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Laura Carrenti
What's up? I'm Laura, host of the podcast Courtside with Laura Carrenti, a masterclass case study of the business of women's sports. I'll be chatting with leaders like tennis icon Alana Kloss.
Adam Corolla
I don't do what I do only for women. I do it for everyone. And I want the whole market and.
Laura Carrenti
Innovators like Jenny Nguyen. I would say 50% of the people that come visit the Sports Bra aren't sports fans. They come to be in community. They come to be part of this culture. Courtside with Laura Carenti is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Listen to Courtside with Laura carenti on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports, the number one hit.
Anna Sinfield
Podcast, the Girlfriends is back with something new, the Girlfriends Spotlight, where each week you'll hear women share their stories of triumph over adversity. You'll meet June, who founded an all female rock band in the 1960s.
Adam Corolla
I might as well have said we're gonna walk on the moon.
Anna Sinfield
But she showed them who's boss.
Adam Corolla
They would rush up and say, not bad for chicks.
Anna Sinfield
Come and join our girl gang. Listen to the Girlfriend Spotlight on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
A.J. Andrews
What's up, y'all? I'm A.J. andrews, pro softball player, sports analyst, and the first woman to win a Rawlings Gold Glove on my new podcast, Dropping Diamonds. We dive headfirst into the world of softball by sharing powerful stories, insights and conversations that inspire and empower. It's time to drop bombs and diamonds. Dropping diamonds with AJ Andrews is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Athletes Unlimited Softball League and Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Listen to dropping diamonds with AJ Andrews on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
Laura Carrenti
Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports Network.
Adam Corolla
Are your money skills total trash? Well, trust me, you are not alone. Personal finance ignorance is as American as apple pie. But you can improve. Think, Matt, if your emergency fund was invested, especially given the volatility we're experiencing right now. Ouchies. Investing it is ultimately a necessity. But you gotta keep that emergency fund accessible. It needs to be cash parked in your savings. It's time to learn and how to is here to bring the knowledge. Listen to how to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Craig Ferguson
This is me, Craig Ferguson. I'm inviting you to come and see my brand new comedy hour. Well, it's actually, it's about an hour and a half and I don't have an opener because these guys cost money. But what I'm saying is I'll be on stage for a while anyway. Come and see me live on the Pants on Fire tour in your region. Tickets are on sale now and we'll be adding more as the Tour continues throughout 2025 and beyond. For a full list of dates, go to thecraigfergusonshow.com See you on the road, my dears. My name is Craig Ferguson. The name of this podcast is Joy. I talk to interesting people about what brings them happiness. My guest today, everyone, is a gentleman who is outspoken. He knows what he thinks and he' not afraid to tell you what he thinks he's going to tell you right now. He is the singular Adam Corolla. Enjoy. All right, so we very briefly were talking about the right age to complain. I feel like I, I'm 62, I'm going to be 63 very soon, and I think that's. Now I can really start to complain. I can get people off my lawn. I can say that young people are ruining the world and that my hip hurts. And all three of those things are maybe true.
Adam Corolla
Yeah. But the problem is we've now enacted a sort of demographic for complaint, which is if you're heterosexual male and you have money and you're over 6 foot and you're white, then who are you to complain? Which is, I feel like I don't want that taken away from me just because of the color of my skin or just because of my bank account. I feel like complaining is maybe not uniquely American, but maybe we've perfected the art of it. And I like the notion of having all these things going for me and still complaining. I feel like it should give hope to other people that even with all the privilege and all the money and all the luxury, I still can't complain.
Craig Ferguson
Well, I think that it's not. First of all, I take issue with the fact that it's a uniquely American skill.
Adam Corolla
No, I agree. No, I say I think we've perfected it, but I don't. It's not. It's worldwide, but we may have put our, you know, like cinema, you know, everyone's got it, but we just perfected it.
Craig Ferguson
Well, see, even then, I don't know, Adam. I mean, what about the Italians? You're Italian people. The Italians do some pretty good cinema, let's be honest. It's just that what you're talking about is that you're aware of it because you're in America, but if you were in Italy, you'd be like, hey, what's the coming to go? We got some pretty good cinema.
Adam Corolla
Yeah, but I think this is an argument where you go, well, what about this great film? What about Fellini? Or what about this great film out of Paris? All true, but volume wise, I think we're the heavyweight champion.
Craig Ferguson
I think here's where the agreement is that we in America have made a business out of complaining that cannot be matched for sheer size and money and just the volume and scope of complaints. It makes everyone else just look like specialists.
Adam Corolla
Yeah, I agree with that.
Craig Ferguson
All right, that's fair enough. So listen, I was looking at, you know that thing when you have someone on the show and you haven't talked to them for a while, so you Google them. I don't know if you still do that. I googled you just before I come on. And what I didn't know. I've been aware of you for a very long time. You and I have bumped into each other on campus a few times over the years, but I had no idea, and maybe this is not true, maybe this is Internet, that you were a boxer, and a pretty good one, too.
Adam Corolla
I was a trainer and a boxer and a. A pretty good one from a technician standpoint. But I wasn't ever ranked or anything, anything like that. I was just an amateur guy. But I did, I did do it for. I did teach it as a. As a trainer for. For a living for a period of time.
Craig Ferguson
Did you teach these Hollywood women with the mitts? Did you go like Beverly Hills Housewives and just let them hit the mitts and tell them how powerful they were?
Adam Corolla
Yeah. Well, what I did technically is I ran classes for the Hollywood women and their lawyer husbands or producer husbands. And then I had some private students where I ran the mitts for them as well. And I worked at a place called Bodies in Motion, which had a couple locations around Los Angeles in the day. And I. I worked at the one in Old Town Pasadena, which I built, actually, because the guy told me if I built the place, then I built it out, it was already a structure, you know, then I could teach there. So I wanted to teach there because I was a carpenter that.
Craig Ferguson
I think that's very butch, that you're a carpenter and a boxer. I've never, in my. Whenever I Like, I've never fought, but I did boxing training to stay in shape, probably like lawyers and Hollywood ladies. And I've never been in the kind of shape that I'm in when I was sparring and hitting the bag and running every day.
Adam Corolla
It's unbelievable. Yeah, it is. It's a good workout. It's kind of a sport mixed with workout. And you can. You can. Things kind of nice about it is you can Skip rope for 10 minutes, and that's its own thing. And then you could go shadow box in front of the mirror for 10 minutes, and that's its own thing. And then you could hit the heavy bag for 10 minutes, and that's its own thing. And then you could spar for 10 minutes, and that's. And you could hit the focus pads, you know, so you can kind of move around versus sit on a rowing machine for an hour or a treadmill for half an hour or whatever. That super repetitive part of working out, which gets really taxing. You can, you know, when you're skipping rope and you're being miserable, you go, well, in another four minutes, I'll be able to put the gloves on and hit the heavy bag, and that'll be better. And you can keep going from station to station.
Craig Ferguson
You still do that?
Adam Corolla
Well, my hands are so screwed up from so much boxing and so much carpentry that it's really difficult. But what I do almost on a daily basis is I shadow box. And shadowboxing is actually probably better than hitting the heavy bag in terms of technique, because you're forced to kind of work your technique. Sometimes when people get on a heavy bag, they just kind of wail on it, which isn't really technique. It's just kind of you getting out aggression or trying to thump it as hard as you can. I would say that most people who wanted to get better at boxing, if they just really worked on skipping rope and really worked on shadow boxing, they would get much better versus, you know, sparring and hitting the heavy back.
Craig Ferguson
Well, I think it's too late for me now. I think it's 62. I should just like, maybe go for a walk and. And have a. A coffee.
Adam Corolla
I'll tell you one thing I discovered recently, you know, semi recently about. I'm with you. Going for a walk. I got. I got a weighted vest. I got like.
Craig Ferguson
I did that too.
Adam Corolla
Oh, you did that too?
Craig Ferguson
Yeah. And it's amazing.
Adam Corolla
You go for a walk and especially if there's an incline, man, if there's a hill by your house or something. Put that 25 pound vest on, hike up the hill, it'll be a walk and a workout.
Craig Ferguson
You know what, I was doing a show once, like a comedy show, and I had to wear a fat suit, like a really heavy fat suit for this bit in the show. And because of the way it was, I was wearing the fat suit all day. And I thought this would be a great like workout thing for somebody. Because not only is it, is it like really a lot to carry around, but when you take off the day, it's like you're a before and after pitcher. You get used to yourself being really heavy and you just take it off and so it motivates you and sweats the shit. Yeah, that's what I think the, the, the weighted vest is a bit like. But maybe it should be dressed up a little bit so you look more portly.
Adam Corolla
Well, maybe they'll make a weighted vest with stretch marks.
Craig Ferguson
I think, I think that might be the way to go.
Adam Corolla
That's my idea in case anyone wants to do it.
Craig Ferguson
Yeah, I think that I own it now because this is. You suggested it, I suggested it, so now I own it. So I'll take it on Shark Tank or something. How did you get into doing boxing? Was it cause you went to school in Hollywood, right? Was it tough? Was that what it was? Was it self defense?
Adam Corolla
No, I went to school in North Hollywood, which is like not Hollywood at all. It's just North Hollywood, you know, it's kind of the Valley.
Craig Ferguson
Like the Valley.
Adam Corolla
Yeah, yeah. No, I wasn't. I was kind of the captain of the football team. So I wasn't really picked on or anything. I was picked on by my own jock friends and we picked on each other, but we didn't really get picked on outside of our friendship. We just had. I had very aggressive friends who just did horrible things to me physically. But. But there were friends, you know. So no, it wasn't out of a sense of self defense. It was more like I did. I played football for a long time and then at some point I couldn't play football anymore. And I wanted to do something that had some physicality to it, you know, a contact sport, so to speak, you know. Cause football, it was a lot of fun hitting people and getting into it with people and just the physicality of football. I liked it, but I couldn't really play football at that level anymore. So boxing seemed like a physical thing to do. That was like sort of a contact sport. And that's kind of when I took it up.
Craig Ferguson
Are you Still a fan of it. Do you follow it? Do you watch the fighters coming up and.
Adam Corolla
Yeah, I watch it. I mean, UFC is probably a little more exciting than. Than boxing, but I enjoy boxing as well, and it's nice to see the UFC guys really coming to their own in terms of technique with their hands, because at the beginning they were kind of sloppy, and now they're getting pretty tight. And just over the last decade, they've really cleaned up their form, you know, in the hands world.
Craig Ferguson
I've never really watched the UFC fight. Now I'm aware of it, but I was always a bit of a snob about it, because I just like the fact that, you know, that boxing is all technique and to watch guys who are so gifted and so fast. But you know what? I should watch UFC a little bit. It seems like it's a whole circus now as well. It's huge. It's. It's kind of like. Did you get into it early on?
Adam Corolla
Yeah, I mean, I liked boxing. I liked combat sports. You know, I was working in that world a little bit. I mean, I was work. You know, I was always training and then working as a trainer and stuff. So I was always kind of, you know, in that world, if there is going to be a fight, someone will invite you over. Hey, we're going to watch the fight. You know, it's. It's a kind of a. It's a little fraternity of, you know, you work with guys that are trainers. Yeah, you're training guys who like boxing. A fight comes up, inevitably they say, I'm having people over. Come over Friday. We'll watch the fight. You know, so you get sort of, you know, kissed into it a little bit, because that's who you're working with.
Craig Ferguson
You know, what about in the world of sports, radio and radio and podcast? And I think of you as being one of the real kind of OGs of this game. You kind of one of the guys that started the podcast world, weren't you?
Adam Corolla
I was one of the earlier podcasters. There were others, but there were very few back then. I kind of. My what. What I will take credit for is, is not for podcasting, but for sort of starting the business model of podcasting, of getting advertisers and kind of formatting it in a way which isn't really anything new. It's just the old radio format. But. But sort of taking podcasting and kind of turning it into a business is something I'll take some credit for. And also the live podcast, I. I started doing a live or doing live podcasting. 15 years ago, more than 15 years ago, and. And now everyone does a live podcast. But when I did it, no one knew what it was. They didn't. The people in the audience didn't know what it was.
Craig Ferguson
It's such an odd thing because it's kind of the dominant strain of what people like you and I do now, isn't it? It's kind of like. It used to be kind of like a side hustle, and now it's the main thing. I can't imagine. I mean, this podcast is, you know, I do with iHeartRadio, but I can't see me, you know, doing that forever. It doesn't even make any sense. You can just put it up on YouTube and you're done.
Adam Corolla
Yeah, you know, YouTube. And the visual component of podcasting has turned into something that wasn't anything when I started. Nobody really needed to see you podcast. They just needed to hear you podcast. I still am a little confused as to why they need to see you podcast, but for some reason, it's turned into a large aspect of podcasting, which to me, I'm a little sad about, because I really like the notion of speaking and you putting earbuds in and going for a hike and just listening to what I'm saying versus sitting on your phone waiting at an airport, watching what I'm saying.
Craig Ferguson
Well, I think also as well, because it is the phones that do it, I think that it's weirdly less intimate because I always thought radio is really kind of an intimate thing. As a listener, it really feels like you're much more involved in it somehow, which is weird because you've not seen it. And then the other thing is, I think now is that. And I know this has happened to you, that there's such a hunger in the zeitgeist and in the media for any kind of controversy or clickbait or something that will spike somebody else's little headline, that they'll take a tiny piece of what you're saying and make it sound different to what you were actually saying in order to create a problem. And I think it. Don't you think it's kind of. You're kind of more of a sitting duck than you used to be? Does that bother you at all?
Adam Corolla
It doesn't bother me, but I have a unique gene of not being that concerned about what people say about me or think about me. Even as long as I feel like I know what I feel about me. I don't mean some bullshit about. In my Heart. I just mean, like there are things I will say that are deeply unpopular and get the ire of a lot of people. But if it's the truth, then it's the truth, you know? So I look at myself as a doctor and I'm just telling you you have cancer and you don't want to hear that and I've ruined your day and now you're wee and maybe you're angry at me. And my feeling is I am sorry to present you with this information, but that's my job and that's my field of expertise and you should know about it. And now at some point you're angry at me and I don't know, I don't have anything to do with that. I'm just presenting you with what happens to be the truth. And I, I've done it on the air and I've had it happen socially as well, where I had a whole table of friends turn on me while eating brunch, about 10 people because I just told them the truth about a certain topic, a subject we were talking about. And they all started yelling at me and they got angry at me and I just told them, look, I'm sorry if you guys can't handle whatever this thing is that I happen to know about, but I am just telling you and that's your business. And yes, I will ruin this brunch and I will be the least popular person at this table. But that's not gonna prevent me from telling you the truth and what I know about it.
Craig Ferguson
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Jay Shetty
Hey, I'm Jay Shetty and if you've ever felt the weight of letting go of people, past versions of yourself, or the expectations placed on you, this episode is for you. Lizzo opens up like never before about self, love, transformation and finding real peace in a world that constantly tries to define you.
Lizzo
It's not me anymore. Whoever Lizzo is to the world is not really even me, and that disconnect is depressing.
Laura Carrenti
The Grammy goes to Lizzo.
Jay Shetty
I think it's also hard when the things that you stand for are the same things that you're being scrutinized for.
Lizzo
The weight that is no longer on me is not just fat or physical. I released so much to get to this point and to be honest with you, I don't feel like I've expressed myself fully in the last two years.
Jay Shetty
Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Anna Sinfield
The number one hit true crime podcast the Girlfriends is back with something new, the Girlfriend Spotlight. Our first two series introduce you to an incredible gang of women who teamed up to fight injustice, showing just how powerful sisterly solidarity can be. We're keeping this mission alive with the Girlfriends Spotlight. Each week a different woman sits down with me, Anna Sinfield, to share their incredible story of triumph over adversity. Like June, who founded an all female rock band in the 1960s, I might.
Adam Corolla
As well have said we're going to walk on the moon.
Anna Sinfield
But she sure showed them who's boss and toured the world.
Adam Corolla
They would just be gobsmacked and they would rush up after the set and say, not bad for chicks.
Anna Sinfield
So come and join our girl gang. Listen to the Girlfriend Spotlight on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Jorge Cham
Have you ever wondered, if your pet is lying to you, why is my.
Laura Carrenti
Cat not here and I go in and she's eating my lunch?
Jorge Cham
Or if hypnotism is real, you will.
Jay Shetty
Use the suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control.
Jorge Cham
What's inside a black hole?
Laura Carrenti
Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe.
Jorge Cham
Well, we have asterisks for you in the new iHeart original podcast Science Stuff. Join me Jorge Cham as we tackle questions you've always wanted to know the answer to about animals Space, our brains and our bodies. Questions like, can you survive being cryogenically frozen?
Adam Corolla
This is experimental. This may never work for you.
Jorge Cham
What's a quantum computer?
Adam Corolla
It's not just a faster computer. It performs in a fundamentally different way.
Jorge Cham
Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming? It's not really a safety issue.
Adam Corolla
It's more of a comfort issue.
Jorge Cham
Will talk to experts, break it down and give you easy to understand explanations to fascinating scientific questions. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to science stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Craig Ferguson
Hello, this is Craig Ferguson and I want to let you know I have a brand new stand up comedy special out now on YouTube. It's called I'm so Happy and I would be so happy if you checked it out. To watch the special, just go to my YouTube channel at the Craig Ferguson show and it's just right there. Just click it and play it and it's free. I can't. Look, I'm not going to come around your house and show you how to do it. If you can't do it, then you can't have it. But if you can figure it out, it's yours. Do you ever get angry if someone tells you something and you profoundly disagree with it? Does that ever make you mad?
Adam Corolla
Yeah, I mean for me it's a kind of a. Yes, I'll answer that. Yes. When Governor Gavin Newsom was sitting in here years ago, over a decade ago, and I was telling him that homeless people were basically drug addicts and, or people with huge psychological disorders or both, and that's who was sleeping on the street and that's what we need to focus on. And he told me the real picture of homelessness was a mother who was divorced, who had a full time job, who got kicked out of her house because she got divorced or something and had two kids and worked full time minimum wage, I said that's not it at all. It's what I'm talking about. And then I got angry at him because he's made the problem worse by not listening to what the truth was about homeless. So yes, I will get angry at these people because they're exacerbating problems and they're making the problems worse. So yeah, I guess I'll be that way. I've always been pragmatic and just told people, here's what you need to do and, but you know, a sort of micro macro like I used to be a carpenter and I went to my mom's very tiny house years and years ago, and she said she was going to remodel the bathroom. And I said, all right. And I went and kind of looked at the space, and I said, you need to make sure you frame in a pocket door, a sliding pocket door here when you're framing this out. Because if you open the door, it's just gonna cut off the hallway. And if the door swings in, it's just gonna hit the sink that's on the inside, the bathroom. So make sure you get a pocket door. She said, all right. And then I came back, like six months later, and I looked at it, and she didn't have a pocket door. And I opened the door, and it opened and smacked my stepdad in the ass, who was standing at the sink. And I just thought, okay, why didn't you listen to me? Why didn't you do what I told you to do? By the way, not for me. For you, this would have been so much better. But most people don't. Most people don't.
Craig Ferguson
But here's what I know. The headline of that particular morality tale is that you didn't see your mom for six months. There's your problem. If you had been there as the construction work was going on, you could have said, wait, wait, we have to put a pocket door in. But because you neglected your mother for six months, so really, you're to blame.
Adam Corolla
You know what? I gotta find a mirror. To be fair, could have been three months. And also, I could have met her for brunch two times. In that interim, not showed up at her house.
Craig Ferguson
Brunch is a meal that comes up for you quite a lot, which is interesting, because I think of you as a very kind of butch, straight down the lane guy. Brunch, let's be honest, is America's only openly gay meal. So I find that it's an interesting mix for you.
Adam Corolla
I don't subscribe to that statement that you just made about openly gay brunch, and I'll tell you why. You're old enough to remember a book, a very popular bestseller from the 70s called Men Don't Eat Quiche. They're certain.
Craig Ferguson
Real men don't eat quiche.
Adam Corolla
Yeah, that's right. Real men don't eat quiche. I will file that under brunch, which is, hell, yeah, I eat quiche. It's eggs, it's ham, it's in a pastry shell. It's delightful. What does that mean, Real men don't eat quiche? You know what I'M saying there's bacon, cheese, eggs, and it's in a pie shell. It's in a piece. I love bacon, I love cheese, and I love eggs. So we're even. Come off with real men don't eat quiche. I love. I would eat quiche during brunch, happily.
Craig Ferguson
Wait, so you eat quiche at lunchtime brunch?
Adam Corolla
I'm saying I would eat quiche. I would eat the food that real men don't eat at the only openly gay meal of the day.
Craig Ferguson
Did you just come out to me there? Is that what happened?
Adam Corolla
Not intentionally, but, yeah, practically.
Craig Ferguson
Under 1970s rules. You just.
Adam Corolla
That's what you did.
Craig Ferguson
It's. It's funny because it. It really is. Is an odd thing because, I mean, I don't want to kind of bang on about cancel culture and the way things have changed and all that because I feel like, you know, I. I feel like I talk about it too much. But it does seem interesting to me that you and I will laugh at hardships or not just you and I. People will laugh at hardships and stuff that offends me. I find it quite funny. Stuff that offends me. I kind of seek out comedy that offends me. But that's kind of very different now. It's a different taste, I think.
Adam Corolla
Well, I gotta wonder. I think there's. I think it depends how you feel about yourself in.
Craig Ferguson
Yeah, maybe. Yeah.
Adam Corolla
I feel secure about myself in that. I. I think there's a couple things going on. And it was weird. So I think it was yesterday. Somebody wrote me a tweet, and I'll paraphrase, but it said, like, when did you become some sort of diarrhea tampon that just absorbs all the diarrhea around you and sucking up to your billionaire friends who make fun of you behind your back? When did you become this? And I just wrote 2009, and I. But it was funny to me. It was funny to me. And then I thought to myself, this guy just wrote the most vile thing he could think of, he could summon about me. And I thought it was funny. Now, why did I think it was funny? I'm not saying, oh, I'm so secure. Nothing affects me. I'm just saying I found it amusing. And so I wrote. I just wrote back, 2009 is when I began becoming that diarrhea. Absorbing diarrhea, diarrhea tampon. Right. And so I wasn't bothered by it at all. I kind of like it. And people will say to me things, oh, you won't you're this or you're that, or you just, you know, you're only famous because you sucked off Jimmy Kimmel or whatever. But I know what I did, and I understand what I do. Or some writer will go, you know, you're the least funny person on the planet. And I'm like, have you met my stepdad, John? I can't be the least, you know.
Craig Ferguson
No.
Adam Corolla
So, I mean, second top five, maybe unfunniest people on the planet. So it doesn't really work. But then I also realized a lot of this, I think, is born of some sort of insecurity. And I'm not a boastful person, but I'm horribly secure. I'm very secure. But it's only. Cause I have a sort of track record of achievement. And I do a lot of things and I achieve in many different departments of life. And I understand it. It's like. I really think part of what we're missing is a skill set. I really do believe the base of my sanity is having a trade, like being a carpenter. Actually physically, tangibly knowing how to build a house. There's something about that that gives you a security, like a base. I totally understand you have a field of expertise.
Craig Ferguson
I think that's totally right. I mean, I don't have that, and I kind of wish I did. But I understand it from a point of view. I'll tell you something. I did very similar that when I started in late night in 2005, that because I had to sign a very punitive deal with cbs. And so I wasn't allowed to do anything at all on television unless I got their permission. So they kind of owned me for everything. Like, couldn't do a movie, couldn't do a radio show, couldn't do a commercial, couldn't do anything unless I got their permission to do it. The only one thing they allowed me to do was live standup. Live standup. They weren't interested in and it didn't bother them. And I could go and do that. And I had done that as a kid, and I had done that starting out. So that was the closest thing I had to a trade. And as time went on in late night, I always stayed going and doing standup. Cause I felt like it was the thing I could fall back on. You know, the way you're describing having a trade, that it was my autonomy, if you like. Do you know what I mean? It's like, if everything turns to shit, I can do this.
Adam Corolla
A trade isn't necessarily plumber or Carpenter, you know, stand up is a trade. Being a pilot is a trade. You know, being a certified accountant is a trade. You know, there's, you know, I, I'm saying a. A field of expertise. Yeah. Which could be, I think could be sculptor. Really?
Craig Ferguson
Yeah, it's, you know, I think that's a very difficult game earn a living on. They said, I'll just sculpt a couple of things till the end of the month. It may be a little tricky.
Adam Corolla
I'm not talking about a financial. I'm not approaching it from a financial aspect. I'm saying there are a lot of people that are certified pilots. Right. But they don't get paid as a professional airline pilot. They fly private planes on the weekends or whatever, but they're pilots. They can operate a helicopter or something like that.
Craig Ferguson
I'm one of them. I can fly an airplane.
Adam Corolla
Oh, you can? Okay.
Craig Ferguson
Yeah, I have a pilot's license. Yep.
Adam Corolla
That's a field of expertise that you have that other people don't have. And it gives you a kind of a base, you know, like I'm calling it a confidence, for lack of a better term, but a sort of steady, understand, I don't know, speaking a second language, playing the stand up bass, you know what I mean? Just things you can do. And I think the more that you have, the more secure you are. Because if you think about the people that are sort of melting down at town hall meetings and screaming as loud as they can and sort of going out of their mind, you couldn't imagine them having a pilot's license, could you?
Craig Ferguson
No.
Adam Corolla
And you couldn't imagine them being a skilled electrician, like a journeyman electrician or something like you really can't imagine, or sitting down at the piano and playing Chopin, you know what I mean? You mean like having these base sort of skills, I do think is a foundation for sanity.
Craig Ferguson
I think you're absolutely right. And you know what? It's kind of. It occurs to me, as you say it roundabout, 2016, the election cycle. In 2016, I made a decision that I was never again in stand up. Going to discuss any politics. I'm not going to do any politics at all. None. And it was an experiment, first of all, to see if I could do it, and then secondly, to give myself a break. And I think what it does is it allows you to go into a thought process that is not part of the noise that's going on all the time. And I think what you're describing is right. If you're flying an airplane or Building a house or applying yourself to the area of expertise you're talking about, you're not thinking about all the things that make you mad. You're concentrating on something else. And I think that's what it is. I think you're right. It's an odd thing. Do you think that's what the noise is? That the kind of hyperbolic nature of everybody talking to each other on social media and everyone getting, you know, on fire with everything all the time is because that's all they think about?
Adam Corolla
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Know that when you are. Well, I mean, it's tied to this sort of lack of physical existence that we've gone into, that you used to work on a farm and used to chop wood. You'd be in a logging camp. You know, you just have to get up and go do something physical. Men and women, you know, women would go milk the cow, collect the eggs, you know, start the fire and, you know, cook the whatever, like, whatever. They did everything. Everyone sort of had a task, you know, and people were, you know, that's how they got paid. And then at some point, everyone moved indoors and started getting into cubicles and lots of air conditioning, and they start staring at the computer screen and they become very sedentary. And while they did a task, the task was sort of endless and never had a beginning, a middle and an end. You know, it was this kind of data entry, you know, just the next piece of data to enter. You know, when you're right, when you build a barn, at some point you step back and you look at that barn and you think to yourself, I built that barn and it's done now. And then you move on. But we removed that from about 90% of the populace. And people's minds started turning on themselves. They don't really do that. I work with blue collar guys always, and they never. They just think in a pragmatic way. And also, they don't have any issues with things like they don't have dietary restrictions. I would just go, I'm going on a lunch run. And they'd go, all right, boss. And then I wouldn't even tell them where I was going, you know, and I would just come back with, you know, 10 hamburgers and 10 fries, or 10 burritos and 10 tacos, you know, or whatever it is. None of them had any issues with gluten or allergies or something upset their stomach or. There was nothing. They just ate whatever it ate. And then you just got back up and you went to work and no One said a word and there were no rules, and there's no restrictions.
Craig Ferguson
I think there's that, and I think there's also the idea that everyone wants to appear smart. And if you're indignant, it can make you feel like you're smart. I always thought that about comedy comes in for that. Even if you just look at the way comedy is treated, like it's a very rare thing for a comedy thing, a comedy thing, to win an Oscar or a Golden Globe or anything like that. Because comedy, it's not kind of the thought is done by the person who's performing it, not necessarily the person that's absorbent. And I think that if you make people laugh, they don't feel clever. But if you make them think, you know, if you kind of like massage them or make them kind of being angry as well, you know, anger is, I think, or being indignant or being outraged feels like I'm clever. I notice things that other people don't know. So therefore, I'm better in it to kind of boost your confidence because you don't have your carpentry or pilot's license or whatever the hell is something else to kind of bolster you. So the indignance is the kind of the ersat's skill. Do you know what I mean?
Adam Corolla
Yeah. It's also, I think there's a lot of virtue signaling, too, which is they care more than you care. You don't care.
Craig Ferguson
Right. Okay.
Adam Corolla
Same thing with the indigenous people or the climate or whatever's going on, and they care, you know, so Trump is an existential threat and he's gonna attack democracy and they're gonna fight Trump, whereas you're gonn watch SportsCenter. So if you sort of went back historically and you want, you know, Hitler was rising to power and one group of people were going to fight Hitler and the other group were going to a pub to have a beer. You'd go, well, who was the more noble person in this equation? You'd go, well, the person obviously was gonna go fight Hitler, and that's who the real hero would have been in this equation. So I think there's some of that because they announce, here's what's going on. You know, there's an existential threat against humanity and it's known as climate change, and they're going to fight it, you know, or whatever it is that whatever the subject is, they're going to fight about it. And sort of de facto, if you're not fighting about it or fighting for it, then you're sort of complicit in this thing, whether it's climate or Hitler or whatever the subject is. You're sort of on the side of the evil or the Big Company or Monsanto or Trump or Hitler or whatever it is. And so you're sort of de facto for it and they are against it, which makes them the hero in this equation. But the problem with this equation is I haven't signed off on the premise, you know what I'm saying? If I do think this person is Hitler, then I'm going to help you fight against them. But that's where the rift is, I think, which is what they're doing versus what I'm doing. Like Newsom declared that it was the noble mother of three that was homeless and he's going to do something about it. But I think it's junkies. So he is more noble than I, if that's what he's gonna go do something about. But my problem is I know that's not what the problem is and he's not gonna fix anything. And thus he hasn't because he hasn't identified the problem. So that's where the chasm is.
Anna Sinfield
The number one hit true crime podcast, the Girlfriends is back with something new, the Girlfriend Spotlight. Our first two series introduce you to an incredible gang of women who teamed up to fight injustice, showing just how powerful sisterly solidarity can be. And we're keeping this mission alive with the Girlfriend's Spotlight. Each week, a different woman sits down with me, Anna Sinfield, to share their incredible story of triumph over adversity. Like Tracy, who survived a terrifying attack.
Adam Corolla
I remember that feeling of okay, this.
Anna Sinfield
Is how I die and turned that darkness into the most incredible journey.
Adam Corolla
I want to take over the world and just leave this place better than I found it.
Anna Sinfield
Which took her all the way to Paris for the Paralympic Games.
Adam Corolla
Oh my gosh, this is amazing.
Anna Sinfield
So come and join our girl gang. Listen to the Girlfriend Spotlight on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Jay Shetty
Hey, I'm Jay Shetty, and if you've ever felt the weight of letting go of people, past versions of yourself, or the expectations placed on you, this episode is for you. Lizzo opens up like never before about self love transformation and finding real peace in a world that constantly tries to.
Lizzo
Define you, it's not me anymore. Whoever Lizzo is to the world is not really even me. And that disconnect is depressing.
Laura Carrenti
The Grammy goes to Lizzo.
Jay Shetty
I think it's also hard when the Things that you stand for are the same things that you're being scrutinized for.
Lizzo
The weight that is no longer on me is not just fat or physical. I released so much to get to this point, and to be honest with you, I don't feel like I've expressed myself fully in the last two years.
Jay Shetty
Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Jorge Cham
Have you ever wondered, if your pet is lying to you, why is my.
Laura Carrenti
Cat not here and I go in and she's eating my lunch?
Jorge Cham
Or if hypnotism is real, you will.
Jay Shetty
Use the suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control.
Jorge Cham
What's inside a black hole?
Adam Corolla
Black holes could be a consequence of.
Laura Carrenti
The way that we understand the universe.
Jorge Cham
Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart original podcast Science Stuff. Join me, Jorge Cham, as we tackle questions you've always wanted to know the answer to about animals, space, our brains and our bodies. Questions like, can you survive being cryogenically frozen?
Adam Corolla
This is experimental. This may never work for you.
Jorge Cham
What's a quantum computer?
Adam Corolla
It's not just a faster computer. It performs in a fundamentally different way.
Jorge Cham
Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming? It's not really a safety issue. It's more of a comfort issue. We'll talk to experts, break it down, and give you easy to understand explanations to fascinating scientific questions. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to science stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Margie Murphy
In 2020, a group of young women in a tidy suburb of New York City found themselves in an AI fueled nightmare.
Adam Corolla
Someone was posting photos. It was just me naked. Well, not me, but me with someone else's body parts on my body. Parts that looked exactly like my own.
Laura Carrenti
I wanted to throw up.
Adam Corolla
I wanted to scream.
Margie Murphy
It happened in Levittown, New York. But reporting the series took us through the darkest corners of the Internet and to the front lines of a global battle against deepfake pornography.
Adam Corolla
This should be illegal. But what is this?
Margie Murphy
This is a story about a technology that's moving faster than the law and about vigilantes trying to stem the tide. I'm Margie Murphy. And I'm Olivia Carvell. This is Levittown, a new podcast from iHeart podcasts Bloomberg and Kaleidoscope. Listen to Levittown on Bloomberg's Big Take podcast. Find it on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Craig Ferguson
You ever toy with the idea of going into politics yourself, getting into it proper?
Adam Corolla
No. I mean, my problem is, is I have a lot of pragmatic ideas. And I'll give you a for instance. And this part of the politics, I would, too. Like I was at a party at Mark Garrigus, the attorney's house, who knows a lot of politicians and judges and those kind of people. And I think Mark introduced me to some guy who said he was, you know, a district selectman or something in this area. And I said to him, you know, where I work, on the street behind me, there's lots of people dumping garbage, dumping construction materials, busted out stucco and drywall, stuff like that. He said, yeah, I know, I know. That's a problem. We have to go in there and clean it up all the time as people dump it back there. I said, yeah. Do you know why they dump it? He said, not really, no. I said, well, the dump cost 180 bucks. That's why they dump it there. And he goes, yeah, okay. And I go, who's doing the dumping? He goes, I don't really know. I said, poor Mexicans who do all the construction work out here, they don't want to pay 180 bucks to go to dispose of it the right way because they're on a real tight budget and they can come here for free on a Sunday night, just dump it in two minutes and leave. He goes, oh, yeah, yeah. Cause, you know, these are poor Mexicans who do all the construction work out here. So I go, there's a Home Depot literally up the street. He goes, yeah. I go, why don't you have a guy handing out leaflets in English and in Spanish that say you can dump for free at the dump that's, you know, down the street. This is a coupon you don't have. They're not gonna charge you 180 bucks. And when you go over there to dump it, they'll give you a 12 pack of Takati. And he goes, yeah, that's a good idea. That's a good idea. And then about a half hour later at the party, the guy circled back to me and he said, what was that idea you had again about the dumping? And I said, oh, man, this is why we're at where we're at. Just let's figure out what's motivating people and let's fix it. You don't have to judge. You just fix it. Who is doing the dumping? Construction guys. How do we know it's all stucco and drywall, busted out, demoed out stuff. Who's doing it? The super poor guys who do the demo work. They do the hauling. You know, they haul garbage. You know what I mean? Good. How much is the dump? It's too expensive for these guys because they give a bid. The bid is like, I'll do it all for 1,000 bucks. All right? They want to peel off 200 more bucks out of that and hand it to the city. Why isn't the dump free? Make it free. If you don't want them to dump everything on the side of Mulholland, then make the dump free. How do we get the word out? Go to the Home Depot and have it on a sign in Spanish. Hand out flyers at the Home Depot. That's where they shop.
Craig Ferguson
It's very hard to argue with that as a solution because I'm trying to find some way to kind of be responsible and kind of say, but wait a minute. But I kind of can't. You know, it's like it does. It does make sense. I think the thing with government and why probably you don't go into it is you describe it. It's just the frustration of getting anything done. Because it's not really what. I don't know that they would fucking care about getting anything done.
Adam Corolla
No, their process. In certain places they do. But in Los Angeles, they're all just process people. They want to have a meeting. We would have a meeting about this. At some point, I'd be called cultural insensitive. At some point, it would be explained to me why it's not gonna work. We'd take a vote. I would lose the vote. And then I would get angry, and then I'd yell, all right, fuck you. Clean up your garbage in the street for the rest of your life. I don't give a fuck. And then I would leave the meeting.
Craig Ferguson
That seems a good place to zany to let it go. I think you're right. I think it's just. It's a logjam. I don't. I don't know how anyone could go into politics. I just don't fucking know that anyone could do it.
Adam Corolla
Well, you could. I'll tell you what you could do. And I've been. Because I've been really drilling down on this a lot lately. And I talked to Dr. Drew about it a lot. There are people who want to do things, and then they're process people. And I know it because my mom was a process person. My dad was a process person. They wanted to sit and talk about things, but they never really wanted to get up and go make a run and buy materials and start the project. They wanted to discuss the project, you know what I'm saying? And there's a lot of people that are process people. Probably percentage wise, more women than men, but there's plenty of men that are process people as well. And so if you inhabit the LA City Council or whatever the city council is, if you fill it with process people, then you're gonna get a lot of. We're gonna need to do a report on, and we have a committee that's gonna discuss this and we're gonna. Meanwhile, five years goes by and we have twice as many homeless as we had when you started the first meeting. And nothing ever really happens, but it's a long discussion about it. Those are process people and they get attracted to politics. Now there are non process people. Like, we had a mayoral race a few years ago. We had Rick Caruso, he's a commercial builder. So commercial builders are like, hurry, what's going on? Hurry, hurry, hurry. You know, like when Trump spoke to Karen Bass, he was like, let's go clean up those fires now. People need to do it themselves. They want to start tonight. Tonight. He's yelling and she's going, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Safety, safety. So that's a commercial builder talking to a process person. So we elected a process person, not a commercial builder who's like, all the commercial builder goes is, weren't the foundation guys done? Or forming's done. Where's the concrete? Where's the concrete? Guys, we gotta start framing. We gotta get the pour in before we start framing. It's everything is, hurry, hurry. What's next? But we like process people here where we sit and have a discussion about things. And my mom would have liked it that way. She liked the process. And the process is. People are good because they give very soothing speeches and discussions. But the problem is, at some point you gotta fix the potholes and fill the reservoirs and that kind of stuff. And that's not the work of a process person, that's the work of the commercial builder person. And so what happens is the commercial builder person becomes an annoyance to the process person because they come in and they go, what's going on in here? Come on, let's go, let's go. And the process person goes, slow down, slow down. We wanna keep it safe. Now the process person doesn't say, I'm a process person, I'm never going to do anything. They go, I want to get it done as bad as you do. But we got to take our time, do this safely. We got to make sure, get the right permits, do the testing, check the soil, slow it down. And then five years goes by and nothing's happened. And that's kind of la is kind of a process person thing. That's what we do, we talk about things, but we don't really do that.
Craig Ferguson
That much, you know, it's the truth. It's like it's in show business, it's in the television business, it's in the movie business. It's a lot of. Even when they do do something, they want to check before they pull the trigger on what they've done. You have to get a focus group on a movie you've already made. You have to.
Adam Corolla
They have so many meetings.
Craig Ferguson
I know.
Adam Corolla
And nothing ever comes out the other end. And they always, it's funny, they always go, could we just get together? And I go, I already told you, whatever this or that, it's, we're done, you know. Yeah, but we want to get together one more time. You know, it's always funny. They'll do. They'll even do stuff, you know, from shooting stuff where they'll go, we're all going to meet in the lobby at 6:30 in the morning and the van is picking us up at 7. And I go, well, why don't I just be down there at seven? Well, we all want to get down the lobby at 6:30 and make sure we're all there. I'll go, when's the van showing up? Seven. All right, I'll be down at seven. We're meeting at 6:30. Okay. I don't know what you're doing. I'll be there at seven. We're getting into the van, right? Yeah. Where's the van team? The van's taking us to the set. Okay, so I'll be down at 7. I won't be down at 6:30. We're all meeting at 6:30.
Craig Ferguson
You guys get down there at 6:30, get me a quiche, have my quiche be hot and I'll eat it in the van on the way to the set.
Adam Corolla
Animosa.
Craig Ferguson
All right, we gotta go because we'll be complaining about people talking too much and I've been talking too much. But it's lovely to catch up with you again, Adam. You're always a brethren. Fresh air, continued success, and it's good to check in with you. Let's do it again soon.
Adam Corolla
I hope so, my friend. Take care.
Craig Ferguson
Thanks, buddy.
Adam Corolla
Thanks, buddy.
Craig Ferguson
You too. Bye.
Laura Carrenti
What's up? I'm Laura, host of the podcast Courtside with Laura Carrenti, a masterclass case study of the business of women's sports. I'll be chatting with leaders like tennis icon Alana Kloss.
Adam Corolla
I don't do what I do only for women. I do it for everyone. And I want the whole market and.
Laura Carrenti
Innovators like Jenny Nguyen. I would say 50% of the people that come visit the Sports Bra aren't sports fans. They come to be in community. They come to be part of this culture. Courtside with Laura Carrenti is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Listen to Courtside with Laura carenti on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports.
Adam Corolla
Hey there.
Ed Helms
Ed Helms here, host of Snafu, your favorite podcast about history's greatest screw ups. It's the 1920s. Prohibition is in full swing and a lot of people are mysteriously dying. Assistant Attorney General Mabel Walker Willebrandt is becoming increasingly desperate enforcing prohibition.
Adam Corolla
She was a lone warrior.
Ed Helms
I mean, how could Mabel not be feeling the pressure? Her bosses are drunks, her agents are incompetent. Even Congress is full of hypocrites. So if Mabel is going to succeed in laying down the law, she needs to make the consequences for drinking hurt a lot more, which she does, arguably a little too well. Find out more on Season 3, Episode 4 of SNAFU Formula 6. Listen and subscribe on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Jay Shetty
Hey, I'm Jay Shetty. This episode Lizzo opens up like never before about self love, transformation and finding real peace in a world that constantly tries to define you.
Lizzo
It's not me anymore. Whoever Lizzo is to the world is not really even me. And that disconnect is depressing.
Laura Carrenti
The Grammy goes to Lizzo.
Jay Shetty
Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Anna Sinfield
The number one hit podcast, the Girlfriends, is back with something new, the Girlfriends Spotlight. Each week, you'll hear women triumphant over adversity. You'll meet Tracey, who survived a terrifying attack.
Adam Corolla
I remember that feeling of okay, this.
Anna Sinfield
Is how I die and turn that darkness into light.
Adam Corolla
I want to take over the world and just leave this place better than I found it.
Anna Sinfield
So come and join our girl gang. Listen to the girlfriend Spotlight on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Joy, a Podcast: Episode with Adam Carolla
Release Date: April 8, 2025
Host: Craig Ferguson
Guest: Adam Carolla
In this episode of Joy, Craig Ferguson welcomes former radio host and comedian Adam Carolla. Craig introduces Adam as "a gentleman who is outspoken," highlighting his unapologetic and candid nature. The conversation promises to delve into personal insights, career experiences, and broader societal observations.
Timestamp: [03:00 – 05:01]
Craig opens the dialogue by humorously suggesting that his age (62, soon to be 63) grants him the liberty to complain about various aspects of life, such as "young people ruining the world" and enduring hip pain.
Adam Carolla ([04:03]):
"We've now enacted a sort of demographic for complaint, which is if you're heterosexual male and you have money and you're over 6 foot and you're white, then who are you to complain?"
([04:03])
Adam challenges the notion that only certain demographics have the right to voice complaints, emphasizing that even with "all the privilege and the money and all the luxury," he still finds reasons to complain. He suggests that the ability to complain isn't restricted to any particular group.
Craig Ferguson ([05:01]):
"I take issue with the fact that it's a uniquely American skill."
([05:01])
Craig counters Adam's point by disputing the idea that complaining is uniquely American, acknowledging that while other cultures like the Italians have their own forms of expression, America has perhaps "perfected" the art of complaining due to its sheer volume and business integration.
Timestamp: [06:52 – 11:52]
The conversation shifts to Adam's diverse background in boxing and carpentry. Adam shares his experience running boxing classes for Hollywood women and their spouses, highlighting his role in promoting fitness and technique.
Adam Carolla ([07:23]):
"I worked at a place called Bodies in Motion, which had a couple of locations around Los Angeles in the day. And I built it out to teach there because I was a carpenter."
([07:23])
Adam elaborates on how his carpentry skills allowed him to establish a structure for boxing training, blending physical labor with athletic training. He discusses the benefits of various boxing exercises like skipping rope and shadowboxing, emphasizing their effectiveness over repetitive gym workouts.
Craig Ferguson ([08:31]):
"I've never been in the kind of shape that I'm in when I was sparring and hitting the bag and running every day."
([08:31])
Craig reflects on his own limited experience with boxing, acknowledging the rigorous physicality it entails compared to his comedic endeavors.
Adam Carolla ([09:30]):
"What I do almost on a daily basis is I shadow box. And shadowboxing is actually probably better than hitting the heavy bag in terms of technique."
([09:30])
Adam advocates for shadowboxing as a superior method for improving boxing technique, contrasting it with the often aggressive and unfocused nature of heavy bag workouts.
Timestamp: [33:31 – 38:04]
A significant portion of the discussion centers on the importance of having a tangible skill or trade as a foundation for personal security and sanity.
Adam Carolla ([34:42]):
"I really think the base of my sanity is having a trade, like being a carpenter. Actually physically, tangibly knowing how to build a house."
([34:42])
Adam emphasizes that possessing a skillset provides a sense of purpose and stability, contrasting it with the often intangible and volatile nature of careers in entertainment or other non-traditional fields.
Craig Ferguson ([35:54]):
"I don't have that, and I kind of wish I did. But I understand it from a point of view."
([35:54])
Craig admits that he lacks a traditional trade but acknowledges the value it brings, sharing his reliance on stand-up comedy as a fallback and a source of autonomy.
Adam Carolla ([36:53]):
"A field of expertise that you have that other people don't have. And it gives you a kind of a base."
([36:53])
Reiterating the importance of specialized skills, Adam argues that having unique abilities not only provides personal security but also distinguishes individuals in society.
Timestamp: [15:45 – 18:07]
Adam shares his pioneering experiences in the podcasting world, discussing how he helped shape the business model and early practices of podcasting.
Adam Carolla ([15:45]):
"I was one of the earlier podcasters... taking podcasting and turning it into a business is something I'll take some credit for."
([15:45])
He reflects on the shift from audio-only formats to the visually-driven podcast culture prevalent today, expressing a preference for the traditional, intimate listening experience over the current trend of visual podcasts.
Craig Ferguson ([17:18]):
"It's turned into something that wasn't anything when I started. Nobody really needed to see your podcast. They just needed to hear you podcast."
([17:18])
Craig concurs, lamenting the loss of intimacy and the added pressures of maintaining a visual presence, which he feels detracts from the essence of podcasting.
Timestamp: [49:51 – 58:32]
Adam discusses his brief foray into political problem-solving, focusing on practical solutions rather than bureaucratic processes.
Adam Carolla ([50:00]):
"Make the dump free. If you don't want them to dump everything on the side of Mulholland, then make the dump free."
([50:00])
He shares an anecdote where he proposed a straightforward solution to illegal dumping, emphasizing understanding the root causes and implementing practical measures over endless discussions.
Craig Ferguson ([53:18]):
"I think it's just the frustration of getting anything done."
([53:18])
Craig sympathizes with the challenges of navigating bureaucratic systems, agreeing that Adam's pragmatic approach is often hindered by procedural delays and inefficiencies.
Adam Carolla ([54:12]):
"There's a lot of process people. Probably percentage wise, more women than men, but there's plenty of men that are process people as well."
([54:12])
Adam critiques the prevalence of "process people" in politics who prioritize procedures over actionable solutions, contrasting them with "commercial builder" types who push for immediate action.
Timestamp: [28:40 – 30:55]
The duo engages in light-hearted banter, sharing personal stories and humorous exchanges that highlight their camaraderie.
Craig Ferguson ([28:40]):
"We gotta go because we'll be complaining about people talking too much and I've been talking too much."
([28:40])
Adam Carolla ([30:55]):
"It's not intentionally, but, yeah, practically."
([30:55])
Their playful interactions showcase the easy rapport between host and guest, blending humor with deeper discussions seamlessly.
Timestamp: [38:04 – 60:17]
In the concluding segments, Craig and Adam reflect on the importance of tangible skills, coping mechanisms, and the complexities of modern societal issues. They emphasize the need for grounding oneself with concrete abilities and maintaining personal integrity amidst external pressures.
Adam Carolla ([36:16]):
"It's a field of expertise that you have that other people don't have. And it gives you a kind of a base."
([36:16])
Craig Ferguson ([37:45]):
"It's things you can do. And I think the more that you have, the more secure you are."
([37:45])
The episode wraps up with mutual expressions of respect and the understanding that having a solid foundation—be it through skills, trades, or personal values—is essential for navigating life's challenges.
Craig Ferguson ([60:17]):
"It's lovely to catch up with you again, Adam. You're always a brethren. Fresh air, continued success, and it's good to check in with you."
([60:17])
Demographics and Complaints: Adam challenges the notion that only privileged demographics have the right to voice complaints, advocating for authentic expression regardless of one's background.
Importance of Skills: Both Craig and Adam underscore the value of having a tangible skill or trade as a source of personal security and mental stability.
Podcast Evolution: Adam reminisces about the early days of podcasting, lamenting the shift towards visual formats that detract from the traditional, intimate listening experience.
Political Pragmatism: Adam criticizes the bureaucratic nature of politics, emphasizing the need for practical solutions over process-heavy approaches.
Personal Integrity: The conversation highlights the significance of staying true to oneself and maintaining personal integrity amidst societal pressures and expectations.
Adam Carolla ([04:03]):
"We've now enacted a sort of demographic for complaint, which is if you're heterosexual male and you have money and you're over 6 foot and you're white, then who are you to complain?"
([04:03])
Craig Ferguson ([05:01]):
"I take issue with the fact that it's a uniquely American skill."
([05:01])
Adam Carolla ([34:42]):
"I really think the base of my sanity is having a trade, like being a carpenter. Actually physically, tangibly knowing how to build a house."
([34:42])
Adam Carolla ([15:45]):
"I was one of the earlier podcasters... taking podcasting and turning it into a business is something I'll take some credit for."
([15:45])
Adam Carolla ([54:12]):
"There's a lot of process people. Probably percentage wise, more women than men, but there's plenty of men that are process people as well."
([54:12])
This episode of Joy offers a candid and insightful conversation between Craig Ferguson and Adam Carolla, exploring themes of personal fulfillment, the evolution of media, societal dynamics, and the importance of maintaining personal integrity. Their dialogue blends humor with profound observations, providing listeners with both entertainment and thoughtful reflections on finding joy amidst modern life's complexities.