Kennedy Saves the World

Happy Hour: A (Adam) Carolla Cocktail

October 10, 2025

Host: Kennedy
Guest: Adam Carolla

Episode Overview

This lively, irreverent happy hour episode features Kennedy in conversation with comedian, podcaster, and car aficionado Adam Carolla. The two blend mocktails (and joke about spiking them), swap stories on racing and cars, and take delight in dissecting modern motorsports, California politics, and public personalities. Their chat is peppered with quick wit, sarcasm, and a mix of affectionate and biting cultural commentary.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Car Culture and the Allure of Racing

• BMWs & Car Affinity

  • Kennedy playfully introduces Adam as a BMW racing guy. Adam clarifies: “I don't race any BMWs, but I do love myself a BMW.” (00:30)
  • They acknowledge that while other cars have caught up, BMWs remain “a great driver's car.” (00:44)

• Street vs. Track Thrills

  • Adam now finds street driving anticlimactic compared to racing:

    "After you race for a while... it just seems sort of anticlimactic to go fast on the street. It just doesn't. It feels sort of boring. It feels like a letdown." (01:00)

• Motorsports Favorites

  • Adam isn’t a NASCAR oval fan but enjoys "Roval" courses (combining ovals and road courses):

    "The Roval is you go down the front straight... drop into the infield and do the track there, then spit back out...so you get the experience of both—high speed and road course. Which is fun." (01:45)

2. The Evolution of Racing and Cars

• Modern F1's Sterility

  • Adam laments that F1 cars were more interesting when more dangerous:

    “Stuff got a little sterilized...the F1 cars of yore used to be more interesting. Very dangerous. And dangerous stuff—that’s more interesting, sort of inherently.” (03:06)

• The Raw Feel of Vintage Cars

  • Adam loves racing older cars for their tactile, visceral sensation versus “domesticated” modern race cars:

    “There’s a much more visceral sensation...a lot less the car does for you...no technology in them...momentum cars...fun, fast, go karty.” (03:54)

    • On modern pro cars: “I was immediately comfortable...it felt sort of domesticated or something. Whereas the old vintage race cars...have a very, like, sort of raggedy feel...But it's visceral. It makes for more fun.” (05:42, 06:19)

• Could Adam Have Gone Pro?

  • Adam muses on an alternate life as a pro racer, if his upbringing had included go-karts and supportive parents in Temecula:

    “I probably had some talent for it, so maybe if I grew up karting, you know, when I was 8 ... That’d mean Jim Carolla would have to buy a go kart for young Adam, and that never was gonna happen.” (06:37)

• Old-School Racing Legends

  • Adam pays homage to racing’s past, when drivers like Dan Gurney drove “everything,” unlike today’s hyper-specialized contracts and branding:

    “There’s precedent for guys back in the day who just drove—just loved to race.” (07:22)

    • “Now it’s just: here’s your sport, you start playing all year.” (08:31)

3. Satirical Dive into California Politics

• Katie Porter Riffs

  • Kennedy triggers a rant by asking, “Do you love Katie Porter as much as I do?” (08:43)
  • Adam responds sardonically:

    “I am so in love with Katie Porter...I was making fun of her until she yelled at her staff, and then I was like, there’s my kind...My kind of lady.” (08:47)

  • He then launches into a scathing anecdote about Porter’s criticism of a bank’s ad campaign promoting savings by not buying $7 coffee:

    “First off, you insane cow, lady, this is what your grandfather would have told you...This is all just sort of frontier wisdom.” (10:03, 11:42)

  • Memorable takedown of performative progressivism:

    “It was like homespun, kind of cute...basic what this country used to be about advice, and Katie Porter and of course Liz were...just a bunch of sort of harpies. Yes, yes. Grandstanding.” (11:42)

• California Governorship & Progressive Archetypes

  • Kennedy floats Porter as governor, Adam calls Californian voters “so stupid or so ideological or, or willing to cut off their nose despite their face.” (12:45)
  • On a string of progressive leaders:

    “Can always get worse.” (13:43)

    • “You don't think Newsom has ruined the state? Because we can...We only burn parts of it. We could burn it all.” (13:44)
  • California’s issues: high taxes, expensive gas, terrible roads—“Seems like they do [have enough tax money].” (15:08)

4. Personalities & Pop Satire

• On Katie Porter’s Personal Life

  • Kennedy and Adam lampoon reports about Katie Porter's alleged domestic incident (“dumping the hot mashed potatoes”):

    Kennedy (14:44): “What about dumping the hot mashed potatoes on his head and burning his scalp?”
    Adam: “I had a kind of hippie, progressive, free to be you and me kind of mom...The image of the progressive is taking a flower and putting it into the barrel of the National Guardsman, right?...They’re angry and they’re rageful.” (15:53, 16:39)

• Peace, Love, and Public Meltdowns

  • Adam lampoons the contrast between progressive veneers and suppressed rage, referencing Bill O’Reilly and TV talk show hosts:

    “Remember Ellen? She used to love to dance...Cutie patootie, Chub club, right? They’re evil shrews. Why are they dancing, by the way?” (16:48, 16:51)

• Hypocrisy and ‘Signaling’ in Progressivism

  • Adam lampoons progressive men’s “deep leg cross” as signaling, poking fun at the performative gestures of public figures like Gavin Newsom, Barack Obama, and Justin Trudeau:

    “You cannot convince me they’re not signaling...every progressive male crosses his legs like he’s Dinah Shore on a talk show in the 70s ... I now have a torsion of my testicles.” (18:30, 19:21)
    “Once you see my colorful socks and my deep leg cross, you’ll know LGBT community where I stand.” (19:56)

5. Wheel of Destiny: Katy Perry vs. Katie Porter

• A tongue-in-cheek “game”:

  “This is the Wheel of Destiny. One side is Katie Porter. The other side is Katy Perry. Whatever side it lands on, that’s who you take home tonight. Do you spin that wheel?” (20:21, 20:26)

  • Adam: “I tweeted that...the greatest indictment of Katie Porter...everyone just gone. ‘I’m sorry, I’m a big Katy Perry fan, but...I’m not going near that wheel.’” (21:15)
  • Kennedy: “It's the modern day Ernest Hemingway...I’ve wrestled lions. But Have I spun the wheel of Destiny?” (21:32, 21:38)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Modern Race Cars
  “It felt like I was driving kind of a streetcar when I was doing this race...immediately comfortable in it, and it felt sort of domesticated...vintage race cars...have a very, like, sort of raggedy feel...But it's visceral. It makes for more fun.”
  — Adam Carolla, 05:42–06:19

• On Katie Porter
  “First off, you insane cow, lady, this is what your grandfather would have told you...This country used to be about advice...it's just a bunch of sort of harpies...grandstanding.”
  — Adam Carolla, 10:03–11:42

• On Progressive Rage
  “I was raised by one of these people. They’re angry and they’re rageful. And you think it’s all peace and love and good vibes. That is a veneer.”
  — Adam Carolla, 16:39

• On “Signaling”
  “Every progressive male crosses his legs like he’s Dinah Shore on a talk show in the 70s wearing a short miniskirt...I now have a torsion of my testicles.”
  — Adam Carolla, 19:21

• Wheel of Destiny
  “One side is Katie Porter. The other side is Katy Perry. Whatever side it lands on, that's who you take home tonight. Do you spin that wheel?”
  — Adam Carolla, 20:26

Segment Timestamps

• Intro & Drinks (00:10–02:37)
• On Racing, F1, and Car Culture (02:37–07:11)
• Racing in the Old Days (07:11–08:43)
• Katie Porter & Banking Ad Anecdote (08:43–12:25)
• California Politics, Wildfire Riffs (12:43–15:16)
• Progressives & Public Personas Parody (15:53–19:56)
• Wheel of Destiny - Satirical Game (20:21–21:53)

Overall Tone

The episode’s atmosphere is playful, sardonic, and satirical, with Adam Carolla’s acerbic humor meshing smoothly with Kennedy’s cheeky provocations. While laced with exaggeration and parody, the conversation frequently pivots to pointed critiques of cultural and political trends with a distinct libertarian undercurrent.