Columnist Joe Delaney: Romano’s comedy career began in grade school

Joe Delaney

Friday, Aug. 17, 2001 | 9:40 a.m.

Joe Delaney's column appears on Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at 259-4066 or joe@lasvegassun.com

Ray Romano, creator and star of the hit CBS sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond," performs in the Mirage's Danny Gans Theatre tonight through Sunday at 8 p.m. ... In the sitcom, Romano portrays Ray Barone, a successful sportswriter with a family of eccentrics that mirrored his real-life situation before he relocated his family to the West Coast.

There is the patient wife (played by Patricia Heaton), a daughter, twin sons plus, back then, an unmarried brother (Brad Garrett) who was living with Barone's parents (Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts) across the street ... This true-to-life comedy about a dysfunctional family is followed by "Becker," starring Ted Danson, on Monday nights, our favorite hour of comedy, 9-10 p.m., on network television.

Romano was the middle child of three sons, growing up in a middle-class neighborhood on Long Island ... Always a cutup, he was the class clown in school ... Despite this natural proclivity for comedy, his first ambition was to become an actor, appearing in church and school plays ... He later formed an improv group he called No Talent.

His comedy style was always grass-roots, family-oriented and gentle ... Similar to the Bill Cosby sitcoms, the Barone family life vignettes transcend ethnicity and categories ... Romano did attend college for two years, studying to become an accountant, but decided it was not for him ... As with so many comedians, his first comedy club appearance was on a dare.

Winning a major comedy competition in New York City led to appearances on the NBC's "The Tonight Show," first with Johnny Carson and later with Jay Leno ... "Late Night with David Letterman" was the real breakthrough because it led to a deal with CBS and Letterman to create the sitcom that became "Everybody Loves Raymond."

Romano is respected by and has high regard for his comedy-club buddies ... Good friend and former LV showroom regular Garrett has become a vital part of the sitcom as Raymond's brother ... He was also instrumental in Kevin James landing the lead role on CBS' "King of Queens" ... Romano's comedy is real, gentle, very funny, life looked at askew but from the sunny side.

Weekend wrap-up

In Thursday's column we discussed the late Perry Como's resistance to recording "Till The End Of Time," which actually launched his career on RCA Victor with a No. 1 record the first time out ... Tina Turner's career was not yet at its record-shattering peak when she rejected a song the producer wanted to record on a new album ... She told him she hated it.

The song was "What's Love Got to do With It" ... The producers had to record four other songs that she insisted upon to get her to record the hit that sent her career to astronomical heights ... The B-side of a Patti Page single release was "Tennessee Waltz" ... Page performs at Texas Station at 8 this evening; she and her music are timeless.

Local talk show host Tony Sacca performs at Club Madrid in Sunset Station, tonight only at 8, backed by Michael T's 10-piece swing orchestra and Passion, three singers-dancers ... Comedian Robert Allen opens the Sacca show, titled "Listen To My Heart."

Aerosmith's "Just Push Play Tour" is the Saturday special (sold out) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena ... The Go-Gos will be the Mandalay Bay Beach attraction, starting at 9 p.m. Saturday ... Master of the guitar Joe Lano is a regular Monday night feature with Don Menza and Friends, Mondays at the Riviera ... See you next Thursday.