“Dirty Jobs” has been airing repeatedly for nearly 20 years now — and series host Mike Rowe said there’s a reason for its longevity.
“There’s some comfort to it, some certainty,” Rowe, 60, told The Post. “You’re not going to see a ‘Very Special Episode’ of ‘Dirty Jobs’ where ‘Mike ventures into the sewer with the Kardashians to get down and dirty,’ blah, blah, blah.’
“That’s just not gonna occur.”
What viewers will see in the brand new season of “Dirty Jobs” — premiering Dec. 11 (8 p.m.) on Discovery — is Rowe tackling the hands-on work of a “Feral Cat Fixer” (really), a “Reaper Keeper,” a “Biochar Maker,” a “Pile Jacketer” and more along with his inimitable mixture of curiosity, humor, labor and, above all, respect for the individuals with whom he interacts.
“It’s really a chat show and not using a set, wherein the participants are frequently engaged in something that’s so optically weird that it’s hard to show away,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s just a pair of individuals attending to know one another, greater than the rest.”
“Dirty Jobs,” which originally aired from 2003-2012, returned for a four-episode run in July 2020 as “Dirty Jobs: Rowe’d Trip,” by which our host tooled across the country in an RV within the midst of the pandemic. In January 2022, the series was back for a full season with its original title.
“I believe, for me, it’s back since the headlines once more caught up with the underlying themes of the show,” Rowe said. “With the lockdown … all the sudden, overnight, essential work was back within the news and I used to be inundated with suggestions for the show and requests to bring it back.
“All of the ideas at this point, really from the second season on, come from suggestions from viewers,” he said. “Even when the show as out of production … not a day went by once I didn’t get suggestions. People were surprised when the show got here back [in 2020], I believe, because quite a lot of them didn’t even comprehend it went away. That wouldn’t have happened without viewers literally programming the show.
“And, to be honest, in addition they host it,” he said. “I’m only a Christmas ham, an avatar passing through.”
This season, his assistance as a Feral Cat Fixer found Rowe in Texas. “They’ve got a complete team of volunteers who exit and round up dozens, perhaps lots of of cats, every single day and produce them back to the power, in a strip mall, where a few good-natured volunteers and a veterinarian castrate cats all day long,” he said. “To be clear, [the cats] are scratching and snarling and there’s hissing and urinating. There’s not quite a lot of continence happening in an operation like this.”
He also traveled to Oklahoma for his stint as a Baghouse Cleaner. “It’s an asphalt plant where all the positive dust created within the asphalt-making process finally ends up hanging in these giant filter bags that must be maintained and switched out — and it’s beyond dirty,” he said.
The Biochar Maker episode unfolds at a plant in Oklahoma.
“They’re mainly burning burnt wood … and distilling it into pure, highly granular bits of carbon which they’re using a sort of fertilizer, which is having a big impact on the agricultural community,” he said. “As filthy because it is, it’s one among the greener things you’ll be able to do within the energy space.”
Rowe said the series has enabled him to branch out, primarily along with his Mike Rowe Works Foundation.
“My foundation has turn into really robust over the previous few years, and ‘Dirty Jobs’ gives me a probability to reconnect with that, to speak about our Work Ethic Scholarship program and to advertise a show that, to be honest, really hasn’t modified in any respect,” he said.
“The one thing that’s different is that I’m older than I’ve ever been — and things hurt greater than they used to.”
“Dirty Jobs” has been airing repeatedly for nearly 20 years now — and series host Mike Rowe said there’s a reason for its longevity.
“There’s some comfort to it, some certainty,” Rowe, 60, told The Post. “You’re not going to see a ‘Very Special Episode’ of ‘Dirty Jobs’ where ‘Mike ventures into the sewer with the Kardashians to get down and dirty,’ blah, blah, blah.’
“That’s just not gonna occur.”
What viewers will see in the brand new season of “Dirty Jobs” — premiering Dec. 11 (8 p.m.) on Discovery — is Rowe tackling the hands-on work of a “Feral Cat Fixer” (really), a “Reaper Keeper,” a “Biochar Maker,” a “Pile Jacketer” and more along with his inimitable mixture of curiosity, humor, labor and, above all, respect for the individuals with whom he interacts.
“It’s really a chat show and not using a set, wherein the participants are frequently engaged in something that’s so optically weird that it’s hard to show away,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s just a pair of individuals attending to know one another, greater than the rest.”
“Dirty Jobs,” which originally aired from 2003-2012, returned for a four-episode run in July 2020 as “Dirty Jobs: Rowe’d Trip,” by which our host tooled across the country in an RV within the midst of the pandemic. In January 2022, the series was back for a full season with its original title.
“I believe, for me, it’s back since the headlines once more caught up with the underlying themes of the show,” Rowe said. “With the lockdown … all the sudden, overnight, essential work was back within the news and I used to be inundated with suggestions for the show and requests to bring it back.
“All of the ideas at this point, really from the second season on, come from suggestions from viewers,” he said. “Even when the show as out of production … not a day went by once I didn’t get suggestions. People were surprised when the show got here back [in 2020], I believe, because quite a lot of them didn’t even comprehend it went away. That wouldn’t have happened without viewers literally programming the show.
“And, to be honest, in addition they host it,” he said. “I’m only a Christmas ham, an avatar passing through.”
This season, his assistance as a Feral Cat Fixer found Rowe in Texas. “They’ve got a complete team of volunteers who exit and round up dozens, perhaps lots of of cats, every single day and produce them back to the power, in a strip mall, where a few good-natured volunteers and a veterinarian castrate cats all day long,” he said. “To be clear, [the cats] are scratching and snarling and there’s hissing and urinating. There’s not quite a lot of continence happening in an operation like this.”
He also traveled to Oklahoma for his stint as a Baghouse Cleaner. “It’s an asphalt plant where all the positive dust created within the asphalt-making process finally ends up hanging in these giant filter bags that must be maintained and switched out — and it’s beyond dirty,” he said.
The Biochar Maker episode unfolds at a plant in Oklahoma.
“They’re mainly burning burnt wood … and distilling it into pure, highly granular bits of carbon which they’re using a sort of fertilizer, which is having a big impact on the agricultural community,” he said. “As filthy because it is, it’s one among the greener things you’ll be able to do within the energy space.”
Rowe said the series has enabled him to branch out, primarily along with his Mike Rowe Works Foundation.
“My foundation has turn into really robust over the previous few years, and ‘Dirty Jobs’ gives me a probability to reconnect with that, to speak about our Work Ethic Scholarship program and to advertise a show that, to be honest, really hasn’t modified in any respect,” he said.
“The one thing that’s different is that I’m older than I’ve ever been — and things hurt greater than they used to.”
