Romano missed audience on film

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Funnyman Ray Romano said in Los Angeles he missed the feedback of a live audience when he made the big-screen comedy "Welcome to Mooseport."

"There was no audience there telling me it was funny (on the film)," the stand-up comedian and "Everybody Loves Raymond" star told reporters recently.

"It was very different to be able to be subtle," he explained. "I'm used to the TV show. It's like a play. You project and you pace and the energy, and I just liked that you could just experience a moment, or a look. I don't know if it was a discovery, but it was enjoyable to do that."

He added: "Not that I need the laugh, but there is an energy an audience brings, so I had to get used to performing without that ... Sometimes when I do the TV show, the audience is so there and so into it, that it raises your performance to another level that you didn't even have in rehearsal. You're just so juiced and this wasn't there on the film, but after a while I got used to the fact that once the director said, 'action,' the camera is your audience and I could get into that same frame of mind."

"Welcome to Mooseport" opened Friday.