Apes and Pokemon may evolve, but Adam Carolla remains the same.
If anything, Carolla, the humorous, ranting personality who rose to prominence in the late ’90s on the syndicated radio program “Loveline” and solidified his brand with “The Man Show,” has turned more into himself — a living caricature of the blustering everyman that made him famous.
He has candles lit at all ends and yet still projects the same sort of couch-pontificating lethargy that makes him appealing to any blue-collar schmoe with dreams of entertaining.
“I don’t know what the alternative is for me – napping or death,” Carolla said.
So, what’s on his plate? Carolla helms the free podcast, “The Adam Carolla Show,” which was awarded the Guinness World Record for “Most Downloaded Podcast” in 2011 after nearly 60 million downloads over two years. He reunited with his former “Loveline” partner Dr. Drew for another podcast appropriately called “The Adam and Dr. Drew Show.”
The comic also has a few books to his credit and is working on a book due out next summer called “President Me.”
He raised over a million dollars through crowdfunding for a new movie, “Road Hard,” which he will direct, write and star in. The film which will start shooting in December and will take place in comedy clubs, detailing the life of a comedian forced to go back on the road after the cancellation of his sitcom.
It isn’t just his yapper that makes the dough: he runs Carolla Drinks, a company that primarily markets his signature Sangria cocktail called, what else, Mangria.
Carolla gets in touch with his construction-based background with yet another podcast, “Ace on the House,” where he riffs on household issues like why to buy a nice ceiling fan and the problems with paint rollers.
All of these podcasts, (and a few more), fall under the umbrella of his company Carolla Digital, a podcast empire.
Despite all of these ventures, he thinks mostly about building projects and physical labor. To step into Dr. Drew’s shoes, it’s his outlet for dealing with celebrity and the trappings of nonsense that come with Hollywood — it keeps him grounded.
“I like the tangible, mechanical, physical world, not just the world of thoughts and ideas and jokes,” Carolla said.
Working on cars, boxing (to the degree his injured hands will allow) and carpentry, all while one thought away from a 10 minute tangent: That is the real Adam Carolla.
In fact, he keeps a piece of junk mail in his wallet at all times for random observation. This is what allows the prolific talker to avoid dead air.
On the phone with A&E, he was thinking about the correlation between medicine and froyo.
One day Carolla offered his son a trip to Pinkberry for some frozen yogurt. His son didn’t want to go, saying that he didn’t like chocolate. Carolla suggested cherry instead.
Turns out, cherry reminded his son of medicine he had to take for a childhood ear infection.
“We ruin these flavors for these kids at an early age — my son will forever hate the flavor cherry because he associates it with the horrible cough medicine and not the delightful fruit,” he said. “I think that’s interesting so I write that down. I think we need to come up with a medicine flavor that’s sweet but that they won’t encounter in their adult life at a frozen yogurt place.”
There doesn’t seem to be much ‘why’ to the work of Adam Carolla — though he may ask the question a lot — just a lot of ‘is.’ He does what he does to do it and at this point there’s no turning back.
What: Adam Carolla Podcast Live Taping
When: 7:30 p.m. and 10:30, Friday
Where: The Varsity Theater, 1308 4th St. SE, Minneapolis
Cost: $40.50-$50.50
Age: 18+
