Adam L. Carolla is a
comedian and
radio personality best known for helping create and host
The Man Show on
Comedy Central. His
blue-collar image, strong opinions, and very distinct
nasal voice have taken him far from his more modest roots.
"Rummaging through the rubble of my past is really like being a Red Cross worker trying to dig out some kids from an adobe apartment building that went down in Guatemala after a 7.3. It's a little depressing."
Adam was born on May, 27 1964 in Philadelphia, PA. The son of a sex therapist and a psychologist of Hungarian and Italian descent, Adam had a rough childhood after his parents divorced. He left home at age 18 after graduating from North Hollywood high school. There he was friends with future actors Molly Ringwald and Christy Canyon. After graduating, he got a job as a carpet cleaner while studying improv with the Groundlings and eventually moved on to jobs in construction (working his way up to the title of journeyman) as well as driving and boxing instruction. Adam had a run at small stand-up clubs, but quickly gave up finding it to not be a very good fit for him.
"When I was eight, my curfew was midnight. Then, actually, when I was sixteen, it became eight in the evening the next day. Eventually it became two or three days. If I went out saturday night, I had to show up tuesday. I think my parents secretly hoped I wouldn't return, I really do."
In 1994, comedian Jimmy Kimmel was challenged to a boxing match with KROQ radio DJs. In preparation for the match, Jimmy sought boxing instruction from Adam. The meeting would prove to be the beginning of Adam's Hollywood career as Jimmy convinced KROQ morning show Kevin and Bean to give him a job. Shortly thereafter in 1995 Dr. Drew, a board-certified physician and addiction specialist, tapped Adam as co-host of the call-in sex radio show Loveline. In 1996, MTV put the radio show on TV that lasted 4 seasons.
"When I was in school, people would say to me, 'You're a moron. You're getting D's, and you should be getting... D's.' I never had that burgeoning Einstein inside of me. I had Uncle Fester in there instead."
In 1999, Adam became the host of the quickly-cancelled UPN hidden camera show Red Handed. At the same time, he created the controversial The Man Show with Jimmy and their friend Daniel Kellison. Adam and Jimmy became co-hosts and created some of the highest ratings Comedy Central had seen. In 2002, the three Man Show creators came together to create Jackhole Industries whose first production was the Comedy Central prank call show Crank Yankers. Despite being offered as much as $50,000 an episode to stay on, both Adam and Jimmy left the Man Show in 2003.
"Often, success has nothing to do with talent. You look at the Spice Girls, and you think, 'Gosh, why didn't I think of that?'"
Adam has made many appearances on a variety of television shows including Test Drive, Dawson's Creek, Son of the Beach, Inside Dish with Rachael Ray, Win Ben Stein's Money, and Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place. He's also done extensive talk-show curcuit appearances including regular appearances on Jimmy's ABC talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live (which is a part of Jackhole Industries). If you've never seen him, you might have heard him - he's done voices for Family Guy as the Grim Reaper, Drawn Together as Spanky Ham, Crank Yankers as a variety of the puppet characters, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and the movie Buzz Lightyear of Star Command as Commander Nebula.
"Here's the problem with TV. All people on TV are TV people, and TV people are dumber than the dumbest guys you went to high school with, they just dress better."
On September 28, 2002, Adam married long time girlfriend Lynette Paradise and have not had any kids. He likes to cook and is a very vocal atheist.
"Nah, there's no bigger atheist than me. Well, I take that back. I'm a cancer screening away from going agnostic and a biopsy away from full-fledged Christian."
In early 2005, Adam created a talk show pilot for Comedy Central with an emphasis on viewer call-ins.
a much-needed nodeshell rescue