In his upcoming journey diary and cookbook, Phil Rosenthal, star of the hit Netflix sequence "Anyone Feed Phil," and beforehand the showrunner of the long-running sitcom "Everyone Loves Ray," writes how its star, Ray Romano, impressed his meals and journey present.
Learn an excerpt beneath, and do not miss Dr. Jon LaPook's interview with Phil Rosenthal and Ray Romano on "CBS Sunday Morning" Could 8!
One particular person's life I needed to vary by way of journey was my good good friend Ray Romano. I requested him the place he was going after we had been on hiatus after the primary season of Everyone Loves Raymond. He stated, "We all the time go to the Jersey Shore." I instructed him that was nice, however had he ever been to Europe? "Nah." I requested him why not, and he stated, "I am probably not fascinated about different cultures." I could not perceive how somebody might really feel that manner. Not even Italy? Ray's household was Italian. I knew immediately it was a narrative I needed to inform on Raymond, do an episode set in Italy and ship his character, Ray Barone, over there, this man who would not need to journey. He'd come again as Italian as Roberto Benigni, or me, somebody who's been remodeled by the magic of journey – the meals, the folks, the wonder, particularly of Italy.
So after plenty of convincing, we acquired Raymond on a airplane and filmed the episode in Rome and outdoors town in a bit of city referred to as Anguillara Sabazia on the Lago di Bracciano, the lake there. After taking pictures one night time, Ray and I, together with thirty members of the solid and crew, ate at an enormous desk in the midst of the piazza in Trastevere, the previous Jewish ghetto in Rome. Ray noticed a gelato retailer within the nook of the plaza and stated, "We'll in all probability get dessert right here, however we should always get gelato after, proper?" As he and I had been having fun with our second dessert of the night time, he noticed a pizza place and stated we then needed to attempt that. Then he noticed one other gelato place and stated, "The very best combo is coconut and chocolate. Should not we attempt that right here, too?" I noticed what occurred to the character that I wrote truly occurring to Ray the Particular person. And watching my good friend expertise the thrill of journey for the primary time was nearly as good as doing it myself. I truly bear in mind pondering, "If solely I might do that for different folks."
So after Raymond ended, and a number of other futile makes an attempt to do one other sitcom, I made a decision to pursue my dream. And you recognize what? No person needed it. "Why are you doing this? Persist with sitcoms" is one thing I might hear from everybody, together with my brokers and my mother and father. However I stored making an attempt for years. I needed to make use of every little thing I discovered about how one can inform a narrative within the service of every little thing I beloved in life: Household, Associates, Meals, Journey, and Laughs.
Lastly, the great folks at PBS noticed some clips I had made from some journey movies and favored them, and I acquired a gathering. This is how I pitched the present: I stated, "I am precisely like Anthony Bourdain, if he was afraid of every little thing."
After the assembly, I referred to as Richard. I instructed him that PBS was giving me six episodes on the air the place I might attempt to get you to journey by exhibiting you one of the best locations on the earth to eat. He stated, "Actually? What are they going to name the present? The Fortunate Bastard?" I instructed him to give up his job (he was already a TV producer) and are available produce this present with me, and we'll name our manufacturing firm Fortunate Bastards. We acquired Zero Level Zero (the manufacturing firm that did Anthony Bourdain's exhibits) to hitch us, and that present grew to become I am going toHave What Phil's Having.
We introduced my mother and father into every episode, they usually have all the time been not simply supportive and incredible however an excellent supply of comedian materials. You may see their debut in my 2011 documentary about my journey to Russia to attempt to assist them flip our sitcom into Everyone Loves Kostya. It is referred to as Exporting Raymond. And what you see on these video calls to my of us is de facto how they're. I spotted these calls residence are the fashionable day equal of a postcard from wherever you are touring. And we realized they're comedian geniuses on digicam. My mother was a whole pure and completely hysterical. (Not like Dad, she by no means needed to be on TV, however later, she did take pleasure in folks recognizing her. I beloved that.) Then we had Dad together with his jokes. He had executed some stand-up right here and there when he was youthful. He all the time amazed me, as a result of he did get very nervous going up there, however then he owned the stage. He had collected lots of jokes through the years, however because the sequence went on, Monica would inform me that Dad would go to the Web and lookup previous Jewish jokes earlier than I referred to as. He needed to verify he had the joke proper in order that it appeared to the viewers as if he simply occurred to recollect it. The dynamic of the 2 of them collectively, my mother and pa, first on IHWPH and on our first 4 seasons of Netflix's Anyone FeedPhil, was unbelievable. They're simply as humorous on this sequence, being themselves, because the actors who portrayed variations of them in Raymond had been on the sitcom. They weren't simply one of the best a part of the present, they had been probably the greatest components of my life. This ebook, like every little thing else I am fortunate to do due to them, is devoted to them, Max and Helen Rosenthal.
It is also devoted to the remainder of my household: Monica, Ben, and Lily, Richard and his household, Monica's household, and my prolonged household: our crew and manufacturing workers, all of the cooks and mates we have made, and all of you, who ought to actually be dropping this ebook nearly now.
Excerpted from "Anyone Feed Phil the E book." Copyright © 2022, Phil Rosenthal. Reproduced by permission of Simon Aspect, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. All rights reserved.
For more information:
- "Anyone Feed Phil the E book: Untold Tales, Behind-the-Scenes Pictures and Favourite Recipes" by Phil Rosenthal and Jenn Garbee (Simon & Schuster), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio Format, out there for pre-order, October 2022, by way of Amazon and Indiebound
- "Anyone Feed Phil," Season 5 debuts Could 25 on Netflix
- Anyone Feed the Individuals