Adam Carolla


You can easily categorize Adam Carolla as a “comedy veteran” at this point in his career—he has been a part of the entertainment industry for over 20 years now. Part of the reason why Carolla has been able to last so long in the industry is because his career has been extremely diverse. Carolla has found great success on both the radio and in television. Projects like TV’s The Man Show and his current podcast gig The Adam Carolla Show have all proven Adam can make people laugh regardless of the medium.

His newest project, Road Hard, is a comedy motion picture that Carolla co-wrote and co-directed with Kevin Hench. The film focuses on a stand-up comic that is struggling in his personal life and professional career.

Road Hard opens in select cities on March 6th and will also be available on Video on Demand as well.

The story of Road Hard is personal to you and it has an autobiographical feel to it. Why did you decide to bring such a personal story to the big screen?

I made a film called The Hammer about 8 years ago and it had been a while since I made a film. I don’t really do fiction all that well. If I was going to star in something I wanted it to be something I was familiar with. You can’t beat real life. A lot of the stuff in the movie is stuff I have experienced—not all of it, but a lot of the stuff was torn from the pages of my life. I like it that way.

How challenging did you find directing to be?

It was quite a bit easier than people make it out to be. I didn’t find it that challenging at all. I’m not doing The Godfather so it wasn’t probably that tall of an order. If the material is good and the performers are good it’s not challenging. We had good performers and we had good material. How challenging is it to be a schoolteacher? If you have all ‘A’ students and you have a whole bunch of laptop computers donated my Macintosh…it’s not that hard.

Was directing easier than you thought largely because the material was something you had such a command over?

Yes, if they hire me to do Selma Part 2 I am sure I would have difficulty with it and not do it justice. I would be bad at it because it wasn’t a personal story for me and I wasn’t there. But, because Road Hard was a subject matter I was familiar with it, it was a lot easier for me. I am not claiming being a director is easy but it is a lot easier than people think. Directing for me, because of the familiarity with the subject matter, wasn’t much.


You are the star of the film—was directing yourself difficult at all? Or was that pretty easy for you as well?

I co-directed the film and I have done a lot of work where I have sort of directed myself in smaller bits or pieces. Kevin Hench (co-director) would look at the monitor and he would poke his head up and say, ‘do it again’ and I would do it again. I just trusted his eyeballs. I would just do it again. I tried to remove all the artistry of it and approach it as, ‘did everyone like that one?’ I tried to remove my ego from it.

It seems like you have kind of approached your entire career that simply. Is that fair?

Yeah, I think I have. I don’t look at myself as an artist. I look at myself as a delivery service for my ideas. I just want to be a delivery system. If I am doing my job correctly I am delivering my ideas effectively.

Has comedy gotten easier for you over the years? Do you feel like you have gotten better at being that “delivery system” you strive for?

It’s kind of like being a veteran athlete. Your body has gotten tired and you aren’t moving like you did in your 20s—but you are a smarter player. I am a bit older and I can’t remember what the hell I was talking about 5 minutes ago, but the experience will kick in and it offsets whatever mental steps you have lost.

Does comedy still fell as fresh and exciting to you after all these years?

I don’t really get a lot of feelings from it. I just look at it as my job. That’s all it is for me.

So you wouldn’t miss the comedy world at all if it were taken from you tomorrow?

I would miss the money. I would move on and design things or build things. I would miss the money. Why? Do you have some bad news for me?

I guess it’s just a different perspective you have from a lot of other entertainers or comedians. You don’t view comedy as your life.

I just move on. People ask, ‘do you miss The Man Show?’ No, I don’t miss it, but I enjoyed doing it. I just kind of move on.

Has that attitude allowed you to not fall into depression or self-loathing the way other comics famously have?

I’m not one of these people who sit around going, ‘I’m a mess and I ruin everything I touch.’ I’m not depressed. I’m not overly happy. I’m just a guy who likes cars, likes building things and spending time with his family.

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