“Follow The Money!” Adam Carolla Exposes Hollywood’s Darkest Secrets and Political Lies

Summary

The Iced Coffee Hour: “Follow The Money!” Adam Carolla Exposes Hollywood’s Darkest Secrets and Political Lies

Release Date: March 9, 2025

Hosts: Graham Stephan and Jack Selby
Guest: Adam Carolla

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Introduction to the Episode

In this compelling episode of The Iced Coffee Hour, hosts Graham Stephan and Jack Selby welcome comedian and radio host Adam Carolla for an unfiltered discussion on society’s current trajectory, the pitfalls of overregulation, the decline of practical skills among younger generations, and the hidden manipulations within Hollywood. Adam Carolla brings his trademark bluntness, providing listeners with candid insights and controversial opinions.

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Adam Carolla’s Critique of Modern Society

Adam Carolla opens the conversation by addressing what he perceives as a significant decline in common sense and an overreliance on pharmaceuticals among younger generations. He emphasizes the importance of resilience and practical skills, frustrations that he feels are exacerbated by modern societal norms.

Notable Quote:

“Simpler misery and repetitiveness in tasks that we've eliminated... it's weakening everybody and hurting everybody.”
— Adam Carolla [16:46]

He criticizes the tendency to seek easy solutions through pharmaceuticals rather than engaging in physical activities or engaging with the natural world. Carolla argues that this detachment from practical skills leads to a generation that lacks essential abilities, such as changing a tire or performing basic vehicle maintenance.

Notable Quote:

“Everybody under 40 I know are like, they can't change a tire.”
— Adam Carolla [11:22]

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Overregulation and Its Impact on California

A significant portion of the discussion centers around California’s overregulation and its detrimental effects on businesses and taxpayers. Carolla illustrates his points with vivid examples, contrasting the stringent regulations imposed on lawful businesses with the leniency shown towards illegal activities.

Notable Quote:

“The city has no interest in the illegal activity on one side of the street... but they're very vigorous about enforcing regulations on legitimate businesses.”
— Adam Carolla [42:47]

He recounts the frustration of dealing with bureaucratic hurdles when rebuilding after the Thomas Fire, highlighting how regulations have become a barrier to recovery and progress. Carolla underscores the inconsistency in enforcement, where petty fines are levied on law-abiding citizens while ignoring more significant issues like homelessness and illicit activities.

Notable Quote:

“Blues cities are the toughest on taxpayers and the easiest on criminals.”
— Adam Carolla [56:12]

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Hollywood and Political Correctness

Carolla delves into his experiences and observations within Hollywood, critiquing the pervasive political correctness and its impact on career opportunities. He argues that Hollywood enforces a narrow set of ideologies, sidelining dissenting voices and fostering an environment where conformity is rewarded over genuine talent.

Notable Quote:

“If you tell Ted and his wife I like the Eagles... magically, 100% of Hollywood is a Chiefs fan.”
— Adam Carolla [38:00]

He shares personal anecdotes about the pressures to align with prevailing political sentiments to secure roles and maintain industry connections. Carolla suggests that this climate stifles creativity and authentic expression, leading talented individuals to seek opportunities elsewhere.

Notable Quote:

“The most miserable people are just young women. So we sold them a bill of bullshit...”
— Adam Carolla [14:03]

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Relationship and Personal Success

Transitioning to more personal topics, Carolla offers his perspectives on relationships and the definition of success. He emphasizes understanding and respecting differences between genders, advocating for pragmatic approaches to relationship management.

Notable Quote:

“Understand that women are very different than you... they do not feel the way you do.”
— Adam Carolla [61:11]

When discussing success, he contrasts his own definitions with those of others, highlighting the subjective nature of what it means to be successful. For Carolla, success involves achieving personal goals and maintaining authenticity, rather than adhering to societal expectations.

Notable Quote:

“My definition of success is being able to afford a $10 pizza and spend the rest of the money on tools.”
— Adam Carolla [73:30]

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Reflections on Past Experiences

Carolla reflects on his time hosting Loveline and an infamous incident involving Steve-O. He recounts the spontaneous nature of the event and his disapproval of the network’s decision to censor it, reinforcing his stance on authenticity and transparency.

Notable Quote:

“I think the only thing people will remember is the episode where Steve O. put his foot through the glass table.”
— Adam Carolla [84:53]

He also shares insights on the entertainment industry's reliance on rented props and the superficial nature of certain productions, critiquing the lack of genuine investment in long-term assets.

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Advice for Young People

Addressing the younger generation, Carolla offers pragmatic advice on career and personal development. He stresses the importance of understanding one’s strengths and weaknesses, advocating for hard work and skill acquisition over entitlement.

Notable Quote:

“If you want to work hard or you're halfway good at your job, you'll excel. But be prepared to work on some weekends, put in some long days.”
— Adam Carolla [70:17]

He encourages young individuals to align their careers with their natural talents and interests, emphasizing that success stems from dedication and practical effort rather than external validation or shortcuts.

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Final Thoughts

In concluding the interview, Adam Carolla reflects on his legacy and how he wishes to be remembered. He aspires to be known as someone who was both funny and accurate, maintaining integrity and authenticity in his work and personal life.

Notable Quote:

“I'd like to be remembered as someone who was accurate... funny and accurate.”
— Adam Carolla [88:59]

Carolla reiterates his commitment to living a positive and productive life, serving as an example for his children through his actions rather than attempting to instill values directly.

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Conclusion

Adam Carolla’s appearance on The Iced Coffee Hour offers a no-holds-barred examination of contemporary societal issues, from overregulation and the decline of practical skills to the hidden agendas within Hollywood. His candid reflections and unfiltered opinions provide listeners with a thought-provoking perspective on the challenges facing modern society and the paths forward for personal and communal resilience.

Closing Remarks:

"Adam, thank you so much for coming on the Iced Coffee Hour."
— Graham Stephan [89:50]

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This summary captures the essence of Adam Carolla’s participation in the episode, highlighting his critical viewpoints, personal anecdotes, and advice, making it a valuable resource for those who seek to understand the key discussions without listening to the full episode.

Transcript

[Adam Carolla]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try. @mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for.

[Graham Stephan]

3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month Required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available.

[Adam Carolla]

Taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail] first things first, you don't need pharmaceuticals to heal everything.

[Graham Stephan]

So you've spent decades saying things that are seemingly obvious, yet no one listens.

[Adam Carolla]

If you guys quit the weed, you too can become board certified. I had a woman say to me once, she goes, why do you win every argument? And I said, because I only argue when I'm right. A lot of people argue about they don't know about, and then their batting average is going to go down. Almost every time I tell someone, go do something. Go paint your office, go wash your car. Inevitably, usually the woman yells, she doesn't need to do that. Like they don't need, no one needs to do anything anymore. That's where we're at.

[Jack]

So do you think we have it too easy then? That people's lives are just a little too good these days?

[Adam Carolla]

You could say good or easy, but I feel sorry for these people. Everybody under 40 I know are like, they can't change a tire.

[Graham Stephan]

What would you say for the average viewer out there then? Minimum effort, next steps that they can take to feel more fulfilled, or they.

[Adam Carolla]

Can just get a job. Just go get a job. How about that? I have an alternative. Ya.

[Graham Stephan]

Adam, Carolla, thank you so much for coming on the iced coffee hour.

[Adam Carolla]

It is my pleasure.

[Graham Stephan]

So you've spent decades saying things that are seemingly obvious, yet no one listens. What would you say is the biggest I told you so in your entire career?

[Adam Carolla]

Well, I mean there's, there's sort of micro and macro with like I, I told you so for me, like there's sort of smaller things. Like I've been saying, people use too much soap, they wash too much. Purell's bad. You can't sanitize everything. Kids are getting allergies, everyone's allergic to peanuts. Now you need to expose kids to stuff, not remove the peanut butter from the house and stop slathering on the purell and the disinfectant and stuff. And stop showering so much, stop scrubbing so much. These are like smaller things that I've talked about for 25 or 30 years, and everyone just calls me gross or weird or something. I don't know. People get angry when you just tell them, you know, you're too clean, you're cleaning too much, you know, so that's like a. That's kind of a micro Y thing. Macro, I guess, would be Covid. School closures, masks, you know, everything. Everything. Covid was another thing I was soundly attacked for in my opinions. But I've been right about everything that I talk about. It just. It takes a minute to come around. Like now, it's sort of. I've been saying all the DEI hires are bad and not going to work out and affirmative action stuff. All things social in most things personal.

[Graham Stephan]

So on the topic of the micro, what would you say is the proper amount of filth to have on one's body?

[Jack]

How often should Jack wipe his ass?

[Adam Carolla]

Well, first off, Jack should never do it himself.

[Jack]

Who should be?

[Adam Carolla]

Well, you're far too powerful for that. I have people I could lend you My guy.

[Graham Stephan]

It's a guy.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, I say my guy. You know what I mean?

[Jack]

It could be gender neutral.

[Graham Stephan]

It's fine if they are. I mean.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. Well, I didn't want anyone that I had an attraction to doing it because I believe that would blur some lines, you know, so I'm heterosexual. So, Yeah, I chose a fella because I didn't want to fall in love with my ass wiper, which has happened. It happened to Kimmel. It's happened to a few people I know.

[Graham Stephan]

Interesting.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, there's a song called Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer and then. But there should be a song called Don't Fall in Love with an Ass Wiper, which is much more prevalent and more ubiquitous than dreamers.

[Graham Stephan]

But is that so wrong?

[Adam Carolla]

Hey, if. If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right. And that's another song. But it should be called if Loving is Wrong. I Don't Want To Be Right about My Ass Wiper is what it should be.

[Jack]

You know, Jack had a question that went somewhat viral on TikTok a while ago.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, yeah.

[Jack]

Do you stand or sit when you wipe?

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, there's standing and wiping. Yes.

[Graham Stephan]

See? Exactly. People can live their entire life and have no idea that people stand or sit when they wipe. People that stand don't know people sit. People that sit don't know people stand.

[Jack]

And it's 50. 50.

[Graham Stephan]

It's actually closer to 30, 70.

[Adam Carolla]

It can't be 50, 50 stand.

[Graham Stephan]

It's closer to 30, 70.

[Jack]

This is higher than you would stand.

[Graham Stephan]

It's a 30% stand.

[Adam Carolla]

Okay, hold on. You've rocked my world. I would think almost nobody stands, but there's a lot of stuff I'm confused about in our society. I'm always amazed when a election comes around and you have like Kamala Harris and you have Trump and they're like the most different people on the planet. And you're like, where are we at? Well, we're 49. 5 versus 50.4. Like, how could we be cut right down the middle on, like, things of that nature? And standing? All right, so there's a physiological process that goes on with standing, which is a sort of half clinch. Like when you go up, you're sort of, you're looking, you're looking for separation. And when you're sitting, it's a natural separation. Otherwise you'd standing up. There's a reason you sit in defense.

[Graham Stephan]

Of the standers, not claiming which side I, you know, am involved with, but in defense of them. They say that it's more of a squat.

[Jack]

Well, it's like a half stand.

[Adam Carolla]

Listen, there is an emergency stand that's, you know, a camping situation, a somebody just kicked in the front door of the apartment and you're, you know, there's a, there's a time and a place for a stand wipe. That's a different situation, but it's not when you got all the wiping time in the world. I'll tell you the move, really the move is time it so you take your morning dump and then hit the shower and just eliminate the wipe.

[Jack]

Well, moving on from that, you've said that people lack common sense, but I'm curious, is this a new phenomenon or has this just always been the case?

[Adam Carolla]

I mean, I'm sure if we contacted our elders through some modality, they would tell you about all the dumb people in their village. I mean, they used to have village idiots. You know, I think I now think like Los Angeles becoming a village for idiots. It's been literally used to be one village idiot. Now it's the LA City council. There's multiple idiots. So here's my theory, which I will be proven correct about. And by the way, just so people know, I don't need to be proven correct. For me, I already know I'm right with everything. But only stuff I talk about, like people go, I had a woman say to me once, she goes, why do you win every argument? And I said, because I only argue when I'm right. A lot of people argue about shit they don't know about, and then their batting average is going to go down. That's all. Through Covid. All people did, that's all CNN did, was tell you stuff they didn't know about. And now, lo and behold, they're wrong, but they shouldn't have said it in the first place. You wait until you figure out what's going on, be correct, and then make, make your statement.

[Jack]

So what separates people that get it and those that don't?

[Adam Carolla]

So, okay, so here's what's going on in this chapter of our society. We weren't meant for this. We weren't meant for air conditioning and a sedentary lifestyle and all the things men don't have to do anymore and all the things we've told women they never have to do again. You know, you don't have to wash clothes, you don't have to sew socks, you don't have to milk cows, you don't have to pluck chickens. You don't have to go down to the river and get water or clean. You don't do any of that. And guys, you don't have to, you know, you don't have to repair your roof, you don't have to wash your, you don't have to shoe your own horse or wash your own van or anything that's like, don't do anything. When you take people and you put them in an environment that has climate control and they're told just to sit there and stare at a screen all day and do data entry, they start floating. They lose their attachment to the physical world. And the physical world is a constant reminder of common sense. So, like, if you work, you know, back in the day, 80% of people worked at a mill or at a logging camp or at a coal mine or something like that. When you work in that world, if you screw up, you lose a limb or you die. There's just, that's just how construction works. You know, when you're building a bridge, it's all super. It's all gravity, it's all tangible, it's all practical. It doesn't really care what's in your heart or who you know or what's your sexual equivities are. It's just mechanics and gravity and nature. And this is why people who fix things for a living and are like diesel mechanics and work with tools are more pragmatic than folks that go into government and just sit inside a cubicle and just sort of float Ideas all day that. That'll never work. That, like, you know, defund the police. Like, okay, that's not going to work. It never was going to work. I don't know why you thought it was going to work. Almost everything Covid was a retarded idea that some idiot had who was locked in something. Nobody I knew who worked in the trades cared about COVID They showed up, they just went to work. They have to work every day. Like, if you are fabricating metal, you got a band saw or a chop saw or whatever you're welding. I mean, it's all risk, reward. So we took everybody. We took them off the farm, we took them out of the tangible world, and we put them indoors and we pumped in air conditioning, and we put them in front of a screen, and they lost their ability to think. They do not have a relationship with danger. You need a relationship with danger.

[Jack]

So do you think we have it too easy then? That people's lives are just a little too good these days?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, I mean, you could say good or easy, but I. I feel sorry for these people. There's guys that have zero tangible skills. They have no ability to. To do anything. They're. Everybody under 40 I know are like, they can't change a tire. If they get a flat tire, they don't know how to take the spare out and put it on their car, which might go, oh, well, that guy will call aaa. So he's got it easy. But I don't think being skillless and lazy and stoned is easy. I don't find that to be rewarding.

[Jack]

I'll get to that, though. Society versus just a parenting style that maybe older millennials are now, you know, getting into this, and they're just teaching different things. That's causing this.

[Adam Carolla]

I mean, it's soci. It's. Look, you know, it's. Society dictates parenting styles, and maybe parenting styles influence society. But, you know, little stupid stuff like, I have a son. And I was like, he should get a job at McDonald's. And then every woman in the. In the room was like, he doesn't have to work at McDonald's. You may make ton of money. I go, he needs to learn how to work. He doesn't need to work. Yeah, he doesn't need to work at McDonald's. It's true. I have enough money for both of us. He should work at McDonald's so he can learn to work. And that perfectly fine with me. I wished my son, son of a rich man, worked at a McDonald's so we'd learn how to work. You know, it's like I say to people all the time, like, I go, I'm going to go wash my car this weekend. And so when I go, you don't need to wash your car. Have the detailer guy come over, take it to the whatever. It's like almost every time I tell someone, go do something. Go paint your office, go wash your car, whatever. They inevitably. Usually a woman yells, she doesn't need to do that. Like, they don't need. No one needs to do anything anymore. That's where we're at. Okay. But your brain's turning to mush because you're not doing things. You're not doing simple tasks.

[Jack]

How does that parenting style different between boys and girls?

[Adam Carolla]

I don't know that there's a big differentiation between boys and girls anymore in terms of, like, the parenting. You know, I mean, I.

[Jack]

For your daughter, would you tell her get a job at McDonald's to get work experience? Cause I feel like guys. It's easier to push them into, like, oh, you gotta go and do that. Go wash the car.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah. I think there's a societal thing where we sort of said, you don't have, you know, you're not allowed as a male to tell a female what to do, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, which is not good. But, by the way, the most miserable people are just young women. So we sold them a bill of bullshit, like they could. Don't listen to anybody. You don't need to get married. You don't have to have kids. You can do whatever you want. No man is in charge or whatever. You don't need a man, and they're all miserable. So it didn't work. It was just another bad society. It's sort of. It was their version of defund the police. Like, all right, bad idea, not going to work. But I'll just sit back and enjoy watching you guys scramble and fail. And so we're kind of that way, you know, dads aren't allowed. Dads are allowed to sort of boss their son around, Although that's. That's pretty limited, too, now. But, yes, you cannot treat the woman the same. Otherwise, society shall. Shall judge you. Hmm.

[Jack]

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[Graham Stephan]

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[Jack]

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[Graham Stephan]

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[Jack]

Thank you, Ramp, for sponsoring this episode. And now let's get back to the podcast. What do you think is one of the biggest issues right now that's not being discussed?

[Adam Carolla]

I think it's the sort of simple misery and repetitiveness in tasks that we've eliminated. It's the gravity part of life that we've decided to eliminate. And we're not really realizing that. It's weakening everybody and hurting everybody. And I'll unpack it. But what I'm saying is, first things first, you don't need pharmaceuticals to heal everything at all. A certain amount of just sort of miserableness is fine. It motivates. It's okay. You don't have to feel good all the time. If you feel threatened, that's on you. You need to. You need to fix that. Take a Taekwondo class or something. If you feel threatened all the time, don't. Don't take pharmaceuticals way too much. With the pharmaceuticals. It's like everybody under 40 I know is on something. Everyone's allergic to something. Everyone's on some sort of ssri. Somebody. Everyone's taking something for something. It's nuts. It's insane. It never existed. Nobody I knew growing up. Took anything. Nobody was allergic to anything. Nobody took stomach. Everyone's stomach stall. Fucked up. Now, like, I can't eat this. I don't do that. I don't have a tolerance. It's all bullshit. You did it to yourself. Get off the pharmaceuticals. Start hiking. Start sweating. Listen to classical music. Go hit the trail. I've been saying this for 30 years. People call in Loveline, my doctors. He wants to prescribe, put on classical music and take a hike. That's what I would tell everybody. If it doesn't work, then take the pharmaceuticals. But they never did it. They just took the pharmaceuticals. Now, 30 years later, there's studies that have come out. Turns out hiking and listening to classical music is better than taking serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Oh, who knew? So you can file that shit under one more thing I told everyone to do, and no one listened to me. And nobody cared. Cared but way too many pharmaceuticals. You don't need it. And stop with your stomach. There's something going on. You need to expose yourself to stuff, not avoid stuff. And not take a bunch of pharmaceuticals and bromides to protect yourself and go break a sweat. Go hit the trail and go build a treehouse in your backyard. Do a project. No one has projects anymore. They sit around and they watch Netflix and they take pharmaceuticals and they order grubhub and miserable. Don't do it just because, like, like, okay, just because it's easier doesn't mean you should engage in it. I've. I've never ordered grubhub. I don't know how to order grubhub. I wouldn't do it. I would either make myself food or I would go order a pizza or take out whatever. I would go get it. And people go, you don't have to go get it. They bring it to your house. I go, I want to be part of society where I get up.

[Graham Stephan]

What would you say for the average viewer other than going through life and maybe they're not super happy? Like, are the actual, like, minimum effort next steps that they can take. The small things, small adjustments in their life that they can take to feel more fulfilled.

[Adam Carolla]

You need to inflict some intentional misery on yourself. You need to put it onto yourself. The. The cold shower, the cold plunge is not there because I have inflammation of my joints. I don't have any problems with my joints or my back or. I really don't know the physiological benefits of a cold plunge other than they say they are. But I've never started taking a cold plunge because I Have joint problems. I do it because it's miserable. I do it because it's painful. And I'm not a Navy Seal or anything. I don't sit around and do push ups in a sauna all day. I do plenty of stuff that feels good and that I want to do. And food I shouldn't eat, I eat it. I'm not a martyr. I'm just saying start challenging yourself a little bit. Start inflicting a little difficulty into your life. Start doing things that scare you a little bit. And if the idea of waking up every morning and standing in the shower and just turn on cold and blasting yourself with freezing water sounds miserable to you, then go do it. And things will start getting into the habit of doing stuff you don't want to do and stuff that may scare you.

[Graham Stephan]

You were a part of the man show, which some people argue could never be done today. Would you say comedy is dead or it's just different?

[Adam Carolla]

It's different. And you probably could do a show like that again today. I don't know, maybe not in a mainstream environment, you know, but maybe some YouTube channel or something. I don't know. There has been a renaissance of sort of comedy that is more freewheeling and sort of edgier and sort of male centric and stuff like that. You know the names a lot of guys out there getting a lot of traffic who are doing that because it's just a, an answer to the political correctness and the COVID lockdowns and stuff like that pushed guys into that, you know, they got pushed into it. You know, it's that sort of Andrew Tate phenomenon of like people are like why are these guys gravitate, gravitating toward Andrew Tate or Joe Rogan or whatever? And the answer is because you pussies push them to them by saying them they couldn't. Gillette comes out with commercials talking about toxic masculinity that shows two six year old boys just wrestling outside at a barbecue and they label that as toxic masculinity. So you ass wipes created a society that took normal male behavior and tried to criminalize it. And that's why Andrew Tate has a following. So they did it to themselves.

[Jack]

Speaking of that, there was something about Gen Z not approaching women at bars anymore. Like that's not a thing, right? It's like such a high percentage. And even Gen Z women said that they would not want to be approached if they're out in public at all. And I feel like that's completely shifted. It used to be like you would go and meet people at bars or you'd go and meet people on the street.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, what they did or what we did as a society, and I remember this, and Dr. Drew was an early pioneer in this and deserves much criticism for it, which I do give him, and he accepts it, which is they said that going back to probably the 70s, but beyond the way males behave and the way females behave. And it's been discussed that society would be better if it was more feminized, that the male version of society is wars and clubbing women over the head and dragging them back to the cave and all the male. And, you know, and you kind of went, all right, like every movie where guys are fighting with swords and stuff, it's guys killing guys, you know, like all the Hitlers and the Genghis Khans and the Mussolini, you know, they got one thing in common, balls, you know. So we decided that if there was a. If we tacked toward a more feminine based society, that we would have a more evolved society which wasn't, you know, out of the question. Like mathematically, like it made sense. Like they used to say, like, if women were in charge, there'd be no wars, you know, and you'd go, okay, it's true. I mean, I haven't heard of women starting wars, you know, traditionally. So what we basically said is, women, you do what you gotta do and you do your own thing and you do as much of it as you can and you have girl power. You need to be empowered. Guys, you need to tamp it down and reel it in. Your impulses are bad and they're negative and people get hurt. So guys bring it down. Women, let your freak flag fly. There's nothing you can do that's wrong. Just go do it. And so we started down that road in earnest, like 20, 25 years ago, and we fucked up our society because it basically turns out you need men and women and you need this kind of a symbiotic balance of masculinity and femininity. And when you go all feminine, you'll screw up society, as I'm sure, if you want all masculine, like if you did it in a house, you know, there's a husband and a wife, they provide different skills and different things for the kid. And if they're both doing their job correctly, you should end up with a pretty good kid. But if you just decide guys are evil, remove them, and then you go full feminine, then you're going to have a fucked up kid. And by the way, it'd be the same way if you got rid of the woman and you just went, it's going to be this way with two, you know, two longshoremen are going to raise the kid, you know, so our balance got fucked up and we fucked up our society and certain cities and societies like Los Angeles. It's a feminine society and that's why it doesn't work. That's why we can't stop a fire or fix a fire. We can't do anything because it's all female. City council and mayor and Gavin Newsom, by the way, you can be a dude wired like a chick. So Gavin Newsom is. Watch how they cross their legs. Gavin Newsom's a chick, he thinks like a woman. And Tulsi Gabbard thinks like a dude, by the way. You can. Sometimes they cross over, but LA's feminized and that's why we're floundering. We need a balance.

[Graham Stephan]

I'm curious, what's the last joke that you said that got widespread backlash?

[Adam Carolla]

I mean, the last thing I said that really spread around and got a lot of people really pissed off was a tweet from 2020. I think it may have been around August of 2020 was early ish into Covid and I sent a tweet out that said, this thing is killing sick people and old people and the rest of you pussies got played and who's getting played next time? And everyone went bananas. And then I was told maybe I should take that tweet down by a few people. And Judd Apatow, the great Judd Apatow, who's a friend, he called me and he said, you should take that tweet down. But only because he likes me. He saw that I was being attacked and I just went, well, listen, I'm not in the business of taking stuff down. That's true. If I say something that's incorrect, then I'll take it down. But if I'm correct, then I won't take it down. So it kills old people, it kills sick people, it kills fat people, it kills people with pre existing comorbidities. It does not harm young people who are healthy at all, number one. Number two, you pussies who bought in, you sheep, you cowards, you got played. They fucking played you and you bought into it and you were cowards and you should own that. And who's getting played next time? Because there is going to be another thing. I don't know if it's going to be a viral disease, but there'll be things. And they're going to count on stooges like you guys. Not you guys. I don't know what you guys did, but they're going to count on a large group of stooges to cast in their play. So essentially casting a play, they need tons of extra stooges. And everybody who walked around, who told me to pull my mask up when I was alone on a horse trail, or who drove alone in a car with a mask on or did any enforcement of this at all, you are necessary stooges for the play that they're casting.

[Graham Stephan]

Okay. But some people argue. I don't really care what people think. But it's easier to actually express that publicly when you're rich.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah.

[Graham Stephan]

And you, for example, you make your living by providing these kind of like harsh, blunt, extreme, extreme to some opinions online. And so it's productive for you to continue doing so. But for other people, maybe where they work in a corporate environment where they can't share stuff like this, or people that just don't have money, how would you recommend them going about life not caring about other people, or should they care?

[Adam Carolla]

Well, and by the way, I know, I think you just cut yourself off. It's not caring. It's not caring about other people. It's not caring what other people think, Right? Yeah. I care about my kids. That's why I wanted them to open their school and not sit home and languish. So when I attacked the school system, it wasn't because I don't care about kids or kids of color kids. I actually care about kids. It's the teachers unions who don't care about kids. And so that's why I attack them. It's always funny when they push it back on you. Like you don't care about. If I didn't care about kids, I wouldn't be talking about any of this stuff. I wouldn't care if I didn't have kids who are sitting home languishing right now. I wouldn't. So here's how it works. When you work for a corporation, then that corporation can threaten you or an organization, you know, you're in a firefighters union, you have to get vaccinated or they'll fire you or you're a cop or you're in the military. So if you're part of a large group or, you know, you work for IBM or Monsanto or something. So if you work for somebody, then you are at the whims of whichever way the wind is blowing for them, you know, and the way the wind is blowing for them is maximum profit, whether they're right or wrong, you know, so then they can basically go put on this gay flag lapel for, for, for Gay Week, you know, and then you go, I'm a Christian and I don't believe in that. And they go, okay, well then we're going to fire you. You know what I mean? Which is horrible. But that's, we just saw it, okay? So if you work in that environment, know there is nothing you can do. Now if you are good at your job, the little secret is, is if you're good, you can never be canceled. You can never be fired. Even if you're a welder. If you're a kick ass welder, you'll work. You'll never stop working. If you're. I used to be a carpenter. If you're a good carpenter, you say whatever the fuck you want about anything because someone will hire you all the time. So if you actually have a skill or you're actually skilled at what you do, then you do not have to worry about society and what you say. Now if you're a mid level New York Times journalist, then you better shut up. If you're really good at journalism, then you leave and you go to Substack and you create your own following. There are a lot of people that just left the plantation during COVID and they're all just hung their own shingle and they're fine now, so. But you have to be good. If you want to be mediocre and you want to work for a large corporation and be mediocre, then you're going to have to eat shit and do whatever it is they want, whether you agree with it or not. I would argue get good at something and get off of that plantation. But no, if you have young kids and you're working for the New York times and it's 2021 and you got thoughts about the lab leak versus the wet market, you better keep it to yourself. Now I disagree with the idiots who would fire you for having an opinion and, or being correct about something. But that is self preservation in terms of me. My opinions do not benefit me in terms of business per se. That may be counter to what you may be thinking, but the reality is you will be shown the door in Hollywood if you have opinions that are counter to whichever way the wind is blowing in terms of trans community or anything by the way, like Covid. I'd have people on like sets come up to me and go like I agree with you. And then like look over their shoulder.

[Graham Stephan]

Because do you have Hollywood elite that like DM you secretly and say, like, hey, by the way, and this is like massive movie stars and celebrities.

[Jack]

Here's who's controlling that? Like, who's that person who sets the narrative for Hollywood? Although you know what, if you run your own business, you know there's no better sound than hearing. And if you want to hear a bunch more, then it's time to get started with their sponsor, Shopify. For those unaware, Shopify is home to the number one checkout in the planet, with way less carts going abandoned and way more sales going. As an example of this, Shopify has a service called Shop Pay that lets customers save their email address, billing information, shipping information, and more, and that helps boost conversions by up to 50%. And if you're into growing your business, your commerce platform better be ready to sell wherever your customers are scrolling or strolling, whether that be on the web, in a feed, in a physical storefront, or anything in between. All in all, nobody is selling better than Shopify. So if you want to upgrade your business, you could get started today with a $1 trial period. When you go to shopify.comich all lowercase again, that's shopify.comich to upgrade your business today. Shopify.comich to claim that $1 trial period right now. Just do it. The link is down below in the description. So we've made it easy for you. Just click the link. That's it. And Shopify has been an incredible sponsor. I've been personally using them, by the way. I'm going off script here for years. Like, for the last five, six years, I've been using Shopify exclusively. Absolutely love them. I've had nothing but a fantastic experience with them. So that is my testimonial for Shopify, and they've really helped support our podcast. So if you want to support us, give them a shot with the link down below in the description. Thank you so much, Shopify, for sponsoring this episode. And now let's get back to the podcast.

[Adam Carolla]

Here's how Hollywood works. The super bowl is coming, coming up, metaphorically, and we got the Chiefs and we got the Eagles in it. And at some point somebody goes, who do you like? And you go, I like the Eagles. And someone goes, yeah, not a good wrong answer. And then you go, why? And I go, well, the guy's casting the movie and the guy's directing the movie. And the guy, Ted Sarantos, is married to a Chiefs fan, so the guy runs Netflix. Wife is a Hardcore Chiefs fan. And then you go, oh, but I like the Eagles. And I go, yeah, I know, but his wife is a huge Chiefs fan. And Ted, you know, he's not going to hire an Eagles. And then next thing you know, magically, 100% of Hollywood is a Chiefs fan. And you go, well, how could that happen? I mean, how did 100% of Hollywood come down on. But if you took the 10 bullet points of COVID whether it was where it emanated from, was it a lab? Was it a wet market? Do masks work? Does social distancing work? Does Ivermectin work? If you took all 10 of those, Hollywood was 10 for 10 on every single one of them. Nobody in Hollywood went, I think Ivermectin's a good thing. They're cowards, they're hypocrites, they're pussies. But they're also vying for a job that they don't have, that you have to be popular. You're not going to get a job. They'll throw you out. They don't need you. They don't need anybody in Hollywood.

[Graham Stephan]

But it also seems like they actually believe what they're saying. I mean, you have these scenes where, like, the zoom thing with, like, all of these actors telling you, you know, put on your mask and do this and do that.

[Adam Carolla]

Yes.

[Graham Stephan]

And I don't even have a strong opinion on Covid, but it was interesting that it seemed like they are so passionate about it. They go to these awards ceremonies and. And when they have the mic finally in their hands, they go and they want to share their political agenda. And I'm like, well, I feel like no one's forcing you to do that.

[Adam Carolla]

Let's go back to Ted Sarantos and Netflix and his wife, who's a huge Chiefs fan. Right. You could say, I'm an Eagles fan and tell Ted and tell his wife I'm a huge Eagles fan, in which case you'll never get another job. Or you could say, tell Ted and his wife who's a Chiefs fan, I don't really like football. Like, I'm agnostic. Like, I don't really care who wins the Super Bowl. Okay, maybe you get a job. Maybe you don't get a job. Or you could go get a Chiefs jersey and wear it to the next party that Ted and his wife invites you to, and then do a little soliloquy on how much you love Patrick Mahomes. And then you would get a job, or at least your chances of getting a job would Go up a lot more. So when you see these people making their proclamations, if you're. If you are just silent about, like, let's just say Covid comes around and you go, I have no opinion on it. If Covid comes around and you go, this is bullshit. You guys are getting played. And this is a pharmaceutical and a government grab because we're in an election year, then you're out. You're not working in Hollywood at all. If you go, I'm agnostic about COVID like, I don't have strong feelings about, but whatever, then you're in the middle. And if you give grandiose speeches about COVID and do all the shit you were talking about, then you get to stay and thrive in Hollywood and go to the next cocktail party.

[Graham Stephan]

Do you have a lot of Hollywood elites that reach out to you secretly through dm? So they're. They just completely are unwilling, or maybe they do truly believe. I'm just curious if you have people that, like, hit you.

[Adam Carolla]

No, I know. No, but. So I did not help myself economically by removing myself from the mainstream of Hollywood.

[Graham Stephan]

Yeah.

[Adam Carolla]

But I make a fine living doing something else, but I did not help myself by. By removing myself from Hollywood.

[Jack]

Speaking of a lot of that, you're very outspoken about California. If you were 25 years old today, would you stay or leave?

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, I would leave for sure. I would not definitely want to. There's. There's so many other good places now. Like, there was no. If somebody would have said to me when I was 25. When I was 25, you know, Wyoming's a pretty nice place to live, I'd go, are you nuts? What are you doing? Wyoming? There's nothing in. I thought people. When I was a kid, I thought people in Texas just rode horses everywhere. And, you know, like, I thought it was, you know, Hoss from the Ponderosa. I didn't know that there's a P. F Changs on every corner and a. And a pro golf place and, you know, who cares? Now you can just go wherever you want. Airlines go everywhere. Like, used to be, you couldn't go places because you weren't that mobile. Like, you could live in Nevada. You could have a business in Los Angeles. You could drive back and forth twice a week or whatever. When I was young and we didn't have a car that would make it back and forth to Nevada, it would overheat. Like, you couldn't go to Nevada. You couldn't go from LA to Nevada in July. Your car would die in Death Valley. Like, Literally just overheat, you know, or you didn't have air conditioning or whatever. You just. You travel. I mean, I travel the country, and I really travel the country. And you drive around, travel around. You go to Provo, Utah, and you go, I can live here. This is nice. It's clean, it's safe. You know, it's. It's modern. Like, it looks good, like Nashville or whatever. I mean, you'd go anywhere now. And I think California's. I think part of the problem with California is people figured out they can go anywhere.

[Graham Stephan]

So what would you say are the specific top three policies that have actually destroyed California?

[Adam Carolla]

In one of the books I wrote, I outlined a scenario which was that I used to come here via Forest Lawn Drive, which is a long stretch of highway just runs along the cemetery. And it's kind of long. You guys may know it. And it doesn't have cross streets and stuff in it. So people tend to speed on 4 Salon Drive because it's just long and there's actually. There's no. There's rarely any traffic on it. And people in la, like, when there's no traffic, they're like, all right, let's make up little of this time. So the scenario is this. I would drive down 4 Slawn Drive. I would see on one side of 4 Salon Drive, a motorcycle cop who would back his bike up, up a driveway in a shaded kind of wooded area near the Jewish cemetery, which is next to Forest Lawn. And he'd be back there, and he'd have his radar gun out, and he'd be waiting for citizens to speed. You know, I'd see him pull over soccer moms and minivans, you know, because inevitably they're going 57 and it's 45 and they get pulled over. Okay, fine. On the other side of Force Lawn Drive was many illegals selling flowers that they bought downtown to sell without a business license or any form of anything, just cash and carry. On the other side of the streets, a bunch of illegals selling flowers. Two people who are going to visit their dead nana in a mausoleum. The city of Los Angeles, and in general, California's this way, has no interest in the illegal activity on one side of the street. That's illegals here engaging in illegal behavior. Now there is a florist up the street, and that person has to have all kinds of insurance and pay all kinds of taxes, and it's going to get sued by an employee for wrongful termination. And. And OSHA's gonna get involved and stuff like that they will be vigorous, very vigorous compliance for the taxpayer, and they'll be very. It'll be very vigorous for the soccer mom. But the illegal, no problemo. If you go to Sofi Stadium, you can buy shots of tequila outside of Sofi Stadium while illegals sell you Takati beer and ghetto dogs next to cops who are doing security. The city has declared a war on taxpayers and regulated them to death. But if you'd like to just sell food illegally, you can pop up on any corner or do whatever you want. And they walk right past those people and they never shut them down and they never send them a summons. And that city council agrees with this. They agree that you should be regulated out of business and taxed out of business. But if you want to create a street black market where you sold food, you can do it. And by the way, every time you send a health inspector over to my business, you're doing it under the guise of safety. Except you don't have problems with people just cooking whatever food they want on a sidewalk and just selling it to people. No thoughts. So. So once the city, San Francisco's done this, and LA has done this once, you essentially look the other way for homeless or junkies or illegals or criminals or whatever that is, and you shine a spotlight on taxpayers with over regulation and over permitting and trying to manage every. Every grain of your life versus illegals, go do whatever you want, or homeless, go shoot up whatever you want or sleep wherever you want. Then you've lost it in LA. LA's there, San Francisco's there. It's just. It's the difference. Look, if you're not a taxpayer and you don't have a checking account, whatever city you're in, they're not gonna be nearly as interested in you as they are in the people who have a checking account and PayPal.

[Graham Stephan]

People that can be compliant. Basically, the people that are compliant.

[Adam Carolla]

The people are compliant are paying them. So it's like, okay, who do you make money off? Like when you're a city and you need to keep the lights on in the city? Okay, who. Who do you go to? Well, I would go to Mark Garagos or Adam Carolla because those guys have businesses and they. We could charge them for, you know, we turn for permit and we could charge them taxes and we could term land taxes or business taxes or whatever. Okay, what about homeless guy with a load of shit in his pants over there? Well, that guy costs us money. We don't. He doesn't have anything. He costs us money so you'd have to take him somewhere and incarcerate him or process him or put him in a housing or something. So that guy costs us money. These guys make us money. So then they went, well, why don't we focus full time on these guys? Because they make us money, whereas the illegals and the homeless and the junkies, they cost us money. So you go, okay, well, that sounds like a plan. But you focus too hard on these guys, these guys start flourishing in terms of numbers. And then these guys go, fuck it. I'm moving to Nashville because I'm tired of you being up my ass if you're not gonna do anything about these guys, because I'm running a business and these guys are camping in front of my business. And you guys want me to pay your taxes for my business, but you will not do anything with these guys. And when that starts, that's the beginning of the end of a society.

[Jack]

Do you think it's reversible?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, everything's reversible.

[Jack]

Do you think it's realistically going to be reversed?

[Adam Carolla]

Maybe now that we hit rock bottom by burning to the ground, then maybe we might take a look at somebody like a Rick Caruso versus a Karen Bass and go, we should start thinking about people who do stuff versus sort of ceremonial leaders, which we do. Sort of ceremonial. Like, what if she's the first black female? Yeah, she's in Ghana. She's not here. She's not interested in whatever. Aqueducts are boring and fire hydrants are boring, and homeless is boring and trash is boring and potholes are boring. Going to Ghana and dancing, that's fun.

[Jack]

Do you really think that the Palisades and Eden fire were rock bottom? Because I could argue based on what I've seen so far, that it can get a lot worse, especially when it comes to crime and homeless.

[Adam Carolla]

The fires were kind of, maybe symbolically, a rock bottom. There's two parts to the fire, though. There is the destruction that happened that may have been mitigated. If we had competent people in place, I don't know that it would have been avoided, but I don't know. 30% better if we figured it out. But. All right. But then there's going to be the rebuilding process, and that's the part that's going to really piss people off, and that's the part where they're going to demand change or they're not going to let you do anything.

[Graham Stephan]

So from a personal experience, back in the Thomas fire, back in. What was that? 2017, my house burned down in Ventura and rebuilding the house was the biggest pain in the butt ever. I mean, I don't want to out exactly what we did, but they wouldn't give us an occupancy permit because we didn't have proper heating and cooling. But we had no other alternative because insurance companies only pay out for X amount of months for you to have some sort of temporary housing. And building a house with all the permitting process, the regulatory environment, the city made it incredibly difficult. We weren't grandfathered into a lot of the things that we had previously because the house was built in the 60s, but all of those things that we had benefited from, they're like, oh, yeah, we're not going to let you build a house similar to what you had before. You now have to comply with all of these new rules and regulations. Meanwhile, we're not going to let you live into the house until you have ac. But those who know Ventura, the city was. Is like the most temperate city ever.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, that's the city. And that's also, by the way, the city's in the process of tearing down a beautiful tree house that was in the front of a Simpsons guy. The Simpsons guy in Sherman Oaks. And they're tearing that down. Meanwhile, you go two blocks over and people are building homes, homeless people out of plywood and yield signs and Visqueen under the freeway on the sidewalk. So, you know, moms pushing strollers can walk the street. The city has no interest in these guys building illegal homes on the sidewalk, but they have a grand interest on people building tree houses for the neighborhood kids on their property.

[Jack]

Did you see this story?

[Graham Stephan]

No.

[Jack]

The treehouse story, it is insane. This guy, like 30, 40 years ago was one of the guys from the Simpsons, made this tree house beautiful. Tree house in the tree. And it's been there, I think, since like the 1980s, 70s.

[Adam Carolla]

No, I think it's about. It's 20 years.

[Jack]

So it's been there. But the city now says he needs to comply with, like, zoning regulations for the tree house. He has to pull permits. He needs to do, like, ground structural testing of the treehouse. He spent $50,000 defending this in court. And it's about to go to a jury. And he says, you know, I give up. I don't want to spend another $50,000 defending myself and a jury just to have the chance of keeping the tree house.

[Graham Stephan]

That's incredible.

[Jack]

It's a tree house.

[Graham Stephan]

There it is right there. Yeah, I see it. That's beautiful.

[Jack]

It's known as a landmark in area we could Drive by it.

[Graham Stephan]

I would love to see it.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, we could film some.

[Graham Stephan]

My, my friend, he has a house in really nice part of Los Angeles. Right next to his house is a two story tent. He's lived in that house now for a couple years. Every single time I drive to his house, you have this massive like, like tent mansion which obviously don't, don't hate me, but like it looks really nice and the person there is very aggressive. Every time I drive by, this has happened not every time, but quite a few times, they'll come out of their tent and like start like yelling things. I've seen them yelling at people, pedestrians on the sidewalk, like obscenities. It's not a good situation. But this person, no one stopped them from living there. And it's like I said, like a full on massive house.

[Adam Carolla]

Well, so what we just did is sort of illustrate with the tree house which the city is very vigorous about and needs to come down versus the shanty house which they have no interest in because that guy is an empty bag. He has no, no money to give them. Now my feeling is, is you have to pick a lane. As a city, you can either not here's, here's optimal and then unacceptable. Optimal is places where you would take down the shanty town that is built under the freeway overpass or built on the freeway or whatever in the LA River. Optimal is that the city would enforce that and take down those dangerous structures where people deal drugs and insane people live. All right, take those down. And their policy toward a guy who built a tree house on his own property would be the guy's paying taxes. People seem to like it and it looks good from here. He's an American Lima loan, it's his property. Okay, that's optimal. Middle ground is, look, we're going to let that guy in his Visqueen plywood house build on a sidewalk. But if you want to build a tree house, I guess that's your business. At least we're consistent. He'll, he'll build something, you'll build something. We won't get involved. LA is the worst, which is not gonna do anything about the plywood house on the sidewalk. Full weight of the law on homeowner and taxpayer. That's why people leave and they don't get it and they somehow think it's progress or something. But the bluest cities are the toughest on taxpayers and the easiest on criminals.

[Jack]

So if you were governor, what would you change?

[Adam Carolla]

The first thing would be the regulatory system. You can't make it impossible to build or start a business or whatever because of the regulatory. So over regulated that people just physically leave. That would be number one. Number two, I wouldn't let a handful of nut jobs like the Coastal Commission sort of dictate what's going on. All up and down the coast of California you have eight or nine crazy partisan nut jobs canceling billion dollar projects for desalinization plants and things like that because there's a handful of partisan hacks who are angry at their stepdad and they're gonna ruin everything for everyone else. That would be it. I would basically do what the, the movie industry did. What Hollywood did is Hollywood had runaway productions. So Hollywood did what every Los Angeles and everything California did is they just got greedy with everything. So you couldn't produce, you couldn't shoot a film in Hollywood. All of the actors, all the directors, all the producers and all of the crew and everything that supports filmmaking lives in Hollywood and they all went to New Mexico, Atlanta, Prague or whatever because they couldn't afford. It was cheaper to move everyone to New Mexico and shoot New Mexico and now Atlanta. In New Mexico they have this burgeoning movie industry with all this in Las.

[Graham Stephan]

Vegas right now actually trying to get the tax credits right.

[Adam Carolla]

Right. Okay, so, so at some point, the mayor of Los Angeles, they never say greedy. They just went like, oh, we made a few mistakes and we like you to come back because we miss the tax base and we miss all the ancillary business and support. You know, we miss the money. So you know what? We've rethunk some of our things about permits and unions and taxing and we want to make it more hospitable for you guys to come back and make your movies here. And that's fine. That's a correction. And they made a correction. But it's really hard when Tyler Perry builds 17 million acres in Atlanta to just get Tyler Perry to come back to Los Angeles. They forced these guys to leave. So Gavin Newsom, well, not Gavin Newsom, he's retarded. But if I was, if I was a governor, I would go, why? Why are all the car manufacturers leaving? Like, why is everyone taking their corporate headquarters? Like, where are they going and why are they going? And let me get the word out. I want to make things friendlier for them. We will no longer call big businesses and people who create lots of jobs in a tax base evil. We're not going to. We're not going to. We're not going to put a target on their back anymore. We're going to focus more on people who are criminals and aren't paying taxes and are screwing up our cities and make things more hospitable for Toyota or whomever to come do business in our state.

[Graham Stephan]

Anytime you lament about the local government or the state government here in California, it gets millions of views. People love it. Has a politician or some sort of government agency ever reached out to you to say, like, you know, can we hear your thoughts? It seems like they're very popular.

[Adam Carolla]

No, no, they're not in that business. It just seems like they don't.

[Graham Stephan]

They don't listen. That's the one thing I've noticed. It seems like the government doesn't listen to what the people actually want, and they just tell you what you want, and then it doesn't work, and they're like, oh, no, no. But then, you know, they do it.

[Jack]

People have gone off the rockers in Santa Monica. There's an initiative right now for marginalized cannabis users.

[Graham Stephan]

What does that even mean?

[Jack]

I don't know, but it's. It's on the scene.

[Graham Stephan]

Are they saying marginalized people disproportionately use cannabis?

[Jack]

I guess cannabis users aren't, like, getting the support thing. I don't know what it is. But that's. But that's an issue in Santa Monica for marginalized people. Cars are being broken into. The homeless is skyrocketing. But that is the issue that they never have.

[Adam Carolla]

And also, by the way, Democrats are like, screw Elon Musk. That guy's an idiot. Okay, well, maybe he has ideas, but now, all right, they're not into other people's ideas.

[Graham Stephan]

So you were very popular on Loveline for giving no bs, blunt relationship advice. Graham recently got married. I'm single. What's your best piece of relationship advice that you could give?

[Adam Carolla]

I would say understand that women are very different than you. And you may be pragmatic, but they are not. And do not try to convert them to your way of thinking, even though your thinking is correct and pragmatic. They do not feel that way. They do not think that way, and you're not going to win them over that way to sort of understand what it is they want and try to provide it for them, even if it doesn't make sense to you. And then generally, they'll be happy and content. And if they're happy and content, then.

[Graham Stephan]

Your life sounds like Graham.

[Adam Carolla]

Happy and content.

[Graham Stephan]

Yes, that sounds exactly like Graham.

[Jack]

How do you know where to draw the line?

[Adam Carolla]

You know, I think there's a way to Go. Look, the last two times we went out to dinner, we went to the place you wanted to eat. So now it's time, you know, to go to the place I want to eat. You know, there's a kind of a math to it. There's a kind of a math like, hey, man, the handbag is $5,000. Yeah, I.

[Graham Stephan]

Well, it is.

[Adam Carolla]

It is pragmatic and it is. It is logic, but it's also math. Like, like. Like if you go, you just paid $5,000 for a handbag. That's. That's a lot of money. We could have, you know, put a down payment on a something or whatever. With that money. You can work a little math in every once in a while. But in general, they're about a feeling, and you can't go at them the way you want to be gone at yourself. Which is to say a woman is a cat and a man is a dog. And when I get hold of my dog 110 pound label, you know, I grab his head, I pull his ears, and I, you know, like, right. I rub his belly, you know, like that. We do that with a cat. They just run away. Like, just the posture on a cat is not the posture on a dog. A cat, you just put your hand down and they sort of. They'll sort of find you, you know, and they'll kind of push up against a little bit. If you come at a cat, like you'd come at a dog, the cat just get on top of the refrigerator. So even though you're a dog and you go, I'd love it if someone rubbed my belly. They're cats, so don't think they want the belly rub.

[Jack]

Funny you mentioned that. Sometimes they'll come to Jack with problems, and I love it when Jack just tells me, you know what? That's stupid. Doesn't matter. Just move on.

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, there's a lot, A lot of moving on. A lot of moving on.

[Jack]

Because to me, that seems like, oh, yeah, that helps put it in perspective.

[Graham Stephan]

All right.

[Jack]

It's not that big of a deal. I'm good. Thanks, man.

[Adam Carolla]

I talked to Dr. Drew about it a lot, which is essentially sort of sad, but you have to kind of treat him like a special needs child, you know, you go, I don't want to use that to him. Just kidding.

[Graham Stephan]

People are. People in the comments are going to love it.

[Adam Carolla]

They're going to love it. Well, you know, anybody who's been in a long relationship with a woman, any man will just go, you just got to learn to just keep Walking, you know what I mean? Like, she's going to do something. She's going to say something insane. You can stop and turn around, or you can just keep walking. And the smart guys just keep walking.

[Jack]

So on Loveline, what were the most common relationship questions that you would get?

[Adam Carolla]

I remember a handful of calls over the years, but I never really dwelled on anything. I just would show up, talk. I would talk like no one was listening. You know, I always thought it was important to. To talk like no one was listening, because then you would be freed up, and then I would just go home. And I never really wrote anything down or thought about it or had any thoughts about, like, what role I played or who may have been affected or any of that. Just showed up. Did it turn around and left? Drew was that way. Sometimes people come up, they go, oh, you're a big part of my childhood, or, you helped me, or whatever. And I'm always like, thanks. But I never gave it a second thought.

[Jack]

Now, you have quite an impressive career, really starting out, not growing up with a wealthy family or anything. Do you think that young people today have any excuse for not making it?

[Adam Carolla]

No, they don't. But I don't know that they want to provide an excuse for not making it. I don't know that their version of making it is your version of making it. Like, their version of making it is a big TV and lots of pot and not having to own a car or pay a mortgage or doing what they want, traveling. So your version, or a traditional version of making it as a big home and an adoring family and in a Ford GT40, or just a Ford GT because we couldn't clear 40. But that's your version. Your version is owning a beautiful and exotic sports car. Their version is owning no car and just Ubering and eating out and getting high and watching Netflix. That's their version of making it. Sadly, I mean, it sounds counterintuitive to us. On the other hand, I don't know, maybe the joke's on us. You pay insurance, you have to deal with the maintenance and whatever. That's not who they are, younger people. So there is no excuse for not making it. If you want to work hard or you're halfway good at your job, you'll excel. But I've noticed a lot of young men share no interest in making it. I've never had one of them pull me aside and go like, hey, man, tell me what you know. I mean, unlike the city council or, like the city council, no one's ever asked me that.

[Jack]

What do you know? Let's assume that you know, I'm 25 and I'm coming to you asking for advice. As someone who looks up to you, what would you tell that person? But you know what? While we're on the subject of money, let's talk about renting for a second. Isn't it absurd how one of your largest recurring expenses gets you nothing back in return every single month? Like no perks, no rewards, no nothing? Well, thankfully, all of that could change starting today with our sponsor, bilt. That's right, you could pay your rent every single month as you normally do. Except this time, you'll actually get to earn points. With bilt, there is no cost to join, and as a member, you'll get to earn valuable points on not just your rent, but also your efforts every day. Spending these points can then be Transferred to over 500 different airlines or more than 700,000 hotels and properties around the world. Or you could also redeem those points towards future rent payments or unique experiences that only Built members could access. So if you're paying rent and you're not earning points on them, my question to you is, why not? So start earning points on the rent that you're already paying by going to joinbuilt.comiced coffee with the link down below in the Description. Again, that's J-O-I-N B I L T.com Iced Coffee join built.com Iced Coffee to begin earning points today. And again, make sure to use our link so they know we sent you. Thank you so much Built for sponsoring this episode. And now let's get back to the podcast now really quick. On the podcast, we do talk a lot about building wealth and growing it, but what's going to happen if you're not around to protect it? What happens to your family, your home, or even your future? Well, that's why you shouldn't wait for the unexpected. And with our sponsor, Select Quote, you could help secure your family's financial future no matter what tomorrow brings.

[Graham Stephan]

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[Jack]

And did you know that the more life insurance coverage you need, the more likely you are to overpay for it. With select quote, you could save up to 50% compared to other companies, whether you need a 500,000 DOL policy or a $50 million policy. And if you're in good health, they work with carriers that could get you same day coverage for up to $5 million. No medical exam required. So all you have to do is head to selectquote.comich and a licensed insurance agent is going to reach right out to you with the right policy that fits your budget and your needs. That's selectquote.comich thank you so much, select quote, for sponsoring this episode. And now let's get back to the podcast. Let's assume that I'm 25 and I'm coming to you asking for advice. As someone who looks up to you. What would you tell that person?

[Adam Carolla]

Well, I would say let's be realistic about what you're good at and let's be realistic about what you're bad at. And then we'll have a third category, which is what you would like to do. Because if what you would like to do is sing, but you have no ability to sing, then I'm gonna try to talk you out, out of that. I'd love to be in a rock band too, but I don't have that ability to be in a rock band. So I would have loved to play for the Rams. Not good enough to play for the Rams. So let's figure out what you can do versus what you want to do versus what you would do. And I would probably say, what do you do naturally? Like when you just left alone, what do you, what do you like to do? You know? And you go, well, I like to go to the garage and tinker with things. You know, I'd go, okay, well, maybe you'd be best suited to a job where you were building things or with on your feet, using your hands or something. Or if you tell me, I like the human condition, I mean, I read books, I like to, I can know what you know. I read Plato and Aristotle. I like to know how people work. I'd say, well, maybe we should start thinking about, you know, psychology or counseling, you know, like, I just want to know what you do first. What you do naturally, what you do for free. You know, what you do for free. Well, ultimately it'd be great if you could get paid to do what you would naturally do for free. So let's, hopefully there's something there. Hopefully we can take this thing you, you, you normally do and you naturally do and you do it. And, you know, nowadays the world's your oyster because you could go, I love sports. I love talking about sports. I'm in roto leagues and blah, blah, blah. Well, maybe we should start thinking about. About starting a blog or something, or doing an Internet show. Or maybe you could get a job interning for Dan Lebatard or something. Tell me what you do, and then I would tell you, look, you can do it or you don't have to do it. There's not going to be any luck involved. All the who you know, or he was born on third base and thought he had a triple. It's all bullshit. If you want to work hard at it, you'll succeed. If you don't, that'll be on you. I've seen a million people start from nothing, go to somewhere that's out of this world, and it's all effort. It's all they did. But be prepared to work on some weekends, Be prepared to put in some long days. Don't have a bunch of rules. Don't show up to work and have the boss go, hey, could you empty that trash can? You go, that's not my job. Don't say, that's not your job. Don't have any rules. Rules. You're young, sacrifice, do. Do everything so that you're 25. By the time you're 35, you're set up, but eat shit for the next 10 years. No pride, no rules, just work. 35, you'll be in a good position.

[Graham Stephan]

From being a carpenter for nearly two decades to now having been very successful in the entertainment industry. How would you say your definition of success has changed?

[Adam Carolla]

Well, my definition of success is if you've always wanted to go to Ireland and you've never been to Ireland, then you're not successful, regardless of whatever your income bracket is. You know, if you have a. If you think, okay, I was a carpenter, and I was like, I love building and I love architecture and I love houses, but I'm poor, and I don't have the opportunity to build my own house or work on my own house or do my own project. So if I could get into show business and make money, then I could get my own house, and I could then build on my house and do my projects. And I did that times, multiple times. And then I also said, I like cars. I want to drive a race car. I want to. To be involved with that activity or that sport. And I love old cars and I love tools. So then I'll do show business and I'll make enough money so I can have some old cars and do some car races and have a garage and use some tools. And so that was my definition of success. You take Jimmy Kimmel. He doesn't like cars, he doesn't like tools. He doesn't care about a garage. So him having a bunch of old race cars would not suit him and it wouldn't satisfy him. He likes experiences and travel and cooking. And his definition of success is being able to afford a $10,000 pizza oven. My definition of success is being able to afford a $10 pizza and spend the rest of the money on tools. So the success part, and the success does not have to be grandiose. It could be. I want to be a great parent. I want kids. I want those kids to respect me and I want to enjoy them, and I want them to be smart and interesting and good. And so my definition of success is not yours. And there's normally some monetary thing that goes along with it. Like, yeah, you want enough money to buy a $10,000 pizza oven or $2 million car or whatever that is. But some people's definition is just to be like a great school teacher and like a great neighbor. And they love fishing. You know what I mean? Like, it doesn't really cost anything. It's not really attached to monetary.

[Jack]

How do you instill those values in your kids?

[Adam Carolla]

I don't. I can't. There is no instilling of values, really. I mean, my ex wife wasn't. She wasn't down with my plans, you know, of whatever it is. I. I know. So it was difficult. So I just basically said, I'm not going to be able to really instill these values into my kids. What I shall do is I will show them through experience how I live and I will be an example to them. So I will try to take them with me on the road on occasion to do shows where I'd have my son go, we have to show up for the early show and then. And in between shows, we're gonna go out and do a meet and greet and take pictures with everybody. And then we're gonna go back and we're gonna do a late show and then we go back to hotel at midnight. And then the next day we come back and we do the shows again and experience this, see it, live it. And by the way, if you see me, you're not gonna be able to convince your kids to have a healthy life while you're smoking and eating a don. If they see you getting up in the morning and Exercising and doing a cold plunge or something. That'll be much better than trying to instill things. My take is observe me living a positive life and a productive life and understand how it works. And I'm always quick to tell my kids, I, you know, I'll call them and I'll call, you know, last weekend I'm like, I'm in San Luis Obispo, I'm doing a show at a theater on a Saturday. I work weekends, I travel, I, I take care of business and, and inviting them to like I built a home theater and I sort of recruited my son to, you know, help as much as he could. Like a little less talking and like imparting of wisdom and a little more boots on the ground. Example.

[Jack]

What are your thoughts about leaving kids money?

[Adam Carolla]

I don't really like it. I don't really, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't think it's a net positive for them. Having them have opportunity is, is a good thing and I can provide opportunity for my kids. Leaving money is, I don't think it's a great way to go. But again, society has co opted every decent and practical thought I've ever had and turned it into. Because when you get divorced there's a lot of like, well, what about the kids? Like, who's going to take care of these kids? It's like, I don't know, they can get a job, they can turn 18, they can get a job, they can get some roommates, I, they can do whatever they want. I don't, what do you mean? Who's going to set them up? It's like, I, I, I don't know, nobody. How about they get a job? How about they just do what every single person I ever knew, including myself, did? They just left, they got a job and they worked and then they moved out and then they, they lived. I don't know. Society is very much like, who's going to set these kids up? And then there's a lot of like, you should buy them an apartment building and then they could rent out the rooms or they could just get a goddamn job. Just go get a job. How about that? I have an alternative. Get a job, figure it out, learn to work. It's crazy.

[Jack]

Do you think it has to get worse before it gets better?

[Adam Carolla]

Yes. Everything, everything has all bad society ideas have to get worse before they get better. So it can start off with defund the police, then it can go to like some community policing and eventually someone you know needs to get stabbed. And then people go, oh, all right, maybe we should get more cops. That, that's how, that's how stupid people work. But yes, it has to do that because these are people, most of these ideas are, are pushed forward by dumb people that are sort of non pragmatist and don't know anything and really have to physically experience the negativeness of whatever their horrible ideas are before they will come around.

[Graham Stephan]

What would you say is the worst advice that you followed?

[Adam Carolla]

I have not received a lot of advice in my life. I did not have a lot of mentors. My dad didn't tell me anything. Mom didn't tell me anything. So I'm trying to think. I really never got advice. I was just kind of. My family did not give me advice or have a wish for a direction. I'm a doctor and you're going to be a physician too, by golly. Or do boat repair or whatever it is. I didn't have a relationship with my family where they offered advice and my friends were kind of screw ups and we kind of hung out. I was the one who was giving advice to everybody. I took some advice early, like showbiz advice, like when I was trying to get into radio and a job opened up as the van driver. And I told, told Jimmy Kimmel, like, I'm going to try to get that van driver job. And he said, don't do it. And I said, why? I could get in at the radio station and be there. And he goes, if you get the van driver job, then you'll be the van driver and they're not going to want you on the air. You'll be looked at as the van driver. And I was like, okay, yeah, that's good advice. And I never became the van driver. But I, I did not get advice from people, bad or good per se. I just sort of floated through life.

[Graham Stephan]

How much is your rivalry with Jimmy Kimmel real versus for entertainment value?

[Adam Carolla]

Oh, we don't have a rivalry. He just thinks this way politically and I think that way politically. But that's not. It's like saying he likes the Steelers and I like the Ravens. How big a rivalry does that not.

[Graham Stephan]

Cause any friction in the relationship?

[Adam Carolla]

It doesn't. Which is weird, but it's possible to go through life that way.

[Jack]

I am curious. We had Steve O. On the podcast a few months ago and one of the videos we brought up to him was he went on your show and had a bit of a meltdown, so to speak. And he was telling us his perspective of what happened that day. And I'm curious, from your perspective, what was that like for you?

[Adam Carolla]

I didn't have real strong thoughts about it. We provided alcohol for him. He indulged in the alcohol and then got out there and sort of probably did his version of Steve O. And what he thought Steve O. Should be doing back then. And then I didn't want him to hurt his foot, but because he was hitting it on a glass coffee table, I didn't want him to injure himself. I also didn't want them to stop filming because I didn't know what we were going to do. We didn't have another guest. I thought it would be kind of interesting to capture this, and so I didn't have big thoughts about it one way or the other. I said, when the show was over, the executive from Comedy Central sort of rushed over to me. She was a young woman, and she came to me and she said, well, we can't air this, so what are we going to do? We're going to run a rerun or tape a new show. She said, but we can't air this. And I just said, why can't we air this? And she went, and it's a disaster. And I said, 10 years from now, the only thing people will remember from this show is this episode where Steve O. Put his foot through the glass table. And I think I was right.

[Jack]

You were 100% right.

[Adam Carolla]

So I was like, yeah, this would be the only. The only memory of this show is going to be this episode, and you don't want to air this episode. But I never felt. Felt threatened or did you ever feel.

[Jack]

Bad about highlighting Steve O. In this way? Because sometimes we'll have a guest come on and say something, and then Jack and I afterwards are like, you know what? We know if we air this, it's going to get a lot of attention, but we worry it might hurt the guest.

[Adam Carolla]

I was sort of in my office doing other things, and the producer was like, it'd be fun, you know, make sure there's a big bottle of vodka in Steve's dressing room. So maybe he'll do something like crazy, you know. But I was sort of in my office not, you know, it wasn't my idea. It wasn't like it was more of a production decision. We're like, we'll do this and that'll be funny. Which is the case oftentimes, you know, when things go wrong or things go whatever on a. You think it's like the host planned it out, but the host really had little to do with it. The host is on stage when it happens. But whatever the joke was or whatever the thing or the event was, that's some segment producer deciding this would be funny. Now, I knew about it. They were like, we put a bottle on Steve's, by the way. I had a bottle of booze in my dressing room too, but I didn't have to drink it, you know, But I think they're like, he's gonna drink and then he's gonna come out, and then hijinks will ensue. Like, maybe it'll be crazy, Maybe it'll be funny. Maybe he'll show his ass or something. Like that was just. And it was also kind of the older school of late night back then. Like, you do the Tonight show when Leno would host, There was a booze cart right outside your dressing room. They were. Would. They had a. They'd have a booze cart, you know, and then you'd come there, like four in the afternoon and be like, can we get you a cocktail? And they're mainly just trying to calm the edge off, you know, loosen people up a little bit. But booze was kind of a thing, you know, on late night. So, like, I wouldn't have a drink. Cause I wasn't nervous if I do the Tonight Show. And I didn't want to be a little off, you know. But if you were like a young starlet and you're a little nervous, then, yeah, maybe have a drink.

[Jack]

Was the table really a rental?

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, everything is a rental.

[Jack]

I thought you would own it. Why would you rent the table? It seems like every $100 table, I.

[Adam Carolla]

Did a movie and they had coffee mugs, and there were rentals, and they just rent everything. They just go to a prop house and they rent it. And whatever you see on that set that is rented, it was crazy to me.

[Jack]

Even when I got married, the wedding planner was saying, oh, you could rent the. You know, the cups or the plates. And I'm looking at the rental fees, and I said, well, I could buy that for less than it would cost to rent it. So we're just gonna buy these things and just give them away. It's cheaper to do that.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, well, I would always say that too. Like, we get to, like, season four, the man show, and there'd be, like a foosball table, like, over there. And we were, like, wrapping up up, and I was like, who's taking the foosball table home now that we're done? You know, they go, oh, that's a rental. We rented a foosball table for four years. Yeah, like, we probably paid $26,000 for a $400 foosball table. But it's what they do.

[Jack]

It's got to be something for write offs for tax purposes. You know, they write off 100%.

[Graham Stephan]

Someone's making a lot of money on the back end. That's.

[Adam Carolla]

That's. I'm sure it's a scam, but they rent. That's the answer.

[Graham Stephan]

All right, last question. If you were to die tomorrow, how would you like to be remembered?

[Adam Carolla]

I think I'd like to be remembered as someone who was accurate. Whether it was comedy or Covid or social thoughts or whatever. I'd like. I'd go with. I'd go with an accurate person who wasn't, you know, who. Whose thoughts weren't sort of co opted by whichever way the wind was blowing or whatever was a popular opinion. I mean, I definitely would like funny, but I'll take funny and accurate.

[Jack]

Cool. Thank you. Really appreciate it. I really enjoy. I could easily talk for another hour. I mean, our outline was quite long, but we skimmed through so much of this because we are just really into this. And I'm a huge fan for me, I grew up.

[Adam Carolla]

We'll do a round. We'll do round two.

[Graham Stephan]

Thank you so much for coming on the iced coffee hour.

[Adam Carolla]

Yeah, come back, you know, take a few months off and come back. We'll do round two.

[Graham Stephan]

Thank you guys for watching.