Simmons suspended

[Steak Snabler]

If he went off on his own, his lifestyle would take a serious hit. Adam Carolla's podcast gets something like 2 million downloads a week and he's a best-selling author, but he still has to go on the road doing stand-up and live shows every weekend to supplement his income.

"Has to?" Maybe Carolla enjoys the live stuff, like Leno. Maybe he wants to rake in as much as he can as fast as he can. Maybe it's cross-promotional and doing live shows is a great way to build audience for his podcast and his book.

We can't presume to know whether he needs stand-up money, wants stand-up money or just wants to do stand-up regardless of the money.

I listen to Carolla's podcast every day, and he's always talking about how much he hates it and only does it to maintain his wife and kids' lifestyle.

He's even got a movie coming out called "Road Hard," which is about a formerly famous comedian who has to go back onto the club circuit to pay the bills after his TV show and other high-paying gigs went away.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

If he went off on his own, his lifestyle would take a serious hit. Adam Carolla's podcast gets something like 2 million downloads a week and he's a best-selling author, but he still has to go on the road doing stand-up and live shows every weekend to supplement his income.

"Has to?" Maybe Carolla enjoys the live stuff, like Leno. Maybe he wants to rake in as much as he can as fast as he can. Maybe it's cross-promotional and doing live shows is a great way to build audience for his podcast and his book.

We can't presume to know whether he needs stand-up money, wants stand-up money or just wants to do stand-up regardless of the money.

Carolla's net worth is estimated at $15 million. For someone who never had a syndicated network show that's pretty damn good.

Carolla jokes on his show that he "has to" do stand up and his upcoming film is about just that, but I don't think it's a question of "If I don't go on the road, we'll starve. I think it's a case of the podcast makes it easier for him to draw on the road and he's taking advantage of that.

I saw him a couple years ago and he did two shows in a theater that seats about 1,500. Both shows were sold out. The list of comedians who consistently sell out across the country is a short one (probably 20-25) and a majority of those guys are either movie stars or have their own TV shows. For a guy who has done primarily radio over the years, Carolla is doing pretty well for himself.