Drew Allison Carey
(born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actor, photographer, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marines and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show
, and serving as host on the U.S. version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?
, both of which aired on ABC.
Carey has appeared in several films, television series, music videos, a made-for-television film, and a computer game. He is interested in and involved with a variety of sports and has worked as a photographer at U.S. National Team soccer games, and is currently a minority owner of the Major League Soccer team Seattle Sounders FC. Carey is engaged and has written an autobiography detailing his early life and television career. Carey currently hosts the game show The Price Is Right
, which airs on CBS.
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DREW CAREY TICKETS
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Early life
thumb uniform, with rank insignia of a
corporal
Drew Carey was the youngest of Lewis and Beulah Carey's three sons and raised in the
Old Brooklyn neighborhood of
Cleveland, Ohio.
[1] When he was eight years old his father died from a
brain tumor.
[2] [3] According to his autobiography, he was born with six toes on his right foot and he played the cornet and trumpet in the marching band of
James Ford Rhodes High School, from which he graduated in 1975.
[4]
He continued on to college at
Kent State University and was expelled twice for poor academic performance. He left KSU after just three years, but not before becoming a member of
Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. After leaving the university, Carey joined the
United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1980 and served for six years.
He relocated to
Las Vegas for a few months in 1982, and for a short time worked as a
bank teller and a waiter at
Denny's.
Stand-up career
In 1985, he began his comedy career by following up on a suggestion by David Lawrence (a disc jockey friend who had been paying Drew to write jokes for David's radio show in Cleveland) to go to the library and borrow books on how to write jokes.
[5] [6] In 1986, after winning an open-mike contest, he became
MC at the Cleveland Comedy Club.
For the next few years, he performed at multiple comedy clubs in Cleveland and Los Angeles. He was first brought to the national eye as a comedian when he competed in the 1988
Star Search
.
[7] Carey was working as a stand-up comedian in 1991 when he appeared on
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
.
[8] His performance that night impressed Carson, who invited Carey to the couch next to his desk; this was considered a rare honor for any comedian.
[9] In that same year, Carey joined the
14th Annual Young Comedians Special
on
HBO and made his first appearance on
Late Night with David Letterman
.
[10] In 1994, Carey wrote his own stand-up comedy special which aired on
Showtime, entitled
Drew Carey: Human Cartoon
, for which he won a
CableACE Award for Best Writing.
[11]
Acting career
Early roles
Following on the success of his early stand-up career, he subsequently appeared in a number of supporting roles on television shows, during which he developed the character of a hapless middle-class bachelor. In 1993, Carey had a small role in the film
Coneheads
as a taxi passenger. Turning his attention to television, in 1994, Carey co-starred with
John Caponera in
The Good Life
, a short-lived
sitcom that aired on
NBC.
[12] After the show's cancellation, Carey joined up with writer
Bruce Helford (who was also a writer for
The Good Life
), who gave Carey a job as a consultant for the television show
Someone Like Me
.
[13]
The Drew Carey Show
After their stint on
Someone Like Me
, Carey and Helford developed and produced the storyline for
The Drew Carey Show
. The show premiered on September 13, 1995 on
ABC. In his autobiography, Carey revealed his frustration with having to deal with
censors and being unable to employ the
off-color humor common to his stand-up routines.
Carey initially earned
$60,000 per episode in the first seasons, then renegotiated for $300,000.
[14] By the final season, he was earning $750,000 per episode.
[15] The show had high ratings for its first few seasons, but declining ratings and increasing production costs (around $3 million per episode) preceded its cancellation.
The program had a total of 233 episodes over its nine-year run. Carey was the only actor to appear in every episode.
Improv television
In 1998, Carey hosted the American version of the
improvisational comedy show
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
He would announce the improv guests, direct the games, and then would usually involve himself in the final game of the show. The show ran for a total of 215 episodes between 1998 and 2006. In 1998, the
New York Friars' Club made Carey the newest inductee of the group's
Comedy Central Roast. His friend
Ryan Stiles (who costarred in
The Drew Carey Show
and
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
) served as the roastmaster.
[16] Carey's income from
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
and
The Drew Carey Show
led to his inclusion on the
Forbes
list of highest-paid entertainers of 1998, at 24th with $45.5 million.
[17]
For
the WB's 2004-2005
prime time schedule, Carey co-produced and starred in
Drew Carey's Green Screen Show
, a
spin-off of
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
.
[18] It was canceled by the WB, but picked up shortly afterward by
Comedy Central.
[19]
Improv All-Stars
Carey helped to create the Improv All-Stars, which is composed of eleven other members.
[20] The members of the group joined Carey in both of his two improv shows,
Whose Line is it Anyway?
and
Drew Carey's Green Screen Show
and some had major roles or guest starred on his previous shows.
[21] The group traveled on several comedy tours performing at various comedy clubs through 2006.
Game show host
Power of 10
In 2007, Carey began hosting
game shows. On April 13, 2007, Carey was selected to host the
CBS game show pilot
Power of 10
. The show ran from August 7, 2007 to April 7, 2008 and aired twice weekly during the late summer and early fall. Each game featured contestants predicting how a cross-section of Americans responded to questions covering a wide variety of topics in polls conducted by CBS.
[22]
The Price Is Right
After taping the pilot episode for ''Power of 10'', Carey was contacted by CBS regarding the opening created by the retirement of Bob Barker at ''The Price Is Right (U.S. game show)|The Price Is Right''. He initially turned down the offer to host, but on July 23, 2007, Carey officially announced on ''Late Show with David Letterman'' that he would succeed Barker as host of the program beginning in the fall of 2007.
[23] His first episode of ''The Price Is Right'' was taped on August 15, and his shows began airing on October 15, 2007. In response to replacing Barker as host of the game show, Carey stated:
With Carey as host, the show changed its set, slightly updated the long-running theme song as well as the show's logo, and gave away its first million-dollar prize during Carey's first
$1,000,000 Spectacular
primetime special. During Carey's second year as host, he began to write some of the various sketches used during the
showcase, returning old aspects of the show that had been removed by Barker (on-camera appearances by the announcer, speaking roles for the models in Showcases, and removing bans on leather goods, wool coats and imported cars), bringing additional guest appearances on the show with CBS Primetime crossovers, especially by replacing the show's models for musical instruments with live performances by endorsers of musical instruments, and presided over the Showcase's first-ever perfect bid in daytime.
[25]
On April 16, 2009, Barker made a guest appearance on the show. The two hosts participated in a brief chat, and assisted in the presentation of two showcases designed to center on the promotion of Barker's new book,
Priceless Memories
. It was the first time that two
Price
hosts shared the same stage since 1982, when
Bill Cullen appeared on Barker's set.
Other roles and appearances
thumb!
at
Disney's Hollywood Studios
right
Carey began appearing in commercials for restaurants in the late 1990s in
Canada with
The Great Root Bear, but his two-year contract with
A&W Food Services of Canada was cut short in November 1998 after featuring
McDonald's in an episode of
The Drew Carey Show
that took place in
China. As a result, Carey sued A&W for compensation.
[26]
On April 22, 1999 at
Disney's Hollywood Studios (known as Disney-MGM Studios at the time), one of the parks that make up the
Walt Disney World Resort in
Florida, Carey debuted a 12-minute attraction entitled
Sounds Dangerous!
[27] In the show, a camera follows Carey through a day as an undercover detective when his video camera fails and the audience is left in complete darkness wearing earphones, following his adventure through sound cues. The attraction is presently running on a limited "seasonal" schedule.
In 1999, Carey made a cameo appearance in
"Weird Al" Yankovic's
music video for "
It's All About the Pentiums".
[28] In 2004, he made an appearance for
Fountains of Wayne's video for "Mexican Wine". He gave an introduction to the video as if it were on a stage.
[29]
On May 7, 2000, Carey's
television film Geppetto
debuted for an ABC presentation of the
The Wonderful World of Disney
. The film was an adaptation of
Pinocchio
, and included actor
Wayne Brady who had joined Carey on
Whose Line is it Anyway?
and a few episodes of
The Drew Carey Show
.
[30] Carey took singing lessons to prepare for the role.
In 2000 Carey was given a
cameo appearance in the
House Party
expansion pack of the computer game
The Sims
.
[31] To make him appear, the Sims must throw a successful party, which causes Carey to arrive in a limo and join the festivities. Carey is a fan of
The Sims
series and during one April Fool's episode of
The Drew Carey Show
, a scene takes place completely within
The Sims
.
[32]
Carey provided the entertainment for the 2002 Annual
White House Correspondents dinner.
Once Carey completed his standup routine for the 1,800 guests, President
George W. Bush, noting Carey's improv work, made a joke of his own: "Drew? Got any interest in the
Middle East?"
[33] In 2003, he joined
Jamie Kennedy to host the WB's live special
Play for a Billion
.
[34] In September 2003, Carey led a group of comedians, including
Blake Clark and the
Drew Carey Show
s
Kathy Kinney, on a comedy tour of Iraq.
[35]
In 2005, Carey appeared in three different films. He provided a voice-over for the character
Crank in the animated film
Robots
, in
The Aristocrats
to retell a dirty joke along with other celebrities, and was interviewed in the documentary
Fuck
.
On June 8, 2006,
Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures
debuted on the
Travel Channel. Carey travels throughout
Germany to photograph multiple
FIFA World cup soccer games while he immerses himself in the culture of towns and states he visits.
[36]
In September 2008, Carey began filling in as a guest DJ on
Little Steven's Underground Garage on
Sirius radio
Writing
right
Carey has routinely written throughout his career, including developing his stand-up comedy routines in his early stand-up career, and then moving on to assist in writing sitcoms. In 1997, Carey published his
autobiography,
Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined
wherein he shared memories of his early childhood and of his father's death when he was eight. He also revealed that he was once
molested, had suffered bouts of
depression, and had made two
suicide attempts by swallowing a large amount of sleeping pills.
[ The book discusses his college fraternity years while attending Kent State University, and his professional career up to that time. The book featured large amounts of profanity and, as the title suggests, includes multiple dirty jokes (there is one at the start of each chapter) and references to beer. The book was featured on The New York Times
bestseller list for three months. [37]
]
Personal life
A former United States Marine, he adopted his crew cut hair style during his time in the service. Carey has had refractive surgery to correct his vision and therefore did not really require glasses (any glasses he wore in public were merely props to help the audience recognize him). [38] However, while this was true for several years, on the May 17, 2006 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live
he revealed that when he turned 40, he actually developed a need for bifocals. Carey currently lives in Los Angeles and New York City. [39]
On October 9, 2007 Carey proposed to Nicole Jaracz. In a statement regarding the engagement, publicist Christina Papadopoulos said, "It will be the first marriage for both. No date for a wedding has been set yet. They are both very happy and excited about their future together." [40]
Political views
Carey is known for his Republican leanings [41] and considers himself a member of the Libertarian Party. [42] [43]
After the Drew Carey show ended its nine-year run on ABC in 2004, however, Carey clarified that he is more of a conservative with libertarian leanings, and that he presented himself as a libertarian to avoid what some conservative critics of the entertainment industry claim is a general Hollywood bias against conservatives. [44] [45] [46] [47] He has expressed his distaste for the Bush administration's running of the War in Iraq, specifically on the September 15, 2007, episode of Real Time with Bill Maher
. In 2007 he donated to Ron Paul's presidential campaign. [48]
Carey has spoken about his various political beliefs in several interviews and in 1998, he led a "smoke-in" in defiance of California's newly-passed no-smoking ordinance inside of bars and restaurants. [49] Carey has hosted a series of mini-documentaries called The Drew Carey Project
on Reason.tv, an online project of Reason Foundation, a Libertarian think tank. [50] The first episode, "Gridlock", addresses private highway ownership and was released on October 15, 2007. Other episodes discuss topics such as eminent domain, urban traffic congestion, and medical marijuana.
Sports involvement
Carey is a devoted U.S. Soccer, Cleveland Browns, and Indians fan. In 1999, Carey was part of the pregame ceremonies at the first game of the return of the Cleveland Browns, televised on ESPN. His favorite soccer teams are the U.S. Men's National team, FC Barcelona (his is a member of the team), the Scottish team Rangers and L.A. Galaxy (for which he is a season ticket holder). Drew recently became a minority owner of the new MLS team, Seattle Sounders. [51] [52]
Carey has showed his support for the Indians by throwing the first pitch at an August 12, 2006 game against the Kansas City Royals. He was rewarded by the Cleveland Indians for being "the greatest Indians fan alive" with a personal bobblehead doll made in his likeness that was given to fans. Carey responded to his bobblehead likeness by saying "Bobblehead Day, for me, is as big as getting a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame." [53]
In 2001, Carey was the first television actor to enter World Wrestling Federation's 30-man "Royal Rumble" match, which he did to promote an improv comedy pay-per-view at the time. He appeared in a few backstage segments before his brief participation in the match. Upon entering the ring, Carey stood unopposed for more than half a minute; he eliminated himself by offering money to Kane and then fleeing the ring. [54]
In 2003, Carey competed against five other celebrities in the first celebrity edition of the World Poker Tour. He placed fifth, only beating out comedian/actor/musician Jack Black. Carey won $2,000 for his charity. [55]
On November 12, 2007, Carey became a minority owner of the Seattle Sounders FC, who began play in Major League Soccer on March 19, 2009. That evening, Carey raised the 12th man flag at the Seattle Seahawks Monday Night Football
game against San Francisco (the Sounders and Seahawks share some partners and stadium). He told reporters at the game that fans will have the option to purchase membership in the club and that every four years members will be able to vote out the team's general manager, in a move similar to Spanish powerhouses Réal Madrid and FC Barcelona. [56]
Philanthropy
Carey is a supporter of libraries, crediting them for beginning his successful comedy career. On May 2, 2000, in a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
, he selected the Ohio Library Foundation to receive his $500,000 winnings. [57] He later went on to win an additional $32,000 on the second celebrity Millionaire
, making him one of the biggest winning contestants on Millionaire
who did not win the top prize. Carey also has played on the World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games for the Cleveland Public Library charity. [58] In June 2007, Carey offered to donate up to $100,000 (in $10,000 increments) to the Mooch Myernick Memorial Fund if anybody could beat him at the video game FIFA Soccer 07 for the Xbox 360. He dared five players from both the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams to compete against him. [59] Carey ended up donating $100,000 plus $60,000 for losing two games out of the six games he played. [60]
Photography
thumb in June 2006 while filming Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures
Carey can sometimes be seen on the sidelines of U.S. National Team soccer games as a press photographer. [61] His images are sold via wire services under the pseudonym Brooks Parkenridge
. He was at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in the summer of 2006, for his television show Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures
.
Awards and honors
- Carey won the Cable Ace Award for Best Writing for his work on Drew Carey: Human Cartoon
.
- In 1995, he was named one of the "10 Hottest New Faces of '95" by TV Guide
.
- Carey received an honorary Ph.D. from Cleveland State University in 2000. [62]
- He won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Television Performer for his work in The Drew Carey Show
, in both 2000 and 2001. [63]
- On February 21, 2003, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. [64] His star can be found at 6664 Hollywood Blvd.
- In 2004, Comedy Central ranked him #84 on its list of the 100 greatest standups of all time. [65]
- On June 21, 2008 Carey won second place from the Los Angeles Press Club for his feature on medical marijuana in the multimedia package category. [66]
Filmography
Carey has starred in only a few television shows and films, but also has numerous guest star appearances in a variety of other sitcoms and comedy shows.
Television work
Year
| Title
| Role
| Notes
|
1994
| The Good Life
| Drew Clark
|
|
1995-2004
| The Drew Carey Show
| Drew Carey
|
|
1997
| Home Improvement
| Road Kill specialist (Seymour 'Sy' Winterfleffin)
|
|
1998-2006
| Whose Line Is It Anyway?
| Himself
| Host
|
1999
| King of the Hill
| Hal
| Episode "Not in My Back-hoe"
|
2000
| Geppetto
| Geppetto
|
|
2004-2005
| Drew Carey's Green Screen Show
| Himself
|
|
2006
| Drew Carey's Sporting Adventures
| Himself
|
|
2007-2008
| Power of 10
| Himself
| Host
|
2007-Present
| The Price Is Right
| Himself
| Host
|
Films
Year
| Title
| Role
| Notes
|
1993
| Coneheads
| Taxi passenger
|
|
2005
| Robots
| Crank
| (voice only)
|
The Aristocrats
| Himself
|
|
Fuck
| Himself
|
|
Footnotes
- Drew Carey: The Times of His Life
- Drew Carey Biography
- Strong opinions
- Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined
- Comedy Preview: Drew Carey rocks!
- Bookish comic is a quick study
- Sitcoms are a burden to Carey
- Drew Carey Made Johnny Carson Laugh So Hard He Cried (Transcript)
- This Comic's Life Is Not Always A Laughing Matter
- Drew Carey Biography
- Drew Carey Presides Over 18th CableACE Awards on TNT
- Drew Carey's 'Good Life'
- Drew Carey Succeeds By Being Himself
- Drew to Carey on with Sitcom & Laugh All the Way to the Bank
- Drew Carey going out with a whisper
- Now Roasting (and Toasting) Drew Carey
- Hometown hero comes back to Cleveland
- 'Green' Can't Be Improv-ed On
- Drew Carey, funny friends open Seattle Comedy Festival
- Biographies
- 'Drew Carey' improv keeps the cast united
- Drew Carey's "Power of 10" draws on his persona
- 'Price Is Right' for Drew Carey
- Drew Carey Finds Ms. Right
- What Happened Today on The Price is Right?
- TV Funnyman is Fried About Fast-Food Fight
- Sounds Dangerous - Starring Drew Carey
- "Weird Al" Enlists Drew Carey For New Video
- A Gush of Power Pop
- Geppetto (2000)
- Sims rocks in Drew Carey
- The Sims It's fun. It's addictive. It puts you in control of a simulated family. But is the sims really a good computer-game choice for your child?
- President Jokes With Drew Carey, Ozzy Osbourne at White House Awards Dinner
- Pepsi television pitch lies in chimp's hands
- Drew Carey Performs at Base in Iraq
- Carey on the road (with lens in tow) for U.S. team
- Personnel Files-Drew Carey
- Operation Deserves Second Look
- Carey puts little value in "Price" rumors
- Drew Carey Engaged to Cooking School Grad
- Conservatives raise profile in liberal bastion Hollywood
- 10 Questions for Drew Carey
- Drew Carey - Libertarian
- The most influential US conservatives: 21-40
- Right-leaning celebrity alert! Watch the comedian Drew Carey
- GOP in Hollywood: Endangered Species?
- Candidates both good for a laugh
- Fundrace 2008
- Drew Carey leads "smoke-in" to protest ban
- Cybertainment: Busy Drew Carey adds online documentaries to schedule
- Xbox turns star into Rangers fan
- You can't stop a train
- Indians 2006 Photo Gallery
- WWF PPV Results-Royal Rumble
- Hollywood Home Game 1
- ''Monday Night Football'', Broadcast on November 12, 2007, ABC
- Fat Figures for Celebrity Millionaire
- Players-Drew Carey
- Drew Carey Puts $100k On The Line Playing FIFA 07
- Auction for an Elite Xbox 360 Signed by Drew Carey
- Q&A: Drew Carey
- Drew Carey Shares Laughs, Advice With Cleveland State Graduates
- People's Choice Awards Listed
- A Spot on Hollywood Walk of Fame Well-Suited for Ex-Marine Comedian
- Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of all Time
- 50th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards