10 Questions with ... Teresa Strasser

NAME:Teresa Strasser TITLE:Co-Host SHOW:The Adam Carolla Show COMPANY:CBS Radio BORN:29 years ago (ish) RAISED:San Francisco

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Began as a newspaper writer, switched to television writing, working on such shows as "Win Ben Stein's Money" (won an Emmy for writing - I hate to mention that but my people tell me I don't brag enough) on Comedy Central and wrote for other shows, including "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" for ABC. Decided to try being in front of the camera and began hosting "While You Were Out" for TLC (Emmy nominated). Worked on "Good Day New York" as a feature reporter before getting homesick for California. I'm most often recognized for "While You Were Out" thanks in part to copious reruns on deep cable. To this day, strangers ask me to redecorate their living rooms. Sadly, I was just the host, and my design ability is suspect.

Now I co-host the Adam Carolla Show in the mornings as well as co-hosting "TV Watercoler" on the TV Guide Network with John Fugelsang. I love both my work husbands. I sort of hit the co-host lottery on both fronts.

LAST NON-INDUSTRY JOB:

After doing "Good Day New York," I figured I would come back to California and get a job right away. Not so much.

Because I was still slightly recognizable, I didn't want to be making someone's half-and-half swirl yogurt only for them to go, "Aren't you that 'Trading Spaces' girl?" I had to figure out a way to make money that was private.

Wait, that sounds dodgy.

Because I lived in a large Koreatown ghetto mansion near a language school, I was able to take in two Japanese exchange students for several months. Atsumi and Mayumi saved me. All I had to do was make their breakfast and dinner and see that they got to school. Because of them, I didn't lose my house. At the same time, I was selling columns to the "Los Angeles Times" and appearing on E! Network countdown shows, but the real countdown every month had to do with making my mortgage payment. I look back on that year as "2005, Barely Alive."

Uh. Thank you, Adam Carolla.

Before working as a writer, I had such illustrious positions as server at Houlihan's on Fisherman's Wharf and dancing cocktail waitress.

1. How did you become interested in radio?

I've always been obsessed with radio. It started when I was in junior high, listening to Alex Bennet in the morning in San Francisco. In college I would fall asleep to the sound of AM radio news in New York. I fell in love with Terry Gross on "Fresh Air," and Ira Glass on "This American Life." I have radios in every room in my house and the first thing I do when I go in the kitchen is flip on NPR. I'm a news hound, and I love the sound of people talking to me. I think it reminds me of my mom reading to me at night when we would go on camping trips to Yosemite, that feeling of someone whispering to you that you never want to end.

2. Who are your mentors?

When it comes to female radio personalities who can hang with the boys, the gold standard is obviously Robin Quivers. I think Terry Gross on "Fresh Air" from WHYY does the most brilliant interviews (check out her conversations with Ice-T and Gene Simmons).

Wait, does mentor imply they know me and guide me and like me? Ok, let me rethink. I guess Adam Carolla is my mentor; he has given me some great advice and believe me, he is NOT short on opinions.

3. How did you get the gig as co-host on The Adam Carolla Show?

Another girl had the job but she took some time off to shoot a TV pilot. I was just the fill-in news girl. After nine days, they asked me to stay permanently. My dad always says that you should never be Wally Pip, the Yankee first baseman who, according to legend, took one game off and let back-up Lou Gehrig play first. Wally Pip never played that position again and Lou Gehrig became a baseball great. Turns out, this story is mostly apocryphal, but I think it still has value as a myth and cautionary tale. I guess you should never let anyone else audition for your job.

4. Your day begins in radio and ends in TV. Explain a typical day in the busy life of Teresa Strasser?

I get up at 4a pull news stories and audio clips to prep for two newscasts. We do the show from 6-10a. After the show, we have a short post mortem and prep for the next day.

Three days a week, I head over to the TV Guide Network. Monday, we shoot the show which airs that night at 8p. Wednesday we shoot field pieces and Friday we do a read-through for the following week. Over the weekend, I watch 5-7 hours of television to prep for the TV show on Monday. It's hard to consider that work, except when I have to watch "Desperate Housewives."

5. What is your favorite part of The Adam Carolla Show?

I love the early morning, when the show is the most organic and conversational. We do a segment called "How Say You?" generally for the first hour of the show. We take calls on any subject, or we just end up talking about what's on Adam's mind.

6. What is the hardest part of the show?

When we have guests in studio who are really high energy - like David Alan Grier - it's hard to know when to shut up and when to chime in. This year is a new lineup for us because we are minus Danny Bonaduce, so I am just finding my way. Over the winter break, Adam asked me to jump in more and told me I could have a long career in radio. I was flattered and completely freaked out. I worried I would let him down and that he was seeing something that wasn't there. A few months into this year, our ratings are up and the chemistry is gelling, so I'm starting to relax. Still, I second guess myself at times.

7. What can Adam do to piss you off?

He is the Justice Scalia to my Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We disagree on most subjects, torture, immigration, the death penalty, yet we are still friends and no one makes me laugh like he does. But when he refuses to understand that cake is far superior to pie, it's hard to take year after year.

8. What would surprise people most about the show?

We have a very brief rundown on paper; most days, we stray so far from that rundown it's amazing. Every day is basically a complete improvisation. With Bald Bryan, who is a third personality on the show and who is responsible for playing audio drops, the show takes on a richness no matter what subject we stumble across.

9. What has been your most memorable radio moment?

Once, my dad called in to say he was proud of me, and that I never gave up. He mentioned my first apartment building in Los Angeles, which featured five homicides on that block in one year. He sounded kind of choked up that I stuck it out. It was a nice moment. People always ask me about that.

And on a less sentimental note, one day Adam came up with a bit called "Name T's V" which has endured. As you can imagine, Adam and various guests and callers come up with names for my girl parts based on themes such as classic movies or sports arenas. Makes me glad I went to journalism school.

10. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without _________?

A fat nap. If it's Thursday, a fat therapy session and if it's Friday night, half a Xanax and a fat glass of Jamesons.

What are your hobbies?

Adam tells me reading doesn't count as a hobby, but I read at least one book a week not too mention scores of crappy gossip magazines. I'm getting married in June and having the reception at the Central Public Library downtown. I figure it will be Adam's first trip to the "place where they keep the books."