‘Today’: Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, and Brad Garrett Stopped By the Morning Show With ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ News, Memories, and Reboot Talk
Today welcomed a few of the former cast members of classic television comedy Everybody Loves Raymond to the show this morning.
Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton, and Brad Garrett opened up to Today‘s Harry Smith about some great memories, the possibility of a reboot, and with news of their own.
‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ cast is doing its part for a cause close to their hearts
The Everybody Loves Raymond cast is reuniting – as much as it can without Peter Boyle, Doris Roberts, and Sawyer Sweeten – for a table reading of one of the show’s scripts. And they’re doing it for a very special cause: to raise funds for the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF).
The event is in honor of late cast member Peter Boyle, who died in 2006 from multiple myeloma and heart disease. Boyle played Frank Barone for the show’s nine-season run.
Patricia Heaton will take part in the reading as, of course, Debra Barone, as will Ray Romano as Ray, and Brad Garrett as Robert.
The show’s creator, Phil Rosenthal, will also be there along with his wife Monica Horan, who played Robert’s wife Amy.
“Heads up Everybody Loves Raymond fans! Our table read reunion on Oct. 23rd is FREE! But all donations to honor the memory of Peter Boyle are gratefully accepted. Go to http://myeloma.org for info!,” Heaton tweeted.
The cast reading can be streamed from the International Myeloma Foundation’s YouTube channel and Facebook page on Oct. 23 at 9 p.m. ET.
‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ stopped by ‘Today’
The Today set was brimming with excitement with the news that the cast of the popular 1990s/early 2000s sitcom would be checking in via a video chat with show correspondent Harry Smith.
Smith asked the three actors about the scripts they would be performing for their table read benefit.
“When you looked over the script, what was it like to sort of go back and walk through that part again?,” he asked.
Garrett piped up right away, “You know, it’s funny, Harry, it immediately reminded me, a lot of those scripts we haven’t seen in 20 years. It reminded me how amazing the writing was. That’s what really always stood out.
“We were very lucky to get a cast like this. We had a chemistry early on that you can’t predict, you can’t plan.”
Romano agreed. “I appreciated it so much more now looking back at the scripts. Because I had forgotten what it was like and I’m like, ‘Man, this was good!'”
Both Romano and Garrett agreed the show lucked out with Patricia Heaton
Romano praised the show’s luck in getting Patricia Heaton to play the harried Debra Barone.
“The casting has to be special. We read 200 women until Patty came in the room to read for the wife.”
Garrett concurred. “[Heaton] was the anchor, in my opinion. She was surrounded by this circus and what I loved with Patty is she played this strong woman who wouldn’t take anyone’s crap.”
You’re invited to an ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ performance
Romano made clear that the cast will not be performing one entire script because that would be impossible. Boyle, as noted, died in 2006 and Doris Roberts, who played the family matriarch Marie Barone, died in 2016.
“When we say we did a table reading,” Romano said, “we didn’t do one script. We did select scenes from all nine seasons. And there are a lot of times where the scene, like the mother comes in, and we had to stop the scene there. But the funniest stuff was coming up with Doris coming in and Peter coming in. You just appreciate and miss them even more.”
Talk of a future reboot then, without Boyle and Roberts, according to the cast, simply wouldn’t make sense.
“We kind of agreed,” Romano said on behalf of the rest of the cast, “that it won’t happen. We’re missing Peter, we’re missing Doris, we’re missing the crux of the show. [The table reading] is as close as we’ll get to us performing again. But to actually perform as our characters, I think this is the only chance you’ll get to see it.”
Catch the ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ Table Read on the International Myeloma Foundation’s YouTube channel and Facebook page on Friday, Oct. 23 at 9 p.m. ET.
