by Drew Carey and Craig Ferguson have been a part of each other’s TV lives for close to two decades now, as stand-up comedians, sitcom co-stars and variety show hosts.
Both funnymen are busier than ever this spring — Carey completed his first dance last night, the foxtrot, on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars; while Ferguson recently inked several new TV deals (hosting Celebrity Name Game in fall 2014, executive producing the new Naked After Dark talk show on Discovery this month, as well as a TV version of “I f*cking love science” for the Science Channel. That’s in addition to their “day” jobs: Carey hosts The Price Is Right, while Ferguson hosts Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
Not that that’s going to stop them from swapping those jobs for April Fool’s Day.
Because they are.
It helps that both TPIR and Late Late Show tape on the same studio lot at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. And that both hosts are taping their swapped episodes in advance. Here, USA Today already caught up with them on the TPIR set, where they offered each other words of wisdom.
“I’ll give you the same advice Bob gave me. You’ve got to be yourself. Make it your own show,” Carey says.
To which Ferguson replied: “And I’ll give you the advice Peter Lassally, the guru of late night, gave me. Don’t be too Scottish.”
As they mentioned above, they go back to The Drew Carey Show, which was Carey’s starring sitcom vehicle for ABC from 1995-2004. Ferguson joined the series in its second season, playing Carey’s department store boss, Mr. Wick. Carey married Wick in a 2000 episode in Vermont to help secure his green card.
In real life, Ferguson became a U.S. citizen in 2008.
Ferguson already taped his TPIR episode, with announcer Shadoe Stevens, robot sidekick Geoff Peterson and “horse” Secretariat filling in as his showcase models, while Carey will bring his models and announcer George Gray to tape a Late Late Show episode later this week.
You still can vote for Drew Carey on Dancing With The Stars, and see how he fares next Monday night on ABC. Carey brought out the green, literally and figuratively, last night for St. Patrick’s Day in his foxtrot with partner Cheryl Burke, playing his version of the Monopoly Man.
