Chris Pirillo podcast interviewed Joel Comm of World Village and talked about how they both dramatically increased the revenue AdSense generated from their sites. If you are running a popular site and drowning in the overheads you should check out the show.
Joel has created a downloadable online book with detailed information on all the tips and tricks needed to maximise adsense revenue. In the interview he claims to be earning US$ 15,000 a month from adsense revenue, check it out. (cost $99.00)
If you devote a lot of your spare time to a popular community site but have resigned yourself to keeping the day job it seems you ought to take another look, maybe you could turn your passion into a career!