Adam Carolla recently fired his “News Girl” Alison Rosen, and to hear the former OC Weekling who grew up in Newport Beach tell it, she's as surprised and perplexed by her canning from the hugely popular Adam Carolla Show podcast as anyone.
In a long conversation with The Wrap's Tony Maglio, Rosen reveals that she learned she had been fired via an email from Carolla while she was vacationing with her husband Daniel in New York over the holidays, it came about a week before the news broke on Monday and that, “I just didn't see it coming.”
“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,” says Rosen of that moment.
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The Wrap story and others posted online as late as three hours ago still portray Rosen as not knowing the exact reason she was let go. She says there had been no disputes over money or recent events in her personal life that briefly pulled her away from the show.
“I am as confused as the fans are,” Rosen says during The Wrap's Monday night telephone interview. “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, he made this decision and decided it would be in the best interest in the show–and I have to respect that.”
She goes on to theorize that Carolla wanted to take the podcast in more of a “morning radio show” direction, adding that she would have been keen on discussing how to make that happen. But Carolla has already introduced his legion of listeners to his new sidekick, Gina Grad, while offering this explanation:
“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.”
Rosen has not only been a sidekick, hosting her own podcast, Alison Rosen is Your New Best Friend (on Carolla's ACE Network). Podbay, which ranks podcasts based on their iTunes downloads, currently has ARIYNBF fourth overall and No. 1 among comedy podcasts. The Adam Carolla Show is ranked 37th overall and eighth in comedy.
If that doesn't sting the Aceman, comments from loyal fans may.
“Adam Carolla had stated she just wasn't a good sidekick, so it took 4 years to figure that out?” one writes on the host's Facebook page.
“Hate how Adam handled the announcement about Alison this morning,” posted another. “Can't hear his voice without thinking, 'Hypocrite.' I guess the (Adam Carolla Show) family are expendable, eh?”
Rosen, meanwhile, has been blanketed with love via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
“It's just sad now, i don't think anyone will be able to replace you properly,” is representative of one such valentine. “You fit in that position very well and brought a nice dynamic to the show.”
“This is insane,” Rosen tweets about the outpouring of fan support. “You guys are amazing.”
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.