Hey Gasmii, I had a chance to catch up with Brad Garrett From 'Til Death and Everybody Loves Raymond. I have to say he was one of the nicest people EVER!!! His show returned last week on Fox, and will continue to be in it's regular time slot of Wednesdays at 8PM ET/PT.
Nads: Hello, Brad. How's it going?
Brad: Hello, Nadine. How are you?
Nads: I'm very well! Let's talk stand-up. Do people freak out when they see you on stage? Do they expect you to be Eddie or Robert?
Brad: All the time. I even joke about it in the act. Ray and I just finished a nine-city tour, we just finished Sunday night. And we pick about nine, ten dates a year that we do together, just really for fun and we're old buddies, obviously. But we're very different on stage and we think that's why the show kind of works. But when they see Ray, I they see the Ray that they expect: he's a wonderful stand-up and his humor is very homogeneous and very family-oriented. And then...I come out they expect kind of a version of that, but it's really it's very ethnic humor, it's very improv-oriented, I bring in the audience a lot to it.
And it's edgy, I mean, there's no question that it's edgy. And I just have to do what I do and that's something I've always done and I did it way before I played Robert. But people are surprised, and most people dig it because I think when they come to see you in a live show they want to see something that's different than what they've watched for nine years, hopefully.
Nads: Totally. Do people like go up to you and talk to you like you're Robert?
Brad: Well, people call me Robert. They yell Robert, and I look at them and I go hello, viewer. But it's a good thing, and I know I was lucky to fall into that part and I'll always be grateful for it for sure.
Nads: Cool. Well, I'm a big fan of your stand-up. Now, on to T.V. Can you compare Eddie to Robert?
Brad: I think they're just about as different as can be, and that's what attracted me to the role originally. Also, Eddie is, and this is something I may not want to reveal but I will anyway, Eddie is closer to anyone that I've ever played as far as to myself. And I thought it would be fun to play someone that is as close to me as I can, because it's just a great opportunity for an actor or a comedian to do that. He's very, very different than Robert. I couldn't imagine them being more different. And mainly, he's very outspoken; he's really the alpha dog. He's--it's pretty much his way in his life, or he thinks it's his way, where Robert knows that nothing is his way and he has succumbed to that. Eddie, I believe is more of a fighter, whether he believes it or not deep down.
Nads: How much of a say do you have in your character Eddie?
Brad: Well, I have quite a bit of input, more and more as time goes on. I think we're all starting to trust each other more, and I think that's a normal track for a sitcom as it evolves. I trust the writers more, they hopefully trust me more. I just want to keep my guy interesting. I want to keep him more dimensional. I've tried to move him in the direction of more introspective in a bullheaded way, as opposed to just really a bitter guy. I mean you're always tweaking your character
Nads: Any Raymond cameos or other guest stars?
Brad: Well, Ray did a tiny, tiny, tiny cameo last year. Actually, he had one line in a restaurant at the end of a show. And really, to be honest with you, that's probably going to be it. As far as guest stars coming up, there is an episode we recently filmed where we met my parents that were played by the Sopranos, Jerry Adler, and Valerie Harper plays my mom. And they were both just amazing, and we'll probably see that episode before the end of the year.
Brad: Thanks, Nadine. I appreciate it. Good luck to you.
Nads: Thank you!!
Don't forget to check out 'Til Death tonight, Wednesday, at 8PM PT/ET on Fox