Adam Carolla Fires Alison Rosen Via Email? Fans React, Rosen Reveals, As Her Podcast Hits #1

The first Adam Carolla podcast of 2015 kicked off Monday with a bang. Or maybe a backfire. Or maybe a little of both.

Either way, in the two days since, the Adam Carolla bang/backfire has ignited the podcast world via Twitter and Facebook with disgruntled, and sometimes angry, rants from fans that rival even the rants of Carolla himself.

So, what’s the beef?

Adam Carolla Show fans awoke Monday morning to hear that talented, beloved, and four-year “News Girl”, Alison Rosen, had been fired from the Adam Carolla podcast. Given the boot. Told to hit the bricks.

The Wrap reported the news, and along with listening to the Adam Carolla podcast where Adam casually made the announcement, Rosen fans realized that something akin to Howard Stern firing Robin Quivers had just occurred. Or maybe if Jimmy Kimmel had fired Adam Carolla from The Man Show?

Anyway, Adam Carolla, who refers to his podcast as his own pirate ship, made the announcement at the beginning of the show by introducing Alison Rosen’s sudden replacement, Gina Grad. Carolla then went on to explain why he had made Alison Rosen walk the plank off his pirate ship.

“Alison Rosen is not gonna be part of this program in 2015. Why? Nothing personal. I like Alison Rosen. I think Alison Rosen is very talented and very funny. I think she’s a great writer and I think she’s a great comedic voice, but I don’t think she’s a great sidekick. I think she’s a good sidekick, but I don’t think that’s her calling… I sat next to her for a number of years, and I tried it out, and it just wasn’t a fit, as far as sidekick… It’s not a personal thing, it’s not a creative thing, and it’s not even an ability thing. I just feel like she wasn’t sidekick material, which is probably a good thing.”

Whether or not Carolla saying Alison Rosen wasn’t “sidekick material” was an allusion to Carolla’s book, Not Taco Bell Material, was unclear.

But Carolla’s offhand, nonchalant tone as he announced the sacking of Alison Rosen, his podcast partner for four-years, combined with suddenly referring to Rosen as his former “sidekick”, set off many listeners, one (among hundreds) posting on the Adam Carolla Facebook page, “Hate how Adam handled the announcement about Alison this morning. Can’t hear his voice without thinking, ‘Hypocrite’. I guess the (Adam Carolla Show) family are expendable, eh?”

Add to that Carolla quickly shifting from his announcement that Alison was being fired, to a heroic story about himself insuring that another fellow radio colleague was given the chance to say goodbye to his fans (unlike Rosen) – and in all Carolla had created an apparently foul podcast stew that left a wet-willy-like taste in the ears of many listeners.

But what did Alison Rosen think of suddenly being thrown overboard from Carolla’s pirate ship?

On her Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend podcast (ARIYNBF), Alison was at first generally aloof in comments regarding her being let go. While she tried to put a positive spin on whatever had transpired with Adam Carolla, some surprise and hurt could definitely be read between the lines of her comments.

“I’m no longer working with Adam Carolla. I’m going to be taking my podcast with me and doing it on my own. I’m really excited about it, it was a wonderful four years, but I am super-excited about this next chapter… So, I’m OK, the podcast is OK, everything is going to be OK. In a way, it’s like I’m building my own pirate ship now.”

But on Monday night, Alison decided to open up about her firing, talking to The Wrap in a follow-up interview.

“I am as confused as the fans are. I think there’s this sense that there’s all this stuff happening behind the scenes, but I wasn’t privy to it. For whatever reason, (Adam Carolla) made this decision and decided it would be in the best interest of the show, and I have to respect that.”

But while Alison Rosen took the high road, Adam Carolla reportedly did not, Alison receiving her walking papers via email while spending the Holidays with her husband in New York.

“I don’t actually know who wrote it (the “You’re Fired, Alison Rosen” email). It was punctuated and it had whole sentences, so perhaps he had some help writing it,” said Alison, kidding around while alluding to Adam Carolla’s admitted struggles with typing.

But despite her joking, the email saying she’d been suddenly jettisoned from the Adam Carolla Show hit Alison Rosen hard and caught her totally off-guard.

“I literally had to sit down, which I don’t think has ever happened to me – where I’m standing, reading something and I literally had to sit down and let everything sink in. It was surreal. I was really surprised. I just didn’t see it coming.”

Interestingly, however, Alison Rosen’s individual podcast, ARIYNBF, is currently ranked 5th among all podcasts, to the Adam Carolla Show’s 35th. And where is ARIYNBF currently ranked among Comedy Podcasts? That would be #1.

The Adam Carolla Show? #10.

While current feedback on Adam Carolla’s ditching Alison Rosen, and the manner in which he handled her firing is decidedly negative, Carolla is a smart, tough and scrappy fighter that should be able to keep his pirate ship afloat.

At the same time, hopefully Carolla has learned that treating a well-loved member of the crew poorly, like he has Alison Rosen, may lead to an all-out mutiny by the rest of his crew which are his fans that support his pirate ship.

In the mean time, Alison Rosen is sitting pretty, and the new best friend of many.

This is insane. You guys are amazing. http://t.co/dRGrbleL1G

— Alison Rosen (@AlisonRosen) January 6, 2015

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