Episode 111 — Add 5 and Figure it Out

[scozzie 11]

Hate that I think we would probably get along in real life haha... Or I'm just too much of a girly-man to stay mad at you

[bdavids 1]

Hate that I think we would probably get along in real life haha... Or I'm just too much of a girly-man to stay mad at you

 

+5 Joe Walshes

[GarbageCan 143]

This brings back loveline memories. Maybe they'll have David Alan Grier on next week. And then maybe follow that with Robin Williams and Andy Kindler to string together the most chatty kathys they can in a row.

[Sad Billionaire 22]

Sklars: this guy hates women and makes fun of people on welfare. He's a bully. His pandering to American men's worst impulses has given him everything--money, exposure, influence--but a certain kind of cred, which he seems to crave. You just helped him gain a little bit of that. You should apologize to every woman and poor person you know. (Do you know any?) And everybody else.

 

This isn't about censorship. Who has more access to American ears than Adam Carolla? It's about having minimal integrity.

 

I don't begrudge people going on Carolla's show to shill their stuff--that's part of the job, as I understand it. I don't even begrudge people like Alison Rosen, who work for him, although, ooh boy, that's gotta feel pretty horrible ("he never said I'm not funny!") We all have to eat. But to have this schmuck on your show? It really makes no sense.

 

I look forward to next week's laffathon with Colin Kane.

[MartJ 44]

Great podcast, lads!

[Bucho 188]

I get why people don't like Carolla's opinions (I disagree with a lot of them myself), but I don't see how people say he isn't funny. On an objective level, he is just quicker than the good majority of other comics, some of the Loveline clips on Youtube are the among the funniest things I've ever heard.

 

This is where I sit with Carolla too.

 

He says a lot of politically whacky stuff but there's a very sound reason so many performers held in high esteem by the liberal comedy nerd community happen to themselves hold Carolla in high esteem as a comedian. The dude has an extraordinary talent not just in the fact he's quicker than the vast majority of other off-the-cuff comics, but he has the most expansive vocabulary this side of Russell Brand and a range that rivals Voyager 2.

 

It's actually freakish just how good he is and it's something of a shame his extraordinary powers can't be used to do more good.

[dholl_omog 0]

will someone explain why "men are funnier than women" is incredibly offensive?

he did NOT say "women aren't funny."

he did NOT say "there aren't any funny women out there."

but it's pretty clear that in attracting a woman, one of the biggest weapons a man has in his arsenal is a sense of humor. it is just not the same vice versa. and therefore, men have adapted to a need to be 'funnier'. it's unfortunate that so many people get offended when adam has the guts to say what we all know to be true. and most of them don't even read what he said!

 

For those who are still offended, I suggest you watch the late, great Christopher Hitchens, who said nearly as much and didn't receive any of the flack.

. Note he says "women aren't funny," which is a lot less charitable than adam's comment.

[TomSteele 3]

Wow, Adam almost made it a half hour before he said something stupid and offensive. Gays don't know sports? Please don't invite him back, but I know I'm probably in the minority on this one.

[scozzie 11]

dholl_omog (32)

 

"and therefore, men have adapted to a need to be 'funnier'"

 

That's a theory (and it's a bullshit theory). You can make up all the theories you want it doesn't PROVE your claim. And we've seen things like this before:

 

"Phrenology was used as justification for European superiority over other lesser races." *

 

As I've mentioned in a different post people in classical music could give similar theories of why men should naturally be better instrumentalists: "they adapted to feel and play music better to attract women, additionally they have better reflexes so they can play fast and then change on a dime to play slow, they are really naturally built to be better instrumentalists" and it might sound like a reasonable theory but is it true? When auditioning behind a screen:

 

"Among musicians who auditioned in both blind and non-blind auditions, about 28.6 percent of female musicians, and 20.2 percent of male musicians, advanced from the preliminary to the final round in blind auditions. When preliminary auditions were not blind, only 19.3 percent of the women advanced, along with 22.5 percent of the men."

 

It also just occurred to me why can women even sing? Men want to have sex with women, women don't need to sing for them.

 

 

Hitchens: "If you can't make them laugh you have no chance." Before the women's movement, who had more to lose if they didn't get married? A woman who would find it almost impossible to earn and support herself? Or a man who could work and be a man? In hunter-gatherer times men supposedly were the main protein/protection providers but they don't have a chance with women?

 

Let's say you add elements to make this story "work" it still doesn't come close to being proof or proven itself.

 

Let me make up a BS story. Women in tribes helped each other with their children, why didn't they adapt humor to be able to get more help from other women (i.e. the funniest woman could get the best ratio of resources from other women vs resources she expends helping others). Women would adapt humor even faster than men b/c women already had sense of humor (from Hitch's theory) b/c men trying to use humor on the men they were hunting with all day were playing to deaf ears (hadn't adapted to wanting to listen to jokes yet b/c nobody was trying to sleep with them).

 

I'm not putting this forward as a serious theory I am saying stop using Hitchen's creative writing as "science".

 

 

 

* Let's be clear here I'm not saying anything that ends up with results supporting sexism or racism is automatically false I am saying just because you make up a little story (men adapted to be funnier to attract females) doesn't by itself make it true. And just because it "explains" the current order of things (more male comedians than female) doesn't mean it is the scientifically correct explanation, because the true explanation may (almost certainly does) have more to do with pipeline (and present) sexism and discrimination.

[scozzie 11]

tl;dr

Why can women even sing? Men want to have sex with women, women don't need to sing for them.

 

If you give me a reason other than mating that singing can evolve, how do you know no reasons for humor other than mating?

[Bucho 188]

tl;dr

Why can women even sing? Men want to have sex with women, women don't need to sing for them.

 

You got it backwards Scozzie. Women don't sing to attract men, they sing so that there will be a few minutes in their day when men aren't pawing at them.

 

It's not a mechanism for attraction, it's a mechanism for distraction.

[scozzie 11]

I assume you are joking.

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

The line of the show was close to the end;

 

Either Randy or Jason said, "Well, you sound great."

 

To which 'Joe Walsh' replied with shock in his voice, "I do?".

[Kickpuncher 5012]

Despite a general distaste for Carolla and his brand of humor, and all the negative comments (which I pretty much never read in advance of listening to shows, but was curious about this one garnering far more comments than a typical SBC), I went ahead with my normal Sunday morning Sklarbro routine, and the show was pretty much what I expected, both good and bad. I'm glad that the Sklars addressed the elephant in the room, and while I wish they would have been a little tougher on Carolla, I can understand the need to be cordial hosts and not ruffle any feathers. I also agree that Carolla has the talent of a very funny guy, and I think the "if only he would use his powers for good" sentiment is spot-on. And the sound quality really wasn't that bad.

 

Having said all that, Carolla deserves every bit of criticism he gets, and his defense against it is really weak. It's not like I took notes on the show or anything, but here are some things that stand out in my memory as being somewhere on the scale from "grating" to "outright offensive":

- Constant use of "chick" and "brother"

- The aforementioned Old Navy flap. Made worse by the fact that one of the Sklars presented a more logical, less offensive answer (outsourcing) and Carolla just steamrolled it in order to continue with his homophobic diatribe.

- The idea of "I'm not an asshole, so I'm allowed to act like one." Translation - "I'm not a shitty person, just a shitty comic." Also, this was probably covered in the earlier tolerance discussion (which I admittedly only skimmed), but no one is saying he's not allowed to do anything, particularly given that his main platform is a self-produced podcast, but obviously we're allowed to not think it's funny. Also, as mentioned above, the assumption that everyone thinks this garbage and he's one of the brave few with the balls to express it.

- Regarding the Old Navy and Hostess outlets, I cringe anytime a millionaire takes issue with how regular people choose to spend their money (not to mention the self-centered idea that just because these places are apparently a little off the beaten path from his neighborhood of fellow millionaires, any idiot going there must be driving a long way). Made worse by the "tough shit if I'm alienating the poor dirtbags" response to "don't complain about first class".

[Gym Sockerman 1326]

First Jason Biggs, then Adam Carrolla, now what cultured intellectual is next...Dennis Miller?

 

Have to pass on this episode because of Carrolla, but it's hard to complain when I'm getting two hours with the Sklars most weeks.

And what was wrong with Jason Biggs? He was a fine guest. Seemed like a genuine, nice person.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Personally, I'm offended by "Jews run Hollywood," "gay florist," "women aren't funny/don't know sports" jokes, not because of their content, but because they are just really hacky and cliche. If you make those jokes, it just seems like you don't respect your audience; like you expect them to laugh at the easiest punchlines you can muster.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Also, I feel bad for Chris Cox, as any episode with Carolla in it will overshadow what almost anyone else contributes. I just want to say I enjoyed every second of Joe Walsh at the end and I hope he comes back, perhaps to evaluate the Sklars' first pitch performance?

[Bucho 188]

Personally, I'm offended by "Jews run Hollywood," "gay florist," "women aren't funny/don't know sports" jokes, not because of their content, but because they are just really hacky and cliche. If you make those jokes, it just seems like you don't respect your audience; like you expect them to laugh at the easiest punchlines you can muster.

 

Except that he also riffs on subjects on which no other comedians riff. The dude has a particular point of view but phenomenal range from that point of view. Off the top of my head I can't think of another comedian who can generate solid material off of any subject that gets thrown at him as quickly and effectively as Carolla does.

 

That's part of why even though some of his stuff may appears to be hacky and/or politically incorrect he's lauded by plenty of comedians who're beloved by the liberal comedy nerd community even as so many in said community loathe him. Off the top of my head I've heard Matt Besser, Todd Barry, Sarah Silverman, Jerry Seinfeld, Joel McHale and Greg Proops give the guy mad props. He's clearly doing something right.

[Corky Kneivel 113]

Ugh.

 

I'm bummed. This is the most discussion the Sklarbro boards see in a good while and its a bunch of whining about being offended. Long winded posts that make little sense and use the words "racist" and "homophobic" to describe someone simply saying the word "Jew" or "gay".

 

Noone has even mentioned how fucking great it is to hear Pavement. That's the true hate crime here!

[dookiebd 43]

And what was wrong with Jason Biggs? He was a fine guest. Seemed like a genuine, nice person.

 

me too.. biggs actually seemed super hyped about talking baseball and didn't have a bad thing to say about anything..

[scozzie 11]

"Long winded posts that make little sense"

 

You suck at understanding /= makes little sense.

 

 

Edited:

(I deleted a half snarky paragraph about whining b/c it made it sounds like I also think whining is bad, which I don't.)

[tbx59 35]

no one is less tolerant than hipster comedy nerds that listen to Earwolf. Carolla was funny and quick as usual.

[civility 0]

So I've read the comments that the hipster comedy nerds are the ones being hateful, uncivil and intolerant of Carolla's views so I thought let me follow Carolla's lead on how he responds civilly to views he disagrees with:

 

 

"The fact that torture has been around for 10000 years suggests to me it works. You fags with your, 'fences don't keep anyone out, torture never got anything,' really??... shit that doesn't work leaves, shit that does work stays around for 5000 fucking years you fucking idiots"... "shut the fuck up and let them do their job!" - Adam Carolla

 

 

So now taking my lead from Carolla let me reply to you in kind.

 

 

Shut the fuck up you fucking knuckle dragging idiots.

 

No one is as good at projecting as an inbred Carolla fan who thinks he's made a functional thought.

 

You morons.

 

 

I don't know if I was able to capture all the civility of Carolla responding to views he disagrees with but I tried. I'm sure you'll agree that now there is "fairness and civility from both sides".

 

 

(I chose a random Carolla view because we already know some of his classics, I like hearing him be regressive on a virtual cornucopia of topics.)

 

Not relevant, but maybe someone should ask atheist Carolla why he's not religious (religion's been around thousands of years) or what he thinks about slavery (been around thousands of years, still exists in some parts of the world today).

[Picklefucker 188]

Ooh, now this debate is going places. Thanks, TupFrusalnpup!