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American Morning

Interview With Ray Romano

Aired September 23, 2002 - 09:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Everybody loved Raymond, and this morning, who could argue with that. The star of the CBS sitcom was a big winner last night at the Emmy Awards, along with two of its co- stars, who also went home with TV's golden lady. KTLA entertainment editor Sam Rubin up all night long, talked with Ray Romano about the thrill of victory, joining us from Los Angeles once again.
Good morning.

SAM RUBIN, KTLA ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: Hey, Paula, good morning to you.

There is an old Emmy adage that sitcom stars, while they may win Emmys, but standup comics never do. Ray Romano proved last night to be the exception to that rule, but he says there were some problems involved with being an Emmy winner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the Emmy goes Ray Romano, thank God.

RUBIN: How much did you want to win?

RAY ROMANO, ACTOR: All right, I will tell you the truth. I'm a standup comedian, so my first goal is I have to be funny. If I win, I got go up there, thank everybody, I got -- I got to tell my wife I love her, because I do. I don't have to; I want to. But I got to be funny. So there is always pressure to be funny.

So for me, it's a win-win situation. If I win, I win, good. If I lose, I don't have to -- I didn't have that pressure. Are these bits going to work? Are these jokes going to work?

Having said that, four years in a row, I didn't have that pressure. But that was my thing. If I thought of a funny great acceptance speech that's funny and, you know, has a little emotion to it, and thanks all the people, then, yes, it would be nice to get up there and thank everybody and do that.

RUBIN: Did you ever plan it in the back of your mind?

ROMANO: What do you mean? With what I was going to say?

RUBIN: Yes.

ROMANO: Yes, I had things going. I'll go, I'll do the thing with my parent, I'll say we're driving you to the airport. Yes, some of the things were spontaneous in a sense. But, you know, as a comedian, you got to be ready. You got to be up there and ready. I didn't have a plan now. See what's happening?

RUBIN: Brad, Doris, things were kind of going your way.

ROMANO: Yes, it was great. We didn't win for show. But we're there. "Friends" deserve it. Comedy is very subjective. Look at the disparity. You know, we are in the same category, "Sex and the City," "Everybody Loves the Word Raymond." Look what's in our title, the word "Love." Look in theirs, "sex" and "city." So, yes, whatever happened, we were happy.

RUBIN: This all airs tomorrow morning. Is the party ongoing?

ROMANO: Let me find out. Release me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RUBIN: There really is a celebrity mule train of sorts, all these one-on-one rooms, and several various press responsibilities, tons of parties that are obligatory, but several stars had to work, Paula, this morning. People from the "West Wing," Allison Janney among them. winning for the third yeah in the row, said she has a 7:00 a.m. Pacific Coast Time call. I said, there is no way that you are going to make that. She said it's iffy, but she plans to be at work for a couple minutes.

ZAHN: You might have inspired someone to write a celebrity mule train song for those actors who have go into the interview after interview after the awards.

By the way, do you think the Emmys will be among the most highly watched, or do we know?

RUBIN: Well, I'll tell you what, I think NBC is going to be very pleased primarily because a lot of NBC shows did very well at the Emmys, "Friends "and "West Wing." In terms of it being -- the ratings last and it earlier years have been trending downward. I suspect it will do a little bit better.

The Television Academy goes into negotiations with all major networks now to get the rights fees upped dramatically. We'll see if that happens, depending on the ratings. I think they'll probably be all right. Conan, I thought, was OK.

ZAHN: I thought he was get better than OK. Come on, Sam.

RUBIN: You know what, I think the pretaped bit was very, very funny. It is a thankless job, there is no question about that. I heard you make reference to the Jethro Tull bit a little earlier. That too Was good.

ZAHN: That was very funny.

RUBIN: I'll change my mind. He was fantastic.

ZAHN: He was fantastic. Never use the lyric in making fun of Jethro Tull, but somehow that all worked, didn't it.

Thank, Sam.

RUBIN: OK, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 23, 2002 - 09:39   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Everybody loved Raymond, and this morning, who could argue with that. The star of the CBS sitcom was a big winner last night at the Emmy Awards, along with two of its co- stars, who also went home with TV's golden lady. KTLA entertainment editor Sam Rubin up all night long, talked with Ray Romano about the thrill of victory, joining us from Los Angeles once again.
Good morning.

SAM RUBIN, KTLA ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: Hey, Paula, good morning to you.

There is an old Emmy adage that sitcom stars, while they may win Emmys, but standup comics never do. Ray Romano proved last night to be the exception to that rule, but he says there were some problems involved with being an Emmy winner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the Emmy goes Ray Romano, thank God.

RUBIN: How much did you want to win?

RAY ROMANO, ACTOR: All right, I will tell you the truth. I'm a standup comedian, so my first goal is I have to be funny. If I win, I got go up there, thank everybody, I got -- I got to tell my wife I love her, because I do. I don't have to; I want to. But I got to be funny. So there is always pressure to be funny.

So for me, it's a win-win situation. If I win, I win, good. If I lose, I don't have to -- I didn't have that pressure. Are these bits going to work? Are these jokes going to work?

Having said that, four years in a row, I didn't have that pressure. But that was my thing. If I thought of a funny great acceptance speech that's funny and, you know, has a little emotion to it, and thanks all the people, then, yes, it would be nice to get up there and thank everybody and do that.

RUBIN: Did you ever plan it in the back of your mind?

ROMANO: What do you mean? With what I was going to say?

RUBIN: Yes.

ROMANO: Yes, I had things going. I'll go, I'll do the thing with my parent, I'll say we're driving you to the airport. Yes, some of the things were spontaneous in a sense. But, you know, as a comedian, you got to be ready. You got to be up there and ready. I didn't have a plan now. See what's happening?

RUBIN: Brad, Doris, things were kind of going your way.

ROMANO: Yes, it was great. We didn't win for show. But we're there. "Friends" deserve it. Comedy is very subjective. Look at the disparity. You know, we are in the same category, "Sex and the City," "Everybody Loves the Word Raymond." Look what's in our title, the word "Love." Look in theirs, "sex" and "city." So, yes, whatever happened, we were happy.

RUBIN: This all airs tomorrow morning. Is the party ongoing?

ROMANO: Let me find out. Release me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RUBIN: There really is a celebrity mule train of sorts, all these one-on-one rooms, and several various press responsibilities, tons of parties that are obligatory, but several stars had to work, Paula, this morning. People from the "West Wing," Allison Janney among them. winning for the third yeah in the row, said she has a 7:00 a.m. Pacific Coast Time call. I said, there is no way that you are going to make that. She said it's iffy, but she plans to be at work for a couple minutes.

ZAHN: You might have inspired someone to write a celebrity mule train song for those actors who have go into the interview after interview after the awards.

By the way, do you think the Emmys will be among the most highly watched, or do we know?

RUBIN: Well, I'll tell you what, I think NBC is going to be very pleased primarily because a lot of NBC shows did very well at the Emmys, "Friends "and "West Wing." In terms of it being -- the ratings last and it earlier years have been trending downward. I suspect it will do a little bit better.

The Television Academy goes into negotiations with all major networks now to get the rights fees upped dramatically. We'll see if that happens, depending on the ratings. I think they'll probably be all right. Conan, I thought, was OK.

ZAHN: I thought he was get better than OK. Come on, Sam.

RUBIN: You know what, I think the pretaped bit was very, very funny. It is a thankless job, there is no question about that. I heard you make reference to the Jethro Tull bit a little earlier. That too Was good.

ZAHN: That was very funny.

RUBIN: I'll change my mind. He was fantastic.

ZAHN: He was fantastic. Never use the lyric in making fun of Jethro Tull, but somehow that all worked, didn't it.

Thank, Sam.

RUBIN: OK, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com