[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'208301\' date=\'Feb 16 2009, 06:38 PM\']By way of reference, take an unspectacular game show from the days of old, say Body Language. An educated guess is that Tom Kennedy was making around $3,000 to $5,000 per week, or $156,000 to $260,000 per year, and he was taping 52 weeks per year to Drew's 39. This is why I say Drew is way, way, beyond the pale overpaid. Adjusting for inflation, $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 per year would be a more realistic salary for that position, considering it is a one-hour show.
[/quote]I think CBS (since they wanted him soooo much) decided that to attract a comedian, they had to pay him like one, rather than like a game show host. Because I suck at Teh Google, I can't find the article where Drew mentioned rather candidly that he misses being a comedian and that the money is a part of it. He mentioned that Chris Rock made over $10 million last year doing a handful of shows, as opposed to him making $8 million for several months of shows. I think CBS may have offered him something in-between, like $3 or $4 million, and he passed, thinking he could get more on the stand-up circuit. CBS knew they could still make quite a bit of profit, so they kept upping it until Drew was happy. I would argue that he is better known nowadays than TK was back then, especially in the younger demos advertisers want, so he's worth more than $1.5-$2 million.
