls. Plumbers, carpenters, woodworkers. I get all these beautiful gifts in the mail every day of these people, people that make these beautiful woodworking crafts, these statues and this burned artwork that they send them to me and thank me for my music and thank me for standing up for their belief system. And I'm in such awe of those talents. But the next step is to discuss the welding. I want to talk. And I can. That's one person. I can talk to you about the welding because they're not fucked up and the artists, but those that you can't talk to, you can't take it to the next. Next desirable human level. I would like to have talked to Keith Richards about the Chuck Berry licks, which, in that music, that video, Hail, Hail, Rock and Roll, where Chuck and. And Keith had a big fight because Keith was playing Chuck's lick better than Chuck was. When I jam, when I played bass for Chuck Berry. I knew his songs better than he did because he was so fucked by the industry that he had a real negative, jaded attitude towards everybody. And I think you can see that in that. Hail, hail, rock and roll.

[Adam Carolla]

All of that.

[Ted Nugent]

They did. They did bring it all together to perfection during the performance with Steve Jordan on drums and the incredible musicians. But that was. That's a missing link in my life. That's why I like to hang out with clean and sober people, because they're all music lovers and they're all nature lovers and they're all marksmen and they're all craftsmen and they're all dedicated entrepreneurs. I'd like to talk about Calvin's Music Store. I'd like to talk about the sound system that Chris takes care of. I'd like to talk to Chemain about her faith and freedom, Real America's. I like to talk to my friends about their. Their American dream. And if you're stoned, you can't take it to that next level, which I think emphasizes the. The spirit of excellence. And if you can't talk about it, you settle for something less than excellent.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, couple things. First off, Bo Diddley's funny because he has a hit song about him.

[Ted Nugent]

It's awesome, by the way, that lick.

[Adam Carolla]

Ted Nugent, Ted Nugent, Ted Nugent, Ted Nugent. Adam Corolla, Adam Corll, Adam Corll, Adam Corll, Adam Corll.

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah. That's the foundation of all the best rhythms in the world.

[Adam Carolla]

So also the greatest clip, maybe, other than Buddy, Buddy Rich yelling at everyone on a bus is. Is John Lennon playing with his idol, Chuck Berry and Yoko. Oh, Yoko.

[Ted Nugent]

Oh, you worthless bitch.

[Adam Carolla]

Grabbing a microphone and just sounds like you backed over Macaw at some point.

[Ted Nugent]

They just turned.

[Adam Carolla]

They just turned her mic off.

[Ted Nugent]

Talk about disrespect. And talk about stoned people destroying art.

[Adam Carolla]

Crime there, man.

[Ted Nugent]

Pissed me off.

[Adam Carolla]

Nobody liked that, but sorry. Ultimately, it's John Lennon's fault because if my lady friend said, can I come up and squeal in the background while you spend time with your legend friend? And this is a make a Wish situation for John Lennon. He gets to play. I'd just be like, perhaps you'd be more comfortable in the green room, my dear. Have a seat. They got a speaker there. You can hear what's going on.

[Ted Nugent]

That's another example why I hate substance abuse. Because I believe it was the substance abuse at that moment that abandoned respect, common sense, a sense of decency. You're with Chuck Berry and you're gonna let this wounded three legged coyote squalor during this magic moment that Chuck Berry's jamming with you? How? I can't. I can think of a lot of rude. I can't think of anything more rude than that.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, neither could Chuck. Yeah, they show Chuck's face, he's like, who let this in the building? And who gave her a microphone?

[Ted Nugent]

We laugh, but it's not funny.

[Adam Carolla]

I think at some point the engineer just potted her all the way down,

[Ted Nugent]

which is a moment they certainly should have cut the damn cord. Yeah, there's a lot of those moments that fortify my absolute militant anger at people that aren't aspiring or performing to the best of their ability.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, I mean, in a weird way, she was DEI long before we had dei.

[Ted Nugent]

I mean, I'm not so sure that.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, what I mean is she got pushed up to a position where she could take the stage with John Lennon, Chuck Berry and some of the most legendary musicians on the planet. And she walked right out on stage with no ability, no training, no rehearsal, no 10,000 hours perfecting a craft, and grabbed a microphone and started screaming into it. Nobody stopped her.

[Ted Nugent]

I think it was. I don't. As much DEI as it was. That's John Lennon's woman. You just can't mess with anything. John Lennon. John.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, but what I ruled. Well, I'm saying dei, not so much racially, but more like somebody decided she needed to be at the front of the line and nobody was going to say anything about it.

[Ted Nugent]

I bet you and. I bet you and I, if we were around John Lennon, he could do anything he wanted to do. We wouldn't have interfered, I'll bet you. Because. Because we're in such awe of his musical enrichment that he blesses.

[Adam Carolla]

I would have grabbed that guitar and gone full el cabong on that.

[Ted Nugent]

Certainly that would have been righteous, but I don't. I think I would have even bent over at that point. Whatever you want, John.

[Adam Carolla]

I like John Lennon. I'd have probably like George Harrison solo stuff more.

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

And I. I believe the song Imagine has done way more harm than it's done good.

[Ted Nugent]

I think it's a stupid song.

[Adam Carolla]

It's a stupid song because if you think about Imagine and about the lyrics, you know, imagine no borders and no possessions and it's all the stuff the crazy left. By the way, that's their anthem. They love that song because it's everything they believe in, which is nothing.

[Ted Nugent]

Well, if I may.

[Adam Carolla]

No, no heaven, no possessions well, if

[Ted Nugent]

I may all to offer the alternative. When those helicopters, little Blackhawks were going in Venezuela last month, guess what song was playing in those earphones. Stranglehold. So really? Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. The military stories of the SEALs and the Army Rangers and Delta Force, how often they use my song Stranglehold when it's time to kick ass. It just. That's why I'm. I'm like, I am. Because how much more confidence can a musician get when those superhumans reference one of your songs that you created in the moment of glory in their lives? I mean, when Chris Campbell's remains came back after the Chinook went down, the. The worst casualties in the Navy SEALS history. Rescuing Marcus Lutrell when his remains were coming back in a flag draped coffin, his family contacted me through Marcus Luttrell and they wanted me to play this masterpiece called Fred Bear. It was in his memorial that. There I was, back in the wild again. Felt right at home where I belong. And it goes on and on. It's a powerful piece of music that people have embraced more than Stranglehold.

[Adam Carolla]

I gotta say, when I was looking up your hits and Spotify and, you know, sort of in order of appearance,

[Ted Nugent]

Fred Bears right up there.

[Adam Carolla]

Fred Bears number two.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

I was surprised. But anyhow, they wanted me to wanga tango. Or you can yank me or you can crank me, but don't wake up.

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah. What a love song. I am the master of love songs. I've come to.

[Adam Carolla]

You should be doing greeting cards. Forget about rock music.

[Ted Nugent]

You know, Adam can. I know you know music. I know you know comedy with too many very important things in life. Horsepower. Can you imagine someone who's had more fun with not just a musical career, but any career than I have? I defy you to come up with a name of anybody that has more fun with his chosen path in life than I have. And I attribute a lot of that not just to dedication, work ethic, defiance, middle finger glory, but clean and sober. Because everything works really good. The brain knows what Mr. Soul is doing. Mr. Soul knows what Mr. Heart is doing, doing. And it all comes out. Whether it's a mystical flight of the air or giving little girls guitar picks or playing a song about a dead guy named Fred Bear that a Navy SEAL wants to play at his memorial. I could go on, but I. I'm have in this. I'm old. I'm 77 today. I kind of look like a homeless guy, but underneath his beard is a really handsome young man. The point is, it's 20, 26. How can I look you in the eye and 100. Honestly tell you I'm having more fun than ever.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, you know, priorities.

[Ted Nugent]

Priorities.

[Adam Carolla]

Having that as a mantra is pretty powerful as well.

[Ted Nugent]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

I talk to people all the time, and they just go, I think. I'm not feeling like I. Because I ate some red meat, and I feel like I may be allergic to pollen. I think there's something going on. And I always tell people, stop telling me what's wrong with you all the time. You. You ate dairy. You ate some wheat. You ate something. There's something going on. Is there mold in this building? Because I feel tired. Stop telling me how you feel tired and how you.

[Ted Nugent]

And I do feel tired often because I run wild all day long.

[Adam Carolla]

But I mean, just sort of. I. I guess what I mean is, is, look, part of life is physical, but there's another mental part.

[Ted Nugent]

You know, huge mental and spiritual.

[Adam Carolla]

I've found that people try to talk you out of feeling good a lot of the time. And maybe this is a little cathartic, but my mom was that way. You know, like, I'd go, I'm doing Letterman next week. And she'd go, a lot of stress. Very stressful, very stressful. And I'd go, what do you mean? I get to do Letterman? But that has to. All positive. It's all wonderful, stressful. And I'm like, no, no, no, it's good. It's a good. I get to do this all attitude. I've had people all the time that go, oh, we have to go to this movie premiere. I go, you get to go to the movie premiere. All right, Ted, let me give you a plug, by the way, before.

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah. There's so much going on. Go to Ted Nugent.com and see my vapor trail of fun and outrage and defiance and middle finger. I had a bumper crop of middle fingers this year.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Ted Nugent]

So people should check that. That out.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes. Go to. And is that the best way to do it? I know you got gigs coming up, but Ted Nugent dot com.

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah, we're transitioning. That the only transition I authorized, but we're transitioning from my current website to a new tednugent.com but we do a lot of charity work. We have a Ted Nugent camp for kids for 36 years training thousands and thousands of kids in the heartland to be disciplined and to know how to be an environmentalist and leave things cleaner than we found them. Them to be hunters and fishermen, safe gun handlers, discipline marksmen, know how to do community work and be an asset to their family. Instead of a liability, starting with being clean and sober. So the Ted Nugent Camp for Kids has had volunteers and such success stories. We have parents now bringing their children to the Ted Nugent Camp for Kids who were kids at my camp 30 years ago. So that's, I think, the most powerful stuff that we do.

[Adam Carolla]

All right. Well, Ted, always great to catch up. Yes. And we'll take a break. We'll come back with the news right after this. O'Reilly Auto Parts O'Reilly Auto Parts is in the business of keeping your car on the road. They offer friendly, helpful service and all the knowledge you need. If you can't figure out why your car's having an issue and sometimes I can't figure it out out, well, then my first call is always to O'Reilly. They have thousands of parts in stock and can test your battery for free. Need wiper blades. They'll help you out. Brake lights, quick fix. They'll get you the right part. Everyone who works there is knowledgeable and friendly. The professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto, well, they're your one stop shop for DIY auto store stuff. You can do it in store, you can do it online. Either way, you always go with O'Reilly. Am I right, Dawson?

[Dawson]

Stop by O'Reilly Auto Parts today or visit us@O'ReillyAuto.com Adam that's O'ReillyAuto.com Adam Shopify.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, I just launched my merch store on Shopify and it was stupid. Easy. Starting a store used to be terrifying. Well, what if no one buys? What if it looks like crap? Shopify made it a no brainer. They power millions of businesses, 10% of U.S. e commerce, hundreds of templates to build stores and stuff that matches your brand, stores that'll match your brand, AI tools, write descriptions and fix photos. Run email, email and social campaigns like a pro. Everything is in one place. Inventory, payments, analytics. We set ours up in minutes and you can too, right, Dawson?

[Dawson]

It's time to turn those what ifs into sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com corolla go to shopify.com corolla that's shopify.com corolla foreign. To check Adam's voicemail.

[Alicia Krause]

Hey Adam and Alicia, you said you

[Adam Carolla]

wanted more women calling in, so here I am.

[Alicia Krause]

And I love your plan for Baja.

[Adam Carolla]

I live in Israel and I live

[Alicia Krause]

down in Eilat, which is absolutely beautiful on the Red Sea right at the border of Egypt and Jordan. And I think your Baja idea is fantastic. I'm Willing to come and set up a bunch of trailers and caravans to start out and live in a van.

[Adam Carolla]

Vanlife.

[Alicia Krause]

Good idea.

[Adam Carolla]

Get it on.

[Dawson]

You can leave us a message at 888-634-1744.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Set it for. For over 30 years now, thinking back on, because it was a Kevin and Bean bit I used to do in the 90s, which is move the Jews to Baja,

[Alicia Krause]

have them develop some things.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, I was like, look, this is 1994, right? I'm going, look, Jews, you're always going to be despised in that world, in that region. You can do battle. I've said this a million times. Let me say something about Jews. Jews are like roommates who put down a cleaning deposit. And they have drunkard, machete wheeling, insane gonzo roommates. And I'm saying to the Jew, move out. And the Jew's going, I put the cleaning deposit down. And it's like, I know. Eat it now. Move. And they go, no way. Why doesn't Jake and Duke move out? And like, they're maniacs, and they're gonna kill you in a shit sleep, and they're smoking crystal meth. It's like, fuck that. I found this apartment. It's like, okay, I understand this is rightfully your apartment, but these maniacs are going to kill you in your sleep. So give up your cleaning deposit and move.

[Alicia Krause]

I love how it's like Hamas cartel. Hamas cartel.

[Adam Carolla]

That's right.

[Alicia Krause]

Like the game, move it.

[Adam Carolla]

Just give it up and move it out to Baja and start kicking some ass. Yeah, it would work.

[Alicia Krause]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

But anyway. And look, would you do it in

[Alicia Krause]

the next couple of weeks? Cause I'm supposed to go to Mexico soon.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, yeah. And boy, would it help. Mexico. Oh, boy, would the tourists connect.

[Alicia Krause]

Like, Jews actually feel safe.

[Adam Carolla]

The Jews are really good at order.

[Alicia Krause]

Yeah. And taking out bad guys, they're just good.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, they're good at stuff. They're good for society. So Jews and gays, actually,

[Ted Nugent]

did you

[Alicia Krause]

ever see, like, Palm beach before some of the gays moved in? There were parts you could not go to.

[Adam Carolla]

I wrote in one of my books, and I can't remember which one it was. I go, listen, go to Santa Monica Boulevard and Western. Santa Monica Boulevard and Western is fucking old Mexico. It's junk. It's littered with garbage. It's ugly and it's a fucking mess. And then take the. That same street, Santa Monica, and just start walking toward the ocean. Eventually it'll be pristine. There'll be grass in the medium. There won't be any More garbage or graffiti. Nothing on the ground. That's when you got to the gay part.

[Alicia Krause]

Yep.

[Adam Carolla]

So that's how it works. Jews would clean up. And by the way, the president of Mexico is, like, named Sheinbaum or something. Like, you got a Jew in there already ready? She can kick open that door, let some of those Jews.

[Alicia Krause]

She's not trying to give the cartels their rights. Did you see that?

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, yeah.

[Alicia Krause]

She was talking about how, like, well, they have, like, rights too.

[Adam Carolla]

And it's like, she's a shit show, but she has a familiar last name. She may be in the tribe and she could help open doors in Baja.

[Gavin Newsom]

She is in the tribe.

[Adam Carolla]

She's in the tribe, okay? And you know, listen, you guys, you know, you do gefilte fish, but a fish taco is kick ass. And don't start.

[Alicia Krause]

And there's no dairy on it, so you're like, not mixing.

[Adam Carolla]

Don't start doing a gefilte fish taco. That's a shit show. People are like, you know, Jews are nuts. Jews are like, wouldn't it be great if jello.

[Alicia Krause]

I'm gonna get, like, so much love or so much hate for this.

[Adam Carolla]

Jews are like, wouldn't it be great if Jell O came in cod flavor?

[Alicia Krause]

No, but rugala. Rugala is real good.

[Adam Carolla]

They do some good stuff. But they do some stunt eating, too. Lots of tongue, lots of organs. You know what I mean?

[Alicia Krause]

I mean, the organs are typically high in iron, don't they?

[Adam Carolla]

I know, but, like chicken gizzards, chicken liver. My grandfather, all he wanted was some stuffed goose liver. That's all he wanted. He sat there in North Hop like, if I could only get my hands on stuff. Goose liver, fat and goose liver.

[Alicia Krause]

Yeah, it's like a pate, like, but

[Adam Carolla]

it's like, hey, we got laws in this country.

[Alicia Krause]

I do like a pate they used to feed.

[Adam Carolla]

You know, they forced.

[Alicia Krause]

Oh, I know.

[Adam Carolla]

Anyway.

[Alicia Krause]

I know, all right. I also like veal. I have no qualms about eating animals of all ages and sizes.

[Adam Carolla]

All right. News.

[Alicia Krause]

The news. Katie Couric recently interviewed Gavin Newsome, and to her credit, she did kind of lay out out some stats on California and, like, why would anybody want to live there? But then she faced online roasting after a snippet of the interview with Gavin appeared online asking if he's too good looking and if that's a problem for him.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes. Do you have a Zoolander problem?

[Gavin Newsom]

No, I. Jesus.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, Zoolander.

[Alicia Krause]

Are you just ridiculously good looking?

[Adam Carolla]

As Vogue said, Hardly. No, seriously, what do you do about that?

[Gavin Newsom]

You don't do anything about it.

[Adam Carolla]

Because if you're going to do something

[Gavin Newsom]

about it, then you're fine.

[Ted Nugent]

You're bullshitting people. You know what?

[Gavin Newsom]

I am who I am and it's fine. You don't have to like me. Or maybe you like a slick person. I don't know. Whatever, it's okay.

[Alicia Krause]

The reason why I brought it up,

[Ted Nugent]

because you talked about being authentic and

[Pluto TV Announcer]

I think it sometimes works against you.

[Gavin Newsom]

Yeah, it's just who I am.

[Alicia Krause]

I'm so ridiculously good looking. Usually you at least try to humble brag. He didn't even try to humble brag. He just was like, yeah, I am who I am. I'm hot.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, fuck Katie Couric, by the way. I will say, you know why? Because fuck all these newscasters. Because their whole thing. Think about this. Just do the math, everybody. They're all fair and balanced right down the middle, just calling balls and strikes. I don't bring my own politics into anything. The second they retire from whatever news outlet they work for, they're all hard lefties.

[Alicia Krause]

Well, most of them were hard lefties before.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, that's. Yeah, no. Yes, that's what I'm saying. They're hard lefties who are trying to pass themselves out as just people calling balls and strikes. No, you're fucking not. That's the problem with the legacy media. And then the second they get out, it's all about trans people. Like her number one subject is trans people.

[Alicia Krause]

I feel like the problem is not just the legacy media. It's maybe culturally that we're so used to. Let's talk about how good looking so and so is and then ask them their stance on Roe v. Wade. And it's like that you have to play this hard hitting journalist, but then throw in a little sprinkle of what will be fun on a morning show.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, he doesn't. So Gavin Newsom. And by the way, I know everyone's making fun of him for sort of saying he was hot, but it wasn't really what he was doing. He's just such a word salad shooter that he just gets tripped up and does the authentic me and stuff like that. He was trying to say I'm authentic, love me or hate me or whatever, but. But it ended up coming across as don't hate me because I'm beautiful.

[Alicia Krause]

I feel like he has the male Kamala problem in that they both seem incredibly inauthentic to me.

[Adam Carolla]

I think out of every listen there's a clip of him talking to. Who's the other clip that he's talking to? That's in your. It's not in your thing.

[Alicia Krause]

When he was talking to Adam Friedland.

[Adam Carolla]

That one. Yeah, yeah. This. Everyone's making fun of these. This clip. Cause, like, oh, he's hot, but he's really just in a jumbled way saying, I am who I am, so I don't care about this. It's this clip, which is incredible because somebody just said to him, what do you want? Like, what do you. Like, what do you do? Like, if someone said to me, adam, you want to be mayor of la? What do you got? I'd go, this place is too trapped. There's garbage everywhere. It looks like shit.

[Alicia Krause]

We should fill in the potholes after the rain.

[Adam Carolla]

There's shit everywhere. It's just like shopping carts and graffiti and everything's grown over like, we're la. Come on, let's clean it up. I want to get this place cleaned up. I would do 20 minutes on that. I would do 20 minutes on turning right on a red. I'd do 20 minutes on blinkers. You know what I realized the other day?

[Alicia Krause]

Out free needles.

[Adam Carolla]

Blinkers. While I complain a lot about blinkers on the road, on the freeway, people are changing lanes. Like, I don't know where they're going. The worst is I was in a kind of crowded parking lot the other day, and it's like, you're going this way and the person's coming the other way, and you're like, looking at them, they're looking at you, and it's like, you're not. Are you turning?

[Ted Nugent]

Like, I don't know.

[Adam Carolla]

I would if you're turning. I would. But you're not doing anything. And now I go in front of you and then you turn. Like, it's even worse in the crowded parking lot. Like, I don't know what you're. Where you're going. All right, so this. This is Gavin Newsom being asked, what are your subjects? What are you passionate about? And he says, what is your defined political project throughout your career right now?

[Gavin Newsom]

What is the thing you want to

[Ted Nugent]

accomplish politically in your life?

[Gavin Newsom]

I don't have a brand.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't have a tag.

[Gavin Newsom]

Make America great. The Great Society.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, pause it there. First off, you don't have to turn it into a you're above it question. He's saying, is it taxes? Is it homelessness? What are you gonna do? Bullet train? Like, yeah, I don't do cute one word answers for. It's like, no, that's not what he's asking for. He wants to know what your subjects are that you're passionate about.

[Alicia Krause]

So anyway, his education, you know.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh no, he's above it all with his, you know, with his Make America Great Again or whatever. But all right, here it is.

[Gavin Newsom]

I don't have like a brand, I don't have a tag, make America great or I don't, you know, the Great Society or you know, something like Medicare

[Adam Carolla]

for all the billionaires.

[Gavin Newsom]

But for me, no bullshit. It's just standing up for ideals, striking out against injustice. It defines my wide.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, hold on.

[Alicia Krause]

What ideals?

[Adam Carolla]

Well, he's striking out against injustice, okay? But his version of striking out against an injustice is letting as many people come and live in your city illegally as you want. But that's not my version.

[Alicia Krause]

And giving them.

[Adam Carolla]

Striking out.

[Alicia Krause]

Yeah, and lowering felonies to misdemeanors and

[Adam Carolla]

letting males kick ass on females in sports. That's his idea of injustice. But that's the opposite of justice for me.

[Alicia Krause]

But also he knows that that's the opposite of justice for not just you and I, but the majority of Americans. And as he's gearing up to run for president, he doesn't want it on tape saying that he stands for those things. So this is why he uses the broad word salad.

[Adam Carolla]

But he's such a narcissistic douche that somebody is asking him, what do you want? And most people gotta get nuts and bolts at this point. Infrastructure, school, homeless, whatever, education. He stands up against injustice wherever he finds. He thinks of himself as a retarded superhero. Like wherever he sees injustice, he flies in and fixes it. By the way, you have homeless people dying on the streets every day in California, in San Francisco, in la. What injustice are we talking about? What do you mean? And what are you doing about it? But anyway, he fancies himself a guy who just stands up to injustice, but keep going.

[Gavin Newsom]

But for me, no bullshit, it's just standing up for ideals, striking out against injustice. It defines my why in every way, shape or form. Straight up for ideal, strike out against injustice. I'm a Sarge, Strike or Democrat. I'm into that whole 60s, the vernacular of the 60s, solving for ignorance and poverty and disease and the spirit of the 60s, the spirit of King and you know, and how the non violent movement in Gandhi and you know, Havel and, you know, Mandela, that whole, that moral authority, not for that whole space. That's the zeitgeist.

[Ted Nugent]

Yeah.

[Gavin Newsom]

And that's that. So that's me, that's My dad. That's my mom.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, pause it for a second. Remember I told you guys, I've been sounding an alarm for like 10 years, going, we are fucking in trouble because we have people just talk about ideas and they never do anything like, this does not get you a dam built. This does not get you lower gas prices. This does not fill. Give you lower energy prices. That doesn't get that tram to lax finished. It doesn't get the bullet train done. It's just you standing up.

[Alicia Krause]

It doesn't.

[Adam Carolla]

And by the way, you're just standing up and fighting Trump. Meanwhile your fucking state's falling apart. Part. I want some actual. I wanna know what's on the menu. I want the specials.

[Alicia Krause]

I also, what about Mandela? Like, what about MLK? What about the 60s? Because part of the 60s was no bueno for the country, including the sex drug movement.

[Adam Carolla]

Right?

[Ted Nugent]

All right,

[Adam Carolla]

he's taking this time to move his hands a lot and explain

[Alicia Krause]

to everyone his hands more than I.

[Adam Carolla]

He's a hero. He's basically explaining that he's a hero, but he's got no specifics. But. All right, keep playing it.

[Gavin Newsom]

So the spirit of the 60s, the spirit of King and you know, and how the non violent movement and Gandhi and, you know, Havel and, you know, Mandela, that whole set of moral authority now for that whole space, that's the zeitgeist. Yeah, and that's. So that's me, that's my dad, that's my mom, that's the book, and that's my wife. That's his why For Ideals is what gave merged. It was about work I'm doing right now. Sort of push back.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, pause it. Okay, listen. In a state that has huge problems that just burned to the ground because we didn't have the proper infrastructure and we didn't clear the forest and all this kind of stuff. The first tangible topic he brought up was gay marriage. This is what I'm talking about. All these fuckers want to talk about trans and the gay movements. All they want to fight. I do want. Here's my whole thing. Manage the forest, fix the reservoirs, get water flowing through the hydrants, get rid of the crazy homeless people, fill the potholes, pick up the garbage, clean up the graffiti, and then we can talk about the trans issue. How about. How about that? How about that?

[Alicia Krause]

Also maybe like teaching our kids to read in school would be nice.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes, absolutely. Gay marriage is the first thing he brings up. Gay marriage is 28 years old and it's already been codified. It's illegal. Leave it alone. But he's a champion for gay marriage. Gay marriage doesn't stop the Palisades from burning down. All right, thanks. Here we go.

[Gavin Newsom]

Why? And so standing up for ideals is what gets emerged. It was about work I'm doing right now. Sort of push back, you know, we can lose this country. And just feeling like I have to be held to account and strike out against the injustices of the day.

[Adam Carolla]

So if you had to define it

[Gavin Newsom]

like I need your help and you get. You tell me you're better.

[Adam Carolla]

What?

[Ted Nugent]

I don't know.

[Gavin Newsom]

I don't know who you. I just gave you my why. But how do you translate that into human? What?

[Adam Carolla]

Sorry, you got to find the guy. Basically, that's pause. That's a meme for Gavin Newsom. That guy just going, what? Hey, politician guy. I asked you what your topics were five minutes ago. And you talked about Mandela striking a fight for gay marriage and striking out against injustice.

[Alicia Krause]

Literally, quote, so if you had to define it, vote for me and you get X. And Newsom's like, I just gave you that.

[Adam Carolla]

And he also wants the other guy to define it for him. And it's like you could pick education.

[Alicia Krause]

I mean, I say it as a middle child. People pleaser man, that man is such a people pleaser, he does not know anything.

[Adam Carolla]

I'll play it again, cuz it's so funny when the guy goes what to

[Gavin Newsom]

account and strike out against the injustices of the day.

[Adam Carolla]

So if you had to define it like I need your help and you get.

[Gavin Newsom]

You tell me your better at this.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't know.

[Gavin Newsom]

I don't know who you. I just gave you my why. But how do you translate that into human? What?

[Adam Carolla]

So if you say like make an appeal to a voter, right? If you vote for me, you get X. Like what in the. In a. In a kind of concise. By the way, pause it. When I was talking about predatory check cashing places and black and brown people, this is all I was doing. It's like you tell me. Yes, okay, you brought up a problem. The yes. What is the problem? It is black and brown people don't have access to checking accounts. Okay, now tell me what you would do to fix this. Because all politicians do by nature is they go, here's the problem, here's how we can fix it, and here's how we can fix it. He never does the here's how we can fix it part, which is insane

[Alicia Krause]

for a politician, but this is how Democrats get away with. With it is they talk about affordability. They talk about injustice. They talk about the problem.

[Adam Carolla]

That's right.

[Alicia Krause]

And they're like, it's so not fair. And you have voters, men and women, that are like, you know what? He's right. That's not fair.

[Adam Carolla]

Not fair.

[Alicia Krause]

And most people aren't going to see the entirety of this clip. Right. They're just going to see, like, what he chooses to spend on his Iowa ads when he runs for president.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, we'll play it out. Just because it's still funny.

[Ted Nugent]

The guy's what make an appeal to a voter, right?

[Adam Carolla]

Say, if you vote for me, you get X.

[Gavin Newsom]

Like what?

[Adam Carolla]

In a. In a. In a kind of concise, tangible sense. Talking to a regular guy.

[Gavin Newsom]

Yeah, no, no. I've struggled with being able to communicate. I told you what my why is and why I'm here. And, And I mean that. And that's ingrained in every aspect of my life, and it connects the dot.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, so I've told. I listen. There's a very long paper trail of me saying, you don't get it. This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Not dumb. He doesn't say anything that makes sense. And people. Because people are numb and they're dumb. They're numb and dumb. They go, yeah, I like that guy. I'm like, he doesn't say anything. I have no idea. He came on this show and we play him talking about the check cashing stuff, and we'll play the homeless thing where he was talking about moms. He's insane. But there was another one where I was trying to press him on traffic. I was going, Louisiana's got horrible, horrible traffic. Can we attempt to fix the horrible traffic? And he did that same thing, by the way.

[Alicia Krause]

It's an issue I care about. He says something like that.

[Adam Carolla]

Even he weirdly laughs at things when

[Alicia Krause]

I'm going, I'm pretty serious.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I'll play. This is his remedy for traffic. And California, with some of the worst traffic in the world, doesn't have a policy that Idaho thought of.

[Ted Nugent]

Is that right? This can't be the first time you've heard this.

[Gavin Newsom]

Well, not specifically this. I saw a billboard out on the 405, says, you're not stuck in trouble.

[Ted Nugent]

And you're thinking, how the hell. What does that mean?

[Gavin Newsom]

Says you are traffic. Which I kind of like, which sort of made the point about our own behavior powerful. That said, I hate the blocking the box stuff, which we don't enforce anything.

[Alicia Krause]

So his resolve is to don't drive to work, don't bring your kids to school because you are the child.

[Adam Carolla]

What if oncologists work this way? Hey, doctor, I have stage 5 lymphoma. Cancer. I saw a bumper sticker that said, you don't have cancer. You are cancer. How about that? Yeah. Okay, douche. I'm trying to fix a problem called traffic. And so you're, like, telling me a sign that you saw when you were sitting in traffic that you were traffic?

[Alicia Krause]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

That doesn't help us solve the problem. By the way, he's an insane person for answering my question that way. And by the way, the whole check cashing thing, insane. 20 minutes of me saying, what is the plan? And he him never explaining a thing. People don't. That's 13 years old. People don't know. The guy's vacuous. He's a fucking nut. He's a sociopath. And it's your fault for voting for this guy who has zero ideas. People are like, Gavin, Gavin Newsom. This is old. These are old.

[Alicia Krause]

He's been this way.

[Adam Carolla]

He's been this way.

[Alicia Krause]

Yep.

[Adam Carolla]

This is who he is.

[Alicia Krause]

He's a new.

[Adam Carolla]

But I don't know. Does he not have handlers? Does his fucking wife not pull myself and go. You can't just fucking speak gibberish with your hands. His hands act. His hands. His hands move like he's in an origami competition. That's his fucking hands. Like, I'm making 30 swans in 10 seconds. You know, like fucking. Someone's got to tell him, you have to come. I'll play the most insane one. It's Kara Swisher, who's on his side, who's asking him. And this is, like 5 years old. I heard it on the radio. I always play it Is why this man is clinically insane because I'm asking him how to solve this problem with checking accounts, and he keeps bringing it up, but he never says anything. I'm talking to him about traffic, and he's talking about being traffic.

[Alicia Krause]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

Kara Swisher, five years ago. Five years ago, says people are leaving California. What's the plan? And let's hear his answer.

[Gavin Newsom]

Said it best. Where the hell are you gonna go? And you know I love Texas. Don't get me wrong.

[Alicia Krause]

Is that the new California motto?

[Ted Nugent]

Where the hell are you gonna go?

[Gavin Newsom]

I don't know. But he said it. And I. But it was an interesting point, because where are you gonna get so many

[Adam Carolla]

of the other things on the balance sheet? Hold on. But you are aware that it's Jerry Brown, the former governor. Jerry Brown's also. Fucking retarded idiot. He said, where else you gonna go other than Cal? He said that. 1979.

[Alicia Krause]

He also. He and Rick Perry, who was the governor at the time, like, what, 2013 of Texas. Rick Perry and Jerry Brown had this back and forth about Texas versus California. So that's always been, like, a vibe, because I think a lot of Californians have gone to Texas and now to Arizona and Tennessee and other places and then. But you're right, the fact that Kerry's like. That's not really a winning motto.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, Cara. Yeah, yeah. Well, Rick Perry and then Carrie and then Cara. Sorry. So now. All right, so first thing he does is he quotes Jerry Brown and goes, where else are you gonna go? And then she goes, well, you can go anywhere. And he goes, yeah, I didn't say it. Jerry Brown did. Like, you're quoting a guy. Why don't quote a guy and then say, I didn't say it.

[Alicia Krause]

Your predecessor who endorsed you and, like, helped you.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. It's like no football coach in high school goes, the great Vince Lombardi said, if you can't run around it, run through it. Really? Coach? Yeah, no, that's Vince. I don't. I don't believe in that shit. You guys do what you want. Don't fake an injury. All right? So just play from the top, cuz it's kind of crazy that he does it.

[Gavin Newsom]

Former Governor Brown said it best. Where the hell are you gonna go? And you know, I love Texas. Don't get me wrong.

[Alicia Krause]

Is that the new California motto?

[Ted Nugent]

Where the hell are you gonna go?

[Gavin Newsom]

I don't know, but he said it. But it was an interesting point, because where are you gonna get so many of the other things in the balance sheet?

[Adam Carolla]

But you are aware that I've lived

[Alicia Krause]

there for two decades, essentially, and this is the first time I've had people really talking about. About not being there and not that they could figure it out somewhere else. I don't think that's true.

[Ted Nugent]

I think they can figure out where they're gonna go.

[Adam Carolla]

And then that means.

[Gavin Newsom]

But it's not a zero sum game.

[Adam Carolla]

No one knows what that means.

[Gavin Newsom]

Okay, I have a friend who just went to.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, pause. Okay, here's the part where he's gonna tell a story.

[Alicia Krause]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

Where you go. You know, I have a friend, and that friend moved to Oregon, and he lived there for a couple years. He hated it. And him and his wife moved back and they're living in Malibu right now. That's the story you would tell if you're trying to make your own point.

[Alicia Krause]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

Here's the story he tells about a friend who moved to Utah.

[Ted Nugent]

Beautiful.

[Gavin Newsom]

It may be the right thing for him. They've made a ton of money. They have the ability to take their kids out of public school into private school school. And they're doing that. And you know, I imagine they're not going to turn their back forever on California.

[Adam Carolla]

Okay, so your example is I know a couple that moved out and they

[Alicia Krause]

love it and they can afford more stuff.

[Adam Carolla]

And hypothetically, he may move back one day, except for I don't think he ever is going to cuz he seems to be having a pretty good time.

[Alicia Krause]

If he does, it'll be six months in one day in Utah and then the rest of the time here in California.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, that answer is the same answer you get with you aren't stuck in traffic, you are traffic. Like, hey, people are leaving. What do you have to say, governor? I know people left. Okay, nice job. He's clinically, clinically insane to provide those kinds of answers in these kinds of forms. And I've told people about this forever and they don't seem to listen to me. But maybe the word is getting out.

[Alicia Krause]

Help.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, you can go to mcroll.com, i got live shows coming out Santa Ana. We're going to do the Jordan Family Classic Car museum over there with the Paul Newman collection coming up March 22nd. Then off to Norfolk, Nebraska. Just go to mcroll.com for all live stuff. Alicia Krauss going to be in Lincoln this weekend doing a wonderful speaking engagement there. Aliciacrause.com is where you go. And the great Ted Nugent, until next time is Adam for Ted and Alicia. Sam, man, Mahala, you can leave us

[Dawson]

a voicemail at 888-634-1744 and get tickets to see the Ace man at AdamCola.com.

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If I'm lying, I'm dying.

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[Adam Carolla]

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