Drew Carey on Johnny Carson's Impact on Stand-Up Comedy

Joel Keller: Do you see any show having that same impact now (as The Tonight Show)?

Drew Carey: No. None. None. Can't name one. I mean, there are shows that are good to be on, but now you have to be on multiple shows. But right now, there's guys on YouTube making stupid videos that are, they're fun, but they're not anything near what you would call professional entertainment. Just guys yapping and being snarky, and they're making millions of dollars a year from GoogleSense ads and stuff like that. I mean, the whole world's upside down. So there's like no place where, if you're a comic…

I'll tell you what can happen if you're a comic. You can be somebody like Kevin Hart, who does a Comedy Central special, and it's so good it just blows you up. Or Louis CK, you know, and do an HBO special or a Comedy Central special and it's so fuckin' funny that everybody is like "Wow, that guy's the greatest." That's what can happen for ya. But your special better be good, because there's a lot of guys that do Comedy Central and HBO specials. Comedy Central specials especially; they'll do a half hour and they'll be OK, you know, they're funny, but they're no Louis CK, they're no Kevin Hart, they're no Chris Rock. And that's your competition. But if you think you're as funny as that, and you can do a special that's that funny, and people are like, "Oh my god you gotta see this special," and they're trying to post illegal clips on YouTube or something, if you're that, that can blow you up, but there's nothing else. That's the only way.

Drew Carey on Johnny Carson's Impact on Stand-Up Comedy / by Joel Keller / May 14th, 2012