TCA: "Poo Is the Glue" for Dirty Jobs' Mike Rowe

Mike Rowe, host of long-running Discovery reality show Dirty Jobs, will keep on doing the show “as long as my shoulder and knee hold up, which are both hurting right now,” he says following a July 30 appearance at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena. (Click here for complete coverage.)

After more than 200 episodes of the show, in which Rowe takes on some of the grimiest gigs around, a “huge appetite” remains for “people who have figured their life out through work,” he tells B&C. He says he and Discovery have a deal for two more seasons to air–one of which still needs to be shot. And he has no concern about running out of roles to feature: “Really, all jobs are dirty jobs,” he says.

But that doesn’t mean he’s bound to start featuring dirty jobs with white collars on the show. The jobs he highlights are generally physically dirty–and there are plenty of them. Viewers write in about the jobs and the series is virtually programmed by them, he says. When asked if he’d take on the task of firing people or other recession-related dirty deeds on the show, he says he would consider it for a special but has worked hard not to do stunts with the show in order to keep it fresh.

Dirty Jobs is time consuming and Rowe admits that it does keep him from doing some other things in entertainment, but he is happy doing what he does. “It keeps me from doing a sitcom, which I don’t want to do. It keeps me from doing movies, which I don’t want to do,” he says. “Discovery has been a good partner for 17 years; I love the brand.”

Rowe’s job involves a regular amount of, um, mess. The first question from the critics during his session was, “Is the poo getting any easier?”

When asked later if he ever goes a day with out the “p” word being brought up, he says simply, “No,” then adds, “Poo is the glue that holds us together, I’m afraid.”