Brad Garrett TOPICS: Celebrity Comedian Arts / Music / Drama Entertainment FEE CATEGORY:* Contact for fee schedule TRAVELS FROM: California Profile Request This Speaker

Brad Garrett: Profile

Award Winning Actor / Comedian

Standing at 6'8", Brad Garrett is one of the tallest comedians working the club scene, and his facility with voices kept him working on animated series and specials between stints on sitcoms. He first appeared in the short-lived summer comedy "First Impressions" (CBS, 1988), in which he was a divorced father who amuses his daughter and makes a living doing impressions. Garrett's other series have been "The Pursuit of Happiness" (NBC, 1995-96), in which he was the hero's gay best friend, and "Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS, 1996-2005), as the downtrodden policeman brother of the title character.

Garrett was known as a funnyman in high school and after graduation began playing amateur nights at comedy clubs. He was the first $100,000 grand prize winner on the syndicated series "Star Search" in 1984, which in turn led to his first appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson". Garrett then performed at comedy clubs, appeared on the updated version of "The Hollywood Squares" and toured with Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross, and Julio Iglesias. While making guest appearances on sitcoms (including "Roseanne" and "Seinfeld"), he was more often heard than seen. Garrett was the voice of Hulk Hogan on the animated series "Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling" (CBS, 1985-87), the voice of Waldo on "Where's Waldo?" (CBS, 1991-92) and also did voice work for NBC's "Spacenuts" (1991-92).

Even on the big screen, Garrett has more often been heard than seen, voicing characters in "The Jetsons: The Movie" (1990) and "Casper" (1995). He made his acting debut as the ironically named PeeWee in John Sayles' period baseball drama "Eight Men Out" (1988) and also had a small role in the comic spoof "Spy Hard" (1996).

But "Everybody Loves Raymond" would prove to be his breakthrough role, and although the comedy struggled to find an audience at first, it eventually become one of TV's top-rated and most beloved show. Although initially about the friction between Romano's character, his wife and his across-the-street parents, the sibling rivalry between Garrett as the obsessive compulsive, forlorn sadsack Robert Barone and Romano became one of the series' comedic hallmarks, and when the Robert character got married the show was reinvigorated by the sparks created by the Barones' new in-laws. In 2002, Garrett's hard work paid off: he won an Emmy as the best supporting actor in comedy for his portrayal of Robert in the hit series, and in 2003--shortly after a victorious high-profile standoff with the network in which he missed the first episode of the new season in order to pressure the higher-ups to increase his salary--Garrett scored his second Emmy victory, followed by a third in 2005.

That same year he was also Emmy-nominated for his dramatic work in the television biopic "Gleason" (2003) for playing the legendary TV comedian Jackie Gleason. As "Raymond" concluded in 2005, Garrett enjoyed a supporting turn as a school coach in the Vin Diesel comedy "The Pacifier" amid much speculation that his TV character Robert would be spun off into his own CBS sitcom. The proposed show from "Raymond" executive producer Phil Rosenthal would reunite him with his TV wife, Monica Horan, and prime-time in-laws, Fred Willard, Georgia Engel and Chris Elliott. The storyline would find Garrett's character faced with "major logistical, geographical changes--he will be leaving the state," the actor told the New York Times.

After the success of "Raymond," Garrett continued to lend his distinctive basso tones to such animated and partially animated projects as "The Country Bears" (2002), "Finding Nemo" (2003), "Garfield" (2004) and the direct-to-video sequel "Tarzan 2" (2005), as well as series such as "Superman," "Justice League," "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command" and "Hercules," among others. Due to a built in following from "Raymond," Garrett was able to make a return to series comedy by headlining in the marriage-themed Fox sitcom, "Til Death" (2006- ).

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