Hilarity ensues as Slash, Dave Mustaine, Rick Nielsen, Dusty Hill, Joey Ramone and more "audition" for the Drew Carey Show

Slash on the Drew Carey Show — (Image credit: ABC)

The Drew Carey Show, a fictionalised account of the life of the American actor and comedian of the same name, ran for 233 episodes across nine seasons between 1995 and 2004.

The show followed Carey's adventures as assistant director of personnel at the Winfred-Louder department store in Cleveland, and hilarity would regularly ensue as a series of increasingly unlikely guest stars were shoehorned into the plot.

Several musicians made appearances across the seasons, some playing other characters (who can ever forget Henry Rollins' stellar performance as 'E-Bay Ass Kicking Guy' in Season 8, Episode 5?), while others appeared as themselves (Motörhead showed up in an episode entitled Drew Gets Out of the Nut House in Season 7, playing a version of Stagefright/Crash & Burn with guest vocals and amended lyrics from Carey's coworker Mimi Bobeck).

All this cameo activity pales into sorry insignificance when compared to the musical shenanigans that took place in an episode entitled In Ramada Da Vida (Season 4, Episode 2). As the plot unfolds, Drew and his friends form a band called The Horndogs, but lack the guitarist they need to fulfil an engagement at the local Ramada Inn.

All is not lost. A number of celebrated axe-people audition for the role, and it's quite the turnout: Guns N' Roses' man Slash, late ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill, Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen, Lisa Loeb, Jonny Lang, Matthew Sweet and singer-songwriter Michael Stanley. Ramones frontman Joey Ramone shows up and smashes his guitar, while Roy Clark, host of TV show Hee Haw, plays the fiddle. The job is finally given to Eagles man Joe Walsh, because his "sloppy playing" would make the other Horndogs look good. Hilarious, see?

"I guess I'm going to see myself on television," Walsh told the Charleston Daily Mail, apparently with some resignation. "I'm going to turn the sound down and pretend it's the Joe Walsh show with special guest Drew Carey."

Artists

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.