It’s time to win or lose with Drew
Drew Carey spent his entire career preparing to be a game-show host – only he didn’t know it.
It wasn’t until the 49-year-old comedian became the new face of “The Price Is Right” – his debut appearance airs this morning (10 a.m., KREM-2 in Spokane) – that he realized game shows were his true calling.
“I wouldn’t be good at this if it wasn’t for all that other stuff I did,” Carey says with a smile.
He started with stand-up and starred in “The Drew Carey Show” and “Whose Line is it Anyway?” before saying goodbye to television in 2004.
Carey was enjoying a semiretired life of leisure when he was tapped to host a new CBS game show, “Power of 10.” He says he got “kind of trashed” when his sitcom ended so he was reticent to return to TV.
“It kind of left me with a bad taste in my mouth,” Carey says.
He accepted the “Power of 10” gig “only because it was a smart show and I thought nobody could make fun of me if I did that.”
But when he was invited to take the retired Bob Barker‘s place on “The Price Is Right,” Carey immediately declined.
“If you think I’m going to sit at ‘The Price Is Right’ so everybody can take potshots at me, forget it,” he remembers thinking.
CBS called again a few weeks later and convinced Carey he was just who they were looking for. His friends and advisers told him to go for it.
Suddenly, the semiretired comedian who spent his time reading and taking photography classes was coming back to TV in a big way – with daytime and prime-time game shows.
“Power of 10,” in which contestants try to predict how most Americans respond to moral, social and political poll questions, is “stimulating,” Carey says.
But it was “Price” that showed him he was a born game-show host.
“It’s like meeting the right girl,” he says. “This is a really good fit. I’m really comfortable here, and it seems like I should have been doing this a long time ago.”
Other than its new host, nearly everything else on “Price” is the same as it was during Barker’s reign. The games are unchanged. The new, portable set looks almost exactly like the one it replaced.
Contestants still “come on down” wearing customized T-shirts, only now they bear such slogans as “Drew’s Crew.”
And Carey closes the show each day the same way Barker did: “Have your pets spayed or neutered.”
“It’s a tradition,” he explains. “It’s been here all this time. I don’t want to get rid of that.”
Fans can’t help but compare the only two hosts that “Price” has had, but Carey won’t.
“You can’t replace Bob Barker,” he says. “I don’t compare myself to anybody. …
“It’s only about what you’re doing and supposed to do, and I feel like I’m supposed to be doing this.”
The birthday bunch
Actress Linda Lavin (“Alice”) is 70. Actress-director Penny Marshall is 65. Musician Richard Carpenter (the Carpenters) is 61. Singer Tito Jackson is 54. Actress Tanya Roberts is 52. TV chef Emeril Lagasse is 48. Singer Eric Benet is 37. Singer Ginuwine is 37. Singer Keyshia Cole is 26. Actor Vincent Martella (“Everybody Hates Chris”) is 15.