Chapter 1: What is discussed at the start of this section?
Well, in this episode, very funny actor and comedian Rob Riggle joins me for a real discussion. News with Rudy, and we'll do all that after this. Thanks for tuning into The Adam Carolla Show. You can watch the full show on YouTube. Just search Adam Carolla Show and hit subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also get the podcast wherever you like to listen. And for extra content,
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From Corolla One Studios in Glendale, California, this is The Adam Corolla Show. Adam's guest today, Rob Riggle. Plus the news with Rudy Povich. And now, Adam Corolla. Yeah, get it on. Got to get it on. No choice but to get it on. The mandate you get on. Rob Riggle in studio. Got a book out called Grit, Spit, and Never Quit. Notes, and then it stopped. So now I'm going to look over here. Yeah.
Oh, notes. Oh, okay. I thought it was going to be like notes from the edge or something. Yeah, I made some notes. Anyway, Marine's Guide to Comedy and Life. Yeah. Yeah. Rob's one of the good ones. The only Marine on Manhattan Island for a while. Is that correct? Well, I wasn't the only Marine there, but my reserve unit was the only reserve unit in Manhattan. Yes.
Mike August always thought there was a sitcom in being the only unit in all of Manhattan. Well, I remember the first time I think I ever met with him. I was pursuing comedy and acting in Manhattan at the time, but I still had my day job with the Marines.
So I think he, somehow he saw me doing something with the UCB Theater or something, but he was like, they're coming for a meeting, kid, basically. And when I went to meet with him, I was in my uniform. And he was probably like, I think he was baffled. He was like, what the hell is this?
He decided, as he often does, that the story would be better if you were the only Marine on all of Manhattan, which does not mirror the truth. But how big was your company? The unit was small. Yeah, the unit was very small. It was probably... 20 to 30 Marines. So that was all though. I mean, it was still kind of an interesting story being one of 20 or 30 Marines in all of Manhattan, right? Yeah.
Yeah. Because there were other Marines, but they were on like recruiting duty perhaps or other things. That reserve unit that I was in was more of a training unit. So, you know, it was a lot of FBI agents, a lot of cops that, you know, they had day jobs and then they were in the reserve units, you know. Yeah.
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Chapter 2: How does Rob Riggle's military background influence his comedy?
It's discipline. It gets you in shape. Whatever, whatever. All the various drills, dragging the sled around the thing and the whole everything. And then you go, well, what's that have to do with comedy? Well, it's good. It's good. It gives you a base. Mm-hmm. And you also – you get kind of resilient. That's it. Which you need. That's the word. It's about resilience and discipline.
If you don't learn those habits early, they're really hard to learn later. Right. And there was times I was going to practice – because I'm the same way. I played football from fifth grade all the way through high school. And – this was back in the 80s too, so fifth grade coaches treated you like Woody Hayes.
They would hit me over the head with the whistle and the helmet and your head would ring. That was one of their favorite moves. They'd chew you out like you were a college athlete and you'd be crying and they wouldn't stop. They'd keep going. They had no mercy.
You got tough quick. You got mentally tough quick. And then sometimes you'd just be working out in August Intuit days or whatever, and you wouldn't know why.
It was just hell on earth. But you did it because you were supposed to do it. You were disciplined to do it. And you learned how to do these things. And the resilience came with it. The discipline came with it. And I didn't realize those intangibles would pay off all through my life. Still to this day. Still to this day. Well, they can be applied to anything. Yeah.
And I don't think people really get that. If you get that toughness and the resilience and a little bit of grit and a little bit of push-through pain, you know, just a little are you hurt or are you injured kind of thing, you get a little – you kind of get through that. And then what happens is little stuff pops up later on. Like they go –
you know, you're going to drive to Vegas and then you're doing two shows, but you got to do a podcast before that. You're going to be too tired to do that second. I go, no, I'm not. Yeah, I got this. And they go, you're going to do the podcast, then you got to drive to Vegas, but you got to hit the stage like a half hour after you, and then there's a second.
You're not going to be in any condition. I go, yes, I will. By the way, it's all I can do to stop yelling, calling people pussy all the time. But I mean, I'm like, yes, that is nothing. I'm proud of our generation. I'm very proud of our generation. I think we were raised on resilience. I give coaches, the coaches I had, they were SOBs. They were hard-nosed guys.
And the drill instructors I had, they were hard-nosed guys. Oh, yeah. And they didn't have... They were reasonable men, right? They would feed you. If you had a dangling broken arm, they would let you sit down. But they didn't give you outs all the time. They made you stand there and face the fire. And what I appreciate about them so much now looking back is...
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Chapter 3: What lessons about resilience does Rob Riggle share?
Mission accomplished. But it's a – That out. You can't have that out all the time. Right. But it's the feminine out. And in the past, we went – we had roles. And we said, listen, I'm going to teach a boy how to do a push-up. Why don't you get in the kitchen and make somebody eat? When we're done, we're going to want to eat. But we decided you can no longer do that.
So now they've wandered out and they've assumed both roles. And that's not good. It's not good for young boys. So my grandfather – we have a farm in our family. So my grandfather and my dad and myself, we all work the farm. I still do to this day. But – When I was young, I couldn't wait until I got to go with dad out into the fields or out whatever project they were doing.
I don't know, fixing fence, tagging cattle, checking crops, cutting milkweed, whatever the chore was of the day. I just wanted to go with dad. I wanted to go with dad. I wanted to go with dad. Finally got to go. Big enough to go with dad. Nine years old, something like that. Dad worked for 12 hours out there. I hated it. I was done after two. I was done, done. But dad said, this is the deal.
You're out here with the men today. This is what we're gonna do. Eventually about hour four, he would take mercy and let me go sit in the truck. But that was about as good as it got for me. And then I'd have to come back out after an hour or so and get back to work or whatever. But I realized how much – this sucks. But I didn't get an out.
I didn't have anybody come in and say, well, let him come with us to the water slide. Let him come with us to the – Yes, you will take that out immediately. I would have taken it in a – if my mom showed up and gave me the out, I would have taken it at that age. But because I didn't have the out, you just – you kind of get a callous for it. You kind of say, oh, this is the standard. You –
You had a David Koechner, I think, story in the book. I had a weird – let me tell you what happened with me and Koechner like three weeks ago. I don't think I mentioned it on the podcast, but I was like flying home from one of my many, I don't know where, Floridas. No, I was in D.C. I think it was D.C. Anyway, a lot of two-show late night, early morning, Ubers, 5.30 a.m., whatever.
I end up sitting on an airplane. I don't even know what day it is. And I'm like trying to, you know, and I'm in first class. I'm in the very front. And I hear this like kind of guy behind me. He's like, hey. And I turn around. I'm looking sort of through the seats a little like above. I go, yeah. And he goes, who let you into that seat? And I go, uh. I don't know.
It's too early for this?
You're like, I don't know what you're talking about. It's a guy with a full beard and a cowboy hat. And he goes, we'll let you get in that seat. And I go, I don't know. I booked it from before. I don't know. I bought the seat. Shouldn't be in that seat. It's a first class seat. And I'm looking at the guy going, what the fuck is going on here? Who is this? It's Keckner with the...
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Chapter 4: How does Rob Riggle connect his experiences to today's youth?
And maybe he's staying in the East Coast or New York, but he keeps that muscle toned. And so how did you get on to The Daily Show? I had to audition just like, just like everybody else went through the meat grinder. Um, and I thought I didn't get it to be honest with you. And here's interesting thing about that was, uh, I was, I was broke. I was down and out. And, uh, uh,
I had been let go from Saturday Night Live. There had been a year since I had been let go. I'd been doing some reserve drills. I was in command and staff college down at Miramar on the weekends, and I was trying to find work wherever I could. I got... My buddy and I, Rob Hubel, we got a deal to write a pilot for NBC. Oh, Rob, yeah. We wrote that pilot. It didn't get picked up.
We weren't even going to star in it. We just wrote the pilot for him. Right. But I was piecing together work. But I had a wife and a daughter, a newborn daughter. And I felt the heavy hand of responsibility. And I was hooking and jabbing. But we were running out of money and I was running out of options and I just didn't know what was going on as far as where the money was going to come from.
I got this audition. I had just moved the family out here to LA and I, uh, I, I got an audition for the daily show. So I'm like, sure. I was taking any audition I could win in. I did well enough. They were like, John wants to have you in the studio to read with him. So I thought, okay, great. But you know, it was that, um, it was, it was a shot clock.
You know, I was, I was down to my last couple seconds and had I not gotten the daily show, I had a plan in place to go back on active duty, which was at the height of the Iraq War. It was 2006. And they were getting ready to do the surge and they needed bodies. I was going to be picked up very quickly. Sorry. Who's surge? I don't know.
Okay. Okay.
No, no. Mike, Serge. I know you've heard of these things. The military Serge. Serge is a name of a guy who doesn't wear an undershirt under like a blazer. Yes, that's true. Cabana boy. Yeah. But had I not gotten the Daily Show, I had a plan to go back on active duty. And so when I blew the audition... I thought I blew the audition. I actually stepped out onto the sidewalk. It was in the summer.
I remember it was hot as hell in New York. And I had a flip phone. And I called my wife at the time. I called her and I just said, hey, I'm sorry. I think I blew it. But don't panic. Don't worry. We're not going to be out in the street. We're not going to be, you know, you don't have to move in with our parents. We're going to be fine. I'm going to go back on active duty.
We're going to get medical coverage. We're going to get, you know, we're going to get a paycheck on the 1st and the 5th, 15th. Sure. And we're going to be okay. So don't worry. Okay. Don't panic. Everybody's going to be fine. And then they gave me the job, so I didn't have to do it. It reminded me of a story I haven't told in a million years, which was,
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Chapter 5: What insights does Rob Riggle share about his audition experience?
Yes. I pitched him Mark DiCarlo. So then I drove home. But you nailed it. Right, but I've never been on TV before. And Mark DiCarlo was on Studs, and Studs was a big syndicated late night... So you felt like he had a little more cachet? Well, Loveline at the time was going to be a syndicated late night love show. It wasn't on MTV. It was a syndicated show originally.
So at that time, Adam Carolla... Was a carpenter boxing coach, basically, who has zero anytime late night, any time of the day, camera, anything. Mark DiCarlo hosted a syndicated late night love show already called Studs, which was very popular. Got it. So why wouldn't they go with that guy? Because you're that good. That's why. Well, yeah, but how's he going to do it? I don't know how.
So I go... I get back to my apartment. My roommate's like, how'd it go? I was like, it went good, but now there's this whole DeCarlo situation that I was unaware. I didn't really see that one coming.
How long before you found out?
I must have found out. They must have told me the next day or something like that because they were in a hurry. And I remember very clearly where I was because my... I remember it's when my car was destroyed because my car was parked out on the street in front of my apartment. And I was on the first floor on the balcony and I was talking to Jimmy who was in New York still.
And I was like, how'd it go? How'd the audition go? How'd it go? I said, I went pretty good. And then at some point, there was a giant crashing noise and he was on the phone. He goes, what was that? And I go, that was my car being destroyed. And he goes, no, seriously, what was that? I go, that was my car being destroyed. A full size Ford pickup with a drunk dude.
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Chapter 6: What lessons does Rob learn from standing up to bullies?
Let me tell you how hard he sideswiped it. He hit the car and went in onto the curb and was facing me on the lawn. He didn't even sideswipe it and carry him off. He went so hard right, he went over the curb, and my car bounced out into the middle of the street. Drunk? I'm going to go with drunk. And then he took off. With two pop tires. Hit and run? It was crazy. It was crazy.
And I remember Jimmy didn't believe me. I go, I should probably wrap up. And he goes, what? He goes, your car. I go, my car was just stolen. He goes, where's your reaction? I was like, I'm not. You're taking it very well. Later on in the same apartment, after we cleared like 95% of the country with Loveline as a syndicated show.
Yeah.
They pulled the plug at the very last second. We went to NAPTI. We went to the conventions. We did everything. We're ready to launch. And they called me. Oh, my God. It's so funny. It was a year later.
Chapter 7: How does Rob describe the impact of hardship on personal growth?
It was a year later. And they were going to New York again for the MTV Awards. Jimmy and Kevin and Bean.
Yeah.
And this time I couldn't go because I had got a TV show. So like, you know, Jimmy's like, we're going in two weeks or whatever. And I was like, ah, man, I wish I could be there. But now we got a taping schedule and stuff. But I was envious of him. Sure. Because he got to go. Because you remember the good times.
Yeah.
Remember the good times. So I was sitting in the same apartment and like the phone rang and they're like, Adam, I'm like, yeah, we cleared the show and 95% of the market and everything. Yeah. And I was supposed to start on Monday or whatever. Yeah. the show got canceled. They pulled the plug. There's not going to be any show. And I go, we're not doing the show? And he goes, no.
And I go, oh, okay, good. I got to call Jimmy. I got to get planked in. And the person went, listen, seriously, I'm not joking. The show's canceled.
I go, no, I heard you.
I heard you.
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Chapter 8: What reflections does Rob have on success and resilience?
And I hung up the phone. I got to go. I got to make a quick call. And I go, hey, Jimmy, good news. The show's canceled. I'm back in. I'm back in. We're going to be in Dr. Hyde's. Mr. Jekyll's. Yeah. This is going to be awesome.
Yeah.
Cannolis. Those big 22 ounce beers we like. Yeah, it's going to be awesome. I was so excited the show got canceled so I could- So you could get back to the good times. Get back to the good times. God, that's awesome. Do you remember the call you got- It got picked up a year later by MTV. That's what happened. So when you got the call though saying you got the gig- Mm-hmm.
Do you remember where you were, you said, when you got it? Do you remember how it felt? Do you remember that feeling? I didn't have a cell phone. Pre-cell phone, you always knew where you were. Your fucking apartment was where you were. I wasn't like Dantana in my... 55 Thunderbirds going down the strip. Yeah, B, what do we got? No, I was always home. Otherwise, I missed the call. Yeah.
So I was in my apartment. But that feeling, though, is powerful. I don't know. It's a powerful feeling. It's like the first real validation you ever get that you're like, oh, I am doing what I think I should be doing. Yeah. And it's also a... It's a kind of a marriage and this is a third date or something. It's all new. Nothing could go wrong. You don't know the person. You don't know any better.
You don't know any better. It's all kind of a climb. And there's kind of a difference between climbing... and what's around the next corner, and then a kind of a four corners protect the lead, let's not slide back down there.
You know what I mean? You don't want to go backward.
Right, and so you get to a point in your career where you're actually going, I don't want to go backward, not I want to ascend, you know? And people go, well, that's a shitty attitude. It's like a prevent defense. I always get frustrated when you watch a prevent defense interview It never works. It never works. And they're like, well, don't do that. Do a blitz. Do something. Put the pressure on.
Don't go into this defensive mode because the opponent will capitalize. They will get the initiative. You've got to play to win to the 0-0-0 on the clock. Yeah, I agree. But everything is sort of new and exciting and has a bunch of possibilities attached to it. And there's that feeling when it's early and you're starting something off. And then...
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