Calling All Men
By Daily Bruin Staff
Dec. 3, 2000 9:00 p.m.
Photos by Comedy Central "The Man Show" features scantily clad
women and is hosted by Adam Carolla (left) and
Jimmy Kimmel.
By Antero Garcia
Daily Bruin Contributor
Through collaborating with one another on “The Man
Show,” comedians Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla have made one
major discovery: short people are the key to television
ratings.
“As men, we like people who are shorter than we
are,” Carolla said in a recent interview.
Currently, “The Man Show” features a midget named
Art in every episode, along with beer guzzling, dancing midgets,
and girls jumping on trampolines
“I think kids and men love midgets,” Kimmel said.
“When my kids see a midget they are delighted. They want to
pet him and put funny glasses on him.”
The new season of the hit variety program premiered yesterday on
Comedy Central. Known for its raunchy humor and sexist statements,
“The Man Show” is a combination of comedy sketches, on
the street interviews and segments with audience interaction. The
edgy half hour show airs every Wednesday evening on Comedy
Central.
This season will feature such outlandish sketches as
“Monkey Wife,” in which co-host Kimmel replaces his
wife with a monkey. The segment hilariously displays how his new
wife is a much better escort at social gatherings, a phenomenal
masseuse and a sensual love maker.
“It’s pretty funny, but I couldn’t watch it
the first five times,” Kimmel said. “It’s weird
seeing a guy having sex with a monkey, and when it’s you it
is even worse.”
 The "Man Show" features guests from sports such as
Goldberg, seen here with hosts Adam
Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel.
In addition to comedy sketches such as “Monkey
Wife,” “The Man Show” is renowned for it’s
wacky audience participation segments such as the newly renovated
“Wheel of Destiny.” Specially selected audience members
get the chance to spin the wheel for the opportunity to receive
fabulous prizes such as 10 dollars or a canoe of tube socks.
Contestants, however, must realize that the consequences of
spinning the wheel can also be downright malicious. One audience
member found this out the hard way, when he spun the wheel and was
forced to deposit his wallet in a urinal as Carolla proceeded to
urinate on it.
“That’s my greatest moment in show business,”
Carolla said. “It was no big deal, I had to pee and when it
was time to urinate, my penis didn’t let me down.”
With over the top television segments such as these, it is
surprising that the duo does not receive very many complaints. In
fact, according to Kimmel, nearly all of the mail and calls that
“The Man Show” receives is praise.
“Last night I got a stack of about 100 fan letters,”
Kimmel said. “There wasn’t a nasty one in there. (We do
get) a lot of girls getting autographs for their
boyfriends.”
In addition to the many letters asking for autographs, Carolla
and Kimmel claim that nearly all of the women that they meet are
fans of the show and understand that all of the shenanigans are in
fun.
A significant portion of the “The Man Show” is
testosterone-driven, featuring girls on trampolines and other
scantily clad women known as the Juggy Dance Squad Girls.
When it comes to personal taste of women, Kimmel and Carolla
seem to differ dramatically. Kimmel said that he likes Salma
Hayek.
“(I like) one of the Olsen twins,” Carolla claimed,
“but I can’t remember which one.”
Despite differences in their taste in women, Kimmel and Carolla
have become really good friends. They both started their comedic
careers on the radio. Kimmel worked in numerous radio stations and
ultimately became known while working on the “Kevin and Bean
Show,” run by KROQ. Carolla is best known for working
alongside Dr. Drew Pinsky in the nightly show
“Loveline” that also aired on KROQ.
“We worked at a radio station in L.A.,” Kimmel
explained. “We thought it would be great if we could make a
radio show, and nobody would let us do one together. Coincidently,
we were able to get a cable TV show much more easily than we were
able to get a radio show.”
The natural affinity the two men had for working with one
another was due to their similar comedic preferences for raunchy
chauvinistic humor. Many avid listeners of the two comedians could
hear similarities in their comedy even before they started to
collaborate on “The Man Show.”
“It’s funny because I’ve run into people over
the years that have said that they got to know Adam on
“Loveline” and actually thought to themselves,
“˜You know, I wonder if this guy knows Jimmy
Kimmel?'” Kimmel said. “I thought it was kind of
weird that people would make that connection even before “˜The
Man Show’ came on.”
Despite their huge popularity with the 18-30-year-old age group,
Kimmel and Carolla are uneasy about doing versions of “The
Man Show” on the road. This is due mainly to their fear that
their personal safety would be at risk.
“We were almost killed when we just casually went to Santa
Barbara,” Kimmel said. “(If we went to) someone’s
school, especially a place where its cold and they don’t have
anything going on, like Nebraska, I think we would be torn limb
from limb just because of sheer excitement.”
Even though fans cannot expect to see Carolla and Kimmel
dragging “The Man Show” all over America, they still
have tons of surprises lined up for the new season’s
episodes. This includes guest appearances from the band Korn,
wrestler Bill “Annihilator” Goldberg and actor Dick Van
Patten.
When they are not collaborating with celebrities, or working on
other aspects of “The Man Show,” Kimmel and Carolla
spend their time doing constructive activities.
“I like to nap,” Carolla said. “We’re
not on this earth forever, we gotta nap.”
TELEVISION: “The Man Show” airs on
Comedy Central every Sunday at 10 p.m.
