—For many, life is nothing but a rat race. We spend countless hours working for something that we don’t really want, all the while losing sight of what we actually need. Many people dream of being successful or powerful. But those truly happy in life only dream of having one thing: A good time.

As a television writer, Phil Rosenthal was more than aware of how fortunate he was. “Please understand that I’m the luckiest person in the world,” said Rosenthal during an interview with The Arizona Republic. “That should be the preface on everything.”

Of course, Rosenthal’s “luck” was also the result of some hard work and first-rate talent. The television writer created the popular sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond. The series ran for nine seasons, during which time it won a litany of awards. Today, it is widely heralded as one of the best shows of the decade.

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“I’m so grateful to have had those years on Raymond and the friends I made,” said Rosenthal. “The truth is, I’d like to keep working, because I enjoy it so much...I did it all because it’s fun, and I keep doing it because it’s fun.”

Rosenthal was able to base much of the series in reality, turning life’s everyday pitfalls into comedic material. “Our whole show was built that way, where we were just living our lives,” said Rosenthal. We were just having terrible things happen to us at home, and then we would come in, and luckily we had a vehicle to turn those real things into comedy— without much imagination, by the way.”