Like Roseanne, I remember Drew Carey's first stand-up appearance on The Tonight Show like it was yesterday. What really stands out was a bit about being the only person at his class reunion that still looks exactly like his yearbook photo - horn-rimmed glasses and all. Shortly after that appearance, the Drew Carey Show made it's debut and, again, I was instantly hooked. A show with one of my favorite comedians (Drew Carey) set in one of my favorite places (Cleveland), it was kind of hard to go wrong. I always felt a lot of people looked down on the show - unjustifiably - but it's interesting to see its influence in some of the more popular shows today, chiefly Scrubs. There may have been singing and dancing numbers in shows before TDCS, but it was my first exposure to it. Who's Line is it Anyway was also pretty good, but with the addition of that show they reached a serious over-saturation point and I think both shows suffered as a result - if only the same thing could happen to the seemingly infinite supply of cop shows out now.
I couldn't find any actual stand-up by Carey on youtube, but I did find this skit on the horrors of cooties.
