Mimi Bobeck - Main Characters

Main Characters

• Drew Allison Carey (Drew Carey) - Drew Carey is the main protagonist of the series. He is a perpetual "nice guy." For most of the series, he works in the human resources department of Winfred-Lauder, a multinational department store chain. He's portrayed as a lovable loser, though he's the most successful of his group of friends. Drew is the founder and co-owner of Buzz Beer, a coffee-flavored caffeinated beer (at the time, such drinks were legal but uncommon in the United States). He has a long-standing feud with Mimi Bobeck; his pranks have included destroying her clothes, shredding her vacation requests, and masquerading as Antonio Banderas to taunt her. In the last seasons of the show, the real Drew Carey was earning $600,000 to $750,000 per episode.
• Mimi Bobeck (Kathy Kinney) - Mimi Bobeck is Mr. Wick's assistant/secretary and the main antagonist of the series. Much like Fonzie from Happy Days and Steve Urkel from Family Matters, the Mimi character was originally a one-time character, only appearing in the pilot episode. She is an overweight woman who wears a lot of makeup, yet has a very high but unstable self-esteem. (As an in-joke, Mimi's mother was played by Tammy Faye Bakker.) Mimi is Drew's arch-nemesis; she vowed to make Drew's life a living hell after Drew denied her a job based on her makeup. Mimi's pranks have included gluing Drew's hand to a pornographic magazine, covering Drew's desk with garbage, and eventually sending Drew to China while he is unconscious. She is also known for calling him "Pig" and "Doughboy." Mimi's past has a lot of connections to the world of music; she often talks about being a roadie for Foghat and was married to Eddie Money for two weeks after appearing at his first concert. Additionally, she admits to sleeping with both Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton. Frampton still carries a torch for Mimi; he has a tattoo of her likeness on his chest. Later on, Mimi becomes more of a friend to Drew (they agree to put their feud on hold while Mimi dates/marries Steve) and a good, if unconventional, mother to Gus. Early in the series, it was revealed that Mimi was of Polish ancestry, and inherited the title of Duchess of Kraków after her aunt died. However, the episode with this content received a great deal of complaint from the Polish community, and all mention of Mimi's heritage has been removed from the show (with alternative footage placed over these bits in syndication). Starting in 2009, Mimi resurfaced as a guest on The Price is Right during the show's April Fool's episode (hosted by Drew since October 15, 2007), first as a model (2009) and ransacking Mike Richards' position as executive producer on the show (2010). Carey usually promotes Kinney's next project during the closing of that episode.
• Lewis Kiniski (Ryan Stiles) - Forms a double-act with Oswald. Lewis, who is tall, lanky, and blonde, is in his forties and can be counted on to nonchalantly say bizarre and offensive things. Ryan Stiles once described Lewis as "Not even a character at first, just a creep really." He possesses an IQ of 162, but works as a janitor for a company called DrugCo. Due to accidentally releasing a strain of bacteria into the population, he was busted down to janitor from a position that required him to wear a lab coat. It's uncertain if he was a scientist or lab assistant, though it's possible he was joking. At one point, he posed as Drew to take his physical exam for him, unexpectedly taking a psychiatric exam as well. He tried to give answers which he thought suited Drew's life and situation, and the results showed him to be mentally unstable and possibly criminally insane. He mentioned in one episode he was adopted.
• Oswald Lee Harvey (Diedrich Bader) - Lewis's slightly shorter, dark-haired friend is the dumb one of the double-act, which tends to be his most distinguishing characteristic. Lewis described him once as a "man-child stuck in a sort of prolonged adolescence." At one point Oswald trained to be a nurse, but he proved unsuitable. Oswald was a deejay at the beginning of the first season but later on became a delivery driver for Global Parcel (a fictional package-delivery service whose uniforms are modeled after those of UPS). He later attempted to become a nurse, but he failed the required tests. Drew later got him a job as a delivery man for Never Ending Store, but Oswald was injured on store property. After receiving damages, he bought the Warsaw. His name is a play on Lee Harvey Oswald. In the episode Bus-ted, it is revealed that Oswald joined the group of friends to replace Adam, a childhood friend who fell through the ice on a lake.
• Kate O'Brien (Christa Miller) - Friends with Drew, Lewis, and Oswald since they were kids. Kate is a bit of a tomboy and a hothead. She and Oswald almost got married at one point, but she called it off just after Oswald threw her a surprise wedding (essentially leaving Oswald at the altar). Kate later found out about Drew's long-standing crush on her at their high school reunion, and she realized that she had feelings for him too. They dated for a season (even becoming engaged) but broke up when they disagreed about having kids. Drew and Kate were married for a short time in a later season, although this was illegal, as Drew had just become married to his old girlfriend, Nicki. Eventually, Drew's sham was discovered and Kate felt betrayed. Drew eventually regained Kate's trust and they became friends again. Kate left at the beginning of the eighth season, marrying a Naval aviator and moving from Cleveland to Guam.
• Nigel Algernon Wick (Craig Ferguson) - Drew's boss after the first season, replacing Mr. Bell (Kevin Pollak). English, crude, boisterous and offensive, he was also a cocaine addict before he was forced to go into rehab. For some time, he and Drew were in a same-sex marriage (technically a civil union) in order for Mr. Wick to get his green card and Drew to get his job back. When he first appeared on stage in guest episodes in the last two seasons he was greeted with thunderous applause. Wick always had unusual methods of firing employees (and nearly always fired someone named Johnson). He is almost always referred to as "Mr. Wick," and his first name is rarely used. In the show's first April Fool's Day episode, Mr. Wick was shot in the crotch with a crossbow and had to have one of his testicles removed (a gag that was referred to for the rest of the series). Wick also lost a toe and a nipple in a fox hunt that went terribly wrong. Craig Ferguson initially auditioned at Warner Brothers for a role as a Hispanic photographer on Suddenly Susan, and after he failed his audition, the casting director referred him to The Drew Carey Show which was auditioning across the studio. Ferguson, who is Scottish, played the role with an over-the-top posh English accent "to make up for generations of English actors doing crap Scottish accents." At the end of one episode, though, Ferguson broke the fourth wall and begin talking to the audience at home in his regular Scottish accent.
• Steve Carey (John Carroll Lynch) - Drew's cross-dressing brother. He came to Cleveland and got a job in the cosmetics department at Winfred-Lauder. He fell in love with Mimi and after one season of dating they married in a ceremony in Drew's backyard, with Drew officiating along with an online minister from an Internet website. In later seasons the concept of Steve being a cross-dresser is abandoned entirely with little explanation (though it is hinted that he gave it up to make Mimi happy). He left, along with Kate and Wick, early in the eighth season.
• Kellie Newmark (Cynthia Watros) - Drew's childhood friend. She has had a crush on Drew since high school but never told him. She was married but her husband cheated on her with her sister. Her mother is an alcoholic and leaves her father, eventually hooking up with Lewis. After Kate leaves, Drew realizes that he loves Kellie. Drew is afraid to tell Kellie because it may ruin their friendship like it did with Kate. After Lily leaves Drew, they confess their feelings for each other. When Kellie comes out while Drew is talking to his dad and asks Drew what they are going to do about their feelings for each other, Drew's dad falls off the roof and dies. Eventually during the beginning stage of their relationship Kellie finds out she is pregnant with Drew Jr. but won't marry Drew because she doesn't think he is ready for marriage. During the finale she decides Drew is ready. But her water breaks and she and Drew get married right when the baby is born.