Drew Carey’s Net Worth and How He Makes His Money
A couple of decades ago, nobody thought Drew Carey’s primary job would become taking over for Bob Barker on CBS’s The Price is Right. Now he seems to fit right in there as if he’d been on the show for as long as Barker was. However, let’s not forget the amazing career Carey had prior to becoming a game show host.
Anyone old enough to remember his earliest standup comedy days will remember in the late ’80s and early ’90s his debut on shows like Star Search and The Tonight Show when Johnny Carson was still hosting.
Since those days, he’s starred in his own sitcom, hosted Whose Line is it Anyway?, plus appearances in a few comedic movies — all leading to a mint. How much is he worth now, though?
Drew Carey’s career takes off with his own sitcom
Drew Carey finally went into the stratosphere with his career by landing his own sitcom in 1995. The Drew Carey Show on ABC fell into the rare club of running nine years, despite slowly evolving over the years. Eventually, it grew into an inventive show complete with musical numbers and recurring “event” episodes with specific oddball themes.
It’s easy to forget how creative it was, hence proving its longstanding worth with an appealing star and cast. Anyone who can sustain a show for almost a decade is going to make tens of millions of dollars.
Considering Carey was one of the executive producers, he reportedly made $750,000 per episode, which was a record at the time until the Friends cast went to $1 million. Only a few years into his show, Carey was already worth $45 million, making him one of the highest paid comedians in America at the time.
All it took was less than a decade in the business for him to be set for life. However, it was just the start of his trajectory, even if fortune mostly came from TV than movies.
Carey didn’t have to worry about branching out into film
Yes, Carey tried some big-screen comedy efforts, yet nothing really became memorable. In most cases, he just made cameos as himself in various comedies, like Coneheads, The Big Tease, and Jack and Jill. None of these movies led to Carey finding a solo comedy vehicle for himself.
He didn’t really need to make it on the big screen, since he hit pay dirt on television. Not many comedians can say they’re being paid equally for television as they would for a movie career.
Carey was made for television anyway, including being one of the most affable hosts in TV history. When he began hosting Whose Line is it Anyway? in 1998, he was working for the same network where his sitcom was (ABC), plus enjoying yet another show lasting close to a decade.
Once Whose Line is it Anyway? ended in 2007, there wasn’t even a break for Carey before he landed his gig hosting The Price is Right. That job occurred thanks to hosting a brief game show called The Power of 10.
How much has Carey made hosting The Price is Right?
Carey reportedly makes anywhere from $9 million to $12.5 million per year hosting The Price is Right, making him one of the highest paid game show hosts in the world. Bob Barker was making about $10 million a year in his heyday, though it seems Carey has already exceeded him — at least recently.
Whether those reports of him earning $12.5 million are true or not is up in the air since Carey usually doesn’t reveal what his exact salary is. If that estimate is true, he’s in the same field as Alex Trebek, Pat Sajak, and Vanna White.
Now 13 years into his The Price is Right run, Carey can stand alone as a true showbiz icon, including succeeding in a rare field of game show hosting during his second wind. In total, it’s all added up to a reported $165 million fortune, something few standup comics have been able to accumulate … outside of Jerry Seinfeld. However, massive fortune hasn’t stopped Carey or Seinfeld from continuing their careers in making people laugh thanks to their strong creative drive.
