Even if you forget her name, you’ll still remember her face. Mimi Bobeck, played by Kathy Kinney, tormented Drew on The Drew Carey Show for nine long years as her clownish, giggling adversary.
Even if the series ended in the past, there was a period when Mimi’s loud voice could always be heard on TNT or TBS in the afternoon (or see her big blue eyeshadow, emphasized to the point of total parody).
Since The Drew Carey Show’s final episode, where has Kinney been? How is her life faring now that Mimi is gone?
Kinney has established her own lifestyle brand for, as she puts it, women between the ages of 40 and death since leaving The Drew Carey Show. The target audience is very broad, but by casting a wide net, she has been able to amass a sizable following.
She founded Queen of Your Own Life with her best friend, former marketing executive Cindy Ratzlaff, as a blog and Facebook group of daily inspirations and musings. The Facebook page alone has more than 337 thousand likes and is still growing, demonstrating how far apart Kinney really is from Mimi Bobeck.
On Harvesting Happiness Talk Radio in February 2013, Kinney spoke about the online community and remarked, “We have so many women following us.” “Going there and saying howdy-do is a joyful, lovely way for us to start the day.”
Despite the fact that Mimi Bobeck was the queen of cruelty, Kinney is more than capable of portraying a motherly sweetheart. She founded Mrs. P’s Magic Library, an online home for classic children’s stories brought to life by Kinney’s character, Mrs. P, in 2008 along with former Drew Carey Show producer Clay Graham.
The website, which serves as a helpful tool for parents and educators, was created with the goal of instilling a love of reading in young children. Kinney claims it’s a labor of love.
She stated in an interview with the local press of her area, “We spend all our own money on it.” “Advertising is something we’ve never done and probably never will. We merely wanted to be able to share some of the pleasure that reading had brought us as kids.”
The Los Angeles Times praised Mrs. P’s programming as “a refreshing break from virtually any other video entertainment available to kids,” showing that her stories have also found an appreciative audience.
The website runs competitions, collaborates with educational institutions, and offers more than a dozen great tales to stream, each read by Kinney in character.
When Drew Carey joined The Price is Right in 2007, he left his self-titled show behind for “greener pastures,” but he didn’t quite manage to get away from Mimi Bobeck’s grasp. In 2009 and 2010, Kinney appeared in character as Mimi for April Fool’s Day, to the delight of the studio audience, and appeared to have not aged a day.
Drew’s adversary made a cameo on the CBS game show in 2010 as the new executive producer for the show, television royalty sitting in a cheetah print chair.
I’m going to whip this place into shape because CBS recruited me to be the executive producer, she declared.
She lingered at the back of the set for the remainder of the program, participating in the activities and acting as Drew’s tormentor. She couldn’t handle too much commotion, of course. Even Mimi can’t stop people from watching The Price is Right to get a payout.
The former Mimi Bobeck has mainly abandoned the entertainment industry since The Drew Carey Show ended, but she has occasionally appeared in minor roles in a few productions throughout the years. She most recently made an appearance on an episode of Baby Daddy from season 5 of the ABC Family series.
Prior to that position, she played Bunny, the manager of the butcher shop, in 33 episodes of the network’s Secret Life of the American Teenager, which starred Shailene Woodley.
She also made a humorous cameo appearance on My Name is Earl as a cop from Cops who visits Earl’s home to look into a domestic incident. She has off-camera voiced a flatulent and annoying walrus named Rhonda in two episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar.
Kinney has spent time among Drew Carey’s cast of actors performing improv comedy in the vein of Whose Line is it Anyway? much like pretty much everyone else who has found themselves in his or her orbit.
The late 1990s and early 2000s program that Drew presented featured quick-witted actors and comedians competing in frantic games of improvised humor.
Kinney joined Drew’s rotating cast for multiple live performances, TV engagements, and DVD appearances after Drew quit the series. He then took the act to Vegas. While Kinney isn’t naturally a good improviser, she was eager to shed her Mimi image and show the world her range.
It’s wonderful to see her extend her wings and go beyond her most famous part, even though she isn’t afraid to admit that she could’ve “played Mimi until the day I died,” in her own words. She exclaims, “My God, it’s so much fun.” “Such a blast.”
When Kinney reunites with her old TV friends, it usually takes the shape of a parody of the sitcom and Carey’s follow-up improv show, Whose Line Is It Anyway, according to a 2009 interview with The Las Vegas Sun.
We perform in Las Vegas, not at other people’s family reunions where they have hot dogs, beans, and picnic fare, she remarked.
Nearly ten years have passed, and it appears that this comedy group still cares deeply about one another. When asked by WSAW-TV 7 if they all still communicate, Kinney responded, “I do; we all reside close to one another.
Despite the fact that we have all gone on with our lives, we still only see one another once or twice a year.” We simply want to know if there is a huge musical number to open the show. We still want to see it, so.
Kinney picked up the pen rather than the contour brush after watching The Drew Carey Show. Kinney has written multiple books, frequently in collaboration with Cindy Ratzlaff, that cover the same inspiring material as her website under the Queen of Your Own Life moniker.
Queen of Your Own Life: The Grown-Up Woman’s Guide to Claiming Happiness and Getting the Life You Deserve and Queenisms: 101 Jolts of Inspiration are a couple of these books. She seems to have created a small cottage industry for herself by attempting to improve readers’ outlooks on life. How effective is optimistic thinking, eh?
As a result of the popularity of their blog and Facebook page, Kinney and Ratzlaff later expanded into creating quote-a-day calendars that featured “vintage photographs with short motivational phrases” and were “intended to support you on the journey to self-discovery.”
The calendars are also promoted under the Queen of Your Own Life brand, which was ostensibly the initial phase of a comprehensive merchandising campaign.
The Queen of Your Own Life Store was announced by Kinney and Ratzlaff in February 2018. The self-described motivational royalty are currently selling mugs, t-shirts, hoodies, nightgowns, note cards, and other items under the slogan “Lovely gifts for you or a friend.”
All of these items are branded with the QOYOL logo. In the event that some other non-Queen family members decide to grumble about the meal, you can finally use this pint glass to set the mood at the dinner table for the modest price of $10.99.
Even though Kinney currently resides in California, she still remembers her home state.
Every other year or so, the actress still visits Stevens Point, Wisconsin, generally for humanitarian purposes.
Kinney told the local CBS affiliate in Stevens Point, “I think I’m here pretty much once a year, doing some work with the United Way, which I really like. “I’m there if they invite me back to do something charitable while I’m free and available.”
Kinney organized a humanitarian event for the group when she brought Mrs. P to Stevens Point for a free live performance and distributed free books to all the children in attendance. Not the most expected action from the cruelest tyrant in the office.
