At the River Rock Show Theatre on Friday, April 19

You had to feel for the woman wearing the Price Is Right T-shirt in the front row. When Drew Carey, the host for the past six seasons of the venerably vapid game show, hit the stage, she presented him with a bouquet of flowers. As she turned to head back to her seat, Carey threw the gift on the floor and flipped her off, then quickly picked it up and sweet-talked her as she sat down. After that, as she settled in, he tossed it back on the floor, where it stayed for the duration of his set.

The exchange served to let everyone know it wasn’t TV’s lovable Drew Carey on-stage, but the standup club comic who’s been in hiding throughout his various on-screen incarnations, from sitcom star to improv-comedy host to Bob Barker 2.0.

And if his daytime fans didn’t pick up on that at this point, he drove it home soon into his hourlong set, when he said, after dropping several F-bombs, “Pardon my language, but if you’re here to win a car, you’re at the wrong fucking show.”

He then went into how he longs to call some delirious contestant a “lucky Ford Focus–driving motherfucker”. It’s a bit of the Bob Saget syndrome, where a wholesome television image begets a blue live show, but there’s more to Carey’s act than a simple recitation of cuss words and references to his celebrity. There are both those things, of course, but his stage act was solidly written and performed. The guy’s always had the unbridled enthusiasm of the luckiest man in the world, laughing throughout his set, but it’s buttressed by strong jokes.

And research. Well, at least Wikipedia. Whether it’s simply to check the cast’s age on iCarly so his bit about masturbating to it isn’t as creepy, the creation story of Scientology, or a unique (and “racist-y”) take on the U.S. civil-rights movement, a slimmed-down Carey put some meat on his jokes’ bones.

It was also a treat to see two opening comics well-known to comedy nerds but who haven’t played Vancouver before. The rail-thin Blaine Capatch is probably better-suited to a club than a theatre, but he had some good (and intentionally bad) jokes, while Dave Anthony, a second-round draft pick in the game of love, talked about relationships but with an edge.

And as the headliner, Carey proved he’s put in the work. He’s not just up there with a half-assed routine, coasting on his fame and cashing his cheques. But since his reputation is as one of the nice guys of show business, I would have loved for him to collect the flowers from the floor as he exited instead of leaving them there in a pile. Maybe he wants a new reputation as comedy’s bad boy.