Not Taco Bell Material

By: Adam Carolla

Narrated by: Adam Carolla

Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

In his second book, Adam Carolla - chart-topping podcaster and author of New York Times best seller In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks - reveals all the stories behind how he came to be the angry middle-aged man he is today.

Funnyman Adam Carolla is known for two things: hilarious rants about things that drive him crazy and personal stories about everything from his hardscrabble childhood to his slacker friends to the hypocrisy of Hollywood. He tackled rants in his first book, and now he tells his best stories and debuts some never-before-heard tales as well.

Organized by the myriad "dumps" Carolla called home as a child - through the flophouse apartments he rented in his 20s, up to the homes he personally renovated after achieving success in Hollywood - the anecdotes here follow Adam's journey and the hilarious pitfalls along the way.

Adam Carolla started broke and blue collar and has now been on the Hollywood scene for over 15 years. Yet he never lost his underdog demeanor. He's still connected to the working class guy he once was, and delivers a raw and edgy, fish-out-of-water take on the world in which he lives (but with which he mostly disagrees), telling all the stories, no matter who he offends - family, friends or the famous.

©2012 Adam Carolla (P)2012 Random House Audio

Some old material, but still entertaining

Where does Not Taco Bell Material rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top 5, but I'm still a newbie and I was looking for some semi-mindless humor.

What did you like best about this story?

Despite the fact that it's about 8 hours of him talking about himself, he still comes across as pretty humble and down-to-earth. I also love the "bonus" features - tangents that aren't in the book and visitors like Carolla's friends and Dr. Drew. I also liked that he narrated his own book and didn't read it verbatim, instead it's almost conversational.

Which character – as performed by Adam Carolla – was your favorite?

Hmm... Adam Carolla as himself? Or maybe his terrible fake German accent in one of the stories?

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Nah - although I could have. I did find myself sitting in my car a few extra minutes to hear the end of one of his stories on a few occasions.

Any additional comments?

It's a bit of a rehash of his last book, but entertaining nonetheless.

Ace at his best.

I own the actual book and you should read the book as well as listen to the audio.

LIke Sitting With Your Over-The-Top Friends

If you could sum up Not Taco Bell Material in three words, what would they be?

Honest Funny Entertaining

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Nothing remarkable

What does Adam Carolla bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The "drop ins" from friends. That's what really made me feel like I was just sitting in a room with friends.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Moved me to laugh out loud several times - which is always odd when you're sitting quietly in a room with other people doing their own thing, or walking through a Target by yourself.

Any additional comments?

I've already recommended it to a few friends. Worth the listen.

a big dose of the Ace man

Pretty entertaining if you like Adam. but
some disturbing shit and piss stories involving his buddy Ray. and he mentions that he's leaving parts of the book out which make you feel a lil ripped off since your already missing out on the pics that he also references several times.

Another Carolla book, more ranting

Have you listened to any of Adam Carolla’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes and if you've listened to one book you've heard them all to some extent. He uses the book as an outline for his rants. You will almost always want to read the book itself first as it's a framework for what he does in the narration.

Love Adam and his storys

Where does Not Taco Bell Material rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Adam has a way to spin his life storys. Fun listen

What other book might you compare Not Taco Bell Material to and why?

In fifty years well all be chicks

Have you listened to any of Adam Carolla’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes similar he doesnt read from the book all the time

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

nope

Funny, Entertaining, Enjoyable.

This is purely Adam Carolla; funny, bawdy, crass, but completely entertaining. I usually listen while driving, and had recently listened to several deep, serious books. This was a great break from serious. He is a little too crude for me in some places, but not so crude I couldn't enjoy it. Maybe a little more 'guy' humor than I usually appreciate, but I had enough laugh-out-loud moments to forgive the crude ones. I would recommend this book to most men and some women. I gave only 4 stars instead of 5 because of some of the potty humor.

It's definitely pure Carolla

What did you love best about Not Taco Bell Material?

Adam regularly goes off on improve side-tracks that make the audio book worth every penny

What was one of the most memorable moments of Not Taco Bell Material?

The Dixie Chicks story, one of the best in the book

Which scene was your favorite?

The Dixie Chicks story

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Laugh, constantly

Very entertaining!

I'm sure I'll be back to listen to the Ace-Man tell his tales again and again!

Entertaining and light "reading"

Would you listen to Not Taco Bell Material again? Why?

No, probably not, but I never like "re-reading" anything. I would however give it to others to enjoy.

Would you recommend Not Taco Bell Material to your friends? Why or why not?

To my less mature friends, I would recommend this book. To my parents or church friends, I would not. The humor in this gets really infantile. While I laughed my ass off at some of the more tasteless jokes, I did so as only a guilty pleasure and would have a hard time admitting to others that fart and poop pranks gave me such a laugh.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

I did not notice the book was abridged- but I suppose that is a good way to get folks to purchase the book AND the audio. The narrator was genuine and the materials were real-life... how can a person critique that? I liked Dr. Drew's appearance as well as the other person's. It was hard to stop listening at any point.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Why would anyone make a film of this book?????

Any additional comments?

Adam Carolla has had a very interesting life. He has risen from less than good financial and family means to be successful. His story flows really well and this book made a great distraction from my studying for the bar exam. Yes, I used this to distract me from the bar exam. And yes, I passed.