The show, which mixed celebrity interviews, chatty everyday observations, scripted sketches, and phone conversations with viewers (often canned), premiered on August 8, 2005 in the 11:30 p.m. time slot on Comedy Central.
The show struggled to find an audience, averaging fewer than 700,000 viewers,[1] a poor performance that Carolla jokingly acknowledged on air.
When Carolla takes calls from the home audience, this title card is shown on the monitor and the announcer stops the show to ask "Who's on the Blower?"
Callers would often call in with a bizarre news story and Carolla and Dr. Drew would attempt to guess whether it was from Germany or Florida.
Carolla originally developed The Lightning Round on Loveline when, after the last commercial break in the show, he would take as many phone calls as possible as his alter ego Ace Rockolla, giving quick answers to each caller, regardless of their question.