Everybody Loves Raymond was one of the funniest sitcoms on TV.
But it didn’t turn out like one star expected.
And Patricia Heaton was speechless over one secret about Everybody Loves Raymond.
Ray Romano quit comedy before he became a TV star
The CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond ran for nine seasons from 1996 to 2005 and won two Emmys for Outstanding Comedy Series.
It starred comedian Ray Romano as sportswriter Ray Barone and actress Patricia Heaton as his wife Debra.
But the beloved sitcom almost never came to be.
Romano reminded his son Joseph that he had to persevere to find success in comedy.
Joseph Romano is trying to follow in his dad’s footsteps as an aspiring stand-up comedian.
“He goes on a little stand-up trip, and he goes to these little dives, and he tries stand-up for the first time, and the people aren’t even facing the stage,” Romano said about his son. “There aren’t even people in there. And of course, it doesn’t go well, and he takes it very personal.”
The Everybody Loves Raymond star had to give his son a pep talk about show business.
“So, I had to almost grab him and go, ‘You don’t understand. First of all, you can’t do well in a place like that, and you can’t do well when . . . it’s your first time onstage. So, I understand you’re hurt, but you really have no right to be upset right now,'” Romano recalled.
Romano was so frustrated as a struggling comedian that he quit the business twice.
“Stand-up takes a long time. That’s all I told him was, ‘Please don’t get that way, because that’s the way I was.’ I gave it up twice. You know, I got beat down my first time. I gave it up, and I got beat down the second time again. But luckily, I tried a third time,” Romano said.
The third time was the charm for Romano and went on to have an incredibly successful career because he didn’t give up.
The potential for an Everybody Loves Raymond Reboot
Reboots of TV shows are becoming all the rage in Hollywood.
Friday Night Lights and Scrubs are two of the latest shows to have reboots given the green light.
Romano told Yahoo Entertainment that he didn’t want Everybody Loves Raymond to join the reboot craze.
“I’m just a little protective of Everybody Loves Raymond,” Romano said. “Just because it was very personal to me.”
Romano used aspects of his life and stand-up comedy in the sitcom.
“I mean, it was based on my life and I was such a part of the creative side of it and all,” Romano stated.
Everybody Loves Raymond has been adapted for TV audiences in countries like the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, India, Egypt, Israel, and Poland.
“I actually like that it’s rebooted there because it just shows how other cultures — we’re all the same,” Romano explained. “So it’s good to see them appreciate it.”
The comedian just doesn’t want to see his sitcom rebooted in the United States.
Everybody Loves Raymond never would have touched so many people if Ray Romano had given up on himself.