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Adam Carolla Show

Mike Tollin + Ben Browning (Carolla Classics)

16 Jan 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is Corolla Classics about?

15.539 - 28.733 Giovanni

Welcome to Corolla Classics. I'm your host, superfan Giovanni. This is the podcast where we play the best moments, highlights, and fan-selected clips from all 16 years of The Adam Corolla Show. We have a companion podcast titled Corolla Classics. You can find the ad-free archives exclusively available through PodcastOne.plus.

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29.273 - 44.089 Giovanni

And if you'd like to get access to the ad-free archives of The Adam Corolla Show and The Adam and Dr. Drew Show, as well as access to the brand-new podcast, Beat It Out, make sure to check out Adam Corolla's sub-stack, adamcorolla.substack.com. And if you'd like to request a clip, please email us, classics at adamcorolla.com. Now on to the clips.

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44.57 - 61.496 Giovanni

Today's episode of Cruel Classics is made up of episodes from 2009, the very first year of the podcast. The first episode up in episode 191, Mike Tolan, director, he directed the movie Radio and a bunch of other things. This is an episode that probably hasn't been heard by most people since it originally aired. I thought it'd be really fun to dig it out of the archive and see what happens.

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61.837 - 62.758 Giovanni

Hope you guys enjoy.

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66.62 - 89.708 Unknown

Welcome to the podcast, Mike Tolan. Mike, you may not recognize the name, but Mike is a big-time director. He recently did Who Killed the USFL, which is part of the 30 for 30 documentary series that's on ESPN, which I've been enjoying the shit out of. But then you have Wild Hogs. Jesus, that movie made some money. Norbit, all that.

89.688 - 101.069 Unknown

Coach Carter, Varsity Blues, one of my favorites, and I don't even know why. And many others to your credit. So you like sports and you like directing. That's good.

101.189 - 106.819 Mike Tollin

Sports has been good to me, to paraphrase somebody who was talking about baseball.

106.934 - 108.918 Unknown

Yeah, Chico Escuela.

109.139 - 125.112 Mike Tollin

Chico Escuela, yeah. Well, I started doing documentaries, and then I worked for Major League Baseball, and then I came out here and hooked up with Brian Robbins, and we found a company. It's a great place for storytelling. You know, you've got winners and losers, good guys and bad guys. You know what you're rooting for. It's the best.

Chapter 2: Who is Mike Tolan and what are his notable works?

167.814 - 178.949 Mike Tollin

And then, you know, in hardball, the little kid gets killed at the end and they don't actually play the big game. And in Coach Carter, they actually lose in the playoffs at the end. So, yeah, Friday Night Lights had the same thing happen.

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179.009 - 196.354 Mike Tollin

So, you know, we always like to say, yeah, we're making a sports movie, but it's about something else, and you've got to sort of hook into the characters and what's at stake. But it's just really accessible. It's a common language, and people love it. We're working on a couple. Right now there's this amazing story.

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196.375 - 212.416 Mike Tollin

Did you ever see the piece on ESPN, Outside the Lines, about the fireman in South Carolina? He got killed in what turned out to be the most tragic blaze in America since 9-11. Nine guys died in a furniture warehouse.

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212.456 - 213.638 Unknown

Yeah, it sounds familiar.

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213.618 - 233.002 Mike Tollin

And he's a coach, and he had promised these guys since eighth grade we're going to win a state title in the 12th grade, and now he's dead, and they put his fire hat on the same seat he used to sit in on the bench, and they get to the state finals. So with one, this is like you would never write this. You would never have the chutzpah to write this because it's too outlandish.

233.022 - 246.823 Mike Tollin

Okay, so they're chanting his name, Lewis, Mulkey, the whole time, and they get to the state finals as underdogs. They're up by two with 1.7 seconds left, and they're on the line for a one-on-one. So if he makes the foul shots, it's over. Oh, okay. I'm sorry.

246.843 - 256.84 Unknown

I was at football the entire time, so I was up by two points. Must have been a safety, and then they're on the line for the one-on-one, and I was like... Geez, I know football pretty well.

256.86 - 275.67 Mike Tollin

What's a one-on-one? Sorry, sorry. High school basketball in South Carolina. Okay. And even if he misses them, there's 1.7 seconds left. It's got to be over, right? Sure enough, he misses the front end of the one-on-one. The guy rebounds the ball. And so from the opposing key, you know, you're talking 85 feet away, heaves the ball in the basket.

275.65 - 300.654 Unknown

So the team that's up with the dead coach fireman is on the line. Exactly. And like I said, with, what did you say, 2 points? 1.7. 1.7 seconds left. So if you make it, you're up by three, and the game's essentially over. I mean, the best they could do is an 80-yard hook shot to tie it up. But I'm guessing they have the three-point.

Chapter 3: What challenges do sports documentaries face?

644.656 - 670.239 Unknown

And, you know, it was like our quarterback was hurt, our running back was hurt. Everyone was sort of playing out of position and stuff like that. And they were beating us 7-0 the entire game, basically. And with about, you know, two, three minutes left – They punted, and it went to Wendell, and sure enough, Wendell took it to the house, and I snapped the ball for the extra point.

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670.319 - 671.481 Unknown

We kicked it, and it was 7-7.

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672.062 - 673.164 Mike Tollin

Didn't go for the two.

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673.485 - 676.364 Unknown

Didn't go for the two. It was 7-7.

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676.484 - 682.136 Mike Tollin

Sounds like if you're 1-8 and you have that happen, just go for the two and try to win it.

682.316 - 687.487 Unknown

I don't know why old coach Fred Nilsen didn't go for the two.

687.648 - 689.772 Mike Tollin

It was his chance. He settled for a tie.

689.792 - 693.36 Unknown

We weren't exactly moving the ball up and down the field.

693.34 - 698.029 Mike Tollin

Exactly. That's why, you know, how much closer are you going to get to an opportunity to win it?

Chapter 4: How does personal experience influence storytelling in sports?

817.878 - 837.153 Mike Tollin

Not known a lot for academic excellence, but... What? Englewood? On the hardwoods, they were the champs. So they had won the state championship. This is 1992. They were defending state champs in basketball, and all five starters are coming back. That's kind of unheard of because if you're winning the state title, you assume you've got seniors.

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837.754 - 848.627 Mike Tollin

So out of the five, three are blue-chip Division I prospects who all think they're going to be the next Michael Jordan. We make a deal with the school. They let us basically matriculate. I mean, we took our little – they were canon –

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848.607 - 871.695 Mike Tollin

cameras you know cost probably two thousand dollars each you could use them for home movies and we went to school every day and we shot there was gunfire in the in the hallways and there was crazy kids flunking out this and that but the team you know you go to practice every day and there they were you just saw these guys who were just like thoroughbreds all you know seeing dollar signs in their eyes and they go cruising through the season into the playoffs

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871.675 - 883.276 Mike Tollin

By the way, this is a school where Byron Scott went, Eldon Campbell went, so two ex-Lakers, and they both came back. And Jim Brown showed up to do a whole speech about fathers and responsibility.

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883.296 - 893.093 Unknown

To be fair, whenever more than eight black people show up somewhere, Jim Brown just wanders into the mix with his sleeves cut off and starts giving it his koofy and starts giving an inspirational speech.

893.073 - 913.406 Mike Tollin

And the hat, the multicolored hat, right? Digger Phelps showed up from Notre Dame to talk about having a backup. So they get to the finals now, and it's our guys from Englewood against a school from Palo Alto. It's Hoosiers, an all-white team from the suburb against the bad boys from Englewood, by which point one kid had a full ride to USC.

913.646 - 919.736 Unknown

Palo Alto's Stanford, right? It's where Stanford is. Right, yeah. So it's a very nice white, you know.

919.756 - 935.854 Mike Tollin

Yeah, Palo Alto. gentrified neighborhood. It's like Gene Hackman's the coach. There's no shot. We're 32-point favorites. One guy's already got a full ride to USC. One guy's got a full ride to Oklahoma. One guy's going to Washington State. So the week of... It's just like your thing. The week of...

935.834 - 950.557 Mike Tollin

The practice week before the championship game, two guys, one of whom is the starting point guard, get caught on campus with two loaded guns, one of which was an Uzi, just cruising through campus with an Uzi. Yeah. So they're not suspended but expelled.

Chapter 5: What experiences do they share about fishing and food on the island?

4124.385 - 4128.833 Ben Browning

I don't know. I think it's American settlers that America owns the land, so I don't know.

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4130.516 - 4138.729 Unknown

It's an American territory. Looking at the island chains now. But beautiful azure blue waters, very crystal clear. Warm, right?

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4138.962 - 4143.709 Ben Browning

It's like Hawaii. It's just southern hemisphere, so seasons are just different.

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4144.13 - 4154.746 Unknown

Yeah. Now, did you have any luck fishing? I didn't have any fishing gear, so no. Shouldn't they give you, I know they'll give you, what do they give you, some rice and a machete?

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4154.786 - 4164.48 Ben Browning

They gave us a machete and a bag to hold stuff in, like a woven bag, and a canteen, and that was it. Not even a tarp.

Chapter 6: How do coconut crabs compare to other crabs?

4164.46 - 4176.293 Ben Browning

Nope. And no rice? Nope, because we had plenty of food. I mean, there's bananas, plantains, papayas, lemons, limes. Oh, okay. And then you've got the ocean. So we ate crab every morning.

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4176.728 - 4179.774 Unknown

You just go get them and boil the water?

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4179.794 - 4182.118 Ben Browning

Yeah, boil them in salt water. It's like eating crab at a restaurant.

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Chapter 7: What are the challenges of living in the jungle?

4182.138 - 4200.584 Ben Browning

Really? It's not much different, yeah. Wow. And they have huge, huge coconut crabs. And what they are is they're hermit crabs. They've gotten too big for their shells. I mean, some of them are as big as coconuts. And they're stronger than a human. I mean, if they get a hold of a tree, you can't pull them off of it. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. I mean, it's crazy.

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4200.604 - 4207.841 Ben Browning

What if they got a hold of your nuts or something? Gone. Wow. And they can crack coconuts with their claws. Really? Yeah. Oh, wait. I'm looking at one now.

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4208.122 - 4229.178 Unknown

Look at that big-ass thing. I mean, their claw can crack a coconut shell. Oh, it can take your hand off. I know because coconut shells, I mean, there's nothing harder. I mean, coconut shells you can just beat on with like a machete and it'll just bounce back and hit you in the forehead. So they can crack a coconut shell.

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4229.258 - 4240.389 Ben Browning

They eat coconuts? Yep, that's what they eat. That's how you catch them. You break open coconuts and you set them out and then the crabs will come up to them. And they hide in the weirdest places. They're up in the trees. They're all around. I mean, you can see how big that thing is.

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4240.409 - 4243.692 Unknown

They are some of the ugliest looking things I've ever seen in my life.

4243.84 - 4249.069 Ben Browning

Yeah, it's like another creature. You're not used to seeing it. When you do see it, it's kind of shocking, but they taste pretty good.

4249.229 - 4255.34 Unknown

But when you're sleeping on the ground or near the ground... We built a shelter, and we built it off the ground.

4255.5 - 4260.97 Ben Browning

It was funny. One of the guys said, let's just build it on the ground. I said, man, you're in the jungle. We'll be eaten alive.

4261.29 - 4281.559 Unknown

If one of those coconut crabs... got near me while I was asleep, I would defecate while screaming at the top of my lungs, while crying. I would freak out. Were those things crawling around like just as you slept and as you did your thing?

Chapter 8: What are the implications of cannabis legalization discussed?

5613.772 - 5627.83 Ben Browning

And he was like the whitest black guy I've ever met. Incognigro, solid. And it was funny. I said, man, if anybody's racist, it's you. I mean, he said the word ho referred to black women.

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5628.08 - 5630.885 Unknown

Oh, really? That's what you would call your mom?

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5632.107 - 5640.36 Ben Browning

I said, this girl is a hoe. She's pretty much trash. Oh, I see. And he was like, well, if you call somebody a hoe, that's referring to them as being black.

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5640.701 - 5676.003 Unknown

Oh, no. I was like, give it up, dude. Yeah, it's a lot of rap songs, but I think there's certainly, I've met a few white hoes. I don't even know. What's hoes? Is hoes short for hoes or whore? Is a hoe just short for whore? How lazy do you have to be that you can't say the whole word whore? You know what I mean? So it's what Mike is to Michael? So ho is whore. Yes.

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5676.023 - 5697.567 Unknown

And I think it's kind of like an ebonic. What is it called? Ebonics? I don't know. It's just slang. It's slang. Yeah, all right. Well, we'll give Snoop Dogg credit for it. All right. Ben, I know Donnie, quiet with the door, would you, over there? Jesus Christ, how many times are we going to talk about the same thing? Sorry about that. Yeah, all right there, Weezer.

5697.587 - 5707.056 Unknown

Trying to run a professional show over here. Ben, how about you toss out a website or a bar name or something where people can find you?

5707.236 - 5715.664 Ben Browning

People can check me out at the Buffalo Club. It's 1520 Olympic in Santa Monica. I also have a drink company called Marquee Platinum, drinkplatinum.com.

5716.42 - 5719.064 Unknown

And so you go to drinkplatinum.com?

5719.405 - 5723.09 Ben Browning

Yeah, and you can check out, it's an all-natural vitality drink.

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