Adam Carolla Lauds ‘News Girl’ Gina Grad, Walks Us Through Grueling Podcast Schedule

Somehow, “Loveline” alum has time for a new Spike TV live-building show

Adam Carolla Gina Grad
Adam Carolla and Gina Grad

Adam Carolla is one of the busiest men in Hollywood, though he’d probably hate the mere suggestion that he co-exists with the town.

The host of six — yes, six — regular podcasts has also recently penned a number of best-selling books; written, produced and starred in some independent films, and is currently all-in on the documentary genre. He’s also a father of twins, a race car driver, and just helped Jimmy Kimmel write one of the best Academy Awards shows in history.

Oh, one other thing: “The Man Show” alum has a new Spike TV show starting next week, “Adam Carolla & Friends Build Stuff Live.” That’s how this interview came about, though we had to ask the dude behind “Crank Yankers” exactly how ridiculous his current schedule is — particularly the part he refers to as a “pirate ship.”

“If we’re doing it right, there isn’t any downtime,” Carolla told us of recording his many podcasts. “We just go roll right into the next one, right into the next one, right into the next one. My busiest day will be six, maybe seven podcasts.”

“I wouldn’t mind getting a cup of coffee, but it’s not scheduled — nor is lunch — it’s just, ‘Let’s get started,’” he continued. “We back ’em all right up against each other, because the idea is to see how much we can get done in as small a window as we can.”

“I have lots of other projects and things to do, so sometimes we’ll leave a half-hour in-between the podcasts,” Carolla added. “But it won’t be for lunch, it’ll just be to go work on the documentary, or whatever else we’re doing.”

Carolla’s main podcast, “The Adam Carolla Show” (“ACS”) recently topped 2,000 total episodes. It’s also the Guinness Book record holder for most downloads.

“ACS” drops a new podcast every single weekday, like clockwork. That’s consistency. Two years ago, however, there was some sudden turnover at a key on-air position, when Carolla fired “news girl” Alison Rosen. TheWrap did a lot of reporting on what went down back then: Rosen first broke her silence in an interview with this writer. For what it’s worth, Carolla’s story about their separation was a little different; back-and-forth they went.

About a month later, the “Alison Rosen Is Your Next Best Friend” host was replaced by KLSX on-air personality Gina Grad. She’s stuck around “ACS” for two years now, becoming a fan-favorite in her own right. More importantly, Adam also really likes her work.

“I really like Gina, and I like going to work with Gina,” he told us. “I think Gina is great.”

“You know, I didn’t need a ton out of that role,” Carolla continued, something he had also explained during the Rosen aftermath. “Like, I didn’t need a hysterical person to bolster the comedy — but Gina is funny.”

He added: “And I just enjoy seeing Gina on a daily basis, and that’s about half of it in this business. You know, you see people every single day, and sometimes it gets a little stressful, and blah, blah, blah… I just like Gina as a human being. She’s very good, she’s very polished. I mean, she’s got a lot of reps. People don’t realize how long it takes to be a pro, so to speak, and she’s definitely a pro.”

Check back next week for more from our interview with Carolla. His new Spike show debuts Tuesday at 10/9c.

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