What is Adam Carolla's Net Worth and Salary?
Adam Carolla is an American comedian and radio and television personality who has a net worth of $20 million. Adam Carolla first became well-known as the co-host of the radio show (turned TV show) "Loveline." He co-hosted the show with Dr. Drew Pinsky. He then became even more famous as the co-star of Comedy Central's "The Man Show" along side Jimmy Kimmel. Today he is one of the highest-paid and most-successful podcasters in the world. His podcast, "The Adam Carolla Show," earned a Guinness World Record for most downloaded podcast in 2011 after it received more than 59 million downloads between March 2009 and March 2011.
Early Life
Adam Carolla was born on May 27, 1964, in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and North Hollywood with mother Kris, father Jim (a psychologist), and older sister Lauren. Adam has said that after his parents separated, his mother had difficulty providing for her children. Carolla studied at Colfax Elementary School and Walter Reed Junior High, and he didn't receive his diploma from North Hollywood High School until 2005 when he paid off a longstanding school library fine (which was documented in the "Nail in the Head" episode of "The Adam Carolla Project"). Adam spent 7 years playing Pop Warner football as a youth, and he was chosen for the First Team Offensive Line, Central Valley League when he was in high school. At age 18, he decided to live on his own and enrolled at Los Angeles Valley College, but he dropped out to focus on work after being placed on academic probation. During this time, he worked as a carpenter, traffic school instructor, carpet cleaner, and boxing instructor. Adam began his comedy training with The Groundlings and ACME Comedy Theatre in the early 1990s.
Radio and Podcasting Career
When Jimmy Kimmel was challenged to a boxing match at L.A. radio station KROQ in 1994, Carolla was his trainer. Kimmel then helped Carolla get a job on KROQ's "Kevin and Bean Morning Show." It was on KROQ that Dr. Drew (Drew Pinsky) heard Carolla and liked his style. In 1995, after Adam was signed to the William Morris Agency, Drew offered Adam a job co-hosting the "Loveline" radio program. It was at this time that "Loveline" became nationally syndicated, and Carolla stayed with the show until November 2005. In January 2006, Carolla began hosting "The Adam Carolla Show" on the Infinity Broadcasting network, replacing the "Howard Stern Show" in several markets after Stern moved to SiriusXM. The show was canceled in February 2009 after KLSX switched to a top 40 station. On February 23, 2009, Adam started "The Adam Carolla Podcast," which aired daily on his website. It quickly became the #1 podcast on iTunes, who named "The Adam Carolla Podcast" the Best Audio Podcast of 2009.
TV and Film Career
In 1996, "Loveline," along with Adam and Drew, came to television on MTV. It was a popular late-night, hour-long show, which Adam and Drew co-hosted (variously) with Diane Farr, Catherine McCord, Laura Kightlinger, and Kris McGaha. The MTV show ran until 2000. In 1999, Carolla teamed up with Jimmy Kimmel for "The Man Show," which aired on Comedy Central until 2003; since the show ended, he has contributed to "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" as both a writer and a guest. Adam founded a production company, Jackhole Productions, with Kimmel and Daniel Kellison, and Carolla and Kellison created "Crank Yankers," a show where puppets re-enact crank calls made by comedians. The show aired on Comedy Central from June 2002 to March 2005, MTV2 from February to March 2005, and on Comedy Central again in 2019. In 2005, Adam hosted Comedy Central talk show "Too Late with Adam Carolla" and TLC home renovation show "The Adam Carolla Project." In 2008, Carolla competed on "Dancing with the Stars," pairing up with Julianne Hough and coming in 9th place. He also appeared on "The Celebrity Apprentice" (2012) and was fired during the fourth week of the competition.
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Adam co-hosted Speed TV's "The Car Show" in 2011 and Spike TV's "Catch a Contractor" from 2014 to 2015, and he hosted "Adam Carolla and Friends Build Stuff Live" on Spike in 2017. Carolla is also known for his voice work in "Wreck-It Ralph" (2012), "Family Guy" (2000-2014), "Drawn Together," (2004-2007), and "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command" (2000-2001), and he has appeared in the films "Windy City Heat" (2003), "The Hammer" (2007), "Road Hard" (2015), "Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman" (2015), "The 24 Hour War" (2016), and "No Safe Spaces" (2019). He co-wrote "The Hammer" and "Road Hard" and directed "Road Hard," "Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman," and "The 24 Hour War."
Writing Career
Adam has released several books, including "In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks… And Other Complaints from an Angry Middle-Aged White Guy" (2010), "Not Taco Bell Material" (2012), and "I'm Your Emotional Support Animal: Navigating Our All Woke, No Joke Culture" (2020). "In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks" and "Not Taco Bell Material" were both New York Times Best Sellers.
Divorce and Personal Life
Adam married Lynette Paradise on September 28, 2002. The couple welcomed twins Santino and Natalia on June 7, 2006. In mid-2023 it was revealed that the couple was in the process of divorcing.
In July 2023 Adam agreed to pay Lynette $47,000 per month for child support and $30,000 per month in spousal support. On the plus side, at the time the settlement was reached, their twin children were 17 years old. So presumably the $47,000 monthly child support ($564,000 per year) would last less than a year.
He supports the legalization of marijuana and is a member of the Marijuana Policy Project's advisory board.
Real Estate
In 2018, Carolla paid $7.327 million for a 7,300 square foot home in La Cañada Flintridge, California. In June 2023 he listed this home for sale for $9 million. In May 2024 baseball player Shohei Ohtani paid $7.85 million for the home. Here is a video tour:
He put a different La Cañada Flintridge home on the market for $3.395 million in September 2018 and sold a development property in the area for $1.875 million in August 2019.
Adam Carolla also owns a contemporary ranch house in the Point Dume area of Malibu, and a home in the Beachwood Canyon area of Los Angeles, California. Carolla's Beachwood Canyon home is 2,281 square feet, with 3 bedrooms, and 2.75 bathrooms. The home features high-beamed ceilings, a step-down living room, hardwood floors, wet bar, fireplace, and arched window with city views of Los Angeles. The den/family room has a fireplace and built in entertainment center. The kitchen has a built-in buffet, eat-in kitchen area, high grade stainless steel appliances, and French doors leading to the patio area. The master bedroom features yet another fireplace in the home. The home is surrounded by a stone structure with steep driveway, with the yard wrapping around the house, a shaded patio area, a flagstone terrace with built in barbecue pit, and a view of the Hollywood sign from the patio.
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Car Collection
Adam Carolla's car collection is pretty impressive. He owns dozens of cars including several that were driven by Paul Newman. Adam has won 2 Pro/Celebrity Races, competing as a celebrity in 2012 and a professional in 2013. His garage contains an eclectic collection of automobiles from various different brand names and eras. Adam Carolla's car collection includes sports cars and race cars from manufacturers like Lamborghini, Datsun, Nissan and more.
But unlike fellow comedian and automotive enthusiast Jay Leno, Adam Carolla's cars are not stored in a meticulously maintained showroom – it's a garage. Carolla's garage has the look of a workshop that someone actually works in – discarded pieces of equipment are scattered across most of the visible counter spaces, and the entire garage as a whole has an appealingly "lived in" quality.
Also distinguishing Adam Carolla's cars and garage from Leno's is the sense that the collection has plenty of room to grow. Although Carolla's net worth is a surprisingly robust $20 million, there are still plenty of cars that he wishes to acquire. The comedian has mentioned a Ferrari 250 GTO, a BMW 3.0 CSL race car, and a diesel-powered Nissan Armada specifically as holding the top slots on his mental wish list.
Car nuts will be pleased to discover that Carolla doesn't just let these cars sit in his garage. He's also an active amateur racer, participating in several races in his prized Bob Sharp Datsun 610. He hasn't raced in all the cars in his collection, but one can presume he hasn't ruled it out, either.
