Brad Garrett: New Character Is 'Close to Me'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Brad Garrett is about to find out what sitcom life after "Everybody Loves Raymond" is like.
The actor stars with Joely Fisher in the new comedy "'Til Death," debuting Sept. 7 on FOX. They play middle-aged married couple Eddie and Joy Stark who live next door to young newlyweds.
"I knew that if I wanted to go back into television, I would want to do a character that was very far removed from Robert on 'Raymond,' which I felt this character was," Garrett told the Television Critics Association's summer meeting Monday. "It's really the first character that, and I'm not proud to say this, but is very close to me."
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Garrett has embraced going from being an ensemble player on "Raymond" — a ratings powerhouse during its long CBS run — to being the star of his own show.
"It's the same feeling as when they would write an episode for Robert. I'm enjoying it a lot," he said. "I'm looking forward to having a lot more creative input than I did on `Raymond.'"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Garrett recently completed a 10-city standup comedy tour with former co-star Ray Romano. There had been talk that Garrett would star in his own "Raymond" spinoff, but it fell apart.
"We couldn't get the writers that 'Raymond' had. They were all on to do their own things," he said. "It didn't make sense to do a spin-off with writers that weren't familiar with the other show."