Too Late with Adam Carolla

Adam Carolla is a funny guy, as his co-host gigs on Loveline and The Man Show have proven, and there's probably an eminently likable TV vehicle to be designed around him. Too Late With Adam Carolla, however, ain't it. With a central premise of…um, Carolla sitting around and riffing in his nasal bray, a silly smile permanently affixed to his mug, the show feels like it was thrown on the air with about 12 minutes of planning. Each night ostensibly revolves around a central theme (things that piss Adam off, etc.) which, in theory, should give Carolla the freedom to rant liberally on a range of topics. Instead, he gets bogged down in meandering chats with callers, dismissing them with punchless snaps like, "Mason, call again—just not this show." And that doesn't even get into the guests: If the best you can do for nights one and two are the Crystal Method and Buzz Aldrin, you're not trying very hard. (What, was Stephen Baldwin off doing community theater?) At one point, Carolla even related how his wife thought the laughter was canned during the show's stillborn first night. Carolla offered a half-assed defense by saying that the program operates without a script or teleprompter. Just a suggestion here, but maybe he oughta rethink that strategy.