Tomorrow night, the lights go out after 210 episodes on Everybody Loves Raymond. The cast will perform for the final time in front of a studio audience as the nine-year-old CBS sitcom calls it a wrap. The finale -- a nice, regular, half-hour episode instead of the usual drawn-out hour plus -- will air May 16.

Series star Ray Romano thanked critics for being there during the first season, when ratings weren't so hot. "But where were you on Mooseport?" he joked, invoking his 2003 bomb.

Executive producer Phil Rosenthal said that while this week had been an emotional roller coaster for the cast, the series had run its course. "The reason we're stopping is that we've done every single thing that we can think of," he said. "We are bone dry."

Walking away has certainly been tough on Patricia Heaton, who won two Emmys as wife Debra Barone. "I've been gabbing about how I'm ready to leave and I'm not an emotional person and I don't like this sappy stuff," she said. Then she got to the last table read and lost it. Her eyes even welled up during the press conference.

Rosenthal dismissed the notion that the end of Raymond -- along with last spring's Friends and Frasier exits -- was the end of the sitcom era. "In fact, I think it's going to be the end of laughing anywhere," he said. "And after that, smiling will soon go, too."

It's just cyclical, he said, sitcoms will be back.

Romano hinted that, if he ever does another TV series, it would likely be on cable. "I like to say curses," he said.

He'll probably work up some new standup material in the short run. Plus he'll spend more time with his kids. "I have a 6-year-old. I hear he's cute."

Sidekick Brad Garrett, who plays Romano's brother, Robert Barone, suggested that the two hit the comedy clubs again as a duo. Rosenthal said he once caught their act in Vegas. "It was fantastic. It was like the Rat Pack without any of the cool part."

As for the much-rumoured Garrett spinoff, the towering sidekick played dumb. "There are a group of people who are out there talking about it, but they aren't talking to me," he said. "I have not been approached to do one." He's open to it, provided the writing is there.

As for any other series-ending events, Romano said the entire cast was going to be guesting on Oprah next week. After that, "we're going to cut a ribbon at a Bed, Bath & Beyond."