With more than 3,300 episodes under his belt over 18 years, Drew Carey still feels like the “new guy” on “The Price is Right.”
“They told me it was my 3,317th episode. Sometimes I feel like it’s not that long, and sometimes I feel like I’ve always been there,” the 66-year-old comedian told Variety as the show celebrates 10,000 episodes since it began with host Bob Barker in 1972.
“Bob Barker is two-thirds. I’m still the new guy!” he joked after he was told that he has hosted one-third of the show’s run.
Barker retired from the show after 35 years in 2007 and died two years ago. He was 99 years old.
He mainly wanted “to not be responsible for ruining the show or killing it,” he shared. “I knew there was such a culture there, and I really wanted to honor that culture and not rock the boat. And I also wanted to make it my own, but without stepping on anybody’s toes.”
Carey said he was told he had “big shoes to fill” when he took over for Barker, but he said he wanted to make the iconic show his own.
“I don’t need to walk in his shoes; I brought my own shoes,” the former “Whose Line is it Anyway” host said.
“I want to honor the show — certainly — and not forget about the importance of him and the path that he blazed,” the comedian said. “It’s very important to keep the memory of Bob alive. I’m not replacing anybody. I’m just doing a show that he used to do.”
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He compared the shift in hosting to a house remodel.
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“It was the same structure, but it needed new drapes and wallpaper, you know what I mean?” he said. “You don’t wanna change the show, but you wanna freshen it up a little bit.”
Carey also changed the way the host is introduced at the beginning of the show.
“The star of the show” was changed to simply “host.”
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“I am not the star of the show; the contestants are the star,” he explained. “I’m not downplaying my role on the show, but people tune in to see the interaction of the contestants, and they want somebody there to interact with them in a good way — because they’re the stars.”
