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7/28/2005
He's a stand-up guy!
Ray Romano ponders life after 'Raymond'
By Phillip Zonkel, Staff writer, DailyBulletin.com
He's a stand-up guy
Ray Romano ponders life after 'Raymond'
By Phillip Zonkel
Staff writer
Ray Romano may have called it quits after nine years on his hit sitcom, but he still has laughs with TV co-star Brad Garrett.
Two weeks ago, Romano and Garrett were both on the links at the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe.
"If you ever want to go golfing, take Brad with you. He will make you look better," Romano says. "He came in dead last. There were 75 celebrities and pro athletes and he came in dead last."
But Garrett did more than come in last.
"He missed a shot and got frustrated and accidentally hit himself on the head with his own putter and needed stitches on the course. It was hysterical," Romano says. "He continued playing. He didn't get hurt. It wasn't serious."
Apart from brushing up on his swing, Romano is returning to stand-up comedy and will be performing his act at the Orange County Performing Arts Center Sunday night.
Romano initiated his stand-up comedy routine in 1984, while working as a futon mattress deliveryman and a bank teller during the day and doing his comedy at night. Eventually, he went with comedy full time, and, in 1991, received national notice, appearing on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson." But his big break came four years later after an appearance on "Late Night with David Letterman." Letterman offered Romano a development deal with his production company, Worldwide Pants, and two years after that "Everybody Loves Raymond' debuted on CBS.
In an interview last week from his office on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Romano talks about life after "Raymond," a return to stand-up and the thought of making another film after the critical and box-office disaster of last year's "Welcome to Mooseport."
Q: Do you miss making the show?
A: Right now, we'd be about a week or two away from when we would actually start filming the new shows, about the first week or two in August. I miss the camaraderie of the guys, the writers and the creative outlet. So far, it's not as big a void as I thought it would be. Right now my concentration is on what's next. Do I want to do stand-up? Do I want to try another film? Do I want to write a film?
I do appreciate the show more now that I'm away from it. I can watch it on TV and I'm just slightly removed from it. Whereas when you're in the middle of it, you're like, "Well, I guess it's funny. I guess people like it." Now you can see it almost like an audience member would see it.
Q: In early August when you would normally start filming the new episodes, do you think you'll get in the car and be like, "Wait, I don't have to go to the set"?
A: The funny thing is I have an office on the same lot. I'm right next to my (old) sound stage. The people who worked there are now working on Julia Louis-Dreyfus' show ("Old Christine' for CBS) on the same stage. She has my dressing room. I'm sure it smells better with her in there.
I'm weaning myself off of it. I think that's good.
Q: Will you make visits to the old set?
A: I'm going to go on the set. There's people there that I know. I don't want them to destroy the spirit, make sure there are still a couple of pictures that are still hanging up.
Q: Which pictures are those?
A: Someone said they went on the set and it was a little eerie, until they saw the pictures of the Village People hanging up. We had these big individual pictures of the Village People on the balcony. They're like these big cardboard cutouts.
Q: You're a big fan of the Village People?
A: Yeah, but I didn't put them up. One of the crew guys did. I used to rock to them. You know, "Y.M.C.A." — the whole deal.
Q: On your Web site, you have a list of the top 10 things you were going to do after "Everybody Loves Raymond' went off the air. No. 10 read, "Meet my 6-year-old. I hear he's cute." How are those goals coming along?
A: He's 7 years old now, actually. He was born during the show. He was born in the middle of the second year. He just was kind of getting (the idea) that dad was on a TV show when it ended. To my (twin) 12-year-olds, who were 3 years old when the show started, this is their world. They don't remember a time when dad wasn't on a show.
It was a very traumatic ending for them. I was shocked. In the final curtain call on the last show when we were all there, normally my kids run out with me for the curtain call. I looked to the side wondering where they were. My wife was there, and they were in her arms crying.
Then it dawned on me — a little chunk of their world just ended. When I thought of the show through their eyes, it made it a little more emotional for me.
Q: With the sitcom done, you're getting back into stand-up comedy. Were you writing material during the show and holding it or is this new material you wrote once the show was finished?
A: I kept doing stand-up during the course of the show, but very sporadically. The thing about writing stand-up is if you're going to write stand-up, you need to go out into the clubs and test and try material. The way I used to do it was in New York City, night after night after night. Hone material and work it out. In two weeks, I could do 15 to 20 shows in front of an audience and I would know if a bit works or not.
I didn't have the opportunity to do that, but what I did was when something seemed funny, I wrote it down on a piece of paper. When I would go perform somewhere, I would try it.
I didn't have a lot of time to write new material, but I have some new stuff. I show outtakes from the show. I do a Q and A with the audience at the end, which is kind of fun, for about 15 minutes.
Q: Do you have plans to do major comedy tours like you did early in your career?
A: I don't think I'll do that. I know Jerry Seinfeld does that. Unless I get this drive to go in and come out with a whole new act, which is what Jerry did, that will take some time and dedication. Right now I'm still toying with trying to find another film to do or seeing what's next.
I love to do stand-up, but part of the joy of it is writing new material. I will have to get out and do it more. I don't want to keep going out without coming up with new pieces.
Q: You mentioned the possibility of making another film. You mean after the success of "Welcome to Mooseport' you still want to make more films?
A: I can't top that. "Mooseport' was on the plane on the way out and two people walked out. That's my joke. I'd like to do a movie that people see.
Q: What did you learn from that experience that you won't do the next time?
A: It probably wasn't the right choice for me. It was a little soft and too similar to my character (on "Everybody Loves Raymond'), who doesn't have much of an edge or even less of an edge maybe. It was a good experience to work with Gene Hackman and Maura Tierney. It's just script selection and making choices.
Q: Looking back, you don't think it was the right choice at that point in your career?
A: I don't know. At that point, we thought it was the right one. It's a weird science, this transition from TV to film and getting the people to accept you as someone else other than the character they've seen for nine years. We thought this wasn't something that was drastically different. It wasn't a super stretch. If I had it to do again, I don't know how I would go.
Phillip Zonkel can be reached at (562) 499-1258 or by phillip.zonkel@presstelegram.com
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