Date:: May 10, 2005
Source:: CNN Live
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICIA HEATON, “DEBRA” ON “EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND”: Did you ever think of hugging me, you jerk?
RAY ROMANO, “RAYMOND” ON “EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND”: Well, it’s pretty hard to hug someone who’s trying to kill you!
HEATON: Yeah? Well it never occurred to you you’ve never even tried it before!
ROMANO: Well, look, this is not huggable, this — this — this is not Debra. This is the woman who shows up once a month to rip into me like a monkey on a cupcake!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST, “LARRY KING LIVE”: Tonight, as America prepares to bid farewell, next week, to its favorite TV family after nine magical seasons, the stars of “Everybody Loves Raymond” are here for the hour. We’ll share laughs, some memories, and Ray Romano will be along with us, along with TV-wife Patricia Heaton, and TV-brother Brad Garrett, and your phone calls, and it’s all next on LARRY KING LIVE.
This Monday night will be the last of the series. Of course, it will run forever in syndication and the like. And Ray Romano, here with us, presented every member of the cast and crew with one of these diamond rings. This is Brad Garrett’s, that you wear proudly, do you not?
BRAD GARRETT, “ROBERT” ON “EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND”: I do. I don’t think it’s real because my entire wrist is green from wearing this. Is that normal? It feels weird.
KING: Is it real, Ray?
ROMANO: By the way, that’s two rings melded into one to fit on your finger, by the way.
KING: That’s very nice.
ROMANO: I forgot to wear mine. I forgot to wear mine.
GARRETT: (INAUDIBLE) …because I’m so over it. I mean, I appreciate it, but I think it would go great with the suspenders, and the…
KING: Thank you.
ROMANO: Ebay — put it on eBay for charity.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: I’ll wear it for the show and then return it to you. How does that sound?
GARRETT: I like that, and it makes a lovely whistle if things get boring
KING: Ray is also co-author of “Everybody Loves Raymond: Our Family Album,” along with executive producer Phil Rosenthal. There, you see its cover. Do you do a special episode for Monday night? I mean, do you do a kind of a last episode?
ROMANO: Yes, it has a finale feel to it. But, you know, we kept true to ourselves. It’s not spectacular, and there’s no life-changing thing. But it has a little more emotional resonance, I think. But it’s a half hour. You know, we didn’t want to do an hour. We didn’t want to take a half hour show and stretch it into an hour like normally that happens. We just did a funny episode.
KING: And it was done in January, right?
ROMANO: January, yes.
KING: Was it emotional to do, Patricia?
HEATON: Yes, I really — we talked about it all year, actually, like, how we were going to feel on the final episode and what our reactions were going to be. And I was very — I thought I was going to be real shutdown because it’s too big of a thing. It’s — too much has happened to us because of this show and I just didn’t think I’d be able to deal with it.
But, from the first day of rehearsal, I sobbed the whole day, and then when we got to the taping of the show, I lost my voice, and we couldn’t do it. So…
ROMANO: Yeah, actually, we were ready to film — when we were ready to film the episode, literally, as we were ready to be introduced, we — Patty, in the beginning of the day, her voice was hoarse, so we waited, we waited. At showtime, the voice was gone. We had to send the audience home and do it the following week. Yeah.
KING: What was it like for you?
GARRETT: It was very emotional.
ROMANO: Were you in it?
GARRETT: I wasn’t in it. I was on camera C. Ray really never involved me much.
ROMANO: Oh, stop.
GARRETT: Never got over the iceman (ph).
ROMANO: No, I was going to — I interrupted a nice story.
GARRETT: No, no, no. It was, you know — we thought we were all really ready to, you know — nine years was a great run, and then it just, you know, it just — but I, you know, I cry at weather reports. I’m an emotional…
KING: How did mom and pop take it, Mr. Boyle?
ROMANO: That’s what got me. I got to tell you, I was keeping it together, and when we came out for the curtain call and Peter hugged me and I saw tears in his eyes. You know, this is — because, you know, I know him as Peter, but I also know him as Frank the curmudgeon and this and that, and that was kind of heavy when I saw that.
KING: “Everybody’s” — it’s on the cover of “Entertainment Weekly.” Look at this gag cover they did. Ray Romano and Patricia Heaton as Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in “Gone with the Wind.”
GARRETT: Is that who that’s supposed to be?
KING: I guess. Look at that.
HEATON: A friend of mine actually walked by the newsstand, glanced at it and thought to herself, gee, look it, the show is not over yet and they’re already photographing Ray with some other woman.
ROMANO: Really?
HEATON: Yeah.
ROMANO: That’s awesome.
KING: It is also on the cover of “TV Guide.” They have two covers on “TV Guide,” one with just Ray and the wife, and one with the entire cast. I got my copy today in the mail with the entire cast. That’s the cover.
GARRETT: So, and then, at home you get the entire cast, but if you pay for it you only get Ray and Patty.
KING: I guess.
ROMANO: As it should be!
KING: We asked — we’re going to get into this — but, we asked every member of the cast to pick favorite episodes, and a favorite of Ray’s was titled “How They Met,” from the third season.
ROMANO: Ah, yes.
KING: It flashes back to the time Ray first met his future missus. He delivers a futon to her place, and she invites him over to dinner. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBRA: Hey, you want something to drink?
RAY: Yes, yes. Let me get that.
DEBRA: OK, the glasses are right there.
RAY: OK. Ice?
DEBRA: Yes.
RAY: I like the — I like the round cubes with the holes in them. Those are my favorite kind of cubes. Oh! Are you okay?
DEBRA: Yes, I’m fine. You keep knocking me down.
RAY: I know. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You all right?
DEBRA: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANO: No tongue, by the way.
KING: No tongue.
ROMANO: Nah. I made that rule up early on.
KING: Why did this show work? It’s ray’s life, right?
ROMANO: Well, it was based — I mean, the characters, the situation…
KING: Didn’t it start with you appearing on “Letterman,” doing this bit?
ROMANO: Yes, I was doing stand-up for 12 years. I did my first stand-up spot on “Letterman,” and then the following week his company called me up to say, we want to try to develop a show based around what we saw.
KING: So, you have a brother who is a cop.
ROMANO: I have a brother who’s now — he’s now retired. He was a New York police sergeant. My parents have lived across the street or close enough. I have twins and a wife and the whole deal, yes, and my brother moved back in with my parents.
KING: Why did it work, Pat?
HEATON: I guess…
KING: Obviously worked. The writing?
HEATON: Me? I would say.
ROMANO: Yes, it’s you and the writing.
HEATON: I guess it would be these, wouldn’t you say?
ROMANO: By the way, money well spent.
GARRETT: Looks like an ad for the Judds, if you ask me. They’ve got a concert coming up.
ROMANO: The Judds?
GARRETT: The Judds.
ROMANO: OK, sorry, I thought I misheard there.
KING: Why does it work?
HEATON: It works because it’s very true to life. The writers would come in in the morning, talk about the fight they had with their wives the night before. They’d write it down. They’d hand it to us. We’d act it superbly…
ROMANO: It’s relate-able.
HEATON: …and everybody loved it.
GARRETT: The biggest compliment — the biggest compliment you get is, boy, she’s just like my mom or, you know, Ray’s like my sister. I hear that all the time.
ROMANO: We got — we were lucky enough to this this chemistry with the cast and these great writers, and it was a combination of everything and people related to it.
KING: Why is it going off?
HEATON: Hmm?
KING: It’s your decision, right?
HEATON: Ray?
ROMANO: Well, Phil Rosenthal and I — Phil Rosenthal, the creator, executive producer, and I — after seven years, we thought we had said a lot and we thought we did it all and we thought maybe it’s time now. And then we got talked into doing another year — we didn’t get talked into it. But we knew the shows were still — the quality was still there. After eight years we could sense that, we’re running out of fresh ideas. That’s all it was. It was creative. The actors, everybody was great. The writers still wanted to do it. But we just wanted to leave while we were on the top. We thought if we went one more year, we might have been stretching it.
KING: You agree with that decision?
GARRETT: Absolutely.
KING: You do?
GARRETT: Sure. I mean, you know, there’s a part of you that doesn’t want it to end, but when you step back and say, boy, the integrity of leaving as a number one sit-com, it’s great. So that way you never see that rerun down the line where you went, boy, we shouldn’t have done that one. And it’s a really rare thing. It says a lot about Ray and Phil and the writers to have that amount of appreciation for the audience.
KING: You ought to be very proud. We’ll take a break, come back. We’ll be including your phone calls. We’re saluting the end of an era, the end of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” But you’ll be seeing it forever. Where is it sold to?
ROMANO: It is on TB — it’s on network, and also TBS, at the same time, yeah.
KING: As we go to break, watch Brad and mom go at it.
ROMANO: What?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY: Mom, what did he do?
ROBERT: She faxed the FBI a letter about how she ruined my lucky suit.
MARIE: I wasn’t sure it went through. It was the first time I ever used a fax machine.
DEBRA: Marie, why don’t you go into the kitchen, and Robert, how about you just stay here and maybe blink a few times.
ROBERT: Why would you do it? Why would you send a letter? The guy looked at me like I was a pathetic, candy-ass mama’s boy.
MARIE: Then he seems awfully critical.
ROBERT: He’s the FBI, ma! I wasn’t applying for a job at the Gap.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBRA: Ray, our first few years together have been a joy to me.
MARIE: What are you two doing out here?
DEBRA: And I think of our life together as a journey.
MARIE: Please! Don’t you want your appetizer?
DEBRA: A great journey. And along this path you…
ROBERT: (INAUDIBLE)
DEBRA: ..we would share many joyful moments together. Moments that we will remember all our — OK! I’m pregnant!
RAY: What?
MARIE: Pregnant! Debra’s pregnant!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: How do you not laugh when you do that stuff? You really…
ROMANO: In rehearsal, you do. But by the time we…
HEATON: You get enough days to get it out of your system.
KING: What about the infectious of the audience laughing?
HEATON: You know, I know for me, I so want them to get the joy, the experience of getting the joke, that it totally focuses me.
ROMANO: You don’t want to break character.
HEATON: I don’t want to — because we have so much fun with it during the week that when we do it for the audience, I want to make — I just can’t wait for them to hear it.
KING: By the way, I forgot to do this yesterday. I want to wish happy birthday to Don Rickles. A favorite of everybody here, right? (INAUDIBLE), he’s your hero.
GARRETT: My hero.
ROMANO: He was, before I even started stand-up, I remember seeing him at Westbury (ph), and one of the reasons I’ve started doing it.
KING: Genuine funny.
ROMANO: Yeah.
HEATON: Yes.
KING: Funny. Happy birthday, Don. You deserve it.
All right, our next is one of Patricia’s favorites. It’s titled “Ally’s Birth.” Let’s just say, Uncle Robert’s police cruiser came in handy when Debra went into labor. Here’s what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY: What are you doing?
ROBERT: I’m delivering this baby.
RAY: You don’t — you’re not a doctor!
ROBERT: Raymond, I’ve had training in emergency child delivery.
RAY: No, no, no, I don’t care. I don’t care!
DEBRA: You don’t talk anymore. Move over! Come here, Robert.
(LAUGHTER)
RAY: : Holy Moses.
What are you looking at?
ROBERT: I’m waiting for the baby, Raymond.
RAY: You legs got to be so open?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEATON: Oh!
ROMANO: Yeah.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANO: I remember that one, yes. I have that on a loop in my house.
GARRETT: I’m still using the ointment. Supposed to be four to six weeks.
ROMANO: That was a fun one.
GARRETT: She’s so remarkable. You know…
HEATON: You know, I just love — I — I mean, when we’re looking at these clips, there’s a lot of physical comedy, the knocking down and the screaming and the legs up in the air, and there’s a lot of us falling down over couches and…
KING: There’s a lot of body movement.
HEATON: I love — I love — that’s my favorite stuff to do.
KING: What’s the next, by the way? I should get around to it, what are you going to do, Brad?
GARRETT: Well, I’m out doing some stand-up right now, actually, which is kind of my roots. I’m going back to it. Just to aggravate America one city at a time. And…
ROMANO: That’s a good name for your tour.
GARRETT: Yeah.
ROMANO: To aggravate America.
KING: To aggravate America.
GARRETT: Exactly. I’m doing that. And I’m working on a project with HBO. And there’s a chance I may be doing some Broadway, which is like a dream of mine that I’m very excited about.
KING: You get residuals, of course, from…?
GARRETT: I don’t. I don’t. Only when it plays in Korea.
ROMANO: What are you doing on Broadway?
GARRETT: I really can’t get into it right now, Ray. My publicist…
ROMANO: “Old Man Cometh?” Hold and release.
KING: Patricia, what are you going to do?
HEATON: I have a new fragrance coming out.
GARRETT: So do I.
HEATON: I’m launching a new fragrance.
KING: You’re on the cover of “Life” magazine.
GARRETT: Oh my gosh.
HEATON: What?
KING: Babies. Everybody loves mom. Look at that.
GARRETT: Is that — is that — what, did she have that printed, or is that the real thing?
HEATON: That’s the real thing.
KING: What I’ve learned from my kids. Have you got — you got a project coming?
HEATON: Yes, as I said, I’m going to be launching a new fragrance. It’s called Pot Luck.
GARRETT: You’re kidding me.
HEATON: It’s for working moms. It smells different depending on how many days it’s been since you showered. So that’s what I’m working on.
GARRETT: Are you serious?
ROMANO: No.
GARRETT: Oh, she’s so good. She’s always in the moment.
KING: You did that good. You did that good. You had (INAUDIBLE). Pot Luck.
HEATON: No…
KING: You ordered some.
HEATON: Sometimes it smells like brisket. Sometimes it smells like Clorox.
KING: What are you going to do, Patricia?
(CROSSTALK)
HEATON: I’ll be working — hopefully, I have a deal with ABC now to develop my own sitcom.
ROMANO: You got a movie. You’ve got a movie coming, right?
HEATON: I have a movie coming up with TNT. So yeah, a lot of stuff going on.
ROMANO: I have a fragrance. It’s Pot Roast is what we call that. No.
KING: What do you do?
ROMANO: I, well, like Brad…
HEATON: Broadway.
ROMANO: I love — I always — I continue to do stand-up during the show occasionally, but it’s my first love, and I believe I am a stand-up, you know, deep down, that’s what I am. So I’ll do that. I got the animated movie “Ice Age 2” is coming out. And if look, I’d love to do another film. I did three films. One, nobody saw and it was out. Two never came — one came out so fast, a friend of mine said, can I go see it? I go, yeah, but if you hit traffic on the way to the theater, just go right to the video store.
KING: I was supposed to be in one, and they couldn’t work it out to get me. I couldn’t get…
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANO: You were supposed to be in the one that I did last summer.
KING: With Gene Hackman, when you were running against him for mayor.
ROMANO: Yes. Yes.
KING: Why didn’t that work?
ROMANO: You wanted money.
KING: No…
GARRETT: He meant the movie, Raymond.
ROMANO: Oh.
GARRETT: Not why he couldn’t do it.
KING: “Welcome To…?”
ROMANO: It was one of those things. It was fun to do. It was a fun movie. You know, it’s a weird science, film. You know, I’m just trying to get the hang of it.
GARRETT: Let me tell you where my movie career is, if I can. It won’t take long. I’m picky and not in demand. And it’s a brutal combination. I’m actually starting to turn down roles I’m not even up for. I called Spielberg, I said “I cannot do ‘War of the Worlds,'” and he went “great.”
KING: We’ll be right back.
GARRETT: Where are you going? Do you do this to Rickles? Do you do it to Rickles?
KING: Yeah, but he interrupts, too.
GARRETT: I see. I’m sorry.
KING: As we’re going to break, this clip is Ray says no.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBRA: You already asleep?
RAY: Huh?
DEBRA: You must be tired.
RAY: Oh, yeah. I am kind of beat. You know, I got a lot of stuff. Going on.
Maybe tomorrow.
DEBRA: Really?
ROMANO: Yeah.
DEBRA: OK. Well, good night.
ROMANO: Yeah. Good night. Oh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, let’s see what you got. Come on. Come on. You got it. You got it. You got it. Right. Yes. Yes. You got it. Yes. Yes. Yes. All right.
CROWD: Go Robert. Go Robert. Go Robert. Go Robert. Go Robert.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Is that scripted?
GARRETT: Not the dancing. Not the dancing.
KING: They let you go?
GARRETT: I learned it in the circus.
ROMANO: Yes.
GARRETT: Yes. Yes, we just…
ROMANO: You’ve got some moves.
GARRETT: Well, you know, I started as a…
KING: During the nine years, was there ever a discord? Did anyone ever, like, threaten to leave? Did you ever have a holdout for more money?
ROMANO: Sure.
KING: Things that have happened…
ROMANO: Take a call. Take a call, Larry. Yes, we had the usual. You know, it’s business.
GARRETT: It wasn’t among the cast.
HEATON: No.
GARRETT: It was never discord among the cast.
HEATON: Right.
ROMANO: No.
GARRETT: It was business.
KING: Was Worldwide Pants fair to you?
ROMANO: Yes. I mean, we don’t know who — you know, it was Worldwide Pants, there was HBO and there was CBS, so…
KING: They were all involved?
ROMANO: Yes.
KING: Well, what did the paycheck read?
GARRETT: Said, call me.
ROMANO: Paycheck said don’t cash until Thursday.
KING: One of Brad’s favorites — we’re showing favorites of each of our guests is titled “Robert’s Date.” In it Robert has a new girlfriend who happens to be black. The relationship has an interesting effect on him. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT: What?
RAY: Nothing. It’s just I’ve never seen you so styling.
ROBERT: Just some new clothes, that’s all. Got to get out more, my brother.
ROMANO: You having fun, huh?
GARRETT: Yes. Judy and I and some of the crew, we’ve been hitting the clubs, that’s all.
ROMANO: Oh, you got a crew now?
GARRETT: Word.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Wow, funny stuff.
GARRETT: Thank you.
HEATON: You know, I was on an airplane once watching our show, and laughing my head off like we’re doing here watching our own episodes. And the steward came up to me and said, “I just think that it’s so funny you laugh at your own show.”
GARRETT: Yes.
ROMANO: Yes.
KING: You didn’t — you resisted guest people — guest appearances by famous people, right? Occasionally some sports people…
ROMANO: No, we didn’t resist it. The first year CBS did a lot of little stunt casting, because I played a sports writer. So they would get a lot of athletes to come on. But the show was not about the job. It was about the family. So it didn’t really fit. We…
HEATON: They kind of felt like they had to do that to get the ratings going. They thought it would attract viewers when we started out.
ROMANO: We had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in my living room. No kidding. We had Tommy Lasorda was making sauce. And it was all for stunt casting.
HEATON: Once we took off, we didn’t have to do that.
KING: Was it a hit right away?
HEATON: No, no.
KING: Was there ever the threat where you might not make it?
ROMANO: Well, the first year we were on Friday nights and we were like in 80 place. But the…
KING: Why did they keep it?
ROMANO: Well, the critics were behind it. So, we were getting good press. So they gave it — more than they should have. And then at the end of the first year, he gave us six weeks on Monday night following Cosby. “Cosby” was their number one then. So we had to perform then. That was our real test, and we did. It was — it was a little nerve wracking then, because if we didn’t do well then…
HEATON: Then we would have been out.
ROMANO: Yes. Yes. And we improved on “Cosby’s” audience and then he kept us on Monday for the rest of it. Yes.
KING: How did it affect all of you being a hit? I mean, fame, how did that affect you, Brad, really, seriously? You get recognized, right?
GARRETT: Yes, I mean, you get recognized. But it’s — after so many years, you know, of chipping away, it’s nice to get that validation and have people watch. And there’s nothing like the parking, you know to be honest, to pull up to a place every day and know that you’re going to do what you love. I mean, it’s…
KING: What was it like for you, Pat?
HEATON: Well, it’s great to be on a job that lasts a long time that you love. I mean, I can’t imagine having to go to work every day and not getting along with the people or not liking the writing or whatever. So we just had the best of all worlds. And all of us had more children during the run of the show. You started with three, you end up with four. I started with two, had two more. You have two now.
ROMANO: You had zero…
GARRETT: Yes. Yes. Yes, true.
HEATON: So, it was…
ROMANO: But you’re too tired to take in the fame.
KING: How about your fame, Ray?
ROMANO: Well, you know what — look, there’s no complaining. The perks are great. I love — I love the little things. I love being able to go to Disneyland and not have to stand in the line with four kids.
KING: You don’t stand in line?
ROMANO: Easy. I have to put the outfit on. I’ve got to walk around…
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANO: But I think, you know, the problems — you know, I was neurotic. I’ve always said, you know, before the show I thought my cab driver hated me. Now I think my limo driver hates me. That’s all. It’s just is a different level.
KING: He’s still neurotic, right. He’s still…
HEATON: He’s still neurotic.
ROMANO: Well, I’m not — I mean, it’s just — all I’m trying to say is, you know, it’s great, but I think life is the same just on a different level.
GARRETT: You know what’s great — and I know I say this a lot, and just probably tired of it. He hasn’t changed a bit. Which is — which is, you know, a wonderful…
KING: Some people don’t change, circumstances change.
GARRETT: That’s true.
ROMANO: People around you…
GARRETT: People around you change because they think…
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANO: Because of the way — the way people react to you changes.
HEATON: Yes.
GARRETT: Yes.
KING: We’ll take a break, and when we come back, we’ll include your phone calls. As we go — by the way, Condoleezza Rice is our guest tomorrow night.
HEATON: My hero.
GARRETT: You know that was my — that was my nickname in high school.
ROMANO: Rice cakes.
KING: I’ll tell her that tomorrow.
GARRETT: Please. Please.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: She’s returning tonight with the president. She’ll be with us tomorrow night in Washington. And as we go to break, bloopers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT: I’m home, Lily.
And there you are at work, and then you come breezing home — look what I wrote. Where’s my dinner. How much — oh!
See everybody at graduation, and then pow.
DEBRA: Robert, this is your first time teaching.
ROBERT: Yes. Well, the supervisor said it may be my last.
DEBRA: Now, that’s not fair. But you probably…
ROBERT: No. No. No. Can I have another line!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBRA: Where is my tape recorder, Ray? Where was my tape recorder when I was in labor with the twins for 36 hours and you were asking the nurse if the TV gets ESPN?
RAY: I mean, 36 hours, that’s not a short time.
DEBRA: Yeah. Guess what? It’s even longer when you’re trying to push two human beings out of your body while your husband is going “does this hospital have fudgesickles?” Yeah! Where is my tape recorder, huh? Or when you asked me why I get so upset because I find your underpants in the kitchen, huh? Or when you start snoring at my grandmother’s funeral? When you tape the football game over our wedding video!
RAY: Do you really need a tape recorder? You seem to remember everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Our guests are Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton and Brad Garrett of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Their final show is Monday night on CBS. And then, of course, they’ll be in rerun forever.
The first three seasons of “Everybody Loves Raymond” are available on DVD from HBO Video. There you see the covers. A boxed set of the third season was just released last week.
Let’s go to calls. Dayton, Ohio, hello.
CALLER: Hi. Good evening, Larry.
KING: Hi.
CALLER: Hi, everybody. How are you?
HEATON: Good.
ROMANO: Good. Hi.
CALLER: I just love your show.
ROMANO: Thank you.
HEATON: Thank you.
CALLER: One of my favorite shows was the Thanksgiving turkey that fell on the floor about four or five times. That was hilarious. But my question is, I’m sure you get tons of fan mail. Was there anything that somebody had written in to you that you may have incorporated on the show?
ROMANO: That we used on the show? No.
KING: Did anyone ever give you ideas, though?
HEATON: See, you’re not getting a check. I don’t know what you sent in, but…
ROMANO: Yeah, we couldn’t do that anyway even if we wanted to. But some people would send in ideas that we kind of did already. You know, there was a version of that we did already. A lot of people would send in pictures. This I got a kick out of, of relatives that looked like us.
KING: You’re kidding?
ROMANO: Yeah.
GARRETT: It’s unbelievable.
ROMANO: Some of it was scary.
GARRETT: I was someone’s Aunt Selma at one point.
ROMANO: Yeah.
GARRETT: Yeah.
ROMANO: How about the husband and wife that looked exactly like Peter and Doris?
GARRETT: And they did.
ROMANO: Yeah.
GARRETT: And they did.
ROMANO: Yeah.
KING: Reno, Nevada. Hello.
CALLER: Yes. My comment is, first of all, I want the entire cast to realize that I consider “Everybody Loves Raymond” one of the top three comedies ever on television.
HEATON: Thank you.
CALLER: And that’s right up there with “I Love Lucy.”
And my comment is — and my question, actually, is did you guys really know how great that show was?
ROMANO: So sweet. That show, meaning our show? Not “I Love Lucy.”
(CROSSTALK)
GARRETT: She’s calling about Lucy, Ray.
KING: Sometimes you can be too close to the forest. Did you realize?
HEATON: Well, like I said…
(CROSSTALK)
HEATON: … I’d be on an airplane and I would watch it as if I wasn’t even in the show. I mean, I could get distance from it. And when I would read the scripts, I was so excited. I was especially obsessed with Brad’s character, Robert. I loved him. He’s such a sad sack. And I just always, you know, wanted to…
KING: I mean, did you realize how good — it’s a good question.
GARRETT: You know, you’re in a bubble for nine years. I mean, you’re constantly there. You have very little contact with the outside folks. And when you finally get out and about, whether it’s doing whatever we do, you see the impact it has.
ROMANO: I think — I think you see — when you get out and about, you see how many people like the show. But it’s so hard — I mean, I don’t know how you are, but as a stand-up comic, you’ve got a weird thing going in your head. There’s two things going at once. You think you’re great and you think you’re horrible at the same time. So it’s hard to get wrapped up in the good press. It really is. Yeah, does that work for you, no?
GARRETT: No, not at all.
KING: There’s another one of our favorites…
GARRETT: I don’t have an evil twin yet, Ray.
KING: This is one of Ray’s favorites. “Bad Moon Rising.” We set it up with two names, Ray and Debra, and three letters, PMS. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBRA: That’s right, Ray. I remember everything, and I’m not going to forget either.
RAY: Honey, I think you make some excellent points here, but I can’t help wondering that, you know, maybe part of the reason you’re so upset right now might possibly be PMS-related.
DEBRA: (INAUDIBLE) get me a tape recorder, and I cannot believe you just said that!
RAY: I don’t know what to do, I just don’t know what to do.
DEBRA: Yeah, yeah. No kidding. Listen, if I had PMS — and I’m not saying that I have — is that how you help me? By taping me? By telling me I have PMS?
RAY: Well, where do you want me to go? I don’t know what to do! Show me what to do. Just draw it out for me!
DEBRA: Have you ever thought about giving me a hug?
RAY: A hug!
DEBRA: Yes, a hug. Did you ever think of hugging me, you jerk!
RAY: Well, it’s pretty hard to hug someone’s who’s trying to kill you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANO: All true. That one comes…
KING: That happened in life?
ROMANO: That hit close. That was written by Phil Rosenthal and myself.
HEATON: His wife said it’s verbatim, Monica Horan, who plays Brad’s wife, Amy.
ROMANO: It’s good to make money off it, though, right? If you are going to have to live through it.
KING: Well, that’s right, you got to live through. Oh, foxhole humor. Wasn’t funny when it was happening.
ROMANO: No.
KING: We’ll take a break and we’ll be right back with more calls and more highlights. Don’t go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIE: So, I’m not gone a month, and my 100-year-old priceless Bulgarian upright piano is in the basement, and has been replaced by you with this.
ROBERT: Do you even know what that is, ma?
MARIE: Yes, I do know what that is! I may be an ancient relic as far as you’re concerned, but I’m still able to know what things are. This is a sex machine!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: We’re back. New Market, Ontario, hello.
CALLER: Hi, everyone.
KING: Hi.
HEATON: Hello.
ROMANO: Hi.
CALLER: We all love you in Canada very much.
HEATON: Thank you.
GARRETT: Thank you.
ROMANO: Thank you.
CALLER: My question is, because you’ll always be Robert, Debra and Ray Ramone — Barone, sorry, how do you move on from that?
HEATON: Well, they decided to stop shaving, which I guess they think it’s going to make a difference, right?
KING: (INAUDIBLE), how do you shake that image?
ROMANO: How do you shake the image? Yeah, it’s tricky. I mean, you’re talking about working somewhere else and …
KING: But you don’t have to, really, right? Because if you’re a stand-up, you stay in mode.
ROMANO: Well, no, if I want to do stand-up, I’m going to…
KING: But if you want to do movies, yeah.
ROMANO: Yeah, it’s a tricky transition. I think it’s nudity. I think you go nude.
GARRETT: Yeah. Well, you know, it’s a business where I think you always have to reinvent yourself anyway. You know, and if people say, you know, but if you’re typecast — if you’re typecast, that means that people watch and they buy you as that character. And that’s a good thing. You know? It means you were on a hit.
ROMANO: No, but it’s a legitimate — it can be a legitimate problem.
HEATON: Then, again if you’re a real actor, it won’t be an issue.
GARRETT: That’s not an issue here tonight, for sure.
KING: So, Patricia will not have a problem?
GARRETT: No, she’s a chameleon, Patricia. You can see her commercials.
ROMANO: If you see Albertson’s commercials, you know.
KING: Dalton, Georgia. Hello.
Caller: Hi. Being the mother of two boys, I have adored this show for all the years. My question is to Patricia Heaton. How have you — when did you and how did you conceal your real-life pregnancies on the air?
HEATON: Well, if you watch the shows over the years, you’ll see every year I was pregnant, my hair got bigger to try to balance it out, and I just ended up looking like a pumpkin, unfortunately. But we just used big flannel shirts, and I acted behind the couch and carried a lot of…
GARRETT: You acted behind me.
HEATON: Actually, they put Brad in my light and…
KING: Why didn’t the writers give her another kid?
HEATON: We, actually, we had — I think a script flashback where I was pregnant.
ROMANO: While you were pregnant we did a flashback to when you were pregnant. But, we weren’t going to add a kid because we seldom show the kids anyway. So, we didn’t need to do that. We show the kids, you know, at the right time.
KING: Because you would think a lot of funny things would come up over pregnancy.
ROMANO: Well, we did the flashbacks of her pregnancies. But CBS didn’t want to pay another kid.
KING: Another one of the favorites, this is one of Patricia’s favorites, called “The Home.” Robert and Amy break the news to Ray and Debra that Frank and Marie are selling their home — I love this one — and moving 85 minutes away. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMY: Wait until you hear the best part.
ROBERT: We get the house.
DEBRA: What?
AMY: Our own house!
RAY: You get the house?
ROBERT: We get the house. $26,000.
RAY: Whoa, why do you get that?
AMY: What do you care, Ray?
RAY: $26,000.
DEBRA: 85 minutes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANO: Yes.
KING: Is it as much fun to do it, to be a part of it? I mean…
HEATON: That — I love those — that was so much fun. I just loved that.
ROMANO: Well, that was cool to do because this is our ninth year and that was the second show or the first show?
HEATON: First show.
ROMANO: And I got more comments from that — from that one scene. So, people were still surprised and still laughing.
HEATON: To be in the ninth year, if you’re still accomplishing that, that’s a great thing.
KING: You ever have second thoughts about leaving?
ROMANO: No. I mean, I have — I’m worried about it. I’m worried about what I’m going — what’s it going to be like.
KING: But no second thoughts that this was a mistake.
HEATON: But you know it was the right thing to do.
ROMANO: No, no, I don’t think so. I mean, no, the answer is no.
KING: Davis, California. Hello.
CALLER: Good afternoon, Larry. (INAUDIBLE) speak with you tonight. My favorite characters are Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts. Ray, would you ever consider working on the…
(AUDIO GAP),
ROMANO: I don’t know what it is, but…
KING: I have no idea what it is…
HEATON: But he’s available.
KING: Those two were with us last time when we had the whole cast.
GARRETT: They’re amazing. Just amazing.
KING: What are they going to do? You know, what’s Peter going — well, he’ll always get roles.
ROMANO: And Doris is…
HEATON: Doris is already…
GARRETT: Dories does more than, I think, all of us, pretty much. She’s always…
HEATON: She was always, always, even through the show, she was always working.
ROMANO: She was always — and she’s on vacation, she’s on a cruise to France, she’s in a castle somewhere. Yes.
HEATON: She flew to India one Christmas break. Remember that, the first year? India.
KING: And Peter’s one of the…
ROMANO: She ran with the bulls. It’s crazy.
KING: Peter’s a great character actor.
ROMANO: Peter — yes. He was, you know, the first year, we both came from New York, we both stayed in the same apartment complex.
HEATON: Without your families.
ROMANO: Yes, the families stayed, and I was the new guy and he took me under his…
HEATON: You fell in love.
ROMANO: Yeah, yeah. No, he was a good buddy to me, yes.
KING: Who could forget him in “Young Frankenstein”? Really great.
HEATON: We’d bring our kids to the set and Peter would do Frankenstein and chase the kids around the set. They loved it.
KING: We’ll take a break and be back with more of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Don’t go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY: How about my little Steinbrenner joke?
MARIE: It wasn’t funny. It isn’t nice to hurt other people’s feelings.
RAY: Is that right?
I think you are the most beautiful woman on the face of the earth. And I know…
DEBRA: You spent so much effort putting together this fake checkbook. Why didn’t you just take that same amount of effort when you were doing it to do it right…
RAY: You have been drinking.
What if she’s great at piano? You got to stick to stuff. You can’t quit after three lessons. Did I quit asking you to marry me after the restraining order?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: A couple of things we should mention. At 8:00 Eastern time there’s a special documentary looking back at the last year of “Everybody Loves Raymond” on CBS, and then at 9:00, the last of the series, right? This documentary airs…
ROMANO: Yes. Right.
KING: And Ray has a children’s book out as well, called “Raymie, Dickie, and the Bean: Why I Love and Hate My Brothers.”
ROMANO: Yes, I wrote it with my brothers. My one brother is a New York cop and the other one’s a New York teacher, public school teacher. So, we have a children’s book that came out.
KING: For what age?
ROMANO: Like, four to eight.
KING: Good, I’ll get it for the boys.
ROMANO: Good.
KING: You will be appearing, stand-up, on May 17th at Meyerhoff’s Symphony Hall in Baltimore.
GARRETT: Yes.
KING: Very funny guy, and May 19th at the Powers Auditorium in Youngstown, Ohio.
Blacksville, West Virginia. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Larry. My compliments to your guests for a wonderful programming, and to you as well.
KING: Thank you.
CALLER: I would like to ask your panel what their perspective is on television situation comedies. It seems like we’re inundated with so many comedies, many of them not nearly the quality of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” What do they see down the road in terms of the future of situation comedies during the family hour?
KING: Good question. Ray?
ROMANO: Well, as far as family comedies, I think there’s probably not many. There’s a lack of them now, and people are saying like it’s the end of the sitcom because of reality shows and this. But I don’t agree with that. I think it’s the end until the next good one comes along.
HEATON: It is all cyclical, and as Phil Rosenthal, our producer, always stressed — I mean, he’s right — is that it’s about the writing. You have to start out — we started out with real characters who were really fleshed out and had histories.
KING: A lot of them aren’t, though.
HEATON: A lot of them aren’t. A lot of them, they take a stock sitcom character — we need the funny friend — we need this or that, and they throw it together, and there’s really no there, there.
ROMANO: I was going to say it is cyclical, but I have trouble with that word.
HEATON: Cyclical…
KING: Is Phil going to produce another show?
ROMANO: Yeah, Phil’ll find — yes, he’s talented.
KING: You have (INAUDIBLE) sitcoms.
GARRETT: I think it’s really what they — it’s very difficult to make all of those pieces fit and work and the writing is crucial, and I think it’s probably the most coveted, creative force in television, is the writing.
ROMANO: How about (INAUDIBLE) your spin-off will be a good sitcom if they’d ever….
KING: Why don’t you do a spin-off?
ROMANO: Come on.
KING: The brother.
ROMANO: The brother.
GARRETT: Why didn’t you say something? This is a wonderful idea.
KING: Rhoda.
GARRETT: Rhoda.
KING: You can be the new Rhoda.
GARRETT: It’s Robert.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Rhoda spun off from Mary Tyler Moore.
GARRETT: Yes.
KING: You would be the male Rhoda, Robert — it was hip. See, when I said Rhoda (INAUDIBLE) hip.
GARRETT: See, what do I know? That’s why I didn’t pick up on the hip. I thought he was calling me Rhoda, I was going to say…
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANO: I don’t know…
KING: Another favorite episode, this from Brad, is called “Robert’s Rodeo.” In it, Robert the cop survives a run-in with a bull, but Robert’s ego gets really bruised. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming up on News 2 at 11:00, we have exclusive home video of a police chase. Only this time, the police are being chased, by a bull. You won’t believe it.
All that and more coming up on News 2.
DEBRA: That was scary, right? RAY: You look good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANO: Were you scared there?
KING: Where did you do that?
ROMANO: I did it on the back lot of Warner Brothers.
KING: They sent a bull out?
ROMANO: They did. And, you know, to do anything athletic or — to me, that’s a stunt. You know, you can’t get a Jewish guy to jump off a porch.
KING: Correct.
GARRETT: You know that.
KING: Correct.
GARRETT: So they’re like — and they laid this out to me like three days before. Phil says, you’re going to meet a bull. It’s very nice. We’re going to put some biscuits in your pocket and you’re going to run. It is going to smell your biscuits and then it’s going to — and it was frightening. It was really, really frightening for me. And…
ROMANO: No, but we had everything under control.
GARRETT: It wasn’t under control. They had a zetzer (ph) — I’m over here, Larry. They had a zetzer — I’m sorry. They had a zetzer — maybe I’ll talk to you, the nephew.
KING: No, because I got to go to break.
GARRETT: OK.
KING: So I hear what you say.
GARRETT: But you’re just not into it. That’s cool.
ROMANO: He’s working a lot of things here.
(CROSSTALK)
GARRETT: It’s just a bull.
KING: That’s a lot of bull.
We’ll be back with more moments with “Everybody Loves Raymond.” Don’t go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY: Another one. Come on. OK. Great. Now we try a happy one. Go ahead, think happy thoughts.
ROBERT: I got nothing.
RAY: Remember when dad got his arm stuck in the vending machine?
ROBERT: That was funny.
RAY: Yeah. How about when mom was talking and the moth flew in?
ROBERT: Keep going.
RAY: Remember when I almost got fired?
ROBERT: You almost got fired?
RAY: There you go. There you go.
ROBERT: When did you almost get fired?
RAY: I don’t know. But Debra almost left me.
ROBERT: You are good at this!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Longview, Texas. Hello.
CALLER: Hi. We all love you here in Longview, Texas.
ROMANO: Thank you.
HEATON: Thank you.
CALLER: And thank goodness for reruns. Ray, I’d like to know where you’ll be doing stand-up comedy.
KING: Are you going to do a tour?
ROMANO: I got a date in Vegas next month at the Mirage. And a couple of gigs in summer. But I’m not going to do like a — no, I’m not going to go on the road.
GARRETT: I think you’ll be in Texas at the gag silo, won’t you?
KING: What?
GARRETT: The gag silo. Fabulous room. It’s a little tinny, but it’s…
(CROSSTALK)
KING: You’re at the Mirage in Vegas next week? ROMANO: Yes, yes.
KING: Now, do you — is it all new material?
ROMANO: No. No. That’s the problem. That’s one thing I’m looking forward to, is writing some new material, because man, I’m sick of my act. When I’m on the show, I can’t — I don’t have time to write material. I’m busy, you know.
GARRETT: He’s fabulous. He kills. And he’s always (INAUDIBLE).
ROMANO: Brad and I did a gig together in Vegas.
HEATON: Vegas.
GARRETT: We were like the Rat Pack, but without the talent. It was an incredible…
ROMANO: Or the cool.
KING: You did a double stand-up?
ROMANO: Yeah.
GARRETT: At the Mirage, we both did a thing.
KING: You opened, he closed?
GARRETT: Exactly.
ROMANO: Well, we co-headlined. We co-headlined, then we came on at the end and we did a little thing.
GARRETT: I wouldn’t say closed.
ROMANO: We co-headlined.
GARRETT: We did. We had a great time.
KING: (INAUDIBLE)
HEATON: I have a new fragrance coming out called Pot Luck.
KING: What is it with the fragrance?
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANO: By the way, you start another (INAUDIBLE).
HEATON: I am, actually, I’m along with Brad…
KING: you were a singer?
HEATON: I sing, yeah.
KING: So why don’t you open for them? ROMANO: There you go.
HEATON: Hey.
GARRETT: Wouldn’t that be amazing?
HEATON: Me on top of a piano.
ROMANO: Wow.
HEATON: Picture this in your act. Now, we’re selling tickets in Baltimore. What can I tell you, right?
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANO: … since the magazine came out.
KING: So you’ll all be in New York on Monday night, right? For the…
ROMANO: Yes.
KING: … finale. You’re going to see a special showing of your own — this documentary Monday night was…
ROMANO: They stayed with us. They stayed backstage.
HEATON: It was crew that filmed us for a year.
ROMANO: For the whole kind of, yeah. So you get a glimpse back there, and then there’s some clips. And then some interviews with us. And then the show from 9:00 to 9:30, and then we’re unemployed. That’s it.
KING: Does it feel like it’s over, though, since you finished it in January?
ROMANO: I don’t think it’s going to feel like it’s over until — because it’s still…
HEATON: Until August, when we were supposed to go back to work. And then…
KING: Is that the way it always went?
(CROSSTALK)
HEATON: … March, and then you go back in August.
ROMANO: I haven’t told my wife it’s over, by the way, because I want to get out of the house. So I’m just going to tell her I’m going to work — and she doesn’t watch the show anyway, so I’ll just show her some…
KING: There were moments when it got serious, too, the show, right? You touched on serious moments? ROMANO: At the right time.
HEATON: They’d always come in and cut it with some great…
ROMANO: Yeah, we’d treacle cut it is (INAUDIBLE).
GARRETT: Just when you thought like it was getting heavy, you had one of the best lines…
HEATON: Best punchlines.
GARRETT: … that you can imagine.
ROMANO: To undercut it. To undercut it. But yeah, we — you know, when it was the right moment — but far and few between. But you earn it. You had to earn it with the comedy first.
KING: It’s my honor now, Brad, to return this ring, which I know you will treasure.
ROMANO: Have it cleaned and…
KING: For many years to come. That’s a good idea. You gave a ring to everybody?
ROMANO: Sure, I gave the cast and crew a little like graduation high school kind of thing. Which I didn’t have the privilege of doing. Wait a minute, I graduated high school.
GARRETT: Did you graduate?
ROMANO: Yeah, I did.
KING: What school?
ROMANO: I went to three different schools, high schools.
GARRETT: At the same time.
ROMANO: I graduated from Hillcrest in Jamaica, Queens.
KING: Ah. Lafayette in Brooklyn.
GARRETT: El Camino Real high school in Woodland Hills, California.
HEATON: And Bay High School in Bay Village, Ohio.
ROMANO: You’re smart, though.
(CROSSTALK)
HEATON: … pretty.
KING: That’s it, guys.
GARRETT: Thanks, Larry.
KING: Tomorrow night, Condoleezza Rice, which was the name Brad used…
GARRETT: It’s amazing.
KING: … in high school.
ROMANO: Why don’t we do Vegas with her?
KING: Yeah, Condi could open.
GARRETT: Yeah, there you go.
KING: But right now, it’s “NEWSNIGHT.” Aaron Brown is off tonight. Sitting in is Anderson Cooper. Anderson, I’m going to give you…
ROMANO: I like him. I like Anderson.
KING: “Everybody Loves Raymond” is going to toss to you. This is your job now, Ray.
ROMANO: Take it away, take it away, Anderson!
KING: Look in that camera and toss to him like you see him. Give him a big…
ROMANO: Ladies and gentlemen, the Coop, as we call him.
KING: The Coop!
ROMANO: Yeah, back in the day. Take it away, Anderson.