If you grew up in the late nineties, your brain probably has a permanent file dedicated to a very specific shade of electric blue. You know the one. It usually covered an entire eyelid, stretching all the way up to the eyebrow, and belonged to the most terrifyingly fabulous receptionist in television history.
So, who played Mimi on The Drew Carey Show? The woman behind the warpaint is Kathy Kinney. Honestly, it's one of those rare cases where an actor becomes so synonymous with a character that people forget they have a real name—or a real face that isn't caked in neon cosmetics. Kinney didn't just play Mimi Bobeck; she owned her for nine seasons, turning a character that was supposed to be a one-time gag into the heart and soul of the show's conflict.
The Accident That Became an Icon
The wild thing about Mimi is that she wasn't actually supposed to stick around. When The Drew Carey Show kicked off in 1995, the producers had Mimi pegged for a "one-shot deal." Basically, she was there to be the person Drew interviewed for a job—a punchline in a loud polyester blouse.
But then Kinney walked in.
She brought this weird, aggressive confidence to the role that the writers hadn't seen coming. Audiences lost their minds. There was something strangely magnetic about a woman who looked like a "clown in a blender" (as Drew might say) but carried herself like she was the Queen of England. By the time the pilot finished airing, the producers knew they couldn't just let her go. She became the permanent foil to Drew’s "everyman" persona, and the legendary rivalry was born.
Why the makeup mattered
That blue eyeshadow wasn't just a costume choice; it was a character choice. Kinney has talked before about how she'd spend ages in the makeup chair.
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In the early seasons, the look was more like face paint than actual makeup. Toward the end of the show’s run, Kinney actually asked the production to tone it down a bit. Why? Because the heavy stuff took forever to scrub off. She wanted to be able to leave the studio after a long day of filming and look, well, somewhat normal while grabbing a gallon of milk on the way home.
Who Is Kathy Kinney, Anyway?
Before she was terrorizing Winfred-Louder, Kathy Kinney was a kid from Stevens Point, Wisconsin. She wasn't some Hollywood legacy. In fact, she spent some of her early adulthood working for the California Conservation Corps.
Think about that. The woman who played the most indoor-person ever spent years doing back-country work in Kings Canyon.
Later, she moved to New York and worked as a secretary at WCBS-TV. It was there that the "Mimi" energy started to percolate. Her boss was a guy who loved hunting, and Kinney would famously greet him with a dry, "So, did you kill anything this week?" That sharp, slightly dark wit eventually found its way into her improv and, ultimately, into Mimi Bobeck.
Life After the Warpaint
When the show wrapped in 2004, a lot of people wondered if Kinney would just vanish. It’s hard to shake a character that big.
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She didn't vanish, but she did pivot.
She stayed close with Drew Carey, appearing on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza. She even showed up as Mimi on The Price Is Right for a few April Fools' Day episodes, which was a total nostalgia trip for fans.
But her most interesting post-Mimi move? Becoming "Mrs. P."
Kinney co-founded a website called MrsP.com, where she plays a sweet, book-loving lady who reads stories to children. It is the absolute polar opposite of Mimi. Instead of screaming at people to get out of her office, she’s encouraging literacy and kindness.
- TV Roles: She had a long-running role as Bunny on The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
- Authorship: She co-wrote books like Queen of Your Own Life, focusing on female empowerment and self-esteem.
- Voice Acting: You’ve probably heard her in The Penguins of Madagascar or Scooby-Doo.
The Secret to Mimi's Popularity
People often ask why we loved Mimi when she was, objectively, a "mean" character.
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Kinney has a theory on this. She’s mentioned in interviews that Mimi had the biggest self-esteem in the world. In a society that constantly tells women (especially women who don't fit the "Hollywood" mold) to shrink themselves, Mimi did the opposite. She wore the loudest colors, the biggest hair, and she never, ever apologized for existing.
That’s why the rivalry with Drew worked. It wasn't just fat jokes—it was a battle of wills between two people who were both fiercely themselves.
Finding Mimi Today
If you’re looking to revisit the glory days of the Buzz Beer and the Warsaw Tavern, finding the show can be a bit of a headache due to music licensing issues (the show used a ton of licensed rock songs). However, it occasionally pops up on digital subchannels like Rewind TV or Antenna TV.
What you can do next: Check out MrsP.com to see the "nice" version of Kathy Kinney, or track down her book Queen of Your Own Life if you need a dose of that Mimi-level confidence without the neon eyeshadow.