http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/drewcareyshow.jpg
A {{Dilbert}}esque look at office life, about a nice but overweight, unattractive man with a low-paying dead-end job as the Assistant Director of Personnel of the Winfred Louder department store (there is no Director of Personnel).

He is the perpetual [[TheEveryman everyman]] who can never seem to get [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption ahead in life.]] Bad things never stop happening to him. He is still hangs out with his friends from high school, Lewis, Oswald and Kate (who started as [[TheStraightWillAndGrace purely platonic friends]] with Drew only to become his later love interest). Also, his dog is crippled.

As part of his job he has to deal with his [[BadBoss sadistic boss]] Mr. Wick and Mimi, an obnoxious co-worker who only got the job by threatening to sue because Drew didn't hire her for another job. And that is all on top of general [[IncompetenceInc office bureaucracy]].

Drew and Ryan Stiles (Lewis) became fixtures for ''WhoseLineIsItAnyway?'' that also featured several other cast members briefly.

Sort of a WorkCom, but one which focuses on a single character rather than an ensemble.
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!!This show provides examples of:
* BasementDweller
* TheChewToy - The protagonist, Drew.
-->'''Drew:''' I'm gettin' screwed by the system. I'm ''always'' gettin' screwed by the system. That's my role in life: I'm the system's ''bitch''.
* ClevelandRocks: The setting and TropeNamer
* CrossOver - With ''NYPDBlue'', of all shows.
** Also with WhoseLineIsItAnyway on a few April Fools episodes.
* {{Disproportionate Retribution}}: Mimi constantly, starting all way back to the pilot episode where she lashes out a Drew for ''assuming'' he wasn't going to hire her based on her looks when all he did was tell her they would get back with her.
* EmbarrassingMiddleName
-->'''Mimi:''' ''Drew'' '''Allison''' '''''Carey'''''? God, all three of your names are for girls.
* FakeBrit - Technically British Scotsman Craig Ferguson played Englishman Nigel Wick.
** FakeAmerican - When Ferguson broke the FourthWall, he would always use an American accent.
* FurAndLoathing - An activist vandalized the store after pretending to be a buyer in order to get Drew to bring the fur coats within arm's reach.
* HeterosexualLifePartners - Oswald and Lewis
** HoYay - Oswald and Lewis again. Lewis had to enter marriage counseling with Oswald and his fiancee because he plays a bigger part in Oswald's life than Oswald's girlfriend.
* HilariousInHindsight - Even though the sight of Lewis and Oswald dressed as Batman and Robin is already funny, it only got funnier when Diedrich Bader (Oswald) [[BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold went on to voice Batman in the latest Batman cartoon.]]
* {{Jerkass}} - On Lewis, Ryan Stiles has said that he's "less of a character and more a jerk".
* JonasQuinn - Kellie replacing Kate
* KarmaHoudini - Mimi has got away with a number of things including sending Drew to China.
** The one time he acted officially to get her fired for a prank that embarrassed him and the company, it turned out Kate was responsible.
* KavorkaMan - Rare female example: Mimi.
* LieDetector
* LiveEpisode - With all the folk from Drew Carey-hosted ''WhoseLineIsItAnyway?'' guest starring the fellows from Whose line- Colin Mochrie, Wayne Brady, Chip Esten, Greg Proops and Brad Sherwood. This troper would be glued to a show that permanently did this.
* PimpedOutDress - Mimi's wedding dress
* ReTool - When Drew finally leaves abusive corporation Winfred Lauder for an incompetent Internet startup
* RightBehindMe
* SitcomArchNemesis - Mimi
* SomethingCompletelyDifferent - Spot the Mistakes, every season around April Fools' Day; usually held as a contest.
** The show also had a number of "theme episodes", or just simple seemingly out-of-place moments (such as a sudden musical number to resolve the serious A-plot), that would have some off-kilter take on things; this was due to Drew Carey having cannily signed a contract to produce the show for a set number of seasons and that protected it from a large amount of ExecutiveMeddling, allowing him to [[ProtectionFromEditors do whatever the hell he wanted]] to a certain extent. It became infamous enough for these episodes that Weird Al even mentioned it in his song about TV:
--->"-and a special all-PigLatin episode of Drew Carey!"
* SomethingTheyWouldNeverSay - Mimi was nice around Drew when her baby was born, but since she treated Drew normally while pregnant, the baby thought she was someone else when acting nice.
* SweaterGirl - Oswald's mom was said to wear tight angora sweaters.
* ThemeTune - Oddly, all three openings used - "Moon Over Parma", "Five O'Clock World", and "Cleveland Rocks" - are also {{Real Song Theme Tune}}s
* ThrowItIn - Mimi was not intended to be a regular member of the cast but her actress was so impressive in the first episode that the producers hired her to be Drew's arch rival.
* UglyGuyHotWife - Used straight and subverted countless times--Drew's hooked up with Wanda Sykes and an aged Mrs Partridge, but has also slept with characters played by Jenny Mccarthy, Christa Miller, and more
** YourMileageMayVary Some would say Sykes and Mrs Patridge are still hot.
* UncannyValleyMakeup: Mimi. Enough said.
* VerySpecialEpisode - Parodied
* VitriolicBestBuds - Later seasons showed that Drew and Mimi really know each other better than any of their friends and by the last season they basically admitted it to each other.
* TheVoice - Drew's first boss, until he was fired and finally appeared after cleaning out his desk
* WholesomeCrossdresser - Drew's brother Steve, one of the few Western examples of this trope
* WondrousLadiesRoom
* WorkCom
* XCalledTheyWantTheirYBack
* YouCanLeaveYourHatOn - On one episode, parodying ''TheFullMonty'', Drew and the boys form a strip act in order to earn enough money to replace a dog they accidentally had neutered
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