Everybody Loves Raymond: 30th Anniversary Reunion (2025) Movie Script
1
DAVID LETTERMAN:
Good comedy and likability.
There's no sell-by date
on that sort of thing.
What they wrote was timeless
because it was authentic.
It's the kind of show
I wish was on the air right now.
Whenever you find it on TV,
it makes me stop,
and every joke is still just as funny,
and this Murderers' Row of a cast.
Ray was somebody
you wanted in your home.
You wanted to be part of that family.
SHEPHERD: I believe in
20, 30, 40, 50 more years,
we'll still love
Everybody Loves Raymond.
LETTERMAN: The writing
and the acting, directing,
that was near perfect, my God.
And it's in color.
[drumroll]
[cymbal crash]
[cheering and applause]
[cheering and applause]
ROMANO: Oh.
Look at this. It's crazy.
Don't make me cry.
Thank you. Thank you.
Please, sit.
I love you. I love you. Thank you.
Don't make me cry yet.
There's gonna be a lot of that.
-[laughter]
-Let me just tell you something.
The reason we're doing this
is because of the fans.
I mean, I miss it. I miss
everything. I miss you people.
I miss the cast.
My real wife is backstage
with my TV wife.
-[laughter]
-ROMANO: Yes.
If you've been married
for a long time, folks,
you know, there's a lot
of ups and downs, and, uh,
this is an example of how long
we've been married.
The other day, she actually said to me,
"You know, you don't talk a lot,
but when you do, it's too much."
[laughter]
We're gonna have a great night.
I'm so glad you're here.
Who came from, like, far away?
Who's from the...
Where are you from?
Philippines. I watched you when
I was, like, seven or eight.
-ROMANO: In the Philippines?
-Yes.
But, of course, dubbed in...?
-No, I learned English from you.
-ROMANO: You learned English from me.
[laughter, applause]
Well...
I-I appreciate it,
but thank you very much.
Listen, before we go even further,
I want to bring out a man who's
been my partner in this venture,
in this journey for the last 30 years.
He's the reason that this show exists,
but this was his baby,
just like it was mine.
Please welcome Phil Rosenthal.
[cheering and applause]
How great is this?
This is amazing.
You learned how to speak English
from Ray Romano?
So were your first
English words, "Oh, no"?
[laughter]
-First of all, let's get one thing out of the way.
-Yes.
This, I'm sure you know, is a reunion.
-This is a reunion that we...
-Not a reboot.
We're never gonna do one because, uh,
we're missing three cast
members, three family members.
So, we would never try
to do the show without them.
-ROSENTHAL: It wouldn't be the same.
-ROMANO: No.
And we have too much respect
for the show itself
-and for the, for the beautiful audience...
-Right.
To keep it the way it is.
And thankfully, the show is still on
every day all over the world, which...
-Right.
-[cheering and applause]
If you want to visit
your friends, uh, we're here.
How did we meet?
-Well, I was in bed.
-[laughter]
And I was watching
David Letterman with my wife.
-This would've been 1995?
-'95.
Uh, we had a production company,
and we were always looking
for a funny project.
And I-I think we were all
pretty greedy when we saw Ray.
All right, ladies
and gentlemen, next guest
is a very funny comedian, uh,
making his first appearance
with us tonight.
-He can also be seen...
-Wow, I just, uh,
look like a mid-level mortuary
has gotten a hold of me.
Favor now, please,
a nice welcome for Ray Romano.
Ray.
[cheering and applause]
My first impression,
he's wearing his father's suit.
But that's fine. I'm gonna let that go.
I have a three-year-old daughter
and twin two-year-old boys.
Wow. [Laughs]
-[whistling]
-Thank you.
-Single people are here.
-[laughter]
[laughs]
I can make them laugh.
I can make an infant laugh in a second.
I'll tell you, I'm losing
my perspective on adult humor.
[stammers] I wrote one new joke
since my twins were born.
Here, is this funny?
What do you think of this?
-Hi.
-[laughter]
-[laughs]
-Hi, everybody.
That rings true with me.
I had no idea how to be a parent,
so I thought, if I can make the kid laugh,
I've done something.
I'm glad. I'm glad you laughed.
If you didn't laugh at that,
I would've had to come
and rub my nose in your bellies.
-[laughter]
-Yeah. Aw.
Ray is the guy, and let's go,
and before he gets in the cab,
let's get him to sign something.
And I think it was a combination
of his likability
and the quality of the material.
I-I thought, you know,
pretty run-of-the-mill topics,
but the quality of the jokes
in those topics,
I-I thought were superior.
It was just dumb luck that
we had anything to do with it.
I-It's like, uh, you know,
kids playing with fireworks.
Oh, geez, it actually exploded.
It was sort of like that.
-[cheering and applause]
-[Romano laughs]
That's why we're here.
A week later, they called me and said,
-"We'd like to sign you to a deal..."
-ROSENTHAL: Right.
"To try to produce a sitcom."
-Right.
-And then,
I had to go find a guy
to write it and run it.
-And... [laughs]
-D-Did you? [Laughs]
So, they set us up on a blind date
here in L.A. at Art's Deli
on Ventura Boulevard,
and we meet.
-We meet.
-And I say to Ray, you know,
"Tell me about yourself," just
like I would with any of you
if we were gonna work together,
but we didn't know each other.
So, tell me about yourself.
And you said, "Well, I got
twin boys and an older daughter",
"and my parents live close by in Queens,
-"and..."
-You got to do the voice?
-You got to do the little...?
-A little bit.
-Yeah, okay.
-And then the, uh,
"My-my older brother's a police
sergeant. He lives with them.
"He's always touching, uh,
every bite of food to his chin
"before he eats it,
and he's kind of jealous of me.
"He saw my stand-up comedy
award, and he said,
'Never ends for Raymond.
Everybody loves Raymond.'"
And do you remember what I said?
You said, uh, "Well, I don't
think there's anything there."
[laughter]
-Jokingly.
-ROSENTHAL: I thought that was
a very good place to start.
And what I didn't know
about the personalities
in Ray's family, I filled in
with the personalities from my family.
90% of everything you saw on the show
happened to me or to Ray
or to one of the other writers.
What are you doing?
Uh...
RORY ROSEGARTEN:
The show had premiered.
And Ray said to his wife, "Anna,
my show just premiered
in front of all these people."
And she said, "Yeah?
And I just cleaned plum
off the ceiling from the kids."
LILY ROSENTHAL: I think this
show means everything to us.
It got to capture our family,
Ray's family,
everybody who worked here,
their families.
It was just like a community,
you know, we became a community.
We all felt so safe here and welcomed.
MATTHEW ROMANO: I remember
my dad would, he'd come out
right before the show,
he'd greet the audience.
He always would bring you up, say hello.
He'd do the same joke with
the audience about having twins.
Like, "Here's Matt. I have another son.
If he was here, it'd look like this,"
and then I'd go behind him
and stand on that side.
There's one episode based on
a real thing that I did,
which is, when I was in first grade,
we all had to write books,
you know, little picture books.
My book was...
"The Angry Family."
BEN: All the parents came in to read it,
and, you know, they were all
looking at my parents.
The mommy was mad at the daddy.
[laughs]
He got an episode out of it.
Yeah, the Ray on the show
is the Ray at home.
And that is because, at home,
he does a lot of annoying things
that drive me crazy.
I think if I were to do an impression,
it's just a little bit deeper, like,
grunt, like a... [grunts] I don't know.
People do the grunt, right? Ugh.
-Ah, come on.
-Ugh. My-my back is here,
it's-it's a little... Ugh.
Okay, now it's, now it's even worse.
-Now it's even worse.
-Debra. Debra.
Who brought the cookies here?
Who brought the donuts?
All right, I'm just gonna eat one.
Oh, my God, it's so good.
Five minutes later.
Ugh, my stomach hurts.
Ally, why'd you do that?
-[groans] Come on.
-Oh, my back. Oh no.
-Oh, Debra.
-MATTHEW: Yep, there it went again.
[applause]
I think one of the things
that put it over the top,
where CBS had to decide
whether to put us on,
was something out of your
actual life, which was...
Well, when I'm writing
the pilot, I'm thinking,
"How do we convey exactly,
in a short amount of time,
how crazy Ray's parents are?"
And then, this happened to me,
where I sent my parents...
I thought I was being nice
a gift of Fruit of the Month Club.
[laughter]
Look, I appreciate
the thought, Raymond,
but please don't ever send us
any more food again, okay?
Thanks. Thanks, darling.
Well, another box is coming next month.
What? More pears?
No. No, it's a different
fruit every month.
Every month?
Yes, yes,
that's why they call it
Fruit of the Month Club.
It's a club?
Oh, my God, what am I gonna do
with all this fruit?
Well, most people like it, Ma.
You share it.
-Share it with all your friends.
-Which friends?
I don't know, Lee and Stan.
Lee and Stan buy their own fruit.
Well, give it away.
-Why did you do this to me?
-Oh, my God.
I can't talk. There's
too much fruit in the house!
Aw...
What do you think we are, invalids?
We can't go out and get our own fruit?
I tried to tell him!
All right, I'm canceling the fruit club!
Oh, good. Thank you, Raymond.
Thank you.
And don't do that again.
Like we don't have enough problems.
[applause]
ROSENTHAL: What I didn't
realize, and what I learned
from doing that, from us doing that,
oh, wait, your parents are all crazy, too.
-ROMANO: Yes.
-[laughter]
We get it all the time.
People from all over parts of the world
tell us, "That's my mother.
That's my, that's my father."
-"That's my brother." Yeah.
-We didn't know your mother.
-We were writing our mother.
-Yeah.
And we have so many favorite episodes,
some of the ones we're gonna
talk about tonight.
I have one that just
came to mind, and it's good
since we're starting. You know,
we did a flashback episode
at the end of every season,
and this was my favorite
because it's how they met,
meaning Ray and Debra.
You know, it looks like
I made too much food here
if you're, um, hungry.
Oh. Yeah?
Yeah, you want some?
All right, yeah. Wrap it up.
I'll eat it in the truck.
Can I ask you something?
Yeah, sure.
Were you making
all that food for someone,
and they didn't show up?
They showed up.
Hey, you want something to drink?
Yeah, yeah. Well, let me get that.
-Okay, the glasses are right there.
-Okay.
-Ice?
-Yeah.
-That'd be great.
-All right.
I like the, I like the round
cubes with the holes in 'em.
Those are my favorite kind of cubes.
[screams]
-Are you okay?
-Yeah, I'm fine.
-[grunts] You all right?
-Yeah.
You're a good kisser.
All right, you're in shock.
[cheering and applause]
You're both so great in that,
and-and it's just so sweet to me
in addition to being funny.
The flashback episodes were always...
-So fun.
-Fun to do.
Look, I like all the episodes,
but of course
there's some we like more than others.
And I have, like, a top five,
and I... The one off the top of my head
is, uh, called "Talk to Your Daughter."
So, "Talk to Your Daughter" is about
at some point having to have the talk
with your child about the birds
and the bees, you know?
When a man and a woman
love each other very much,
they get married.
And then, sometimes,
they decide to make a baby.
I know that the man and the
woman have to do something, but
why are we born?
Why has God put us here?
-Why are we here, Daddy?
-Yeah, I heard you. I heard you.
You don't want to talk about sex?
-What do you mean?
-Ally didn't want to talk about sex.
She started asking questions about life.
Why did God put us here?
Crazy stuff like that.
Wow. So what did you say?
I told her we're here
because heaven is crowded.
You said heaven is crowded?
I got ambushed!
If you want to know what's in the Bible,
why don't you talk to Father Hubley?
Hey, that's right. You know what?
It's his job to know these things.
What, are you gonna call him?
Yeah, what are we putting
the money in that basket for?
Me and the family
were just sitting around,
and we had a quick question for you.
What is the meaning of life?
So, if you could get back to us
as soon as possible,
we'd appreciate it, all right?
[cheering and applause]
ROMANO: I'd hate to
admit it, but I'm guilty of...
-ROSENTHAL: What? You...
-I didn't have that talk with my kids.
Now I have 19 grandchildren.
[laughter]
All right, they don't want
to hear two old guys talk.
-Should we...
-They don't?
Should we bring out, uh,
bring out some people for you?
Yes, yes.
-ROMANO: Yeah.
-[cheering and applause]
Let's do that.
We'll do it right away.
DEBRA: When I got married,
I didn't just get a husband.
I got a whole freak show
that set up their tent
right across the street.
Oh, you were open and considerate
and willing to look at your own faults.
You made me sick.
Ray. Ray. Ray. Ray!
Hello, Raymond.
I do not have a drinking problem, sir.
What I have
is a mother-in-law problem.
-Whoo!
-Woo-hoo!
No. No. No.
-We're going to counseling.
-No!
I meant what I said here today.
I love you!
I'm pregnant!
I am not the yeller.
You are the reason for the yeller!
You have no idea
what I have to put up with.
[cheering and applause]
ROSENTHAL: Ladies and
gentlemen, Patricia Heaton.
-Patty!
-[cheering and applause]
ROSENTHAL: Look at these two.
-[laughs]
-I'm so happy.
Do you know... I didn't say this
we saw 200 women
before we found Patty Heaton.
And when she came in, she just
knocked it out of the park.
I mean, you can talk
about what that day was like.
Well, I was going through,
and I think why the show worked,
we were all going through
what the Barone family
-was going through in our lives.
-We all had kids.
-Yes. Yes.
-We all were newly married, yes.
And I had, I had a three-year-old
-and a one-year-old in my life.
-Right.
I had a babysitting issue when
I was coming to the audition.
I needed to get back.
I was cutting out coupons
for 50 cents off
two packs of Ball Park Franks.
And so I needed the gig.
And I got there,
and there was a waiting room
of at least eight women.
And I thought, "I'm never
gonna get back in time
for the babysitter."
And so I went in and sat there,
and I just needed
to get this audition done.
And, um, there was a guy sitting
in the corner and I thought,
"Maybe he can get me some water
while we're waiting for Ray to come."
-It was him.
-It was me. It was me.
And I didn't really have to do
research, and I didn't
really have to do acting
'cause it was what
-we were all dealing with in our marriages.
-Yeah.
And so, fortunately,
we got to monetize that.
-Yeah. Yes.
-[laughs]
[laughs] - ROMANO:
You were living the role.
-You were living the role.
-Living the role.
You know, when I need to talk to Ray
about, like, my feelings or our children,
I know I have until the commercial's over.
That gives me 30 seconds.
And if there's a girl in the commercial
or a truck with big wheels
or, God forbid, a monkey, forget it.
I think it was the first show
I'd worked on...
I'd worked for a while in TV
that really encouraged us to bring in
our stories from home.
TUCKER CAWLEY:
Phil in the writer's room
only half-jokingly said,
"All right, we need two more stories.
Anybody having a fight
with their spouse?"
LEW SCHNEIDER: Phil's idea
when he was running the show
was, how can you write about real life
if you can't live one?
AARON SHURE: There's
an episode of Raymond
called "The Tenth Anniversary,"
where Ray and Debra put in
the VHS tape of their wedding
on their tenth anniversary...
[Ray and Debra sigh]
SHURE: And discover that he's
taped over with the Super Bowl.
I did that.
But it was my first anniversary.
We put in our VHS tape and discovered
that I had taped over
our wedding with an episode
of Everybody Loves Raymond.
Where did our wedding go?
It's just, like, the
stories seem authentic.
And whether it's more exaggerated
than maybe it would have
happened in real life, like,
that kernel of truth,
I think, comes through.
Hmm. Ten years, that's enough.
[cheering and applause]
It was such a pleasure to write
for both of you.
And there was one other...
[laughs] There was...
Phil's getting emotional.
A little bit.
Because it's a dream to wind up
with people like this.
If you're just a writer, you
pray for someone to come along
and give so much more beyond it
and to make it real.
My favorite thing about the cast
was how they all committed
to the most silly thing,
as if it was life and death.
And that made it so alive.
-Yeah.
-And real and relatable.
And the two of you had
the most spectacular chemistry.
And I always said that.
-Patty Heaton's the best wife on television.
-Aw.
-Well, we're also...
-[applause]
We're... I think we're forgetting one
little key element that really
sold me on you during that first audition.
That's how desperate
I was to get the job.
Yeah. Well, they don't know
what you're talking about.
-I kissed him.
-Yes, there was
[laughter] there-there
was a part where it says,
"She kisses her husband,"
and every other actress
just kind of mimed it.
-For some reason, she didn't.
-They really... Nobody else?
[laughter]
And then, when she walked out,
I go, "That's the one!"
[laughter]
ROSENTHAL: Patty, do
you have a favorite episode?
Um, yes.
There was the one where we went away
for a weekend and we put
the suitcase on the landing.
We put it there and neither of us
would take it up and empty it.
And we keep waiting
for the other person to do it.
What are you doing?
What?
Just packing a soda
for the road. Problem?
-That's how you're getting on the airplane?
-Yeah.
Yeah, I'm traveling light.
I'm traveling loose.
What-what are you, a hobo?
[laughter]
Why don't you take the suitcase?
You know what?
I don't need it.
Okay, you know what?
Oh.
ROMANO: Yeah, good.
You know what?
I'm getting it.
Well, what's that supposed to mean?
It means I'll get it.
I'll be the one who got it.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
I will get it.
Let the record show that I got it.
-No way. You let go of this.
-You let go of it.
-Let go of this.
-You let go of it. Let go.
-Let go. Let go. Let go!
-Hey.
-[grunts]
-I'm taking it.
-No, you don't. No, you don't.
-I got it. Don't...
-No. I'm moving it.
-[shouts indistinctly]
I'm the one moving it, everybody.
Look at me.
Don't let a suitcase filled with cheese
be your big fork and spoon.
This is all your fault.
When did we get those?
[applause]
That's one of my favorite lines
ever in the show
because that, to me, is marriage,
-especially a long marriage.
-HEATON: Yes. Yes.
So many people, and this is really...
I think, what's not important
about comedy, but
every month at least, if not every week,
somebody either on social media
or if I run into them says,
"Your show was the one thing
"that our family could laugh together
"when my father was sick.
"And it was his favorite thing
that's been going on for 30 years."
And so, you know, it just feels like...
-ROMANO: Right.
-We're able to do that.
-[applause]
-That's beautiful.
We needed to cast Ray's, uh, brother.
Should we bring him out soon?
[cheering and applause]
-Trouble in paradise?
-Why would you want
to hear me complain about Ray?
Perhaps we haven't met.
I'm Robert Barone.
Hey. Hey.
Hey, Robert.
[laughter]
Everybody loves Raymond.
Surprise. It's an iguana.
-Look at that.
-[screams]
There you go. There you go. Roberto.
[laughter]
-Who is the man?
-I am the man.
I need to say something.
Ma!
No wife, no children.
Pathetic.
Thanks for the kind words.
Brad Garrett, everybody.
-[cheering and applause]
-Hey.
Hey, honey.
Oh. Mmm.
I'll come around. I'll come around.
[laughter]
-Thank you. Philip.
-Hey.
Oh.
Thank you.
Are you going over here
or are you going here?
GARRETT: Oh, boy.
It is so great to meet you.
-[laughter]
-[sighs]
ROSENTHAL: Do you have
any memories of coming in
and meeting Ray and...?
GARRETT: I remember auditioning.
When I read who Robert was,
I just felt I knew this guy, you know?
I-I was the youngest
of three brothers growing up,
and they were, you know,
much more popular
and they had a lot more going for them,
and I kind of felt like the kid
that grew up under the sink.
You know? So, uh,
when I read it, I-I kind of
felt like I knew, uh,
who Robert was, you know.
-Yes, Ray? - [Chuckles]
-Um...
-How could you...
-You don't have to raise your hand. It's your show.
[laughter]
H-How could you fit under the sink?
-[laughter]
-Well...
We would write lines, jokes,
and sometimes we didn't need them.
-Why? Because when we would cut to a face...
-ROMANO: Yeah.
ROSENTHAL: They
already said it with their look,
and it was better
than anything we could write.
And the king of this was Brad.
-GARRETT: Aw. Thank you. That's very sweet.
-ROSENTHAL: Yes. Just beautiful.
-GARRETT: Thank you.
-ROSENTHAL: Any, uh,
lovely stories you have
from, uh, your days on the show?
-Not really.
-ROSENTHAL: No?
-[laughter]
-Many.
You know what I think of a lot is
the episode "She's the One,"
where, uh, the girl
I was dating ate the fly.
Oh, yes.
And when you tried to-to tell me
what you saw in the kitchen,
that scene was so great,
but there was a moment where you were
[stammers] Yeah, I almost passed out.
You were screaming
or you had, uh, some type of...
-ROMANO: Well, I saw her eat the fly.
-Yeah.
And then you come in
and you talk to Patty and say,
"I really think she's the one,"
and-and I say,
"She's not the one," right,
and, and I tell you
she ate the fly, you don't believe me,
and I tell the story,
and, again, all this pent up,
and finally I end with,
"She took the fly,
she put it in..." [mumbles]
And then I scream it...
ROMANO AND HEATON: "She ate it!"
And I hyperventilated,
and if you look very closely,
you see me go,
ooh, ooh, 'cause I almost...
I felt like I was gonna pass out.
Who hyperventilates saying a line?
[laughter]
-[fly buzzing]
-Oh.
-Hey, you got him.
-[chuckles]
-Yeah, I guess I did.
-[laughs]
Wow, good hands. All right, um...
-Oh, it's okay, I got it.
-Okay, I'll be... I'll put this down.
[laughs]
The fly
that was flying around,
Angela killed it.
It fell on the table.
She put it in a napkin
and then she ate it!
[laughter, cheering and applause]
Commitment.
Brad, do-do... Was that your favorite,
or do you have a favorite?
Boy, there are so many.
I-I really loved "Lucky Suit."
-Yes.
-Where-where Robert,
uh, has an interview
to work with the FBI.
So, as I was saying...
Is this a joke?
Excuse me?
"Dear FBI Agent Garfield,
"I'm writing to ask
for your understanding.
"You have an interview
this morning with my son
Robert Barone."
[laughter]
Oh, what?
[gasps] Oh. [Chuckles]
Robbie, you scared me.
How did your interview go?
Come here. Let me tell you about it.
[laughter]
Didn't it go well?
Oh, it was going okay.
And then Agent Garfield read me a letter
about crazy Robert and his lucky suit.
Ma, what did you do?
She faxed the FBI a letter about
how she ruined my lucky suit.
I wasn't sure it went through.
It's the first time
I ever used a fax machine.
[laughter]
Marie, why don't you go
into the kitchen, and, Robert,
how about you just stay here
and maybe blink a few times?
[applause]
ROMANO: That's what mothers do.
GARRETT: This is a good story.
After one of my shows,
this guy came up to me after the show,
and it was really amazing.
He was a veteran,
and I remember that, uh, Phil...
you and-and Ray
would always send
the DVDs to our troops
when the show was on the air,
and he gave me his retirement
challenge coin.
And he served from 1999
to, uh, 2020.
And he said, "You guys really helped"
"when we needed the humor
more than anything.
-"And it really kept us buoyant..."
-ROSENTHAL: Wow.
-"...in-in what we were going through every day."
-Oh, my God.
-[applause]
-GARRETT: And, yeah.
Yeah.
Just an honor to be on this bus,
and thanks
for letting me on,
even though I was a giant.
[laughter]
There's more people coming out.
-We'll be right back, I guess.
-Yeah.
[cheering and applause]
All right, we're ready for you.
Oh, my gosh.
I feel excited.
[applause]
This is something, huh?
Yeah. Something.
Something.
-It's unbelievable!
-[all laughing]
[squeals]
[laughs]
[cheering]
And it still has the dent
from where I picked Patty up
and threw her into the thing.
Very good.
So, there was someone else
in that scene
that-that I-I knew for a long
time before we did the show.
I saw her first in a play, and
I thought she was really funny,
and then I married that girl.
I might not be the best person to help.
I've spent the last ten years
looking for an engagement ring.
Oh, Robert, this is my friend Amy.
We used to work at the PR firm together.
Hi. Hi, Ray. Here we go.
Oh, look, this one looks like a heart.
Stop your crying and get
off your pity pot, Nancy.
DEBRA: Oh, God.
I keep forgetting what
a freak show this family is
until somebody new comes in
and looks at us like that.
Wait!
Did your mother come over
and make things worse as usual?
-[cheering and applause]
-Here's Monica.
-ROMANO: Monica! Yay!
-Oh!
Me? Oh, my God.
-Wow! I'll do the husband first.
-Of course.
Let's go with the husband.
Go with the husband.
[Brad laughs]
Hello, my darling.
-My darling. Aw. Aw.
-How nice.
-Congrats.
-Oh, my God. The laughs.
The laughs!
-This is...
-Hi, Monica.
-Hi.
-You can tell Monica
brought a slightly different
energy to the family, right?
You know, just being here
is so incredible, right?
I can't believe how everyone did the set.
-Yeah.
-Like, everybody backstage.
And you guys being here,
it's so overwhelming.
It's unbelievable.
Talk about... what about
-'cause, first, you were recurring, right?
-Yes.
-ROMANO: And then...
-Well, first I didn't even know I'd be recurring.
-Can I tell you a little something?
-Yes.
I was pregnant with our daughter Lily,
and I didn't know it.
I found out after, so that first...
-ROMANO: Wait.
-HEATON: I didn't know that. - Yes.
-Wow.
-And flash forward to
-she just got married.
-And she just got married last...
-GARRETT: She just got married.
-ROMANO: Oh, Lily. Lily got married. Yeah.
[applause] - Ah. We had
a lot of babies on this show.
ROSENTHAL: A lot of babies.
The moral is, this show made us horny.
-No.
-[laughter]
We were happy.
When did you officially know
you were a regular?
It just started building
and building and building.
And, uh, Robert and Amy, it really was...
You know, I've had only a couple
comedy partners in my life,
but this one and that writing
-to th... to this couple was so perfect, wasn't it?
-It was great.
-It was great. Yeah.
-It was so fun.
And it was, uh... to then be with, like,
one of the greatest
comic teams of all time...
-GARRETT: Oh, yeah.
-HORAN: Ray and Debra.
That's you guys.
-[laughter]
-Yeah, you were brilliant.
So it was really lucky.
-Do you have a favorite episode?
-Oh, yeah.
All of them you mentioned.
There's so many favorite episodes.
The one that captures my heart is 'cause
my dear, beloved Georgia,
who I was very close with...
Georgia Engel, who played my mom.
And it's "Pat's Secret."
Oh.
Hi.
Is everything all right?
What, can't sleep?
Yeah, me neither.
[laughter]
Mind if I bum a ciggy?
Robert was smoking.
I-I wasn't. I wasn't!
-Smell him.
-Come here.
Come here.
Oh, my God.
Ow!
Do you know what
he's been doing? Smell him.
No, not there.
It wasn't lying,
it was more like she was just
letting off steam, so you don't
let it out on the person you love.
You know? Like Ray.
He has to drive around the block
a few times every night
listening to the radio before
he goes home to face Debra.
[laughter]
Are you crazy?
When I'm angry at my cat Miss Puss,
s-sometimes I'll sneak up
behind her and bark like a dog.
I like to blow up fireworks.
Pat!
I thought since
it wasn't a secret anymore...
-HEATON: Oh.
-ROMANO: Oh, boy.
[applause]
She was just in heaven.
And she always talked to everyone
about the writing on this show,
working with Phil
for years and years and years after.
-So, thank you for letting us relive it back.
-Beautiful. You know what?
We're so lucky to work
with these comedy legends
-that we idolized, you know.
-HEATON: Yes.
ROSENTHAL: We stand on the
shoulders of the great people
that came before us.
Obviously, people have passed,
and, uh, we've seen a lot of clips
of our-our mom and dad on the show.
But when we come back,
we'll talk about them.
[applause]
[applause]
So.
Let's talk about, uh, the parents.
For you and me, it, uh, it-it-it
it's very personal
because they were so based on
-our parents.
-Yeah.
Yeah. The mother was more you.
I mean, the mother
-was definitely your mom.
-And the dad was
-more you, maybe?
-I used to say,
everything you saw Peter do, my father
probably did in real
life without pants on.
-[laughter]
-Yes. Yes.
But I remember, uh...
just talking about Peter
during the pilot episode...
So, now, I'm a, I'm a young guy
who just got fired from NewsRadio,
and here I am again
a-attempting a show,
and I'm nervous.
And Peter is the great Peter Boyle,
this iconic movie guy.
And he's an imposing figure.
I-I didn't know then
how sweet he really was.
And-and I hadn't really had
a conversation with Peter.
And our paths were crossing,
and I-I swear to God,
it must have been right here.
And he just stops me, and I don't... we...
I haven't said anything to him.
He just stops me,
and I guess he could tell,
he could tell that I was a little nervous.
And he just looks and he goes...
I remember the words... he just goes,
"It's just like water.
Just let it flow."
And he... and then he leaves.
And at that time, I'm like,
-"What does that mean?"
-[laughter]
And-and even though, as an actor,
I didn't know what...
exactly what that meant,
but I do now,
just the gesture, the gesture...
-Mm.
-Of him reaching out to me.
-ROSENTHAL: It's everything.
-GARRETT: Yeah.
-ROSENTHAL: It's everything. Yeah?
-Yeah.
-GARRETT: Beautiful.
-Anyway, go ahead. Talk about yours.
[laughter]
We saw a hundred ladies for the part.
They all read with
that "fruit of the month" scene.
No one came close to Doris Roberts.
-HEATON: Mm.
-No one.
ROSENTHAL: She was what was in
my head and in my life
[laughter] and-and was-was
so beyond, even.
My-my real mother
used to say, "You know,
it is a little exaggerated."
[laughter]
But you never saw that with Doris
because she was always spot-on.
She was always 100% believable.
-GARRETT: Yeah.
-Peter, too.
Again, I keep reiterating the same thing.
We could be
the best writers in the world,
it wouldn't matter
if we didn't have these people
and Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts.
Let me show you something.
Let me show you something.
[easy listening music playing]
-Marie?
-[laughs]: Oh.
Well, okay.
Oh, Frank, this is wonderful.
You dumb bastard.
What?
Ride it out?
You put a stop to this now.
-All right, Dad. All right.
-No, let me ask you.
She's in a bad mood, what,
two, three days tops?
Before you know it,
what used to be a bad mood now
takes over and becomes her only mood.
And then?
Well, then you become like me.
Where not a day goes by
that I don't wish
there was a comet
screaming towards Earth
to bring me sweet relief.
[screams]
FRANK:
That's gonna need another coat.
Did you say that you like Amy
more than Debra?
I am not saying that I like
Amy more than Debra.
I know, I know you're not saying it now.
But did you say it ever?
What-what if I told you
that we have a tape
of you saying it, Ma?
Give me the tape.
What we do in our bedroom
is our own business,
and I prefer not to be known
as the Whore of Lynbrook.
We can move from Lynbrook.
Can't you ever just be quiet?
Don't you tell me to be quiet.
I have a mind of my own, you know.
I can contribute.
I'm not just some trophy wife.
You're a trophy wife?
What contest in hell did I win?
You still can't think of
anything nice to say about me?
How about I sleep on it?
It's all jokes.
Frank, what are you doing?
No, no, no, I need that.
F-Frank. Fr...
I like you better
without the crap on your face.
Oh, Frank.
I left my heart
In San Francisco.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
My wife thinks I'm in the bathroom.
[applause]
Oh, boy.
I think we all have special memories
of each one of them, you know?
Doris could drink everybody
under the table.
[laughter]
-Champagne. That was her choice.
-ROSENTHAL: Pretty good.
-Never stopped working, right?
-Never stopped working.
-Every... Yeah.
-On hiatuses, always working.
Taking acting classes u-until she was...
-And directing plays. Yes.
-90, yeah.
ROMANO: And Peter was
pretty much the opposite of that guy.
He was, uh,
a kind of a Renaissance man.
-I mean...
-Yes, he wasn't really like that character.
You... two things about him
you may not know.
He studied to be a monk.
Yes. I asked him,
"What-what made you give it up?"
He said there weren't enough girls there.
[laughter]
And best man at his wedding
was John Lennon.
-ROMANO: Yeah.
-GARRETT: Yeah. - How about that?
As a matter of fact,
the girl he married is here tonight.
Loraine Boyle is sitting right up there.
-Yeah. Loraine.
-Where are you?
[cast cheering]
GARRETT: Yay.
[whistles]
ROMANO: Yeah.
GARRETT: Well, I... [stammers]
You know, it's-it's funny,
I remember when Peter Boyle was cast,
and-and we were, like, so excited,
'cause we're gonna be able
to play every week
with this legend.
And-and Ray went, uh,
"You know, I think
it's so fitting that the guy
who's playing your dad
was Young Frankenstein."
[laughter]
Yeah, yeah.
Well, they became our parents
in-in more ways
-than one on the show.
-HEATON: Yes.
-To Doris and Peter.
-Yes.
-[applause]
-Yay.
Yes. Cheers.
Cheers.
We love you.
[laughs]: Hey.
-Good?
-Yeah.
Yeah, good.
Even better the second time
now that my tongue's not scared.
MIKE ROYCE:
Everything happened over food.
There was so much food on the show,
and it-it just sort of
taught you that, like,
lessons are learned
and arguments are made.
When you're sitting down to eat,
you learn a lot about each other.
You should ask Debra
how she makes this.
I should ask Debra?
[laughs]
I should ask Debra?
Give me that.
Food is... you know, it's family.
Gathering around the table,
it's just, like, love.
MARIE [over answering machine]:
You better not have started that cake.
That cake is for all of us.
I'm coming over.
CAWLEY: Food is love,
'cause food is bringing people
together, and so, yeah,
we hit it, uh, all the time.
A man needs... chicken.
Food is everything, and that's
because that's Phil's obsession.
TOM CALTABIANO: For Phil,
food was the most important thing,
and it's the great connector.
We, uh, actually had a lot
to eat on the plane.
So, off we go to Italy.
And of course
the character of Ray Barone
is miserable.
Ray, this is the Spanish Steps.
Where's the Spanish elevator?
But I remember this one moment.
ROMANO: Pizza.
Thank you.
HALVORSEN: And that piece of
pizza, when he put it in his mouth...
Wow.
Ray has this epiphany about everything.
Oh, this is, like,
the best pizza I ever had, man.
HALVORSEN: He realizes
the great thing, which is
his family, the culture, the people,
all those things are actually
truly beautiful,
and he's been missing them
the whole episode.
[applause]
-Look, we're in the kitchen.
-Yes.
Uh, food was a very
important part of the show.
Uh, I think Marie held sway over
the entire family because
she was a great cook,
and, uh, who wasn't?
-[laughter]
-Aw.
ROSENTHAL: But we should talk about
our children.
Daddy, Daddy!
-Catch me.
-Oh...
[both screaming]
-Yeah...
-Everybody say,
"Cavities."
-ALL: Cavities.
-[laughs]: Aw.
Mommy, that man's smoking.
Narc.
You look like you're doing
pretty good here.
You don't need my help, do you?
Yes, I do.
All right, don't worry.
Daddy's here to help you.
-You can't make me!
-Look, I'm your father, you have to do what I say!
Well, I hate you!
Fly. Fly.
[burbling]
Come on, guys, we're
not snorkeling, we're eating.
-Okay...
-It's my shower!
It's mine! It's mine!
We were just, uh...
-Hey, you know what?
-[screaming]
[applause]
Madylin and Sullivan Sweeten,
are you here?
[cheering and applause]
-[laughter]
-[indistinct chatter]
Hi, Mom.
-Wow.
-Everybody's grown up.
-[laughter]
-Yeah. They-they...
In the blink of an eye, your kids grow up.
-[laughter]
-Hi, you guys.
Hi.
-Aw.
-This is so emotional.
-I remember when you were...
-I know.
-Do you want to sit on my lap?
-[laughter]
What was it like to grow up
here with us, with us maniacs?
MADYLIN: I mean, I don't know. I
it just felt like
what we were supposed to do.
I don't think we understood, right,
the... uh, how impactful the show was
or how impactful
what we were doing was.
So, yeah, I-I would get upset
that, you know, I couldn't be
in the school play.
-Just normal kid stuff.
-Yeah, but looking back, you know, I-I wouldn't
-change anything about it.
-ROMANO: Ah, wow.
That's so great to hear.
ROMANO: It's so good to see you guys.
It really is. Tell us
what you're doing now.
I just had a baby.
-ROSENTHAL: Yeah!
-Yeah.
[cheering and applause]
You're grandparents.
-HEATON: Yay!
-HORAN: You're an uncle.
ROMANO: Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, I brought him here with me today.
-HEATON: Oh!
-He and my husband are in the back.
-ROSENTHAL: Oh, great. We'll say hi.
-They're excited to meet you.
You guys were always in a good mood.
[laughter] - HORAN:
Because we had lots of candy.
ROSENTHAL: But you
were also, I want to say,
fantastic.
Oh, we were on set
with some of the most amazing
comedic actors in the world.
So it was a... you know,
we were learning from everybody
how to do it, and that's the,
that's the only reason
that we were, you know,
any good at it, I think.
Yeah, and I-I definitely
feel like I carried
that experience through my whole life.
You know, I-I try to bring
that-that kind of comedy
with me wherever I go.
ROSENTHAL:
Do you have a favorite episode?
I... you know, it's funny, I... my...
I'm not in my favorite episode. Uh...
Now, as an adult,
as I've been watching it back,
I've found there's
so many more adult things
that I didn't realize when I was a kid.
And, uh, my favorite episode
is "Marie's Statue."
-Oh!
-Oh, yeah.
I give you this.
DEBRA: Ah...
Isn't it a bit too ladylike?
[laughter]
Great.
-You see?
-Oh, now I do, thank you.
It looks like something, though.
What does it look like?
[laughter]
If you get close, you can even touch it.
I'm fine.
I got to tell you, I-I don't
know what the hell this is,
but I love it.
Hello. Uh, Raymond Barone?
Mm-hmm.
I'm Sister Anne, this is Sister Beth.
We're here to pick up the sculpture.
Forgive me, but is that not
a sculpture of...
What?
-So good.
-[laughter]
Oh, my God, I'm a lesbian.
[applause]
But what happened to the sculpture?
I think it was in Doris's backyard.
-[laughter]
-Oh, yeah.
I think her grandkids used it as a slide.
[laughter]
That's wrong.
Sullivan, you've got one.
SULLIVAN: Oh, I've got, I've got
plenty of good memories, you know,
playing tag in the bleachers and-and,
you know, the prop room.
But I think I'm a sucker
for a happy ending,
and the final scene with everybody
gathered around the table has got to be
-my favorite memory.
-Aw.
Like we are now.
Hey, what do you got there?
French toast?
No, no, no, no, don't worry,
I'll make something.
-Yay!
-Okay...
-All right, sit down.
-All right,
Uncle Robert's hungry and big,
and if you don't want
to get eaten, move out of the way.
Thank you, buddy.
This isn't so terrible.
-What do we have there?
-MARIE: Here.
Have some fruit in the meantime.
Ah. Some of the grapes.
Who wants grapes?
Ray, I think it's getting
a little too crowded in here.
Yeah, it is. You know what?
-We need a bigger table.
-[sighs]
All right. Who would like
some chocolate chip pancakes?
[overlapping chatter]
-[whooping]
-[applause]
ROSENTHAL: The philosophy
of "We need a bigger table"
is-is everything to me.
You know, the-the family is a microcosm
of your families, we hope,
and-and of wherever you live
and our country and the world.
We need a bigger table.
So, that-that's the idea.
That's why I wanted it
to be the last thing.
[applause]
ROMANO: Can we mention, also...
Sawyer? Yes.
So, Sawyer, of course, is no
longer with us, and we miss him.
And he was, just like you are,
just this bright energy, light.
None of us really expected
what happened.
But, uh, y-you know, I-I try
to think about the-the good moments,
and often times that's here on the set.
I-I just think it's
so important, any conversation
that we're having about Sawyer,
we're very passionate
in our family about suicide prevention.
It is the second leading cause of death
between the ages of 18 to 25.
But 90% of people
who seek treatment are cured.
And so many of the messages
that we get
are people saying, "I-I'm so grateful
to have heard about your
brother, he saved my life."
Is there a-an organization
that you work with
on behalf of Sawyer where people
could reach out to you?
We work with the National
Suicide Prevention Hotline.
-Okay.
-That's our main, uh, our main place.
-Okay.
-Yeah. But, uh, if... you know,
people can grab a Sawyer T-shirt.
We do T-shirts every year, and-and it
-all of the proceeds go there.
-Great.
-Yeah. - Thank you.
-Beautiful.
-You're not getting Ma.
-Don't push me.
[shouts]
Get away, get away, get away, get out!
I almost didn't know how lucky I was,
working with amazing actors.
-Eat it! Eat it!
-No! Stop!
[both shouting]
That allowed you, then,
to take these big swings
with physical comedy.
[grunts]
CAWLEY: And then the actors,
just so gifted.
Robert, let me tell you
what they did, okay?
Oh, I am tired, sweetness.
Oh, yeah. Oh...
Oh, baby, does that feel good.
Ah. [Chuckles]
Hmm. Come here.
What?
[wheezes]
If Debra has to give him
permission to make more decisions,
and then it has
to spectacularly end badly.
Debra's going all nutty on me over here,
but what else is new?
That means Ray's got to, I don't know,
like, set the kitchen on fire.
The laugh
inside the studio
was like nothing I ever heard.
-Ray, what the...
-Fire! Fire, there's a fire!
Famous one was, uh, Patty
dealing with that Thanksgiving turkey,
and that was all her.
-Huh?
-Yeah.
CAWLEY: Debra is wrestling
with a turkey that keeps falling.
And you can write that on the page,
it just looks like an action line.
And then, when Patty Heaton does it,
you look at the writers
around you and go,
"Look how good we are."
[applause]
-Okay, yes, ma'am.
-FAN: Hi, my question for you is,
do you guys have a favorite line?
And if so, can you reenact it for us now?
Favorite line.
One favorite line.
-I have one.
-Yes.
-"What did you do?"
-[laughter]
[cheering and applause]
What did you do?
ROSENTHAL: Very well done.
I-I have a favorite line.
It-it wasn't... I didn't say it,
but it was said to me,
and it was from nobody on here.
It was from a day character
who was in a hospital bed,
-and I said something to her.
-Oh. I know it.
And she looked at me and went,
"You tricky, tricky white boy."
[laughter]
If you want to get better,
you got to take your pills.
Oh, you tricky, tricky white boy.
What has happened to you in real life
since the show's ended
that you thought to yourself,
"That would make
a really great episode"?
-Yeah.
-Our friend Lew Schneider,
who's one of the great writers
of the show,
he-he tells a story about how
he was on vacation with the family
and he dropped his keys
down the elevator shaft,
in... right in the crack
of the elevator door.
And he was freaking out
'cause it's the car keys,
the house keys, everything.
Uh, a-and he was really going nuts,
and his wife said,
"Hey, th-this is great."
"Maybe you could use it on the show.
You know? That this..."
"We already did the episode
"where Ray loses his ring
"in the, in the, in the thing.
"So
"this is not good for the show.
This is just some [bleep] that happened."
[laughter]
Hey, guys, my question
is actually for Brad Garrett.
When Judy took you to the dance club...
-Yes.
-You have this amazing, iconic dance.
I wanted to ask
if we can recreate it right now
and boogie down a little.
-[laughter]
-ROMANO: Who, you and him?
-You up for it?
-Come on down.
[cheering and applause]
[dance music playing]
All right, all right,
all right, all right.
AUDIENCE [chanting]:
Go, Robert! Go, Robert!
Go, Robert! Go, Robert! Go, Robert!
Go, Robert!
Whoop! Yeah!
Everybody leave.
Thank you, thank you.
Listen... I'm sorry.
I'm really sorry.
RICHARD ROMANO:
When Raymond left for Hollywood,
me and my brother Bobby
decided to, um,
put a little note in his suitcase,
'cause we were gonna miss him,
you know?
And I didn't hear anything
and neither did my brother Robert
for nine years.
I didn't know if he read it.
And then the final show comes
and it was very, very dramatic and-and,
you know, emotional, and, uh...
I-In his speech he says, "I-I want to
read something."
This is a little note
that my brother...
both my brothers gave me
when I was leaving New York.
I'm saying,
"Oh, my God, he-he saved it?"
They snuck this
into my, um, my luggage.
What I wrote to him was, um,
"I hope you remember this verse:
'What does it profit a man...'"
"'If he gains the whole world
but loses his soul?'"
RICHARD: He got tears in his eyes and
he goes, "Oh, I hope
I did that, God," and, uh...
It was very moving,
and I th... and I think he did.
I think God would
be very happy with him.
[applause]
Thank you so much
for being with us, uh, tonight.
Uh, we're so thrilled to be with you.
We owe everything to you guys.
You know, when we started,
it was a show about
a family, for families,
and after a little while,
it was being made by a family.
What you don't see are all the people
that really made the show with us,
some of whom we haven't seen
since we went off the air.
So, if we could,
let's bring most of them out.
[cheering and applause]
[overlapping chatter]
ROMANO: We got one little more thing
we want to share with the audience.
It's kind of like a gag reel,
so we want to share that with you
and with everybody who made the show.
-[Ray grunts]
-What?
What's wrong? What happened?
[gasps]
You kicked me.
-I did?
-Oh...
Right in the garden of good and evil.
Right in Geppetto's workshop.
Right in Granny's apples.
Right in the Hard Rock Cafe.
You know where I had to go for this suit?
Wherever it was, I'll bet it was dark.
Come on. Come on.
I'm just a simple man
who tried to make a difference.
I still put my pants on one leg at a time.
Yeah, but you should stop
when they reach your nipples.
You know where I had to go for this suit?
Little Shop of Horrors?
Okay.
Come on.
-Come on, man.
-Oh, God.
Now all that remains is the issue
of who should be granted guardianship
in the event that both of you
die at the same time.
Whoa, slow down.
We're still trying to have
an orgasm at the same time.
One thing at a time.
You know where I had to go
for this suit? Hmm?
Goldens?
That's right.
Come on.
FRANK: Hey, Marie, I
knew you named them,
but I didn't know you fed 'em.
[laughter]
It's like I-I've entered a world
where ladies want Ray.
-Bert. Raybert.
-Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Raybert, Raybert.
You know what?
With your penis and my money,
we're unstoppable.
You better have a lot of money.
To be honest, Debra,
it's not a style I'd ever wear.
Nice try, though.
Put it on.
-[cheering and applause]
-Thank you, everybody.
-Want to say goodbye?
-I do.
I want to say,
I want to say to
to all of you and to all of you...
I used to say this to Ray all the time...
Thanks for the good life.
Yeah.
And we wish the same to all of you.
-Thank you, everybody.
-[applause]
Thank you, everybody.
[cheering and applause]
ROSENTHAL: Yay! Everybody hug!
DAVID LETTERMAN:
Good comedy and likability.
There's no sell-by date
on that sort of thing.
What they wrote was timeless
because it was authentic.
It's the kind of show
I wish was on the air right now.
Whenever you find it on TV,
it makes me stop,
and every joke is still just as funny,
and this Murderers' Row of a cast.
Ray was somebody
you wanted in your home.
You wanted to be part of that family.
SHEPHERD: I believe in
20, 30, 40, 50 more years,
we'll still love
Everybody Loves Raymond.
LETTERMAN: The writing
and the acting, directing,
that was near perfect, my God.
And it's in color.
[drumroll]
[cymbal crash]
[cheering and applause]
[cheering and applause]
ROMANO: Oh.
Look at this. It's crazy.
Don't make me cry.
Thank you. Thank you.
Please, sit.
I love you. I love you. Thank you.
Don't make me cry yet.
There's gonna be a lot of that.
-[laughter]
-Let me just tell you something.
The reason we're doing this
is because of the fans.
I mean, I miss it. I miss
everything. I miss you people.
I miss the cast.
My real wife is backstage
with my TV wife.
-[laughter]
-ROMANO: Yes.
If you've been married
for a long time, folks,
you know, there's a lot
of ups and downs, and, uh,
this is an example of how long
we've been married.
The other day, she actually said to me,
"You know, you don't talk a lot,
but when you do, it's too much."
[laughter]
We're gonna have a great night.
I'm so glad you're here.
Who came from, like, far away?
Who's from the...
Where are you from?
Philippines. I watched you when
I was, like, seven or eight.
-ROMANO: In the Philippines?
-Yes.
But, of course, dubbed in...?
-No, I learned English from you.
-ROMANO: You learned English from me.
[laughter, applause]
Well...
I-I appreciate it,
but thank you very much.
Listen, before we go even further,
I want to bring out a man who's
been my partner in this venture,
in this journey for the last 30 years.
He's the reason that this show exists,
but this was his baby,
just like it was mine.
Please welcome Phil Rosenthal.
[cheering and applause]
How great is this?
This is amazing.
You learned how to speak English
from Ray Romano?
So were your first
English words, "Oh, no"?
[laughter]
-First of all, let's get one thing out of the way.
-Yes.
This, I'm sure you know, is a reunion.
-This is a reunion that we...
-Not a reboot.
We're never gonna do one because, uh,
we're missing three cast
members, three family members.
So, we would never try
to do the show without them.
-ROSENTHAL: It wouldn't be the same.
-ROMANO: No.
And we have too much respect
for the show itself
-and for the, for the beautiful audience...
-Right.
To keep it the way it is.
And thankfully, the show is still on
every day all over the world, which...
-Right.
-[cheering and applause]
If you want to visit
your friends, uh, we're here.
How did we meet?
-Well, I was in bed.
-[laughter]
And I was watching
David Letterman with my wife.
-This would've been 1995?
-'95.
Uh, we had a production company,
and we were always looking
for a funny project.
And I-I think we were all
pretty greedy when we saw Ray.
All right, ladies
and gentlemen, next guest
is a very funny comedian, uh,
making his first appearance
with us tonight.
-He can also be seen...
-Wow, I just, uh,
look like a mid-level mortuary
has gotten a hold of me.
Favor now, please,
a nice welcome for Ray Romano.
Ray.
[cheering and applause]
My first impression,
he's wearing his father's suit.
But that's fine. I'm gonna let that go.
I have a three-year-old daughter
and twin two-year-old boys.
Wow. [Laughs]
-[whistling]
-Thank you.
-Single people are here.
-[laughter]
[laughs]
I can make them laugh.
I can make an infant laugh in a second.
I'll tell you, I'm losing
my perspective on adult humor.
[stammers] I wrote one new joke
since my twins were born.
Here, is this funny?
What do you think of this?
-Hi.
-[laughter]
-[laughs]
-Hi, everybody.
That rings true with me.
I had no idea how to be a parent,
so I thought, if I can make the kid laugh,
I've done something.
I'm glad. I'm glad you laughed.
If you didn't laugh at that,
I would've had to come
and rub my nose in your bellies.
-[laughter]
-Yeah. Aw.
Ray is the guy, and let's go,
and before he gets in the cab,
let's get him to sign something.
And I think it was a combination
of his likability
and the quality of the material.
I-I thought, you know,
pretty run-of-the-mill topics,
but the quality of the jokes
in those topics,
I-I thought were superior.
It was just dumb luck that
we had anything to do with it.
I-It's like, uh, you know,
kids playing with fireworks.
Oh, geez, it actually exploded.
It was sort of like that.
-[cheering and applause]
-[Romano laughs]
That's why we're here.
A week later, they called me and said,
-"We'd like to sign you to a deal..."
-ROSENTHAL: Right.
"To try to produce a sitcom."
-Right.
-And then,
I had to go find a guy
to write it and run it.
-And... [laughs]
-D-Did you? [Laughs]
So, they set us up on a blind date
here in L.A. at Art's Deli
on Ventura Boulevard,
and we meet.
-We meet.
-And I say to Ray, you know,
"Tell me about yourself," just
like I would with any of you
if we were gonna work together,
but we didn't know each other.
So, tell me about yourself.
And you said, "Well, I got
twin boys and an older daughter",
"and my parents live close by in Queens,
-"and..."
-You got to do the voice?
-You got to do the little...?
-A little bit.
-Yeah, okay.
-And then the, uh,
"My-my older brother's a police
sergeant. He lives with them.
"He's always touching, uh,
every bite of food to his chin
"before he eats it,
and he's kind of jealous of me.
"He saw my stand-up comedy
award, and he said,
'Never ends for Raymond.
Everybody loves Raymond.'"
And do you remember what I said?
You said, uh, "Well, I don't
think there's anything there."
[laughter]
-Jokingly.
-ROSENTHAL: I thought that was
a very good place to start.
And what I didn't know
about the personalities
in Ray's family, I filled in
with the personalities from my family.
90% of everything you saw on the show
happened to me or to Ray
or to one of the other writers.
What are you doing?
Uh...
RORY ROSEGARTEN:
The show had premiered.
And Ray said to his wife, "Anna,
my show just premiered
in front of all these people."
And she said, "Yeah?
And I just cleaned plum
off the ceiling from the kids."
LILY ROSENTHAL: I think this
show means everything to us.
It got to capture our family,
Ray's family,
everybody who worked here,
their families.
It was just like a community,
you know, we became a community.
We all felt so safe here and welcomed.
MATTHEW ROMANO: I remember
my dad would, he'd come out
right before the show,
he'd greet the audience.
He always would bring you up, say hello.
He'd do the same joke with
the audience about having twins.
Like, "Here's Matt. I have another son.
If he was here, it'd look like this,"
and then I'd go behind him
and stand on that side.
There's one episode based on
a real thing that I did,
which is, when I was in first grade,
we all had to write books,
you know, little picture books.
My book was...
"The Angry Family."
BEN: All the parents came in to read it,
and, you know, they were all
looking at my parents.
The mommy was mad at the daddy.
[laughs]
He got an episode out of it.
Yeah, the Ray on the show
is the Ray at home.
And that is because, at home,
he does a lot of annoying things
that drive me crazy.
I think if I were to do an impression,
it's just a little bit deeper, like,
grunt, like a... [grunts] I don't know.
People do the grunt, right? Ugh.
-Ah, come on.
-Ugh. My-my back is here,
it's-it's a little... Ugh.
Okay, now it's, now it's even worse.
-Now it's even worse.
-Debra. Debra.
Who brought the cookies here?
Who brought the donuts?
All right, I'm just gonna eat one.
Oh, my God, it's so good.
Five minutes later.
Ugh, my stomach hurts.
Ally, why'd you do that?
-[groans] Come on.
-Oh, my back. Oh no.
-Oh, Debra.
-MATTHEW: Yep, there it went again.
[applause]
I think one of the things
that put it over the top,
where CBS had to decide
whether to put us on,
was something out of your
actual life, which was...
Well, when I'm writing
the pilot, I'm thinking,
"How do we convey exactly,
in a short amount of time,
how crazy Ray's parents are?"
And then, this happened to me,
where I sent my parents...
I thought I was being nice
a gift of Fruit of the Month Club.
[laughter]
Look, I appreciate
the thought, Raymond,
but please don't ever send us
any more food again, okay?
Thanks. Thanks, darling.
Well, another box is coming next month.
What? More pears?
No. No, it's a different
fruit every month.
Every month?
Yes, yes,
that's why they call it
Fruit of the Month Club.
It's a club?
Oh, my God, what am I gonna do
with all this fruit?
Well, most people like it, Ma.
You share it.
-Share it with all your friends.
-Which friends?
I don't know, Lee and Stan.
Lee and Stan buy their own fruit.
Well, give it away.
-Why did you do this to me?
-Oh, my God.
I can't talk. There's
too much fruit in the house!
Aw...
What do you think we are, invalids?
We can't go out and get our own fruit?
I tried to tell him!
All right, I'm canceling the fruit club!
Oh, good. Thank you, Raymond.
Thank you.
And don't do that again.
Like we don't have enough problems.
[applause]
ROSENTHAL: What I didn't
realize, and what I learned
from doing that, from us doing that,
oh, wait, your parents are all crazy, too.
-ROMANO: Yes.
-[laughter]
We get it all the time.
People from all over parts of the world
tell us, "That's my mother.
That's my, that's my father."
-"That's my brother." Yeah.
-We didn't know your mother.
-We were writing our mother.
-Yeah.
And we have so many favorite episodes,
some of the ones we're gonna
talk about tonight.
I have one that just
came to mind, and it's good
since we're starting. You know,
we did a flashback episode
at the end of every season,
and this was my favorite
because it's how they met,
meaning Ray and Debra.
You know, it looks like
I made too much food here
if you're, um, hungry.
Oh. Yeah?
Yeah, you want some?
All right, yeah. Wrap it up.
I'll eat it in the truck.
Can I ask you something?
Yeah, sure.
Were you making
all that food for someone,
and they didn't show up?
They showed up.
Hey, you want something to drink?
Yeah, yeah. Well, let me get that.
-Okay, the glasses are right there.
-Okay.
-Ice?
-Yeah.
-That'd be great.
-All right.
I like the, I like the round
cubes with the holes in 'em.
Those are my favorite kind of cubes.
[screams]
-Are you okay?
-Yeah, I'm fine.
-[grunts] You all right?
-Yeah.
You're a good kisser.
All right, you're in shock.
[cheering and applause]
You're both so great in that,
and-and it's just so sweet to me
in addition to being funny.
The flashback episodes were always...
-So fun.
-Fun to do.
Look, I like all the episodes,
but of course
there's some we like more than others.
And I have, like, a top five,
and I... The one off the top of my head
is, uh, called "Talk to Your Daughter."
So, "Talk to Your Daughter" is about
at some point having to have the talk
with your child about the birds
and the bees, you know?
When a man and a woman
love each other very much,
they get married.
And then, sometimes,
they decide to make a baby.
I know that the man and the
woman have to do something, but
why are we born?
Why has God put us here?
-Why are we here, Daddy?
-Yeah, I heard you. I heard you.
You don't want to talk about sex?
-What do you mean?
-Ally didn't want to talk about sex.
She started asking questions about life.
Why did God put us here?
Crazy stuff like that.
Wow. So what did you say?
I told her we're here
because heaven is crowded.
You said heaven is crowded?
I got ambushed!
If you want to know what's in the Bible,
why don't you talk to Father Hubley?
Hey, that's right. You know what?
It's his job to know these things.
What, are you gonna call him?
Yeah, what are we putting
the money in that basket for?
Me and the family
were just sitting around,
and we had a quick question for you.
What is the meaning of life?
So, if you could get back to us
as soon as possible,
we'd appreciate it, all right?
[cheering and applause]
ROMANO: I'd hate to
admit it, but I'm guilty of...
-ROSENTHAL: What? You...
-I didn't have that talk with my kids.
Now I have 19 grandchildren.
[laughter]
All right, they don't want
to hear two old guys talk.
-Should we...
-They don't?
Should we bring out, uh,
bring out some people for you?
Yes, yes.
-ROMANO: Yeah.
-[cheering and applause]
Let's do that.
We'll do it right away.
DEBRA: When I got married,
I didn't just get a husband.
I got a whole freak show
that set up their tent
right across the street.
Oh, you were open and considerate
and willing to look at your own faults.
You made me sick.
Ray. Ray. Ray. Ray!
Hello, Raymond.
I do not have a drinking problem, sir.
What I have
is a mother-in-law problem.
-Whoo!
-Woo-hoo!
No. No. No.
-We're going to counseling.
-No!
I meant what I said here today.
I love you!
I'm pregnant!
I am not the yeller.
You are the reason for the yeller!
You have no idea
what I have to put up with.
[cheering and applause]
ROSENTHAL: Ladies and
gentlemen, Patricia Heaton.
-Patty!
-[cheering and applause]
ROSENTHAL: Look at these two.
-[laughs]
-I'm so happy.
Do you know... I didn't say this
we saw 200 women
before we found Patty Heaton.
And when she came in, she just
knocked it out of the park.
I mean, you can talk
about what that day was like.
Well, I was going through,
and I think why the show worked,
we were all going through
what the Barone family
-was going through in our lives.
-We all had kids.
-Yes. Yes.
-We all were newly married, yes.
And I had, I had a three-year-old
-and a one-year-old in my life.
-Right.
I had a babysitting issue when
I was coming to the audition.
I needed to get back.
I was cutting out coupons
for 50 cents off
two packs of Ball Park Franks.
And so I needed the gig.
And I got there,
and there was a waiting room
of at least eight women.
And I thought, "I'm never
gonna get back in time
for the babysitter."
And so I went in and sat there,
and I just needed
to get this audition done.
And, um, there was a guy sitting
in the corner and I thought,
"Maybe he can get me some water
while we're waiting for Ray to come."
-It was him.
-It was me. It was me.
And I didn't really have to do
research, and I didn't
really have to do acting
'cause it was what
-we were all dealing with in our marriages.
-Yeah.
And so, fortunately,
we got to monetize that.
-Yeah. Yes.
-[laughs]
[laughs] - ROMANO:
You were living the role.
-You were living the role.
-Living the role.
You know, when I need to talk to Ray
about, like, my feelings or our children,
I know I have until the commercial's over.
That gives me 30 seconds.
And if there's a girl in the commercial
or a truck with big wheels
or, God forbid, a monkey, forget it.
I think it was the first show
I'd worked on...
I'd worked for a while in TV
that really encouraged us to bring in
our stories from home.
TUCKER CAWLEY:
Phil in the writer's room
only half-jokingly said,
"All right, we need two more stories.
Anybody having a fight
with their spouse?"
LEW SCHNEIDER: Phil's idea
when he was running the show
was, how can you write about real life
if you can't live one?
AARON SHURE: There's
an episode of Raymond
called "The Tenth Anniversary,"
where Ray and Debra put in
the VHS tape of their wedding
on their tenth anniversary...
[Ray and Debra sigh]
SHURE: And discover that he's
taped over with the Super Bowl.
I did that.
But it was my first anniversary.
We put in our VHS tape and discovered
that I had taped over
our wedding with an episode
of Everybody Loves Raymond.
Where did our wedding go?
It's just, like, the
stories seem authentic.
And whether it's more exaggerated
than maybe it would have
happened in real life, like,
that kernel of truth,
I think, comes through.
Hmm. Ten years, that's enough.
[cheering and applause]
It was such a pleasure to write
for both of you.
And there was one other...
[laughs] There was...
Phil's getting emotional.
A little bit.
Because it's a dream to wind up
with people like this.
If you're just a writer, you
pray for someone to come along
and give so much more beyond it
and to make it real.
My favorite thing about the cast
was how they all committed
to the most silly thing,
as if it was life and death.
And that made it so alive.
-Yeah.
-And real and relatable.
And the two of you had
the most spectacular chemistry.
And I always said that.
-Patty Heaton's the best wife on television.
-Aw.
-Well, we're also...
-[applause]
We're... I think we're forgetting one
little key element that really
sold me on you during that first audition.
That's how desperate
I was to get the job.
Yeah. Well, they don't know
what you're talking about.
-I kissed him.
-Yes, there was
[laughter] there-there
was a part where it says,
"She kisses her husband,"
and every other actress
just kind of mimed it.
-For some reason, she didn't.
-They really... Nobody else?
[laughter]
And then, when she walked out,
I go, "That's the one!"
[laughter]
ROSENTHAL: Patty, do
you have a favorite episode?
Um, yes.
There was the one where we went away
for a weekend and we put
the suitcase on the landing.
We put it there and neither of us
would take it up and empty it.
And we keep waiting
for the other person to do it.
What are you doing?
What?
Just packing a soda
for the road. Problem?
-That's how you're getting on the airplane?
-Yeah.
Yeah, I'm traveling light.
I'm traveling loose.
What-what are you, a hobo?
[laughter]
Why don't you take the suitcase?
You know what?
I don't need it.
Okay, you know what?
Oh.
ROMANO: Yeah, good.
You know what?
I'm getting it.
Well, what's that supposed to mean?
It means I'll get it.
I'll be the one who got it.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
I will get it.
Let the record show that I got it.
-No way. You let go of this.
-You let go of it.
-Let go of this.
-You let go of it. Let go.
-Let go. Let go. Let go!
-Hey.
-[grunts]
-I'm taking it.
-No, you don't. No, you don't.
-I got it. Don't...
-No. I'm moving it.
-[shouts indistinctly]
I'm the one moving it, everybody.
Look at me.
Don't let a suitcase filled with cheese
be your big fork and spoon.
This is all your fault.
When did we get those?
[applause]
That's one of my favorite lines
ever in the show
because that, to me, is marriage,
-especially a long marriage.
-HEATON: Yes. Yes.
So many people, and this is really...
I think, what's not important
about comedy, but
every month at least, if not every week,
somebody either on social media
or if I run into them says,
"Your show was the one thing
"that our family could laugh together
"when my father was sick.
"And it was his favorite thing
that's been going on for 30 years."
And so, you know, it just feels like...
-ROMANO: Right.
-We're able to do that.
-[applause]
-That's beautiful.
We needed to cast Ray's, uh, brother.
Should we bring him out soon?
[cheering and applause]
-Trouble in paradise?
-Why would you want
to hear me complain about Ray?
Perhaps we haven't met.
I'm Robert Barone.
Hey. Hey.
Hey, Robert.
[laughter]
Everybody loves Raymond.
Surprise. It's an iguana.
-Look at that.
-[screams]
There you go. There you go. Roberto.
[laughter]
-Who is the man?
-I am the man.
I need to say something.
Ma!
No wife, no children.
Pathetic.
Thanks for the kind words.
Brad Garrett, everybody.
-[cheering and applause]
-Hey.
Hey, honey.
Oh. Mmm.
I'll come around. I'll come around.
[laughter]
-Thank you. Philip.
-Hey.
Oh.
Thank you.
Are you going over here
or are you going here?
GARRETT: Oh, boy.
It is so great to meet you.
-[laughter]
-[sighs]
ROSENTHAL: Do you have
any memories of coming in
and meeting Ray and...?
GARRETT: I remember auditioning.
When I read who Robert was,
I just felt I knew this guy, you know?
I-I was the youngest
of three brothers growing up,
and they were, you know,
much more popular
and they had a lot more going for them,
and I kind of felt like the kid
that grew up under the sink.
You know? So, uh,
when I read it, I-I kind of
felt like I knew, uh,
who Robert was, you know.
-Yes, Ray? - [Chuckles]
-Um...
-How could you...
-You don't have to raise your hand. It's your show.
[laughter]
H-How could you fit under the sink?
-[laughter]
-Well...
We would write lines, jokes,
and sometimes we didn't need them.
-Why? Because when we would cut to a face...
-ROMANO: Yeah.
ROSENTHAL: They
already said it with their look,
and it was better
than anything we could write.
And the king of this was Brad.
-GARRETT: Aw. Thank you. That's very sweet.
-ROSENTHAL: Yes. Just beautiful.
-GARRETT: Thank you.
-ROSENTHAL: Any, uh,
lovely stories you have
from, uh, your days on the show?
-Not really.
-ROSENTHAL: No?
-[laughter]
-Many.
You know what I think of a lot is
the episode "She's the One,"
where, uh, the girl
I was dating ate the fly.
Oh, yes.
And when you tried to-to tell me
what you saw in the kitchen,
that scene was so great,
but there was a moment where you were
[stammers] Yeah, I almost passed out.
You were screaming
or you had, uh, some type of...
-ROMANO: Well, I saw her eat the fly.
-Yeah.
And then you come in
and you talk to Patty and say,
"I really think she's the one,"
and-and I say,
"She's not the one," right,
and, and I tell you
she ate the fly, you don't believe me,
and I tell the story,
and, again, all this pent up,
and finally I end with,
"She took the fly,
she put it in..." [mumbles]
And then I scream it...
ROMANO AND HEATON: "She ate it!"
And I hyperventilated,
and if you look very closely,
you see me go,
ooh, ooh, 'cause I almost...
I felt like I was gonna pass out.
Who hyperventilates saying a line?
[laughter]
-[fly buzzing]
-Oh.
-Hey, you got him.
-[chuckles]
-Yeah, I guess I did.
-[laughs]
Wow, good hands. All right, um...
-Oh, it's okay, I got it.
-Okay, I'll be... I'll put this down.
[laughs]
The fly
that was flying around,
Angela killed it.
It fell on the table.
She put it in a napkin
and then she ate it!
[laughter, cheering and applause]
Commitment.
Brad, do-do... Was that your favorite,
or do you have a favorite?
Boy, there are so many.
I-I really loved "Lucky Suit."
-Yes.
-Where-where Robert,
uh, has an interview
to work with the FBI.
So, as I was saying...
Is this a joke?
Excuse me?
"Dear FBI Agent Garfield,
"I'm writing to ask
for your understanding.
"You have an interview
this morning with my son
Robert Barone."
[laughter]
Oh, what?
[gasps] Oh. [Chuckles]
Robbie, you scared me.
How did your interview go?
Come here. Let me tell you about it.
[laughter]
Didn't it go well?
Oh, it was going okay.
And then Agent Garfield read me a letter
about crazy Robert and his lucky suit.
Ma, what did you do?
She faxed the FBI a letter about
how she ruined my lucky suit.
I wasn't sure it went through.
It's the first time
I ever used a fax machine.
[laughter]
Marie, why don't you go
into the kitchen, and, Robert,
how about you just stay here
and maybe blink a few times?
[applause]
ROMANO: That's what mothers do.
GARRETT: This is a good story.
After one of my shows,
this guy came up to me after the show,
and it was really amazing.
He was a veteran,
and I remember that, uh, Phil...
you and-and Ray
would always send
the DVDs to our troops
when the show was on the air,
and he gave me his retirement
challenge coin.
And he served from 1999
to, uh, 2020.
And he said, "You guys really helped"
"when we needed the humor
more than anything.
-"And it really kept us buoyant..."
-ROSENTHAL: Wow.
-"...in-in what we were going through every day."
-Oh, my God.
-[applause]
-GARRETT: And, yeah.
Yeah.
Just an honor to be on this bus,
and thanks
for letting me on,
even though I was a giant.
[laughter]
There's more people coming out.
-We'll be right back, I guess.
-Yeah.
[cheering and applause]
All right, we're ready for you.
Oh, my gosh.
I feel excited.
[applause]
This is something, huh?
Yeah. Something.
Something.
-It's unbelievable!
-[all laughing]
[squeals]
[laughs]
[cheering]
And it still has the dent
from where I picked Patty up
and threw her into the thing.
Very good.
So, there was someone else
in that scene
that-that I-I knew for a long
time before we did the show.
I saw her first in a play, and
I thought she was really funny,
and then I married that girl.
I might not be the best person to help.
I've spent the last ten years
looking for an engagement ring.
Oh, Robert, this is my friend Amy.
We used to work at the PR firm together.
Hi. Hi, Ray. Here we go.
Oh, look, this one looks like a heart.
Stop your crying and get
off your pity pot, Nancy.
DEBRA: Oh, God.
I keep forgetting what
a freak show this family is
until somebody new comes in
and looks at us like that.
Wait!
Did your mother come over
and make things worse as usual?
-[cheering and applause]
-Here's Monica.
-ROMANO: Monica! Yay!
-Oh!
Me? Oh, my God.
-Wow! I'll do the husband first.
-Of course.
Let's go with the husband.
Go with the husband.
[Brad laughs]
Hello, my darling.
-My darling. Aw. Aw.
-How nice.
-Congrats.
-Oh, my God. The laughs.
The laughs!
-This is...
-Hi, Monica.
-Hi.
-You can tell Monica
brought a slightly different
energy to the family, right?
You know, just being here
is so incredible, right?
I can't believe how everyone did the set.
-Yeah.
-Like, everybody backstage.
And you guys being here,
it's so overwhelming.
It's unbelievable.
Talk about... what about
-'cause, first, you were recurring, right?
-Yes.
-ROMANO: And then...
-Well, first I didn't even know I'd be recurring.
-Can I tell you a little something?
-Yes.
I was pregnant with our daughter Lily,
and I didn't know it.
I found out after, so that first...
-ROMANO: Wait.
-HEATON: I didn't know that. - Yes.
-Wow.
-And flash forward to
-she just got married.
-And she just got married last...
-GARRETT: She just got married.
-ROMANO: Oh, Lily. Lily got married. Yeah.
[applause] - Ah. We had
a lot of babies on this show.
ROSENTHAL: A lot of babies.
The moral is, this show made us horny.
-No.
-[laughter]
We were happy.
When did you officially know
you were a regular?
It just started building
and building and building.
And, uh, Robert and Amy, it really was...
You know, I've had only a couple
comedy partners in my life,
but this one and that writing
-to th... to this couple was so perfect, wasn't it?
-It was great.
-It was great. Yeah.
-It was so fun.
And it was, uh... to then be with, like,
one of the greatest
comic teams of all time...
-GARRETT: Oh, yeah.
-HORAN: Ray and Debra.
That's you guys.
-[laughter]
-Yeah, you were brilliant.
So it was really lucky.
-Do you have a favorite episode?
-Oh, yeah.
All of them you mentioned.
There's so many favorite episodes.
The one that captures my heart is 'cause
my dear, beloved Georgia,
who I was very close with...
Georgia Engel, who played my mom.
And it's "Pat's Secret."
Oh.
Hi.
Is everything all right?
What, can't sleep?
Yeah, me neither.
[laughter]
Mind if I bum a ciggy?
Robert was smoking.
I-I wasn't. I wasn't!
-Smell him.
-Come here.
Come here.
Oh, my God.
Ow!
Do you know what
he's been doing? Smell him.
No, not there.
It wasn't lying,
it was more like she was just
letting off steam, so you don't
let it out on the person you love.
You know? Like Ray.
He has to drive around the block
a few times every night
listening to the radio before
he goes home to face Debra.
[laughter]
Are you crazy?
When I'm angry at my cat Miss Puss,
s-sometimes I'll sneak up
behind her and bark like a dog.
I like to blow up fireworks.
Pat!
I thought since
it wasn't a secret anymore...
-HEATON: Oh.
-ROMANO: Oh, boy.
[applause]
She was just in heaven.
And she always talked to everyone
about the writing on this show,
working with Phil
for years and years and years after.
-So, thank you for letting us relive it back.
-Beautiful. You know what?
We're so lucky to work
with these comedy legends
-that we idolized, you know.
-HEATON: Yes.
ROSENTHAL: We stand on the
shoulders of the great people
that came before us.
Obviously, people have passed,
and, uh, we've seen a lot of clips
of our-our mom and dad on the show.
But when we come back,
we'll talk about them.
[applause]
[applause]
So.
Let's talk about, uh, the parents.
For you and me, it, uh, it-it-it
it's very personal
because they were so based on
-our parents.
-Yeah.
Yeah. The mother was more you.
I mean, the mother
-was definitely your mom.
-And the dad was
-more you, maybe?
-I used to say,
everything you saw Peter do, my father
probably did in real
life without pants on.
-[laughter]
-Yes. Yes.
But I remember, uh...
just talking about Peter
during the pilot episode...
So, now, I'm a, I'm a young guy
who just got fired from NewsRadio,
and here I am again
a-attempting a show,
and I'm nervous.
And Peter is the great Peter Boyle,
this iconic movie guy.
And he's an imposing figure.
I-I didn't know then
how sweet he really was.
And-and I hadn't really had
a conversation with Peter.
And our paths were crossing,
and I-I swear to God,
it must have been right here.
And he just stops me, and I don't... we...
I haven't said anything to him.
He just stops me,
and I guess he could tell,
he could tell that I was a little nervous.
And he just looks and he goes...
I remember the words... he just goes,
"It's just like water.
Just let it flow."
And he... and then he leaves.
And at that time, I'm like,
-"What does that mean?"
-[laughter]
And-and even though, as an actor,
I didn't know what...
exactly what that meant,
but I do now,
just the gesture, the gesture...
-Mm.
-Of him reaching out to me.
-ROSENTHAL: It's everything.
-GARRETT: Yeah.
-ROSENTHAL: It's everything. Yeah?
-Yeah.
-GARRETT: Beautiful.
-Anyway, go ahead. Talk about yours.
[laughter]
We saw a hundred ladies for the part.
They all read with
that "fruit of the month" scene.
No one came close to Doris Roberts.
-HEATON: Mm.
-No one.
ROSENTHAL: She was what was in
my head and in my life
[laughter] and-and was-was
so beyond, even.
My-my real mother
used to say, "You know,
it is a little exaggerated."
[laughter]
But you never saw that with Doris
because she was always spot-on.
She was always 100% believable.
-GARRETT: Yeah.
-Peter, too.
Again, I keep reiterating the same thing.
We could be
the best writers in the world,
it wouldn't matter
if we didn't have these people
and Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts.
Let me show you something.
Let me show you something.
[easy listening music playing]
-Marie?
-[laughs]: Oh.
Well, okay.
Oh, Frank, this is wonderful.
You dumb bastard.
What?
Ride it out?
You put a stop to this now.
-All right, Dad. All right.
-No, let me ask you.
She's in a bad mood, what,
two, three days tops?
Before you know it,
what used to be a bad mood now
takes over and becomes her only mood.
And then?
Well, then you become like me.
Where not a day goes by
that I don't wish
there was a comet
screaming towards Earth
to bring me sweet relief.
[screams]
FRANK:
That's gonna need another coat.
Did you say that you like Amy
more than Debra?
I am not saying that I like
Amy more than Debra.
I know, I know you're not saying it now.
But did you say it ever?
What-what if I told you
that we have a tape
of you saying it, Ma?
Give me the tape.
What we do in our bedroom
is our own business,
and I prefer not to be known
as the Whore of Lynbrook.
We can move from Lynbrook.
Can't you ever just be quiet?
Don't you tell me to be quiet.
I have a mind of my own, you know.
I can contribute.
I'm not just some trophy wife.
You're a trophy wife?
What contest in hell did I win?
You still can't think of
anything nice to say about me?
How about I sleep on it?
It's all jokes.
Frank, what are you doing?
No, no, no, I need that.
F-Frank. Fr...
I like you better
without the crap on your face.
Oh, Frank.
I left my heart
In San Francisco.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
My wife thinks I'm in the bathroom.
[applause]
Oh, boy.
I think we all have special memories
of each one of them, you know?
Doris could drink everybody
under the table.
[laughter]
-Champagne. That was her choice.
-ROSENTHAL: Pretty good.
-Never stopped working, right?
-Never stopped working.
-Every... Yeah.
-On hiatuses, always working.
Taking acting classes u-until she was...
-And directing plays. Yes.
-90, yeah.
ROMANO: And Peter was
pretty much the opposite of that guy.
He was, uh,
a kind of a Renaissance man.
-I mean...
-Yes, he wasn't really like that character.
You... two things about him
you may not know.
He studied to be a monk.
Yes. I asked him,
"What-what made you give it up?"
He said there weren't enough girls there.
[laughter]
And best man at his wedding
was John Lennon.
-ROMANO: Yeah.
-GARRETT: Yeah. - How about that?
As a matter of fact,
the girl he married is here tonight.
Loraine Boyle is sitting right up there.
-Yeah. Loraine.
-Where are you?
[cast cheering]
GARRETT: Yay.
[whistles]
ROMANO: Yeah.
GARRETT: Well, I... [stammers]
You know, it's-it's funny,
I remember when Peter Boyle was cast,
and-and we were, like, so excited,
'cause we're gonna be able
to play every week
with this legend.
And-and Ray went, uh,
"You know, I think
it's so fitting that the guy
who's playing your dad
was Young Frankenstein."
[laughter]
Yeah, yeah.
Well, they became our parents
in-in more ways
-than one on the show.
-HEATON: Yes.
-To Doris and Peter.
-Yes.
-[applause]
-Yay.
Yes. Cheers.
Cheers.
We love you.
[laughs]: Hey.
-Good?
-Yeah.
Yeah, good.
Even better the second time
now that my tongue's not scared.
MIKE ROYCE:
Everything happened over food.
There was so much food on the show,
and it-it just sort of
taught you that, like,
lessons are learned
and arguments are made.
When you're sitting down to eat,
you learn a lot about each other.
You should ask Debra
how she makes this.
I should ask Debra?
[laughs]
I should ask Debra?
Give me that.
Food is... you know, it's family.
Gathering around the table,
it's just, like, love.
MARIE [over answering machine]:
You better not have started that cake.
That cake is for all of us.
I'm coming over.
CAWLEY: Food is love,
'cause food is bringing people
together, and so, yeah,
we hit it, uh, all the time.
A man needs... chicken.
Food is everything, and that's
because that's Phil's obsession.
TOM CALTABIANO: For Phil,
food was the most important thing,
and it's the great connector.
We, uh, actually had a lot
to eat on the plane.
So, off we go to Italy.
And of course
the character of Ray Barone
is miserable.
Ray, this is the Spanish Steps.
Where's the Spanish elevator?
But I remember this one moment.
ROMANO: Pizza.
Thank you.
HALVORSEN: And that piece of
pizza, when he put it in his mouth...
Wow.
Ray has this epiphany about everything.
Oh, this is, like,
the best pizza I ever had, man.
HALVORSEN: He realizes
the great thing, which is
his family, the culture, the people,
all those things are actually
truly beautiful,
and he's been missing them
the whole episode.
[applause]
-Look, we're in the kitchen.
-Yes.
Uh, food was a very
important part of the show.
Uh, I think Marie held sway over
the entire family because
she was a great cook,
and, uh, who wasn't?
-[laughter]
-Aw.
ROSENTHAL: But we should talk about
our children.
Daddy, Daddy!
-Catch me.
-Oh...
[both screaming]
-Yeah...
-Everybody say,
"Cavities."
-ALL: Cavities.
-[laughs]: Aw.
Mommy, that man's smoking.
Narc.
You look like you're doing
pretty good here.
You don't need my help, do you?
Yes, I do.
All right, don't worry.
Daddy's here to help you.
-You can't make me!
-Look, I'm your father, you have to do what I say!
Well, I hate you!
Fly. Fly.
[burbling]
Come on, guys, we're
not snorkeling, we're eating.
-Okay...
-It's my shower!
It's mine! It's mine!
We were just, uh...
-Hey, you know what?
-[screaming]
[applause]
Madylin and Sullivan Sweeten,
are you here?
[cheering and applause]
-[laughter]
-[indistinct chatter]
Hi, Mom.
-Wow.
-Everybody's grown up.
-[laughter]
-Yeah. They-they...
In the blink of an eye, your kids grow up.
-[laughter]
-Hi, you guys.
Hi.
-Aw.
-This is so emotional.
-I remember when you were...
-I know.
-Do you want to sit on my lap?
-[laughter]
What was it like to grow up
here with us, with us maniacs?
MADYLIN: I mean, I don't know. I
it just felt like
what we were supposed to do.
I don't think we understood, right,
the... uh, how impactful the show was
or how impactful
what we were doing was.
So, yeah, I-I would get upset
that, you know, I couldn't be
in the school play.
-Just normal kid stuff.
-Yeah, but looking back, you know, I-I wouldn't
-change anything about it.
-ROMANO: Ah, wow.
That's so great to hear.
ROMANO: It's so good to see you guys.
It really is. Tell us
what you're doing now.
I just had a baby.
-ROSENTHAL: Yeah!
-Yeah.
[cheering and applause]
You're grandparents.
-HEATON: Yay!
-HORAN: You're an uncle.
ROMANO: Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, I brought him here with me today.
-HEATON: Oh!
-He and my husband are in the back.
-ROSENTHAL: Oh, great. We'll say hi.
-They're excited to meet you.
You guys were always in a good mood.
[laughter] - HORAN:
Because we had lots of candy.
ROSENTHAL: But you
were also, I want to say,
fantastic.
Oh, we were on set
with some of the most amazing
comedic actors in the world.
So it was a... you know,
we were learning from everybody
how to do it, and that's the,
that's the only reason
that we were, you know,
any good at it, I think.
Yeah, and I-I definitely
feel like I carried
that experience through my whole life.
You know, I-I try to bring
that-that kind of comedy
with me wherever I go.
ROSENTHAL:
Do you have a favorite episode?
I... you know, it's funny, I... my...
I'm not in my favorite episode. Uh...
Now, as an adult,
as I've been watching it back,
I've found there's
so many more adult things
that I didn't realize when I was a kid.
And, uh, my favorite episode
is "Marie's Statue."
-Oh!
-Oh, yeah.
I give you this.
DEBRA: Ah...
Isn't it a bit too ladylike?
[laughter]
Great.
-You see?
-Oh, now I do, thank you.
It looks like something, though.
What does it look like?
[laughter]
If you get close, you can even touch it.
I'm fine.
I got to tell you, I-I don't
know what the hell this is,
but I love it.
Hello. Uh, Raymond Barone?
Mm-hmm.
I'm Sister Anne, this is Sister Beth.
We're here to pick up the sculpture.
Forgive me, but is that not
a sculpture of...
What?
-So good.
-[laughter]
Oh, my God, I'm a lesbian.
[applause]
But what happened to the sculpture?
I think it was in Doris's backyard.
-[laughter]
-Oh, yeah.
I think her grandkids used it as a slide.
[laughter]
That's wrong.
Sullivan, you've got one.
SULLIVAN: Oh, I've got, I've got
plenty of good memories, you know,
playing tag in the bleachers and-and,
you know, the prop room.
But I think I'm a sucker
for a happy ending,
and the final scene with everybody
gathered around the table has got to be
-my favorite memory.
-Aw.
Like we are now.
Hey, what do you got there?
French toast?
No, no, no, no, don't worry,
I'll make something.
-Yay!
-Okay...
-All right, sit down.
-All right,
Uncle Robert's hungry and big,
and if you don't want
to get eaten, move out of the way.
Thank you, buddy.
This isn't so terrible.
-What do we have there?
-MARIE: Here.
Have some fruit in the meantime.
Ah. Some of the grapes.
Who wants grapes?
Ray, I think it's getting
a little too crowded in here.
Yeah, it is. You know what?
-We need a bigger table.
-[sighs]
All right. Who would like
some chocolate chip pancakes?
[overlapping chatter]
-[whooping]
-[applause]
ROSENTHAL: The philosophy
of "We need a bigger table"
is-is everything to me.
You know, the-the family is a microcosm
of your families, we hope,
and-and of wherever you live
and our country and the world.
We need a bigger table.
So, that-that's the idea.
That's why I wanted it
to be the last thing.
[applause]
ROMANO: Can we mention, also...
Sawyer? Yes.
So, Sawyer, of course, is no
longer with us, and we miss him.
And he was, just like you are,
just this bright energy, light.
None of us really expected
what happened.
But, uh, y-you know, I-I try
to think about the-the good moments,
and often times that's here on the set.
I-I just think it's
so important, any conversation
that we're having about Sawyer,
we're very passionate
in our family about suicide prevention.
It is the second leading cause of death
between the ages of 18 to 25.
But 90% of people
who seek treatment are cured.
And so many of the messages
that we get
are people saying, "I-I'm so grateful
to have heard about your
brother, he saved my life."
Is there a-an organization
that you work with
on behalf of Sawyer where people
could reach out to you?
We work with the National
Suicide Prevention Hotline.
-Okay.
-That's our main, uh, our main place.
-Okay.
-Yeah. But, uh, if... you know,
people can grab a Sawyer T-shirt.
We do T-shirts every year, and-and it
-all of the proceeds go there.
-Great.
-Yeah. - Thank you.
-Beautiful.
-You're not getting Ma.
-Don't push me.
[shouts]
Get away, get away, get away, get out!
I almost didn't know how lucky I was,
working with amazing actors.
-Eat it! Eat it!
-No! Stop!
[both shouting]
That allowed you, then,
to take these big swings
with physical comedy.
[grunts]
CAWLEY: And then the actors,
just so gifted.
Robert, let me tell you
what they did, okay?
Oh, I am tired, sweetness.
Oh, yeah. Oh...
Oh, baby, does that feel good.
Ah. [Chuckles]
Hmm. Come here.
What?
[wheezes]
If Debra has to give him
permission to make more decisions,
and then it has
to spectacularly end badly.
Debra's going all nutty on me over here,
but what else is new?
That means Ray's got to, I don't know,
like, set the kitchen on fire.
The laugh
inside the studio
was like nothing I ever heard.
-Ray, what the...
-Fire! Fire, there's a fire!
Famous one was, uh, Patty
dealing with that Thanksgiving turkey,
and that was all her.
-Huh?
-Yeah.
CAWLEY: Debra is wrestling
with a turkey that keeps falling.
And you can write that on the page,
it just looks like an action line.
And then, when Patty Heaton does it,
you look at the writers
around you and go,
"Look how good we are."
[applause]
-Okay, yes, ma'am.
-FAN: Hi, my question for you is,
do you guys have a favorite line?
And if so, can you reenact it for us now?
Favorite line.
One favorite line.
-I have one.
-Yes.
-"What did you do?"
-[laughter]
[cheering and applause]
What did you do?
ROSENTHAL: Very well done.
I-I have a favorite line.
It-it wasn't... I didn't say it,
but it was said to me,
and it was from nobody on here.
It was from a day character
who was in a hospital bed,
-and I said something to her.
-Oh. I know it.
And she looked at me and went,
"You tricky, tricky white boy."
[laughter]
If you want to get better,
you got to take your pills.
Oh, you tricky, tricky white boy.
What has happened to you in real life
since the show's ended
that you thought to yourself,
"That would make
a really great episode"?
-Yeah.
-Our friend Lew Schneider,
who's one of the great writers
of the show,
he-he tells a story about how
he was on vacation with the family
and he dropped his keys
down the elevator shaft,
in... right in the crack
of the elevator door.
And he was freaking out
'cause it's the car keys,
the house keys, everything.
Uh, a-and he was really going nuts,
and his wife said,
"Hey, th-this is great."
"Maybe you could use it on the show.
You know? That this..."
"We already did the episode
"where Ray loses his ring
"in the, in the, in the thing.
"So
"this is not good for the show.
This is just some [bleep] that happened."
[laughter]
Hey, guys, my question
is actually for Brad Garrett.
When Judy took you to the dance club...
-Yes.
-You have this amazing, iconic dance.
I wanted to ask
if we can recreate it right now
and boogie down a little.
-[laughter]
-ROMANO: Who, you and him?
-You up for it?
-Come on down.
[cheering and applause]
[dance music playing]
All right, all right,
all right, all right.
AUDIENCE [chanting]:
Go, Robert! Go, Robert!
Go, Robert! Go, Robert! Go, Robert!
Go, Robert!
Whoop! Yeah!
Everybody leave.
Thank you, thank you.
Listen... I'm sorry.
I'm really sorry.
RICHARD ROMANO:
When Raymond left for Hollywood,
me and my brother Bobby
decided to, um,
put a little note in his suitcase,
'cause we were gonna miss him,
you know?
And I didn't hear anything
and neither did my brother Robert
for nine years.
I didn't know if he read it.
And then the final show comes
and it was very, very dramatic and-and,
you know, emotional, and, uh...
I-In his speech he says, "I-I want to
read something."
This is a little note
that my brother...
both my brothers gave me
when I was leaving New York.
I'm saying,
"Oh, my God, he-he saved it?"
They snuck this
into my, um, my luggage.
What I wrote to him was, um,
"I hope you remember this verse:
'What does it profit a man...'"
"'If he gains the whole world
but loses his soul?'"
RICHARD: He got tears in his eyes and
he goes, "Oh, I hope
I did that, God," and, uh...
It was very moving,
and I th... and I think he did.
I think God would
be very happy with him.
[applause]
Thank you so much
for being with us, uh, tonight.
Uh, we're so thrilled to be with you.
We owe everything to you guys.
You know, when we started,
it was a show about
a family, for families,
and after a little while,
it was being made by a family.
What you don't see are all the people
that really made the show with us,
some of whom we haven't seen
since we went off the air.
So, if we could,
let's bring most of them out.
[cheering and applause]
[overlapping chatter]
ROMANO: We got one little more thing
we want to share with the audience.
It's kind of like a gag reel,
so we want to share that with you
and with everybody who made the show.
-[Ray grunts]
-What?
What's wrong? What happened?
[gasps]
You kicked me.
-I did?
-Oh...
Right in the garden of good and evil.
Right in Geppetto's workshop.
Right in Granny's apples.
Right in the Hard Rock Cafe.
You know where I had to go for this suit?
Wherever it was, I'll bet it was dark.
Come on. Come on.
I'm just a simple man
who tried to make a difference.
I still put my pants on one leg at a time.
Yeah, but you should stop
when they reach your nipples.
You know where I had to go for this suit?
Little Shop of Horrors?
Okay.
Come on.
-Come on, man.
-Oh, God.
Now all that remains is the issue
of who should be granted guardianship
in the event that both of you
die at the same time.
Whoa, slow down.
We're still trying to have
an orgasm at the same time.
One thing at a time.
You know where I had to go
for this suit? Hmm?
Goldens?
That's right.
Come on.
FRANK: Hey, Marie, I
knew you named them,
but I didn't know you fed 'em.
[laughter]
It's like I-I've entered a world
where ladies want Ray.
-Bert. Raybert.
-Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Raybert, Raybert.
You know what?
With your penis and my money,
we're unstoppable.
You better have a lot of money.
To be honest, Debra,
it's not a style I'd ever wear.
Nice try, though.
Put it on.
-[cheering and applause]
-Thank you, everybody.
-Want to say goodbye?
-I do.
I want to say,
I want to say to
to all of you and to all of you...
I used to say this to Ray all the time...
Thanks for the good life.
Yeah.
And we wish the same to all of you.
-Thank you, everybody.
-[applause]
Thank you, everybody.
[cheering and applause]
ROSENTHAL: Yay! Everybody hug!