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Adam Carolla
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Adam Carolla | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 27, 1964 Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation | Comedian, comedy writer, radio personality, television personality, actor |
| Salary | (see below) |
| Religious stance | Atheist[1] |
| Spouse | Lynette Paradise |
| Children | Twins Natalia and Santino "Sonny" Carolla, born June 7, 2006. |
| Website | www.adamcarolla.com |
Adam Carolla (born May 27, 1964) is an American comedian, comedy writer, radio personality, television personality and actor. Carolla achieved fame for several broadcast stints: Co-host of the radio show Loveline, from 1995 to 2005 (and its television incarnation on MTV from 1996 to 2000); co-creator and co-star of the television program The Man Show (1999-2004); co-creator and performer on the television program Crank Yankers (2002-present).
Carolla currently hosts The Adam Carolla Show (see section below), a weekday morning radio program broadcast from Los Angeles and syndicated in eleven west-coast markets.[1]
In 2006, Carolla completed work on The Hammer, an independent film that he co-wrote and co-produced. He plays the lead role in the film, opposite Heather Juergensen. The film premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, and its release will be on March 7, 2008.[2][3][4]
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Carolla was born in Pennsylvania to an Italian-American father, Jim Jockamo Carolla, and a Hungarian-American mother.
Adam grew up in North Hollywood, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. His family is often a topic on his radio show claiming his parents were disinterested and still have no interest in his life. He describes his family as good people, fair and honest, but often says they were opposed to anything that involved getting off the couch and doing something. He also says his family was incredibly cheap; Carolla would get small amounts of money, usually coins, for his birthday instead of gifts and he did not go to any funerals growing up. [5]
After his parents divorced, Carolla split time with his mother and father.
Carolla attended Colfax Elementary School, Walter Reed Junior High, and North Hollywood High School, where in the latter of which he was voted class clown and was the captain of his football team. Carolla played Pop Warner football for many years, and said being involved in it saved him from a chaotic home life. [6] On The Adam Carolla Show, Carolla said he was recruited to play football at Marshall University and the University of California, Davis, but he was not interested in college.
Carolla never received good grades, graduating with a 1.75 grade point average. He majored in ceramics. [7] He never received his high school diploma because he owed the library $19.95 for a copy of We The People (ISBN 0-385-41903-1). [8] Because of this, he also did not participate in his high school graduation ceremony, but he said on Loveline that no one had ever asked him to produce his diploma. [9]
Because of North Hollywood High School’s location, Carolla went to high school with several people who eventually became famous. Pornstar Christy Canyon went to his high school, [10], as did Molly Ringwald’s sister, Beth Ringwald, to whom Carolla lost his virginity. [11] [12]
Carolla frequently tells stories of pranks he and his friends pulled during and after high school. He began living on his own at the age of 18 in an apartment that eventually included uncaged rabbits. He briefly attended Los Angeles Valley College, a junior college, where he was placed on academic probation before dropping out to work in a series of jobs, including a carpet cleaner [13], carpenter, traffic school instructor[14], metal worker and boxing instructor. In his 20s, he dated a British woman, Lindsey, who was a stripper. [15] [16] He also taught himself how to ride a unicycle, which he has ridden during an episode of Too Late With Adam Carolla and as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Carolla is considered to be an accomplished satirist and comedian in several formats. He has co-created, written for, and featured in several talk radio programs, television series, and films.
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Carolla's comedic style encompasses the following:
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Subjects Carolla frequently pokes fun at include:
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After Carolla had established himself as a comedic pundit on Loveline, he frequently joked that his role on radio was "philosopher-warrior".[citation needed] Promotional posters and billboards introducing his self-titled radio show in early 2006 carried the caption "Adam Carolla: American Genius".[17]
Carolla frequently jokes about his own laziness and apathy, despite consistently meeting expectations in a professional manner. Carolla frequently offers salient advice to callers regarding good professional practices, while ironically referring to his own self-perceived apathy. For example, he has almost never been late for his live appearances on the radio; however, he claims he consistently arrives within sixty seconds of going on-air.[citation needed]
Carolla claims that his goal from youth was to write comedy. He did not envision working on-air on the radio, or on-camera in movies and television. In his spare time he worked on his comedy skills, training with The Groundlings and attempting stand-up, but he didn't believe either of these were a good fit for him (though he did perform sketch comedy with ACME Comedy Theater for a few years). He had spent his young adulthood working as a carpet cleaner, carpenter, closet builder, construction laborer, and boxing instructor; it was during this time he grew fond of listening to talk radio. In his late twenties he heard an ad on the radio seeking a boxing instructor to train Jimmy Kimmel, who at the time was a radio personality on the KROQ morning show Kevin and Bean as Jimmy the Sports Guy. Carolla met Kimmel at the radio station and the two became best friends. Carolla asked Jimmy how he could get into radio, Jimmy replied that he should come up with a character. Carolla eventually joined the show's cast as "Mr. Birchum", the ornery and misanthropic Vietnam-veteran shop teacher.
Carolla was offered the job of co-hosting Loveline with physician Dr. Drew Pinsky in 1995, replacing Riki Rachtman. Pinsky selected Carolla personally, after hearing Carolla's earlier radio work. Loveline is a syndicated radio program produced by Westwood One, and was also a television show on MTV for four years. On Loveline, Carolla often gave extended commentary about matters having little to do with the official subject matter of the show. Common topics included: Carolla's dislike of the negative effects of religious zealotry, criticism of celebrities, and complaints about politically-originated policies that make little sense, such as junior colleges, traffic/parking enforcement as pure revenue-generation, superfluous red left-turn arrows, and other "wastes" such as the abundance of police officers available to serve traffic citations while none seem to be available for important issues like counter-terrorism, and incessant radio weather and traffic reports. ("How many traffic reports have you listened to? Thousands. How many times have you actually changed your route based on a traffic report? That's right! Never!") His impassioned criticisms and observational humor became a central characteristic of the show.
During his time on Loveline, Carolla gradually drew an increasing fanbase to the program. Carolla, on Loveline after earlier attempts at traditional stand-up comedy, eschewed traditional stand-up methods, such as scripted comedic "bits". Carolla has claimed that he has no "act", referring to himself as a "comedy factory, as opposed to a comedy warehouse", distinguishing himself from comics who prepare material. Carolla preferred to use his time on the airwaves—and the subject matter of Loveline as an inspirational springboard—to launch into rants in a similar fashion to Dennis Miller. Carolla's presentation of his views frequently fits the description of black comedy. While Carolla distinguishes himself as being self-educated, he frequently refers to his formal education in abysmal, self-deprecating terms.[citation needed] He attributes his layman's perspective to his unconventional upbringing, often claiming it has left him as an—albeit successful—adult with "NO self-esteem, as opposed to LOW self-esteem"[citation needed]. Carolla claims to have genuinely forgotten several of his own past jokes, insights and innovations that have caught on with fans, attributing his forgetfulness to his "no self-esteem". Carolla has commented on radio that on several occasions, fans have recited back to him his own ideas from past broadcasts, and he genuinely does not recognize them as being his own.[citation needed]
Loveline expanded into its largest number of radio markets while Carolla was co-host.[citation needed] During his final shows, the fanbase that he had cultivated was, in his own words, larger than he expected. Carolla often claimed that he had no idea of the effect he had had on his audience, saying frequently that, among the small staff in the Loveline broadcast studio, "no one cares"; he repeatedly drew attention to the apathy of his co-workers—with extended, comedic complaints about the staff, including Pinsky (they both stated they had become very close during their work together). Once it was announced that he was leaving Loveline after its 10 most successful years, Carolla became the subject of large online petitions to keep him on Loveline.[citation needed] He wrote in response, on fan website The Loveline Companion, that he was deeply moved by the large number of fans and the depth of their dedication.[citation needed] He repeated these sentiments on-air during his last few Loveline broadcasts, consciously breaking from his black-humor comedic tone to thank his fans in earnest, explaining that the opportunity for his own morning radio show similar to Howard Stern's was an opportunity he could not pass up. He expressed that in retrospect, he didn't view Loveline as a job[citation needed], and that he would have continued on Loveline if his schedule would allow it; however, he made it clear that it would not.
On August 4, 2005, Carolla announced that he would leave Loveline to pursue a position in morning radio, replacing Howard Stern — with Stern's approval — in a number of West Coast markets. Adam's last night on Loveline was November 3, 2005, to allow him to have time to prepare for his morning debut at the beginning of 2006. He stated that he would love to continue to do Loveline, but the show would not be a possibility. On October 25, Infinity Broadcasting officially announced that it would be replacing Stern with Carolla on several radio stations in the western United States.
On January 3, 2006, Carolla began his new morning radio show, The Adam Carolla Show, on stations in Los Angeles (where the show is based), San Francisco, Palm Springs, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, Seattle, Las Vegas, Oakland, Reno, Burbank, Fresno and Sacramento.
The show's staff was modified slightly during its first year. At the start of 2007, it saw its largest staff change; the three primary on-air personalities would be Carolla himself, Teresa Strasser, and the newly added Danny Bonaduce.
As of June, 2007, the show has seen an overall increase in ratings in its primary market of Los Angeles.[citation needed]
CBS announced that on January 2, 2008 the show will go through another lineup change, most notably, Danny Bonaduce will no longer be part of the on-air trio, being moved to the afternoon slot on KLSX with his own show.
Over the course of the year Carolla has seen a change in the affiliates that carry his show. This list of affiliates and cities are[18]:
KLSX 97.1 - Los Angeles, CA (Last of the FREE FM affiliates)
KUFO 101.1 - Portland, OR
KXTE 107.5 - Las Vegas, NV
KWOD 106.5 - Sacramento, CA
KNDD 107.7 - Seattle, WA
KRZQ 100.9 - Reno, NV
KFRR 104.1 - Fresno, CA
KMRJ 99.5 - Palm Springs, CA
WZAN AM970 - Portland, ME (The only affiliate east of the Mississippi, tape delayed 7pm-10pm replaced Tom Leykis' slot)
KTMB 99.1 - Boise, ID
KSEK 99.1 - Pittsburg, KS (Time of broadcast unverifiable)
KYCY AM1550 - San Francisco, CA
The following are former affiliates:
KPLN 103.7 - San Diego, CA
KZON 101.5 - Phoenix, AZ
KIFR* 106.9 - San Francisco, CA
- (now KFRC)
Carolla began his first original television series with The Man Show, along with partner and close friend Jimmy Kimmel, on Comedy Central from 1999 to 2003. He left The Man Show at the same time as Kimmel, after having been reportedly offered $50,000 per episode to stay on. Carolla has continued his work with Kimmel as a writer and regular guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live. With partner Daniel Kellison, they are the heads of Jackhole Productions and created another television show named Crank Yankers for Comedy Central, which revived the Mr. Birchum character.
Carolla has also done voiceovers for cartoons, including Commander Nebula on the Disney animated series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Death on Family Guy (replacing Norm MacDonald who only did one episode) and Spanky Ham on Drawn Together.
From August 2005 to November 2005, Carolla hosted the talk show Too Late with Adam Carolla on Comedy Central.
Also in 2005, Carolla was featured in a home remodeling program called The Adam Carolla Project where he and a crew of old friends renovated his childhood home. The 12 episodes aired on the cable channel TLC (The Learning Channel) from October through December 2005.
In 2006, he appeared on the special summer series Gameshow Marathon as a celebrity panelist on the Match Game episode.
In August of 2007, Carolla guest hosted Jim Rome Is Burning.
Recently, he has appeared as a guest on several episodes of Comics Unleashed.
In 2006, Carolla finished work on The Hammer, a semi-autobiographical independent film in which he stars opposite Heather Juergensen. The film is based on his real life and is filmed at a gym he helped build with his co-star, Ozzie, which is played by Oswaldo Castillo, his friend in real life whom he met while building the gym when they both worked in construction.[2]
The film made its world premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City and shortly thereafter received a very positive review in Variety. [19] Further details, including plans for the film's release, can be found on The Hammer official website. In 2003 Carolla had cameo appearance in the film Abby Singer.
On November 9, 2003 Loveline was cancelled by Hawaii affiliate KPOI after Carolla referred to Hawaiians as "the dumbest people". He also claimed that you could take over the island with a Bic lighter. [20]
Carolla's morning show became the subject of controversy within a few weeks of airing when on January 24, 2006, Carolla played a segment which spoofed the upcoming Asian Excellence Awards, which honor Asian American media accomplishments. The spoof consisted of what sounded like a typical excerpt from an awards show, except that the dialogue of the actors consisted only of the words ching chong, repeated over and over. The National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP), The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), and The Center for Asian American Media publicly objected to the spoof, calling it racist.[21]. They threatened to ask advertisers to withdraw their support from the show if the station did not issue an apology. [22] On February 22, 2006, Carolla without fanfare read a brief apology for the segment, in which he said that his show had regrettably "crossed the line". On April 26, 2006, Carolla invited the head of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, Guy Aoki, and Teddy Zee, co-chair of the Asian Excellence Awards, to further explain that when he aired the bit, he had no idea that "ching chong" was a racial slur. Mention of the bit was removed from the official show blog. [23]
On July 6, 2006 conservative pundit Ann Coulter called The Adam Carolla Show an hour and a half after she was scheduled as a featured guest. This was the second time she had been late or absent on the show. On the July 6 show, Carolla amicably greeted Coulter, saying "You're late, baby doll." (A term he uses with legitimate affection and not condescendingly.) She complained that she had been given the wrong number. Carolla then joked to Coulter, "How did you get the right number? Just dialed randomly — eventually got to our show?" Coulter insisted she was "really tight on time." Carolla then hung up on Coulter, telling her, "All right, well, get lost."[24] Carolla claimed he did so due to her lack of professionalism, stating that it had nothing to do with her political views, which he stated he was quite open to hearing. Carolla frequently and publicly chides media personalities whom he considers "blowhards."
During the week of June 25, 2007 on The Adam Carolla Show, Carolla mused — during a news segment discussing Coulter's recent controversial statements regarding John Edwards — that he himself had, to his surprise, become a "cult hero" for hanging up on her on his radio program one year earlier. Carolla joked that his "cult hero" status was probably more due to the public's dislike of Coulter than it was owed to public approval of himself.
During his tenure on Loveline Adam frequently voiced his theory of a strong correlation of men who worked around metal and their tendency to be degenerates. Adam supported this theory frequently through male callers or female callers describing the actions of their male partners and correctly guessing that their job involved metal. The rubric for fitting the criteria as described by Adam is largely intuitive. An interesting corollary to this theory, stated by Adam, is that jobs involving the repair of metal (e.g., auto body work) suggest more degeneracy than that of working with metal (i.e., iron worker, mechanic).[citation needed]
Carolla married his longtime girlfriend Lynette Paradise on September 28, 2002. Lynette gave birth (via cesarean section) to their first children, twins Natalia and Santino "Sonny" Carolla on June 7, 2006. [25].
In frustration with the tendency of people to just use canned cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving, he has come up with a recipe for fresh cranberry sauce which has been a hit with friends.
Carolla is a car enthusiast, owning a BMW M3 E30-generation model, an E46-generation M3, Datsun 510, Audi, Jaguar sports coupe, MINI Cooper S, Nissan 350Z, Aston Martin, Lamborghini 350GT, and a Ferrari.[citation needed] He once commented on his radio show Loveline that he'd had sent one of his BMW M3s to a mechanic friend to have it tricked out. When it came out of the shop several weeks later, to Adam's surprise, it was rated at more than 500 horsepower. He was pulled over by an LAPD officer that evening for speeding, but did not receive a ticket. Adam joked it may have been the "LAPD" ballcap he was wearing at the time but had forgotten about until the police officer asked him about it. Adam responded saying he played in some celebrity golf games for an LAPD charity, and that the hat was one of the gift basket item of a recent game.
Carolla has historically been very candid about his income for his work in the entertainment industry. He frequently pressures guests to be similarly forthcoming about their income, especially other entertainers (most commonly, models and other professionals whose income depends on their looks).
On the April 10, 2007 broadcast of The Adam Carolla Show, Carolla read his entire 2006 Social Security Earnings History, which includes all reported taxable income he had earned throughout his life, through 2005. He repeated the list on The Howard Stern Show on April 26, 2007.
Since 2000, Carolla has, on-air, referred to himself as "literally a millionaire" (with hyperbolic emphasis on the word "literally"). He has used his income history to illustrate to listeners the benefits of being self-motivated and making improved life choices. His 2006 report (including annual reported earnings through 2005) was as follows.
| Year | Reported Income | Comments by Carolla |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | $232 | McDonalds |
| 1981 | $746 | McDonalds |
| 1982 | $1,093 | carpet cleaner |
| 1983 | $2,289 | |
| 1984 | $9,367 | construction laborer |
| 1985 | $0 | spent the year building a kitchen for his grandmother |
| 1986 | $17,672 | worked with City of Los Angeles doing earthquake rehab |
| 1987 | $2,553 | |
| 1988 | $0 | |
| 1989 | $22,543 | |
| 1990 | $6,312 | |
| 1991 | $0 | |
| 1992 | $3,521 | |
| 1993 | $3,984 | |
| 1994 | $6,442 | began work in radio |
| 1995 | $36,221 | began co-hosting Loveline mid-year |
| 1996 | $316,424 | first full year as co-host on Loveline, also co-hosted the MTV TV show of the same title (1996-2000) |
| 1997 | $354,661 | |
| 1998 | $543,453 | |
| 1999 | $1,237,903 | first year of The Man Show |
| 2000 | $1,013,726 | |
| 2001 | over $1,000,000 | (exact amount not specified) |
| 2002 | $2,085,764 | |
| 2003 | over $2,000,000 | (exact amount not specified) |
| 2004 | $1,353,000 | |
| 2005 | $1,661,924 |
- ^ The Adam Carolla Show official blog, February 2, 2006
- ^ "New boxing movie, celebs' fight-Derby dilemma, more", SportsIllustrated.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
- Carolla, Adam at the Internet Movie Database
- Variety review of "The Hammer"
- Official Free FM bio
- Official LoveLine website from Westwood One
- LovelineArchive.com
| Preceded by Riki Rachtman |
Co-Host of Loveline 1995 – 2005 |
Succeeded by Stryker |
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