Come On Down! You're the Next Contestant on The Price is Right
Or an audience participant on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, either/or.
Howdy! It’s Joey, back with more Fun Fact Friyay. Today’s fact is about one of the more jovial hosts in television history.
Drew Carey’s middle name is Allison.
Drew Carey has had a pretty fantastic career. We try to keep these storytimes brief, so let’s gloss over some highlights.
He’s been hosting The Price Is Right since 2007, nearly two decades!
He had nine seasons of The Drew Carey Show.
He’s done standup comedy for over half his life.
He served in the United States Marine Corps.
When he went on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, he won half a million dollars for charity.
He's generally a great cheerleader for a Ohio, a state that’s often overlooked.
But the most notable thing Drew Carey has done, in my book? Serving as the host of the original English version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?
This show remains a top comfort of mine. If you’re unfamiliar, very talented performers play improv games. Drew serves as the host, reading out scenes, buzzing people on and offstage, and awarding points. Of course, the tagline of the show is, “where everything’s made up, and the points don’t matter,” but sometimes we still appreciate a good point or thousand. Drew also occasionally joined his fellow performers onstage.
Perhaps what’s so excellent is that the show is very “mix and match.” You don’t need to watch episodes in order, and with many clips online, you can just pick one of your favorite games for a quick laugh.
For instance, let’s watch Drew the first time he ever played “Three-Headed Broadway Star.” The gist of this game is a trio of performers sing a song, but they can only say one word at a time. Drew quickly forgets that, and things go downhill.
Pardon My Plug
Interrupting real quick to share a quick plug for Viator, which is my favorite way to learn about and book experiences on trips when I go traveling (or sometimes even in my hometown).
Last month, I was in Poland. It’s a lovely country! I knew I wanted to go to the salt mines, but I also knew I did not want to drive there. Luckily, Viator hosts several tours with full transportation, and they even picked me up at the door of where I was staying.
I opted for the Bochnia Salt Mine, which I had read was more popular with locals. I also heard it was a bit more “childish,” but as far as I could tell, that was because you take a train at one point, a boat at another, and there’s a giant wooden slide you can cruise down. That doesn’t sound childish; it sounds awesome. And it was, even though I very much did not stick the landing at the bottom of the slide.
Do I get a lil’ somethin’ somethin’ if you book an experience through Viator? You bet I do. And so do you. Not only will you have an enriching and lovely time, but every time you book something, you get rewards to apply to your next booking. That’s a delectable ouroboros of savings. Happy adventuring!
Sometimes, Whose Line Is It Anyway? could also be educational. There might be a reference to a person or event that I was unfamiliar with, and I’d look it up to learn more.
Every once in a while, something that sounded like a joke was actually 100% true. Drew Carey’s middle name fits that bill.
During a playing of “Scenes From a Hat,” where audience members write in suggestions for the performers to act out, someone suggested “little-known facts about our host, Drew Carey.”
Drew buzzed a pair of performers before they could say anything, then allowed Ryan Stiles to say what he wanted. Ryan asked, “What kind of a middle name is ‘Allison?’”
Let’s cue it up! (And if it doesn’t start at the right spot, jump to 21 minutes in.)
Seems like Ryan was making it up. Turns out, it’s actually true! What fun. Why is Drew’s middle name Allison? He’s never publicly said, so it remains a mystery (probably his parents just liked the name). But he did confirm his first name is simply Drew, not Andrew.
Today, you can find Drew continuing to delight audiences on The Price Is Right. Back when Twitter was still a generally enjoyable platform to be on, I happened to be watching The Price Is Right on a day off.
A contestant said they were from Mendocino, and Drew made a reference to the song of the same name by the Sir Douglas Quintet. I am quite possibly the only person born after 1980 to know this song, but it is very catchy.
I tweeted something to the effect of “Drew Carey namedropping the Sir Douglas Quintet was a delightful reference I didn’t know I needed.”
And good ol’ Drew Allison liked the tweet. We’re basically best friends at this point.
I hope you chat with your best friend soon, too. In the meantime, let’s wrap with a poll!
Did you enjoy the salt mines? We did a different one...no slide.