Prior to his lucrative, star-making stint on "Everybody Loves Raymond," actor and comedian Brad Garrett spent 15 solid years paying his dues. Garrett was bitten by the stand-up comedy bug when he was young, and started touring local Southern California comedy clubs in the 1980s when he was in his 20s. In 1984, Garrett won an impressive $100,000 on the talent show competition "Star Search," the first comedian to win the prize. That led directly to a night on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," which, in turn, got Garrett a long string of gigs opening for some of the hottest musical acts, performers, and lounge singers of the day; he opened for Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Liza Minnelli, and David Copperfield.

To supplement his income, the deep-voice Garrett also took on a lot o

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