Ray Romano’s Brand New Stand-Up Comedy Special Just Landed On Netflix

Would you believe Ray Romano had never released an hour-long comedy special until now?

Romano, 61, put out an HBO half-hour in 1996, the same year he got his hit CBS sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond.

As he explains in his first Netflix special, Right Here, Around The Corner, he decided to go back to where his career began: The Comedy Cellar in New York City’s Greenwich Village. In the decades since Romano first worked out his 15-20 minute chunks of material, the Cellar has expanded into multiple venues, which prompts him to tell the crowd at the Cellar’s Village Underground that he actually started “right here, around the corner.”

Rather than completely taking over his old home club for the Netflix taping, Romano decided to film his hour as two separate 25-minute sets, one at the O.G. Cellar, the other at the Village Underground, as if he were one of the Cellar’s now legendary and sometimes infamous unannounced drop-ins.

So the audiences that night may have seen the camera crews and known something was up, but not exactly what.

Romano’s also not exactly certain what kind of crowds he’ll find, either. So his nerves are palpable as he walks to the Cellar, and then around the corner between sets. Although if you’ve seen his appearance in the Jerry Seinfeld documentary, Comedian, or Romano’s own road-trip documentary, 95 Miles to Go, then you know Romano’s natural setting includes both self-doubt and anxiety.

For comedy fans who’ve only heard about the drop-ins at the Cellar, this special shows what it actually looks, sounds and feels like in the room, as Romano heads down the stairs and waits in the wings for Gary Vider (former finalist on America’s Got Talent) finishes his 10-minute set, and then host Jon Fisch preps the audience for their surprise guest. There’s that roar of recognition as Romano walks in, followed by rounds of applause for the first minute or two. And then it’s back to the grind. Romano has to put in the same work all the other comics do on that stage.

He acknowledges he’s not exactly like us, while attempting to bridge the gap, with an early set-up about having friends, saying: “When you have a TV show, and you will. We all get one.”

Of course, Romano has gotten several in the past decade. Men of a Certain Age. Parenthood. Vinyl. Get Shorty. TV fame has brought with it it a bunch of new “friends” for Romano, none of which he really needs. His actual bit, meanwhile, holds more universal appeal, laying forth a philosophy about the kinds of friends you do look for as you get older.

And Romano remains a man of a certain age now. Not old in spirit, perhaps, but definitely no longer young.

I didn’t remember Everybody Loves Raymond having so many dick jokes, but Romano’s comedy in 2019 is packed with them. From noticing how an accidental elbow to his groin doesn’t hurt so much in his 60s (he likens it to “punching a curtain,” then after killing with this bit, expressing his pleasure at filming it because “my wife hates that bit”), to swapping stories with friends about bachelor parties, to a website one friend sent him about men who can orally pleasure themselves, which prompts Romano to picture women putting dog-like cones over their mens’ heads to take them out in public. Not exactly CBS family hour material, and yet, probably not far off based on recent CBS scandals.

Speaking of recent TV history, Romano’s walk between the two Cellars does offer a more family-friendly alternative to Louis CK’s walk along MacDougal and West 3rd streets from the intro to his FX series, Louie. Retracing his steps, but in reverse.

At the Village Underground, they’re mid-show there, too; Marina Franklin onstage finishing her set, then host Ray Ellin bringing up Romano as “my favorite comedian.”

Much of Romano’s material still comes from his wife and children.

And it turns out they’re all there to follow him out the door, and around another corner, to walk to Joe’s Pizza for an after-show review and dinner.

One thing’s for certain: Romano’s premises offer up enough ideas for a new season of his sitcom. You can practically imagine the reboot getting green-lit by executives watching this hour, even if it’s technically two half-hours.

Only this time, everybody really does love Raymond.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.

Watch Ray Romano: Right Here, Around The Corner on Netflix