Brad Garrett

Brad Garrett (born Brad H. Gerstenfeld; April 14, 1960) is an American actor and stand-up comedian.  He has appeared in numerous television and film roles.

I am a pessimistic optimist, or what I like to call a "pissed-omist."

Garrett was initially successful as a stand-up comedian in the early 1980s.  Taking advantage of that success in the late 1980s, Garrett began appearing in television and film, in minor and guest roles.  His fist major role was Robert Barone on the CBS series Everybody Loves Raymond, which debuted 13 September 1996 and ran for nine seasons. In 2002, he gave an Emmy-nominated and critically lauded performance as Jackie Gleason in the television film Gleason.

Quotes

• I don't think we're politically correct when we're private. I don't know what politically correct means. I'm just watching this thing going down in Baltimore, all the officers charged in the Freddie Gray death and I just think it's wonderful and sad at the time because this has been happening since the beginning of time in America and if it wasn't for cell phones these cops would be getting off.
  • Interviewed by Nicki Gostin, "'Everybody Loves Raymond' star Brad Garrett talks costars, religion and politics," (5 May 2015).

When the Balls Drop (2015)

There are those of you who may choose to live in a dream world where the glass is half full, but if you do, you're an imbecile.  The glass will never be half full.  Nor full ever again.  It's simply on its way to empty.  It's half empty, three-quarters empty, then totally fucking empty.

Brad Garrett, When the Balls Drop: How I Learned to Get Real and Embrace Life's Second Half (New York: Gallery Books, 5 May 2015).

Foreword, "Being Forward."

• As a side note, I'd like to propose that aim is more mathematical than we tend to acknowledge. For me, it's: smallish dick ÷ long torso = distance to bowl.

• The harsh reality is that my sequestered twins are advancing in the opposite direction of my earhair.  Mother Nature has me by the balls, literally.  They have actually started a race with my ex-wife's tits.  And she will prevail, because she will get hers "done" as I continue to disappear into the abyss of recycled toilet brine.  In the end, gravity always wins, people.  Remember: when you have a heart attack, you fall down, not up.

  Middle age is upon me, and I don't remember this shit being in the brochure.  I have six different doctors on speed dial, and the font size on my smartphone is at ten with a maximum setting of twelve.  That doesn't give me much wiggle room for the golden years.

• [M]iddle age is the window to your eventual end…
• There are those of you who may choose to live in a dream world where the glass is half full, but if you do, you're an imbecile.  The glass will never be half full.  Nor full ever again.  It's simply on its way to empty.  It's half empty, three-quarters empty, then totally fucking empty.

Chapter 1, "I Was a Ten-Pound Preemie."

• As stated earlier, I am a pessimistic optimist, or what I like to call a "pissed-omist."  This is a person who has lived long enough to know not to expect much from most people or life in general, but still allows him- or herself the hope that somewhere under all the horseshit there may possibly be a pony.
• "I was such a large sperm, my mother went into labor during conception."

Chapter 2, "Jews Don't Dribble."

• When I hit the six-foot mark at thirteen, I noticed the majority of the population was in denial with regard to my athletic potential.  The townspeople refused to believe that I couldn't play ball.
• The goons needed some comic relief, and I needed an audience.  I had found my niche.
• Pride can make you look like a dick if you're not careful.

External links

• Brad Garrett on IMDb