The Drew Carey Show Does One Thing Better Than Every Other 90s Sitcom
Going back to watch old favorites is often risky, as there’s a chance that it won’t live up to your memories, and given how long it’s been since the 90s, what was once a punchline can now cause you to cringe in discomfort. For the first time in streaming history, The Drew Carey Show is available on Plex, and I can happily report that it holds up almost 30 years later. The secret to the show’s success is that it understands good comedy and is always punching up and never punching down.
Mimi Bobeck-Money-Carey
That might sound strange if you dig back into your memory and think of, say, Mimi (Scene-stealer Kathy Kinney) and the constant barrage of jokes that Drew and friends throw in her direction. Turns out, by actually going back and watching The Drew Carey Show, that these jokes are about her makeup, outfits, and personality, but never about things she can’t control, namely, her weight. This is especially true in later seasons when she and Drew are working as partners in Buzz Beer, and she marries his brother, Steve.
Drew’s Brother
John Carrol Lynch, one of those stars who seems to appear in every show, plays Steve, Drew’s older, cross-dressing brother. It would have been very easy for The Drew Carey Show to go the route of Seinfeld or Friends and turn the cross-dressing into the punchline, but instead, the show laughs at customers and side characters that are put off by the cross-dressing. Upon re-watching the series, after the first two seasons, he appears, and the cross-dressing goes away entirely without any lampshading or a very special episode.
Looking back today, it’s refreshing how the sight of a very large man in a dress doesn’t seem to bother anyone, and again, those that it does become the joke.
Office And Relationship Humor
The Drew Carey Show finds most of its humor in Drew’s dating life and his boring office job for the Winfred-Louder department store. What other show would make balancing the budget a climatic moment, complete with a montage set to Tina Turner’s “The Best?” None, not even today, and that’s why the show is still an incredible binge since that type of dumb office humor is timeless.
Not Perfect But Better Than Others
Compare this to Seinfeld, which sometimes turned the victim into the butt of the joke, or again, Friends, which turned “Fat Monica” into a gag, while Courteney Cox struggled with body issues. And yes, Seinfeld was about horrible people, but so is It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, which does a much better job of making sure the Gang is always the butt of the joke. The Drew Carey Show is refreshing in what today would be considered “clean comedy” while actually being funny.
The storyline of Mr. Wick (Craig Ferguson) marrying Drew to stay in the country is even handled well, and this was written back when gay marriage was only legal in Vermont. Alright, I’ll admit “handled well” may be overstating it, as by mid-season, the gag has run its course, but it manages to become unfunny instead of offensive.
Finally Streaming
The Drew Carey Show may be missing the majority of its licensed music, which is a shame; as I mentioned earlier, the music was used remarkably well from beginning to end, but the humor and heart are still there. You can start binging this classic on Plex and know that while it’s not perfect, it is still watchable today. For those that want to see just how far ahead of its time the show was, go watch “Drew Live,” the eighth episode of Season 5, which was performed by the cast and crew three times in one night.
