Genial comic Drew Carey has confirmed he will replace Bob Barker as host of The Price is Right.

Carey announced he had been selected for the job of hosting the CBS daytime game show Monday at a taping of the Late Show with David Letterman.

Drew Carey talks during the CBS summer press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., on July 19. He will host The Price is Right.
(Nick Ut/Associated Press)

Barker, 83, retired last month after 35 years as host of The Price is Right and there has been much speculation about who would replace him.

Carey's name was mentioned, alongside TV personality Rosie O'Donnell.

Carey, 49, has experience as a game show host as he previously was the face of Whose Line is It Anyway?, a comic improvisational show.

Carey said CBS first approached him about hosting The Price is Right after he was hired for another CBS game show, The Power of 10, that will air beginning next month in prime time.

The Drew Carey Show, a comedy in which he played assistant personnel director in a Cleveland department store, ran from 1995 to 2004.

With files from the Associated Press