Most comedians avoid joking about The Boss, and for good reason. Not Adam Carolla.
The podcast giant poked fun at his new employer, The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro, on the latest installment of “Adam Carolla: Truth Yeller.”
The freewheeling show, part stand-up, part improv, found Carolla tweaking Shapiro early and often, from his fellow podcaster’s yarmulke to Shapiro’s academic prowess.
“[Ben] graduated from UCLA when he was a zygote,” Carolla cracked.
The versatile comic knows Shapiro can take a joke, but he opened the new episode by acknowledging a cold, hard fact about comedy in Woke U.S.A. He couldn’t tell some of his planned jokes in Hollywood or, presumably, many blue city comedy clubs. He might get canceled before the show wrapped.
The saga of Dave Chappelle isn’t lost on Carolla.
The “Truth Yeller” host told them anyway on his new home at The Daily Wire, firing off cultural observations and playful stereotypes as he saw fit. He even turned his humor on himself to show people we shouldn’t treat jokes so seriously.
“I’m not a racist, but I’m on the spectrum,” he said before telling a few jokes that could get him in hot water had “Truth Yeller” aired on, say, Comedy Central. Don’t bother with those cyber pitchforks, woke acolytes. Carolla isn’t the Apology Tour kind of guy, and he’s got no malice in his material.
That’s why he landed Jay Leno for “Truth Yeller’s” debut episode and comic actor Rob Riggle for the second episode. Riggle, who served 23 years in the Marine Corps, is best known for his work on “Modern Family,” “Saturday Night Live” and “The Daily Show.”
Neither steered clear of touchy topics. They leaned in, finding laughs where they could.
Comedians, Carolla said, should have “diplomatic plates” when it comes to the Cancel Culture mob and their odious trigger warnings.
“Here’s our disclaimer – it’s a joke,” he said.
Riggle joined Carolla for the show’s improv segment, bouncing from foreskin gags to chain restaurant shtick. The show’s guest told a killer NSFW story about a celebrity golfer’s “accident,” while the host trotted out material that wouldn’t fly on late night TV today.
Together, they tried to make sense out of the senseless pandemic rules.
Carolla said the scariest eight words to hear are, “On behalf of your Seattle based flight crew,” mocking the progressive city’s authoritarian bent. Riggle got in on that theme, noting how he just watched 80,000 Michigan sports fans cheering on their beloved team while other places stalk you for not raising your mask quickly enough after sipping a soda.
Riggle wouldn’t attempt that material on Stephen Colbert’s couch. The crowd might boo too loudly rather than process the truth behind the gags.
Comedy and truth are allowed to breath on “Truth Yeller.”
Carolla caps every episode by teeing off on one particularly ripe target. This time, he blasted California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and audiences sensed he could have mocked the Democrat for the entire show’s run if the spirit moved him.
“He looks like a guy who sells used teeth whiteners,” Carolla said of Newsom, who hearts the electric car industry while chasing Tesla founder Elon Musk out of the state with his extreme regulations.
Dumb governor. Smart. Jokes.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Source: Dailywire
