American actor, comedian and writer. “The Drew Carey Show” shot up in the ratings to No.17 in its second season, Spring 1997 and Carey sold a multi-million-dollar book deal in March 1997, Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined. The sitcom centers around an ordinary mid-west blue-collar guy in an ordinary job, along with some extraordinary cast members including the over-the-top Mimi. Carey comes across with down-to-earth likeability.
In 1985, Carey was working as a waiter when a DJ friend asked him for some funny ideas for his radio show. Carey obtained a book on how to write jokes at the library, and in January 1986 made his own comedic debut during a comedy-club amateur night, as well as writing jokes for his friend. In April 1986, Carey landed his first paying job doing stand-up. He was “just barely” able to start making a living doing comedy later that year.
In 1991, Carey scored a gig on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show and an award-winning cable special; he described his appearance on “The Tonight Show” as a turning point: “I can’t imagine having a moment like that again,” he said. He sports a buzz cut hair style and horned-rim glasses, a rumpled bachelor somewhat on the heavy side.
Carey was the youngest of three boys in his family, born to a secretary mom and a draftsman dad. In common with many comics, Drew has battled depression. He was deeply impacted by his father’s death when he was eight and an incident of sexual molestation when he was nine, and years later he survived two suicide attempts. He related on TV that he had lost his virginity at 16. To this day he is a master at introspection, very much in touch with his past and his inner side. As one of the show’s executive producers, Carey is a semi-regular in the writers’ room.
On 1/08/1999, he filed a lawsuit against A&W, claiming that the fast-food chain owes him $600,000 for advertising its products. A&W maintains that Carey nullified the contract by eating a rival brand, a MacDonald’s hamburger on his TV show in November 1998. Perhaps he continued eating too many burgers, as he went into the hospital with chest pains on 8/09/2001 where he had his coronary arteries unblocked.
The comedian was named successor to Bob Barker as host of ?The Price is Right.? Carey makes his debut in the fall of 2007.
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