A
Dilbertesque 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
everyman who can never seem to get
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
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
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
office bureaucracy.
Drew and Ryan Stiles (Lewis) became fixtures for
Whose Line Is It Anyway? that also featured several other cast members briefly.
Sort of a
Work Com, but one which focuses on a single character rather than an ensemble.
This show provides examples of:
- Basement Dweller
- The Chew Toy - 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.
- Cleveland Rocks: The setting and Trope Namer
- Cross Over - With NYPD Blue, of all shows.
- 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.
- Embarrassing Middle Name
Mimi: Drew Allison Carey? God, all three of your names are for girls.
- Fake Brit - Technically British Scotsman Craig Ferguson played Englishman Nigel Wick.
- Fur And Loathing - 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.
- Heterosexual Life Partners - Oswald and Lewis
- Ho Yay - 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.
- Hilarious In Hindsight - Even though the sight of Lewis and Oswald dressed as Batman and Robin is already funny, it only got funnier when Diedrich Bader (Oswald) 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".
- Jonas Quinn - Kellie replacing Kate
- Karma Houdini - 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.
- Kavorka Man - Rare female example: Mimi.
- Lie Detector
- Live Episode - With all the folk from Drew Carey-hosted Whose Line Is It Anyway? 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.
- Pimped Out Dress - Mimi's wedding dress
- Re Tool - When Drew finally leaves abusive corporation Winfred Lauder for an incompetent Internet startup
- Right Behind Me
- Sitcom Arch Nemesis - Mimi
- Something Completely Different - 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 Executive Meddling, allowing him to 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-
Pig Latin episode of Drew Carey!"
- Something They Would Never Say - 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.
- Sweater Girl - Oswald's mom was said to wear tight angora sweaters.
- Theme Tune - Oddly, all three openings used - "Moon Over Parma", "Five O'Clock World", and "Cleveland Rocks" - are also Real Song Theme Tunes
- Throw It In - 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.
- Ugly Guy Hot Wife - 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
- Uncanny Valley Makeup: Mimi. Enough said.
- Very Special Episode - Parodied
- Vitriolic Best Buds - 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.
- The Voice - Drew's first boss, until he was fired and finally appeared after cleaning out his desk
- Wholesome Crossdresser - Drew's brother Steve, one of the few Western examples of this trope
- Wondrous Ladies Room
- Work Com
- X Called They Want Their Y Back
- You Can Leave Your Hat On - On one episode, parodying The Full Monty, Drew and the boys form a strip act in order to earn enough money to replace a dog they accidentally had neutered
