‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ star Brad Garrett announced for this year’s FanX

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Brad Garrett, “Everybody Loves Raymond” star, voice actor, and stand-up comedian, has now joined FanX’s guest list for this year.

Garrett, known for his role as Robert Barone in the popular 80s sitcom, has also lent his voice to many well-known characters, including Eeyore in “Christopher Robin”, Gusteau in “Ratatouille”, and Bloat in “Finding Nemo.”

“Brad Garrett has such an amazing career in pop culture, movies, TV series, and does a lot of voice acting. He’s a comedian. He’s got so much just in his resume, he’s really a fun actor,” Dan Farr, FanX founder and show producer.

Farr shared that Garrett has been a requested guest over the years — and that he actually personally met him at a nearby hotel during FanX a few years ago. He said that he’s excited to now have Garrett set for the convention.

“He’s one of those people that you really would like to chance to meet him because he is so iconic in this area. We’ve had people request him over the years, and he’s never really done a convention like this, so this is going to be the first time he’s appeared at a fan convention,” he said. “One of the things that’s really nice about our show is our reputation precedes us. Whether it’s the actors themselves or their management teams, people know that if they can get a celebrity guest to Salt Lake for their first convention, that they’ll have a good experience and they’re very likely to want to come back and do more of them down the road.”

Garrett joins a lineup that includes big names from popular fandoms, including David Tennant, Billie Piper, Freema Agyeman, Michael Rooker, William Shatner, Chris Barlett, Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, and Thomas Lennon. Farr shared that there are still more announcements on the way, as well as gave some insight on how guests are determined.

“We start out with the master plan and say, ‘Okay, this is what the theme is going to be this year.’ We start the discussions and talk with all the agents and start building the convention based on who’s available,” he shared. “Then we see where there’s some groups, like a Doctor Who group or ‘Star Trek,’ ‘Star Wars,’ whatever it may be. We kind of build those fan groups out and then we go from there, we start reaching out to people that are maybe a little more unique and bring a little different flavor to the event,” he said.

FanX will be on Sept 25 – 27 this year, with tickets available for purchase online.

For those that haven’t attended the convention before, Farr recommends checking FanX’s website ahead of time and seeing what on the lineup may interest you.

“I think it’s important for you to know what’s going on before you go, because if you go and you just show up, you may miss some things that you really would like to have participated in,” he said.