Adam Carolla: How to Lose Friends Yet Influence People
Rebel podcaster gets curious WaPo closeup that reveals more than intended
Jimmy Kimmel used his “Man Show” pulpit as a springboard to late-night stardom.
Co-host Adam Carolla went on to podcast glory, but he’ll never host the Oscars like Kimmel did (four times).
Hollywood logic tells you Carolla lost out. Except he can look himself in the mirror and keep telling any joke he pleases. Kimmel, by contrast, is beholden to liberal Hollywood and must misdirect his TV audience to stay gainfully employed.
So who won, really?
The far-Left Washington Post just profiled Carolla, illuminating the extreme bigotry behind the Hollywood scenes in the process. The story acknowledges all of the above while suggesting Carolla could have been just as famous as Kimmel if he had made different decisions.
The podcaster decided to create on his terms, and he never looked back.
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WATCH: https://t.co/fVPeH5VaFC pic.twitter.com/SBYb8X3mgm
— The Adam Carolla Show (@AdamCarollaShow) April 14, 2026
That decision cost him dearly, and not just with potential job opportunities. He lost friends along the way, most notably comic actor David Alan Grier. The “In Living Color” alum cut ties with Carolla when he sensed him drifting to the Right.
The irony? Carolla has, but mostly because the Left went further Left, leaving him stranded.
The profile, which incorrectly labels Joe Rogan and Bari Weiss as “conservatives,” shares a warning from far-Left director Judd Apatow. The comedy maestro warned Carolla during the COVID-19 era to shut up, lest he face professional banishment.
Except Carolla refused … and he was proven right after the fact (a fact the article ignores).
This WaPo passage is telling:
He would love to appear on more shows, on channels other than Fox News, and talk to a wide range of people. But in the polarized Trump era, he finds that he has been cut off by one audience and embraced by another.
That’s only partially true. Legacy Media outlets won’t let Carolla weigh in on the issues of the day. They don’t want their audience exposed to divergent views, and few argue their points better than Carolla.
Imagine what Carolla would do to your average CNN panel? And you thought Scott Jennings had his way with that less-than-intrepid group.
Next, the profile gently explains how Carolla’s peer group cut him loose for having the “wrong” reviews.
As covid hit, as the Supreme Court swung right, as ICE moved in, his peers seemed less interested in his views on current events or even having him around.
Marc Maron, a comedian who prefers his peers to be restricted in what they say, lashed out at Carolla for having the “wrong” views, too. Phil Rosenthal of “Everybody Loves Raymond” fame stopped inviting him to his weekly parties.
Some friends.
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Yet Carolla thrives, powered by multiple podcasts, a feverish comic motor and a willingness to try new things. He’s produced documentaries, strutted on “Dancing with the Stars” and took part in “Celebrity Apprentice.”
He created his own reality shows, wrote and starred in indie films and joined with Jay Leno for a series of comedy classes. And he never stops touring as a stand-up comedian.
The Post feature ends with a sentence that feels foreign to both the writer and modern Hollywood. And, to the scribe’s credit, it sums Carolla up perfectly.
It also explains why he would never even try to climb the Hollywood ladder. He already has all he needs.
What seems to matter more to Carolla is freedom — and not having a boss telling him what to do.
Carolla has addressed this freedom and calls it ‘F me money’… in other words, so much money that you can afford to waste a bunch just to spite the person trying to harm/cancel/censor you rather than just ‘F you money’, where you just ignore them.
Adam is loyal (to a fault I’d say), so he is forever appreciative of Kimmel’s help getting started and his continued support. I hope he doesn’t apply that same loyalty to Megyn Kelly as there’s been some indication of an ongoing ‘audience access’ on her Sirius channel and live appearances by her w/Carolla at events. In any event, he’ll likely see through her.
Grier told Carolla he thinks he’s a raging racist… which is funny, because Grier commonly does jokes that might lead one to believe he has his own racial biases bordering on supremacy.
All in all, I appreciate Adam’s outside the box articulations and allegories about life and things he notices. As with anyone, we wont’ always agree but can appreciate the perspectives and enjoy some laughs.
And did Apatow have the integrity to apologize for his criticism of Adam’s logical points of view about the clot-shot? Of course not. I enjoy his movies, but Judd is a coward.
I hate to agree, but I agree. He’s a coward (and he blocked me on X years ago!)
One more reason I find Judd Apatow unfunny. Not only are his movies preachy, he is just a scum ball in real life.
Anyone to the right of Chairman Mao is “conservative” to these people. Talk about existing in a bubble.