‘We’re pretty different’: Carolla says he and Kimmel are still close
Maybe our faith in unity can be renewed though a pair of comic personalities intersecting this week on the Strip.
Adam Carolla is headlining Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club on Thursday night (two shows, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.). Those who have followed their respective careers know they have been friends for about 30 years. That period covers their time as co-hosts of “The Man Show’ on Comedy Central from 1999-2003.
Carolla and Kimmel also disagree politically and are not shy about unleashing opinions. Kimmel consistently mocks Donald Trump in his monologues on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Carolla tells his audiences he’s Libertarian, can’t stand “woke” behavior, though his political positions run the gamut.
But during a backstage chat Saturday night at Laugh Factory in Covina, Calif., Carolla said of Kimmel, “We still get along really well,” regardless of their dissimilar views.
“We are pretty different. I guess the New World Order is that politics somehow dictate everything,” the 60-year-old veteran stand-up comic and podcaster said. “But I never was that way. I don’t really know or care what anyone’s politics are, in terms of my friends or who I’m socializing with.”
Carolla says the political environment is “more super-sized now,” but adds, “Jimmy and I have always been really good friends. There’s a history of respect there, I have always been a big admirer of his, and how he’s conducted himself over the years.”
Carolla and Kimmel met in 1994, when Kimmel was known as “Jimmy the Sports Guy” on the “Keven and Bean” show on KROQ-FM in L.A. Kimmel was scheduled to fight in an exhibition boxing match and exhibition, billed as “The Bleeda in Reseda.”
“I just volunteered. I eventually made my way to the radio station, I waited in the hall, and at some point Jimmy just came out,” Carolla recalled in an interview in 2022. “I didn’t even know who he was. I trained him kind of randomly, and we just immediately hit it off.”
Carolla went on to play grouchy wood-shop teacher Dick Birchum on the show, which eventually developed in to the adult animated series “Mr. Birchum.”
Carolla and Kimmel also co-created the Comedy Central puppet-prank-call series “Crank Yankers.” Some of the furry figures from the original series are displayed at the entrance of Kimmel’s club.
Carolla was among the first headliners at JKCC when the club opened in May 2019, bringing his massively popular “Adam Carolla Show” to the stage. November marks the second anniversary of Kimmel’s club reopening after the pandemic shutdown.
Comedy clubs have become a second home for Carolla, who says, “The sad reality of my life is that I just travel and work.” He shrugs as he makes that point.
“I have a unique job. I used to have real jobs, and this is an easy job,” Carolla says. “The hardest job I’ve ever had was carpet cleaning, but I worked in construction for over a decade, I started as a laborer, and it’s just a lot of ditch digging and drywall. Really hot, dirty, low-pay, semi-dangerous, crappy work.
“For me, just getting into a job that had some air conditioning and being indoors was a big deal. So this doesn’t feel like work.”
A few doors down …
From Linq Promenade, Carlos Mencia’s run as primary headliner in the “Stars Of Comedy” series at Harrah’s Showroom has been extended into 2025. Operators are presenting his residency as “open-ended.”
Mencia continues his performances at 9:30 p.m. Sundays and Mondays.
“With every performance, Carlos Mencia brings the kind of energy that electrifies the Harrah’s Showroom,” Dayton Costa, vice president of Pompey Entertainment, said in a statement. “His ability to connect with fans through humor that’s both fearless and relatable is why he’s a staple of Stars of Comedy.” (We note this is the first published quote from the younger Costa, son of Pompey Entertainment founder Damian Costa, who seems destined to make a mark on Vegas entertainment though he’s not quite old enough to legally drink.)
The comics in the “Stars” rotation include ventriloquial vet Paul Zerdin on Nov. 21-23. Jeremy Piven, the three-time Emmy winner for playing Ari Gold in “Entourage,” is not performing this weekend as originally scheduled.
Donny Osmond remains Harrah’s predominant headliner. “MJ Live” is moving into the showroom on Nov. 25, after its run at Sahara ends Thursday.
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What Works in Vegas
“Absinthe” is coming up on its 8,000th show Sunday. Spiegelworld’s signature production is performing 16 shows a week (twice nightly, three on Saturdays-Sundays). I’ve seen it more than 50 times since it opened in April 2011, in a long competition with Emily Jillette for most shows attended by non-cast members. And we saw it together Friday night, in a very Voki experience (inside reference, that).
Cool Hang Alert
New York jazz vocalist/pianist/songwriter Nicole Zuraitis stops at Vic’s Las Vegas in Symphony Park at 7 p.m. and 8:30 Friday and Saturday. Zuraitis’ latest release, “How Love Begins,” won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album this year. The album was co-produced by Christian McBride, an eight-time Grammy winner.
No cover for these dinner performances, but (obviously) reservations strongly encouraged. Go to vicslasvegas.com for intel.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.