The Day the Funny Died

If you live in a major West Coast radio market, you're probably familiar with the consistantly funny Adam Carolla Radio Show. The syndicated morning comedy broadcast out of Los Angeles that was slated as the replacement to Howard Stern on West Coast Terrestrial radio has been consistently funny from the start (in stark contrast to the abysmal David Lee Roth Show out of New York). Even if you only know him from his near-legendary stint on Loveline, you know that Adam brings the funny in a big way everyday. Unfortunately, those radio days stopped on Friday as his show was cancelled. 

If you ask me, this cancellation (billed as a format change at the station) is the work of the same type of people that cancelled the hit original Star Trek series back in the 60's. Radio ratings tabulation is a archaic cluster fuck of Arbitron and people meters that just doesn't work. I believe that the show is actually a hit. There is anecdotal evidence of this by Carolla being consistently rated towards the top of the iTunes comedy top 10, but better still is the fact that smart people (foremost among them, me) really think the show is good. As far as I'm concerned, that's all you need. Aim high and the masses will follow in time. 

Fortunately for all, Adam is setting up a new venue for his jags about the minutia of everyday life via a podcast only show on his website.  Still, the fact that such a quality show would get axed when there is so much crap on the air is mind-boggling. The fact that this happened the same day that Conan O'Brien went off the air, is just a one-two combination to the gut of comedy fans everywhere. Personally, Carolla has been a welcome companion for me since I moved to California. I encourage anyone and everyone to support his podcast venture once it gets up and running. I am supremely confident that you'll be glad you did. And while you're at it, check out The Hammer on dvd. Carolla's very funny film only got a limited release last year, but it's a real hoot.