Young Men Leading a Religious Resurgence + Rickey Smiley + Kirk Cameron

Summary

Adam Carolla Show – Episode Summary Title: Young Men Leading a Religious Resurgence + Rickey Smiley + Kirk Cameron
Release Date: May 28, 2025
Hosts/Guests: Adam Carolla, Rickey Smiley, Kirk Cameron

---

1. Introduction and Guest Welcome

Adam Carolla opens the episode by introducing his guests, legendary broadcaster and comedian Rickey Smiley, and actor Kirk Cameron, known for his role in Growing Pains. The atmosphere is set for an engaging conversation filled with humor, personal anecdotes, and insightful discussions.

---

2. Rickey Smiley’s Career and Personal Journey

[02:14] Adam Carolla: "Rickey Smiley in studio. I love a broadcaster. I just told you off the air, I love radio."

Rickey Smiley shares his experiences in the radio industry, highlighting the demands of early morning shows and the adjustments required when relocating his show from Dallas to Atlanta to better connect with influential guests and the entertainment scene.

---

3. Early Career and Challenges

[04:12] Rickey Smiley: "Yeah, I worked at Showbiz Pizza... It was Chuck E. Cheese at first, and then it became Showbiz Pizza."

Smiley reminisces about his early jobs, including working at Showbiz Pizza where he performed birthday parties for kids. These experiences shaped his work ethic and comedic timing.

---

4. Launching “Foolish” and Personal Tragedy

[05:26] Adam Carolla: "But by the way, you don't remember what you did yesterday? Foolish is the name of the special. It's on Hulu."

Rickey discusses his special Foolish, which delves into his personal life, particularly the tragic loss of his 32-year-old son due to fentanyl overdose. He emphasizes how this loss inspired him to write his book Sideshow, aimed at helping others cope with grief.

[11:55] Adam Carolla: "And I guess people go OD'd on fentanyl, but anyone can OD on Fentanyl, right?"
[12:15] Rickey Smiley: "People are vaping, have lost their lives and... it's pretty bad."

The conversation sheds light on the opioid crisis, with Rickey highlighting the dangers of fentanyl being laced into various substances, exacerbating the epidemic.

---

5. Coping with Loss and Maintaining Purpose

[16:03] Rickey Smiley: "I had to work because other people have gone through worse. You know, much is given, much is required."

Rickey shares his resilience in the face of personal loss, choosing to continue his work to honor his son's memory and support others experiencing similar tragedies. He underscores the importance of purpose and community in overcoming grief.

---

6. Morning Routines and Work Discipline

[34:23] Rickey Smiley: "I wake up at 3:30... I jump up in the morning."
[35:03] Rickey Smiley: "My discipline and my structure is unreal. No alarm clock either."

Rickey discusses his disciplined morning routine, emphasizing the importance of structure and self-discipline in maintaining productivity and mental health, especially in demanding roles like morning radio hosting.

---

7. Cultural Commentary: Fast Food Preferences

[25:32] Adam Carolla: "They like trucks. They like America. You know, you guys don't like pickup trucks with American flags on it."
[29:24] Ricky Smiley: "I would say Chipotle... Ryan's Steakhouse."

The duo engages in a lighthearted debate about fast food preferences among different demographics, humorously contrasting establishments favored by Black and White communities. They touch upon chains like Arby's, Red Lobster, Sizzler, Chipotle, and Pink's Hot Dogs, highlighting cultural nuances in dining choices.

---

8. Birthday Party Segment with Humor

[47:02] Dawson: "The Adam Carolla show presents Adam Carolla's birthday cocktail party for May 27th..."
[50:32] Kirk Cameron: "Oh, that's the good one."

A comedic interlude features a fictional birthday party with humorous guest appearances from historical and pop culture figures like Cornelius Vanderbilt, Wild Bill Hickok, Henry Kissinger, and others. This segment adds levity to the episode, showcasing Adam’s playful side.

---

9. Political Commentary: Education Funding and Trade Schools

[43:14] Adam Carolla: "Trump was saying he's gonna take the $3 billion away from Harvard and give it to trade schools."

Adam expresses support for reallocating funds from elite institutions like Harvard to trade schools, advocating for a renaissance in vocational training to benefit working-class individuals and address practical societal needs.

---

10. Social Issues: Religion, Therapy, and Contemporary Challenges

[65:12] Adam Carolla: "I realized that our society was probably better when we had more religion. People are rudderless now and they're messed up and they're a mess."

The conversation shifts to the role of religion and therapy in modern society. Adam, identifying as agnostic, contemplates the benefits of religious structures and therapeutic practices in providing guidance and stability, while Rickey emphasizes faith as a cornerstone in his life’s resilience.

---

11. Knowledge vs. Wisdom and Educational Systems

[81:04] Adam Carolla: "And this is why we've ended up like Animal Farm."
[85:37] Kirk Cameron: "They have confused knowledge with wisdom data, with the ability to know how to use the data within the context of the situation."

Adam and Kirk delve into the distinction between knowledge and wisdom, critiquing modern educational philosophies that prioritize theoretical understanding over practical application. They draw parallels to Animal Farm, highlighting the dangers of ideologies that disconnect from real-world pragmatism.

---

12. Construction vs. Academia Mentalities

[89:27] Kirk Cameron: "My father was a PE teacher, and he was a really practical guy... They didn't want to deal with kids—all just dealing with parents and rules."

The discussion explores the differing mindsets between tradespeople and academics, emphasizing the value of hands-on experience and practical skills in building and maintaining societal structures, as opposed to bureaucratic and theoretical approaches.

---

13. Poverty Industry and Societal Solutions

[95:04] Ricky Smiley: "I have never understood why it is greed to want to keep the money you have earned, but not greed to want to take someone else's money."
[96:50] Adam Carolla: "California has a homeless industry... 80% drug addicts and 20% mental patients."

Addressing systemic issues, Adam and Rickey critique the "poverty industry" that profits from societal problems like homelessness and addiction. They argue for merit-based solutions and criticize bureaucratic inefficiencies that hinder effective problem-solving.

---

14. Plug for Kirk Cameron’s TV Show

[113:01] Adam Carolla: "So we should check out Iggy and Mr. Kirk streaming on Brave, correct?"
[114:04] Kirk Cameron: "Absolutely... we're bringing them to life in this TV show."

Kirk Cameron promotes his new children's TV show, Iggy and Mr. Kirk, which aims to impart values and life lessons to young viewers. The show emphasizes themes like identity, purpose, family, forgiveness, and truth, positioning itself as a modern-day equivalent of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

---

15. Closing Remarks and Final Thoughts

[114:38] Adam Carolla: "Check those dry bar specials out. They're squeaky clean and still funny."
[115:56] Dawson: "Pick up your phone and leave us a voicemail. The number is 888-634-1744..."

Adam wraps up the episode by highlighting upcoming live shows and encouraging listeners to engage with the show's content through various channels. The final moments reinforce the themes of resilience, practical wisdom, and the importance of fostering positive societal values.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Rickey Smiley on Grief and Purpose:
  [09:26] "I had a choice. Lay in bed and think about it or get up and go to work."

• Adam Carolla on Education and Practical Skills:
  [85:14] "People have just confused knowledge with wisdom data..."

• Kirk Cameron on Building a Better Future:
  [91:15] "We need more people who live in the real world to be creating the world that we live in tomorrow."

• Adam Carolla on Poverty Industry:
  [95:04] "It's an industry. It's an industry."

---

Conclusion

This episode of The Adam Carolla Show weaves together personal narratives, cultural critiques, and political commentary, anchored by candid discussions with Rickey Smiley and Kirk Cameron. The hosts tackle profound issues such as the opioid crisis, societal values, educational philosophies, and systemic injustices, all while maintaining a blend of humor and insightful analysis. For listeners seeking an unfiltered exploration of contemporary challenges through the lens of experienced voices, this episode offers a compelling and thought-provoking experience.

Transcript

[Adam Carolla]

All right, in this episode, radio legend and standup comedian Ricky Smiley joins me. And then Kirk Cameron, you know, Growing Pains, he's on as well. Always bringing it. We'll do some news with mayhem. We'll do all that right after this. Hey, it's Adam Carolla from the Adam Carolla Show. Betonline is the world's most trusted betting platform and your number one source for all your sports betting action. Baseball season is in full swing now and we're into NBA, got the playoffs, got NHL playoffs. BetOnline has more ways to stay in on the action with the latest odds, news and scores bet online even as live in game betting while the games are are being played. So it's never too late to get in on the action. With the largest selection of odds on everything from NLB, NBA, NHL and UFC, BetOnline remains the best online source for all your sports wagering info. And don't forget golf and professional boxing too. In between games, head on over to BetOnline Casino where with all the top Vegas style games including poker and live casino bet online, the game starts here. To see the video version of the Adam Krolish show, check us out on YouTube and rumble linked in the description.

[Dawson]

From Corolla One Studios in Glendale, California, this is the Adam Carolla Show. Adam's guest today, legendary broadcaster and comedian Ricky Smiley and actor Kirk Cameron. Plus the news and trending topics with Jason Mayhem Miller. And now his birthday wish is for everyone else to get their together.

[Adam Carolla]

Adam Carolla, Yeah, get it on. Got to get on a church. We get a mandate. You get it on. Ricky Smiley in studio. I love a broadcaster. I just told you off the air, I love radio.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

I like the people. There's certain jobs where you go, like when a guy tells me he's a commercial airline pilot, I go, okay, I like that guy. That guy's precise. He's accurate. He's a little bit sober. I can talk to that guy. And people do morning radio. I just like, I've always liked it.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, we know how to adjust to anything.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. And what time do you get up to do morning radio?

[Ricky Smiley]

This morning I was up at 2 and on the air at 3.

[Adam Carolla]

Cause of the time difference. Cause of the time difference, right?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, but there's nothing. Just take your ass to bed at 6 o' clock.

[Adam Carolla]

I know, but it's hard to go to bed before the street lights come on for a lot of people.

[Ricky Smiley]

Close the curtains.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. And then you travel and the time.

[Ricky Smiley]

And it's sleep on the plane. Get all the sleep in, do what you gotta do. And take naps during the day. Let your body catch up.

[Adam Carolla]

My weirdest stretch would be going to New York, doing my show, Loveline, which New York time would be 1am to 3am cause it was 10 to midnight here and 1 to 3am get back to my hotel probably about 3:30 and. And be at Stern show at 5:45.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh, my God.

[Adam Carolla]

And sit in with Stern for five hours. But I would go to bed at 4, get up at 5:15 or something and then go do five hours a morning. Right now.

[Ricky Smiley]

That's crazy.

[Adam Carolla]

It's nuts, right?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, it's crazy. You gotta go to sleep.

[Adam Carolla]

But did you ever have real jobs? Like tough jobs? Yeah, manual labor and that kind of stuff?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, I worked at Showbiz Pizza.

[Adam Carolla]

You worked at a pizza place?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, but the show is like Chuck E. Cheese. I would do the birthday parts for the kids. I worked at foot locker. Tom McCann shoes.

[Adam Carolla]

Tom McCann.

[Ricky Smiley]

Tom McCann, man, that's right. Yeah. Jeans West.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. So you did retail jobs and were you making pizzas? What were you doing at the pizza?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, make the pizza. Put the sauce on there. Six ounces of cheese or large weighed out. I still remember the measurements.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I know. I worked at McDonald's for like 10 minutes. I remember all the lingo.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh, yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Like burgers up, wrap please, cheese. Count on Max please, Cheese street, please. Like the whole world. Oh, yeah, it's weird.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah. You have to know all of that stuff, man. And doing the birthday parties with the kids and putting on the mouse uniform, walking around saying Happy birthday to the kids.

[Adam Carolla]

So it's like Chuck E. Cheese, but not Chuck E. Cheese.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, it was Chuck E. Cheese at first, and then it became Showbiz Pizza. And then Chuck E. Cheese Co. Sued show. And now it's back. Chuck E. Cheese. But it was founded Chuck E. Cheese. But when I was working at Showbiz, the guy that played the piano, that was the gorilla named Fats. The cheerleader was Mitzi. And then you had Pasquale on the drums. Just a whole little band set up.

[Adam Carolla]

I wonder if kids don't care anymore. I know, I know. And then. But by the way, you don't remember what you did yesterday? Foolish is the name of the special. It's on Hulu. Yeah, it's coming out. That'll be, I guess, this Friday.

[Ricky Smiley]

Friday.

[Adam Carolla]

It'll come out Friday. You shot it in Birmingham. Is that true?

[Ricky Smiley]

I did. Birmingham, Alabama.

[Adam Carolla]

Is that where you're from?

[Ricky Smiley]

Born and raised.

[Adam Carolla]

Is it? Birmingham. Good.

[Ricky Smiley]

Birmingham is Great. You know, Kate Jackson, one of the original Charlie's Angels from Birmingham. She came out of my high school, Woodlawn High School.

[Adam Carolla]

And Scarecrow and Mrs. King, too, I think, was the show.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We really proud of that. Bobby Bowden, graduated from Woodlawn High School from Birmingham.

[Adam Carolla]

And you got your coach.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, yeah. You got your Charles Barkley, Bo Jackson, you know, all the Alabama folks. So we are real proud.

[Adam Carolla]

But you're working out of Dallas, right?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, they just moved us from Dallas to Atlanta to do the morning show because it's hard to get interviews in Dallas.

[Adam Carolla]

But everybody is in Atlanta because they're filming there now. Stop. Right.

[Ricky Smiley]

Tyler Perry Studios rappers.

[Adam Carolla]

I never thought about the fact that the business moved there. So you can get all these great names.

[Ricky Smiley]

Absolutely. And everything goes through Atlanta. If you die, you have to go through Atlanta to get to heaven.

[Adam Carolla]

Really? Atlanta, they have a heaven hub there.

[Ricky Smiley]

They do, they do.

[Adam Carolla]

It's interesting. So all of a sudden you're pulling all these great names because everyone's shooting a series there, shooting a feature there, shooting a movie there.

[Ricky Smiley]

All the rappers are there, all of the athletes are there.

[Adam Carolla]

Why do all the rappers need to be in Atlanta?

[Ricky Smiley]

Well, they come to Atlanta to perform. One of the biggest concerts in the country is Birthday Bash at a station. I was the morning show host, Hot179. So everybody is connected to Atlanta, you know, via Birthday Bash. And then you have a historical station like V103 People Station. But those big concerts are people from the West Coast. Kendrick Lamar, Kanye west, everybody come to Atlanta to perform. I live in Birmingham. Atlanta, two hours away. We go to Atlanta. We went to Atlanta for the weekends. You know, that was our getaway. So we grew up in Atlanta also.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I haven't been to, I've been to Road Atlanta a couple of times to do a couple of car races. But that's way outside, way out. That's not close. And I remember going to Road Atlanta, and I, I, I'm from here, Right. I'm from North Hollywood, so we didn't have any these sort of Bible Belt rules or anything. And I remember going to the track on a Sunday and I said, stop off at the Quick E Mart here. Let's get a 12 pack so we can have something to drink at the track. And then I walked in and it was locked up.

[Ricky Smiley]

Locked up.

[Adam Carolla]

And so I'm from la.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

So I'm like, okay, they gotta lock it up because people are stealing their beer and stuff. So I just walked to the front desk. And went, hey, man, could you just go ahead and unlock the beer for me? So I'm going to the track. The guy's like, nope. And I'm like, why not? I'm thinking it's a thief thing, not a religious thing, a Sunday thing. Have they still got that going on over there?

[Ricky Smiley]

I think so, yeah. We believe that if you drink a beer on Sunday, you're not gonna see Jesus. Yeah, you're not gonna see King Jesus.

[Adam Carolla]

All it does is get everyone to buy it on a Saturday night, though, right?

[Ricky Smiley]

They go buy it, the ABC liquor store is packed and you get your drink on on Sunday.

[Adam Carolla]

So when you're doing radio and you're talking X amount of hours a day and you're doing standup at night or specials and weekends and stuff like that. So now are you like, jotting down notes like, oh, that's a good job.

[Ricky Smiley]

I have two comics on my morning show that are great writers. And I say, hey, let's write that down. Yeah, let's test that out this weekend. And we usually perform together. Comedian Rita Brent comedian, Special K. And we write this stuff down and split the material up or whatever. Hey, Rita, here's one you could use. Hey, K. You keep that one.

[Adam Carolla]

But they came organically from riffing and having conversations, right?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Exercising that muscle in your brain every morning, Monday through Friday for the past 25 years has been helpful to my. Because sitting at home versus being on the radio, where you talking about pop culture and politics and sports or whatever, you come up with a lot of material.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I found that myself. Yeah, you have conversations, stuff gets broken loose, and then you write it down. I don't know. I mean, I don't really know what the process is for people that don't do that. I think they just turn on the TV and look at stuff or drive around and see stuff or observe stuff.

[Ricky Smiley]

Sat on a boat and wrote. Came up with a lot of stuff. And my mind is just relaxed. I think of everything.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. How'd you write your book?

[Ricky Smiley]

Well, when I wrote my book, the second book that I wrote, Sideshow, it was a lot, man, after I lost my son. And so it was a lot of content there. And I thought it was would be a great idea to put it into a book. So I'm thinking I'm just going to go on a book tour and sign books where people come to find out. The book was helping people that have lost their kids and lost their mother's fathers. It was a grief help book. So everybody that was in line. You couldn't just sign the book and just say thank you. You were there hugging and crying.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, yeah.

[Ricky Smiley]

And all of this stuff, and it just. It became something different. So the book Sideshow is helping a lot of people.

[Adam Carolla]

You lost a couple of years ago, two and a half years ago coming up now. Fentanyl.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yes, sir.

[Adam Carolla]

And I guess people go OD'd on fentanyl, but anyone can OD on Fentanyl, right? Because they don't really know, right?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

And I don't. First off, fentanyl just sounds like the scariest thing in the world. It is scary, but I guess it's something that people go to from pills or pain pills or something. Something like that, Right?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah. I don't know how he got there, but you know what they're doing? What I found out that they're doing is lacing stuff like marijuana pills. I heard that that is in vapes now.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, really?

[Ricky Smiley]

People are vaping, have lost their lives and. Yeah, it's pretty bad.

[Adam Carolla]

How old was your son when he passed?

[Ricky Smiley]

He was 32.

[Adam Carolla]

That's just got to be.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, he was my oldest, that I, you know, had the joy of raising. And, you know, I always think about taking him off to college and high school graduation and my son was a comic. My son had. Had been headlining for a couple of years before he passed away.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, really?

[Ricky Smiley]

He performed at the Stardome. He did a headlining show at the comedy club Stardome in Birmingham.

[Adam Carolla]

Wow.

[Ricky Smiley]

And he toured with me sometimes. He was a great comic. His style was more like Roy Wood Jr. Than mine or whatever, you know, because he looked just like me. So he was. I think he went out of his way to try to try to be a little bit different on stage. His comedy was a little bit more thoughtful. Mine is just kind of silly and all over the place. But, yeah, he was a great comic.

[Adam Carolla]

Sad.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

You got some years with him, though.

[Ricky Smiley]

I did.

[Adam Carolla]

Which is a blessing.

[Ricky Smiley]

I did. I found that to be a blessing when I was meeting parents that have lost their 6, 7, 8 year old kids and stuff. When you hear all the stories on the book tour, it got really real and I got a lot of gratitude from it.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I mean, I guess I always would say to people, everyone's going to die. And it's really a question of.

[Ricky Smiley]

I've never seen that picture before.

[Adam Carolla]

How many years we're looking at a picture of him. It does look like you. How many years do you have with the person now? Some people, they're five, so you don't really get a lot of years. Some people make it to 89, and you get a lot of years. But it's all a spectrum. And historically, people died when they're 40 years old, you know, and that's what you had with that. With that person.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

So did they ever get to the bottom of it? They find the drug dealer or figure out who laced it and did whatever?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, they know who it is. But, you know, you have to be able to prove stuff like that. They have. We know, but you just have to prove it.

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Ricky Smiley]

And, you know, it gets real lost and choppy and stuff like that. So the thing about it is, God wouldn't deal with that, would deal with him, the dealer. The dealer or whoever's responsible or whatever. So people like that, they don't usually last long anyway, famously.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't know if you know this story, but I believe Carroll o' Connor, Archie Bunker, his son, passed from a drug overdose, and he went on a big campaign to, like, put the guy behind bars and did press conferences and made a whole deal out of it, if memory serves. And I think it was a story.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, I think I vaguely remember that.

[Adam Carolla]

And it was a weird story, but it was sort of interesting that he basically made a campaign of getting the guy. And I don't know if the guy. I think the guy did go to prison, but I can't remember the whole story. I just remember him going on a sort of personal mission to get this guy.

[Ricky Smiley]

Sure. Well, my thing is, the streets usually take care of people like that. Anybody out there, you put stuff in the universe, it's coming back to you. You know, people like that, they can't sleep at night.

[Adam Carolla]

Were you able to work or did you have to take some time off during that time?

[Ricky Smiley]

No, I had to work because other people have went through worse. You know, much is given, much is required. And I got therapy or whatever, but I had a choice. Lay in bed and think about it or get up and go to work.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I never. I've worked through some hard times, and I never.

[Ricky Smiley]

That's different from a hard time.

[Adam Carolla]

No, I know. I. I just mean. I don't know. You know, your parent dies and you go, do you go into work that day? Oh, I come listen. Yeah, you're talking to the right guy because I didn't like my parents. So you. I'm not even equating the two. But what I'm saying is, is there are people who just go, I'm taking time off because of. Fill in the blank. And I'VE always like, I don't know why one has to do with the other.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

You know what I mean? But if you're a roofer, I don't know why one has to do with the other. You have to go to work.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah. And the psychological part is my job is doing comedy. I'm on the radio, being funny every morning and performing on the weekends. But you have to think about this. What would my son want me to do? Who was my son? My son was a comic, Right? All right, dad, I'm good. I'm in heaven now. Not suffering anymore. Dad, go out and do your thing. You know, my son was always encouraging me, hey, dad, that was funny. That joke right there was funny. Go out and do your thing. Make it happen. And God is just good. And then you have to also consider people that have went through worse situation is worse than yours, that. That didn't get to see their kid graduate high school, that didn't get to see their kid graduate elementary school. I had a couple in New Orleans who lost their baby, I think it was two or three, drowned in a pool.

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Ricky Smiley]

They didn't get to see their kids get on the bus at all. And so when you start, you have to do it for people like that and people that's suffering and whose situation is worse. A lady out here in LA lost both of her sons the same day.

[Adam Carolla]

And these are all people you would see when you were on your journey promoting the book or you hear about.

[Ricky Smiley]

It and read about it and you're like, hey, I gotta get up, you know, and go to work. Because I feel like all of this stuff is just a test. Sometimes God look at us and our trials and tribulations and see how we handle in these situations. And it's a test, you know?

[Adam Carolla]

So I am so envious of people like you that have a strong faith, because I don't. But I'm super envious of it. And because when tragedy happens, you have that, you know, I don't know what to call it, fall back on or something. But you have that faith, which I don't have, but I wish I had it. And then people say to me all the time, well, do you wish there was a God? And I go, yes, I wish there was a God. And they go, why do you wish there was a God? Like you're agnostic or atheist or something. I go, well, what do you mean? I want there to be a God for everyone. And for me too. I'm not a bad person. I don't think I'M going to get punished.

[Ricky Smiley]

Right?

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Ricky Smiley]

I don't think I would have been able to navigate through this process without God. I think that's who carried me when it was only one set of footprints in the sand. You know, I remember walking down that hallway and in my apartment complex to try to catch a flight to get back home, and I had no one with me. I had to keep my composure. I had to smile and shake hands at the airport. You know, I had to sit on a plane and have a conversation with the gentleman behind me, showing me pictures of his family reunion. He recognized me, and I never told him what I was dealing with and what I was going through.

[Adam Carolla]

You had heard the news that your son had passed, and you were on an airplane, and the guy next year was showing you family reunion pictures. Wow.

[Ricky Smiley]

He was a very nice man. And what that did was. And remember now, Adam, a lot of stuff is about the perspective. You know, sometimes God is keeping your mind occupied until you could get to the next, you know, where you're headed. And him having a conversation with that man for about a good hour, it kept my mind occupied just having a conversation with him, you know, knowing that when that plane land, what I'm about to walk into, because I have a mother, I have other children, and everybody's meeting at the house. This just happened. And it's about to be chaotic, and no one is there to lead and to comfort and to make decisions. And so it was definitely a test.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, I think you passed.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, I tried.

[Adam Carolla]

And you got into therapy?

[Ricky Smiley]

I'm still going through it.

[Adam Carolla]

Because of this. You sought out therapy because of this? Oh, yeah.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah. I had to sit down on the couch. My crazy ass. Anyway, crazy needed therapy even before that, because I'm crazy. But, yeah, I had to get therapy.

[Adam Carolla]

What do you mean you're crazy?

[Ricky Smiley]

You know, us comics.

[Adam Carolla]

But the thing about me is I don't feel like I'm that weird for a comic. I'm not. Well, the thing about me is I am a builder first and a comic second. The sanest comic you'll meet is Jay Leno. Right, But Jay Leno is a car mechanic and a comic.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

And the mechanical part keeps you really rooted and square. You don't drift off into weird places. It's very structural, it's mechanical, it's linear, it's a little boring, it's a little tedious, but it's grounding.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

You know what I mean? So if you want to know where Jay Leno is at any given time, he's four miles from here at his shop with a wrench in his hand. He's not doing what comics do, you know, sleeping until noon and then go get high and then go to the bar and then go to the track or like whatever it is. So although comedians are traditionally nutty, I'm. I look at myself as uniquely sane. But it's cause I build, I think, for me.

[Ricky Smiley]

And I like working on engines also.

[Adam Carolla]

You do?

[Ricky Smiley]

And driving across the ocean. Driving to the Bahamas and.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, you're a pilot, right?

[Ricky Smiley]

Sailing pilot. Fly planes as a hobby. I don't have my pilot license, but I can. Damn. Anything happening in that cockpit. I can put a 737 easily on the ground.

[Adam Carolla]

Really?

[Ricky Smiley]

Hell yeah. And captaining our boat, you know, going to the Bahamas and going across rough seas and stuff like that.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, don't you? So that I feel like that makes you sane. Because if you're a pilot or captaining a ship, if you're not practical, you essentially will die.

[Ricky Smiley]

Right?

[Adam Carolla]

You just will if you can't operate.

[Ricky Smiley]

And a musician, by the way.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. You got a bunch of stuff that grounds you, right? Sure. Morgan and Morgan. Here's the dirty little secret that the insurance industry may want to keep under wraps. Insurance companies profit from holding on to your money for as long as possible. So after an accident, they will do whatever they can do to delay or deny your claim. And this is how they can keep their profits growing. Morgan and Morgan fights hard against these corporations to fight to make sure you get every dollar you deserve. I like these Morgan and Morgan guys. I've spoken to them off the air. They're as big as they are for a reason. They get results. When Morgan Morgan takes on a case, they almost always are going after the big insurance companies, not the individual who's at fault. There's a reason why Morgan and Morgan is America's largest injury firm. Am I right, Dawson?

[Dawson]

Hiring the wrong firm can be disastrous. Hiring the right firm could substantially increase your settlement. With Morgan and Morgan, it's easy to get started and their fee is free. Unless they win. Just visit forthepeople.com Adam or dial pound law pound 529. That's for the people.com Adam or dial pound law 529. This is a paid advertisement.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Stream all the movies and shows you love for free on Pluto tv. Say what now?

[Adam Carolla]

Showtime.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

That means drama is free. With heart wrenching stories from love and basketball power and Greenleaf.

[Ricky Smiley]

In this family we live by the.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Spirit and laughter is free with Gut busting comedies like Key and Peele the Neighborhood, Everybody Hates Chris and Boomerang Watch all the hits all for free from all your favorite devices oh, my God, I love it. Feel the free Pluto TV stream now pay never.

[Adam Carolla]

But you still feel a little bit crazy.

[Ricky Smiley]

I don't feel crazy. I was just talking trash.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Did you grow up sort of normal?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, out of normal. Alabama grandkids, Alabama football.

[Adam Carolla]

What'd your parents do?

[Ricky Smiley]

My mom worked at Arby's. You know what I'm saying?

[Adam Carolla]

She worked at Arby's.

[Ricky Smiley]

Work at Arby's. That was when I was smaller. My dad died when I was 6, so I was around grandparents my whole life. I'm a grandma's baby.

[Adam Carolla]

What happened to your dad?

[Ricky Smiley]

He was killed in New York City? Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Like shot kind of thing?

[Ricky Smiley]

I think so, yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

We don't know.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, I think shot. Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Do we? Did you get to the bottom of that one?

[Ricky Smiley]

Nah. My grandparents never really wanted to really talk about it. I just knew that he got. He was killed in New York.

[Adam Carolla]

So he went to New York and got into trouble? I guess.

[Ricky Smiley]

I don't know. I don't know necessarily think he got into trouble, but got killed. Sometimes you can get killed without getting in trouble?

[Adam Carolla]

Well, no, you can. It helps to get into trouble to help. I mean, you have a higher likelihood.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, he was. My dad was a good guy.

[Adam Carolla]

He was?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, he was a good guy.

[Adam Carolla]

What did he do?

[Ricky Smiley]

He was in the military, my dad. Oh, yeah. He served in Vietnam.

[Adam Carolla]

And what was he doing in New York then?

[Ricky Smiley]

I have an uncle there. We have family there. Oh, yeah, he was there visiting family.

[Adam Carolla]

When your dad was in Vietnam?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

What he did.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, my dad and my uncle. I don't know exactly what he did, but my dad and my uncle, they went to. They graduated high school together. My mom's brother and my dad, they went to the military together and they end up serving in Vietnam.

[Adam Carolla]

And so you were raised by your grandparents?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Who were his parents?

[Ricky Smiley]

His parents and my grandma, my mom's mom. And they live kind of corner across the street from each other. That's how my mom and dad met.

[Adam Carolla]

And your mom worked at Arby's?

[Ricky Smiley]

She worked at Arby's.

[Adam Carolla]

How many years she put in at Arby's?

[Ricky Smiley]

It went a lot of years, but I just remember her working at Arby's, going to meetings with me there.

[Adam Carolla]

Because you bring food home.

[Ricky Smiley]

I didn't really like it.

[Adam Carolla]

You like Arby's?

[Ricky Smiley]

No. Black people don't fool with Arby's. Too much.

[Adam Carolla]

They don't do.

[Ricky Smiley]

I've never heard a black person say, hey, I'm going to Arby's. You want something?

[Adam Carolla]

Hold on, let me think. You're right. I've never heard a black guy going on Arby's show.

[Ricky Smiley]

Hey, I'm about to go to Arby's. Y' all want something? We've had Arby's before, but Arby's not.

[Adam Carolla]

What's the number one black chain? Oh, well, I'll tell you what it is. Red Lobster. When you're stepping out. I don't know why black people love Red Lobster. White people don't like Red Lobster.

[Ricky Smiley]

Only on Sundays and wedding anniversaries.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, I know it's expensive. Red Lobster is expensive.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, but we like. We like the crab legs, the forever shrimp or whatever.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I went with Jimmy to a Red Lobster once to research. We're writing it in a movie. And I said, have you ever been to a Red Lobster? I said, I never been. White people don't go to the Red Lobster. They're in the commercial.

[Ricky Smiley]

Well, in Alabama, you see a lot of white, it'd be mixed.

[Adam Carolla]

I never get it. Super expensive. Not that good.

[Ricky Smiley]

The cheddar biscuits.

[Adam Carolla]

They love cheddar biscuits.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, yeah, the cheddar biscuits. Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, so what's number. What's the number one black food chain? It's not Popeyes.

[Ricky Smiley]

No, I wouldn't say Popeye's. White people love Popeyes too.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, listen, it does not need to be said that black people like a good burger and white people like a good burger and black people like good fish and white people. Well, I know everyone likes good stuff, but I'm still looking for the number one. Now, the number one white place could be In N Out Burger.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh, really? Well, we don't have one.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't ever see black people at an In N Out Burger in Birmingham. And we'll line up for that shit. We don't wait in line all day.

[Ricky Smiley]

I'm seeing everybody online going to Chick Fil A and Chipotle.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, Chipotle.

[Ricky Smiley]

Chipotle.

[Adam Carolla]

So what's the number one black fast food destination?

[Ricky Smiley]

I would say Chipotle.

[Adam Carolla]

Chipotle.

[Ricky Smiley]

Any type of, like, Golden Corral.

[Adam Carolla]

Golden Corral, Yeah.

[Ricky Smiley]

Remember Golden Corral? Ryan's Steakhouse?

[Adam Carolla]

Ryan's.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh, yeah. On a Sunday after church, we love to go to a nice restaurant. Yes, a steakhouse or a buffet or whatever, you know. Now these are things that I went with my grandparents and obviously other families there we used to love Golden Corral.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, yeah.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Piccadilly's, Ryan's.

[Adam Carolla]

You know, Ryan's a chain.

[Ricky Smiley]

Ryan's a chain.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Ricky Smiley]

They closed or whatever, but, you know, when I was a kid, it was a bonanza. I don't know if you remember bonanza.

[Adam Carolla]

We had out here. I'm trying to think. And sometimes they would. Sizzler. Sizzler. Sizzler was as high up the food chain as my family got. We didn't get past the Sizzler. Right. Stop at Sizzler.

[Ricky Smiley]

Same over here.

[Adam Carolla]

Anything past Sizzler was way too expensive.

[Ricky Smiley]

We didn't go to Perry's.

[Adam Carolla]

We.

[Ricky Smiley]

It was no. No high end.

[Adam Carolla]

Not only that, within Sizzler, there were things you couldn't order.

[Ricky Smiley]

It had to be hamburger steak.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, it was. There was not only a limited place, but a limited menu.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah. On the thing you wasn't getting a T bone. You're going to get a hamburger steak.

[Adam Carolla]

You couldn't get the langostino or even the Malibu chicken. What was Malibu chicken? At Sizzler, Dawson? It was like, chicken. They called it Malibu chicken. And they just took chicken and they just put, like, pump cheese on top of it or some sort of weird hollandaise sauce, and then langostino. Must be shrimp. Big shrimp.

[Ricky Smiley]

Okay.

[Adam Carolla]

It wasn't. It wasn't lobster, Right. It was a kind of crawdaddy.

[Ricky Smiley]

Right. Now, lobster tail is a thing?

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, yeah.

[Ricky Smiley]

Lobster tail is a thing.

[Adam Carolla]

That's good. So you guys never got above Sizzler either?

[Ricky Smiley]

Nah, it was. Once you go to a steakhouse, it was Bonanza when I was a kid. Get your hamburger steak and your little baked potato in your roll. That was it. But you thought you was. You thought that was. That was a big deal.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, it's weird now. It's weird when you have money and you just can do whatever you want.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah. You end up going. Doing. I never really changed. Once I started headlining shows or whatever, my menu kind of stayed the same. But I've learned how to cook, though, so I cook. Oh, yeah?

[Adam Carolla]

What's your specialty?

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh, man. If you want to do old school, we can do some chicken and dumplings or whatever. They have that on the menu at Cracker Barrel. But my chicken and dumplings are the best now. That's the one dish that family members always ask me to cook, and I grill. So grilling. We have the Kaneka sausage in Alabama. It's a famous sausage that's well seasoned. It tastes really great. It's good. You can Grill them or have them for breakfast or whatever. So, yeah, grilling. And I just love to cook.

[Adam Carolla]

I think we have Malibu Chicken. A picture of Malibu Chicken.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh, that's it right there.

[Adam Carolla]

Chicken. And they just melted a piece of Swiss cheese on top of it. I remember seeing the commercial. Oh, they put a piece of ham on it and then a piece of Swiss cheese on it, and they called it Malibu Chicken. And I remember just seeing the commercials going, well, if we do ever get to Sizzler, I'm never gonna. That's off the menu for us.

[Ricky Smiley]

Ham, chicken with some Swiss cheese, fries and steak. What does that run, like $12, $15.

[Adam Carolla]

Maybe back in the day it was probably like eight bucks or something. But it was still way too.

[Ricky Smiley]

It looks delicious, though.

[Adam Carolla]

I went. I always tell people I skipped Outback Steakhouse because the whole time I was poor, I couldn't get above Sizzler, and Outback was above Sizzler. And then I got rich and I didn't want to go to Outback. I skipped Outback and I went to Morton's Herb Higher End Steak Place.

[Ricky Smiley]

Outback has a nice shrimp on a barbie.

[Adam Carolla]

They do.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah. And the bread is pretty good.

[Adam Carolla]

Never been.

[Ricky Smiley]

Got to go, got to go. Next time I come out here, we'll go to Outback.

[Adam Carolla]

Sizzler. Still doing malibu chicken for 1749. They don't still have Langostino though. Do that. You got to look up langostino. I think.

[Ricky Smiley]

I can't believe we doing this. That's fine.

[Adam Carolla]

I think they took shrimp or dwarf lobsters or something and gave it a cool Italian name. I don't think. I think they took crawdads and called it. Gave it a cool Italian name. That's all I got.

[Ricky Smiley]

That's funny.

[Adam Carolla]

So when you're back doing your radio show in town, you're up at what time?

[Ricky Smiley]

I wake up at 3:30. Between 3:34, jump up, go make coffee. And I do old school coffee. I have a percolator on the stove.

[Adam Carolla]

But you sound like one of these people who likes getting up in the morning.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh, I'm a morning person.

[Adam Carolla]

Are you?

[Ricky Smiley]

I am not a night person.

[Adam Carolla]

I'm.

[Ricky Smiley]

If I perform, I have. If I perform, I have to go into a deep nap that afternoon. That evening, I have to go to sleep in order to function.

[Adam Carolla]

You're a morning person doing morning radio?

[Ricky Smiley]

Naturally.

[Adam Carolla]

That is the greatest gift of all time.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Because I'm not a morning person. But I had to do morning radio.

[Ricky Smiley]

Wow.

[Adam Carolla]

And it was a battle, man.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah. Nah, I Go to bed. My discipline and my structure is unreal. No alarm clock either.

[Adam Carolla]

No alarm clock. What time do you go to bed?

[Ricky Smiley]

Eight. Eight o' clock. Lights off.

[Adam Carolla]

Eight o' clock.

[Ricky Smiley]

No later than eight.

[Adam Carolla]

And you go right to bed.

[Ricky Smiley]

Right to bed.

[Adam Carolla]

You don't have to have like a glass of wine or anything like that.

[Ricky Smiley]

Every now and then. Something like that. Or a half of a sleep aid or something, you know, so I can you rested. But I jump up in the morning. Coffee on. I'm talking about old school coffee with a percolator.

[Adam Carolla]

You get up between 3:30 and 4 every day with no alarm clock.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yes.

[Adam Carolla]

And still automatically wake up. Just wake up.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yep.

[Adam Carolla]

We have a langostino Sizzler commercial from 1987. You want to know what I. I still don't know what is. You will know. You'll probably know what langostino is.

[Ricky Smiley]

Go up with something wonderful.

[Adam Carolla]

Can you guess what it is? Langostino. There's a hint.

[Ricky Smiley]

It tastes like tiny lobster. And it's seasoned with garlic and herbs in a special buttery sauce.

[Adam Carolla]

It's shrimp.

[Ricky Smiley]

Give up. We call it our shrimp langostino style. And it comes with a thick, juicy steak. All right.

[Adam Carolla]

They just made this up. It's just called shrimp today. It's called shrimp and garlic. Right.

[Dawson]

The fine Corinthian leather of restaurant fair.

[Adam Carolla]

Corinthian leather.

[Ricky Smiley]

A lot of salt. When they dash that salt on there, that mean it's going to be right.

[Dawson]

Don't forget the MSG.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. 5.99. Yeah. Now we would do. The other big one we had out here is the Shakey's bunch of lunch. Shakey's had the all you can eat whatever thing too with mojo potatoes and stuff like that. Right. That was the other thing we do.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah. I gotta go buy Tommy's before I leave. I'm a big fan of Tommy's. I like the chili cheeseburger.

[Adam Carolla]

Tommy's was the chili burger.

[Ricky Smiley]

Or go to Pink's and get a hot dog.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, so now you got Tommy's and then you got Fat burger. Black folk love fat burger.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh, yeah, that's West Coast.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't know if they're still around or not. But the fat burger and the Tommies, those were the. Those are the burgers out here.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Tommy's. And if you like a good hot dog, my favorite is pink.

[Adam Carolla]

Never had a pink stock.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Lived here my whole life.

[Ricky Smiley]

Is worth standing in line. I really.

[Adam Carolla]

Every time I pass by the place, there's 50 people standing in Line. And I go, I'm not standing in line. I'm from here. I'm not going to stand in line.

[Ricky Smiley]

You can't get nobody to go get it for you and wait in the car.

[Adam Carolla]

Black people have never sent someone on an Arby's Run. And white people never sent anyone on a Pink's Run. There we go.

[Ricky Smiley]

Okay.

[Adam Carolla]

Now I should send someone to go on a Pink's Run. Yeah. Just so I can say I've tasted a Pink's hot dog. Cause I've never tasted a Pink's hot dog.

[Ricky Smiley]

Get your bag of chips. You're in the game.

[Adam Carolla]

I'll tell you who does a good dog out here.

[Ricky Smiley]

Who?

[Adam Carolla]

What's the place that's in the train car? I don't think of that.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh, right there on the main boulevard.

[Dawson]

Carney's.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, Carney. Carney. Carney says a good dog.

[Ricky Smiley]

Okay.

[Adam Carolla]

If you want a dog, I just passed by there. You did? Yeah. On Sunset.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. There's one in Studio City. There's one out here down from the.

[Ricky Smiley]

Not the Improv. The Comedy Store.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, Yeah, I saw it.

[Ricky Smiley]

I just saw it.

[Adam Carolla]

You ever perform at the Comedy Store?

[Ricky Smiley]

I went on stage with Guy. Tory had me come in and go on stage and perform. I did a show with him and Adam Sandler one night at the Comedy Store. At the Comedy Store. That was my first time on stage. I did a good job. It was a lot of fun. I was grateful to be able to even grace that stage.

[Adam Carolla]

Do you with your act, how much of it is set? How much is improvised? How much is sort of done the same night in and night out?

[Ricky Smiley]

Most of it is. Is. Is set. Yeah, whatever. Now I do a karaoke night in Birmingham, which helps me add to my set.

[Adam Carolla]

You do the karaoke karaoke night.

[Ricky Smiley]

Because a lot of my musical cues and stuff that's funny. That hits the karaoke audience. It works when I perform on the weekend. Now, karaoke, the audience is more excited about karaoke because you have audience participation. And my karaoke tickets sell out in 10 minutes.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, really?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, like, it's a big deal. I was doing it every Monday night in Birmingham in the club. Seats 5:30.

[Adam Carolla]

Wow, that's a big club.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, that's the comedy club. Stardom is one of the biggest clubs in the United States.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Big. So average is 200, maybe 175 on something like that.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Once you get to like 300 in a club, that's a big club. In the comedy club world, there's only a handful that are 500 plus. That's a huge comedy club.

[Ricky Smiley]

Skybox is in there. It's a nice club. I hope one day you'll consider doing it.

[Adam Carolla]

I will.

[Ricky Smiley]

Birmingham is a nice town. You would enjoy yourself. Bruce Ayers. That's where Roy Wood Jr. And myself, we started at that club. You can watch Roy Wood Jr. On CNN. Used to be on Comedy Central, and we started at that club. And Jamie Foxx has performed there. Chris Rock has performed there. Stardom is a great room.

[Adam Carolla]

I been sitting on this. I brought up that Hugh O' Connor, Carroll O' Connor son story 20 minutes ago. And I never really followed it up, but Dawson has it. Am I making it up? He went on a campaign against.

[Dawson]

No, you're not. Shortly after Hugh o' Connor's death, Carroll o' Connor declared on TV that Harry Thomas Perzigian was a partner in murder and had been sharing cocaine with Hugh. Carol added that he went that he wanted to harm Perzigian in the worst way. Perzikian was eventually arrested and sentenced to one year behind bars for the possession of cocaine and furnishing it to Hugh.

[Adam Carolla]

His son, who was an actor as well. Yeah, he went on a.

[Ricky Smiley]

He went on a best thing for me to do to stay out of jail is to leave that situation alone. And one thing about the streets. The streets to take care of people like that.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah. Because if you. If you live in crap, you know, you die in crap.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. I think the problem with the Carol o' Connors, he was the mean streets of Malibu. So I don't. He was like in Malibu. I don't think the streets were going to clean that. We're going to take care of it. Like the streets you're talking about or comer got tornadoes.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah, we have a lot of tornadoes in the south around April, especially around Easter, early May. Just some storms came through last night between Birmingham, between Dallas and Atlanta and on into the Carolinas. So whenever the storms get pretty bad. So there's a lot of tornadoes.

[Adam Carolla]

You know, when you go to different parts of the country, like you go to Florida hurricanes, and you see them building. They're building their homes out of cinder block that's concrete reinforced because that's where they're living. You know what I mean? So they get it. You have to build according to what environment you're in.

[Ricky Smiley]

Right.

[Adam Carolla]

We got fire, so we should be building according to fire like they do in all the other places. And whatever's going on, they have hurricane clips and everything.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah. Let's hope that they Build the rest of the houses using something other than wood.

[Adam Carolla]

I don't think they're gonna.

[Ricky Smiley]

Well, we'll see.

[Adam Carolla]

I like them, too. All right. Another thing to bring up. Oh, speaking of that, which I'm all in for, Trump was saying he's gonna take the $3 billion away from Harvard and give it to trade schools. And I'm like, good, give it to trade schools. We don't need any more Harvard grads. We need plumbers, electricians, H vac guys. And by the way, if you're going to Harvard, you're fine. But a trade that affects poor people, you wanna make some impact on that poor kid who's failing out of high school, give him a trade, man.

[Ricky Smiley]

Okay.

[Adam Carolla]

I'm happy that Trump takes the money from Harvard and puts it in. I want trades to come back. I want a whole renaissance on trades. You're not gonna get replaced by AI. You have a trade. And we need builders. All right, let me give you a plug. Let's see. Name of the special Foolish coming out on Hulu. May 30th.

[Ricky Smiley]

May 30th.

[Adam Carolla]

Ricky Smiley. Where do we find your Raiders? Because you're syndicated everywhere, but you don't have to be syndicated anymore because we have a computer and a phone and we can download the app and listen to you whenever we want. Right?

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah. Yeah. Rickysmileymorningshow.com Ricky Smiley Morning show. On Instagram, you can hear the radio show. You know, I used to do prank phone calls back in the day. People go and find the prank phone calls.

[Adam Carolla]

Is it legal to do them where you were from?

[Ricky Smiley]

You almost can't do them anymore.

[Adam Carolla]

Can't do them anymore.

[Ricky Smiley]

You have to tell them.

[Adam Carolla]

That's what I'm saying. You can't do a prank phone call. If you tell them it's a prank phone call.

[Ricky Smiley]

Right?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Ricky Smiley]

So you can't do those things. But I have a great, funny morning shows, a lot of fun. And what inspired this special? I haven't done one in 12 years. I'd done one on Comedy Central before. I've done1 on BET probably like 10 or 12 years ago. And so it was time to do one. And so I shot it and walked it over to Hulu. They was like, yeah, we love it.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, great.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, so that's May 30, that's Friday. And then the radio show, you can just. You can go online Monday through Friday, four hours.

[Ricky Smiley]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Up at 3:30.

[Ricky Smiley]

Up at 3:30.

[Adam Carolla]

Rick Smiler. Good talking to you, my brother, man.

[Ricky Smiley]

Thank you for having me.

[Adam Carolla]

We'll take a break. We'll bring mayhem in, and we'll do news right after this. O'Reilly Auto Parts. Yeah, man, they hate. They'll keep your car on the road. And cars are getting expensive now. You got to keep them going. O'Reilly Auto Parts offers friendly, helpful service and the parts knowledge you need to maintain and repair your vehicle. Always been an O'Reilly guy. I'm wearing my O'Reilly hat right now. Limited edition. Thank you very much. Always worked on my own cars and now I work on my own race cars. That's right. Always choose O'Reilly. So whether you're a car aficionado or an auto novice, you're going to find the employees at O'Reilly Auto Parts are knowledgeable, helpful and best of all, friendly. Stop by O'Reilly Auto Parts today or visit us online at O'ReillyAuto.com Adam that's O'ReillyAuto.com Adam.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Stream all the movies and shows you love for free on Pluto tv. Say what now?

[Ricky Smiley]

Showtime.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

That means drama is free with heart wrenching stories from love and basketball power and Greenleaf.

[Ricky Smiley]

In this family, we live by the.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Spirit and laughter is free with gut busting comedies like Key and Peele, the Neighborhood Everybody Hates Chris and Boomerang. Watch all the hits all for free from all your favorite devices.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh, my God, I love it.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Feel the free Pluto TV stream. Now pay never.

[Dawson]

The Adam Carolla show presents Adam Carolla's birthday cocktail party for May 27th. Let's see who's here. Todd Bridges. Let's get back to the Adam Carolla Show.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I talked to Dawson who does all the birthday cocktail parties, and he told me that Cedric the Entertainers was a little lackluster. And I said, and we've talked to people that have 12 big time names on there. Oh, yeah, and diversity.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

I mean, folks from the arts, you know, serial killers, war generals, you know, run the gambit. You want recognizable names, but they can't all just be actors. Yeah, you want inventors, you want actresses, you want sprinkle it.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, sprinkle, you know, warlord in there.

[Adam Carolla]

Warlord. What have you. I got Todd Bridges.

[Kirk Cameron]

I mean, look, it's a solid pick. You know, the man was on television for a good stretch, has a nice criminal record. You know, it's, it's, he's all encompassing in one guy.

[Adam Carolla]

I got the only black guy named Todd. There's one black man named Todd and another outlier.

[Kirk Cameron]

Exactly.

[Dawson]

There's actually more to your birthday than that.

[Adam Carolla]

We can find out who's the best, though. I mean, now I do get the distinction of maybe being the best person on my birthday list, because once you get Einstein and Madame Curie on there, then you're taking a back seat.

[Dawson]

Cedric the Entertainer is not the best person on his list, though, after really going through your birthday and I did a real one. We'll bump in with it next. Cedric beat you on quality of the party.

[Kirk Cameron]

What you talking about?

[Dawson]

I mean, less. Less? Yeah, it's worse.

[Adam Carolla]

Do. Is there anyone on my list that's higher than Todd Bridges?

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah. Yeah, you can't wait.

[Dawson]

You got a secretary of state in there, a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

[Adam Carolla]

I want to know.

[Kirk Cameron]

Colin Powell.

[Dawson]

You want to hear it?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I want to. I want to hear it.

[Kirk Cameron]

Happy birthday.

[Adam Carolla]

Listen, thank you. Nobel Peace Prize is fine, but if I haven't heard of you, I know.

[Kirk Cameron]

He'S looking for name recognition. We're talking marquis.

[Dawson]

The Adam Carolla show presents Adam Carolla's birthday cocktail party for May 27th. Let's see who's here. Let's welcome American shipping and railroad magnet Cornelius Vanderbilt. Here's. All right, Wild Bill Hickok here is the 38th Vice President of the United States, Hubert Humphrey.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Dawson]

American golfer Sam Snead just showed up. The English actor from the Lord of the Rings, who also played Dracula, Christopher Lee is here. Let's welcome Nobel Peace Prize winner and former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Here's former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. Here comes the keyboardist for the Black Crows, Eddie Harsh from Crowded House and Split Ends. Neil Finn is here from tlc. Here's Lisa Left ey. Here comes American politician Marjorie Taylor Greene from outcast. It's Andre 3000.

[Kirk Cameron]

Oh, that's the good one.

[Dawson]

Here's Johnny Depp's daughter, Lily Rose Depp, and the star of Different Strokes. Well, one of them, Todd Bridges.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, that's better. That's better than I thought. Wild Bill Hickok made a good Vanderbilt. All right, here's an interesting. Here's something. And I've thought about it for a long time, but I've never really voiced it. But I've thought about something for a long time. But it struck me when all the controversy with Comey the other week where he was like, I'm walking down the beach and I see some seashells, and they say 86, 47. And I'm like, look at my wife. I like when guys do a re. I like when they do a reenactment of something that didn't happen. My wife says, what's that? I go, I don't know what that is. My wife says, well, why don't you. We should take a picture of it and put it up on Instagram. And I'm like, yeah, okay, I'm sure your wife is spearheading this whole movement, but all right, but also, you're allowed to shade your wife. How about we don't. You know what I mean? Like, if somebody walked around, if I was walking down the beach and shells spelled out Klansmen or something, and my girl was like, we should take a picture of that and put it up on Instagram. I'd be like, no, maybe not. Or, why don't we just keep walking? But either way, it was 86, 47. And of course, Trump's 47. And 86 means, depending who you talk to, to leave or be thrown out or get rid of or whatever. Depending on 86 could mean you got 86 this bar. Just leave the bar. Or if you're a mafia guy and you go, I need to 86 that guy. It probably means bury him at Shea Stadium. But either way, it's get rid of. Okay, I forgot that the abortion pill is called RU486, which sounds like a vanity plate for abortion, right? Like RU486 reject Star wars robot. Yeah, it's a weird. It's like I'm thinking about aborting this thing that's growing in me. Are you for 86? I think I am. I would like to 86 this fetus.

[Dawson]

I think that was a Van Halen record with Sammy Hagar, wasn't it?

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, they had something like that subliminal message.

[Adam Carolla]

Why did it get to, like. If you're in that boardroom and people are like, well, the number for this abortion pill should be ru. I'd be like, let's just make it rt. And why does it even need four? You understand R Like R and then, uh. And then four. These are all things that have different meanings. And then 86 means to get rid of. Yeah. Are you for getting rid of the baby? Are you four? Then take this pill, but really abort your baby.

[Kirk Cameron]

One through 85 didn't work.

[Adam Carolla]

Are you 486? I'm not kidding.

[Dawson]

Are you 486ing this kid?

[Kirk Cameron]

Listen, bud, I think you're doing my joke.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes, I appreciate it, but, yes, somebody needed to raise their hand. And I don't care if the company was based in Norway. Someone needed to, like, raise their hand and go in America 86ing something is getting rid of. And then ru. Sounds like. It sounds like a vanity plate.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, but I thought that was like, are you up?

[Adam Carolla]

Are you up?

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah. Like late at night text.

[Adam Carolla]

Uh huh. Yeah. Are you 486ing this fetus? Yes, I am. I will take this bill that says, are you 486 ing what I'm taking. I'm just saying, just pick another number.

[Dawson]

Now, did you make this connection a while back or did it take the 8647 to get you there?

[Adam Carolla]

Drew and I were on this morning after pill or abortion pill or whatever they were calling it early because a loveliness. And they were calling it an abortion pill, but it's not really an abortion pill. It prevents implantation. And so Drew would argue about it. I would argue, but then I would say, are you 46? Sounds like we're 86ing a fetus. It's a bad name. And I said it years and years ago, but then I never thought about it ever again because I don't dabble in abortion pills that often. I mean, I keep some in the glove box. Obviously. Trick goes south. But the point is, is when I. When we became wall to wall 86 news because Comey's got to make the rounds going, I don't know what 86 mean. My wife worked at a bar and she would say the 86, the langostino meant we're out of langostino, you know? And like he. I love it when guys who run the FBI turn into idiots who don't know anything. They just go, I don't. I never heard of. I don't know. Right. He don't know.

[Dawson]

And you think, do you think this was just a mistake? I think there's somebody in there who thought they were being clever.

[Kirk Cameron]

Oh yeah.

[Dawson]

They had to know.

[Ricky Smiley]

They had to know.

[Dawson]

Unless, of course, it was Sweden or.

[Adam Carolla]

It is. It's out of the country.

[Dawson]

No, but somebody here should have, like you said, should have been like, yeah.

[Kirk Cameron]

Marketing department could have cleaned that up a little bit, shaved that off and like scratched in a new thing on the pillow.

[Adam Carolla]

Go ahead and make that U into a zero. Exactly.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. RO 4 86. Listen, Jimmy and I, I got a. I have it here somewhere. But Jimmy and I once played. We're hanging out at a miniature golf place, playing arcade stuff, going to the batting cage after work.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

And there's a video game called Violence Fight. It's out of Korea or something. And it's a stupid name to us, but to them it Makes perfect sense. Violence, fight. We don't understand. We don't talk that way. Nobody vetted it. Nobody went, listen, I got a cousin who lives in Wisconsin. They don't say violent fight. I know it sounds like it makes sense.

[Kirk Cameron]

All your base are belong to us, right?

[Dawson]

Did RU Force 86 have a retail name, like Abortinal or something?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, for sure. It's MIF and Preston Mifeprestone. Mifepressone is what it's called, and it goes by the number, like, ROAR. 714 is a Quaalude. Right? You don't know that. That means you're not fucking cool.

[Dawson]

Way past my time.

[Adam Carolla]

Roar was the drug company that made Quaaludes. It was like, R O a r. And 714 is the number for Quaalude Violence, Fight. So they have. It's called a Quaalude, but it also says ROAR7. It says 714 on the thing. I met a dude when I was like, 13 that had this 714 tattoo, and I was like, oh, is that the name of your ship in the Navy? And he's like, no, it's for Quaalude. I'm like, okay. Winner. Wow. All right.

[Kirk Cameron]

Winner.

[Adam Carolla]

Whoa.

[Dawson]

Without telling.

[Adam Carolla]

That's hard. Gore. Oh, man. Yeah. Danko is the company makes it. I think they're in Europe or something. And I don't. I should be the universal vetter for everything. Everyone should run everything past me. That would be my greatest role.

[Kirk Cameron]

Quality control Standards and Practices by Adam Carrolla.

[Adam Carolla]

I would be sitting there, it'd be 1991, and FedEx would come to me, and they'd go, we got a new slogan. Wait, no. Ups. Ups. UPS with Gun Ray. They go, we got a new slogan. I go, all right, let me hear it. What can Brown do for you? And I'd go, reminds me of shit. Gentlemen. No. What can brown. We wear brown. I know, but don't do it. And they'd go, no, what can Brown do for you? People don't have a positive association with Brown. Anything. Leave it be. Just come up with something else. Anything. But what can Brown do for you? And I'd be like, all right, keep moving.

[Kirk Cameron]

We're trying to appeal to people's base instincts.

[Adam Carolla]

Quaaludes. Do they still have Quaaludes? Rorer. Oh, sorry. It's R O R E R. Roarer.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah. That bottle looks a bit worse for wear.

[Adam Carolla]

I'll tell you the best. You want to know the best advertisement for a Quaalude ever was people Be like, what's it like? What's a Quaalu do? And they go, so it's like a pill that's like you drank a six pack. And everyone went, oh, wow, that's a good pill then, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. I don't have to drink a six pack.

[Kirk Cameron]

I just know it from Wolf of Wall street when the guys just off their face dragging along the carpet, can't get off the floor.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, it fucks you up. All right, what do you got?

[Kirk Cameron]

Look, get you mad first, The Democrats spending millions to learn how to speak to American men and win back the working class. The party leaders are holing up in luxury hotel rooms on a strategy codenamed Sam, speaking with American men. A strategic plan to try to convince the working class voter to vote their way again.

[Adam Carolla]

Here's the thing, people. The whole idea that you're having a meeting of college educated people to try to figure out a way to communicate with folks that work with their hands is off already. You need to. Here's the problem. Stop trying to convince people you're something and start becoming that. That you're trying to convince us you are. You know what I mean? Like, Kamala Harris never worked at McDonald's, but she wanted to convince us she was the kind of person that worked at McDonald's because then we would like that kind of person. You're gonna have to just find that kind of person. Yeah, you're not gonna convince people. That's who you are. You're not. You don't know that world. They want people from that world, but they don't want.

[Kirk Cameron]

They want to pretend to be from that world and sort of like Pied Piper ya into something.

[Adam Carolla]

They don't want a bunch of academics from Ivy League synthesizing a person that would be from that world.

[Kirk Cameron]

Well, that's kind of what they're doing. They spend $20 million on this business and they kind of brainstorm in these luxury hotel rooms how to convince working class men to the party. The big thing is that trying to.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, look, I can tell. First off, those dudes are not down with any of your he, she bullshit. They don't want any of it.

[Dawson]

They're also not down with brainstorming in luxury hotel room.

[Adam Carolla]

Not down with any of that.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, that's a big eat cake kind of thing. But they're saying above all, we must shift from a moralizing tone. You know, it seems like their strategy is like cart before force.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, they don't want pronouns. They don't want he she. They don't want gay pride flags swinging everywhere. They like trucks. They like America. You know, you guys don't like pickup trucks with American flags on it. Guess who's driving those pickup trucks? Those dudes.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. So you're gonna have to just scrap all your shit ideas from the last 10 years and pretend to be normal.

[Kirk Cameron]

Or you can try to buy ads and video games. I would like to see a Hu Biden Call of Duty skin just parachuting into the war zone.

[Adam Carolla]

You can try to convince people you're something you're not, but you just tried that, and it didn't work. So stop buying advertising and start acting normal. And then those people will get down with you. But your people then won't be down with you. They're not huge fans of Palestine. They like a secure border. There's tons of shit that they don't want you to outlaw. Internal combustion engines. That's all that some brass tax. You're going to have to completely change your raison debt. And they don't like to use the term raison debt. So I'm going to stop.

[Kirk Cameron]

I hate it.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Kirk Cameron]

All right. An exclusive restaurant in Miami sent many into a spiral after revealing a cocktail that comes with a $33,000 price tag and a Birkin bag.

[Adam Carolla]

Okay, I cannot. This.

[Kirk Cameron]

Let me spell it out, though. The drink called it's not a bag, it's a cocktail features a cocktail consisting of belvedere, tan vodka, grapefruit oil, saccharum, and lillette blanc with the peach garnish and a side of caviar served inside this Birkin bag. I mean, come on, 33 grand. Get your lady something nice.

[Adam Carolla]

I. Listen to me. Listen to me. Everybody that we did this a lot, you know, they go, oh, it's a martini for a million dollars. It has a diamond in it. It's like, okay, okay, what's your car worth? What's street value on your car? 38. You know what? Fuck that. I don't care about your car, all right? I got a Ford 350dually across the street.

[Kirk Cameron]

All right. All right.

[Adam Carolla]

It's got some miles on it. Yeah, it's probably worth 11 grand, max. Yeah. Okay. If I put $2 million in a suitcase and set it on the floor inside the cab, it's not a million dollar truck. It's $11,000 truck with a million dollars in a suitcase in the glove box or on the floor.

[Kirk Cameron]

I'll take it.

[Adam Carolla]

We're talking 30 for 11.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, yeah. 12.

[Adam Carolla]

350. Dooley, my point is, is there, you know, it's not a million dollar bra. It's a bra with a million dollars worth of diamonds on it, you fucking assholes. Stop it already. It should be illegal.

[Kirk Cameron]

The article admits that without the bag, the thing's 150 bucks, which is still a lot for some Belvedere.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I agree, all right, But I don't like it. It went away. They did it for a while, but.

[Kirk Cameron]

They went viral again.

[Adam Carolla]

You know, they're trying to get us to talk about it.

[Kirk Cameron]

We did.

[Adam Carolla]

We did. They fooled us.

[Kirk Cameron]

They're barking.

[Adam Carolla]

They fooled us.

[Kirk Cameron]

Next up, Joe Rogan starts going to church as a faith resurgence gains momentum, this Christian apologist claim. So this article was from the perspective of this Christian apologist, Wesley Hoof, who appeared on Joe Rogan Experience in January and has now said that. I can tell you, in fact, that Joe Rogan's attending church.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, again, they wanna synthesize Joe Rogan, but he likes bow hunting and he likes the ufc.

[Kirk Cameron]

He lives in Texas, too. You gotta go to church.

[Adam Carolla]

You gotta. You can't synthesize that. That's who the guy is. And the people that like Joe know that's who he is. I don't mind. I mean, I've been going to church off and on. Yeah, what's up?

[Kirk Cameron]

Recently, like, tell us about it, because that's interesting. As an agnostic guy, always on the.

[Adam Carolla]

Radio, I am not religious. I realized that our society was probably better when we had more religion. People are rudderless now and they're fucked up and they're a mess. So it kind of kept people in their lane a little bit. There is. Religion in my world is not that much different than therapy and that people go, well, you gotta get a good therapist. And then I go, you don't really have to get a good therapist. The process of going somewhere once a week for an hour to sit down and sort feelings is the process. You know what I mean?

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

It doesn't. I mean, as I think about it, I've had a lot of conversations with different therapists in my life, and most of them weren't gifted or good or anything, but the process, kind of pouring that out and sitting down and working on yourself, you know? And so the process of once a week going, no phone, no vices, no nothing, no distractions. I'm going to sit in this place and I'm going to spend an hour with my own thoughts and quiet and hear stories that other people have and stuff like that. Like, it's. It's probably good for your soul. Good for your. It's just good for your process.

[Ricky Smiley]

You talk about prayer.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, but I don't pray. I mean, I don't believe in any of it.

[Kirk Cameron]

Meditative.

[Adam Carolla]

It's a thing where you just go. I am going to make time to put my head. Okay, so what do I do? Well, you could sleep, you could watch tv, you could write comedy, you could wrench on a car. You know, whatever my day is. Talk on the phone, complain to people about stuff. Like whatever my day consists of. This will be an hour a week where you don't do any of those things. You just sit and you listen. You don't talk. You just listen. And the person could say something that no matter whether you believe it or not, it always has some message or kernels of truth in it, even if it happened or didn't happen. You know what I'm saying? And then you just sit there and you absorb it.

[Kirk Cameron]

That's what you do at church.

[Adam Carolla]

That's what I do. I don't know what. Everyone else seems to be moved. I mean, I'm probably the only one in there who doesn't believe in Jesus Christ. I may be the only one. Atheists in the church, but don't you.

[Kirk Cameron]

Think that's gonna chip away at your resolve and then one day you might become Christian?

[Adam Carolla]

I would like to be religious. I'm just not.

[Kirk Cameron]

I always hear you say that, but that seems like something you could do if you wanted. You said you would like to. So it sounds like you're taking the first steps.

[Adam Carolla]

I would like to believe that something existed that I don't think exists. That's pretty beautiful, but I don't. I don't think I'm gonna convince myself.

[Kirk Cameron]

You don't think so? I think maybe I've seen it happen.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, in prison. Yeah.

[Kirk Cameron]

No, not in prison.

[Adam Carolla]

Outside. But listen, you could either be religious or you could lead a more religious life. Either one would be okay with me. I'm fine. You can just act as if you know what I'm saying. But I don't. No, I don't believe. I wish I believed.

[Kirk Cameron]

You don't think you could start to learn to believe through repetition? You know, one day God would just crack up in there and say, hey, I heard you were atheist.

[Adam Carolla]

Probably could get closer to it, but I don't know. I mean, maybe.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, you never did.

[Adam Carolla]

Like a miracle happened. Like, my stepdad picked up a check or something like that when we went out to eat. Like something would have to be shown.

[Kirk Cameron]

Believe In Jesus after that.

[Adam Carolla]

That would have to see a miracle.

[Kirk Cameron]

Divine intervention on the check.

[Adam Carolla]

Something. Something like that. Yeah. All right, whatever.

[Kirk Cameron]

All right, that's the next one we got. The Russian teams remain banned from the 2026 Olympics. I mean, it's an interesting story here that Russian teams, including the powerful ice hockey team, remain banned from next year's Winter Olympics as part of Italy as sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

[Adam Carolla]

You know what's funny?

[Kirk Cameron]

Well, and I'll tell you this, it's just to the team sports and a lot of the singular athletes are competing as neutral athletes.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh. So yeah.

[Kirk Cameron]

So figure skating, these type of. I think maybe wrestling. I would, I mean, assume the last year that some guys competed as neutral athletes. But yeah, the teams cannot play, but the individuals might be able to make a case.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I, you know, I was thinking about the other day. Remember, Remember the whole time Trump is running for election, whether it's Hillary Clinton or whoever, all the fucking idiots, the same idiots are like, that's Putin's best friend, he's gonna get in there. Putin's his result. He's a cat spa for Putin. Trump is just gonna do the bidding of Putin and he's buddies with Putin. It was all Putin. Remember Putin, Putin, Putin rootin tootin Putin, Trump and Putin tootin Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump. Now he's been in for four months and trying to get fucking Putin to quit the war in Ukraine. And like Putin doesn't Putin doing nothing. He's not listening to anybody. Trump just said he was crazy, like what the fuck with Putin. I'm just saying Hillary Clinton, if Trump is Putin's best friend and Putin's Trump's best friend, why won't he listen to Trump then? Trump keeps begging him to stop the war and he won't do it. He's just escalating it. So does it, does he have power over Putin or not? I would argue not, cuz he's not listening to anything he says and he's calling him crazy. But somehow Putin was Trump's best friend, but now his best friend won't talk to him about stopping. Yeah, maintain, dude. God, it's so unnecessary. It's just wars, wars keep going. It's so weird, right?

[Kirk Cameron]

I know.

[Adam Carolla]

It's 2025. Here we go.

[Kirk Cameron]

I think it would have been over and it would have been a utopia by now, but it just keeps on slogging on.

[Adam Carolla]

People would sort of learn a lesson and kind of want to get on with it and whatever. Nope, not doing it not doing it.

[Kirk Cameron]

No.

[Adam Carolla]

I would still got to kill people. Yeah. So anyway, they're not going to compete as a team, which is good for our hockey team, Right?

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, definitely. Good to take out the top concern.

[Adam Carolla]

Curious.

[Dawson]

Because what they do, what they usually do is they. They have like a new flag. You get to, you know, people from other countries that can't be represented.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, Neutral.

[Dawson]

Neutral flag. Why can't teams do that?

[Kirk Cameron]

I know that's what they say in regards. It's because it's based on the fact that by definition, a group of individual neutral athletes cannot be considered a team.

[Dawson]

Oh, that does make sense.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Kirk Cameron]

So it's like a technical snafu.

[Adam Carolla]

We still. I know we beat Canada in hockey recently, I think, and then we lost. Yeah, yeah, we're taking.

[Kirk Cameron]

But pretty good. We had, like, great teams.

[Adam Carolla]

We figured out. I'll tell you, we did something amazing. We figured out how to win at a sport without using the black man. But it's not easy. Now if you want to. Do you want to kick the world's ass in football or basketball or something? We'll just get the brothers involved and then we'll just whoop up on everyone, even baseball. But hockey remained white and figured out a way to beat the world. Now maybe it's enough Canadians relocated or something.

[Kirk Cameron]

No, we found some black kids that could kick ass.

[Adam Carolla]

They could play hockey.

[Kirk Cameron]

We put them in there.

[Adam Carolla]

We sprinkled a few brothers in there. That's not. When you see the team. That ain't it.

[Kirk Cameron]

Milky white.

[Adam Carolla]

We just won the championship or whatever it was with white dudes in the United States.

[Kirk Cameron]

Porn said dudes with French names.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes. So we figured it out. Tip of the cap, white man. All right, do we have one more?

[Kirk Cameron]

That's all the stories for today. Thank you for listening.

[Adam Carolla]

Kirk Cameron is gonna join me and he's gonna talk about the books. And I think I talked about homeschooling last time and all that TV shows. And we'll get into that right after this. Shopify. You want to start a business? Well, it can be intimidating. Finding the right tool that not only helps you out, but simplifies everything can be such a game changer for millions of businesses. That tool is Shopify. Get started with your own design studio. With hundreds of ready to use templates, Shopify helps you build a beautiful online store to match your brand's style. You'll be able to get the word out like you have a marketing team behind you. Easily create emails and social media campaigns wherever your customers are scrolling and Best yet, Shopify is your commerce expert with world class expertise in everything from managing inventory to international shipping to processing returns and beyond. So if you're ready to sell, you're ready for Shopify, right? Dawson?

[Dawson]

Upgrade your business and get the same checkout we use. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com corolla all lowercase go to shopify.com corolla to upgrade your selling today. Shopify.com corolla.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Stream all the movies and shows you love for free on Pluto tv. Say what now?

[Adam Carolla]

Showtime.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

That means drama is free with heart wrenching stories from love and basketball power and Greenleaf.

[Ricky Smiley]

In this family we live by the.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Spirit and laughter is free with gut busting comedies like Key and Peele, the neighborhood Everybody hates, Chris and Boomerang. Watch all the hits all for free from all your favorite devices.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh my God, I love it.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Feel the free Pluto TV stream now pay never.

[Dawson]

It's time for Nicaraguan. Name that movie with Adam's buddy Oswaldo. See if you can guess which movie this famous line is from.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, Mr. DeMille, are ready for my close up.

[Dawson]

If you said Sunset boulevard.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up. You're correct.

[Dawson]

Now back to the show.

[Adam Carolla]

Kirk Cameron has joined us. Good to see you. Hey, great to see you, man.

[Kirk Cameron]

Your show's already cracking me up with your Nicaraguan jokes.

[Adam Carolla]

That was the late, great Oswaldo Castillo, who I met doing construction a million years ago. And then when I kind of got into show business, I just sort of brought him with me into show business. I now feel so old because I'm reading your bio and it says father of six and grandparent. And the fact that the kid from Growing Pains is a grandparent made me instantly old.

[Kirk Cameron]

See, and it's even worse for me because you're indirectly feeling old, but I'm like the source of your oldness. So what does that make me?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, you're my old muse. You're firing my oldness. But you are living your oldness. I know it's weird. And I can't reconcile getting old. And I can't figure out what people were thinking when I was young. Did they? Because I don't feel old. I don't think old. I have stuff, like stuff I want to do when I hear that someone goes, well, maybe we should take the retirement age from 65 and do it to 70 for Social Security. And everyone goes nuts. I'm like, well, yeah, you shouldn't be retiring in a few Years. You should be working everybody. I don't know.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, I hear you. It's so good to be talking to you again, by the way, Adam. And it's really an honor to be on your show. And I agree. I'm 54 years old. I'll be 55 a little bit later. So I get all sorts of discounts now, which I'm excited about. I'm finally a grandfather. So I'm in this beautiful chapter with a little grandbaby girl who I'm just in love with, together with my wife, and she calls me chief. So I'm feeling really good at 54 years old, and I'm hoping to be able to continue to contribute even more because I've got more wisdom now. You can see it here in my beard and in my hair than I ever had when I was on Growing Pains.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I agree. I feel like I know things I didn't know, although I didn't know no one wanted to listen to anyone over 25. I thought I was going to be sagely and the kids would be at the hem of my garment just waiting for their next morsel of information instead of, like, quiet, old man, you don't know what it's like out here. And it's interesting. And I guess in a weird way, technology has usurped or taken the place of what wisdom used to be, because we used to look at old people and go, you have wisdom, but now everyone has a phone with all the information on it. And maybe that's part of the general lack of. Of reverence for older people in our society.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, I think you're right. And therein lies the great deception. I think this is my take. What do you think of it? I'm thinking that people have just. They've confused knowledge with wisdom data, with the ability to know how to use the data within the context of the situation. Right. I mean, we're at a place now where, you know, two plus two is five in some circles.

[Adam Carolla]

Right.

[Ricky Smiley]

And.

[Kirk Cameron]

And so I think that I was saying this to a friend. Her name happened to be Alyssa, and I was like, you know, with kids, they think all they need is Alexa, when in reality, Alexa has no wisdom. She's been programmed to think a certain way, and she can process lots of data, but she doesn't have the ability to know how to wisely discern what's actually true from false and then apply it to your specific situation. I mean, AI is phenomenal, but it ain't Grandma. It ain't your dad.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, no, I Agree. And I had a flashback to a thought, a conversation I had like a million years ago with a friend of mine and he went off to college and I worked in the trades, so I never went to college. But I realized a lot of these incredibly dumb, nonsensical ideas are coming from college campuses, which is interesting because I was always under the impression you're going to go to college, you're going to learn a bunch of stuff and then you're going to come back and apply it or share it. I didn't know you were going to get your head scrambled. But, and thinking back on it now, and this is going back almost 40 years, my friend Carl went off to college and he studied philosophy and then at some point he came back from college and we started having a discussion about philosophy. And I don't know, I said something like, look, I think, I think an orange is better than a poison mushroom. Or up is up and down is down, or right is right and left is left. And he said, yeah, but can you really know it for certain? And like, can you prove it? And then what if I don't feel that way? And we got into this whole bizarre philosophical discussion about right and wrong. And I was like, oh, this is what you're learning. You're getting your head scrambled, man. You just. I know this stuff because I'm alive and cause I live in the real world, you know what I mean? Like, I know a bowling ball weighs more than a feather and if you drop it on your foot you'll find out I'm right. But you're arguing that the feather weighs more than a bowling ball cuz you feel like it weighs more than a bowling ball. And I'm like, we're getting some weird no man's land. And that was years ago and I think now we're there.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, yeah, man. All of this is resonating with me and conversations that I've had with, with, with people and yeah, I mean, at the end of the day we can, we can, we can also ask, are you and I really having this conversation philosophically? Could we be a couple of, a couple of experiments floating around in some saline solution? A couple of brains that are just being prodded with electrical probes, right? We think we're having this conversation, right? Well, I, I guess so, but I doubt it. I, I think reality is real and we certainly live as though we're not just phantom people. That we actually experience things like caring for one another and that it's better to be good than it is to Be evil. And these aren't just imaginary constructs that these are virtues that actually exist in the world. Whether I'm here or not. That's what I think.

[Adam Carolla]

I'm with you. But again, I talked to Dr. Drew a lot about sort of what happened. And I think what I keep saying what happened is people wandered off the farm and onto college campuses. And the farm teaches you everything you need to know all day, every day, and it's all there. And then you go from the farm to air conditioned college campuses, and now you start coming up with these thoughts about pronouns and identifying as a woman when you're a man, and who's to say birthing people and all these are all insane thoughts that never happened on a farm. And I think that's the cause of this. People are all off the farm and into the classroom, and that's where they're getting scrambled.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, that's where they're getting scrambled and screwed up. I agree. You know, it just came to my mind, Adam, as you were saying that. What do you think of this? I think we left the real farm and then we. We went. We sent our kids to the funny farm of college.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Kirk Cameron]

And then that's why we've ended up like Animal Farm.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Kirk Cameron]

Remember that book?

[Adam Carolla]

Sure.

[Kirk Cameron]

In high school.

[Adam Carolla]

Absolutely.

[Kirk Cameron]

Where you got all the animals who were saying, hey, wait a minute, you know, the farmer, he's terrible. He. He makes us work and he takes the chicken's eggs and all of this. And the pigs say, you're absolutely right. And the pigs say, let's revolt and this is going to be our farm. And then the pigs get in charge and they're worse than the farmer and they enslave all of the other animals and duping them all. And I think that's what college campuses are doing personally is I think they're turning all of our kids from hard working, thankful Americans into commies who just bow down to the furor or the oligarchy of the pigs.

[Adam Carolla]

Listen, it's not 100%, but it's going on. And my theory is that people that are attracted to that business, you have to kind of think whatever business you're in, like, who's attracted to it. And if you kind of go commercial airline pilot, who's attracted to that? You go, okay, that's a guy who lives in the real world. Cause he has gravity to deal with every day. And there's a kind of a practicality. There's a person that would be attracted to being a UFC fighter and a person that would be attracted to being a nurse. You know what I mean? It's kind of different mentalities. And I'm attracted to building because I like building. That's my mentality. I enjoy working with my hands, and I like that world. And building attracts a type of person. And Donald Trump is a commercial builder. That's how he thinks. That's why he's always on the move. Let's go. Let's hurry up. When he comes here after the fire, he sits there as a commercial builder, and he's talking to Karen Bass, our mayor, who's a career bureaucrat who doesn't think like that at all. She's attracted to the academia stuff. And so he's yelling, hurry, hurry, hurry. Clear those lots. Let's get going. And she's going, do it safely. Slow it down, okay? It's a different mind. The people that are attracted to the teaching profession are not the same people that are attracted to being commercial developers. It's a different. Or pilots or cage fighters or farmers. It attracts people who are sort of, if not fans of socialism. Kind of like the agreement of, you don't have to pay me that much as long as I get a lot of time off and a guaranteed job forever. They're not hanging their shingle. They're not out in the real world. They're not dealing with the gravity of starting their own business. They just go, I'll make this deal. I'm never gonna have to look for another job. I'm never gonna get paid or rich. But I can never fail, and I can never be fired. And I get tons. I get every summer off to do whatever I want and lots of days off for me. And then they go, okay, that's attracted those people. Now those people then work their way up the chain, and that's the environment they're in. That's what they create. There's no builders in that group. There's no entrepreneurs. There's no business people. It's just those people who are attracted, and then they start spreading a message of what they're into. If they were vegetarian or vegan, that's the message they would spread as well. That's who they are.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, man.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Kirk Cameron]

No, man, I think you nailed it. That's exactly right. I'm thinking about all these different professions. You know, my father was a PE teacher, and he was a really practical guy. He's out there with a whistle, and he's doing calisthenics with the kids. My whole life with all these junior high school kids, and he was just livid with the way that the faculty way up at the top would deal with things because they didn't deal with kids. They didn't want to deal with kids. They were just dealing with parents and rules and whether or not they got paid. And hey, just, just, just take care of the problem. So the kids keep showing up, so we keep getting paid or you're fired. You know, it wasn't like they attracted different types of people. My dad actually cared. And I think about, I think about the military. You know, who joins the military, generally speaking, all my military buddies, they're patriotic, you know that they're, they're, they're for second amendment. They're all for very protective of their families. They're good blue collar type people, people. And then you got people who are politicians who run the military who then start doing all this wonky, wacky stuff that undermines our own ability to defend the country through lethality and everything else with DEI and all that. And you go like, what's going on? My daughter is a flight attendant and you know, she's seeing people get hired that are not qualified for what they're doing, and yet they're putting them there anyway because of some other sorts of criteria. And you go like, like, you know, you don't risk your life in an airplane every day with these people.

[Adam Carolla]

Right?

[Kirk Cameron]

Like, so I agree with you. I think we need more people who live in the real world to be creating the world that we live in tomorrow. And I think that's a lot of what drives Donald Trump and his cabinet, his Avengers team, so to speak, to do the things that they do, you know, Elon Musk and Doge and efficiency and all that stuff.

[Adam Carolla]

I agree. I was saying to Dr. Drew, I don't think I said it on this show, but I said, what does Trump do? Well, he's a commercial builder and he builds lots of big projects. Okay, so what does that entail? Well, it doesn't entail him tying rebar together or putting up drywall. He walks onto a job site and he has subs. Everyone is a sub. There's the concrete guy, there's the steel guy, there's the finish guy, there's the carpet guy, there's the H Vac guy, there's the plumber, there's electrician. Everyone is a sub. But if you're the general contractor and your sub stink, the project gets behind. And they're always saying, where's the glass guy? Where's the steel guy? Where's that, Whoa. The steel guy can't show up till the concrete guy does the foundation. Then the steel guy can show up and the drywall guy can't show up until the framers do their framing. And everyone's waiting on everyone. So Trump's going, hurry. But I gotta surround myself with guys who know how to work. He's not a drywaller and he's not a concrete guy. He knows what it is. He's there, but that's not his job. But he has to have really good subs around him. And the Doge guys and Elon Musk and stuff. And I know everyone on MSNBC hates these guys, but they're so competent subs. And Trump has to recognize competent subs because you cannot build a 32 story commercial office building without super competent subs that you've worked with a lot. And I like that world a lot better than. Well, we have diversity. That's all Biden wanted was a diverse cabinet. And I'm like, like, I'm all for diverse as long as everyone's real excellent at what they do. But if you're just gonna announce, I want the first black female vice president, I don't know that she's the best choice for the job. It feels like you're doing a diversity thing more than you're doing a competence thing. And that's what we found out. And I'm glad they got burned by it, because the lesson should be, I want the most competent subs, not the most diverse subs with an eye on. If you go, well, they're not a lot of black guys who do steel. I'd go, all right, I'm all for going into the inner city and recruiting people and team, but they have to be good and they have to be taught and they have to be competent. But yeah, let's round it out. We'll get more women doing drywall. Fine. But they gotta be good at it. Yeah, so I'm for it in theory. I just don't want to shove people to the head of the line who aren't competent.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Stream all the movies and shows you love for free on Pluto tv. Say what now?

[Adam Carolla]

Showtime.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

That means drama is free with heart wrenching stories from love and basketball power and Greenleaf in this family we live by the spirit and laughter is free with gut busting comedies like Key and Pew the Neighborhood, Everybody Hates Chris and Boomerang Watch all the hits all for free from all your favorite devices.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh, my God, I love it.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Feel the free Pluto TV Stream now pay never Stream all the movies and shows you love for free on Pluto tv. Say what now?

[Adam Carolla]

Showtime.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

That means drama is free. With heart wrenching stories from love and basketball power and Greenleaf.

[Ricky Smiley]

In this family we live by the.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Spirit and laughter is free. With gut busting comedies like Key and Peele, the Neighborhood, Everybody Hates Chris and Boomerang. Watch all the hits all for free from all your favorite devices.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh my God, I love it.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Feel the free Pluto TV stream now pay never.

[Kirk Cameron]

Man, this is so good for me. You know, I'm a fan of you and your ideas and it's great for me to listen and learn just as we're even talking together. And, and man, I'm thinking of the exact same kind of thing. I want people to build the world for my children here in America that are filled with all kinds of competent people, like competent teachers and philosophers who take common sense truths and build those into philosophy and scientists and economists and nutritionists and doctors and medicine, all of that kind of stuff. But you know, don't you feel like there are so many perverse industries that are lurking behind so many of the problems that we have in the country that they're just not going to go away until somebody pulls back the curtain and reveals them? I remember Dr. Ben Carson said to me one time, for instance, when we were talking about poverty, he said poverty scared him to death. Growing up as a kid, he never wanted to be poor and that's why he worked so hard. And even though his mom didn't get past an 8th grade education and he didn't like school, he did everything he could to become the famous doctor that he was. And he said, you know, the problem that I've learned is that there is a poverty industry out there that actually gets rich off of the problem of poverty so that they can raise money in all sorts of ways and they can manage that problem till end the cows come home. And I could see that in the medical industry. I could see it in the, you name it. And that's really discouraging.

[Adam Carolla]

California has a homeless industry. And look, the biggest problem, I mean, let's just really call it what it is, they spent $24 billion. They ended up with 30% more homeless people. Somebody $30 billion, $25 billion. It's an industry. It's an industry. And I'll tell you how you know it's an industry. It's populated. The homeless population is probably 80% drug addicts and 20% mental patients. But it's drugs. It's all drugs. LA City Council has no experts on addiction. Medicine anywhere near the City Council. Dr. Drew has 40 years experience in addiction medicine and volunteered to be on to advise the city council. And they told him to go pound sand and kicked him out of there. And then the LA Times wrote a hit piece on him. So are you interested in solving this problem or not? If I had a problem with my roof and a 40 year expert roofer said, I will volunteer to come to your warehouse and work on this problem for you, I would not show him the door. I would say thank you. I have a problem and I want to get it fixed. So are they worried about the homeless? Are they trying to solve the homeless? I would argue no. If they tell people who have an expertise in addiction and tell them to go pound sand, then they are not interested in fixing this problem.

[Kirk Cameron]

I agree, man. It's just you say it in a way that makes so much sense and that sounds just like the border problem. You know, we can't fix it because the Republicans just won't pass this bill and it just can't be done. And we know it's a problem, but look, it takes time.

[Ricky Smiley]

Wow.

[Kirk Cameron]

Lo and behold, the whole sucker gets buttoned up and we have this massive decrease in drug trafficking and gangs and fentanyl and. And all this stuff because someone actually wanted to solve the problem. Turns out Elon Musk fires. What was it, 70% of the staff of Twitter? Yeah, something like that. I can't. I don't know exactly what the percentage was. It might have been higher, like 80. And they said, how can you do that? He says, well, it turns out if you actually just like don't have people sitting around, you can. You only need 20% of the staff because they really want to do the job.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I agree.

[Kirk Cameron]

I agree.

[Adam Carolla]

And eventually gravity wins and eventually truth wins and it takes a while and we're sort of seeing some of the fruits of it now. It is weird that there needs to be an argument every step of the way about what to do, which is sort of a weird time we're living in. But you are right that the people who get paid a lot of money to do these things have created and it's a business and they're not interested in having the plug pulled to their livelihood, even if their livelihood is creating a problem that people suffer under. I mean, it's sort of like the guy who picks up litter at the park prays, there's a lot of litter at the park. Now we go to the park and we don't want there to be litter at the park. But he's out of a job if there's no litter at the park and may throw his own litter down if he has to to keep his livelihood. So you sorry I wanna plug your thing? Cause I don't wanna. We gotta give you a little shot here. Iggy and Dr. Kirk, I should say Mr. Kirk, he got me Going with Drew is the kids show we're talking about. It's streaming on Brave and I' on people out doing their own thing and platforms and alternative platforms and alternative to mainstream media and all that. And we're seeing that renaissance happen right in front of our eyes right now as well. Right, Kirk?

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, absolutely. Necessity is the mother of invention. And I'm so excited about this new project, Iggy and Mr. Kirk. It's a brand new children's TV show. Think of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood for our generation of kids and grandkids. I mean, we need Mr. Rogers now more than ever. Remember, he was the guy that you could trust with your children. You can't trust Disney anymore, You can't trust Nickelodeon anymore. I mean, it's like we got drag queens reading stories to our children in public libraries and schools. And so what I've been trying to do is write books with people that have good values and messages. And then we've been bringing them to life in this TV show. And I'm raising a little adorable green 5 year old iguana in my backyard tree house together with my wife and my daughter. And he's got to learn every lesson that a five year old has to learn. About identity, about purpose, about the importance of family, forgiveness, overcoming your fears, telling the truth. And he's got all of these little, these colorful puppet friends and of animals all around him, including a vulture named Culture who is always lying.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh yeah, and leaving him.

[Kirk Cameron]

And he's got to rely on the wisdom of his parents and a based non woke chatgpt computer that he has in the treehouse.

[Adam Carolla]

I'm gonna tell my crew. Just leave Kirk up on the screen, please. I watched a trailer already. That's interesting because I was. I never really thought about whatever kids have these days and just how scrambled their brain would be if they listened to a lot of these idiots. And also just how weird. Like the whole trans story hour, sharing the bathroom with the he, she or whatever the hell it is. Like how weird. And listen, I'm old and I can barely process this crap. I really mean it. I don't, I don't even know how to process the pronouns because when you read an article in The LA Times. They then. And they. Literally, I've read these articles and they'll go, well, then she went into the bathroom and then they raped the young girl. And then she fled. And it's like, she raped. No, that's a dude. And it's not they. It's one guy and he did this. And I don't know what's going on because you keep seeing they and she. And then she pulled her penis. Their penis out. And I'm like, okay, I don't know what's going on because you're saying they and she, and you're talking about a guy and you're talking about one guy, but you're calling them them. And I'm like, I'm. I'm old and confused. I couldn't imagine being six.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, it's two plus two equals five time. That's what's going on.

[Adam Carolla]

Right? So with you and listen, I am so happy that people got out from under the thumb of the sort of industry and said, I'm gonna go do my own podcast, or I'm gonna go be the Daily Wire and create my own content, or I'm gonna make my own documentary and push it out there. I don't need this platform. I don't need this engine anymore. And it's happening in a heartbeat. I mean, it used to be you needed Disney and you needed ABC and you needed these Paramount, you needed these platforms. Not really anymore. And I would argue they caused an exodus. But for you, you have to get some seed money, you have to get some investors, you have to have a network. It's not all just you. Right?

[Kirk Cameron]

Right. That's right. Yeah. So I'm working with a company called Brave Books, and they're a little book company out of Texas. And they've continued to get so much support because they're like, you know, they've, They've, they've. They've been the spark that's lit this fire. And lots of people want to get behind us. And now our little TV show, we've shot 20 episodes of Iggy and Mr. Kirk. It's on their app called Brave Plus. But the angel Studio app is now putting us right on their app alongside of the Chosen. And so is Pure Flix and there's a couple of others. And so all of a sudden, it begins to grow, and people say we want to be a part of something that is going to turn the tide and is going to lead back to the kinds of, you know, the stability, the prosperity, the growth, the liberty and the Values that are going to lead to the. To the blessing and the protection of my children and my grandchildren, not the plundering of their property and their freedoms. Yeah, I'm excited about it, too, and I see it everywhere.

[Adam Carolla]

I just did a couple of dry bar specials for Angel Studios, so you can enjoy some wholesome comedy with your family. Kirk.

[Kirk Cameron]

I love it.

[Adam Carolla]

Coming from an atheist in Hollywood. Yeah, I love it. I know the angel guys well, and I should have brought them up earlier, saying it's a real good example of folks that didn't fit in a system that have different values and are doing their own thing. And I love that they don't have a monopoly, Hollywood. And also, nobody listens to them anymore. When an election comes around, they get all their A listers and they trot all their A listers out, even pay their A listers to all tell America how to vote, and nobody listens to them. Isn't that crazy anymore. I love it.

[Kirk Cameron]

I know. It's so great. It's how the mighty have fallen. You know, it reminds me of, like, I'm looking out my window at my house here. I live in Tennessee now, Adam, not in California. And I miss the sunshine. I really miss in and out Burger. Big time.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Kirk Cameron]

And.

[Ricky Smiley]

But.

[Kirk Cameron]

But they're actually moving their headquarters to Franklin, Tennessee, I heard. So I'm getting excited. But I see this tree out in my neighbor's yard, and, you know, we had a. We had. We have so much rain here that the trees get really, really big. But apparently the root system was not very strong and the whole thing fell over onto the power line and just, just like, took out the power like, everywhere. And I was just thinking about the fact that, you know, this is what happens with false political and ideological systems like Marxism and communism and all throughout history, they eventually they collapse because they get so gargantuanly big and they're so, like, puffed up with their own pride. And look at my branches.

[Adam Carolla]

Look at my leaves.

[Kirk Cameron]

I'm so big and I'm in a big empire. And that's what pride does to people. But ultimately, with America, we were different in the beginning. We had a root that went deep down into faith in God, and we had a social contract with one another that said, love your neighbor as yourself. I'm telling you that that's not the deal that's going on in North Korea or China. And eventually these big regimes end up toppling because they don't have secure roots that go down deep. I think that we still have a chance to Reattach the roots and to nourish them here in our American constitutional republic and get back to the times where, you know, we could trust each other and we put good representatives to represent us as the leaders. We're not electing leaders. That's not correct. We are choosing representatives who represent the leaders and we are the sovereigns, the people. And if we can do that and begin to govern ourselves the way we were intended in the beginning, I think our best days are still ahead of us.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I do as well. And that's the sort of, the sad part of sort of. It's like polluting your own. Well, like why we don't need to do it. There's so much we know, so much we've learned, so much there's so much we've overcome. We don't need to do the one step forward, two steps back. Or maybe it's two steps forward and then one step back and then one step sideways. We don't need to do all that we've been doing. It kind of drives me nuts. We've figured out what works and I don't know the cycle of it. You have New York. New York was dicey and dirty and scary and dangerous and had a lot of crime. And then Giuliani at some point came in and said, well, clean it all up, I'll clean it up, but here's how you have to clean it up. And then he cleaned it all up. And then everyone went, oh, this is good. And then everyone got bored and they went, let's go back and defund the police. Cuz they got bored of it being good. And then it went back and now someone's gotta go, all right, now we gotta come in and we gotta re clean up. Why? The process is what I'm saying. Why we know. I mean la, you can see it cycle now. We're gonna get a progressive DA in there. Okay, here we go. And then it falls apart and then we'll have to rebuild it again. It's like, learn your lesson, idiots. You'll understand how it works. Why are you destroying cities like San Francisco with your horrible ideas? Sorry, it's diet and exercise. That's it. We're all the world's greatest nutritionists. When I just say diet and exercise. You don't need a hack, you don't need Ozempic, you don't need a shot, you don't need a pill. Your grandpa knew it and you knew it when you were eight. Diet and exercise. Same with cities, same with families. That's It. Yeah.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, boy, I think you nailed it. And you just made me think of something when you said, why do they keep poisoning their own well? This is starting to make me really consider that perhaps they're not poisoning their own well. Perhaps they're poisoning our well. And this isn't the well that they drink from, so they're not worried about it.

[Adam Carolla]

You know what I'm saying? Yes, I do. I do think that some of it is. They don't seem to have exposure. I mean, look, what you need is skin in the game. And there's basically. I'll have Dawson the engineer look up the quote, but I think there's, like, a Thomas Sowell quote. They love black folk, but they don't like Thomas Sowell. That's always an interesting one to me. But Thomas Sowell basically said, the best way you can spend money is spend your money on you. That's when you're at your best. You save the most. You're thoughtful about it. And then spending your money on other people, you really. It starts to fall off a little bit, but it's still your money. But the worst you can do is spend other people's money on other people. It's. At that point, you don't care. Right. And that's how you get to $24 billion worth of homeless. What? Intervention and nothing. Right.

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah. Yeah. I think it was Margaret Thatcher who said, socialism is great, except eventually you run out of other people's money.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Is that soul quote in there, Dawson?

[Dawson]

Yeah, it originally brought me to a page that got corrupted, so stand by.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, okay. Well, I have paraphrased it, but people spending money that's not their money on people that aren't them is gonna go south fast.

[Dawson]

It's a quote on green. Hold on.

[Adam Carolla]

All right, Kirk, let me give you a plug. We should go to. We should check out Iggy and Mr. Kirk streaming on Brave, correct?

[Kirk Cameron]

Yeah, that's exactly right. Brave plus the app on your phone or TV, or you go to braveplus.com and you can watch the first three episodes for free. And then, of course, if you got Angel Studios or Pure Flix, you can watch all two seasons of them, or you can just sort of, like, join their. Their Book of the Month club, and then you get to watch all of them with your kids. And. And they're just great. I mean, I'm. I'm truly proud of it. And it's the kind of thing I would want my grandchildren to sit down and watch with.

[Adam Carolla]

With.

[Kirk Cameron]

With my children. It's it's, it's beautiful stuff.

[Adam Carolla]

We have the quote. I do believe so. Says Dawson in the other room.

[Dawson]

I have never understood why it is greed to want to keep the money you have earned, but not greed to want to take someone else's money.

[Adam Carolla]

Which is a Thomas Sowell quote, but not the one I was looking for. But either way.

[Kirk Cameron]

But a good quote.

[Adam Carolla]

But a good quote, everybody. I know. It's always funny when they go, he's trying to give kick tax breaks to his rich buddies. It's like it's their money. It is their money. What they're saying is they don't wanna give the lion's share of it away to the government. But no one is giving them money. They're letting them keep money they've already ear. So let's just put it into a proper context. Kirk Cameron, good to see you my friend. Always a delight.

[Kirk Cameron]

Thank you. Great to talk with you, Adam.

[Adam Carolla]

And yeah, check those dry bar specials out. They're squeaky clean and still funny.

[Kirk Cameron]

Well, I sure will. And hey, you have inspired me. I'm actually going to take a crack at my own podcast and it's pretty gutsy to name a podcast after yourself, like the Adam Carolla show because if you, if you bomb, you don't get a second chance. Like Adam Carolla show number two.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I named mine the Kirk Cameron show for the first three years just in case it went bad. Thanks, Kirk. Sorry. Yeah, go ahead.

[Kirk Cameron]

Oh, no, no, no. I'm sorry. I was just gonna say I'm gonna try my hand at it. So we'll see if I'm still around in six months.

[Adam Carolla]

I think you'll be very good at it. Kirk. That's me.

[Kirk Cameron]

Thank you, sir.

[Adam Carolla]

Good to see you, my friend. And I'll be happy to be a guest on it when it's up and running. Thanks very much, Kirk Cameron. All right, I am going to be doing a couple shows this Friday in Tacoma and a couple shows on Saturday in Tacoma, Washington. And then I'm off to Spokane doing shows there and Palm Springs in Salt Lake City. You can go to AdamCroll.com for all the live shows because I'm coming everywhere. And it's until next time, Sam, crawl for Kirk Cameron and Ricky Smiley and Mayhem saying mahalo.

[Dawson]

Pick up your phone and leave us a voicemail. The number is 888-634-1744 and make sure you get tickets to see adam [e-mail].

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Stream all the movies and shows you love for free on Pluto TV say what now? Showtime that means drama is free with heart wrenching stories from love and basketball power and Greenleaf in this family we live by the spirit and laughter is free with gut busting comedies like Key and Peele the neighborhood everybody hates Chris and Boomerang Watch all the hits all for free from all your favorite devices.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh my God I love it.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Feel the free Pluto TV stream now pay never Stream all the movies and shows you love for free on Pluto TV say what now? Showtime that means drama is free with heart wrenching stories from love and basketball power and Greenleaf.

[Ricky Smiley]

In this family we live by the.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

The spirit and laughter is free with gut busting comedies like Pee and Peele the neighborhood everybody hates Chris and Boomerang Watch all the hits all for free from all your favorite devices.

[Ricky Smiley]

Oh my God I love it.

[Jason Mayhem Miller]

Feel the free Pluto TV stream now pay never.