Plenty of us are more than willing to admit that when we look at Frank and Marie Barone, we see our own parents. The two actors certainly didn’t disagree with the sentiment, with Roberts admitting that she held a sentimental, maternal view of her character.

“I think I’m everybody’s mother in a sense,” said the Everybody Loves Raymond character during an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “The basic thing for me is that it stems from love. Even though what she does is intrusive, even though it becomes obnoxious, it’s based on love.”

Boyle seemed to agree. “I’m not doing Ray’s father,” said Boyle. “I’m doing a character that’s Ray’s father, Phil’s father, all the writers’ fathers, my father.” Incidentally, it was Boyle’s rage as the character that won him the role. “He came in very angry,” said series creator Rosenthal. “If you’ve never met the man, and you only know him from Young Frankenstein and he’s mad at you...I gave him the part really out of fear.”

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As an older couple, Marie and Frank’s dynamic is reminiscent of Desi and Lucy, a shift that was intentional, according to Rosenthal. “Their humor comes from these very old-fashioned wife-and-husband jokes that are from another time,” said Rosenthal. “Those jokes never left my family, and yet, they left television, it seems, for a long time. So now, when you see them, they seem so hysterical - and almost fresh.”