I am Drew Carey, AMAA

I don't know what to say other than, thanks for not fucking up The Price is Right. Seriously, thank you :)

EDIT: Also want to say that it was great to see the show give away reservations to El Bulli and The French Laundry - too bad that person passed on the showcase showdown. I was shaking my head at home

I'm trying!

Hello Drew Carey!

I just wanted you to know that, for some reason, if you type "Drew Carey's Wife" into Google Image Search, on the first or second page of results is a picture of me standing in front of behind a pile of Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts.

So my question to you is: is this something we should talk about?

Edit: Trust me, be glad I was standing behind those boxes, especially with that sweater.

I think it's because the NSA did something to Google's algorithms.

Hey Drew, one simple question...Why isn't the Drew Carey show on Netflix?

It's all the music rights and all that stuff. They don't think they will make their money back by releasing the series on Netflix so they just don't.

How many Drews would Drew Carey carry, if Drew Carey could carry Drews?

heeheeehee.

I used to stay up every night in high school watching Whose Line and laughing myself silly! Thanks for the AMA. Have to ask, what scene from Whose Line has been your favorite and why?

Again I don't' like choosing a favorite anything because then I have to rank my experiences and I think it's silly to rank them. That said I really do love the Richard Simmons clip.But it's silly to rank favorite movies, favorite cars, because every day is a different day or a different moment and if you start living like that you start clinging to the past and holding onto it.People always ask me what my favorite this or that is and I never have an answer for them because once the moment is gone it's gone even if you take a picture. If you take a picture of a moment, your moment was taking the picture. People don't enjoy the moment trying to preserve it. Why don't you enjoy the concert or eat the meal or enjoy the concert rather than trying to capture it.I've had people on TPIR when they make it to the showcase they will ask if they can get a picture with me after the show and I say "we are on TV together, getting sixty pictures a second, just take a screenshot of your TV".

Why do White People Love Wayne Brady so Much?

Everybody loves Wayne Brady!

Do you have any advice for keeping a pool table outside?

Yes, buy an outdoor pool table.

Drew,

Cleveland Rocks!

Thank you for the many laughs you and the crew shared with us on that show. It was part of my daily unwind and a great time for TV comedy. No question. Just appreciation.

Thanks!

Best part of my job is comment like that.

How did it feel replacing someone as iconic as Bob Barker? How did you get the job in the first place?

I did a pilot for a gameshow called the power of ten that was on CBS. I was kind of retired at the time I did the pilot, and this guy I had worked with before was doing the pilot, so I did it as a lark.And CBS saw the pilot, and that probably got on their radar and so they asked me to be the host on the Price is Right.

I thought it was a big deal to be replacing Bob!One of the biggest deals I've ever done in my life practically. I was well aware of how important the show was and how iconic it was to millions of people, and what Bob meant to everybody.I wanted to come in and just not get it cancelled.Everybody was afraid including the staff that the show was going to go away when Bob was gone, so I had to go in there.Exercise in letting go of fear.I couldn't go in there and say "don't screw this up", I was totally able to block out any judgement from anybody. Literally at that moment I did not care if anybody liked it or not.It was an exercise in freeing myself to concentrate on doing my job. It's not that I don't care what people think, but a friend of mine came up with a great saying "you have to care enough not to care".You have to not care what the audience is going to think of you, you have to not care if they will like you or agree with you, and by doing that you care about what the audience is experiencing because if they put any kind of fear in you it won't be as good and the audience won't have as good of a time.

The really great rock and roll performers act like idiots onstage. If you were to take that out of context, they are acting crazy. You have to be at a spot in your head where you are fearless and because of that you are giving them a better show.So I was in a good spot mentally when I started doing TPIR where I was not afraid of anything and I Just went out there and did it.

If I wasn't like that I don't think I could have done it.

Hey, man! :)

Dirty Jokes and Beer was incredibly fun to read. You are such a great storyteller and your honesty was wonderful.

Ever thought about doing another book?

Thanks for taking over The Price is Right - you're a total class act on that show, Drew :) I hope you dig the job, because we love seeing you on there!

Yes I think about it all the time I just don't have time to do it!

And I LOVE doing TPIR. It's a great place to work,everybody is happy all the time,it's a great atmosphere to be in, you are surrounded by happiness all day. It's really insane how lucky I am.

Something I've always wondered and will never find out:

How heavy is the big wheel?

It's heavier than you think. It's made out of plywood and you will notice that some people struggle to get it to go around all the way at least once.So it's not impossibly heavy but it's heavier than you think it is when you go to spin it around. It COULD be lighter.If I could remake the wheel I would remake it out of plastic but I think it's made out of particle board.

We've seen you around in Cleveland before. Do celebrities prefer just a subtle head nod or a "hey drew! Rock on" type of thing?

Either way. As long as it's positive. It's always positive with me, so whatever you're comfortable with.And anybody who doesn't like it should get out of show business. If people just want to compliment you or acknowledge you did something good, just take it and say thank you.It's like the easiest part of my day.

But it depends on the situation, just feel it out socially. Take it by situation to situation.

Celebrities are not an "other."

People think that celebrities are another thing. All a celebrity is is a person with another type of job than you have. To make them seem like they are better or less than you is a mistake. All it is is a different job with different job requirements.

If you talk to the guy who did the plumbing in your house or the guy who fixed your computer and saved your hard drive and you saw them in a restaurant, would you give them a head nod or would you say "hey man thanks for fixing my computer!" If he was with his family maybe you wouldn't say anything, but if he's at a bar and by himself, it's maybe different. And that's all celebrities are is people who have a different job than you. If you think they are better than you because of what they do you're wrong.

What's your very best life advice?

Learn how to set goals.

That's the key to everything.

That includes designing your own success.You define what the goal is, it's not somebody else's goal,it's yours.

People think automatically "oh I don't want to make money" or reach other people's goals. It's not what your relatives want you to do or what society wants you to do. All goal setting is is figuring out what you want to do with your life, so whether you want to be a CEO or the happiest hippy in the world, set goals. I was totally lost in my life until I figured out how to set goals.So from my perspective it's the most important thing you can do. There are tons of goal setting books out there and you can get good advice from any of them (I mentioned two of them earlier).

My big goal which I never do perfectly is to forgive everybody in advance. That is the state I want to be in that I am never in. To have so much love that no matter what people do to you it does not bother me for a second.It would bother me for months when people used to insult me or get in my way or whatever I thought was an attack or a slight. It would bother me for months, weeks, depending on what the thing is. I've whittled it down to moments, minutes, something really horrible maybe a week. I try to make it as short as I can (I'm not Jesus or Buddha) but it's a state of constant forgiveness and love.

Learn to set goals and try to strive for that state of perfection (I hate saying this because people can say Oh you got mad at this person but it's a state I want to achieve before I die, I have another fifty years to work on it). Once you start to think it's a good thing to do, with goals and having a mind state of being loving and forgiving,it will change how you interact with people and society. I wished I lived it as good as I preach it!

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I was only in the reserves in the eighties. I don't like to make a big deal out of it, everybody makes a bigger deal out of it than I do.I joke that I kept the commies out of Ohio. We did a great job until the battle of Overland. I went to bootcamp and then went to do my weekend every month and then when I started doing standup I got out.

I did nothing dangerous, did not fight, I worked out a lot and tried to look good in my uniform.

Who doesn't want to look good in their uniform?

What's your favorite beer? other then buzz beer of course.

Well I don't drink anymore really.Once in a while a few times of year I might have a drink..And I just always drink Budweiser? Maybe that's why I don't drink beer anymore. If I was a bar right now and wanted a beer I'd just order a Budweiser because I don't know any better.

Hi Drew! I grew up watching your sitcom, Whose Line, and The Price is Right (both with you and Bob). Thanks for doing an AMA.

1. Have you watched the new Whose Line? Would you consider returning as a guest star or fourth chair next season if asked?

2. What's your least favorite game on TPIR, and why is it That's Too Much?

3. One of the best changes TPIR has made with you as host is the on-air chemistry between you, the announcer, and the models. Do you ever hang out with them outside of work? What do you miss most about working with Rich Fields? What do you like most about working with George Gray?

4. It's the middle of a zombie apocalypse, and you can have one cast member each from your sitcom, Whose Line, and TPIR on your side. Which three people would you pick?

1. I haven't watched it, and probably not.

2. I don't have a least favorite game. Any game that people win, I like.

3. I loved Rich Fields, he was a great guy. And we do hang out outside of work, we've traveled together, we've gone to dinner together, we've gone to parties together, we try to hang out as much as we can. I try to keep it like family. George is really funny during the audience tapings, but that never makes it to air.

4. From the sitcom, Mimi because she's the best fighter. I'd pick Wayne Brady from Whose Line because he's really good at paintball. And from TPIR Mike Richards the producer. We're good at planning things together.

Hi Drew! Thanks for doing this. One of my favorite little-known facts is that you publish sports photography under the pseudonym Brooks Parkenridge. How big a part of your life is that, and do you think it's something you would have liked to pursue as a full-time occupation?

I loved it. It was a great part of my life. I don't know if I could do it full time because it does not pay that great. The pay would be great if I were broke but I got a lot of bills. Sports photographers get paid pretty well but not sitcom money. You can make more money doing sitcoms and standup comedy,but as a hobby it is really fun.

I used that name because my house in Cleveland was near two streets called Brook Park Road and Bridge road, so it was a joke for my friends in Cleveland that I would call myself Brooks Parkenridge.

Who has been your favorite contestant on the price is right? Also your parents and I used to be neighbors ;)

That's good about my mom being your neighbor. I'm not lying when I say that every single show there's a contestant that everybody falls in love with. Every.single.show.Where backstage we will all say "Oh that person is so great" so it's impossible to pick a favorite. We do three shows a week and there is always somebody the crew falls in love with.

Sometimes we do root for people backstage because they might have a good story.Like there was this woman on recently pregnant and her due date was the day the show airs, so when we found that out and she was such a nice person everyone said "oh that would due nice if she won so she could be giving birth and watching The Price Is Right". She spun like a dollar on the wheel, won a car,there was no stopping her that day. Even the guy who lost the Showcase to her said it was just her day.Sometimes people will get on the show and they are just unstoppable, you can feel the luck flowing through them,and you know they are just not going to lose. She was just one of those people.

Hi! Is there a significance to the bracelet you wear on your left wrist, if you don't mind sharing?

I wear a bunch of different bracelets and I change them all the time so not really. They are all decorative.

Dear Drew,

I just wanted to say, thanks for being awesome. I say this because as a kid growing up, your standup and the Drew Carey Show helped keep me the optimistic yet cynical dude I ended up being today. One of the best moments of my younger life was taking the tour at the WB lot and begging the tour guide to visit your set. Having seen you embrace the helm at TPIR, I also appreciate how you come off more as a "keeper of the flame", so to speak, and handle the role with a lot of grace and humbleness.

I also wanted to say that the journey with your health has really gotten me to start reconsidering my own. I also used to be the guy who was proud to enjoy his cheeseburgers and beer, and I often sited you as the "Hey, he's perfectly happy, look at this guy!" persona, but after seeing what you've done with yourself in recent years, it's kind of inspired me to get off my butt and do something about my own health in the same "Hey, he did something about it. I guess I can do it too" kind of way.

All in all, I guess my question is what inspires you to be the happy and awesome dude you are? What do you consider to be the best bullet points to live by?

PS - Thanks for teaching us all to never let us get ourselves down.

Wow. That is really nice. A lot of times, I am really unhappy and I'm always searching for ways to not have that happen to me and because I am constantly looking for ways to get out of this state of unhappiness that I'm in, I find these different techniques. That's what led me to the goal-setting books or the spiritual books on love and forgiveness, because privately I'm unhappy a lot of times,I don't think I'm good enough to deserve things even if I work for them. I have a great desire to be happy because I have struggled with depression a lot of my life. I tried to commit suicide twice. When you go through that sort of thing you're like a madman searching for a way out.

So don't become depressed (that is not my answer!!) but I try to make my reading that I take in positive things that help me. I do read mysteries, I do watch action movies, but every other book or movie I try to make something positive I can learn something from. I'm on a quest to not be depressed and to stay happy all the time. Some people find their happiness with drugs or with whatever they do but it's not a positive thing.Some people are happy when they are putting other people down or gossiping, but you have to try to find a better, positive way to be happy and so that is what I am looking for. I'm not perfect but my imperfection is what keeps me searching.

Do you usually watch the Seattle Sounders games? If you do, who's your favorite player?

I don't have a favorite player, I root for the whole team. It would be bad for me to have a favorite player. It's such a team game, I like it when the team comes together, and I watch every game that I can even if it's on my phone in a comedy club.

Would you ever consider going on Norm MacDonalds 'talk show'?

Did you guys keep in touch after he was on the Drew Carey show?

You should totally go on his 'talk show'!

Thanks for the AMA, keep being awesome Mr Carey!

I like Norm a lot, so sure. Are you the booking agent for Norm MacDonald's talk show? My publicist will get in contact with you.

Hey there Drew! I have much respect for your war on political correctness. I remember seeing the roast of Hugh Hefner when a lot of the performers were treading lightly around 9/11- then you just outright cursed out Bin Laden. That took guts. Also, you have probably the most contagious laugh I've ever heard, you're the best!

A lot of the best laughs a comic can get is just by saying what everybody is thinking. And there was no reason to hold back, it's not like Bin Laden's relatives were there.

Whats your favourite dirty joke?

Oh man I have so many favorites! There's one that doesn't work unless it's dirty and it's about a guy who hears a voice in his head and the voice tells him to quit his job and sell his house and take all the money to go to Vegas. So he does that and when he gets off the plane, the voice tells him to go to Caesar's palace. He follows the voice's instructions, goes to the roulette table, bets everything on Black 17, the wheel comes up on Red 16, and the voice says "FUCK!"

I've tried saying it where the voice says "darn it" and it's not as funny. Has to be a swear word because it's such a huge disappointment you need the swear word for the emphasis.

Hello, Mr. Carey. I was curious as to who your favorite up-and-coming comedians are?

Some guys that I work with are really funny: Ryan Hamilton is super funny and super clean. Like totally G rated,his whole act, which you NEVER see anymore,EVER. To be that funny and that clean is amazing to watch. Brendan Walsh is really funny but he's not clean. I like the usual Kevin Hart, Louis C.K., Chris Rock,the usual suspects.

Hey Drew!

As the original U.S. run of Whose Line progressed, you seemed to get better and better at playing improv games with the other guys. Would you ever come back for an episode, not as host, but as the fourth chair? That would be the greatest episode ever.

Also, is this the year the Browns finally make the playoffs?

I don't know if the Browns are going to make the playoffs. That's a tough one, because there are so many injuries.Who knows!

I don't know about Whose Line.I like the improv but I'm just so busy right now I don't see how it's going to happen.

A few years ago you recommended a couple of books by Og Mandino on Twitter. What other books are your favorites/have impacted you?

I like see you At the top by Zig Zigler. And think and grow rich, that's like the grandaddy of them all. Both the books are corny but have great information in them.

Hey Drew!

Do you remember getting coffee late night at Kenny King's when you use to live in the Cleveland area? My relatives said my grandpa use to enjoy going up there and talk with the people sitting at the counter.

Yes! Kenny King's was my hangout back in the day. I used to go there all the time but I think they are all out of business now.It was this awesome family-style restaurant in Cleveland, a diner-style small chain,and they had a license to sell Kentucky Fried Chicken. So there would be a KFC to-go thing attached on the side,but if you went inside the diner you could get coffee, pie,regular mashed potatoes, eggs,bacon, it was awesome.We wouldn't say "let's go get KFC, let's go get Kenny King's." I always thought KFC was Kenny King's but they just got a license to sell in their restaurants.It was fun while it lasted.

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I would love to move back to Cleveland so you don't need to convince me.If it wasn't for my job I don't think I would be living out in California.Although I have traveled a lot I can think of places I'd live besides Cleveland, but I really do miss Cleveland all the time.

But it's weird, I never thought I'd be in a situation where my geographic location has so much to do with my job. But for what I do, you have to live in LA.

Big fan of yours ever since your first Showtime special. On Penn's Sunday School, I was amazed to hear about your passions for board games, mainly Monopoly. Are there any other board games you have an equal passion for? Also, what are you best tips to win at Monopoly?

Love board games. RISK I love. Sitting right now in front of me I bought a bunch of games that I used to play in junior high and high school.
They are Avalon Hill games. One is called Tactics 2, I have a game called Rise and Decline of the Third Reich where you fight WW2, I have another game called 1776 with a bunch of cardboard counters, the rule books say "copyright 1934"

You move your little cardboard tokens around, it's like War Dungeons and Dragons. These board games were out when D and D were out, so I think people went one way or another way,and I went towards playing these games. I like all these all old Avalon Hill games but Monopoly and RISK are my favorites.

Here's the key to Monopoly winning: You are not trying to get the most money. You are trying to get everyone else to spend money.It's about making them lose money. Don't ever let anybody get the orange ones except for you.Don't ever fucking give away the orange ones, because once someone gets the orange ones, the game is over.You want to get the properties furthest away from go, so orange and red. People don't land on Boardwalk and Park place that often but they land on orange and red all the time.

There are books that can teach you the odds and frequency of things getting landed on, things like that, but in general you want the properties furthest away. Baby blues are good, yellows are not good. purple is okay you have to really watch the chance cards, those are the cards that really move you around the board. Railroads are great, they won't win the game for you, but they are handy. Same with utilities but I like the railroads better. They are good for taking money away from people. The idea is to bankrupt the other people and the baby blues are what chip away at everybody's wealth as you move around the board. The greens are the WORST property you can ever get in monopoly. Always get rid of the fucking greens. Because they are the worst. I will get rid of greens all day long. Somebody might get lucky and build up a green and wipe out someone if they land on it but it's pure luck.

You can tell I've thought a lot about Monopoly.

Drew, you look great. Has it been challenging to stay low carb? I mean you know - beer!

Well it's hard on the road you know? Sometimes you get stuck on a plane or an airport where you just go "fuckit" and traveling can make it hard to do. I was just in Vermont in a really idyllic place,and I yelped a place for breakfast near where I was. The restaurant made their own maple syrup right on the premises. And I was like "Fuckit" and ordered pancakes and maple syrup. And the rest of the day I was off the rails on sugar.I had cookies on the plane, I had boston cream pie at the airport,and all I was doing was sitting around or driving or flying for twelve hours. That made it tough to be super strict because I was bored, bummed out I had had the pancakes why not add onto it. Sometimes I will get in a cycle where it gets me down for that day but I'm good the next day. Or I will be in cycle where I will gain ten pounds, lose ten pounds,gain ten pounds. I'm not perfect with it but I'm a lot better than I was. If I'm by myself and at home it's no trouble at all, but if I'm traveling that's when I have trouble staying lowcarb. Because there is no grocery store,no healthy restaurant so you're stuck eating whatever is around.

I try to eat as healthy as I can and live to fight another day. Don't ever say you're the wordt person in the world. Right now at my desk I'm surrounded by a bottle of water, an open bag of carrots and a couple Quest protein bars with one gram of sugar, seventeen grams of fiber and twenty one grams of protein, three grams of net carbs.

I get Quest bars by the dozen on amazon, they are pretty new. These are gluten free by the way.

Hi Drew! As an improvisor myself, what is some advice for improv in general? And how did you get your start in comedy?

Thanks so much for doing this AMA! I'm a huge fan of the show and I have grown up with it(literally-I'm only 16!) :) you rock my socks.

The best advice for improv and all performing is to let go of every single fear in the world. Fear is the biggest killer for any improv comedy.Because people are afraid to look foolish they are afraid to do something wrong, to make a mistake or be judged by people watching them, so that hurts you in acting, comedy, improv… kills it. The biggest thing is not have any fear.Don't worry about a thing.It's hard to tell people and it's a hard thing to come to but the best improv performers have the least amount of fear, they are literally fearless.

I got started in standup? I got encouragement early on from a friend of mine who's a radio disc jockey, he would pay me to write jokes and so I went to the good ol' Cleveland public library and got a book on how to write jokes.

Drew always-stunningly-handsome-and-uproariously-funny Carey!

It's 11pm. You're alone in the house and starvinating. You can have anything you want to eat. Anything in the world, even shit they don't make any more. No (negative) repercussions. What do you have?

Pepperoni pizza, Oreos and ice cream.

I also love the healthy stuff I eat though. These Quest protein bars are fucking great and I love the protein shakes I make.They are just almond milk and protein mix,sometimes I will throw a banana in there,those are really tasty to me.

Loved the Price time-lapse. Are you considering doing more behind the scenes stuff in the upcoming future?

Yes it would be great. The time-lapse thing though cost me a lot of money,I did it myself, it was not an official TPIR project so it came out of my own pocket. It turned out great though. TPIR is going to be featured in another really cool music video by the end of the year. Can't tell you who because I'm not allowed to but it will be great.

If you like the song it's called "Don't Speak I came to make a bang" by Eagles of Death Metal. Produced by my friend Nik Benet Junior.

I'll never forget your "dirty jokes and beer" book.

Do you have a new all time favorite dick joke?

There's one that is not in the book, again I can't pick a favorite but…

My dick is so big, when I go to Disneyland, families agree to meet in front of it in case they get lost.

Hey Drew! A long time ago on the Drew Carey Show you met people from "The easy street band". Not Bruce Springsteens, but a smaller local band from Ohio. What do you remember about them? I ask because one of the guitarists was my father.

Yes they were a really popular band in Cleveland and as far as I know they still play out, so of course I do! Tell your dad I say hi.

Hey Mr. Carey, what's your favorite movie?

Comedy, drama, what? Let's go with comedy since I'm a comedian.

Big Lebowski,the original Producers. Boogie Nights is a great movie. Borat is one of my favorite comedies, any Monty Python movie is a good movie (Meaning of Life), Team America…Ferris Bueller.

Do you miss doing sitcoms? Any faves of what's new on tv now?

I don't miss doing sitcoms. I'm the kind of guy who just likes what he is doing when he is doing it. So I don't host TPIR and go home and say "gosh I wish I could have been on a sitcom today". I don't really watch sitcoms after doing them because doing them ruined them for me, I can see where the jokes are coming from and all I can think of is what rehearsal is like. I can't let myself relax and enjoy them.

I watch The Walking Dead, Mad Men, almost all the AMC shows. American Horror Story, GoT when it's on. And that's it.Once in a while I will watch Eastbound and Down if it's on.

What joke that you made do you look back and say to yourself, "How did I ever come up with that?"

That's like half my act. Hard to say! Way too many.

Hey Drew! Thanks for doing an AMA! You are awesome! What's your favorite game on Price is Right?

I don't have a favorite. I get asked that a lot. I like games where people win, so as I'm playing the game, if they win, then all of a sudden I love that game. They are all good games. The game doesn't matter to me, it's how people play it.

My sister is going to see Price is Right for her honeymoon!! Do you have any advice to help her get on the show or do well if she does?

Yes somebody on Slate just published an article on how to beat a lot of the games that was pretty good, although everybody at TPIR saw it. I would read that. Also I tell people to look at the Sunday paper because it has car prices in it. Look at the TOTAL price of the car not at the payment price. Just look at the general price of the car so you know how much Toyotas and Hondas and Fords are if you're trying to get a car. And to get on the show you have to be super energetic, positive and happy. Genuinely. From the minute you show up, and then hope for the best. We can only use nine people per show and we always have way more people than that who show up for a taping. You do have to be super lively and positive and look like you would go bananas if you get picked. If you fake it or try too hard, they will pick somebody else instead of you.