Comedian and podcaster Adam Carolla blasted Democrats and praised freedom during a humorous speech at the Republican Midterm Convention on Wednesday.
Carolla, who is known for mocking and ridiculing left-wing policies, took his schtick to the convention in Dallas, Texas, and brought the house down.
'I'm not an overly political person. I'm just a guy who lives in California and sees which way the wind is blowing.'
"All right. I would like to start tonight with a land acknowledgment," Carolla began with laughter from the audience.
"This is the greatest land in the history of mankind!" he added. "And if that bothers you, you, your communist and hippie buddies should get the hell off it!"
He continued after much applause and cheering.
Carolla mocked the overregulation in the progressive haven of California.
"Could you imagine how long it would take to build the Golden Gate Bridge today in Gavin Newsom's California?" he said a fan wrote him.
"I wrote back, 'People who wanted to commit suicide would die of natural causes!'"
He later gave a rundown of the source of his political beliefs.
"Listen, I'm not an overly political person. I'm just a guy who lives in California and sees which way the wind is blowing," Carolla said.
"And you don't want California in your nation," he added. "And that's where the Democrats are trying to take this. All you do is pay taxes, and you get nothing in return. So, I'd like to shrink government a little bit, and let's see if we can get a little more freedom going these days," he added.
Carolla did get some boos from the audience when he addressed the presidential ambitions of Gavin Newsom at the end of his speech.
"There's a part of me that almost wants Newsom to become president just so that he'll get the hell out of California!" he said.
After allowing the audience to boo and jeer, Carolla continued.
"Just kidding. That fascist will never be president!" he joked.
RELATED: 'He's a buffoon': Adam Carolla blasts Gavin Newsom and reveals he's finally leaving California
Carolla's entire speech can be viewed here.
Blaze News is offering live coverage of the convention on BlazeTV, which can be viewed above.
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It all started on a patch of waterfront property in New York, right next to the East River.
The latest wave of perceived liberal activism made its way to Joe Rogan and Shane Gillis' ears through the sage wisdom of a traveling entertainer: They were tearing apart a park.
'The park should be defended!'
Instead of a sign-wielding mask-wearer debating the merits of universal basic income and banning landlords, the news came from comedian Ari Shaffir. Typically, Shaffir is telling tales about getting an exorcism in South America or doing stand-up comedy in China, but this time he was looking to stop the destruction of a beloved New York City landmark.
Shaffir told Rogan and Gillis about Manhattan's East River Park, land that had been torn apart by floods from Hurricane Sandy. In response, New York City officials planned to raze the park, add eight feet of dirt, and rebuild the park anew on top, all in the name of flood prevention.
Activists agreed with Shaffir and said removing access to the 57 acres next to the water was unfair to locals.
Gillis did not agree.
"You're not defending parks!" he said, badgering Shaffir. "F**k that park!"
"The park should be defended!" Rogan chimed in.
From that moment, "Protect Our Parks" was born: an impromptu news panel with no preparation and no censorship, addressing actual issues.
Averaging between 2 million and 5 million views per episode on YouTube alone, the series of podcasts has not only become one of Rogan's most popular iterations, but it has become a battle of political perspectives.
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Across 17 episodes and counting, Gillis brings his Bud Light-American viewpoint, backed by historical knowledge. This is often at odds with Rogan's "question everything" mantra, while Shaffir offers real-world traveler's experience.
The fourth member of the group, Mark Normand, is admittedly usually on substances and just looking to add punch lines. He's not lacking in intellect; he just picks his punches.
The resulting conversations within the group often turn out to be newsmakers because of the sheer number of viewers each comedian represents. Normand has a quarter-million podcast subscribers on YouTube alone and another 2 million+ social media followers. Shaffir has well over a million combined, too. Add those to Gillis' and Rogan's reach, and each episode is dwarfing network news.
Most recently, discussed topics ranged from immigration and trans athletes to Ulysses S. Grant and the Civil War. The opinions are unpredictable.
When Rogan talks about how the WNBA "can't define what a woman is," or when Gillis declares America needs "somebody who’s willing to abuse their executive power," progressive minds will not be surprised.
But when Shaffir says the U.K. "hate[s] immigrants so hard," viewers understand this isn't an echo chamber.
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In fact, the show is far closer to a real discussion than anything cable news could hope to accomplish. No filters or network notes means Gillis can counter anti-American hearsay from Rogan while Normand criticizes Israel to Shaffir, even if viewers label the show as "compromised."
Critics have further attempted to demonize the podcasts for having hypocritical moments, or "effortlessly" forgiving "racism" by even having these discussions.
But others have seen the forest through the trees; friends don't let each other get away with everything. One video, seen 250,000 times, compiled Gillis' opposition to Rogan's political views. This is not exactly partisan programming.
Progressives should get on board with protecting our parks. If they want to chant, ad nauseum, "Show me what democracy looks like!" (and they do), perhaps they will get their answer by watching.
As for East River Park; the city agreed to reconstruct the area in parts to allow access to different sections at different times. However, the project that started in 2021 is still unfinished to this day.
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They’ve delivered the newspaper their entire lives, but they’ve never actually read it. Naturally, they’re now in charge of it.
On September 7, BlazeTV is heading to the tiny desert town of "Dusty Bluffs" with a brand-new original comedy series from the creators of "Agua Donkeys." The series follows MP and Jer, two lifelong paperboys who have pretty much everything they want: a newspaper route, plenty of time to hang out, and a comfortable routine they have absolutely no interest in changing.
That routine gets turned upside down when the editor of the Dusty Bluffs Gazette suddenly skips town, putting the only jobs MP and Jer have ever wanted in jeopardy. Rather than accept that their days slinging papers might be over, the boys decide to take matters into their own hands and run the newspaper themselves.
Armed with overconfidence and an impressive ability to misunderstand almost everything happening around them, MP and Jer find themselves navigating a job they know virtually nothing about.
But "Dusty Bluffs" is about more than the boys’ unlikely career move. The series builds its comedy around the eccentric residents of their tiny desert town, awkward conversations, and everyday situations that have a tendency to become much more complicated whenever MP and Jer are involved.
The premiere wastes little time introducing that world. As the boys make their way around town, even the most ridiculous encounters are treated with complete sincerity. MP and Jer’s understanding of what’s happening is often very different from reality, but their unwavering confidence rarely seems to suffer as a result.
Now responsible for covering the people and stories of Dusty Bluffs, MP and Jer are about to become much more involved in their hometown than they ever intended.
Dusty Bluffs is part of BlazeTV’s growing lineup of original programming, giving subscribers even more to watch alongside the shows, personalities, and commentary they already know.
It’s also a chance to do something a little unexpected. With Dusty Bluffs, BlazeTV is bringing subscribers an original scripted comedy built around memorable characters, a bizarre little town, and a sense of humor all its own.
For current subscribers, Dusty Bluffs is included with their BlazeTV subscription. For everyone else, the premiere offers another reason to see what’s new on the platform.
Don’t miss the premiere of Dusty Bluffs September 7, exclusively on BlazeTV. Subscribe today to unlock Dusty Bluffs, plus original series, exclusive shows, and more available to BlazeTV subscribers.
Some statements are politically incorrect, some are defamatory, and others are outright illegal. For Tim Dillon, it's all alleged.
For the better part of a decade, the stand-up comic has delivered what can be considered some of the most offensive tirades ever broadcasted. The problem is, a lot of people agree with him.
'I don't want to live in a right-wing Christian theocracy.'
Perhaps it was in 2020 when Dillon took a turn for the worse, suggesting during one of his trademark rants that Bill and Hillary Clinton should be respected "even if they are murderers."
Dillon's verbose way of comically beating around the bush always, eventually, gets to the point, but he's not willing to show his cards right away. First, audiences need to hear about how tough a negotiator Hillary is, or how American mothers revered Bill through his political journey and his time as governor of Arkansas.
After about eight minutes, viewers are ready to hear how far the mighty have fallen. In this case, it was Hillary's transition from committing murders and "arranging the suicides of many of your Secret Service people" into hosting a new podcast. Dillon's show is like watching the news being broadcasted by someone who is on death row and has nothing to lose.
Through this method, Dillon laughed his way through the next year, amassing a reported 23,000+ Patreon subscribers who garnered him $1.5 million in revenue. In 2021, his show was labeled the seventh-richest podcast on the air.
By 2023, Dillon's production had lost any and all guardrails, as seen by clips titled "My Son's P*ssy Rant," for example. Looking to address transgender controversies, the 41-year-old provided adequate prefacing: "I don't want to live in a right-wing Christian theocracy," Dillon began, priming the conservative portion of his audience.
After reminding his viewers that such topics are always handled with tact, Dillon expressed that he isn't a fan of children being rushed into operating rooms or told to use puberty blockers.
While asserting that he is not trying to take a side in the culture war, Dillon asked a simple question: "Are we going to be better at making a vagina out of someone's bowel? I hope we are," he said.
"Literally not kidding, no joke," he added, saying he dreamed of a future where such surgeries become as easy as going to the dentist.
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This wasn't the first time Dillon tactfully addressed the excesses of the MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ community. In a video from 2019 titled, "The problem with 10 year old strippers," the comedian informed listeners that as a gay man himself, "if you're a woman and go 'I'm a dude,' it's still not working."
Much of Dillon's show is figuring how to say what is not supposed to be said and then saying it anyway.
"You can say it 'cause you're gay," Joe Rogan told Dillon in 2020, citing that his wife doesn't believe Dillon is actually a homosexual. But even if Dillon does have a "get-out-of-jail free pass" for gay topics, as Rogan claims, he still has to find a way to say more broadly incendiary politic remarks, too.
Dillon admitted to Rogan that he may "look too racist" to say certain things, but he says them anyway.
Case in point: episode No. 355. Dillon tells viewers about his trip to Denver, doing comedy shows and having a great time. After promoting his tour dates and talking about his observations in the Mile-High City, the New Yorker made another one of his famous comedy-to-politics transitions.
After about four minutes of a monologue culminating in the eating of a green chili burrito, Dillon stated, "In that time that I was away from you all, I imagine you've heard about, and this is not a big deal, it's the summer and the Obamas killed a sex slave."
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Whether Dillon is accusing the Obama family of murder, the Trump administration of being in a mafia-like government, or Vice President JD Vance acting clueless about Jeffrey Epstein, the backdrop of the entire podcast has, and always will be, Dillon's freedom of speech.
Dillon has vehemently, and perhaps even seriously, defended his right to free speech in the face of people who actually wanted to silence him. He discussed this when he was fired from the Riyadh Comedy Festival over jokes in which he said Saudi Arabia has slaves.
In his defense, Dillon said he was actually complimenting the Islamic regime by saying, "Slaves are probably hard workers and, for the most part, agreeable."
Things turned more serious when Dillon addressed comments his publicity team had allegedly told him about how there are certain topics he doesn't need to touch because they might hurt his career, but Dillon soundly rejected the idea: "On my own show, in my own country, where I have the freedom to speak and say the things I want, I'm going to be funny and I'm going to be who I am. And if you're not buying that, you don't have the right to tell me on my own show."
So whether Dillon is calling out "Good Morning America" for promoting an 11-year -old "drag kid" or being told he's a "self-hating gay guy" or not even really gay at all, he knows exactly where his get-out-of-jail free card lies: with his audience.
"The business doesn't have any teeth any more. They can't tell me what to do or say. What? They're not even offering anything."
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A night of drinking in Belfast gave Joe Rogan an epiphany: It's never going to be that way again.
Joking with fellow comedians Shane Gillis, Mark Normand, and Ari Shaffir, the quartet were going through their usual roundtable of anecdotes when — as usual — some sage advice poked its head through.
'Cameras have ruined young people.'
Rogan was recalling a night on the town in Northern Ireland, telling his friends about a literal drunken Irishman who was rambling about being willing to fight anyone. That experience, known only to him, is foregone history now thanks to modern technology.
"I miss those days where I could just go to a bar and just just pull up and just get lit. It was fun," Rogan said on his podcast.
"It's too hard" now, the comedian continued; it's all about the phones.
"So this is like 2007 ... there's no cameras. There's no phones. Nobody. There's no iPhone yet. So it's like people were just hanging out."
Then even Normand, who is usually a sunglasses-wearing fly on the wall who provides inappropriate remarks, was in lock-step with how smartphones have caused generational issues for the youth.
"Cameras have ruined young people, [they] can't cut loose."
Rogan concurred, "Phones ruined everything in terms of like, people's connection with each other."
The 59-year-old has lived a long time in the spotlight; whether it was reporting from early UFC events, hosting "Fear Factor," or doing stand-up tours, he feels confident pinpointing the exact place in time young people should be trying to replicate.
"The old phones, that was as far as we should have went. The flip phone that you could text on, and the texting sucked."
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Rogan's message been clear over the years: Put the phone away or face being "stuck," only if for a few days.
"I've pulled back considerably like I was saying, over the last three months. ... I just decided enough is enough," Rogan continued. "I don't like how I feel when I just scroll through doom."
Having previously stated that he doesn't want his phone anywhere near him while driving, Rogan, along with Gillis, has been signaling to young men that being disconnected from one's phone can not only serve as an advantage, it can be a relief.
The dreadful feeling was Gillis' angle, who felt like his decision to disconnect was thrust upon him, as opposed to a conscious move like that of Rogan.
Mirroring lawsuits against popular social media companies, Gillis said his exodus from platforms isn't a choice, instead he "got lucky enough that I can't look at it anymore. I can't. It's just negative."
"It's not like I'm like making a disciplined choice to be like, 'I don't want to look at this anymore,'" Gillis added. He hasn't looked at Reddit in years, and he can't even bring himself to look at X.
"It genuinely makes me feel bad," he stressed.
"I don't want to click on it anymore."
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The four horsemen of "Protect Our Parks" represent the advanced status of a group of friends from different backgrounds who made it big.
The reflection men see in them is obvious; it's like bros in a basement. This is specifically present when Rogan says things like, "There's a UFC in L.A. If you guys want to take over the Comedy Store for a weekend," as if they're heading to the bar.
But in that commentary comes lessons for the next generation of young men:
"You don't want to live in their world," Rogan said of influencers and phone addicts.
The truth bombs culminated:
"You don't want to be in their head, and they don't want it either. And the only way for them out is to not do that. And if they keep doing it and keep living in that f**king same swamp of ideas, they're never going to change."
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Shane Gillis put on a night that his fans will never forget last week in Philadelphia, and it wasn't an anomaly, it was the new normal.
Gillis broke two Guinness World Records at a sold-out Lincoln Financial Field that night, a venue that typically hosts NFL games.
'I put all of your lives at risk.'
Gillis not only set a new mark for the largest audience for a comedian with 73,946 attendees, but he also sold the most tickets for a comedy show ever for a single billing with 77,047 tickets.
Moreover, what Gillis was able to do with nearly a city-sized group of fans sitting all around him was culminate almost 15 years of hard work into a cultural moment. Gillis brought with him everything he loves, a protest in its own right given how he was treated by the media for simply being a regular guy.
The Gillis tribute opened with a flyover followed by Millennials' favorite rambunctious skateboarder Bam Margera, a Pennsylvania native, announcing a new season of Gillis' Netflix comedy "Tires."
Gillis tapped two of his friends and fellow comedians from the area to open for him, Matt McCusker and Jay Oakerson. While they were the only other comedy acts on the card, a series of unannounced appearances followed, each more surprising than the last.
For a comedian who was unilaterally labeled a bigot, racist, and homophobe just seven years ago, Gillis had no shortage of celebrities willing to appear under his banner.
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Making appearances from the sports world were two Philadelphia Eagles players: offensive tackle Jordan Mailata and defensive back Cooper DeJean.
Former Eagles center Jason Kelce — brother of Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift's husband — was also in the mix, coming on stage and screaming into the microphone to hype up the crowd.
The night also featured performances from rappers Meek Mill and Three 6 Mafia, and although Kanye West was rumored to make an appearance (he did not), in the end the biggest cameo came after Gillis' 30-minute set.
Like a boxer on his way to the ring, Dave Chappelle walked down the aisle to screaming fans and joined Gillis for 20 minutes of off-the-cuff banter.
Chappelle immediately became that friend who brings up politics when he came to the stage and commented on what he described as an Air Force flyover.
"Y'all n*****s should be at the Straight of Hormuz, opening that s**t up. But I'm glad you could make it here for Shane's show."
Gillis quickly corrected Chappelle, laughing that they were actually World War II planes he needed to get insurance for.
"I put all of your lives at risk," Gillis joked. "I was not worried about you guys, I was worried about how much money I would have to pay if a World War II Mustang crashed into you guys."
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Even Guinness World Records adjudicator Andy Glass praised Gillis' ability to put on an unforgettable night.
"Tonight's event was a powerful reminder that record-breaking achievements continue to capture people's imagination around the world," Glass said, per CBS News.
Gillis' football field extravaganza is indeed the new normal for what was so recently portrayed as fringe entertainment for far-right audiences. Not only is he following in the footsteps of Tony Hinchcliffe's frequent Madison Square Garden appearances, he is elevating the scene to new heights never imagined before.
Touring arenas and doing the occasional stadium is not new for comedians, but for ones who were universally excommunicated by the entertainment industry, it certainly is.
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Last night, Manhattan’s David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center hosted the annual ESPY Awards, honoring the top athletes, teams, and sports performances of the year.
As a first-time host, Marcello Hernández kicked off the ceremony with a comedy monologue that mixed sports with jokes about immigrants, American culture, and race.
'Sports without immigrants is just cornhole.'
Saturday Night Live cast member Hernández, who is of Dominican and Cuban descent, began by shouting out last year’s host, Shane Gillis, joking that Gillis was watching from home “like a true American — on his couch, drinking a beer, while a Hispanic guy does his job.”
He then praised immigrant athletes, declaring, “Immigrant athletes are what make sports great because at the end of the day, sports without immigrants is just cornhole.”
Joking about America’s habit of calling its sports champions “world champions,” Hernández said the FIFA World Cup is “the time when American sports fans remember what the word ‘world’ means,” adding that they typically think it just means “the U.S. and one team from Toronto.”
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He also took aim at the “white sport” of hockey, saying, “You know how I know hockey is a white sport? No matter what you do, the worst thing that happens is, ‘Go to time-out for two minutes.’”
“Latino people watch hockey, and when they see them put those guys in the box for two minutes, the Latino people are like, ‘He gonna do it again. He didn’t learn anything from that.’”
Congratulating WNBA players on their new collective bargaining agreement, Hernández poked fun at the league’s lesbian athletes.
“There’s a lot of new money in the WNBA, man, opening up the door to a new reality show: ‘Basketball Husbands ... and Wives.’” He added after a pause, “But mostly wives.”
Not even Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson was safe from the butt of a joke.
Referring to Brunson winning an NBA championship with his father, Rick Brunson, as an assistant coach, Hernández said it proved “that nepotism, like most things, is way cooler when a black guy does it.”
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While Hernández’s remarks provided the evening’s opening entertainment, the show ultimately returned to celebrating the athletes and teams who defined the past year.
Among the night’s biggest winners were the New York Knicks, who took home Best Team; Shohei Ohtani, who won Best Single-Game Performance; and Jalen Brunson, who earned Best Athlete — Men’s Sports.
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