Nothing scares Ray Romano more than sex scenes.
The “Men of a Certain Age” star confessed to a capacity crowd at TheWrap’s Emmy Screening Series on Thursday night, that the thought of shooting those scenes fills him with dread.
“Believe it or not, I have to be forced to do them,” Romano told TheWrap’s Brent Lang, during an hour-long Q & A. “The women — I usually have to donate money to their charities.”
The comedian, immediate right, told the story about a particularly embarrassing on-set mishap: Romano’s character rushes to the bathroom with his pants around his ankles. After the cameras stopped, Romano discovered that his own pocket-sized bottle of Purell “exploded” on his leg during the shoot.
“I had to show every member of the crew my Purell bottle that day as proof it wasn’t me,” Romano said.
Along with “Men of a Certain Age” co-creator and executive producer, Mike Royce, Romano offered up a long list of quips about everything from “Celebrity Apprentice” to erectile dysfunction while explaining his decision to return to television on the heels of his long-running sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond.” He said that it took him "about a month" to come off cloud nine.
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Romano and Royce didn’t want to just retread old ground with their TNT series, which stars Romano, Andre Braugher and Scott Bakula. Instead, the two were looking to launch a series that mixed in both comedy and pathos. The show depicts the characters’ struggles with dating, child rearing and coming to terms with unrealized ambitions.
“We just wanted to write the show like we live it. As subtle as you try to be on a sitcom, it’s still got to be out there,” Romano said.
This show, Royce said, is "about the melancholy and realizing a time in your life to make changes."
It's "not just about talking about boobs and Cialis,” Romano said, before riffing about those prescription sex aids.
“For those commercials, all I have to say is I don’t need it," he said. "Is it going to be that much work? Am I going to have to drag two tubs [of Cialis] to the beach just to have sex?”
(Photo/Jonathan Alcorn: Romano illustrates his Purell story as Royce watches.)
