During a recent episode of his podcast, Adam Carolla delivered a blunt attack on Hollywood liberals, singling out Mark Ruffalo for wanting Democrats to remain in power while California and the entertainment business face conditions Carolla blamed on Democratic control.
Carolla argued [1] that Democrats have held power for years and that entertainment jobs have dried up under what he described as left-wing governance. Rather than treating Hollywood’s troubles as detached from politics, he directly connected the industry’s lost work to the people Ruffalo supports.
The criticism centered on Los Angeles, where Carolla described an expensive and poorly managed city burdened by homelessness, graffiti, taxes, and red tape. He also maintained that the entertainment business has disappeared while Democrats have remained in charge.
Ruffalo wants to “take the country back” and return it to the same Democrats it blames for damaging Los Angeles. Carolla treated that position as especially glaring because Ruffalo lives and works in the city at the center of his complaints.
Carolla opened his challenge with a scorching assessment: “Ruffalo, you live in Los Angeles. It’s one of the shittiest, least efficiently run cities in the union and you live in it, and all the jobs are gone, driven out by your people and taxes and red tape.”
That accusation tied the loss of entertainment work directly to political leadership, taxes, and regulation. Carolla’s point was that Ruffalo should judge Democratic control against the conditions surrounding him rather than continuing to support the same political leadership without hesitation.
Carolla then widened his criticism beyond vanished jobs. “You live in a town full of homeless, graffiti, and everything is way too expensive, gas is seven bucks a gallon, and your business is gone.”
His argument was not simply that Los Angeles has serious problems, but that those problems should force Hollywood liberals to reconsider their political loyalties. For Carolla, the city’s costs, visible disorder, and declining entertainment work all belong in that calculation.
He directly urged Ruffalo to show more uncertainty about which party should govern. “So Ruffalo, you of all people have to at least be a little agnostic about a Democrat majority versus Republicans.”
Carolla returned to the entertainment industry in his final point, stressing that the lack of work affects the business in which both men operate. He again placed responsibility on Democratic leadership rather than treating the industry’s contraction as an unrelated development.
“You live in a shit town where everything’s too expensive, and there’s no more jobs in this industry that I’m in, and that’s all under the purview of Democrats.”
Mark Ruffalo wants to “take the country back” and give it to the same Democrats who destroyed Los Angeles.
Adam Carolla: “Ruffalo, you live in Los Angeles. It’s one of the shittiest, least efficiently run cities in the union and you live in it and all the jobs are gone, driven out by your people and taxes and red tape.
Do you see that?
Can you not think clearly?You live in a town full of homeless, graffiti, and everything is way too expensive, gas is seven bucks a gallon, and your business is gone.
So Ruffalo, you of all people have to at least be a little agnostic about a Democrat majority versus Republicans.
You live in a shit town where everything’s too expensive and there’s no more jobs in this industry that I’m in, and that’s all under the purview of Democrats.
So you should be a little more even-handed about what you’re feeling.
Anyway, he’s a dope.”
— jay plemons (@jayplemons) October 6, 2026 [2]
Another recent clip from Carolla focused on a friend who worked as an editor. That friend essentially retired early because there was no longer enough work available for people in his position.
Jeff Garlin: Hollywood work has dried up and left town
CAROLLA: “I talked to a friend of mine… He’s been working as an editor nonstop for 32 years… and he goes, I’m retired. There’s no work.”
GARLIN: “I haven’t worked in almost three years since Curb ended. The number of American productions that are filmed in Ireland tells you all you need to know. All these empty sound stages. It’s a shame.”
Ireland had its biggest production year ever in 2025, and 85% of the UK’s film and TV spending came from foreign productions, mostly American studios.
Meanwhile California has lost nearly 30% of its film and TV jobs since late 2022.
Newsom waited until July 2025 to double California’s capped film credit to $750 million a year, but LA filming was still down 13% this spring and 36% below its five-year average. The fix is too little and too late for crews who had already moved on.
If you work in film or TV, or know someone who does, where did the jobs go for you?
— jay plemons (@jayplemons) October 9, 2026 [3]
The editor’s experience served as a more personal example of Carolla’s broader complaint about Hollywood employment. The lack of work was another consequence of Democratic rule and evidence that the industry’s troubles are affecting people behind the scenes.
Carolla’s challenge to Ruffalo rests on a straightforward political question: Why continue pushing for Democratic power when Los Angeles and Hollywood are already governed by Democrats? His criticism portrays that loyalty as resistant to the conditions visible throughout the city and entertainment business.
Hollywood liberals are being captured by an ideology that treats anything to the right of Bernie Sanders as evil. That conclusion casts Ruffalo’s position not as a response to results, but as part of a rigid political worldview.
Throughout the podcast remarks, Carolla’s message remains pointed and unsparing. Hollywood liberals may want Democrats to retain power, but he insists that lost jobs, steep costs, homelessness, graffiti, taxes, and red tape are consequences they can see in their own city and industry.