The pilot episode of Everybody Loves Raymond aired September 13, 1996, on CBS. By the end of its nine-year run, the Ray Romano-led comedy won 15 Emmy Awards and cemented the fictional Barone family among sitcom giants including the Bradys, Jeffersons, and Huxtables.
However, the show might never have aired without a leap of faith from famous late-night host David Letterman.
Romano, 67, and co-stars Patricia Heaton and Brad Garrett have reconnected for the Everybody Loves Raymond 30th Anniversary Reunion, a prime time special airing Monday, November 24, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. The event, taking place on a recreated set (featuring the original couch, which Romano has in his own house), is expected to celebrate some of the show’s funniest moments and lasting legacy in pop culture.
Before the sitcom turned Romano and his castmates into household names, he was a relatively unknown stand-up performer with a growing family. A fateful performance for Letterman in 1995 changed the course of his career—and started a unique bond between the two funnymen.
Romano was an accountant and delivered futons before his comedy career took off
Romano, born in Queens, New York City, in 1957, began his comedy obsession as a teenager. He became fascinated with the long-running sketch show Saturday Night Live and began organizing comedy shows in a local church basement, according to PBS.
However, these small-scale performances were hardly enough to pay bills. Romano worked as an accountant and delivered futons by day—with star purchasers including Cher and Robert De Niro—while continuing to pursue his comedy career.
Slowly, his gigs got bigger, moving from church basements to comedy clubs, and, by 1995, Romano was “making a living at it” with stand-up, as he told Cleveland.com. He and wife Anna had three young children, Alexander, Matthew, and Gregory, at the time. Son Joseph soon followed.
Then, on May 23, 1995, Romano was asked to appear on the popular Late Show with David Letterman.
Letterman immediately worked to get Romano a sitcom after his 5-minute routine
Romano performed a little more than 5 minutes, riffing on topics from Burger King employees in Montreal to parenting his young children. “You know, it doesn’t matter if you laugh or not. I’m just happy to be out of the house right now, I’ll be honest with you,” he quipped.
Based on their laughter, the audience enjoyed the set—and so did Letterman. A representative from the host’s production company, Worldwide Pants, called Romano shortly after the show, revealing Letterman was interested in developing a series for the comedian. “My wife brings the phone out to the backyard where I was with the kids. She said, ‘They’re on the phone!’ I didn’t know how they had my number!” Romano later told The Hollywood Reporter.
Their agreement served as the framework for what became Everybody Loves Raymond. As showrunner Philip Rosenthal explained, Romano initially eyed a show “about a comedian who sits at the coffee shop and talks with his friends about the current subjects,” but that would have been a near-imitation of the smash hit Seinfeld. Instead, the pair connected during a meeting at a Los Angeles delicatessen over stories about their family members. The conversation clicked with Rosenthal.
“I’m like, ‘Your family is as good as anything else we can come up with for you, plus you know it. You will be comfortable in this situation,’” Rosenthal told the Television Academy Foundation. “And what I don’t know about his people, I’m going to fill in with the characters of my people.”
Romano hated the name of the show, but Letterman persuaded him
Rosenthal and Romano based a number of the characters off their own relatives. Romano’s on-screen brother Robert Barone (Garrett) is largely inspired by his actual sibling, while Marie Barone (Doris Roberts) bore similarities to Rosenthal’s own mother.
Romano believed in the writing, but the name of the series was a tougher sell. Shortly before the debut, Romano contacted Letterman directly to suggest changing it. He feared it was ripe for negative headlines (“I guess not EVERYBODY loves Raymond”) if the show flopped.
“Dave told me not to worry so much about it. He said the success of the show would supersede any concerns I had about the name,” Romano said. “He said the show would take on a life of its own. And he was right. And I still to this day hate the name.”
Romano and Letterman remained distant, but dependable friends
Everybody Loves Raymond ran for 210 episodes through May 2005, with Romano winning a total of three Emmys for his acting and work as a producer.
Although their conversations were infrequent, Romano and Letterman kept in touch throughout the show’s run and afterward. “I knew Dave to be a very private person. I always knew that he liked me, he liked the show,” Romano recalled. “He’d send me a bottle of Dom Perignon for my birthday. Things like that. Once he paid for our writing staff to spend a day at a pro [Go-kart] racing track in Oxnard. Race cars were his thing. I loved it. I’ve gone back there since.”
Letterman regularly invited Romano back to the Late Show through its final season in 2015, and the comedian hosted a televised retrospective of Letterman’s career that same year. During their final conversation on the program, Romano reminded Letterman the “biggest night of my life was here” and shared important family and career moments his support made possible.
“Everybody Loves Raymond, and you are Raymond, and that’s why there was a show and that’s why there is everything you present here tonight,” Letterman responded.
Now, the pair celebrate 30 years of the TV staple they helped create.
Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
