With the retirement of “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak, Drew Carey becomes the longest-tenured sportscast host after taking over for Bob Barker in 2007 — with no plans to retire.
Drew Carey He loves what he does and has no plans to stop anytime soon. The longtime host of The value is adequatewho took over in 2007 after Bob Barker retirement, is now the host of a long-running sports show.
While enjoying his seventeenth year behind the long-stem microphone, Carey talked about how much he loves his job, some of the things he sees about many of the contestants and why he changed Barker’s traditional farewell.
As we talk to TV Insider, he joked many times where the contestants “Get Down!” they have already started to have fun. “It happens here all the time,” he shared. “They will eat a gum or I will smell alcohol on their breath. Common.”
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He then shared one man in particular who appeared “tripping on mushrooms.” Carey said: “He came with a bunch of friends. He was a sketch (comedy) man. Only Carey had no idea of the era – at least as far as the sketch’s background was concerned; he was probably sure this man was thinking about one thing.
“I found out later, after I went to UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade) to hang around, they were usually like, ‘Did you see that man who claimed to be a skateboarding rabbi?’” Carey recalled. “I asked him what he did for a living. And he said, ‘I’m a skateboarding rabbi.’ He didn’t think he was going to be chosen, and he completely stumbled.”
Carey also opened up about why he took it upon himself to tweak Barker’s iconic signature line, which he continued for years and years. A true animal lover, Barker would always end his show by reminding his viewers to “spay and neuter your pets.”
Carey, however, gives this wise recommendation to The value is appropriate viewers, but he adds something extra that is meaningful to him. “Maintain yourself, primarily, your mental health,” he says on the show. “It’s so necessary. And I like you.”
As for why he puts these words up for sale every day, Carey explained, “It’s important to me. I had a difficult few years and wanted to put my psychological well-being first. It was a great help for me to try this and never succumb to disappointment or sadness.”
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He shared that with the assistance of his therapist and doctor, he realized how someone can “discover tools to not completely go down. That’s all it is: ways and tools you can possibly learn to help your mind not go down the drain.”
“You can get into a habit of feeling depressed and never figure out how to get out. You normalize it, or you normalize feeling bad about yourself,” Carey added, explaining how easy it can be to slip into an unhealthy place with your mental health.
“Life will be so much better with love, forgiveness, boundaries, expressing your thoughts, telling your facts and living your honest life,” he said. “I actually feel better about being here. So I move on.”
He also argued that there is still a stigma around talking about psychological well-being, or even acknowledging it, with individuals not speaking out because “they don’t want to seem weak or entitled or be called, ‘Oh, this guy is being a jerk. He’s asserting his worth and he’s not going to put up with anything anymore. Why doesn’t he just play along like everyone else?'”
Now that he’s personally in a better position, Carey is clearly having a lot of fun in what has become the longest job he’s ever had. He spent 9 years on his hit comedy Drew Carey’s Gift and as host of After all, whose line is it? (with most of these years occurring simultaneously).
Although he said he doesn’t consider himself the longest-serving sports talk show host, he stated, “I have a purpose: I want to keep going until I die.” Despite this, he joked that while he is in his 18th season, “I need to catch 35 and 41 so I can catch Bob Barker and Pat Sajak.”
He said that while he worried about reaching the end of his contract, he thought about five or ten years. Once he reached that milestone, which surpassed his previous revelations, he declared: “Wow, this is the longest job I’ve ever had in my life. It’s just such a great part of my day, my year, my life. I can’t think of quitting.”
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“I don’t like CBS knowing this,” he laughed. “However, it will be a few years before my next contract negotiation. So, perhaps out of negligence, I stated this. I can stop whenever I want!
That said, he says it’s a very enjoyable set to work with. He loves interacting with the contestants, saying, “They’re regular people living regular lives. This is regular America right here.”
“Ordinary people attract more attention than celebrities. Indeed,” she added. “They all had their own problems to overcome and their own demons to get their own lives. I learned more from them than from anyone else.”
Furthermore, he will join the spectators and everyone there rooting for the contestants to do well. “Everyone wants to see people win,” he said. “They’re thinking, ‘What would I do? How would I be in their shoes?’ … It’s not my money — it’s CBS’s money, and we’re all trying to get it all together.”
The value is adequate is currently in its 52nd season, airing weekdays on CBS, with regular primetime airings year-round.