Drew Carey made a name for himself in the 90s with The Drew Carey Show, and later, as the host of the American Whose Line Is It Anyway? Now, he hosts The Price Is Right. What else is the comedian doing?
The Drew Carey Show
I grew up in Ohio, so The Drew Carey Show was always a favorite for its timeslot. The show was originally created by Drew Carey and Bruce Helford, formerly a writer for Roseanne. The series premiered on September 13, 1995, and in many ways seemed like a precursor to Everybody Loves Raymond. However, instead of focusing on the fictionalized Carey’s family life, the show was closer to Friends in situation, focusing on the dynamic of Carey’s friend group and work environment.
The Drew Carey Show lasted nine seasons, and brought a lot of comedians onto network television, including Diedrich Bader, Ryan Stiles, Kathy Kinney, and Craig Ferguson. However, after four seasons, ratings began to fall, slowly, leading to the shows eventual cancellation in 2005.
Through the 90s, Carey reinforced his image of a Midwestern everyman by appearing in multiple commercials, publishing a book called “Dirty Jokes and Beer,” and particpating in pregame ceremonies for the Cleveland Browns.
Drew Carey Hosts Whose Line
In 1998, when ratings first started to stumble, Carey began hosting the American version of Whose Line Is it Anyway? The show, which featured Ryan Stiles from The Drew Carey Show as a recurring contestant, was a sort of improv comedy game show, perhaps most notable for the casualness of host and contestants’ behavior.
Between The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Carey was listed as one of 1998’s highest paid entertainers according to Forbes, earning $45.5 million that year. Whose Line was cancelled due to low ratings in 2003, leaving Carey’s TV presence limited for a while to guest spots on late night talkshows.
As The Drew Carey Show ended, Carey created a second improv-focused show for The WB, called Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show. Basically the same show as Whose Line, the show made use of chromakey to overlay backgrounds behind the performers’ antics. The show switched to Comedy Central through the first season, but was still cancelled.
During the 2000s, Carey began to make his political views more well known, publicly donating to Ron Pauls’ 2008 presidential campaign and endorsing libertarianism, going on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (a former castmember on The Drew Carey Show) to call libertarians “conservatives who still get high.”
Drew Carey Now in 2018 – What He’s Doing
After the end of Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show, Carey moved back to CBS. Starting in 2007, Carey began hosting CBS’ Power of 10, a new game show similar in concept to Family Feud, only with singular contestants.
When CBS saw the pilot Carey produced for Power of 10, they reached out to him about replacing the aging Bob Barker, who had announced his upcoming retirement from The Price Is Right. In August of 2007, while Power of 10 was airing, Carey began filming his episodes of The Price Is Right.
Many people have been critical of Carey’s hosting, and Carey himself admits “you can’t replace Bob Barker.” However, most viewers have accepted Carey as the host, and the show is still considered one of the best game shows on television.
What lots of people don’t know is that in addition to hosting The Price Is Right, Drew Carey also works as a sports photographer (a career he’s alluded to wanting to have multiple times in interviews,) under the pseudonym Brooks Parenridge
Â
That failure of a show, “who’s line is it anyway” mostly on radio I believe, is the most boring lackluster show I have ever heard. one star at best.
“Who’s line is it anyway?” Was a very funny show. It failed and the drew Carey show were cancelled because NBC execs decided he was getting too experimental, mixing elements of improvisation musical theater and appealing to a more niche audience. I had an interview with the executive producer of “Roseanne.” I told him I liked the drew Carey show and he became visibly angry for some reason. Maybe he didn’t like one of his writers running off on him, but we had trouble connecting after that.