Never let it be said that the North’s Deputy Prime Minister Martin McGuinness doesn’t know his American TV shows. 

The Sinn Feiner let it slip during his visit to the Left Coast just before St. Patrick’s Day that he’s a big fan of the sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond," which ran on CBS for years and years until its end in 2005.

McGuinness and Northern Prime Minister Peter Robinson were doing the rounds in L.A., hob-knobbing with Hollywood types in an effort to secure some funding for the North’s film industry, such as it is.

The British consul general in California, Bob Peirce, laid out quite a spread for the leaders in his multi-million dollar suburban L.A. home, and stuffed the place with celebs like Northern Irish actor Kenneth Branagh.  (Yup, despite oodles of reports calling Mr. B. a “British” actor, he was born in Belfast and spent the first nine years of his life there.)

One star in the A-list crowd, though, caught McGuinness’ eye – Patricia Heaton, the Emmy Award winning star of "Raymond," and he was pretty pleased to see one his favorite actresses in the flesh.

“I’ve been a big fan for many years of 'Everybody Loves Raymond,'” McGuinness said during his speech, according to The Times of London. “I’m really baring my soul here tonight.”