Sara Gilbert Asks Adam Carolla To Explain His Antigay Humor

During an appearance on the CBS interview program The Talk, Adam Carolla defends his sometimes antigay humor to host Sara Gilbert, saying that nice jokes aren't funny.

Gilbert gently chided the comedian about some antigay remarks he's made in the past, mentioning that he's also participated in antihate campaigns. "Just to set the record straight, how do you feel about us gay people?" she asks.

"I wish more people were gay," Carolla offers, before adding the curious explanation. "If you've driven over to the gay part of town in Los Angeles, it's a golf course."

Carolla defends his remarks as being part of his stage persona. "If someone says to me what you think of your mother-in-law and I go, 'Oh, she's a delight, I love her dearly,' nobody laughs," he tells Gilbert. "So if somebody says, 'What do you think about Chaz Bono,' I have to say something that's horrible, so I can get a laugh. And then everyone goes, 'Oh, that's what you think?' I'm on stage! Nice doesn't get laughs, especially on stage, that's what I'm saying."

Carolla suggests that comics should get a pass. "When did we start holding comedians up to the level of politicians and school teachers?" he asks. "We are comedians, we're supposed to say these things...I'm not saying hurtful things. We make no policies. I don't control anything, I just tell jokes."

Last year GLAAD scolded Carolla for alleged jokes, such as stating that the LGBT acronym should be changed to YUCK. Herndon Graddick, who is now the organization's president, released a statement last August that said, "Given his history of antigay and racist comments, networks and advertisers should know what their money is supporting if they choose to hire Adam Carolla. The gross intolerance that he tries to pass off as comedy should not have a place on our airwaves." The "history" Graddick refers to is a reference to to statement Carolla made while cohosting the radio show Loveline, in which he claimed that gay parents were "not as good as straight parents."

Watch the clip from The Talk below.