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95
Miles to Go
Genre: Comedy
Rated: n/a
Directed by: Tom Caltabiano
Starring: Ray
Romano, Tom Caltabiano,
Roger Lay, Jr.
Released by: Thinkfilm
In
Short: Ray Romano ("Everybody Loves
Raymond"), Tom Caltabiano and a film student
struggle with Romano’s personality quirks
in this unscripted, thousand-mile road trip
comedy. |
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Synopsis: "95 Miles to Go" came about during
a spring hiatus from "Everybody Loves Raymond"
when Ray Romano did a standup comedy tour of the South.
He brought along fellow standup comedian, former roommate,
and Raymond writer Tom Caltabiano as his opening act.
Romano and Caltabiano had been performing standup together
for ten years and had periodically videotaped their time
on the road. Caltabiano, who had been documenting their
road tours since their first one in the Catskills in 1992,
convinced a reluctant Romano to allow a tour to be filmed.
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Romano
did not want a full crew traveling with them, so they
compromised and had Roger Lay, Jr., an intern from "Everybody
Loves Raymond" who was also a USC film student, accompany
them. The eight-day tour took them to seven cities: Miami,
Tampa, Clearwater, Orlando, Jacksonville, Savannah and
Atlanta. They flew from Los Angeles to Miami, then rented
a car and drove to each city. During the thousand-mile
road trip, the cameras rolled approximately sixteen hours
a day, ultimately capturing one hundred thirty hours of
footage.
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After
the tour ended, an edit bay was set up next to Romano's
office at Warner Bros. Studios, where "Everybody
Loves Raymond" filmed. Initially a two and a half
hour version was shown to the public at The Comedy &
Magic Club in Hermosa Beach, California. That was followed
by fifteen test screenings at theaters around Los Angeles.
A rough cut was shown at The Deep Ellum Film Festival
in Dallas, Texas and HBO's The Comedy Festival, Las Vegas.
The film was completed in early 2006.
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