Fred Stoller vs. Ray Romano

Cafe Society
1

This is to settle a disagreement (I won’t tell you which side I’m on).

Is Fred Stoller an actual person, or is he Ray Romano with makeup? The first time he appeared on *Everybody Loves Raymond, *a big deal was made about the resemblance. They look and sound like they could be twins, and there were several scenes that gave the impression that they were the same person, made to look the same. It was very convincing.

Now, Fred Stoller has appeared in quite a few venues besides *Raymond. *But this could be explained by Ray Romano having a good laugh at the expense of the audience. I can imagine him making another career out of this kind of impersonation, his own personal doppelganger.

Supposedly, Stoller was actually in the running to play the part of Ray Barone, and instead, Romano changed his voice to sound like Stoller (other cast members had altered their voices as well).

So which is it? Does Fred Stoller actually exist, or is this a long-running gag?

2

Stoller’s got a Wikipedia entry, an IMDB entry, and a career in stand-up and television going back 20 years. If you don’t believe those 2 sources, why would you believe me, or anyone else here?

3

He’s a real person.

A painful comedian to watch. His act is very similar to the character he played on Everybody Loves Raymond. Sort of like Steven Wright without the talent.

You actually thought these were one person? Ray Romano isn’t Andy Kaufmann.

4

I am not sure if this is a gag but they are two separate stand up comedians. They came up together and are probably friends but definitely two different people.