Wisdom from a Graduate of Hard Knocks U.
For Throwback Wednesday, the platform of President Carolla
As wildly popular as No Dowd About It is, it’s not common for one of our tweets to get more than 48,000 “engagements.”
But that’s what happened last week, when Adam Carolla retweeted my transcription of a comment he made during an interview with Pat Boone.
Seriously. That happened.
So this week’s throwback is a review of one of Carolla’s books.
And before you mention it, I am well aware that Jimmy Kimmel is one of the worst human beings alive. This review was written almost exactly a decade ago, long before St. George of Fentanyl and Pope Fauci and Trump Derangement Syndrome. Back then, at least as I recall it, the “comedian” didn’t exhibit much of an political/ideological agenda.
Enjoy!
■ ■ ■
Mix Will Rogers with Larry Flynt, add a dollop of Howard Beale, and you’ve got Adam Carolla.
The comedian, podcaster, entrepreneur, and pundit is a rarity in today’s media landscape: someone who refuses to make camp with either sanctimonious moonbats or addlebrained neocons.
While inattentive right-wingers claim “the Aceman” as one of their own, daily listeners to his podcast know that he’s an atheist, is comfortable with gun control and abortion, supports gay marriage, revels in sexual and bathroom humor, and is quick to drop an f-bomb. If Carolla has an ideology, it’s his own blend of blue-collar elitism, a concept outlined in President Me: The America That’s in My Mind (HarperCollins Publishers; 277 pages; $26.99).
Carolla’s high-decibel rants frequently prompt his fans to encourage him to run for office. So motivated by “love of country,” President Me serves as his “official campaign platform.” Penned by an observational comedian who spends a lot of time on the road, it contains plenty of jokey content about how to improve strip clubs, why drones should be deployed against guys who wear bracelets, a terror-alert system based on the Baldwin brothers, and the author’s demand that “the surgeon general and NASA … reanimate the corpse of Marilyn Monroe.” (And per standard Carolla operating procedure, there’s plenty of political incorrectness. Mexico is a “f*****-up hellhole” and “piñata of poverty.” He hates “that in America, we are so in love with the wisdom of the Orient.” He doesn’t “give a s*** about farming.” Italians “are essentially dumb Jews.” Only “half of the people that claim to be disabled actually are.” Society “shouldn’t accept obesity as okay.”)
But at the book’s core is a cri de spleen from a self-made, 50-year-old man deeply alarmed over his nation’s flight from grit, gumption, and elbow grease. Poisoned politics, bad parenting, and pop culture are to blame for a “pervasive narcissism that has slowly destroyed our country.” The “self-entitled generation” constantly seeks a handout, but, Carolla thunders, “[f]ixing your f*****-up life is not government’s job.”
AWOL parents, the influence of self-destructive buddies (many of whom “now live in s***** apartments by [a] reservoir”) and a lousy education at North Hollywood High School might have turned Carolla into an Occupy Wall Street-style whiner. It wasn’t in his nature. Instead of blaming others for his miserable life, and demanding that the “public” sector make it right, he got to work. A series of drudgerous jobs gave way to a skilled trade, followed by successes in terrestrial radio, television, film, and Internet broadcasting.
Carolla traces his ability to endure the vicissitudes of the entertainment industry to his days “cleaning carpets, digging ditches, installing closets, slinging hamburgers, and swinging hammers.” It taught him “a lot of life skills,” in addition to inspiring him to seek more: “I spent my days toiling in the San Fernando Valley with stucco dust clinging to me because I was soaked in sweat. I came home looking like a white car after a brush fire. I wanted better.”
There will be no minimum-wage increases during the Carolla administration. “All this social welfare stuff seems progressive and well intentioned, but doesn’t foresee the crippling consequences. Whether it’s welfare, disability, [or] food stamps … we’re removing the motivating factor of being poor and miserable.”
President Me doesn’t mention many elected officials, but Elizabeth Warren draws Carolla’s fire, for telling Americans that “the system is rigged.” The Oklahoma-born fedpol “did just fine,” he observes: “How did you do it? You worked in a restaurant, went to school, cracked a lot of f****** books, burned a lot of midnight oil, and pulled yourself up. That’s the message. Stop telling people the system is rigged and that the deck is stacked against them. Tell them to forget the deck and focus on themselves.”
Recognizing that most wealthy folks arrived at their station not by inheritance, but perseverance, Carolla wants “a one-percenter to be president. I want the overachiever, I grew up with the 99 percent. They’re not all that noble and hardworking. A lot of them are burned-out losers.”
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to No Dowd About It to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.