Ray Romano’s Salary On Everybody Loves Raymond Was So Insane That It Almost Destroyed His Television Career

Despite making an absolute fortune from his iconic sitcom, Ray Romano’s career was made complicated by his salary and success.

Those hoping for an Everybody Loves Raymond reboot are in for a disappointment. Both Ray Romano and Brad Garrett believe it’s a bad idea, especially without Dorris Roberts and Peter Boyle, who passed away in 2016 and 2006, respectively. That doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities for former castmates to collaborate on other projects.

Fortunately, the cast gained a lot of clout after the show which propelled their careers in new and rewarding directions. Not to mention the fact that it made them all rich. Ray Romano himself, who both starred and wrote on the Philip Rosenthal show during its nine seasons, still makes an absolute fortune from the series in residuals. Of course, Romano is famous for earning an absolutely over-the-top salary while making the show.

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, while talking about his 2023 directional debut, Somewhere In Queens, Romano addressed rumors that his insane salary stopped him from doing more sitcoms. Here’s what he had to say about becoming far too expensive for most TV productions…

What Was Ray Romano Paid For Everybody Loves Raymond?

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Ray Romano has about $200 million in the bank… Not too shabby for a guy from a lower middle-class family from Queens. Despite his success as a stand-up comedian, much of this insane net worth is owed to Phil Rosenthal’s Everybody Loves Raymond.

Romano still makes around $18 million a year on Raymond residuals alone. At least, according to CheatSheet. The comedian has never actually confirmed nor denied the exact amount he continues to rake in from the classic late-1990s sitcom.

His insane residuals aside, Romano is famous for his high salary while making the show. While we don’t know the precise amount he was earning when the show first started, by the end of things it was A LOT…

Two seasons before the show abruptly ended due to personal issues between creator Phil Rosenthal and his wife, Monica Horan (who played Amy), Ray Romano earned between $1.7 million and $1.8 million per episode.

With over 20 episodes per season, Romano was making over $40 million a year on the show. Not to mention all the money he received annually from residuals due to an incredible syndication success.

This was a bone of contention for the rest of the cast, who actually staged a walk-out, according to Cheat Sheet. This is because the rest of the cast was making $160,000 per episode, creating a huge pay gap between not only Romano and his leading lady (Patricia Heaton) but the rest of the main cast. As a result of the protest, the rest of the main cast received a significant pay increase.

It’s unclear if this pay dispute drove a wedge between Romano and the rest of the cast. However, he did tell The Hollywood Reporter that Brad Garrett often made fun of Romano’s salary in his stand-up act.

But Romano’s salary remained the same and may have had a detrimental effect on his television career following the end of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Did Ray Romano Become Too Expensive To Be Employed On TV?

During his interview about his 2023 film, Somewhere In Queens, with The Hollywood Reporter, Ray Romano addressed whether or not his high Everybody Loves Raymond salary created a roadblock for him in terms of booking other television gigs. After all, when someone earns that kind of salary, it tends to become their base pay, at least as far as network television is concerned.

“When the show ended, I did Men of a Certain Age for two years. Then that got canceled,” Ray Romano told The Hollywood Reporter.

Following this, Romano did indeed have a hard time getting back into television, even though he wanted to transition into dramas. According to Romano, his agent was keen on keeping his salary rate as high as it was at the peak of Raymond’s success.

“So, I was unemployed and wanted to stretch my dramatic chops — or see if I had any,” Romano continued in his interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

“I was a fan of Parenthood at the time, and I emailed Jason Katims and half-jokingly said, ‘I’m available if you find anything for a old Italian guy.’ He emailed me back right away and said, ‘We can’t afford you.’ I said, ‘Whatever my agent tells you my quote is, talk to me and I will make it work.”’About a week later, my agent called me and went, ‘Ray, did you tell Jason Katims you would work for little money?'”

Romano ended up taking a gig on Parenthood for “very modest money”, at least when compared to what he was earning on Everybody Loves Raymond.

“But I got three seasons of Parenthood, and it got people to see me differently. From that, I got The Big Sick and The Irishman — although The Irishman was another story. But all those things add up,” Romano continued during his interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

“When you’re the lead of a sitcom and you’re trying to do something different or move away from that, it takes a long time to get people to see you as anything else. So, I think that a very smart thing I did was not worry about the money after Everybody Loves Raymond.”

Ray Romano’s incredible Everybody Loves Raymond salary (as well as the residuals) gave him the opportunity to pivot into rewarding spaces.

“I’m not just getting comedic things and broad things,” Romano told The Hollywood Reporter of the roles he’s being offered now.

While projects like HBO’s short-lived series Vinyl and Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman didn’t pay nearly as well as his sitcom, they earned him prestige and allowed him to grow as an actor.