Carolla and company started off this Monday episode with a July Fourth rant; there’s always a meta issue Adam couches in one of his “society” diatribes. This one was about kids and driver’s licenses; more specifically the assumption that 16 year olds just aren’t that interested in procuring them these days. Sure, it was just a talking point to play with while the show revved up, but it got me thinking:
Particularly about traditional rights of passage for Americans. A license used to mean freedom, real and imagined. It meant you could get into a car and drive wherever you wanted, free from the constraints of your nosy parents. Effectively, the internet and social media, have provided youngsters with what the license once promised: freedom. Its implications are pretty huge.
Gone are the days of literally escaping your parents’ rules. You don’t have to physically leave to leave anymore. You can just grab an iPad and rebel away. One could even argue that podcasts offer similar avenues of escape only recently afforded to us. So maybe that stone was best left unturned. But thank you for that tidbit of anthropological reflection, Mr. Carolla. It stuck with me.
After 15 minutes of driver’s license discussion and a story involving Carolla’s nephew Caspar, Jay Mohr showed up, and the blitz began. Mohr is the consummate comedian; he rarely drops the ball. Like David Allen Grier, Mohr is one of Carolla’s more consistently funny guests. His ability to channel Colin Quinn is uncanny. And his Eddie Vedder is priceless.
He does have a tendency to bulldog his way through a segment though. See if you can pick up on Bryan’s frustration as Mohr crushes every sentence of his “Baldywood” segment. It’s funny, but one gets a glimpse of the Mohr once reviled by the entertainment community.
