He would rather be on the Jersey Shore than Italy
As far as comedians-turned-sitcom-stars go, Ray Romano’s career has probably been the most interesting. With Everybody Loves Raymond, he had a hit comedy, but rather than rest on his laurels after the series ended, Romano challenged himself with increasingly dramatic roles. He starred in series like Vinyl, Get Shorty and Men of a Certain Age and got into films like The Big Sick, The Irishman and Welcome to Mooseport.
Okay, maybe the less said about Welcome to Mooseport, the better, but the man has done an exceptional amount of interesting work, so to celebrate him on his 66th birthday, here are 66 trivia tidbits about Ray Romano.
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1.King of Queens
Romano was born in Queens, New York on December 21, 1957.
2.Where’s the Third Barone Brother?
While much of Everybody Loves Raymond was autobiographical, Romano’s real parents’ names were Lucie and Albert, not Marie and Frank. Like his fictional counterpart, he did have an older brother in the NYPD, but he also had a younger brother who is a New York City school teacher, whereas the fictional Barones had only two sons.
3.Ray’s Nanny
Romano was in the same graduating class as Fran Drescher.
4.This Tastes Funny
When he was young, Romano and a few other neighborhood teens put on sketches once a month in a church basement. He described this as his “first taste” of comedy.
5.College Didn’t Add Up
Romano briefly attended Queens College to study accounting, but dropped out to pursue comedy.
6.His Start in Comedy
He began doing stand-up in his 20s by going to an audition at The Improv in New York.
7.Everybody Loves Jackie Roberts
His first time on stage he went by the name “Jackie Roberts,” but it wasn’t because he didn’t want to use his real name. During his audition at The Improv, he brought along a friend so that both of them could draw numbers from a hat for him, doubling his chances of appearing onstage. While Romano’s number wasn’t called, his friend’s was — under the name “Jackie Roberts.” Romano did his set as Jackie Roberts, and he did so well he was asked to return. He performed as Jackie Roberts for several months before telling The Improv he was dropping that “stage name” and going back to his real name.
8.A Murderers’ Row of Comedians
Romano worked at New York’s Comedy Cellar and The Improv a lot in his early days as a stand-up alongside comedians like Jon Stewart, Marc Maron, Denis Leary and Dave Chappelle.
9.He Played a Cop Once
It was in 1990, and it was in a short called Caesar’s Salad, which was written and directed by Louis C.K. Todd Barry, Dave Attell, Laura Kightlinger, Caroline Rhea, Jeff Ross and Sarah Silverman were also in the cast.
10.The Johnnie Walker National Comedy Search
In 1989 and 1990 he appeared in the comedy competition known as the Johnnie Walker National Comedy Search, which helped launch the careers of Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer and Ellen Cleghorne.
11.Here’s Johnny!
On November 11, 1991 Romano made his first and only appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Carson retired just six months later.
12.Then Came Letterman
His next “big” late night appearance was on The Late Show with David Letterman in 1995, which led directly to Everybody Loves Raymond. Letterman thought Romano should star in his own show and went on to produce the CBS sitcom.
13.A Patient of Dr. Katz
Romano was a regular patient on the first couple of seasons of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. Jonathan Katz credited Romano with being pivotal to the show’s development, saying, “Ray Romano was the first guy to really get it in the way we’d usually do the show. We got the idea to have him do his act. We didn’t really want him to interact with a therapist the whole time, we just had him do his act.”
14.He Could Have Been a Dr. Katz Regular
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Dr. Katz co-creator Tom Snyder also offered Romano the chance to be a regular on the series. “Ray was so good that, after a few appearances, I asked him if he wanted to be a regular on the series. He said, ‘I’d love to, but I’m not sure. I’m waiting on something.’ That something was Everybody Loves Raymond,” Snyder has explained.
15.Meeting Phil Rosenthal
In an interview recounting the development of Everybody Loves Raymond, Romano said, “They took me from New York and they had set up 10 meetings with potential showrunners. (Rosenthal was) the second one. But the first guy turned it down! So, I went with Phil.”
16.Not a Show About Nothing
Rosenthal has revealed that Romano originally went with someone else because Romano “wanted to do a show about a comedian who sits at the coffee shop and talks with his friends.” Due to the popularity of Seinfeld, Rosenthal wanted to avoid that, so he convinced Romano to do a show about a family.
17.Where ‘Every Sandwich Is a Work of Art’
Romano and Rosenthal’s first meeting was at Art’s Deli on Ventura Boulevard.
