The television show Everybody Loves Raymond featured a comical take on real-life struggles, and it turns out that most of the struggles were real. Everybody Loves Raymond ran from 1996 until its end in 2005. The show was massively popular and starred actor Ray Romano as the leading role. Other cast members included Patricia Heaton, Brad Garrett, Monica Horan, and many others. Many went on to be very successful in the entertainment industry.
Is Everybody Loves Raymond Based On Real People?
Everybody Loves Raymond was one of the biggest sitcoms in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The show first aired in 1996 and sadly came to a close in 2005. The show tells the story of family dynamics and struggle through a comedic lense, and it spoke to many viewers. Actor Ray Romano was at the center of the series.
A year after the show came to its end, executive producer Phil Rosenthal opened up to CBS News about some of the inspiration behind certain characters and scenarios.
The interview was also a promotion for his memoir You’re Lucky You’re Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom. The memoir details a lot of behind-the-scenes details about Everybody Loves Raymond, which die-hard fans of the sitcom absolutely loved.
Ray Romano with an Emmy Award 2003via instar
“I guess, I had these terrible things happen to me and I thought, ‘You could either be depressed or make something out of it,'” he said of his initial inspiration for the show.
Rosenthal estimated that 90 percent of what viewers saw on Everybody Loves Raymond was somehow based on real life, whether it be from his own life, Ray Romano’s, or other writers for the sitcom.
One specific Everybody Loves Raymond moment that was directly inspired by Phil Rosenthal’s life was the “Fruit of the Month” reference in the pilot episode. Rosenthal had given his parents a “Fruit of the Month” membership in real life, and his mother’s reaction inspired the scene in Everybody Loves Raymond.
“That was kind of the homework! We would go home early, we were home for dinner every night. All the writers. And the assignment was, ‘Go home, get in a fight with your wife so we have a show for tomorrow!”
Ray Romano Says Everybody Loves Raymond Is A Documentary
Though not technically true, when viewers found out how much was based off of star Ray Romano’s real life, it makes sense to say that the hit series Everybody Loves Raymond is somewhat of a documentary. In fact, most of Romano’s friends and family, whom he borrowed from when creating the show, believe that it is a documentary.
A great deal of the show is entirely based on Romano’s real life and family, which he confirmed in an interview with Larry King in 2002.
“Well, that was where we started with, based on all the characters in my life and kind of a situation I was living.”
“But it’s a combination,” Romano clarified during the interview. “Phill Rosenthal our executive producer, it’s his parents also. And every writer in — we have ten great writers, and every one of them brings something from their life.”
Ray Romano smilingvia Instar
One character in particular in the show Everybody Loves Raymond gave Romano’s family reason to call it a documentary: Robert Barone, played by Brad Garrett.
The inspiration behind Robert was Romano’s real life brother Richard Romano. Essentially everything about the character is based on Richard, but the actor Garrett gave the character a bit of a spin.
