Mike Rowe ’ s mother , Peggy Rowe , always finds a way to outdo her son — and she does so in a way only mothers can .
“ I am so brutally and relentlessly upstaged at every turn by my mother ,” Mike said .
Peggy Rowe is a retired teacher , mother of three boys , wife of more than six decades and the author of two books , but it ’ s her simple , tell-it-like-it-is one-liners ( with a mother ’ s touch ) that Peggy is known for . They dig at the root of the stories she ’ s uncovering as a journalist , author , wife and mom .
At least , that ’ s what happened one day when Peggy called Mike about his grandfather , Carl . As Mike explained , everyone knows a man like Carl . He was the product of a seventhgrade education , but he could solve more problems with his hands than a mathematician could with a calculator .
Mike explains : “ By the time he was 30 , [ he was a ] steamfitter , pipefitter , mechanic , welder , amateur architect — a jack of all trades . I was determined to follow in his footsteps as a kid , but the handy gene is unfortunately recessive . So , I wound up with a very different toolbox .”
That toolbox led Mike through a career in the arts . He sang on stage as a Viking in the Baltimore Opera , landed a gig selling random trinkets and items at 3 a . m . on the QVC shopping channel on a $ 100 bet , and , at the time of his mother ’ s greatest guilt trip to date , hosted the San Francisco CBS affiliate KPIX ’ s “ Evening Magazine .” On the show , Mike would fill the role of expert , leading just a handful of viewers through winery openings and art galleries .
It was a standard day for Mike at that TV station when Peggy felt compelled to dial up her son about his 92-year-old grandfather and say to Mike , “ It sure would be great before he dies if he could turn on the television and see you doing something that looks like work .”
That was what Mike calls the beginning of his “ peripeteia ,” the Greek word for a turning point upon which a protagonist ’ s perspective changes . His mother had planted the seed in his head that by coasting for the past 15 years , picking up little acting gigs and hosting jobs to pay the bills , Mike was actually heading down a path he hated .
“ My business model all the way up to ‘ Evening Magazine ’ was a controlled failure ,” Mike recalled . “ I didn ’ t want a hit show . I was looking to have four to five months off a year and work three weeks [ each month ] tops .”
Since that phone call with his mother , Mike ’ s peripeteia has sent him on a spiral into the world of hard work , exposing some of America ’ s “ dirtiest ” jobs and simultaneously becoming an advocate for trades and skilled-labor education . Mike recently shared his journey into the grimy yet powerful work that keeps America churning .
From singing in the opera and hosting Discovery Channel ’ s hit series “ Dirty Jobs ” to narrating countless other series and creating a foundation to fight for America ’ s trades , Mike continues to live out the request his mother had for him all those years ago , proving yet again that getting your hands a little dirty is the best formula for success .
DISCOVERING AUTHENTICITY AT 3 A . M .
From the moment Mike hung up the phone after that life-changing chat with his mom , his mind raced . He had been at KPIX for 15 years at that point , a stop in a climb he had begun in Baltimore as a member of its opera company . On the hour-long break he had during shows , he would sneak across the street in full costume for a beer and watch football with his friends . It was there that a buddy challenged him to get a callback for a QVC audition slated for the next day .
Mike was given the job after he successfully sold a yellow No . 2 pencil to the QVC producer for eight minutes , likening it to the very device Albert Einstein could credit with E = mc2 . That was when he first discovered his ability to influence others just by talking .
“ It ’ s never about the pencil ,” Mike said about his uncanny — and personally unwanted — ability to sell . “ It ’ s always about the thing you can do with the thing you ’ re talking about .”
Admittedly , Mike had no idea what he was doing on camera , so rather than fake it , he told the viewers as much , going so far as to ask those who happened to be watching at 3 a . m . to call into the channel and tell viewers about their experience with the tools he was selling . And to his surprise , it worked . Mike had created a small hub of testimonials , filled with stories from people who had used the devices .
“ I had no idea how valuable it was for me until 10 years went by , and everything I needed to know to work in television I learned at three in the morning . It was that toolbox that gave me the [ ability ] to book a lot of auditions ,” Mike explained .
QVC wasn ’ t Mike ’ s dream job , and he also claims to have been fired three times by QVC , but to this day , he credits those early morning gab sessions with happy customers as his first test in humility .
Later , that same lesson would smack him in the face — literally — and it encouraged him to put his talents toward a cause that fueled his passion .
A SEWER MAY NOT HAVE BEEN WHAT PEGGY HAD IN MIND
The afternoon after his mother called him at KPIX , Mike went into his boss ’ s office and pitched doing “ Evening Magazine ” from a trades position , like at a factory or in the sewers . His boss didn ’ t care what he did because the show only had 60 viewers .
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