Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Katie Kurrig and welcome to Next Question.
Speaker 1: It's a special day in a special bonus episode because
Speaker 1: I'm in Miami, everybody for Super Bowl fifty four. It's
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs versus the San Francisco forty Niners.
Speaker 1: Two teams, was something to prove to their die hard fans.
Speaker 1: The forty Niners are headed to their seventh Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: We support archy hard times, the low time. It's been
Speaker 1: so long, so many bad years. Are taking it all
Speaker 1: the way, are you. It's been fifty years since the
Speaker 1: Kansas City Chiefs were lasting the Super Bowl. After a
Speaker 1: lifetime watching the Chiefs, this is an incredible within sple.
Speaker 1: This just means so much, not only to me, citizens
Speaker 1: Iron City fans for both teams have been streaming into
Speaker 1: this city all week, all wearing red and gold. By
Speaker 1: the way, because for the first time in Super Bowl history,
Speaker 1: the teams share the same colors, even though the forty
Speaker 1: Niners are a little more on the scarlet side. While
Speaker 1: the crowds are gathering all around Hard Rock Stadium, I've
Speaker 1: set up shop nearby and the Sleep Number booth at
Speaker 1: the Media Center, a giant space where their camera crews
Speaker 1: and makeshift studio set up. People milling around a lot
Speaker 1: of football players and it's kind of crazy here, but
Speaker 1: a lot of fun. My guest today is a devoted
Speaker 1: football fan. In fact, he might be the biggest Chiefs
Speaker 1: fan of all time, and he's here wearing head to
Speaker 1: toe Kansas City Chiefs gear. Eric stone Street, who plays
Speaker 1: Cam Tucker on Modern Family. It is time for some
Speaker 1: farm justice back home. When we have two alphableles, we
Speaker 1: lock them in a pin and let them fight it out.
Speaker 1: This is between Nanny and Luke. Come on, let's go.
Speaker 1: Oh and help yourself to a gingerbread person. They're both
Speaker 1: gluten and gender free. Hi, Eric stone Street, I am
Speaker 1: so happy to see you, so happy to see one
Speaker 1: of the nicest people on the planet. You are well,
Speaker 1: thank you. That means a lot coming from you, because
Speaker 1: you're one of the nicest people we try. Don't wait,
Speaker 1: and you are obviously pretty darn jazzed, Eric, because you
Speaker 1: are here to cheer on your team, Kansas City chief
Speaker 1: So excited you got your hat on? Oh, I got
Speaker 1: everything on? But but about come September or October. This
Speaker 1: is basically all I wear in my wardrobe. Really, you know, look,
Speaker 1: it's comfortable, it's it's it makes a statement. It represents
Speaker 1: what I love football Kansas City. But no, I'm very excited.
Speaker 1: I've been a fan of the Chiefs since I was
Speaker 1: a little kid. You know. My aunt and uncle got
Speaker 1: me um to go in their season tickets, and then
Speaker 1: my dad got me season tickets when I was maybe
Speaker 1: in eighth or ninth grade. I had season tickets all
Speaker 1: through college. Then of course moved away to Chicago and
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. But I've always maintained my Chiefs fandom. Um
Speaker 1: and knowledge, you know, I football knowledge, you know. I
Speaker 1: just I mean, I recognize all these guys walking around legends.
Speaker 1: I just saw, Oh my god, there's John Randalls, like
Speaker 1: there's Anthony Munos. You know. So I know so much
Speaker 1: about football. So being here and now representing the Chiefs
Speaker 1: and representing my team and having a reason to be
Speaker 1: at Super Bowl is so fun. Now, did you play
Speaker 1: football when you were younger? I did. I just told
Speaker 1: Anthony Munio so I had a poster of him in
Speaker 1: my room, even though he was a Cincinnati Bengal and
Speaker 1: I was a Chiefs fan. I said, I had a
Speaker 1: poster in you in my room because I wanted to
Speaker 1: be an offensive tackle, but I never got big enough
Speaker 1: or good at football. I played in high school and
Speaker 1: you know I was fine, but never to the level
Speaker 1: that I would ever have garnered any kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: You grew, I mean, you grew to love the sport
Speaker 1: to play it, but also just as a super fan,
Speaker 1: just a just a fan and just love the game
Speaker 1: and love love everything about it. And you've met a
Speaker 1: lot of players, I know, Eric, when you were younger
Speaker 1: growing up in Kansas City. And there's one actually very
Speaker 1: moving story. You met a young player at a mall's
Speaker 1: signing named Joe Delaney. Can you tell us that story? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was at I was at Indian Springs mall and
Speaker 1: there were two players out signing autographs, him and J. T.
Speaker 1: Smith I believe was the other one. But I got
Speaker 1: Joe Delaney's autograph, and that sort of was the moment
Speaker 1: that you know, you look back of like when did
Speaker 1: your fan fan hood start? For me? And it was
Speaker 1: were you then well six, I mean seven, seven or eight,
Speaker 1: you know, um, because I don't remember what year he
Speaker 1: passed away, um. But then of course I got his
Speaker 1: autograph and he played I think that next season, and
Speaker 1: then he passed away trying to you know, save a
Speaker 1: kid and uh who was drowning and drowning and he
Speaker 1: drowned and self. Yeah, I mean he was going to
Speaker 1: be that was so heartbreaking, going to be one of
Speaker 1: the greatest that was back in I guess three or something, right,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the year was. Yeah, yeah, he
Speaker 1: died in nineteen three, so I would have been probably
Speaker 1: uh ten when that when I met him, And so
Speaker 1: it was shortly thereafter where this accident took place, just
Speaker 1: a year or so afterwards after that. You know, I
Speaker 1: can't help but ask you one question about this, Eric,
Speaker 1: because I just came from Los Angeles because I was
Speaker 1: at a stand up to cancer scientific summit and Eric,
Speaker 1: by the way, has been incredibly supportive of the work
Speaker 1: we're doing its stand up, but boy, Los Angeles was
Speaker 1: just uh it just like if a city could cry,
Speaker 1: Los Angeles was crying stunned. I was in Kansas City
Speaker 1: when I found out the news, and immediately reflected on,
Speaker 1: you know, as we all do, what our personal experience
Speaker 1: was and has been with people that we've lost or
Speaker 1: passed away, And the story that came to mind for
Speaker 1: me was, um, he came to the set of Modern
Speaker 1: Family one day. He we got word that hey, Kobe's
Speaker 1: coming to Modern Family. We're like what, And so he
Speaker 1: comes and watches this rehearse and shoot and he was
Speaker 1: just sitting there, just taking it all in. And I said, so,
Speaker 1: what do you think, Kobe, And he goes, well, it's
Speaker 1: cool how you guys rehearse because it's like us setting
Speaker 1: an offense. You know, you have to be here so
Speaker 1: she can be here, and then if you move that way,
Speaker 1: then this person counters and does this. So it's really
Speaker 1: neat for me to see all this happen. And then
Speaker 1: at the end, I said, so what made you, you know,
Speaker 1: come today? And he goes, you know, I woke up
Speaker 1: this morning and I just I felt like I wanted
Speaker 1: to watch something funny. And what I thought that he
Speaker 1: was so cool is like most people just turn on
Speaker 1: the TV and watch something or but Kobe Bryant's like, no,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go to a set in the sound stage
Speaker 1: and watch something. And then he says, and plus, you
Speaker 1: told me to stop by sometime. And I'm like, Kobe,
Speaker 1: and he goes, you did last year he told me
Speaker 1: to stop by, And I'm like, well, yeah, but like,
Speaker 1: who knows if he was serious. I know I told
Speaker 1: him to stop by, but he knows I he was
Speaker 1: serious about probably in passing, like yeah, fine, but the
Speaker 1: fact that he remembered that and then referenced and made
Speaker 1: a joke about it, but came and so hungry to learn,
Speaker 1: and and he referenced that, you know, why would I
Speaker 1: go to any other show? You guys are the best.
Speaker 1: I want to watch the best do what they do.
Speaker 1: And and every time I saw him was just so
Speaker 1: delightful and such a nice person, and always with his
Speaker 1: family and would always introduce and ppictures and whatever. Just
Speaker 1: heart heartbreaking, tragic, and so sad for all those families,
Speaker 1: all those families, and those young girls, and a lot
Speaker 1: of the surviving children left that one family without a
Speaker 1: mom or a dad or a sister. It's just I
Speaker 1: don't know. But obviously we're continuing to keep Vanessa Briant
Speaker 1: in our prayers because, uh, it's going to be a
Speaker 1: long difficult road for her. And I thought, what what
Speaker 1: Barack Obama? President Obama said? You know, he was just
Speaker 1: getting started on his second act, and I do believe
Speaker 1: he would have done great things. But I hope. Absent
Speaker 1: of that, you know, people will be inspired to do
Speaker 1: great things. But that's what he did. I think that's
Speaker 1: what he did while he was living, and I think
Speaker 1: that's his legacy. He'll continue to do that, um after
Speaker 1: he's gone. Yeah, Well, getting back to I'm going to
Speaker 1: talk to you about modern family, which is ending soon
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you're sad about that, but but let's
Speaker 1: let's get back to football just for a few minutes. Um.
Speaker 1: You you go to almost every game? How do you
Speaker 1: do that with your schedule? Well, this season with Patrick Mahomes,
Speaker 1: I just decided that this was a year I wasn't
Speaker 1: going to miss a game. So I went to every
Speaker 1: Chief's home game this year. UM, with the notion that
Speaker 1: we would be here. I having gotten to know the
Speaker 1: general manager of the Chiefs, Brett Beach and Andy Reid,
Speaker 1: the head coach a little bit, and marked on him
Speaker 1: and the president. You know, I just really felt like,
Speaker 1: given what I listen to them say, this was we
Speaker 1: were going to make it to the super Bowl this year.
Speaker 1: And there's plenty of documentation of me saying that. And
Speaker 1: I'm not a cocky guy. I don't like to put
Speaker 1: the cart before the horse is type of thing. But
Speaker 1: it just felt like we were so close last year.
Speaker 1: Our roster got better this year, so given that we
Speaker 1: shouldn't make we should go to the super Bowl. Now
Speaker 1: it's called any given Sunday for a reason. Any team
Speaker 1: can beat any team any day. But I just felt
Speaker 1: like we were going to be here now when you
Speaker 1: went to those games where you're do you still have
Speaker 1: family in Kansas City? And you do? So are they
Speaker 1: all so into it? Are they coming to the super Bowl? No? Well,
Speaker 1: just Lindsay and I are here at the super Bowl. Um,
Speaker 1: but my mom would come to all the home games,
Speaker 1: would get her there, and my sister would come and um,
Speaker 1: and what about like friends from high school? Friends from
Speaker 1: are you still close to them? Some? Some? For sure
Speaker 1: we stay in touch. I have a lot of friends,
Speaker 1: and I'm still in touch with college buddies a lot.
Speaker 1: And um, where'd you go to college? Kansas State? Oh god,
Speaker 1: my god, you are hardcore Kansas you know. But there's
Speaker 1: something to that, though, and something that I think you appreciate,
Speaker 1: can appreciate and other people can appreciate it. I'm proud
Speaker 1: of where I'm from, you know, I'm my parents chose
Speaker 1: to raise me in Kansas because that's where they're from.
Speaker 1: And I don't like it when places get painted with
Speaker 1: with broad brushes. I'm not a fan of broad strokes
Speaker 1: in that way. I don't want people to just think
Speaker 1: that everyone from Kansas is a certain way or any
Speaker 1: everyone from that part of the country. There are good
Speaker 1: people everywhere. I agree with you. I love to put
Speaker 1: the spotlight on where I'm from and draw attention to
Speaker 1: where I'm from because they're great food there, there's great entertainment,
Speaker 1: there's great culture, there's great people, great sports, obviously with
Speaker 1: the Royals and the Chiefs. So I love being from
Speaker 1: Kansas and I love telling people about it. That's so nice,
Speaker 1: and I think you should be and there's no reason
Speaker 1: to be proud. But I think in the current culture
Speaker 1: and landscape that we're in, you know, people people that
Speaker 1: I identify, we're so tribal, and we make assumptions about
Speaker 1: people that are completely untrue, and you know, I just
Speaker 1: wish everybody would be not not be so hard on
Speaker 1: each other. You know, has your relationship with the game
Speaker 1: changed at all? Obviously the game has gotten some some
Speaker 1: tough press, and understandably so, with the number of injuries
Speaker 1: with ct E and and on field collisions and traumatic
Speaker 1: brain injuries, and I'm just curious, Um, you know, has
Speaker 1: it changed your relationship with football at all? You know
Speaker 1: it has It hasn't for me. I haven't played the game.
Speaker 1: Of course, I'm empathetic to people that you know, have
Speaker 1: suffered you know, health issues because of playing football. I
Speaker 1: think of the people that have suffered that. And of
Speaker 1: course I don't know this for a fact. I'm just
Speaker 1: basing it off. My interviews that I've seen would all
Speaker 1: say they would do it again, like they would all
Speaker 1: play the sport again the same way because of what
Speaker 1: they got out of it, you know, So I have
Speaker 1: to yield to players. I think the NFL is is
Speaker 1: doing a lot to make the game safer. They are,
Speaker 1: They're improving helmets, there are some changes in the rules,
Speaker 1: and a lot of resources have been devoted to making
Speaker 1: the sports safer. Um. And it starts with youth football.
Speaker 1: It starts with you know, a generate teaching this new
Speaker 1: generation of kids how to tackle and how not to
Speaker 1: put yourself in the situation to potentially get you know, injured.
Speaker 1: So hopefully they're making the right strides and um uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I feel like concussions in general in all
Speaker 1: sports are taken are treated much more seriously. Now. I
Speaker 1: was talking to someone the other day. They said, oh,
Speaker 1: you bang your head and be like, give them smelling salts,
Speaker 1: get back out their kids. And now, of course I
Speaker 1: think that there's so much more medical information that that
Speaker 1: people take it much much more serious. I think so.
Speaker 1: And I think as long as the NFL, and I
Speaker 1: know they are in colleges and everyone's you know, making
Speaker 1: strides and using the technology for good to make the
Speaker 1: game safer than I think that's obviously moving in the
Speaker 1: right direction there. So, um a Super Bowl prediction from
Speaker 1: Sleep Number. By the way, because we're here in the
Speaker 1: Sleep Number booth. Um, you know, Sleep Numbers working with
Speaker 1: a lot of NFL teams, including the Fansas City because
Speaker 1: they're really trying to help sleep is kind of very
Speaker 1: underrated and it's so critically important and it's a lack
Speaker 1: of sleep is an epidemic in this country. So according
Speaker 1: to Sleep Number, Kansas City is a slightly more well
Speaker 1: rested city than San Francisco. So they're putting their money
Speaker 1: on the Chiefs. What do you think of that? I
Speaker 1: love it. I love it. I know a lot of
Speaker 1: the Chiefs players, and they all have their sleep numbers.
Speaker 1: They all use them. Really, as we're talking, Travis Kelsey's
Speaker 1: right above us talking about his sleep number. Yeah, isn't
Speaker 1: that great? And uh others I think that's his mom
Speaker 1: or something. Yeah, that's awesome. Uh. I'm happy to hear
Speaker 1: anyone predict the Chiefs to win from any angles. So
Speaker 1: what are the what are the bookies or whatever they are?
Speaker 1: They one and a half point favorite, which is essentially
Speaker 1: a coin toss. Yeah, it's a good It's gonna be
Speaker 1: a great game, that's what we have. Do you think
Speaker 1: it'll be high scoring? I do. I think it's going
Speaker 1: to be in the thirties because I guess people were
Speaker 1: a little bit disappointed last year, right because it was
Speaker 1: such it was a defensive battle. I don't think this
Speaker 1: is gonna be a defensive battle. I think it's going
Speaker 1: to be an offensive juggernaut. I think we're gonna go
Speaker 1: back and forth on each other a little bit. I'm
Speaker 1: just so nervous. I'm so excited. It's just a control thing,
Speaker 1: you know. It's the same reason you get nervous, you know,
Speaker 1: doing things that you don't have any flying for example.
Speaker 1: You know, you get nervous about that because you're you're
Speaker 1: not making any of the decisions. I'm not I'm not
Speaker 1: a coach, so everything's in the hands of and it's
Speaker 1: a good thing. I'm not a coach. Let's be very
Speaker 1: clear about that. Would you'd like to be a coach,
Speaker 1: but you are You're not a coach, but you play
Speaker 1: one on TV. And speaking of that, we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about the last season of Modern Family. We're gonna
Speaker 1: We're done. We're going to do it right after this.
Speaker 1: We're back with Eric stone Street. We're here. If you
Speaker 1: guys are hearing some ambient noise, we're in the media
Speaker 1: center for the Super Bowl. So we've got a lot
Speaker 1: of crews milling around, a lot of football players, uh,
Speaker 1: people with microphones kind of in search of right anything
Speaker 1: to them. So, um, let's talk about Modern Family. I
Speaker 1: can't believe it. You must eleven years and twenty two Emmys,
Speaker 1: including two for you, my friends. Um you, I mean,
Speaker 1: you must be feeling so many different emotions, right and
Speaker 1: it has to do with what we just talked about,
Speaker 1: which is football, which is the most exciting time in
Speaker 1: my sports life. The Chiefs are in the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: while at the same time it's one of the saddest
Speaker 1: moments in my professional life. Saying goodbye to a dream
Speaker 1: role in a dream job for the last eleven years. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, how lucky, right, What is Dr Seussa say,
Speaker 1: don't cry because because it's over, smile because it happened. Yeah,
Speaker 1: something like that. Yeah, yeah, And that's definitely our approach,
Speaker 1: like we are most definitely thankful and grateful that it happened. Um,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be hard. You know, I've kind of said
Speaker 1: I didn't go to acting school, but I know one
Speaker 1: thing they don't teach you in acting school is how
Speaker 1: to be on the show eleven years and develop a
Speaker 1: hundred and some odd different relationships with crew and cast,
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden say goodbye to that.
Speaker 1: You don't learn how to do that. You have to
Speaker 1: do that. And you know, you've said goodbye to jobs
Speaker 1: and people that you've loved and worked with for years
Speaker 1: and years. This is the first time I've ever had
Speaker 1: this extended period of time in my life with the
Speaker 1: same people for nine some eleven some five six years.
Speaker 1: So I'm just gonna try to keep my heart and
Speaker 1: mind and eyes open and enjoy every moment of it
Speaker 1: and let the emotions hit me when they hit me. Um,
Speaker 1: and they've started to most definitely. You know, was Cam
Speaker 1: the role of a lifetime for you? Eric? Oh? I
Speaker 1: think so there's you know, people have always said like, oh,
Speaker 1: aren't you worried about being typecast? And you know, and
Speaker 1: that's a popular question, I guess for people to ask.
Speaker 1: But if that, if that's it, I mean, it's great.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just I never imagined it for my career.
Speaker 1: I was going to ask you, how did you get
Speaker 1: that role? And it was it was it competitive? You know,
Speaker 1: how did it happen? It was competitive. I came into
Speaker 1: the process late. They had cast a few of the
Speaker 1: other parts, and I you know, had four auditions for
Speaker 1: the for the for the for the role, you know,
Speaker 1: which is an uncommon in Hollywood to keep kind of
Speaker 1: having to jump through hoops. But you know, Stephen Chris,
Speaker 1: the creators of the show, they had an idea of
Speaker 1: what maybe Cam looked like. And I don't think I
Speaker 1: was it at first, and so they you know, passed
Speaker 1: on me, not meaning I was a terrible actor or
Speaker 1: terrible performer, but they just didn't think it. But to
Speaker 1: their credit and thankfully to them, they kept being reminded
Speaker 1: by my audition and they kept their minds open and
Speaker 1: their hearts open, and they were like, you know what,
Speaker 1: bring that guy back in because we keep thinking about
Speaker 1: his audition. And then they decided to test me. And
Speaker 1: I tested it twentye and tested at ABC and got
Speaker 1: the party and us that's the rest of the story.
Speaker 1: So in two thousand nine, when this show started, Eric,
Speaker 1: it was truly groundbreaking, and I was so thrilled that it.
Speaker 1: You know, it showed all kinds of underrepresented people on
Speaker 1: television living normal lives. How did that evolve? Because I
Speaker 1: feel like the country has evolved and attitudes have evolved,
Speaker 1: perhaps in some ways because of of what you did
Speaker 1: on Modern Family. How did you continue to kind of
Speaker 1: update and push the envelope during the course of the show. Well,
Speaker 1: just as life happens, you know, that's the beauty of
Speaker 1: the blueprint of that show is is that as a family,
Speaker 1: you know, it ebbs and flows right right. Tragedies happened,
Speaker 1: Shocking things happen, growth, you know, job changes, financial issues, whatever,
Speaker 1: those all things, those things all happened. So with Mention Cam,
Speaker 1: the goal always was from the beginning, that make people laugh.
Speaker 1: You know, we want to make We want these characters
Speaker 1: to make people laugh. We want these characters to be
Speaker 1: a mirror for everyone, not just a mirror for gay people,
Speaker 1: just a mirror for a lesbian couple, but a mirror
Speaker 1: for everyone. And I think the writers did such a
Speaker 1: good job of putting us in situations that that weren't
Speaker 1: defined by our sexuality. I always said from the beginning,
Speaker 1: Mitch and Cam's goal was to prove that they could
Speaker 1: be terrible as terrible parents as anyone else. And as
Speaker 1: as you know, it's like gay marriage. People would say,
Speaker 1: why can't gay people be as miserable as the exactly
Speaker 1: and and and you know, we just wanted what defined
Speaker 1: Minch and Cam to be that they were men, that
Speaker 1: they were partners, that they were fathers, and they were sons,
Speaker 1: and they were you know, all these other things, and
Speaker 1: let the fact that they were gay be one of
Speaker 1: the things that they are. But certainly isn't at the
Speaker 1: top of the list of what everybody needs to know
Speaker 1: about them. You know, it's like it's not important. I
Speaker 1: was gonna ask you how much of you was in camp,
Speaker 1: because listen, you know, you grew up on a farm.
Speaker 1: Can grew up on a farm. You guys have a
Speaker 1: lot of similarities. You like to clown? Do I use
Speaker 1: that as a verb? Yeah? Yeah, yeah. What does that mean? Clowning? Yeah, clowning.
Speaker 1: It means you like to dress up as a clown. Well,
Speaker 1: but clowning is comedy. I was I was clowning earlier
Speaker 1: because I keep tripping on this carpet out there for
Speaker 1: some reason, and I literally tripped leaving that way, and
Speaker 1: then when I came back, I tripped at the same place.
Speaker 1: I'm like, how did I trip at the exact same place?
Speaker 1: And then there was a group of firemen there, and
Speaker 1: I knew that they were listening to me, So then
Speaker 1: I said, I tripped at this same exact place, and
Speaker 1: then I tripped again just for their benefit. That's like
Speaker 1: an example of clowning, you know, uh, just having fun
Speaker 1: and you know, entertaining people. I wanted to do that
Speaker 1: when I was a kid. I wanted to be in
Speaker 1: the circus and to get to be on Modern Family
Speaker 1: and play Bisbo the clown in the greatest circus of
Speaker 1: all time Hollywood. Um was just a complete, complete dream
Speaker 1: come true. But did the writers take some aspects of
Speaker 1: your personality and background and really incorporate them into the character.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, all of us. You know, they sat down
Speaker 1: with us and just listened and we talked and they
Speaker 1: just mind what they wanted and left some behind. And UM,
Speaker 1: so thankful for that. Grounds of characters. Yeah, and you
Speaker 1: you know, one of the things I wanted to ask
Speaker 1: you is about this new attitude about casting certain people
Speaker 1: for certain roles. Like now, people are offended or take
Speaker 1: issue when a character who does not identify as similarly
Speaker 1: as the character is cast. For example, a trans person
Speaker 1: should play a trans person, not a non trans person.
Speaker 1: A gay person should play a gay person gay character,
Speaker 1: you know, latinos should play latinos, on and on and on.
Speaker 1: And I wonder if you've gotten any pushback because you
Speaker 1: are not gay for playing a gay man. I think
Speaker 1: there are definitely people out there that have a problem
Speaker 1: with it, and did when I got the part. I don't.
Speaker 1: You know. Here's the thing, Hollywood has a tried and
Speaker 1: true method of how they cast parts. Right, they bring
Speaker 1: people in and then the crew leaders and producers of
Speaker 1: the show decide who they think is best. Now, did
Speaker 1: a lot of gay people audition for the role of
Speaker 1: cam Right. You know, I did a lot of straight people, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and I think it's a real slippery slope when we
Speaker 1: start saying, okay, we just want you to check this
Speaker 1: box to tell me if you're gay or not before
Speaker 1: we let you audition for this part. I mean, how
Speaker 1: would that even work? Like, how would you even say, like, no,
Speaker 1: I swear I'm gay. It's like, and what about people
Speaker 1: that aren't comfortable with being out? But are you know,
Speaker 1: quietly gay? It's like, well, no, but I'm gay. But
Speaker 1: I can't say that I'm gay because I don't want
Speaker 1: my parents to know yet. But no, I'm gay. I
Speaker 1: can audition for this part. It just doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1: I mean, we have to just obviously give everyone a chance,
Speaker 1: and I think opened the doors for for for people
Speaker 1: who haven't haven't had opportunities. I don't know. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is my opinion. I Ope, it doesn't get me
Speaker 1: in trouble, but I feel like actors, that's what acting is.
Speaker 1: You take on the persona of someone else. Well, that's
Speaker 1: the gift to me from a performer. The gift to
Speaker 1: me is to be able to play someone like that
Speaker 1: like that. That's the exchange I bring who I am
Speaker 1: and what's in my heart to that character, and that
Speaker 1: character then returns a tremendous amount to me. That's the
Speaker 1: exchange we have, and me bringing my life experiences to
Speaker 1: someone else is what we should sort of be celebrating. Um,
Speaker 1: but I just think, you know, you don't want to
Speaker 1: go down that road because uh so, then I just
Speaker 1: think it's opportunity as long as everyone's getting an opportunity
Speaker 1: to audition. And look, I can make the case that
Speaker 1: for twelve years before I got on Modern Family, I
Speaker 1: didn't get a tremendous amount of opportunities. But maybe because
Speaker 1: of the way I looked, I didn't maybe get Cam
Speaker 1: because of me being a heavy set guy. They didn't
Speaker 1: think that that was who Cam was. And so there
Speaker 1: are all kinds of reasons people don't get parts. There's
Speaker 1: only usually one reason they do, you know. There's it's
Speaker 1: because somebody decided that that's who they want to play
Speaker 1: the part. As long as there's opportun unity and people
Speaker 1: are allowed to be in the room equally, which I'm
Speaker 1: supportive of, you gotta yield to the creative process, which
Speaker 1: is this is who we want to play this part.
Speaker 1: And I think just be aware of your implicit biases
Speaker 1: and make sure that people are open to the possibilities,
Speaker 1: just as you had to open their eyes that you
Speaker 1: could play cam as well as somebody who looked different
Speaker 1: than you, you know. And my mom always, you know,
Speaker 1: said when they when the Chauffeur started, they were like,
Speaker 1: people would say, oh, well are you what do you
Speaker 1: think of your son playing you know, a gay guy
Speaker 1: on TV? And I told her she said, well, what
Speaker 1: am I supposed to say to that? I don't care?
Speaker 1: And I said, Mom, what you need to say to
Speaker 1: them is that you watched your son murder people on TV.
Speaker 1: And no one ever asked that question, what's it like
Speaker 1: to watch your son murder someone on TV? You know,
Speaker 1: that never was a question anyone never thought to ask.
Speaker 1: But bringing that back to what your initial question was
Speaker 1: is like, so you know, you're going to have to
Speaker 1: find people with real life experiences and everything if you
Speaker 1: start using that line and cast, so you have to
Speaker 1: cast convicted villains, which murders. Again, if you're out of
Speaker 1: jail and they've done your time, you should and you're
Speaker 1: an actor and now you have an agent, come on
Speaker 1: into the audition. You know, for that murderer show us
Speaker 1: how it's done. What does Eric really think of his
Speaker 1: Modern family castmates. You'll find out when we come back
Speaker 1: and we are back with Modern Families Eric stone Street,
Speaker 1: So eleven seasons, Is there any Are there any particularly
Speaker 1: intense memories you have, either funny poignant of experiences you
Speaker 1: had on the show, there are so many. I mean
Speaker 1: the Fizbo episode, crying calling my parents and telling them
Speaker 1: that there's an episode called Fizbo the Clown that we're
Speaker 1: shooting next week. It was a pretty big emotional moment.
Speaker 1: But I would say when why was that so emotional? Well,
Speaker 1: because I wanted to be a clown. My dad gave
Speaker 1: me the name Fizbo the Clown when I was a kid,
Speaker 1: and now you know here I showed the writers an
Speaker 1: article about me as a kid, and now it's an
Speaker 1: episode of television. Um, I would say, I always go
Speaker 1: back to when we found out the show was picked
Speaker 1: up for what's called It's Back nine. You know, when
Speaker 1: I got the job, audition for the job and got
Speaker 1: the job. That was awesome. I was very excited, but
Speaker 1: you know that's my job to get those jobs. So
Speaker 1: I was like measured Well, now we have to, and
Speaker 1: then the show got picked up, and it's like, well,
Speaker 1: that's out of my control. That's not up to me.
Speaker 1: I did the best I could. Now it's up to
Speaker 1: the show creators and the networks and the studio to
Speaker 1: see if this fits on TV. Not not under my control.
Speaker 1: So that was a great That was a great day,
Speaker 1: but not the biggest day. But the day that the
Speaker 1: show got picked up for the back nine, meaning we
Speaker 1: were going to do a complete season of twenty four
Speaker 1: episodes on ABC, that started to pay pave away from
Speaker 1: my mind to imagine, oh man, we're gonna be on
Speaker 1: TV a long time, because if we do one full season,
Speaker 1: they're never gonna do one full season and just cut us.
Speaker 1: They're gonna do a second season. And if they're gonna
Speaker 1: do a second season, now we're getting kind of if
Speaker 1: in syndication, so they're not gonna let it go after
Speaker 1: two seasons. So we're gonna do three. And if we
Speaker 1: do three, ways four and oh my gosh, four five.
Speaker 1: So then you started managing like I'm going to be
Speaker 1: on TV for a while. So I think still to
Speaker 1: this day, the day the Back nine got picked up
Speaker 1: is the most important day and is what is responsible
Speaker 1: to leading me here right now. I want to name
Speaker 1: some of the people in modern family. I just want
Speaker 1: you to kind of give me a short instantaneous reaction. Okay,
Speaker 1: Ed O'Neill, legend, just down, just down home. All he
Speaker 1: wants to do is have something in his crock pot
Speaker 1: and an mm A fight on TV, holding holding one
Speaker 1: of his collectible knives, just sitting at home. Ed O'Neill
Speaker 1: right now, no doubt, is cooking something, holding one of
Speaker 1: his knives in his house and watching a sporting event.
Speaker 1: That's Ed O'Neill. It's super nice, so very funny or
Speaker 1: not that life very funny, very funny, very funny. Different
Speaker 1: kind of funny than Jay. Yes, different. I mean at
Speaker 1: seventy some years old, he's from Ohio. I mean he's
Speaker 1: got different life perspective and he sometimes catches you off
Speaker 1: guard with what his humor is. Yeah. Sophia Vegara generous, beautiful,
Speaker 1: inside out, nice, um hilarious, self deprecating. Rico Rodriguez, who
Speaker 1: plays Manning sweet just a good kid. Can't get any
Speaker 1: better than then. Rico Julie Bowen energy goes twenty four
Speaker 1: hundred miles a day. I mean she is a mile
Speaker 1: a minute, good mom, carrying, polite. I always really liked her.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, she's great, isn't she graz smart too? Very brown,
Speaker 1: brown graduate. Yeah. Tyrell uh ty Burrell is so uh.
Speaker 1: He's like a what do you call it? A U
Speaker 1: when a guy can do everything. He wants to make
Speaker 1: his own sausage, he wants to brew his own beer.
Speaker 1: He wants to do this, he wants met him at
Speaker 1: an event and he was super nice. And I met
Speaker 1: his wife. They were lovely. She's a baker, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's he's he's just they sound very crunchy. Well, they're
Speaker 1: from Utah. They live they live up in Utah. And
Speaker 1: he's just he's an awesome, friendly, awesome guy. Sarah Highland talented.
Speaker 1: I've blown away by Sarah's acting. When I got on
Speaker 1: the show and I started seeing her in episodes, I'm like, oh, wow,
Speaker 1: she's great. She's really good, aerial, Winter sweet nice. Um.
Speaker 1: Do you worry about child actors? I do not. These kids.
Speaker 1: Nolan could smart. He's you know, he's a mensa and
Speaker 1: he plays a dumb character. Yeah, he's very smart. I
Speaker 1: should be I should be too. Yeah, let's let's let's
Speaker 1: let's let's look. I think we need to we we
Speaker 1: should just start a petition. Well, we need to get
Speaker 1: them to lower the standards, and then we'll get in.
Speaker 1: And finally I want to ask you, well, actually to
Speaker 1: two more. Your name's on here, but I'm humble, incredibly challenged,
Speaker 1: wonderful lover. Yeah, I enjoy him in bed. I enjoy
Speaker 1: him very much, all of him in bed. He's a
Speaker 1: wonderful guy. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Oh man, Jesse's you know,
Speaker 1: are you guys super tight? You know we are super tight.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing that's so great about Jesse and I.
Speaker 1: His relationship were so different, like and we are a
Speaker 1: great example of how people can be completely different and
Speaker 1: have a great friendship. Like there's no doubt that I'm
Speaker 1: here at the greatest sporting event of all time and
Speaker 1: he's probably at Barber streisand tonight. You know, like we
Speaker 1: do completely different things, and we have so many operate
Speaker 1: moments from our past. We're all tweet out or instagram
Speaker 1: out a picture of me at brock Lessner's mm A
Speaker 1: FI and he's seeing Lady Gaga in Las Vegas for
Speaker 1: the thirtieth time. Uh, what is m m A. It's
Speaker 1: don't mis martial arts. Sorry, I knew I was thinking.
Speaker 1: I couldn't remember the mixed part. But my point is
Speaker 1: is we we have a fantastic relationship. We've only really
Speaker 1: been mad at each other a couple of times, Like
Speaker 1: where we when did you get mad? At the second
Speaker 1: second season we got mad at each other for something
Speaker 1: and I don't remember what it was, but it was stupid,
Speaker 1: and we both just went to each other and we're like,
Speaker 1: you know, what are we doing? We're gonna be working
Speaker 1: together forever, so we can't be mad at each other.
Speaker 1: But who who who made the first move to apologize?
Speaker 1: Jesse's the type of person that I can't stand if
Speaker 1: he's upset. He's got that kind of personality where I
Speaker 1: might have a personality. We're like, oh, Stone Streets mad, Good,
Speaker 1: let him sit there for a while, you know, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? You know those people where Jesse's
Speaker 1: the type of person. It's like, I don't want Jesse
Speaker 1: to be mad at me. I don't want Jesse to
Speaker 1: be upset, so I need to bridge this gap here.
Speaker 1: So you were the bigger person, not always, I'm not always.
Speaker 1: I don't even remember in that moment what it was.
Speaker 1: But I just know that we had a conversation, which is,
Speaker 1: we don't have time to be mad at each other,
Speaker 1: so let's just be super upfront and honest with each other.
Speaker 1: But you know, the other thing about our show that
Speaker 1: made it, all of us get along so well as
Speaker 1: we don't work together all the time. You know, we're modulars.
Speaker 1: So I'm working with Jesse the most, which means I'm
Speaker 1: not working with Ti and Julie. I'm not working with
Speaker 1: Ed and Sophia, so we don't have a lot of
Speaker 1: time for each other to really get on each other's
Speaker 1: nerves much as other ensemble shows. And finally, Aubrey Anderson
Speaker 1: Emma's who played Lily your daughter. Yeah, well she's come
Speaker 1: a long way. You know, we had two twins that
Speaker 1: did not want to be that. We had a set
Speaker 1: of twins that did not want to be there. They
Speaker 1: cried all the time. So we fired their asses. Uh no,
Speaker 1: we wed. Yeah, we did what a family would do,
Speaker 1: and we removed them from a situation that they clearly
Speaker 1: weren't having a good time and it was not worth it.
Speaker 1: And they found they found um Aubrey and you know,
Speaker 1: she she's so cute, so sweet when she got there,
Speaker 1: but you know she she had her own struggles with
Speaker 1: wanting to be there and doing it and she's really
Speaker 1: come into her own as a young lady now. I'm
Speaker 1: so proud of who her personality has become and what
Speaker 1: she is. And what do you think the secret sauce
Speaker 1: of the show was, Eric, I mean, just great writing,
Speaker 1: great characters, very modern family. I mean the secret sauce
Speaker 1: of the show is is families are universal. No matter
Speaker 1: where you are, what country you're in, we all suffer
Speaker 1: the same drama, the same stuff back and forth, and
Speaker 1: it just it's it's all relatable. And even when we
Speaker 1: would we would write something, you know, we would write
Speaker 1: something on and I would think, like, there's nobody that's
Speaker 1: gonna get that joker, nobody's gonna like that joke. We
Speaker 1: would inevitably be out somewhere and be like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: when you said that, that happened in my family, That
Speaker 1: exact same thing happened. And that's where you know writers
Speaker 1: are brilliant. They're like chefs. You know, you don't sit
Speaker 1: down at a restaurant and look at the menu and
Speaker 1: think like man Elk and blueberry jam and fog. It's
Speaker 1: gonna go great together. It takes somebody to tell you
Speaker 1: that's going to be good, and then you taste it,
Speaker 1: you're like, that's really good. And that's what comedy writers do.
Speaker 1: They they create the taste of what is funny. And
Speaker 1: we've had the best writers maybe in Hollywood history, on
Speaker 1: that long of a run of a TV show. So
Speaker 1: what's ahead for you? When you think about, Okay, what
Speaker 1: am I going to do next? Are you and your
Speaker 1: cute girlfriend Lindsey going to take some time off? We're
Speaker 1: talking about you, Lindsey. Um, she was sort of stacy
Speaker 1: for a minute. I don't know what we're I don't
Speaker 1: know what I'm gonna do. I'm not. But here's the
Speaker 1: thing is what modern families afforded me the opportunity to
Speaker 1: do is not worry about it. I don't want to
Speaker 1: go away forever, because you know how Hollywood is. I
Speaker 1: go away and people forget, you know, who I am
Speaker 1: or what I've done, and they'll miss you even more
Speaker 1: well potentially. And that's the other thing about getting to
Speaker 1: play the character I got to play. People got to
Speaker 1: know me, you know, for playing a character they don't
Speaker 1: know they haven't gotten to know me, and usually people
Speaker 1: don't like me as much as they like my character.
Speaker 1: That's what I feel that must always be. Well, not
Speaker 1: always is, but you know, it's hard to talk in
Speaker 1: real life and be as funny as as as you
Speaker 1: are when you're reading comedy writer's words, although you're pretty
Speaker 1: damn funny that they have a completely different sense of
Speaker 1: humor than my character does, which always catches people off guard.
Speaker 1: But I'll find something to do that's meaningful and funny.
Speaker 1: You're not you're not thinking about it, or you think,
Speaker 1: n G, I'd love to do a play, or are
Speaker 1: you just going to kind of savor the end of
Speaker 1: this run. I'm gonna savor it and then jump in
Speaker 1: and find something that is exciting. I've never done a
Speaker 1: multicam comedy, like a traditional sitcom that that sounds fun
Speaker 1: to me to do that, because it's like doing a
Speaker 1: play every every week, and now there's so many opportunities
Speaker 1: with so many outlets, which I guess the conversely, you
Speaker 1: think it's so much content, how can anything breakthrough? It's
Speaker 1: it's it's it's an incredible time but a challenging time
Speaker 1: right now, right But I'm excited. That's the good news
Speaker 1: is I'm thankful, I'm grateful, and I'm excited to see
Speaker 1: what's next. Well, before we go, you have to tell
Speaker 1: me quickly about this video you did with the Chiefs.
Speaker 1: Randy Reid. Yeah, okay, explain to people who may not
Speaker 1: Understandy reads the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to do a video celebrating Andy Reid
Speaker 1: in the chief So I played his brother, Randy Reid,
Speaker 1: seeing what he does, seeing what these guys do. It's
Speaker 1: a lot different than what I do. I have a
Speaker 1: jet ski business in Oxnard, California, and it's just something
Speaker 1: my friend jered Well came up with the idea a
Speaker 1: few years ago, and then my friend Jerry Collins, I
Speaker 1: asked him if he wanted to help me write it,
Speaker 1: and he came up with, you know a lot of
Speaker 1: the stuff, and then we just went to training camp
Speaker 1: and improvised it. But it was very popular in Kansas
Speaker 1: City and Coach Reid was in it, and him being
Speaker 1: in it really grounded it and made it feel real
Speaker 1: and a lot of people Patrick Mahomes girlfriend as she
Speaker 1: watched it apparently and was like, man, Andy Reid's brother
Speaker 1: is he's something else and she's like, Patrick's like, that's er,
Speaker 1: that's not. But that was happened a lot, a tremendous amount. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she wasn't one of the only ones that I got
Speaker 1: that message about. But it was just meant to be
Speaker 1: a love letter to my favorite you know football team,
Speaker 1: Kansas City Chiefs. Where are you to be sitting for
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl? Do you have good seats? I'll tell
Speaker 1: you where I'm sitting, and then you tell me if
Speaker 1: you think they're going to be good seats with the
Speaker 1: Commissioner of football. Oh oh, aren't you the one that'll
Speaker 1: be fun? So are you going to be in a box?
Speaker 1: You're gonna be in You don't want to be in
Speaker 1: the stands. I picture you as want to be in
Speaker 1: the stands. I mean to focus, I need to go
Speaker 1: to the bathroom. When I need to go to the bathroom,
Speaker 1: I don't want I love the stands. You're probably not
Speaker 1: going to be super sociable because you're going to be
Speaker 1: I'm not sociable. I'm not sociable. You are a football games.
Speaker 1: I'm not. I want to just watch the game. I
Speaker 1: don't want to chit chat. But no. The reason I'm
Speaker 1: sitting with Roger is because five years ago he invited
Speaker 1: me to the Super Bowl because his wife and he
Speaker 1: and his daughters are big fans of the show. He
Speaker 1: called me and said, we'd like you to come to
Speaker 1: the super Bowl and I said, no, thank you, that's true.
Speaker 1: You said no thing. I said, no, I'm not coming
Speaker 1: to the super Bowl until the Chiefs are in it.
Speaker 1: And he said, very funnily funny, that's not a word.
Speaker 1: I think it might be. I just made it up.
Speaker 1: He said, in a very funny way. Okay, if you
Speaker 1: want to wait that long, that's up to you. And
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, Roger, game on. And so the
Speaker 1: last two years I've been Roger, the Chiefs are in
Speaker 1: the a f C Championship rain check time, and this
Speaker 1: year we won. So I'm he's made good on his
Speaker 1: invitation to the to the super Bowl, and I made
Speaker 1: good on me never coming to the super Bowl and
Speaker 1: tell the Chiefs are in it, well, awesome. Well I
Speaker 1: am rooting for the Chiefs because I love you, so
Speaker 1: by extension, I love the chief Sorry to but they've
Speaker 1: had a lot of fun. Are you the most famous
Speaker 1: band Paul Jason skis. Are they all coming, Rob Wriggle,
Speaker 1: I'm sure they'll all be here, but we're all fans. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you, love seeing you. And that does it for
Speaker 1: the special bonus episode of Next Question from Miami. Thank
Speaker 1: you to sleep Number for the cozy podcast booth, and
Speaker 1: thanks to my guest Eric stone Street for the on conversation.
Speaker 1: I just love that guy, and thank you all for
Speaker 1: taking the time to listen to this before the big game.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the super Bowl. Check out my commercial. I think
Speaker 1: it happens in the first quarter and what can I say?
Speaker 1: I was brilliant. But don't blink because you'll miss me
Speaker 1: until next time and my next question. I'm Katie Couric.
Speaker 1: Next Question with Katie Kurik is a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Katie Curic Media. The executive producers are
Speaker 1: Katie Currik, Courtney Litz, and Tyler Klang. The supervising producer
Speaker 1: is Lauren Hansen. Our show producer is Bethan Macaluso. The
Speaker 1: associate producers are Emily Pinto and Derek Clemens. Editing by
Speaker 1: Derrek Clements, Dylan Fagan, and Lowell Berlante. Mixing by Dylan Fagan.
Speaker 1: Our researcher is Gabriel Loser. For more information on today's episode,
Speaker 1: go to Katie kurik dot com and follow us on
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