Pop Alert: Adam Carolla Rules Podcasts
September 08, 2011, By Craig J. Heimbuch 1 comment
I wasn't big on Love Lines and only saw a couple of episodes of The Man Show, so my early exposure to Adam Carolla was limited. To me, he just seemed cheap, a poor man's version of Howard Stern. I didn't like Stern all that much either. Too crass, too cynical, too willing to dive face-deep into the lowest common denominator for a giggle. But if I missed out in high school and college, I've more than made up for it over the past six months.
There's something about Adam Carolla. Something unappreciated by my younger self. It's a certain kind of honesty, a brutal brand of self-awareness. And you can't avoid him. First, he's the most downloaded podcaster in the history of podcasting, with more than 60 million downloads. His podcast, "The Adam Carolla Show," is a five-day-a-week assault on talk radio. Not PC, but not necessarily purposely offensive. In-depth interviews with people ranging from Morgan Spurlock to The Insane Clown Posse obliterate the ho-hum four-minute segments on late-night TV. He talks to people for as long as the conversation lasts. Nothing forced. Nothing clipped.
Then, he's got ACE Broadcasting Network—Carolla's own empire of podcasts with offerings including the "Carcast," "The Parent Experiment," "ACE on the House," "This Week with Larry Miller" and "Life Lessons with Jim Carolla." And when he's not producing these shows, he's appearing on the most popular podcasts on the web—"Girl on Guy with Aiesha Tyler" and "WTF" with Marc Maron. Still, TV isn't out of the picture. His "Car Show" on the Speed Channel is like a purely American version of the BBC's "Top Gear," full of comedy, cars and testosterone.
Oh yeah, he's also the best-selling author of "In 50 Years We'll All Be Chicks."
It would be easy to say there's nothing Adam Carolla can't do, but it's more accurate to say that there's nothing he won't do. He's got the blue-collar work ethic of a man who has been nowhere and never wants to return. I can't say that I agree with everything the guy says, but it's hard to escape his charm or his reach.
It's Adam Carolla's world. We just listen.
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