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The Adam Carolla Show (radio program)

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The Adam Carolla Show is a syndicated morning radio program. It began airing on January 3, 2006. The show is produced by CBS Radio as part of its Free FM format, and is based out of KLSX in Los Angeles. The show replaced Howard Stern's show in many of its west coast markets following Stern's move from the FM dial to Sirius Satellite Radio at the end of 2005.

The Adam Carolla Show features Carolla and Teresa Strasser reading news. On January 2, 2007, Danny Bonaduce joined the cast of the show. [1] Supporting cast includes producer Angie Fitzsimmons, Adam's personal assistant Lindsey Case, sound engineer Bryan Bishop, writer Mike Lynch, technical producer Mike Dawson, technical production assistant Mike Cioffi, board operator Bill Mahoney, phone screener Kyle Baugher, and webmasters Jack Sullivan and Marc Chambers. Jimmy Kimmel serves as a creative consultant. Kimmel also hosted the show on June 7 and June 8, 2006, while Carolla was with his wife for the birth of their twins. [2]

Controversy

On January 24, 2006, the show aired several segments spoofing the Asian Excellence Awards. All of the dialogue in the skits consisted of repeated use of the phrase "ching-chong". Contrary to the segment, the actual awards, which honor the achievements of Asians and Asian Americans in entertainment and science, are conducted in English. Branding the segment as demeaning and racist, several Asian American organizations threatened to ask advertisers to withdraw their support from the show if the station did not issue an apology. Donald Young, Interim Executive Director of the Center for Asian American Media wrote, "Clearly Mr. Carolla found the rare example of the celebration of Asian American achievement an easy target. While he does have the right to express his humor, doing so with racial epithets is unconsionable [sic]. Mr. Carolla should be held accountable for his derogatory antics." [3] Notably, six of the cities that carry The Adam Carolla Show are in the top ten US cities with the highest proportion of Asian Americans (according to the 2000 Census). Carolla issued an on-air apology for the segment on February 22, 2006: "We do a show here that is a little irreverent, and, sometimes, we cross the line, and we definitely crossed it this time. It was not meant to offend, it did, and, for that, we sincerely apologize to the good people of the Asian community."

On July 6, 2006, conservative author and pundit Ann Coulter called the show an hour and a half late. She told Carolla she had been given the wrong number and "was really tight on time", to which Carolla responded, "All right, well, get lost," and hung up. [4] Coulter's publicist later demanded an apology from the show, which Carolla refused to give. This was Coulter's second attempted booking on the show, as she had been booked a week prior but did not call in. While numerous political blogs applauded Carolla's hanging up on Coulter, [5] [6] Carolla noted that his action was not politically-motivated, and that he actually agreed with some of her views. He said Coulter's behavior was unprofessional and disrespectful of the show.

Former Staffers

Dave Dameshek, Jimmy Brusca, Tad Newcomb and Mike August

In a December 17, 2006 message on The Adam Carolla Show message board, sports broadcaster Dave Dameshek wrote that he and the show’s producer Jimmy Brusca had been fired. [7] Dameshek also wrote that Danny Bonaduce would be his replacement. Tad Newcomb, also known as Fat Tad or Big Tad, was a regular on-air contributor to the show, and has also confirmed that he was fired via his MySpace account. [8]

CBS Radio released a press release on December 21, 2006 announcing Bonaduce as a featured member of the show starting January 2, 2007, but did not confirm or deny any firings. [9] However, the bios of Dameshek, Brusca, Newcomb and talent booker Mike August have been removed from the show's Web site. [10]

On December 28, 2006, Carolla posted to the show's message boards and wrote that network executives had wanted to replace Dameshek because of the show's poor performance in Los Angeles. Carolla said the show's Arbitron ratings in the city shifted from 1.2 to 3.3 to 0.7, and CBS used this as an excuse to "strip the show". [11] On the January 2nd show, Carolla commented on the firings and confirmed his posting that they were due to low ratings. He said that he had no say in the decision, and while he was upset about the firings, he expressed a desire to move on.

As of January 7, 2007, an online petition, part of a "Keep Dave" campaign that was started by fans of the show, had collected over 1500 signatures.

Jaron Ferguson

Jaron Ferguson originally started on the show as an intern, but worked his way up to the position of production assistant. On November 15, 2006, Dameshek announced that Ferguson would be moving on to a better position at an alternative rock music station in California. [12] He left about two weeks later, and the show thanked him for his work. Ferguson was frequently brought up as the show's lone black staffer, and his departure spurred an on-air search by the show to hire another black staffer. [13]

Billy Moses

Billy Moses was employed as one of two assistant webmasters for The Adam Carolla Show. He was featured on air several times, including a bit where Kimmel talked his mother through finding his porn stash, a lie detector test to prove that he was not a virgin, and a short comedy routine where he accidentally made a racist slur. Behind the scenes, the staff of the show became increasingly unhappy with his insubordination. For example, Moses often answered e-mails as Carolla and Dameshek, and regularly made insulting remarks about the hosts. On July 21, 2006, Billy was laid-off by program director Jack Silver. In the days that followed, Moses called into the show to vent his anger against the hosts, Brusca, and Silver. Billy was rehired on Jamuary 20th to work for The All Talk Recovery Radio Network.

Rachel Perry

Former MuchMusic and VH1 VJ Rachel Perry served as the original news reader on the show. In early April 2006, the show noted that Perry was absent for a few days to work on a TV pilot. However, a few days stretched into a few weeks, during which the show featured several fill-ins, including Strasser, former MSNBC anchor Claudia DiFolco, and actress Tracy Metro. The show also had guests and a few of their recurring characters fill in. In late April, Perry's pictures and bio were removed from the show's website. Finally, on May 1, Carolla announced that the show had taken the opportunity to use Perry's absence to drop her from the show, as they felt that the chemistry wasn't quite there. On May 8, Strasser was named as Perry's official replacement.

On the December 14, 2006 edition of the show, Carolla further explained why Perry was fired. He said it was clear she did not really enjoy doing morning radio, and she was more interested in being on television. Carolla added that while Perry was technically fired, he doubted that she was that upset about losing the job.

Recurring characters

  • Deaf Frat Guy. Also goes by the name Jason or the nickname "Maverick". Deaf Frat Guy originally started his Greek membership as a Tau Kappa Epsilon at the University of Southern California. In May 2006, Deaf Frat Guy was removed from the fraternity, and decided to start his own, called Delta Fu Gamma. He created the fake Greek letter "Fu" because he believed that all possible Greek names had been used. The initials "DFG" also refer to "Deaf Frat Guy". Deaf Frat Guy first appeared on January 24, 2006. [14]
  • Drunken Tree Mascot. According to the show, the Drunken Tree Mascot was fired for being drunk while serving as the Stanford University tree mascot. She was brought onto the show in its early weeks to try out as the show's mascot. The character typically shows up drunk and hits on Carolla and other people in the studio. According to his MySpace account, comedian Jeff Richards voices the character, reprising a similar role he had as Drunk Girl on Saturday Night Live. [15] The character is loosely based on an actual woman, Erin Lashnits, who was fired for drinking while serving as the Stanford mascot. [16] The character first appeared on February 24, 2006. [17]
  • Fake Jack Silver. A parody of KLSX Program Director Jack Silver. Fake Jack Silver is voiced by sound effects engineer Bryan Bishop, as mentioned on the December 14, 2006 show. Fake Jack Silver frequently mentions staying "hip" with younger listeners and talks about watching the ratings "needle" drop, or refers to "radio-kryptonite" when a boring bit or caller is on the air. Fake Jack Silver's biggest concern is being portrayed as homosexual, and thus the last thing he usually says is, in a stressed voice, "I'm not gay!"
  • Republican Representative Richard Martin. Ostensibly a Republican congressman from the state of Ohio, Martin stands as a staunch supporter of the George Walker Bush administration and its policies, as well as conservative values in general. Martin is a character created by Paul Gilmartin. [18] Martin has appeared on other morning shows, including The BOB & TOM Show, and has his own website. The character first appeared on January 26, 2006. [19]
  • Yurgi the Romanian Porn Producer. Introduced as a random porn video store patron, Yurgi is presented as a Romanian Porn producer always on the lookout for new talent. He is played by comedian Tom Stern, who portrayed the same role in the infamous movie prank Windy City Heat. He frequently appears when the show has adult film stars as guests, including Jesse Jane, Sunset Thomas, and Kirsten Price. He often introduces comically named titles of porn movies he has produced, and takes the opportunity to direct the visiting adult film stars and Strasser in various scenes.

Recurring bits

  • Adam Carolla Show Trivia Challenge. This bit consists of various opponents, including members of Carolla's immediate family, competing against Mo Dameshek, Dave's mother. Carolla often uses the segment to note the differences between Dameshek's mother, who actively follows the details of her son's life, and the members of his own family, who know few details about Carolla's life. The first run of the game took place over three Fridays in May, where Mo ran undefeated against three call-in contestants. A recent segment placed Mo against Carolla's father. Despite Carolla's father being given a four-point lead in a first-to-five contest, Mo Dameshek answered five of the six questions to win. [20]
  • Ass-Kiss Rodeo. In this bit, callers or show guests must attempt to shower Adam with praise (i.e. kiss his ass) while he tries to throw them off by contradicting himself. The better the player is able to adapt to his rapid, drastic, and contradictory changes in opinion by continuing to shower him with praise, the better the score. The analogy is that Adam acts a rodeo bull trying to buck off a rider. For example: Adam: "I love sushi." Caller: "Sushi is great and so are you, Adam." Adam: "I hate sushi." Caller: "But sushi is highly overrated...", etc. The current celebrity champion is Survivor host Jeff Probst. The game was first played on January 13, 2006. [21]
  • Basic Cable Classics. Hosted by Adam and ESPN's Bill Simmons, but also features Dameshek and Strasser. Carolla and Simmons review classic "guy" movies from the 80's and 90's. Recently reviewed movies include Con Air, Face/Off, [Gremlins], and Red Dawn.
  • Captain Blowhard*. Occasionally, Adam will answer callers' questions regarding their lives as Captain Blowhard, a character dated back to Adam's Loveline career. Captain Blowhard is a mesh of personalities of "blowhards" Adam has met in the past, often citing non sequitur dates where he turned his life around (such as "June 18th, 1987, I took a long hard look in the mirror."). He refuses to lie to people, and insists on giving them the cold hard truth. He often prefaces this with "I wish I could blow some sunshine right up you, but I can't, I'm not going to, and I shalln't [sic]." He then gives off a long list of "not your [occupation]," invariably including "not your wet nurse." (Perhaps not coincidentally, Carolla's vocal lilt for Captain Blowhard is close to his Donald Trump impression.) Captain Blowhard debuted October 5, 2006. [22]
  • Definitely Not a Jew. This bit is usually played as a bump, where the show’s announcer, Mike Dawson, describes a crime or other stupid act, followed by "Definitely Not a Jew!" This is based on Adam's idea that ridiculous and stupid crimes are generally not committed by Asians or Jews.
  • Friday Bitch Bag. Created by writer Mike Lynch as a means to ensure open and honest communication with the staff. Every member of the show staff, including production staff and interns, submit a complaint in writing for one other individual on the staff. The person who receives the most "votes" must then read their "bitches" on-air. All other votes are shredded without being read. The August 11, 2006 edition resulted in Strasser breaking down and crying on-air. [23]
    • On October 26, 2006, Strasser requested, on-air, that she be excluded from the next Bitch Bag segment, saying that the bit was "vindictive and destructive" [24]. She decided to make the request after talking with her therapist about it. Her request caused a great deal of controversy among the show's staff. On November 6, 2006, Dr. Gary Corgiat, who appears as Bonaduce’s psychologist on the reality series Breaking Bonaduce, appeared on the show to analyze Strasser's problems with the segment.[25] Since Corgiat's appearance, there has not been a bitch bag.
  • Hobo Power. Years ago, Adam invented a system to measure stink called Hobo Power. It is measured between 0 and 100. The rules/scale are as follows:
    • You can’t factor in the visual and/or emotional component of the stench of something when determining hobopower.
    • 25-Hobopower induces vomiting. Because it is impossible for a stench that does not induce vomiting to reach 25, call-in examples where the caller "held back" from vomiting often get a decimal number between 24 and 25.
    • 50-Hobopower is a cat that was fed exclusively blue cheese and that defecates on a white hot hibachi.
    • 100-Hobopower is a hypothetical: no man has ever smelled 100-Hobopower and lived.

This bit consisted of listeners calling in and telling the story of their smelliest experience, Adam would then give the smell a number on the Hobo Power scale.

  • Mark the Poet vs. Dave's Cousin Brandon. In the first few weeks of the show, Mark the Poet, a poet living in Seattle, began calling in to entertain the crew with his limericks and poems. Several weeks later, Dave's cousin Brandon took exception to what he considered less than stellar performances, and challenged Mark to a poetry duel. The first duel occurred May 3, 2006. [26] In their ensuing face-offs, Mark and Brandon offer poetry on a common topic, threading in verbal jabs at the other's expense.
  • Mr. Brightside. Seen as the opposite to What Can't Adam Complain About, Mr. Brightside features Carolla attempting to cheer up callers who have serious problems in their life. The most prominent past example is a crystal meth addicted mother and daughter. The bit is normally farcical, and sometimes features a Tom Leykis impersonator (Brian Whitman of the Conway and Whitman show on KLSX) laughing as callers talk about horrible things happening in their lives. The bit was first successfully completed on June 16, 2006. [27]
  • Music Monday. Adam chooses a topic related to music and discusses it with Dave, Teresa and the callers. Past installments featured the worst cover songs, the most homosexual songs and the manliest songs. The bit debuted on November 6, 2006. [28]
  • Nerd-Off Challenge. A contest that originated with actor and comedian Patton Oswalt, where Oswalt competed with various members of the staff in a trivia contest for nerds. Common themes for questions included Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Dungeons & Dragons, and comic books. On May 30, 2006, Oswalt defeated Mike Lynch and Bryan Bishop to retain his championship. Brian Posehn, Dana Gould, and Patton Oswalt competed in a "Celebrity Edition" on June 13, 2006 for a Darth Vader replica lightsaber. Oswalt emerged victorious and retained the title.
  • Oswaldo's Movie Review. Each weekend, the show sends Castillo to review a new movie. His reviews are typically difficult to understand because of Castillo's heavy Nicaraguan accent, so Carolla stands in as his "interpreter". Castillo's first review was of Brokeback Mountain on January 17, 2006. [29]
  • Oswaldo's Rolling Stones Game. Oswaldo sings lyrics from a Rolling Stones song and listeners call in to guess which songs he's singing. If the listener correctly identifies the song, they win a prize. The Rolling Stones Game was first played on August 23, 2006 [30]. On recent shows, the game is played with variations, such as classic movie quotes, and listeners can guess for prizes.
  • Re-enactments. Carolla and Dameshek re-enact current news stories in "what-if" scenarios. They are often based on sad or traumatic news events, but given a comedic spin by the two. Examples include an 18-year-old taking his life because he was not satisfied with his penis size and the ensuing phone call notifying his parents; a story where a man cut off his own penis for an $1800 bet; and where a father accidentally killed his son while illustrating a tribal killing, with the ensuing phone call to the mother explaining what had occurred.
  • Rich Man Poor Man. This is a phone-in game in which callers suggest things that are characteristic of the upper class (i.e. the rich) and the lower class (i.e. the poor), but not of the middle class. One example is the outdoor shower: a wealthy person might have outdoor showering facilities beside the pool or beachhouse, while the poor person simply cannot afford a real shower and must use a garden hose.
  • Teresa's Ex-Files. Teresa Strasser's ex-boyfriends come on the show to discuss what happened during their relationships. During a recent segment, Strasser admitted allowing a pervert to strip and masturbate on the floor of her apartment after he called her posing as a Stripper-gram.
  • The Jerk List, formerly known as the The Jerk Report/Rankings. Dameshek lists people who he believes were jerks because of their behavior in the previous week. Callers, guests, and forum posters are also encouraged to nominate jerks. The jerks are normally celebrities, athletes, or people associated with the show. Each name is accompanied by a Star Wars laser shot sound effect. The segment culminates with the naming of the Creep of the Week, who was San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds for thirteen straight weeks. Bonds is now enshrined in Jerk Report Hall of Fame. Dameshek changed The Jerk Report to The Jerk List at the urging of Jimmy Kimmel, who believed that the report would make more sense if it were in the form of a numbered list. The segment debuted on March 14, 2006. [31]
  • What Can't Adam Complain About. Started after Carolla spent an entire segment on February 21, 2006, complaining about his weekend being ruined because a Ferrari he purchased off of eBay was delivered late. [32] Callers provide Carolla with things they do not think he can complain about, such as girls jumping on trampolines, and he responds with complaints.
  • Which Weighs More. A game in which Carolla and other participants (including show crew and callers) try to guess which weighs more, random objects or show contributor Big Tad. A caller who claims to be hot dog eating champion Takeru Kobayashi has called in during "Which Weighs More" segments to mock Big Tad's size. Which Weighs More first appeared on January 24, 2006. (The impersonation of Kobayashi is provided by comedian Jo Koy.[1])

Trivia

  • The show opens with the beginning of "Someday I Suppose" by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, followed by a greeting of "Good morning, and welcome to another exciting broadcast day!" Dicky Barrett, the lead singer of the Bosstones, is a friend of Carolla.
  • A regular bump is the sing-song melody of "Ad-am Carol-la" from a web cartoon, Adam Carolla Destroys The World. [33]

Syndication

The Adam Carolla Show can be heard on the following stations (broadcast weekdays from 6:00am-10:00am PT):

Most of the show is also available for download via podcast through FreeFM. The format varies depending on the station providing the RSS feed. The current feed links are:

Adam Carolla Show Podcast - hosted by KLSX

Adam Carolla Show Podcast - "Daily Top Segments" hosted by KLSX, linked to from The Adam Carolla Show's official website

Adam Carolla Show Podcast - hosted by KIFR

The feed can also be found for iTunes users through the iTunes Podcast directory.

References

  1. ^ Carolla credited Koy "for his fantastic Kobayashi impersonation" at the end of the show on August 28, 2006.
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