Internet opinions are cheap, with your tweets and tumblrs and half-cocked anonymous comments.

Adam Carolla, with his distinctively impish/cranky delivery, willingness to attach his name to his sometimes stream-of-consciousness social commentary and ability to draw millions of listeners to his "Adam Carolla Show" podcast, exists in the top 1 percent of Internet opinion givers.

The former "Loveline" and "Man Show" co-host, performing tonight at the Crest Theatre, generated tremendous Internet buzz last week via a podcast rant against the Occupy movement.

Carolla ascribed the movement to a "participation trophy" generation that came of age with a sense of entitlement outweighing its motivation.

"I don't mind the (Occupy movement's opposition to) corruption and corporate greed. … I don't think there should be lobbyists or anything like that," Carolla, 47, said by phone from Southern California. "But the overall point of 'Hey, rich guy, why do you need all that money?' … The answer is, 'I bust my ass to get whatever it is I have, and I would like to keep it. If you would like some stuff, you should bust your ass.' … Why do rich people need money? Maybe they like philanthropy. Maybe they like to travel."

Carolla said he did not know all the details of the highly publicized pepper-spraying incident at the University of California, Davis, and that "I am not for pepper-spraying people," but that, in general, activists on other campuses and in other countries have faced far worse.

"There was a time back when four people got shot at Kent State, and they are dead," Carolla said. "I bet those people wish they were pepper-sprayed."

Carolla's podcast Occupy critique won praise from conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck. Carolla said he doesn't mind being associated with the right. He minds journalists inquiring about how he feels about an association with the right.

"Glenn Beck is a fan of mine, and (actor and liberal activist) Alec Baldwin is a fan of mine, and if I have both of them as fans, I am fine with that," Carolla said. "But no one ever asks, 'How do you feel about being aligned with the left?' Because the media is all left. It's slanted."

When it is pointed out that his association with Baldwin was not the one in recent news, Carolla acknowledged the Beck connection was more topical.

But the media remains on a "right-wing witch hunt," Carolla said.

Carolla, in favor of the legalization of marijuana and a stronger border with Mexico, cannot be easily assigned to the left or the right. His overriding principle, beside making people laugh, is self-determination.

"Stop looking for the government to do anything for you," Carolla said. "If you want to know why they aren't doing more – they are not that interested in you."

Carolla was "poor the lion's share of my life, and I never looked around and said, 'Who will help me?' And I never looked at the government. I said 'I need to get myself out of this mire here.' "

His mother spent much of her life on welfare, Carolla said, "and it is crippling."

Carolla worked in construction, starting as a ditch digger. He drew on those experiences in the semi-autobiographical 2007 film "The Hammer," in which he played a construction worker and boxer. The film received good reviews, especially for Carolla's natural screen presence.

"I would like to do more movies, but I can't because there are, like, four guys who get to do it," Carolla said. "If you are Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler, you get to do it. If you are me, you don't get to do it."

The whole thing might be rigged, but Carolla is not protesting against Hollywood. Instead, he demonstrates his versatility by hosting his podcast, which broke a Guinness record with nearly 60 million unique downloads over a two-year period, hosting the automobile-mad Speed TV program "The Car Show," and touring with his stand-up act.

Not that Carolla, always the iconoclast, is on board for the actual name of that stand-up tour: "Adam Carolla Hates the Holidays."

He doesn't hate the holidays.

"Some dumbo named it that, and now I always get asked why I hate the holidays."

ADAM CAROLLA

WHAT: The comedian and podcast host performs his stand-up act

WHEN: 8 tonight

WHERE: Crest Theatre, 1013 K St., Sacramento

COST: $34-$49.50 at the box office or through Tickets.com

INFORMATION: www.tickets.com (800) 225-2277

or www.thecrest.com (916) 442-7378

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Call The Bee's Carla Meyer, (916) 321-1118.

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