Spoiling a perfectly good book with a tired argument
Dirty. This jackass waited eight hours to drop this nugget of poo?
I don’t often find myself flipping off my car stereo, but this was warranted. “Women aren’t funny”- he’d said it dismissively, with no caveat to soften the blow.
- Is this even a thing anymore? Did 1955 just crawl up Adam’s ass and start spouting off about female inferiority? I big dum dum, periods and diapers are the funniest, rawr…
- Throughout the book, Adam’s theme is: I came from a crappy life, where no one cared or worked hard, and I became a person who cared and worked hard. He made his success by not being who other people thought he would be. Interesting he doesn’t seem to see how this applies to other people, particularly to a group one that represents half the population
- I listened to hours of Adam, back in the Loveline radio show days. It’s like finding out a friend secretly thinks you’re a moron
Let me elaborate on the last point a bit more. My brother and I didn’t just turn on Loveline occasionally; it was a staple in command central, our computer room. The weirdo callers added a fascination factor, but it was really Adam’s commentary and his constant embarrassment of straight man Dr. Drew that kept us listening. Plus it was the perfect accompaniment for our gaming activity at the time, which was playing Major Mud.* The radio filled in the entertainment gap, while we had to tediously rest our life back up, or were waiting our turn to play.
*This was a text-based monster slashing fantasy game, played on a local server with a bunch of other dorky teens. My longest session logged: 17 hours. Maybe nothing compared to your average World of Warcraft player these days, but this was text, folks, not graphics.
The first week we tuned in, back in 1995, Adam was taking the reins over from Ricky Rachtman. At first we were a little like, who is this loser, but over time we grew attached. So much so, that even today, the offensive, self-deprecating shtick largely informs our sense humor. My brother even sounds a lot like him when he tells a story.
For example, my brother was telling me about his latest trip to a business conference in Florida: It was 2 a.m. and I was finally finished working. I was down in the hotel lobby and this guy in a Hawaiian shirt asked me if I needed anything. He said he was the hotel porter. I said snacks would be nice and he offered to take me to Walgreens. At this point I asked myself, “rapist?” but got in his car anyways. We were going to Walgreens, so at least there’d be lube.
Spending the drive home listening to Not Taco Bell Material was almost comforting, and kept my ADD at bay for the entire drive. The audiobook is more of a story than pure funny, but has its moments (in particular a classic rant about loud motorcyclists). When he gets to the part about dealing with network execs for a show pilot his bitterness is clear. Somehow, being forced to work with unfunny female writers turned him to this “women aren’t funny” business. He doesn’t even add some fair commentary that the female pool of comedians is smaller, or something of that nature, but just waves away feminine wit as though it is a myth. Yet he waits until the very end of his story to address this, so you’ve invested time into his persona and story. I’m willing to shrug off a criticism if I feel the person is being dickish for a laugh, but being a plain dick is a different story.
Adam lavishes praise on his friend Jimmy Kimmel for being a truly nice guy. Funny that Jimmy made it as a network success, while Adam points the finger at unfunny women for ruining his shot at TV fame.
I don’t actually know who that is that you’re talking about, but I did play text-based RPGs back in the 90s. It’s actually how I met my wife.
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Yeah my first boyfriend was a fellow MUD player
Adam Carolla is a radio personality who I used to think was awesome
Wow going back to the dark ages haha haven’t seen one of those text based games in a while, and yeah always interesting how things end up.
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I used to be ashamed to admit being a MUDder but the internets seems to understand
Holy SHIT you played MUD?! Did you also play TradeWars? Because I was the TradeWars MASTER! (*Pro tip: the secret is being the first to log on after midnight to steal all the mercenaries before anyone else can.)
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Hells yeah I did
No Tradewars, but friends of mine did play
I never understood those text only games. By the time I figured out that computer games existed they had graphics. For whatever reason that sound cool to me that a person would know how to play them.
As for Adam Carrolla. I tend to avoid listening to him as he comes off as a know-it-all. There was a time that I thought some of his schtick was clever but then over and over again he came/comes across as arrogant. Who is he to generalize on an entire gender? At first I thought some of his comments that are offensive to entire groups (not only women but gay and lesbians) was just to appear edgey and stir up controversy but I now think he is narrow minded and tries to cover it up in the name of comedy. As humor is subjective, I can’t say I find him all that funny.
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The text games were kinda cool, cause you played them with local people (my brother stills sees many friends from this time- they’ve all turned out surprisingly normal). Plus you have to use your imagination, like a book.
It wasn’t until I started researching (Googling, lol) for this story that I saw some of his more stupid comments- a few were really, really bad. On the radio show he played relatively nice, and most of the audiobook is actually pretty interesting and funny. Shame he has to pee on his work like that.
Tina Fey. Case freakin’ closed.
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Right?? I bought my copy of Fey’s Bossypants today, for the ride home
Can I “like” this?
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To me, Corolla works ok as long as he has a strong person off of which he can banter and carry on…
I always thought Drew was kind of pompous and boring without Adam bouncing around nipping his ankles
Oh no he di’n't! I’m sorry, but that just confirms him as the largest douche bag in the world to me. I didn’t listen to him often back in the day, but when I did he come across as a bit arrogant. I thought that was just his type of humor, but maybe he’s just a bitter white dude still pissed about Title IX.
Natalie the Singingfool recently posted…Star-Crossed Lovers – My Dramatic Reunion with the Oscars
He does self-deprecate a lot, which is supposed to make you sympathize with him or something. Sucky that he would turn around and betray this feeling.
I think he needs a female comedian to read him the riot act, but that’s probably happened by now.
I remember when this controversy first popped up. I figured he just made an off color joke that people took the wrong way, but it doesn’t sound that way. The only time I have ever enjoyed him was when he was teamed up with Jimmy Kimmel. After that, he just seemed moronic.
Brett Minor (@brettminor) recently posted…Test Your Funny Bone #17 – Car Trouble
His humor works best when he has someone mild and nice to bounce off, the Jimmy thing is similar to the vibe he had with Drew.
All he had to do was say something like, “women aren’t as funny- yet” and I would have given him a pass. I understand the talent pool is smaller, as there are fewer female comedians out there. But nope, he basically makes it sound like a genetic deficiency
Women aren’t funny!?! Pfft… He’s OBVIOUSLY never met our crowd. Sucks to be him! We’re fraking awesome!!
Hugs!
Valerie
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His opinion seemed to be informed by his experience working with network writing staffs. Networks rarely ever hire anyone genuinely funny, it’s all about backscratching and who you know. The evidence of hilarious women is all over the internet, for sure!
Having watch multiple seasons of The Man Show, NONE of this comes as a surprise to me. Have you seen any episodes in reruns? It’d explain everything for you. Kimmel came to his senses, softened his tone and is reaping tremendous success.
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It’s been such a while since I’ve seen the Man Show, it’s a little fuzzy. That whole caveman thing was popular at the time if I remember correctly, I just figured they were selling people what they wanted to see. Like I said, it’s different to play around with being a misogynist then to actually be one
Women aren’t funny? If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the blogiverse is that women are veeeeeeeeeery funny. Seriously funny.
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A whole lotta funny people out here in general!
I remember when this first came about. Since his career seems to be going downhill I’m guessing he’s resorted to saying controversial things in hopes that people will start paying attention to him again. I used to be somewhat of a fan of his radio show when it played here during my morning commute, but saying “Women aren’t funny” is very very idiotic, and I have very little interest in him as an entertainer now.
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I know all publicity is supposed to be good publicity, but I think his statement fell pretty flat with everyone. He should just worry about being funny, not trying to tell half the population they aren’t good enough to do his job
I could make a comment here along the lines of “men are arrogant douchebags,” but I won’t, because it’s not true. Just this guy, apparently.
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Yup, no sense in making a return over generalization!
I’ve never heard of this guy, but I have heard of Joan Rivers whom I dedicated a post to. And Ruby Wax was as funny as hell before she discovered psychotherapy. In fairness to this fellow, saying women aren’t funny is a lot better than saying they aren’t capable of running a business or peeing standing up (they are, I have the pictures).
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I suppose it is better then saying something like women are stupid or something like that, but since wit is largely tied in with intelligence, it’s really, really close.
I know a lot of hilarious women. Not sure what Adam’s smoking, but that’s disheartening to hear. I used to like him, too.
Also, seeing that MUD client gave me a nerd rush I haven’t felt in at least a decade. Brandon and I actually used to be admins and world builders on the MUD we played back in high school. Yeah, we’re kind of a big deal…
When we’d have MUD meet-ups, there was always a certain reverence for the admins. I was just a shitty bard, but I was a girl in a room full of dudes, so I still got some attention
I remember when this happened and the uproar it caused. What I find fascinating, is that there was a group of people that this book/album had to go through to get published that all ok’d it. Or at least didn’t warn him that it crossed the line and he needed to take that out, immediately. Thus proving that he’s not the only one who thinks this.
I think he’s funny. But apparently he is also a misogynistic douche. I guess you can be both.
As to Tina Fey (above), you will LOVE her book. It is hysterical! And if you haven’t yet, also read Jenny Lawson (the Bloggess)’s book Let’s Pretend This Never Happened. I laughed so hard I cried. It is that good.
I mean, you know, for a girl.
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Crap, that is such a good point, I should have included it in the post. The part where he makes this statement is one of the least interesting too, they coulda dropped it easily. But again, what is Adam Carolla doing right now? That’s right.
Still, I’d like to think that he will change his mind eventually.
I listened to Bossypants on the way home, and have the Bloggess’ book cued up on my kindle.
Cerebral Milkshake’s post last night on hot sauce made me laugh so damn hard
what’s funny is that people act as if Carolla actually did say “women aren’t funny”. What he said was “men are funnier than women”, which is true.
I’ve not heard of this guy before… but he sounds like an absolute arsehole x
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Man, that is so disappointing! Sad face:(
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This kind of stuff reminds me of when my grandma would say racist things because she knew she’d get a rise out of us and attention.
By the way I love Bossypants and I bet you will, too.
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Yes, Bossypants was perfect, just what I needed!
I don’t mind a little rough joking around, but this was way more of a “this is how it really is, don’t let anyone fool you” kind of condescending comment. He definitely got some attention out of it
Will you be able to guidebook me on your web marketer or even the man which looks after your website, I must know if it will be very easy to be a invitee poster.
But have you seen Adam explain that you have to cut off the tail of a fart before you get back in the car. That kind of advice doesn’t come from just any asshole…wait, but farts do….WHUT???
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