Keith Michael Carano, known by his preferred name Mike Carano, is a photographer and comedian
. He first came to the attention of Loveline host Dr. Drew with his YouTube videos, titled "Five Minutes with Mike" which consisted of comedic monologues and rants. While not appearing as a guest on Loveline right away, he became friends with Anderson Cowan and spent a fair bit of time in his engineering room during the show, often talking loudly when Anderson would turn his mic on to speak. At some point Anderson, Mike and Tyler conceived of the idea to do an "after show" that was podcast only, which eventually became The After Disaster.
Background[]
Mike sporadically speaks of his upbringing so much of the information is patchwork, but he has mentioned a few things of note. His father was a pawn shop owner and Mike often tells various stories about helping out with the store and the interesting people he dealt with there. His mother's occupation is not clear but she is often mentioned as being mentally ill and irrational, at one point moving him and his siblings into a rural commune owned by some kind of Christian cult. He avoids mentioning the cult's name (later he said it was called the "Bible Speaks" church) or its founder's name on air for unknown reasons, though apparently the latter is still alive and is described as more of a con artist than a religious leader. On January 31st, 2016, Mike's 48 year old sister Nicki died when her car was crushed by a falling tree. Mike was understandably devastated and described her as the glue that held his somewhat dysfunctional family together.
Mike has spoken about his ongoing issues with mental health on podcasts such as The Mental Illness Happy Hour and Dr. Drew's personal show. He suffers from anxiety and sometimes has intrusive thoughts about strange things. For example he's sometimes afraid he will say inappropriate things in public. He also detailed how certain noises irritate him more than they should, such has heavy footfalls on floors above him. During his tenure on The After Disaster, he admitted he might be an alcoholic. Eventually he quit drinking entirely and started attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
The After Disaster[]
Mike's contributions on the After Disaster are similar to his comedic videos, often discussing or ranting about random topics, or talking about experiences he's had in show business. His style of comedy is based on non-sequiturs, often delivered while interrupting people, with often bizarre or surreal elements (such as what life would be like if ears of corn groaned constantly). Sometimes his blurts are highly inappropriate, involving inflammatory topics like racism or child molestation, though he never means any of these remarks seriously.
External Links[]
Mike's personal page: http://mikecarano.com/