You’ll remember her face even if you forget her name. Mimi Bobeck, played by Kathy Kinney, tormented Drew on The Drew Carey Show as her clownish, giggling enemy for nine years.
Even if the series was canceled, 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). Where has Kinney been since the final episode of The Drew Carey Show? How is her life going now that Mimi is no longer there?
Since leaving The Drew Carey Show, Kinney has built her own lifestyle business for women between the ages of 40 and 50. The target audience is fairly broad, yet she has amassed a significant following by casting a wide net.
She co-founded Queen of Your Own Life with her closest friend, former marketing professional Cindy Ratzlaff, as a daily inspiration and musings blog and Facebook group. The Facebook page alone has over 337 thousand likes and is continually rising, proving how far apart Kinney and Mimi Bobeck truly are.
Kinney mentioned the online group on Harvesting Happiness Talk Radio in February 2013, saying, “We have so many women following us.” “Going there and saying hello is a happy, delightful way for us to begin the day.”
Despite the fact that Mimi Bobeck was the queen of cruelty, Kinney can play a motherly sweetheart. In 2008, she and former Drew Carey Show producer Clay Graham co-founded Mrs. P’s Magic Library, an online home for classic children’s stories brought to life by Kinney’s character, Mrs. P.
The website, which acts as a resource for parents and educators, was designed to promote a love of reading in young children. Kinney describes it as a love project.
“We spend all of our own money on it,” she said in an interview with her local press. “We’ve never done advertising and are unlikely to do so in the future. We simply wanted to share some of the joy that reading had brought us as children.”
Mrs. P’s programming was commended by the Los Angeles Times as “a welcome diversion from nearly any other video entertainment available to kids,” demonstrating that her stories have found an appreciative audience. The website hosts competitions, partners with educational institutions, and provides over a dozen outstanding stories to stream, each read in character by Kinney.
Drew Carey left his self-titled program for “greener pastures” when he joined The Price is Right in 2007, but he couldn’t quite get away from Mimi Bobeck’s grasp.
Kinney appeared in character as Mimi for April Fool’s Day in 2009 and 2010, much to the amusement of the studio audience, and appeared to have not aged a day. Drew’s antagonist appeared on the CBS game show in 2010 as the show’s new executive producer, sitting in a cheetah print chair.
She announced, “I’m going to whip this place into shape because CBS hired me to be the executive producer.”
She lingered at the back of the set for the rest of the show, taking part in the activities and playing Drew’s tormentor. Of course, she couldn’t stand too much uproar. Even Mimi can’t keep folks from watching The Price is Right in order to win money.
The former Mimi Bobeck has mostly left the entertainment scene since The Drew Carey Show ended, but she has appeared in a few tiny roles in a few shows throughout the years. She was most recently seen in an episode of Baby Daddy from Season 5 of the ABC Family show.
Prior to that, she portrayed Bunny, the butcher shop manager, in 33 episodes of the network’s Secret Life of the American Teenager, starring Shailene Woodley. She also appeared in My Name Is Earl as a cop from Cops who visits Earl’s house to investigate a domestic altercation. In two episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar, she played Rhonda, a flatulent and irritating walrus.
Kinney, like pretty much everyone else who has found herself in Drew Carey’s orbit, has spent time among Drew Carey’s company of performers playing improv comedy in the spirit of Whose Line is it Anyway?
Drew’s program, which aired in the late 1990s and early 2000s, featured quick-witted performers and comedians battling in hectic games of improvised humor. After Drew left the show, Kinney joined Drew’s shifting cast for a number of live performances, TV appearances, and DVD appearances.
He subsequently brought his show to Las Vegas. While Kinney isn’t a natural improviser, she was ready to abandon her Mimi persona and show the world her versatility. It’s fantastic to watch her spread her wings and venture beyond her most renowned role, even if she’s not hesitant to say that she could’ve “played Mimi until the day I died,” as she puts it. “My God, it’s so much fun,” she exclaims. “What a blast.”
According to a 2009 interview with The Las Vegas Sun, when Kinney reunites with her old TV friends, it usually takes the form of a parody of the sitcom and Carey’s follow-up comedy show, Whose Line Is It Anyway?
After nearly ten years, it appears that this comedic ensemble still cares profoundly about one another. When asked if they still communicate, Kinney replied, “I do; we all live close to one another.”
“We still only see each other once or twice a year, despite the fact that we have all moved on with our lives.”
“We just want to know if there will be a big musical number to open the show.”
After watching The Drew Carey Show, Kinney chose the pen over the contour brush. Kinney has published a number of books, often in partnership with Cindy Ratzlaff, that cover the same inspiring subject as her website, Queen of Your Own Life.
The Grown-Up Queen of Your Own Life A couple of these books include The Woman’s Guide to Claiming Happiness and Getting the Life You Deserve and Queenisms: 101 Jolts of Inspiration. By striving to enhance readers’ outlooks on life, she appears to have built a small cottage industry for herself. How powerful is a positive thought, eh?
As their blog and Facebook page grew in popularity, Kinney and Ratzlaff decided to create quote-a-day calendars that contained “vintage images with brief motivational lines” and were “designed to encourage you on the journey to self-discovery.”
The calendars are also advertised under the Queen of Your Own Life brand, which was supposedly the first step of a larger marketing campaign.
Kinney and Ratzlaff introduced the Queen of Your Own Life Store in February 2018. Under the slogan “Lovely gifts for you or a friend,” the self-described motivational royalty are currently selling mugs, t-shirts, sweatshirts, nightgowns, note cards, and other goods.
All of these products bear the QOYOL logo. If any other non-Queen family members complain about the meal, you can finally utilize this pint glass to set the tone at the dinner table for the low price of $10.99.
Kinney remembers her home state even if she now lives in California.
Every other year or so, the actress returns to Stevens Point, Wisconsin, for humanitarian reasons.
“I guess I’m here pretty much once a year, doing some work with the United Way, which I really like,” Kinney told the local CBS affiliate in Stevens Point.
“If they invite me back to do anything altruistic while I’m free and available, I’ll be there.”
Kinney coordinated a humanitarian event for the organization by bringing Mrs. P to Stevens Point for a free live performance and handing out free books to all of the youngsters in attendance. Not the most expected reaction from the office’s cruelest tyrant.
