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March 9, 2015 - The Joe Rogan Experience
01:24:15
Joe Rogan Experience #622 - Adam Carolla
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a
adam carolla
54:48
j
joe rogan
28:09
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Speaker Time Text
unidentified
Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Carolla's here!
joe rogan
Dude, you do too much shit.
I do too much shit, but you do too much shit compared to the shit that I do.
You just did a fucking movie?
How do you have time to do a movie?
You do 85 podcasts, you do a TV show on Spike, you got a family, growing a beard, drive cars.
adam carolla
The beard's the easiest part, but keep going.
Beards and pubes.
joe rogan
You do stand-up comedy, you do live podcasts.
What the fuck, dude?
adam carolla
Well, you know, a couple things.
I started to realize, after I had my twins, that what I did was radio, podcasting, but I felt like it was all just floating up into the ether, you know?
And I thought, I want some sort of permanent record, like some sort of legacy.
You know, books, movies, the stuff that gets passed around.
You know, what I'm saying is, over Christmas time, me and my eight-year-old twins, we watch planes, trains, and automobiles and love the shit out of it.
And that movie's like 30 years old now.
joe rogan
Great fucking movie.
adam carolla
It's a great fucking movie, but you want to feel old.
It's like, how long's John Candy been dead?
Like six years?
No, 15 years or 20 years.
But the point is, that thing and John Hughes, too.
So, we weren't listening to, you know, Ass Crack and Backsack in the morning from 1984. We were watching a movie from that era.
And I just sort of had this feeling at a certain point, like...
I like doing the podcast.
I like doing radio and TV shows and stuff like that.
But doing a movie, for some reason, those are the ones that get passed on versus the podcast.
And look, I'm sure someone long after we're gone are going to be listening to our archives.
But not with the eight-year-olds.
joe rogan
Right.
No, definitely not with their eight-year-olds.
And they might be listening to our archives, or our archives might all be lost out in the ether.
That's possible, too.
adam carolla
That's kind of what...
I felt like all I ever did was talk, and all it ever did was just float up and just go up into the atmosphere and blow away.
joe rogan
That's interesting.
adam carolla
Or maybe into Canada and cause some acid rain.
joe rogan
So that was really your motivation, was just to leave a solid legacy?
adam carolla
I was just like...
I really, it was two things for me in movies.
It was a whole bunch of people sort of saying, well, you can't do movies, you do radio.
You're a radio guy.
Or, you know, you can't do this.
Just, for me, not saying you can't, but not being taken seriously, like, you can go do this.
And then the other thing is, like, I had an idea for a movie, which I don't have that often.
But when I have an idea, I want to execute the idea.
joe rogan
Right.
adam carolla
You're probably wired that way.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah, once I have...
It's almost like, yeah, you get like a seed is growing, it starts poking out through the dirt, and you're like, all right, we got to do something here.
This is moving.
adam carolla
Right.
So I made a movie called The Hammer like eight years ago, and I didn't make any more movies.
And then I had this idea like two years ago, and I was like, let's do it.
joe rogan
And The Hammer was about a boxer, right?
adam carolla
Yeah, The Hammer was about a boxer, and this is more about...
Road Hard is more about just comedians and the road and getting old and how the road is getting old for a lot of these guys.
Because I started seeing all these guys passing through my studio.
Like, you see him too, right?
And they're like going, hey, he's going to be down at Hilarity's in Addison, Texas.
unidentified
And that's one show, and then two Friday, two Saturday.
adam carolla
And then he'd go like, yeah, I've got to blow in a day early to do local radio.
And you'd think to yourself, God, I used to watch that guy in Living Color.
Or I used to watch that guy on a sitcom or something.
And now he's back.
On the road.
And I know he ain't happy about it, but he's on the road.
And I just kind of want to tell that story about taking a step backward in life.
joe rogan
So the story's about a guy who's a sitcom actor who has to do stand-up again to make a living.
adam carolla
Got divorced, worked right up.
It all became reality shows.
You know, you remember that?
Holding deals, development deals, free money.
joe rogan
They don't exist anymore, right?
adam carolla
No, those deals, you know, those deals, I mean...
As soon as Roseanne and Seinfeld and Tim Allen and Ray Romano had success doing sitcoms, Hollywood was like, who's the next Ray Romano going to be?
And so they started bringing guys in and throwing tons of cash at them just to spitball ideas and just whatever.
And so the guys immediately got off the road because they're like, screw that, I'm moving to Hollywood.
And some of them had some success.
Some of them had some difficulties in marriage, rehab, things like that.
The point is, is now they're all knocking on the door of 50, divorced, and ready to hit the road again.
They don't want to hit the road, but how else are you going to make a living?
It's all reality.
It's all reality show.
joe rogan
Interesting.
So this idea got in your head because of dealing with all these people that come into your studio.
adam carolla
No.
I mean, yes.
It was a combination.
No, I started seeing, like...
You know that thought where the guy's explaining the club he's going to, and you're like, I know that club.
And then your next thought is, that's kind of a shitty club.
And then you think, wait a minute, this guy's kind of a name.
Like, this guy's a little bit of a household name.
Why is he playing that shitty club?
And then you start feeling sort of bad for him, even though you shouldn't, because Roofer...
Cop, fireman, all real jobs versus going to hilarities and getting paid for, you know, standing up on stage and holding a beer in your hand.
But you're feeling bad for this guy because you know he doesn't really want to go there.
And you know he has other friends.
You know, I'd have Dave and Alan Greer say, I've got to go to Addison, Texas.
And I know Jamie Foxx doesn't have to go to Addison, Texas.
joe rogan
Right.
adam carolla
And at some point, he was probably...
Telling Jamie Foxx, here's how comedy works, brother.
Sit down.
You know what I mean?
So it was telling the story of stepping backwards.
And for me, you know, I had to live it myself.
I lived that story in 2009, when I got fired from my radio job, there were no jobs.
There was no radio jobs, and there was no television jobs, as far as I could tell.
I mean, the phone wasn't ringing.
And I had young twins, and I just had to hit the road.
And I didn't have an act.
All I had was, Adam Carolla is coming to your town, and that was good enough to sell a few tickets, and I was just coming to your town.
And I just told the booker, you know, wherever, whenever, how many shows, doesn't matter, I'm there.
joe rogan
Wow.
adam carolla
And I spent a year being, like, humbled.
joe rogan
That was six years ago.
That's not that long ago.
adam carolla
No, it's not that long ago.
And it was a lot of Southwest flights and Red Roof Inns and a lot of, like, I didn't know the road.
So I didn't know about, well, you get an opener so you don't have to do a full 90-minute set or whatever.
I was doing three 95-minute sets in a row.
joe rogan
By yourself?
adam carolla
Just by myself.
joe rogan
You're doing three shows on Friday?
Like, that kind of deal?
It's three shows on Saturday?
adam carolla
When I started to really like...
started to crack...
Our gig was we're going to book a night at Cobb, Thursday night at Cobb's in San Francisco.
It's a pretty good-sized club.
So Thursday night, you know, it's like, I don't know, 500 seats or something.
So we said, Thursday night, we'll do a show in Cobb's.
Then we'll go to Kirkland, Washington, and we'll do two shows Friday, two shows Saturday.
I said, all right.
So I get the call.
Oh, the first show is sold out.
You want to add a second show?
Oops, second show added.
Sold out.
You want to add a third show.
Now, I know that third show is going to be miserable, but I'm only going to San Francisco to try to get some money and bring it back.
And the nicer the flight and the nicer the hotel, the less money that comes back.
And I used to say to someone, look, I'm just going to wake up Friday morning in San Francisco one way or the other.
If I do one show, two shows, or three shows, at some point I'm going to wake up that next day and I'll just be in a hotel bed.
Might as well have an extra whatever amount of grand in my pocket.
Just go for it.
So I did it.
And then the same thing happened in Kirkland, Washington.
Three shows, first show, second show, third show.
They all sold out, so they kept adding them.
And before you knew it, I was like disoriented, like up on stage.
And I thought 90 minutes was the minimum amount I could do.
So I'd do like 95, 100 minutes a show, and I didn't know about the opener.
Or the local guy or the anything.
joe rogan
So you never brought anybody with you at all?
adam carolla
No.
joe rogan
See, the problem with the road, when you do that, it gets really lonely.
It gets weird.
adam carolla
Well, I always had Mike August with me, who was booking all the stuff and was...
You know, it was fun to see him in the green room eating every time, to see what he ate.
You know, just the remnants of what he ordered.
Like, oh, is that the mozzarella sticks or the chicken fingers, Mike?
But I got them both.
He'd just be watching college football the whole time on the sofa that's way too big for the room that it's in.
Right.
But we just went for it.
Like, that was it.
So I got this weird crash course on the road, you know, at age 43 or 44. And I was like, wow, man, this is rough.
I mean, it would have been cool at 27. Yeah.
Single and whatnot.
joe rogan
Well, it's also you didn't have an act.
So you just have some ideas that you would just talk about on stage for 90 minutes?
How did it go?
adam carolla
It went surprisingly well.
joe rogan
They're happy to see you.
adam carolla
They're happy to see me, but that's not going to last 95 minutes.
joe rogan
You had some ideas.
You must have had some stuff you were planning on talking about when you got up there.
adam carolla
What I would do is I would...
The first, like, hour or 45 minutes or something would just be, what can Adam complain about?
And people would just shout out shit from the audience.
And I would have to riff on it, but...
It would be kind of a calorie burner because you'd have to, you know, come up with this material.
And then my head would start swimming.
Like, did I do this already?
I couldn't remember if I did it in first.
The guy yelled out kittens.
Did he yell that in this show or is that the third show or the second show?
unidentified
Like, start floating a little up there.
adam carolla
But eventually...
What I would do is, you know, I'd walk through Kirkland, Washington, and I'd see, oh, they have little flags that they use that go in a little receptacle, and when you cross the street, even at a signal in a crosswalk, you hold the little flag up.
And then you go set it back down in the receptacle on the other side of the street.
Everybody does that?
Well, they provide them for everybody.
joe rogan
What?
Like you have to have a flag to cross the street?
adam carolla
You're not going to get penalized by it.
It's just a courtesy that the town of Kirkland, Washington offers.
joe rogan
What's the benefit of the flag?
adam carolla
You not being run over?
joe rogan
Well, they don't see you if you don't have a flag?
adam carolla
You're more visible.
Well...
What the fuck?
joe rogan
What the fuck is wrong with your eyesight up in Corkland?
How cloudy is it up there?
adam carolla
I'm saying, however visible Joe Rogan is, he's at least 35% more visible with an orange flag over his head.
joe rogan
Wow.
How bizarre.
What prompted that?
adam carolla
I don't know, but there's my first 15 minutes.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
I could see you going on for an hour about that.
adam carolla
Yeah, so I would blow into every town and just look around with a buck slip and go, like, flying over there.
Okay, what's going on?
And by the half of it was, oh, the Alaskan Airline flight out here.
You know, just anything.
Just anything.
And then once I hit the stage, I could riff on it.
But after, you know, obviously...
After what started happening is then, you know, next week in Phoenix, I'd go, you guys got a nice town, but let me tell you about Kirkland, Washington.
They got flags to cross, you know, and then I could do the same 10 minutes again.
joe rogan
Right.
adam carolla
And that's how the act was built during the course of the experience on the road.
joe rogan
There's a lot of guys who wind up doing that that are sitcom actors that wound up Doing stand-up after they became a sitcom actor, like Screech from Saved by the Bells, particularly famous for it.
adam carolla
Well, yeah, it just got a name.
joe rogan
Yeah.
adam carolla
Yeah, Danny Bonaduce would do an act.
It's just like, you don't have an act, but you do have a currency.
The currency is we recognize your name on the marquee.
Yeah.
So folks who weren't formally stand-ups are now going to have to be stand-ups if they want to eat.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Do you remember Skippy from Family Ties?
adam carolla
Sure.
joe rogan
He used to do that.
Skippy from Family Ties, like, when I was first starting out, he was hitting the road.
adam carolla
Skippy, though, I mean, to give the Skippy his due, he was doing it, like, when he was doing it.
joe rogan
While the show was going on, he was doing it?
adam carolla
Even before or after?
I mean, somebody can research this, but I remember doing...
Two things.
I remember doing an open mic at the Improv, the Melrose Improv, about, you know, 1985, maybe 1986, and Skippy was there.
So, it wasn't like, oh, that show got cancelled and now he's trying his hand at stand-up.
Like, he was banging away at it.
And I also think the guy went up missing.
joe rogan
Recently and maybe dead went out in like the wilderness and like killed himself Someone's gonna have to do some skippy research I think you might be confusing skippy with the guy who killed the the development deal that we were talking about earlier Chicken, do you know that story?
No, you don't know what killed the development deal.
No there Montreal especially the Montreal Comedy Festival was this big event Where all the industry would go there, and it was really kind of an excuse to go drink.
adam carolla
Been there.
joe rogan
They would go and have a great time, but they would hand out these development deals, and some of them were pretty big.
And a really big one was given to this guy that called himself Chicken.
Chicken was a young, cute guy, and he would go wacky on stage, sort of Jim Carrey-esque.
Less aware of the industry.
Like, you know those people that you talk to and they're just kind of, they're kind of like metal filings getting pulled towards the magnet.
They don't necessarily have their own compass.
They don't necessarily have their own opinion on things that they formulated.
They might be young.
They might be impressionable.
But they kind of go with, oh, he's amazing.
He's so talented.
adam carolla
He's so good.
joe rogan
You should see his energy.
It's incredible.
adam carolla
Ralph had about a million people, and then you meet the guy, or you see his act, or you're whatever, and you're like, what am I missing?
joe rogan
This was that times a hundred.
This was like every comic, I mean every comic, was like, what the fuck?
Like, you'll get comics that'll defend the most undefendable, you know, you mean there's a lot of comics that, you know, love all sorts of weird marginal acts, but this guy was off the charts.
Off the charts bad.
Off the charts bad, but...
Got a giant development deal, like a half a million dollars.
adam carolla
Right.
joe rogan
And it just went south.
He came to Hollywood, can't act, can't do anything, started bombing.
They realized, like, what did we do?
We gave a half a million dollars to a crazy person.
And literally, that was the end of the development deal.
It just stopped with this one guy.
He wound up hanging himself in front of a school somewhere.
That's the urban myth.
Oh, really?
Urban legend, rather.
I'm not sure if that's actually exactly that, but I know he killed himself.
adam carolla
Somebody's gonna have to...
Well, you know, I was saying the other day, you know, I think second only to cops in suicide, comedians might be number two in the suicide department.
I'd like to see the rest of the list.
joe rogan
How many comics do you know?
I know Richard Jenny.
Who else?
adam carolla
Oh, there's been...
Well...
I was just thinking of...
Who the hell was I just thinking of?
joe rogan
Robin Williams, of course.
adam carolla
Robin Williams, yeah.
I'm trying to think of what other profession.
There's a lot more cops than there are comedians.
I mean, at least people you've heard of.
Probably a bunch of people that never made it that did it.
But now I've got to find out what happened to Skippy.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Jamie will Google that.
Skippy from Family Ties.
We'll see what happens.
adam carolla
Yeah, so I had to go out and just...
Tough it out.
And it was like, it sucked, you know?
It was humbling, you know?
It was interesting, it was tiring, it was a little depressing, but it was like mostly scary and humbling.
joe rogan
Well, if you've got kids, it's a tricky situation.
Like, you've got to go to work.
You've got to get something done.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Especially, when you left your radio show, when your radio show got canceled, did you have any sort of a severance package or...
adam carolla
Yeah, the good news is I had until the end of the year.
So I had like nine and a half months to get paid, but the clock was ticking and the phone wasn't ringing.
And so I was like, I gotta get out there.
And then...
At a certain point, I just decided I need to take this guy and tweak him a little bit and make him into a movie.
And so we did the crowdfunding thing and raised the money that way and blah, blah, blah.
Turned out, the movie's really good, actually.
Did I get it to you or not?
joe rogan
Yeah, I just haven't had a chance to watch it.
I'm going to watch it this weekend, though.
I'm going to Dallas.
I'm going to hit the road.
adam carolla
You're going to like it.
Yeah, you'll recognize a lot of people in it.
joe rogan
I've managed to stifle that sort of boredom on the road.
One of the things I do is I always bring my friends.
I bring really funny guys that open for me.
And two, I mix it up a lot with the UFC. Like this weekend, I'm doing the Majestic Theater on Friday night in Dallas.
And then Saturday night, there's a big UFC event.
So for me, it mixes things up.
I miss my family.
I miss my home.
But I like all the people that I work with.
I love working for the UFC. I love doing stand-up.
So the road is not bad for me.
And I only do it for like a couple days.
I know guys who go out for like 20, 30 days in a row.
And you just come back and you're a shell.
You know, you have to fucking drink orange juice for a month just to get your fucking electrolytes back.
adam carolla
Yeah, that's my whole thing, is I would just go out for two days, work really hard for like two days, and then come back two, three days.
I'd try to keep it to that with the family and podcasting and all that stuff.
And yeah, variety and mixing it up, that's the other key.
So now, half the time, now, for me, it's like seven-eighths of the time I'm just doing a live podcast.
joe rogan
I brought you something.
Are those yours?
Do you recognize those?
adam carolla
Reading glasses?
joe rogan
Do you recognize those?
adam carolla
No, I don't.
joe rogan
You sure?
adam carolla
Yes.
joe rogan
I think you left those bitches at my house in like 2009. I think Lisa Loeb left these at your house in 2009. They might not be yours.
I might be confused.
Sure?
adam carolla
I'm pretty sure, yeah.
joe rogan
They work for me.
It's weird.
I started using them.
They might be yours, dude.
adam carolla
They don't work aesthetically for you.
joe rogan
No, they don't work aesthetically.
But they do, because I like things like fanny packs.
I like shit that doesn't work aesthetically.
adam carolla
Oh, my God.
I'm so glad.
I'm looking to get that fanny pack going, man.
joe rogan
Listen, I've been bringing it back.
I sell them.
I have one for you.
Do we have one for them?
Go get them one.
We have a real good one.
adam carolla
Don't dangle that pack in front of me unless I'm taking it home.
joe rogan
You're taking it home, sir.
I've got one for you.
It's leather.
It's a nice roots fanny pack.
Very sturdy construction.
I don't travel without it.
adam carolla
Listen, I just got back from the East Coast, and it was snow in New York, snowing the whole time.
Look at that.
Oh, I'm pumped.
joe rogan
Yeah, look at that.
adam carolla
And by the way, this doesn't say, you know, a lot of fanny packs say, not getting laid.
Definitely checking out some comic books on a Saturday night.
This says, may have a gun.
And I like what this is projecting to the world a little better than the average fanny pack.
Wow.
joe rogan
I sold out of those three times.
adam carolla
This is nice.
joe rogan
If you go to higherprimate.com, I sell those.
It's got the Higher Primate logo in the pocket with the zipper in it, but that's roots.
adam carolla
Wow, it's really nice.
joe rogan
Well, Dice Clay had one.
He came in, he's got the sweatpants, I got the...
And I was like, I'm so happy that you wear a fanny pack, because I wear them all the time, and people give me a hard time.
If you're not trying to get laid, it's really the way to go.
Because, like, convenience-wise, like, you go to the airport, I unstrap that sucker, I drop it in that bin, and I'm done.
I'm not fishing in my pockets for coins.
adam carolla
I just made the proclamation because I just got back from the East Coast where there was a blizzard going on in New York.
I said, it's so nice wearing a big jacket with the inside pockets and the flaps and the things.
Like, finally, I can put my cell phone and my wallet somewhere because I'm so tired of the T-shirt and the jeans out here.
You're always sitting on your phone and whatnot.
I was happy just to be wearing the big parka that had all the...
All the pockets in it, but that wouldn't work around L.A. They'd think you're a homeless freak, so now I'm going fanny pack.
Yeah, thanks, buddy.
joe rogan
I love it.
I'm a big fan.
It became one of those things that got mocked, and guys just abandoned it because they didn't want to look like losers.
But I say fuck that.
adam carolla
No, but this...
But hold on a second.
This is like a lot more holster than it is fanny pack.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's nice, right?
adam carolla
I wouldn't even classify this...
I wouldn't call this a fanny pack.
joe rogan
Well, Roots sells it.
Roots, the luggage company from Canada, and they don't call it a fanny pack.
They call it like a waste bag or something fucking stupid, which is, you know.
adam carolla
Yeah.
Yeah.
But there's a negative connotation to fanny pack.
joe rogan
Not in my world.
adam carolla
All right.
Well, not with that bad boy.
I'm excited.
joe rogan
So Dice Clay came in with one of those on, and I saw that.
I'm like, that is a pretty goddamn sweet fanny pack.
And he's like, yeah, I love these.
I love them.
I'm wearing them all the time.
adam carolla
Oh!
joe rogan
So I contacted Roots and had them make one with my logo on it.
adam carolla
I was thinking about Dice the other day.
I was thinking, who invented him smoking the cigarette from around the back to the wrong side of his head?
And then, how did that work?
And then, who decided that was part of the comedy?
It's a weird thing to do.
I guess it's a way to stave off lung cancer, because it can barely...
I can't quite.
Or if I get too fat, I can't smoke because I can't get my hand around the back of my neck.
joe rogan
There he is.
adam carolla
He's like, oh!
joe rogan
Well, he got to a point, I think, where he was kind of mocking himself.
adam carolla
Was that it?
joe rogan
You know, that was a character.
You know that, right?
adam carolla
Yeah, no, I've talked to the guy quite a bit about it.
No, he's really just an actor.
joe rogan
Well, his name's Andrew Silverstein, and this Dice character was one of several characters that he did in his act.
He used to do John Travolta, he used to do Sylvester Stallone, and he would do this Dice Man.
And the Dice Man became...
Easily the most popular part of his act, so then he kind of morphed into being him, and then everywhere he goes would dress like the Dice Man.
adam carolla
Well, it's this weird trap.
Larry the Cable Guy was a stand-up that wasn't getting any traction, just became this guy on the radio in Tampa or something.
The next thing you know, the club would rather book Larry the Cable Guy than Dan Whitney.
Than Dan Whitney, so they go with Larry the Cable Guy.
I started off doing Mr. Burcham, the shop teacher, out here, and at a certain point, when it came time to take over on Loveline, K-Rock, the mother station, was like, we'd like you to host Loveline as Mr. Burcham.
The woodshop teacher.
And I was like, how's that going to work?
And they were like, well, we know Mr. Burcham is funny, but we're not sure if you're funny.
Which is a weird thing to say to the same guys doing both of them.
But I said, if I do Mr. Burcham on Loveline, I'm going to blow my voice out.
But I'm also, that's just not going to work.
joe rogan
Why would you blow your voice out?
How did it go?
adam carolla
Um...
Mr. Burcham was a 60-whatever-year-old Vietnam veteran who taught woodworking.
He taught remedial wood at Louis Pasteur Middle School in Monrovia.
joe rogan
That's very specific.
adam carolla
Yeah.
And he hated his kids.
He hated all his kids, and he would...
Every Monday, he would call into Kevin and Bean because he got into another accident in the garage, you know, with the bandsaw or something, and he wasn't going to be making it in.
So you'd say, well, why is this guy calling Kevin and Bean to tell him he's not coming in to teach his shop class that day?
And what I'd figured out is that all of his kids...
Who attended his class because it was junior high.
They all listened to K-Rock.
So he would use K-Rock as like his own PA system to speak to his kids like at 7.30 in the morning because they're all heading in.
And, you know, he'd be like...
Listen, I know you love all the smashing dumplings and nervosa and all that shit K-Rock plays.
That Quimby, Mr. Sapanze, is going to be taking over for me today.
So here's the deal.
You're all going to show up, we're going to put blood on the bandsaw on, and then you put your head down.
And nobody messes with my drill index.
Nobody messes with my Makita posers.
And then he'd get into, like...
His one student that he liked.
Because all asshole shop teachers always overcompensate with the one kid.
joe rogan
That's so true.
adam carolla
And they're total dickheads to 26 kids and super nice to one kid for some fucking reason.
Like super douchebag starlets are super...
Incredible with their dog, you know, and then super shitty with all the human beings around them.
It all gets channeled into the one terrier or something.
So he'd go, his one guy was Brad Higginsdoller.
He's like, Brad!
Been thinking about that kayak over the weekend.
I don't want to go with a butt joint.
I don't want to go with a dado.
I don't want to go with a rabbit joint.
Let's go with a finger joint.
Oh no, let's go with a dado.
Put the dado set up on the contractor saw.
And I just go through all the super specific whatever that I knew from home building.
And this guy became this overnight sensation.
Because they didn't know if Mr. Burcham was a real guy or not.
Because he'd make a lot of jokes, but then he'd get super specific with shit.
And nobody knew who he was.
So then he got so popular, they wanted him to host Loveline.
But I was like...
I ended up doing that show for a decade.
I couldn't do it as Mr. Burcham.
joe rogan
So when you came in and you did it as Adam Carolla, was it like, boy, I don't know, Adam.
Do you think you could do a little Mr. Burcham?
Do you think we could do half Mr. Burcham, half Adam?
No one can see you, Adam.
Could you say Adam and Mr. Burcham?
Could you go like Phil Hendry style?
Do both voices back and forth?
adam carolla
So were you wearing a condom?
Hey, what are you asking about his cock for?
Yeah.
I just said, look, this is not going to work big picture.
Like, I could do one episode this way, but you don't want Mr. Bertram two hours a night every night.
Plus, we were just starting syndication, so we're only in one city that kind of knew Mr. Bertram, and then the rest of the cities didn't know Mr. Bertram, so it wouldn't have made sense.
joe rogan
You would have to start from scratch again.
adam carolla
I wouldn't have wanted to.
So we ended up in over 100 cities.
So that's probably best.
But yeah, that's how it all got started.
joe rogan
When you started your podcast, I did it way, way back in the day, back when you were still sitting on that couch and you had the clip-on microphones.
You went through all the...
Different versions of how to set it up, sort of the way everybody kind of does.
Like my friend Steve Rinella, he's got this great podcast now, and he's doing it.
He's the host of this show Meat Eater.
He's a professional hunter and an author, and they're doing a podcast now.
It's an amazing podcast, but they have these headset microphones on.
So they got the earphones and the microphone on it, and every time someone moves, it's clunk, clunk, clunk.
adam carolla
Yeah, right, right.
joe rogan
It's fucking maddening.
And I'm like, you can't have the headset mic.
You gotta have a mic that just sits there, a condenser mic.
adam carolla
Yeah.
joe rogan
The more people touch it, the more it's gonna suck for if you have earbuds on.
I gotta take my earbuds out.
I'm like, this is...
I'm gonna go crazy.
adam carolla
Yeah, I... God, I remember a million years ago when I was doing Bill Simmons' podcast from his garage.
He was set up but like only set up with one microphone or that's all they could do so I had to call into the show but I was there So I literally got his phone, like his home phone, and dialed in and then stood out in the driveway, you know, so he didn't hear me in the room.
joe rogan
That's hilarious.
adam carolla
Well, I couldn't call in through the room because he'd hear me through the mic.
joe rogan
What the fuck?
adam carolla
It'd bleed through the mic.
And then the gardener started coming around with the leaf blower, and it's like, I'm calling into a...
You know...
No, he didn't understand what a podcast was.
joe rogan
No one did back then.
adam carolla
It was like standing out in his driveway talking on his, not even his cordless, you know, his home phone.
joe rogan
Right.
adam carolla
Just the cordless one.
joe rogan
That's hilarious.
adam carolla
Yeah, yeah.
So, yeah, everyone, get some decent equipment, please.
joe rogan
What year did you start?
adam carolla
I started in 09. 09. I started beginning, I started in February 09. Yeah, that's when this started too.
joe rogan
This started in 09 too.
But I started after you.
I think I started you, and first when I started it, I was doing it on Ustream.
Brian and I were just sitting in front of a, just a laptop, just fucking around.
It wasn't, the idea wasn't to do a podcast.
The idea was just to fuck around on Ustream.
And then as we started doing it, it was like, wow, this is a...
And then, but doing yours, I was like, ooh, Adam's got like a whole garage.
Like, look at this.
He's got a cool setup.
And then Anthony Cumia from Opie and Anthony, he's got some crazy fucking setup in his basement.
He was like the big inspiration because he had a green screen and a full studio with...
production cameras, just a lot of money and a single guy and likes to drink.
So he's like, fuck this, let's just build a studio in the basement.
So he built like a full, which now he uses because when he got fired from Opie and Anthony, he just set up and went online with it.
And now he has this full online thing with the green screen behind him.
He shows images and videos and all kinds of crazy shit.
adam carolla
I just did, but I just called into a show last week, but I just did Opie's show I was just in New York going fucking running in a circle.
Jesus Christ, man.
joe rogan
You had that lawsuit.
I don't know how much you want to talk about this at all, but you had that lawsuit with the dude that you started out with.
Yeah.
That all got settled.
adam carolla
Yep.
joe rogan
That's all done now.
adam carolla
Yep.
It was a year full of lawsuits.
Had the...
Had that, had the patent troll.
joe rogan
The patent troll.
adam carolla
That was, Jesus Christ.
joe rogan
Did that wind up costing you money, the patent troll thing?
I know we raised some money for that, but how did that work out?
adam carolla
The bill was over 500 grand.
joe rogan
What the fuck?
My god explain what the lawsuit was about because if people want to pull their fucking hair out in traffic This is so it's so crazy that someone could actually pull you into court for this Well not only pull you into court but pull you into their court in You know Eastern, Texas.
Yeah, where nobody has a podcast Yeah, nobody even knows what it is.
adam carolla
It's just a nice place to do business for these guys for those guys because they have creepy laws Well, they have judges.
They have relationships.
And, you know, first off, when you just step back and you look at the entire picture, who are the judges?
Judges aren't ex-firemen, ex-podcasters.
They're not carpenters.
They're lawyers.
The judges were lawyers, and then the congressmen were judges and lawyers, and the senators were judges and lawyers.
There's a little good old boys club going on.
And it's going on in Washington, D.C., and it's going on in all the places that the tentacles reach out to.
joe rogan
And it's legal.
adam carolla
And they're not there to upset their own apple cart, you know what I mean?
Like, in terms of reform and rules and righting a wrong and all that kind of stuff, how much you want to piss off the guy you're going to the country club with?
You'll see him at the country club on Saturday.
You know what it is?
It's like divorce attorneys.
Divorce attorneys, you think, oh, it's your side and his side and they're battling and he said and she said.
Not the attorneys.
They love it.
They're basically the relationship.
It's like saying, you know, the guy's walking through the park with the stick and the nail in the end of it, picking up garbage, picking up trash.
That guy must really hate litterers.
It's like, no, he doesn't.
That's how he has a job.
The attorneys are the ones that all end up just...
At the end, I mean, I've not been divorced, but I've certainly heard enough.
And I talked to Dr. Drew who's not been divorced, but he's heard enough.
And it's like, at the end, the people that win are both sides' attorneys.
They just keep going until everything's cleaned out.
joe rogan
And they do it on purpose.
They drag things out.
adam carolla
It's symbiotic.
They have the pilot fish and the shark or whatever.
You know, you think, oh, this guy, this attorney hates this other attorney.
No, he doesn't.
That's how he gets rich.
joe rogan
Well, not only that, if you're a person who's getting divorced, understand this.
If you're gonna go through mediation or whatever, even if you get along well with your ex-wife and you guys are both like, look, we love each other, but this is not working out.
Let's just break up.
The attorneys will try to get your wife to ask for some really unreasonable shit so that you can settle on some reasonable shit.
And so you're gonna get angry at her unreasonable shit.
Like, no, you can't have my fucking collection of, you know, whatever.
You know, like, I... I know, like, Sugar Shane Mosley had to give up his fucking championship belt.
You understand that?
He lost his fucking championship belt to a girl that he used to have naked hugs with, you know?
They used to get together and they used to touch each other and make each other feel good, so the judge decided, well, you know what, you need to give up that belt that you got punched in the head for, to this woman that used to touch you.
adam carolla
I would have gone like Jake LaMotta before he went to the pawn shop.
I would have just picked out everything out of that belt.
Just handed her a fanny pack with a shiny thing on the front of it.
joe rogan
Strapped that fucking thing to a tree and shot holes in it until it was worthless.
adam carolla
Well, yeah.
You know how all this shit starts?
I think all this shit starts like this.
You know, you say, look, let's just, let's focus on the kids.
Let's focus on what's fair.
Mommy and daddy shouldn't be arguing.
Let's not give all the money to the attorneys.
We're both reasonable people.
And then at some point, your ex-wife has some cunty friend who's been through a divorce says, you should just talk to my guy.
Just talk to my guy.
And then your ex-wife says, you know what?
I talked to Joe or I talked to Adam.
unidentified
What?
adam carolla
We're just going to handle this and try to be reasonable about it.
And she'll go, you don't understand.
You could be burned.
You're going to need to be.
Just meet with him.
I'm just saying, just meet with him.
Just meet with the guy.
That's all I'm saying.
Just talk to the guy.
Next thing you know, she's sitting in an office in Century City.
This guy, of course, just sees a big old slab of bacon coming his way.
And he's like, oh, listen.
He says this and he says that, but what about 10 years from now?
He could agree to do this, but if he just agrees to it and you guys just have a handshake, he'd pull the plug the next day on child support, blah, blah, blah, alimony, blah, blah, blah.
And you worked real hard.
And the next thing you know, she's got an attorney.
Now it's time to lawyer up.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
adam carolla
And now it's time for these two to see how much fucking money they can make before you guys go your separate ways.
joe rogan
Phil Hartman, before his wife shot him and then killed herself, was going through this.
And we had a conversation about it.
He had a really bad relationship with his wife.
Real bad.
She would insult him in public.
They would be at a party.
adam carolla
The one who shot him?
joe rogan
The one who shot him, yeah.
adam carolla
Well, I did that math.
unidentified
Yeah.
adam carolla
I did the math.
There was a little friction between the two.
Bit of an issue.
A little bit of an issue because she killed him.
joe rogan
In his sleep.
Shot him in the head while he was sleeping.
He used to take cough syrup and conk out because he was just so stressed out.
adam carolla
Yeah.
joe rogan
Apparently, the story was that he had finally told her that this is it, so I'm going to pull the trigger.
I'm getting out of here.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
And she shot him when he was sleeping.
But when he was talking about it, I was the one who was trying to tell him to get divorced a long time ago.
Like, he had gone through these breakups where he'd moved out and then moved back in and, you know, they'd fight like cats and dogs and like, fuck this, I'm done.
And, you know...
A few people were saying, you know, you should try to work it out, and I was like, man, you gotta get, she's evil.
Like, this lady's crazy.
adam carolla
You can't fix crazy.
joe rogan
No, you can't fix crazy, and you can't fix that broken actress thing.
Do you know the type of person that desperately wants to be famous, and then they're medicated?
So she was on Zoloft, and then on top of the Zoloft, she's doing cocaine.
Which literally makes you psychotic.
They want a settlement through Zoloft.
The family want a settlement.
Oh, really?
Zoloft, apparently, you know, obviously I'm talking out of my ass.
I'm not a doctor.
I'm not a scientist.
But the word from people that have taken it is that if you take Zoloft and you mix it with some other chemicals, you can just lose your fucking marbles.
And one of the big ones is cocaine.
If you do Zoloft and cocaine together, you're just off the rails fucking crazy.
And that's when she shot him and then wound up shooting herself.
But when I was talking to him about it, I was like, man, just get out.
Just give her half.
Just give her half.
Fuck it, man.
You're going to make more money.
And he goes, but it's not half.
He goes, it's a fucking third.
He goes, the third goes to the lawyers.
He goes, it's two thirds you give to them.
You give a lawyer a third.
The wife gets a third.
It's a fucking third to the lawyers.
And he was going crazy, but it's a fucking scam!
Like, you could see his eyes were red, his face was sweaty.
He was just thinking about all the years that this guy...
I mean, he didn't make it.
Like, really make it.
I don't think he got on Saturday Night Live until he was in his late 30s.
adam carolla
Yeah, he was a graphic artist, I think.
joe rogan
Yeah, he was on Pee-wee's Playhouse.
Pee-wee's, you know, that TV show that he had.
And he wrote Pee-wee's Big Adventure.
He was one of the writers of that.
And, yeah, did some albums for, like, some rock bands and the...
adam carolla
Well, just to, not to, you know, pull the conversation away from people that are dead or missing.
Where's Skippy, by the way?
joe rogan
Did you find him?
adam carolla
Yeah, I'll pull it up.
So...
The podcast community, especially with guys like Joe, got together and we stood up to these guys because they know how much litigation costs.
The problem with the country we're living in is everybody has this thing where they go...
I've had people who bought a house for me 10 years ago and are like, hey man, there's a crack in the foundation and we need 25 grand.
And you're like, no, what are you talking about?
And then at some point, some lawyer is going to say to you, It's a lot cheaper just to give them, you know, probably give them down to $17,500.
Just give them the money.
It's going to be a lot easier than...
And cheaper, by the way, than...
And by the way, do you have the time to go downtown and sit in the...
It'll be so much easier just to...
Pay that.
Move on.
joe rogan
Right.
adam carolla
And you go, but what the fuck?
I don't even know what they're talking about.
Yeah, I know.
I know.
I know.
But it's going to be a lot easier and a lot cheaper.
And so that's what businesses do.
Because businesses are businesses.
They just want to make money.
They're not there to take a moral stand.
They just want to get the hell out of there.
joe rogan
Apple gave these same guys that sued you, gave them millions, right?
adam carolla
Something like that.
Yeah, but I think they took them to court, and I think they won millions.
unidentified
Really?
adam carolla
But either way...
I was just like, look, it's not an option for me to cut you a check for $300,000, $500,000, whatever you're asking for.
It's not an option.
So the only option is to stay and fight.
But the amount of money it costs to stay and fight is insane.
joe rogan
$500,000?
adam carolla
Over.
joe rogan
More?
adam carolla
Yes.
joe rogan
God damn it.
adam carolla
But here's the deal.
And this is where I think your listeners and my listeners and every podcaster's listeners should be proud.
Sony and Apple and whoever they're going after, and they'll just go whoever, whenever, doesn't matter.
Paramount, doesn't matter.
They don't have a microphone.
They've got millions in the bank, and they've got a big corporation, but they don't really have a microphone.
We have a microphone.
So...
I used my microphone and your microphone, Chris Hardwick's microphone, and we all started talking.
And they didn't like the talk.
joe rogan
Really?
adam carolla
And they wanted the talk to stop.
joe rogan
You know this specifically from talking to them?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
What did they say?
adam carolla
Stop talking shit.
joe rogan
Really?
Because they put some sort of a gag order?
Like it was part of the agreement?
adam carolla
Well, what they did is they said...
What they found was, you know, and I've had this happen, but it's like, you know, it's this weird thing where it's like, hey man, what's with all the shit talking?
And it's like, hey man, what's with all the suing?
joe rogan
Like they were upset at you because you were talking shit while you- Have a little decorum.
That's hilarious while we're trying to steal money from you.
adam carolla
Hold still while we sue you.
So I was like, I have a microphone.
joe rogan
Explain what the lawsuit was about, because it doesn't seem...
I don't know.
Maybe there's some merit to this.
I don't know.
It was about something on the internet in a serialized form.
It was unbelievably ridiculous.
adam carolla
To this day, I couldn't really explain it other than to say, if you made a playlist, somehow they had some sort of proprietary technology of a list or playlist.
That's all I know.
joe rogan
That's amazing.
adam carolla
That's all I know.
joe rogan
That's amazing.
adam carolla
We crowdfunded everything, and the whole community got together, and I wasn't out.
We raised enough money to pay the lawyers, but the most precious commodity is time.
That's the part you'll never get back.
joe rogan
But don't you think you got a lot of good publicity for it?
There was a lot of interest, and it probably generated a lot of interest towards your podcast.
adam carolla
Yeah, I mean, I imagine.
But I imagine if I got into a plane crash, I'd probably get some interest, too.
But it's still not the kind of thing I'm going to cross my fingers for.
joe rogan
Right.
adam carolla
I mean, but it is the kind of thing where it's like, yeah, yeah, there's a side where, okay, you're getting out there, you're talking about it, and all that, and that's fine.
But it's just this sort of thing where, as an atheist, with X amount of hours on the planet...
Reading emails from lawyers from Eastern Texas, it's just not on my, you know, getting phone calls, you know, I'm shooting a show for Spike and the phone's ringing, it's an update out of Texas, you know, it's like, I'm trying to do this other thing.
joe rogan
Did you have to physically go and sit in court in Texas?
adam carolla
Well, that's what it was coming to.
joe rogan
It didn't get to that point.
So you spent $500,000 plus before you even had to get to the actual court in Texas.
adam carolla
If you get to the actual court, it's probably between $1,200 and $1,500.
unidentified
What the fuck is wrong with this world?
adam carolla
A lot.
joe rogan
Where's that money going?
adam carolla
Look.
joe rogan
It's a conversation about a fucking serialized podcast.
adam carolla
The first 50 grand went to try to get a change of venue because we're not in Lubbock or wherever the fuck it was in Texas.
The first 50 grand just got trying to move it to where we are.
That didn't go over very well.
joe rogan
Wow.
So you get through that.
Then you get sued by your ex-partner, your ex-friend, or however that works.
Whatever designation you want to give them.
How much do you hate the law right now?
Are you an anarchist now?
Are you going to go to the other side?
adam carolla
No, but I've realized that...
I was thinking about it, and I thought, you know, the amount of businesses...
You know, let's just pick a time.
1952. The average business that was semi-successful, or the average person that was semi-successful, how often do they get sued...
Versus 2015. I don't think there's such a thing as being successful in business or as a personality and not having people coming after you.
Now, I don't think you know how many...
I'm sure Kanye West has 13 lawsuits going simultaneously along with Chris Brown and whoever else.
I don't think...
A lot of them don't make the light of day.
But I just think there's no such thing as being Pepsi or Coca-Cola or Beatrice or Nabisco.
They probably have 47 to 147 lawsuits going all year, every year.
joe rogan
So this is like underlying almost economy of people suing to get these settlements.
You know the UFC is going through that right now.
adam carolla
Oh, what?
joe rogan
Class action lawsuits.
Several.
Four of them at the same time.
adam carolla
Well...
joe rogan
Ex-fighters, most of them fighters that weren't that successful, like weren't like championship caliber or, you know, got to a point in their career where they realized, you know, hey, I'm not really ever going to get rich off of this and then started suing and became a part of this, you know, class action lawsuit.
Four of them that are going on.
adam carolla
Look, there's a bigger...
You see, it's all trickled down in this sense.
I've always said there was a time in this country when if you saw a guy driving a brand new Cadillac and, you know, the father and son were walking down the street and here comes Mr. Johnson and his big black Cadillac going up to the top of the hill, there was a time when the father would look at the son and say, you study hard, you work hard, you get it done, and one day you can have big shiny Cadillac and live up at the top of the hill.
Now, smash cut to 2015, the son's looking at the dad going, what the fuck does he have that Cadillac, and we're driving a Isuzu Trooper.
This is bullshit.
Let's go throw a rock at that guy's Cadillac, or let's go see what we can get from Mr. Johnson.
See, there's a mentality of, you and I have the mentality of, and it's what this country was basically settled on, which is, go get some for yourself.
We have a larger and larger group looking around going, wait a minute, what are they doing, and how can I get some of what they got?
You know, this whole country is, but it's a whole mentality.
I mean, it's trickling down from the government.
It's sort of a slow poisoning.
You know, it's this sort of, you know, income inequality.
Yeah, why does that guy need three?
Joe Rogan's got a bunch of cars.
You drive them all at the same time?
You can't drive all those cars at the same time.
joe rogan
You have a vacation house?
adam carolla
You've got two houses?
unidentified
What?
adam carolla
How many bathrooms in your house, Joe Rogan?
joe rogan
I used to have five.
I got rid of one of them.
adam carolla
Four.
Four?
How many assholes do you have?
joe rogan
Well, I live with three other people, so...
adam carolla
You're calling your kids and wife an asshole?
joe rogan
They have butts.
adam carolla
What do you need all those bathrooms and cool cars for?
You don't need all that.
joe rogan
Yeah.
So it should be equal.
adam carolla
Spread it out.
joe rogan
Well, that's what people that don't have anything think.
They think that everything should be socialism.
adam carolla
Well, also, it's like none of your fucking business what I have or what I do.
There's always going to be someone above me.
There's always going to be people below me.
And by the way, hey, Joe Rogan, where are you going to be this weekend?
joe rogan
Dallas.
adam carolla
Okay.
Ask Adam Carolla where he's going to be this weekend.
Portland and Seattle.
Not on my sofa, not with a beer in my hand, not throwing the ball with my kids in the backyard.
joe rogan
So you're trying to say that people don't have things in this world, they don't work hard, Adam Carolla?
Do you not understand that there's a built-in inequality in our system right now?
It's because of capitalism, and capitalism is the real issue here.
People that work and pay for things, by the way, that's capitalism, you fuck.
People that, like, you go to the store and you buy food, that's capitalism.
If you work for a job, they pay you.
That's also capitalism.
Don't say capitalism doesn't work, because that's not the issue.
Just because you're not successful, it doesn't mean that capitalism is corporate cronyism.
adam carolla
They go, oh, you don't think that guy who's humping drywall on a construction site, you don't say he's not working hard?
And I'm like, yeah, he's working hard.
Everybody, historically, has worked hard, but he's not working smart.
He's not doing what he's got to do to get the extra car that I have, because I used to carry the drywall.
joe rogan
Yeah, I did too.
adam carolla
Now I don't.
joe rogan
And by the way, he doesn't have to do that.
He can do other things.
If you think that job is too hard, you don't have to do it.
Nobody's forcing you to do it.
And if you do do it temporarily and you don't enjoy the hard labor, find another way.
There's other ways to do it.
But this idea that somehow or another everything's supposed to be equal is fucking unbelievably ridiculous.
Because there's no equality.
There's no equality in this world when it comes to...
Look, some people speak five languages.
You don't.
If you don't speak five languages, you're not fucking equal to that guy.
If that guy goes to France, he can communicate.
There's no equality in that.
It's not like, how come these French people don't just accept my language?
It doesn't work like that.
You have to work hard if you want to learn how to speak five fucking languages.
The amount of effort you put in is directly proportionate to the reward you get out of it, or if you do it intelligently, at least.
adam carolla
Right, but what...
What the people would say, who we vehemently disagree with, is that guy on the construction site can't Get to the next level and can't get off that construction site because his dad carried drywall and he's poor.
And he's a product of the system and he's a product of the education around him and he's a product of that environment.
Which may not help.
It's obviously much better, you know, Dr. Drew's dad was a physician and it definitely helped Dr. Drew become a physician.
But my dad didn't do shit, and I got more money than Dr. Drew, so what math shall we do here?
joe rogan
Well, you know, people figure things out.
There's a lot of people that figure things out in this world.
They figure out a way.
And some people don't figure it out.
And that's the same with playing games.
Like, there's some people that are really good at playing chess.
Why are they really good at playing chess?
Well, they study it and they figure it out and they get better at it.
And then other people fucking suck at it.
But they're also playing chess.
But they're playing chess and they're not thinking ahead, they're not focusing, they're not concentrating.
They might be distracted while they're playing that chess.
Life, when it comes to capitalism, when it comes to, I mean, forget capitalism, when it comes to trying to, let's use that phrase, get ahead.
It's a game.
It's a game.
And what you decide to do, whether you decide to build houses, or you decide to make paintings, or you decide to fix cars, whatever the fuck you decide to do, you're essentially playing a game.
The game is, I will try to get really good at this, and hopefully I'll get some money along the way.
And if you do not play the game, and you decide, I'm just going to stick to this whole digging thing, and, uh, why don't I have a Cadillac?
I'm not, I'm fucking digging this thing, I'm, I'm working all day!
adam carolla
But, by the way, what...
First off, and then the next thing they do is, the next thing out of their mouth is, you know money doesn't buy happiness, don't you?
It's like, good, then shut the fuck up.
Have fun in your Zuzu Trooper.
Like, okay, then why are we saying, look, you have a family, you know, when I was poor, I fucked hot chicks.
joe rogan
Did you really?
adam carolla
Yeah.
unidentified
Wow.
adam carolla
Well, not supermodels.
And, you know, little refractory periods would go on sometimes months on end.
But, yeah, I drank beer.
I fucked.
I ate out.
I had fun.
joe rogan
And you were poor?
adam carolla
Yeah, we just had a different kind of fun.
joe rogan
Well, you didn't have children back then, too.
adam carolla
No, our kind of fun was get in the back of a F-150 pickup, and we're going to Baja, and we're going to buy some roadside fireworks and shoot them off out the back of the pickup truck and camp on the beach and surf naked and start a bonfire and drink some mezcal tequila.
It didn't cost anything.
I like it.
But it was still fun.
joe rogan
Yeah.
adam carolla
I mean, half the shit I did, you know, it didn't cost anything.
We just had fun.
joe rogan
Yeah, money does not buy happiness.
It's absolutely true.
And there's a lot of people that only focus on money, and they wind up being rich and miserable.
And that is a fact.
But that doesn't mean that you can't...
Get freedom from money that relieves pressure.
And that's where people are mistaken, this idea that it's one or the other, that it's either or.
Either you are enjoying your life as a poor person, you're happy and wonderful and loving, or you're a wealthy miser who fucking hates his life and lives in depression and drinks himself to death.
Or takes pills to avoid reality.
That's not true either.
What money does do, the big thing that it did for me, when I first got my first, I got one of those development deals.
I got a few of those back in the day.
But I got one before the fucking, the water ran out.
And all of a sudden I didn't worry about my bills.
All of a sudden I had this huge feeling, like a physical feeling of like, do you ever work out with a weight vest?
I like working out with weight vests.
adam carolla
I have a weighted fanny pack.
joe rogan
That's good too.
That's my new thing.
The thing about a weight vest is you take that sucker off and you feel so good.
adam carolla
Yeah.
joe rogan
And that's how I felt when I first got my first check.
I was like, wow, now I know that I can pay my rent this month.
Now I know that I could go to dinner and I can order what I want to order instead of order like the cheapest thing on the menu.
adam carolla
Yeah, I always tell people it doesn't make you happy.
What it does is it stops you from worrying about shit that makes you unhappy.
joe rogan
Yes.
adam carolla
Like, a parking ticket would ruin my week.
I mean, I remember getting $60 out of the ATM once and leaving it in the ATM and then coming back 10 minutes later and it was gone.
And I was devastated for the entire weekend because I was out to $60.
Right, right.
Like little shit like that just fucks you up.
And there's always the, when you're going out to eat, it's like...
Should you order a cocktail?
Should you order a glass of wine?
It's going to be eight bucks more.
Like, don't do it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
adam carolla
Yeah.
You already ordered an appetizer.
Don't get greedy.
joe rogan
And it's the thinking, too, the resources that are required to constantly be thinking about your bills.
When I was a broke comedian, I remember just always wondering how I was going to pay for this.
Like, oh, this is coming up.
This goddamn bill is going to be on the 15th, and I don't have that money.
And I've got to figure out that money.
And making phone calls and trying to get gigs and trying to figure out how to pay that bill.
All that goes away.
adam carolla
But the whole point is you never looked around and went, who can do this for me?
You just found a mirror and went, I've got to get after it a little harder.
joe rogan
Yeah, you can't think like that.
That's a trap.
adam carolla
But don't you think when we're constantly hitting everyone over the head, I can't stand...
When I hear the politicians go, it's not a level playing field, I'd like to tell you it was a level playing field, but it's just not.
joe rogan
Well, it's not.
Neither is life.
When you see a beautiful woman, when you see a beautiful woman, and then you see some woman with unfortunate genetics, what the fuck?
Did that beautiful woman, did she earn that?
No.
This is not even.
It's not even.
Some women are born with perfect bone structure, and that is just something you're gonna have to deal with in this life.
You know, I'm five foot eight.
What if I loved playing basketball?
What if I wished I was seven feet tall?
You know, I've met giant basketball players, and I'm like, fuck!
Like, this is not even.
We're not born with the same chips or the same deck of cars.
We're just not.
adam carolla
How, by the way, could you ever?
And then how's the government going to figure that out?
And yeah, you can make the school system as even as you can, and you can make the law as even as you can, but the chick who's 6'1", who looks like Heidi Klum, still going to have a quite advantage over Alex Borstein.
joe rogan
Yeah, there's no way around that.
adam carolla
But the Alex Borsteins, and she's a dear friend, I don't even know who that is.
Okay.
She does, let's see, Living Color.
joe rogan
Oh, she's Canadian?
adam carolla
Oh, not Living Color.
The Fox.
Tell the Fox shows.
joe rogan
Okay.
adam carolla
Yeah.
You'll know.
unidentified
I get it.
adam carolla
She does Lois on Family.
joe rogan
Let's go with Blossom.
unidentified
Oh.
joe rogan
The chick from Blossom who's on the Big Bang.
adam carolla
Maya Bialik.
unidentified
Yeah, there you go.
adam carolla
Alex Moore seems better, but all right, all right.
unidentified
How dare you?
adam carolla
The point is, well, you should know who she is.
You work in this business.
joe rogan
I know, barely.
adam carolla
The point is this.
Because she doesn't look like Uma Thurman, she went to work hard developing a bunch of other skills other than looking good on a Saturday night, and now makes a nice living.
joe rogan
Right.
adam carolla
That's fine.
That's fine.
It's the way it should be.
It's just...
Let's not convince that person they can't do anything.
Let's just say you won't be doing any runway or catalog work.
But you can do a lot of voiceovers.
joe rogan
What if the government comes along and figures out a way to turn everybody into Uma Thurman?
And then people are like, you know, the government should be making you look like Uma Thurman.
Here you are, here you are, stuck with this normal body.
And there's Heidi Klum running around out there.
Why hasn't the government put resources to turn you into Uma Thurman and create jobs while they're at it?
adam carolla
The second, by the way, everyone becomes Uma Thurman, Uma Thurman becomes a five.
Guys would adjust immediately.
It'd be a really fun first six months.
And then she'd come down to a five.
joe rogan
Well, don't you think that's going to happen anyway?
I'm a hundred percent convinced that we're going to be able to manipulate people's bodies to the point where within a hundred years, we're going to be able to create, you know, whatever you want.
You could look like the thing from Fantastic Four.
You know, they're going to be able to do things to your body.
People are already doing weird body modifications, you know, putting like bolts in their heads and cutting the tips of their fucking noses off and weird shit just to look weird and interesting, tattooing their face up.
adam carolla
Bruce Jenner talking about the tip.
joe rogan
People are doing a lot of weird shit, right?
adam carolla
Listen, look, if you can go from Wheaties box to just brand new box...
We can do anything.
Because there's no greater chasm between Wheaties box and freshly minted box.
joe rogan
An old woman.
It's weird.
He's becoming an old woman, too.
adam carolla
No difference.
Now, wait.
What happened to Skippy now?
Now we've got to know.
joe rogan
He was on some show recently.
He's out there alive.
He's still doing stand-up.
Boy, he looks like he drinks.
Look at that face.
Skipping TV for stand-up.
I don't think that's exactly what's going on.
Previously known as Skippy from Family Ties.
When you say skipping TV, he's been skipping it for 20 years.
Making waves as a comic.
Oh, this is like one of those weird local newspapers that bullshits.
Yeah, don't even.
So he was a contestant on Last Comic Standing in 2006. Well, at least he didn't go to the woods and kill himself.
adam carolla
That's all I'm saying.
joe rogan
He's out there hoofing it.
adam carolla
So back to my movie, Joe.
joe rogan
Yeah, back to your movie.
And the government creating jobs for you.
Giving you a movie deal.
Other people don't have a movie.
Adam Carolla?
adam carolla
Yeah, why do I get to make a movie?
joe rogan
Yeah, why do you get to make a movie?
adam carolla
Because I raised the money.
joe rogan
No, no, no.
No, because you're white-privileged.
Because you're cisgender, white-privileged shitlord out there.
adam carolla
I should have...
Back when I was cleaning up garbage on the construction sites, I should have played the white privilege card.
joe rogan
You were still white privileged even back then.
The other Mexicans that you were working with back then cleaning up garbage, where are they now?
I'll tell you why they aren't where they are, because they didn't have the white privilege.
adam carolla
Ah, that's right.
joe rogan
They weren't cisgendered.
adam carolla
At a certain point, I remember well, it was like 1985, I was picking up garbage on a construction site, In Granada Hills, and a helicopter landed, and Donald Trump got out.
Really?
You!
You're white!
joe rogan
It's amazing!
adam carolla
Get in here right now!
What do you think you're doing?
And we jumped in the helicopter with retractable landing gear, by the way.
That's how you really know you've arrived.
And we flew right to Trump Tower, and he gave me an ascot.
And from that day on, I didn't know about white privilege.
Evidently, he'd been keeping tabs on me the whole time.
joe rogan
That's nice.
adam carolla
And he was able to then give me the money to make Roadheart.
joe rogan
You got in with the cronies.
Yeah, that's what happens.
White people, we all conspire together to keep white people rich.
Meanwhile, nobody sues white people more than white people, right?
adam carolla
That's true.
joe rogan
You're being sued by white people, I'm sure.
adam carolla
I would say white people do the lion's share, the white lion's share of the suing.
Yeah, it's a lot of white on white.
It's a little more blue collar.
We like to keep it a little more blue collar.
We don't like to see our victims, mostly through email.
joe rogan
Did you meet those people that were suing you?
adam carolla
No.
joe rogan
No?
adam carolla
No.
They just got tired.
joe rogan
But did you know their names?
adam carolla
No.
joe rogan
No?
Man, they didn't like you talking shit about their corporation, their entity, their LLC. Imagine if you got some actual physical dudes, you could put their faces up on your website.
adam carolla
You know, my thing was...
You know, as soon as everybody, not just me, but the community sort of band together, I was like...
As soon as they wanted me to stop, I realized it was sort of like punching a guy in the stomach and watching him wince, you know, like when you're sparring and go, oh, okay, I get it.
He's getting punched there again.
And so I doubled down, and at a certain point, they were like, you know, make it all go away, Mr. Wizard.
And that was it.
But...
It was, you know, it's tough, you know, and I understand.
It's sort of like, it's a lot like going through a divorce without getting divorced.
It's just a lot of, you know, why am I wasting all my time with this?
You know, why?
You know, there's a lot, I'll tell you what's going on, sort of on a micro and macro level, I think, in this country.
It's essentially being punished for being successful.
Like, I talk to my guys at work all the time, and I go, don't ever be successful, because you'll just get the shit kicked out of you.
joe rogan
You really tell them that?
adam carolla
I do, and I do...
joe rogan
You're joking, obviously.
adam carolla
Well, then I go, I know, there's no chance of that, but even if you get a wild hair up your ass.
But, I mean, you think about...
You think about the relationship, even...
I'll talk to a lot of successful guys.
Talk to successful guys.
Like, I... I'll give you this.
joe rogan
Okay.
adam carolla
I go to the Mexican lady barber, $12 haircuts.
I don't give a shit.
And she has no idea who I am.
And we always chat when she's cutting my hair.
And, you know, I ask her, like, how you doing?
And I know she goes to her sister's house a lot.
She's like 55, 60 years old, but still, like, has sleepovers and stuff.
And her and her other sister go there, and they have card night.
joe rogan
That's cool.
adam carolla
And shit like that.
And...
Whenever you find, like, especially male or female, but you start talking to that successful celebrity dude, and you start talking to him about his sister...
Or his sisters or his brother.
Start scratching around a little bit.
Ask how that relationship's going.
Find out about the time that they sucked you into this business deal, never gave your money back, and by the way, are pissed at you.
Find about that time when your sister needed to borrow a little whatever, or you paid for a kid's private school for like three years, and then when you finally said, I can't pay for it anymore, she called you an asshole and stormed out of the room.
Just in general, see how those relationships are going.
unidentified
I have a great relationship with my sister.
joe rogan
You get along great.
She doesn't, you know.
unidentified
Really?
joe rogan
Yeah.
adam carolla
Shit.
joe rogan
She's cool.
adam carolla
She must be doing her own shit.
joe rogan
She's always done her own shit.
She's just not that type.
She's just, uh, she's cool.
She's just down to earth, normal.
adam carolla
You don't have a brother?
joe rogan
Nope.
adam carolla
I guarantee if you had a brother.
joe rogan
I'd beat his ass.
adam carolla
He'd be fucked.
He'd be coming after you.
He'd be like, hey man, I got this idea for a frozen yogurt place.
joe rogan
Or I'd love him, and we'd be great friends, you know, if he got his shit together.
It's all, you know, I have friends that have brothers, and they have the worst relationship with their brothers.
Like, they fought when they were young, and now they're adults, and one of them is successful, and one of them's not.
It's usually like...
adam carolla
Well, what I'm saying is, the successful one...
Ask the successful one how good the relationship is with the brother that's not successful and see if it's not based on a lot of shit that the brother was asking from them from the point when they see the guy's name on the collar ID that they don't even want to pick up anymore.
Because they know it's just going to be him asking for something.
joe rogan
That's the weird, uncomfortable thing about certain friendships when people want to drag you into business deals.
But I just don't do any of that anymore.
I did it all when I was younger.
I got into a lot of I'll loan you money situations.
Right.
And you know how many people paid me back?
adam carolla
Zero.
joe rogan
Zero.
adam carolla
Yeah, zero.
joe rogan
Zero.
adam carolla
No, I always say...
joe rogan
It's hilarious.
adam carolla
It's like giving someone money, except for when you give someone money, at least you fucking get thanked.
joe rogan
Mm-hmm.
adam carolla
This is, I gave you some 10 grand or 50 grand and I never got thanked, but I never got my money.
joe rogan
Yeah.
adam carolla
So it's like lose-lose.
I'm out the money, and I didn't even get the thank you.
joe rogan
Right.
adam carolla
At least when you give a bum five bucks, he goes, God bless you.
joe rogan
Well, people feel like they're just one deal away.
There's a friend that I have that I talk to every now and then, and I call him up, and I talked to him recently, and I called him up, and I was like, what's up, man?
How you doing?
And I wanted it to be, hey, everything's good, you know, blah, blah, blah, just doing this and doing that, and But immediately it was a fucking sales pitch for some new business that he wants to start.
And if I get involved, we're gonna make this amount of money and it can't go wrong because it's this and that.
And I mean, this guy is just ear beating the fuck out of me for like five minutes on the phone.
I go, dude, dude, dude, I'm not getting involved in anything.
Well, you don't even have to get involved.
Nope, I'm not doing it.
I go, listen, man, I'm fucking crazy busy.
I'm not getting in.
I just wanted to call to say hi.
Look, I'm telling you, man, you barely, you don't even have to know about this.
I go, I'll know.
I'll know, and it'll fuck with my head, and I'll know that it's out there.
But listen, you're going to be making money, free money, it's easy, I'm going to do all the work.
Dude, stop!
Stop!
Okay, I gotta go.
adam carolla
I'll give you a perfect concrete example, literally a concrete example.
If you buy, and I did, a warehouse in anywhere near your old neighborhood, your phone will start to ring.
Hey man, I got a catamaran boat and I'm going through a pretty bad divorce right now.
joe rogan
Wanna buy it?
adam carolla
No.
Can I just put it in the parking lot for just a couple of days or maybe a couple of weeks?
I don't know.
I'm staying over at the Oakwoods right now and there's no place to park it.
And then the phone will ring again.
It'll be another one of your friends.
Listen, I got a new pickup truck, but the old one has got the Denver boot on it, so I can't really drive it.
But I'm still making payments on it.
Could I just...
I could flat...
I could flatbed it over to the warehouse, but I'm just looking for a place.
I mean, I'm going to get the Denver boot off, and then I'm going to sell it back to the...
Your warehouse will immediately fill up with everyone's shit.
Because you got the warehouse, and they don't.
And the warehouse is sort of the concrete metaphor for you having the position, the name, and the checkbook.
joe rogan
Right.
adam carolla
So you try it, because that's what happened to me.
joe rogan
How do you feel like that trickles down from the government?
Like, how do you feel like that trickles down from the government, too?
Don't you think that the government is just sort of responding to people that don't necessarily know how to become successful?
And that's like, this is the desire, the government, like, this idea that the government creates jobs.
The government's creating jobs.
What does that mean?
adam carolla
I don't know.
No, no, what I'm saying is, is...
I don't think that it trickles down directly from the government.
What I'm saying is, first off, there's a mentality.
And the message should be, pick yourself up by your own fucking bootstraps.
That's what this whole country's been about.
Everybody has a story about a grandparent coming over here with three nickels in his pocket, working hard, and getting his shit together.
So that should be the message, number one.
Well, the playing field's not level, and there's wealth, income, you know.
Fuck that.
So first off is the message.
Get your shit together.
And work hard.
You'll be fine.
Doesn't matter what your ethnicity is.
Doesn't matter what your religion is.
Doesn't matter what your background is.
Just put it together and work hard.
And you're going to be working harder than Heidi Klum.
But English wasn't her first language either.
She figured it out along the way.
Now she's figured out how to make millions of dollars.
But first off, the message from the government should be that.
The second thing that's more direct that the government could do is...
Let's not make it so easy for everyone to sue anyone or take anything.
I mean, I'll give you for instance.
If you have a house and you're renting it out and some guy moves in and just decides to stop paying his rent, It's good luck getting the money from him.
Good luck getting him out of your house.
joe rogan
It takes a long time.
adam carolla
Right.
So the government could definitely help in that department.
That's your parcel of land that you pay taxes on.
This guy stopped paying you, but they're siding with him?
joe rogan
Well, sometimes people just move into people's houses and change the locks and squat, and they say it's their house.
That's even worse.
adam carolla
Right.
And what the government is quietly saying is...
Well, Joe's got his own house.
He used to have five toilets.
Now he's got four.
He's got a couple of nice cars up there.
Does he really need the...
I mean, he's doing all right, isn't he?
As long as he's paying taxes on that other house, there's really nothing we're going to do about it.
joe rogan
Is that what they're saying?
Or are they saying, look, we're so fucking overwhelmed with all sorts of other shit.
We're just going to let the lawyers sort this out.
And the lawyers, being the predatory cunts that they are...
Say, look, there's a lot of money to be made in keeping this conflict going, because that's what pays lawyers off.
Conflict.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
The more conflict they can somehow or another write down in books, the more they can make it easier to sort of manipulate clauses and sue people for things like a serialized podcast on the internet.
adam carolla
Well, not only that, but all the stuff...
I mean...
Think about...
You just take your car.
Every new car you buy has a bunch of warning stickers that are hot glued to the sun visor, a bunch of buzzers and backup things, and a bunch of...
Deactivate the airbag buttons.
How much does that add to the average price of a car?
How much...
To the average flight is added to the ticket for just all the shit, all the insurance that the airline has to cover or that the car manufacturer has to cover or all the shit that's going to get people sued.
Think about just how much cheaper everything would be if everyone wasn't completely lawyered up and completely...
Trying to save themselves.
And think about all the stupid conversations and all the paperwork and how we've completely lost our humanity.
You know, the warehouse that I do my podcast from, when I bought that warehouse, there was a guy in it and he sold flooring.
And I bought it, but he had like nine, ten months left on his lease.
And I said to him, like, if you just bought a new warehouse and you're thinking, hey, I'd like to move, turns out my friends moved all their shit in, but I'd like to move some of my shit in or make a studio or something like that.
But a guy had a lease for like nine months.
So I talked to the guy.
And the guy said, well, you know, I am kind of looking for another place.
I'm thinking about buying a place.
And I said, well, as soon as you can find that place, tell me, because I'm anxious to get in here with my boys and get going and start building this place out.
And about three months later, he's like, I found another place.
And I said, fine, consider yourself out of your lease and have fun.
And he said, I'll be out by the 30th.
I said, absolutely.
And he said, I need you to sign this piece of paper.
And I said, what piece of paper?
And he said, the piece of paper that's releasing me from my lease.
And I said, we don't need a piece of paper.
I just looked in the eye and told you, you can leave.
And when you're ready to leave, you tell me.
And that's my word.
And he said, yeah, but sign the paper.
I said, what do we need a paper for?
We're two adults.
And I just told you, one adult to another, I can't wait to get in here.
I'm not going to let you.
It's not like you're going to leave and then I'm going to sue you for the next four months that you didn't.
I'm not that guy.
I'm the one who told you you could leave.
Now I shook your hand and you can leave.
And he said, you need to sign this release.
And I said, I'll tell you what, I'm not going to sign a release.
So you can either take my word as a man or you can just stay here for another four months.
But I'm not signing a release.
unidentified
Wow.
adam carolla
And the guy said, fine.
He just split.
joe rogan
Whoa.
adam carolla
What could have happened there, legally?
I'd like to get...
What legally could have happened is I could have been many of the douchebags I've dealt with.
And I could have taken over the warehouse and then went and sent this guy a letter and said, hey man, you still have five months left on your lease and it's $3,300 or whatever.
That's $16,500.
If we've got to go to court, this is going to get expensive.
You know what?
I'll settle for $10,000.
And his lawyer probably would have said, you didn't get him to sign a release?
What are you, an imbecile?
You know what?
Just give him the 10. It's going to be a lot cheaper than paying me and going to court.
joe rogan
But what about, okay, to play devil's advocate or the argument against it, what about things like, you know the situation, I believe it was Chevrolet, had...
Some ignition issues that they knew about, where cars were cutting out, and it caused a bunch of deaths.
And a lot of people were aware of this issue, but they knew that a recall would be incredibly expensive, and they dragged their heels, and they didn't do anything about it for a long time, and now it's just a fucking complete disaster, and they're getting sued like crazy.
What about that kind of situation?
Like, it's kind of important to have lawyers.
adam carolla
Well, I mean, obviously, the balance, it's like...
Do you have an army?
Yes.
Do you invade Canada?
No.
Do you have police?
Yes.
Do they shoot every person darker than them walking down the sidewalk?
No.
Do you have lawyers?
Yes.
Do you have shitloads of lawyers that are suing everyone all the time?
No.
So, there's, you know, the balance...
joe rogan
There's reasons to sue.
adam carolla
Yeah, you know, the...
Ford Pinto, I had two of my best friends died about three miles from here in a Pinto station wagon that was in an accident and burst into flames.
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's the classic story that we had all heard.
adam carolla
Yeah.
joe rogan
You actually knew people like that.
adam carolla
Robert and Lenny from way back.
joe rogan
Fuck.
adam carolla
Going to CSUN. Goddamn.
Carpooling together.
Crazy.
Like, 18, just rear-ended.
Two cars banged up next to him, like couldn't get out.
The whole car just went up.
unidentified
Fuck.
adam carolla
Yep.
It's crazy, right?
You always wonder, like, what would have those guys gone on to?
What could they have done?
And it's also weird that even though they died when they were 18, they're still always my age, whatever age I am, which is a weird thing.
It was...
And it's one of those, in that case...
There needed to be lawyers.
And Ford knew about it, and Ford thought, you know, let Robert and Lenny die.
It'll be cheaper than recalling, you know, 2.7 million units or whatever it was and outfitting them.
joe rogan
Yeah, there's a balance, right?
And I agree with you that there's definitely the mentality of going after successful people.
But obviously there's some successful people that are cunts and there's some successful people that have gotten there by ripping people off or by using slave labor in third world countries and charging them pennies on the dollar.
Things that could have been done in America with a reasonable wage.
There's a balance to all of it.
And it's for people that are listening to this, that are trying to form their own identity and carve their own path, the key is to not concentrate on other people and go, why them?
The key is to look at your own self and go, what do I want to do and how do I get there?
adam carolla
Right, because you could be Heidi Klum or Donald Trump, or you could be Robert and Lenny, who never saw their 19th birthday.
I'm guessing you're somewhere in between.
So, if you're somewhere in between, you just joined a huge pool called America, and it's time to get to work.
joe rogan
Get to work, bitches.
Get to work.
And try to be happy along the way.
adam carolla
Couldn't hurt.
joe rogan
You're out of time, man.
You only have like 90 minutes, right?
adam carolla
Yeah, I've had a...
I've got a crazy schedule.
unidentified
Roadhardt.
joe rogan
At Roadhardt.com.
adam carolla
Hit the banner.
joe rogan
I'm going to watch it this weekend.
I hear great things about it.
I read a great review about it.
adam carolla
Well, Joe, promise me this.
If you see it, you like it, and you identify with it, next podcast, say how much you love it.
joe rogan
I will absolutely 100% do that.
Adam Carolla, ladies and gentlemen, triumphant victor over podcast-suing cunts of America.
That's it.
All right, listen to the Adam Carolla podcast.
There's about a thousand of them, various subjects, and even fucking one with Dennis Miller now you're doing on Podcast One.
He does too much.
He makes me look like a lazy bitch.
All right, ladies and gentlemen, Adam Carolla.
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