Speaker 1: Really now, really, really.
Speaker 2: Now, really Hello, and welcome to Really Know Really with
Speaker 2: Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden, who asked you and your
Speaker 2: entire Modern Family to please subscribe. And speaking of Modern Family,
Speaker 2: today we meet actor, author, philanthropist, restaurant tour activist, and
Speaker 2: star of Modern Family Jesse Tyler Ferguson. He reveals why
Speaker 2: he had to come out as gay to his dad
Speaker 2: three different times, and whether straight actors should be cast
Speaker 2: as LGBTQ characters. He'll explain why he said yes to
Speaker 2: appearing in Cocaine Bear and who the supposed documentarian was
Speaker 2: that was filming Modern Family. Plus, we'll explore the strange
Speaker 2: commonalities between Jason and Jesse and who lost the Primetime
Speaker 2: Emmy Better. And lastly, we'll ask why there's a version
Speaker 2: of Modern Family produced by the Islamic Republic of Iran
Speaker 2: Broadcasting Company. Really No, really, really, we're rolling now.
Speaker 1: Oh, we're rolling, Peta.
Speaker 3: We're rolling, Don It's like the worst, it was the worst.
Speaker 1: We're rolling.
Speaker 3: We're rolling.
Speaker 4: It's not live. Jason going down it really is?
Speaker 3: He really?
Speaker 5: I have that actor thing about rolling business.
Speaker 4: Okay, okay, dance for Grandma.
Speaker 3: Boy. That voice we got a special guests. I would
Speaker 3: say special guest, but this is truly I was excited
Speaker 3: about this wonderful, wonderful. You were very wonderful human being.
Speaker 3: Who were you so excited? Because he was on a
Speaker 3: hit show? Wow, and he's beloved. Wow.
Speaker 4: Two for.
Speaker 3: You know everybody knows I love you. We just came
Speaker 3: back from a We just took.
Speaker 5: A fantastic trip through the Miami Beach area.
Speaker 1: We went to Hollywood, we went.
Speaker 3: To Florida, and Jason's so funny. We booked the gig
Speaker 3: and Jason goes good so we can leave fifteen minutes
Speaker 3: before I said, not no, wrong Hollywood. Jason. By the way,
Speaker 3: I don't know if everybody listening has this a friend
Speaker 3: like this, I can Jason doesn't read the second line
Speaker 3: of a text, the second rune of an email. I
Speaker 3: could write, hey man, I hope you're well. Second line
Speaker 3: I just had a massive heart attack on at Cedars,
Speaker 3: and you would write back, I'm doing good. I'm good.
Speaker 3: So I have to put stuff, color code it and
Speaker 3: read it. He goes we never discussed that. He didn't
Speaker 3: write that, And I can pull it up and he'll go,
Speaker 3: oh yeah, oh yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Want to say.
Speaker 5: Of all the things that you have claimed that I
Speaker 5: am good, bad at dude, don't do this is.
Speaker 1: The first one where you're right.
Speaker 5: I will cop to the fact I am a bad
Speaker 5: text and email reader. I feel like if it's not
Speaker 5: there in the first two lines, it's probably not important.
Speaker 3: And I love that you're honest about This is the
Speaker 3: first time acknowledge.
Speaker 5: You've called me, You've you've ragged me on my driving.
Speaker 5: I'm I'm a perfectly lovely driver. I don't know where
Speaker 5: you pull that up to get me as being a
Speaker 5: bad driver.
Speaker 3: Do you want me to bring up you actually you have?
Speaker 3: Won't bring up the a I've had a few acts, Okay,
Speaker 3: I'm just saying I.
Speaker 1: Haven't one of them totally not my fault. One of
Speaker 1: them not my phone.
Speaker 3: Okay, sure, Oh boy, all right, Wow, you're hurtful. I'm
Speaker 3: just pointing out fasts.
Speaker 1: We're like family, all right.
Speaker 3: So our guest, our guest right now is Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
Speaker 3: You know from Modern.
Speaker 5: I knew Jesse Tyler Ferguson when he was a pup
Speaker 5: back in his theater days.
Speaker 3: Well he still has. So let's talk about this for
Speaker 3: a second. He's doing a lot of a lot of theater,
Speaker 3: a lot of Broadway, minor family. We know him from
Speaker 3: eleven years.
Speaker 1: Eleven years and Emmy, oh wait wait.
Speaker 3: Wait stop, you know something. You have to step on everything,
Speaker 3: you know what. We prepare things and then you ruin them. That.
Speaker 5: I didn't see that in the email. So let's bringing.
Speaker 5: Don't don't mention, so let's not.
Speaker 3: Let's bring. So let's start with that. You guys have
Speaker 3: a lot in common. Hello Jesse, Hello Peter, Nice to
Speaker 3: see yourself. Here's the deal. Let's open with this.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you have a lot in comment so much, both
Speaker 4: in the.
Speaker 6: Producers, both both Tony Award winners, Yes, and both nine
Speaker 6: years playing a role, eleven years playing a role, and
Speaker 6: now ever got an Emmy for that role.
Speaker 7: You were nominated though, right, I was nominated many times?
Speaker 4: How many times? Seven more than me? Five?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: And you must really suck?
Speaker 4: So I suck, but you must really, I really do.
Speaker 3: Here's here's here's the talk. Here's the talk. The Emmy
Speaker 3: voters every year for eleven years went still not buying him. Jason, Jason,
Speaker 3: George Costanza. You know what I just if he just.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's good, he's good.
Speaker 5: But David Hyde Peers, boy, you nemphasis I had you
Speaker 5: know who? I lost you every time either and I
Speaker 5: totally get it. Yeah, either David Pears or Michael Richards.
Speaker 4: Yeah you know I lost. I lost my stars. I
Speaker 4: lost to Eric.
Speaker 7: Twice twice and then Tony Hale, who I also adore once,
Speaker 7: so you know, I can't complain.
Speaker 5: And we're always in the first category up. So then
Speaker 5: you sit there, I haven't changed. God give me a
Speaker 5: kind bar or or a night.
Speaker 3: Did you work yourself up? Like eleven years every time
Speaker 3: did you go? It's got just by the math the
Speaker 3: mass alone.
Speaker 7: It is only one year where I thought I had
Speaker 7: a shot. The other years I really thought I was
Speaker 7: lucky to be nominated, truly. And then the last time
Speaker 7: I was nominated was that the season where I got married,
Speaker 7: and I just I I The episode I submitted was
Speaker 7: one of the wedding we had episode two, part wedding episode,
Speaker 7: and it just had a lot of there was a
Speaker 7: lot of great stuff. There a lot of great stuff
Speaker 7: with my dad, Jay Jay Pritchett, who's played by the
Speaker 7: brilliant Ed O'Neill, and I just I thought, well, if
Speaker 7: there's if there if they were ever going to give
Speaker 7: it to me, this would be the time and then
Speaker 7: tie one again.
Speaker 3: And how how long do you have to act like
Speaker 3: you are thrilled for him? Is it the day? Two
Speaker 3: days a week? How long you have to go congratulations
Speaker 3: against it? Like New Year's Like Larry David says, after
Speaker 3: January fourth, you can stop saying having New Year. When
Speaker 3: do you say thy it's enough already?
Speaker 7: I thought I said it immediately, immediately high enough is
Speaker 7: enough while he was up there doing his acceptance speech,
Speaker 7: So enough time.
Speaker 4: Obviously I was thrilled from but you know, it's it is.
Speaker 7: It was one of those things like remember I think
Speaker 7: as Amy Poehler after like her eighth nomination for Parks
Speaker 7: and Recreation, she was.
Speaker 4: Like, oh, okay, I get it. I see what's happening here,
Speaker 4: jokes on me.
Speaker 7: Ahaha, That's kind of what I was starting to feel.
Speaker 3: Like, did Cort Nelson almost get Did he turn down
Speaker 3: the other on your room?
Speaker 4: He did?
Speaker 3: Really, that's a real thing first, really know? Really? Is
Speaker 3: that you guys between you, I love to do the
Speaker 3: accumulatively twenty years and no, Emmy, that's nomination. That's amazing.
Speaker 3: Although I have.
Speaker 6: An Emmy, I'm sorry, that doesn't matter.
Speaker 5: I read it in Wikipedia, which means it has to
Speaker 5: be true that you kind of gravitated to the idea
Speaker 5: of acting when you were eight.
Speaker 4: Around that age, I was a little I was twelve
Speaker 4: or thirty.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but when you were fantasizing about, hey, if this works,
Speaker 5: I will be a what was it?
Speaker 1: Was it theater? Did you think the whole.
Speaker 4: That we have so much in common? Jason?
Speaker 7: Actually, you've been on my mind a lot recently, and
Speaker 7: apart for many reasons, but one of the reasons is
Speaker 7: because I went and saw that fabulous production.
Speaker 4: Merrily we Roll Along.
Speaker 7: It's on Broadway right now, and I just think about
Speaker 7: you every time I hear that music, and you know
Speaker 7: that you are such a you know, part of part
Speaker 7: of an iconic show like that, and obviously they had
Speaker 7: a very turbulent past, and but I just love that
Speaker 7: you were part of its history. And then also just
Speaker 7: that you your roots are in the theater, and that's
Speaker 7: like I could I know that's where your love is.
Speaker 7: And then also just because I'm having I'm running to
Speaker 7: a lot of people now who are discovering modern family
Speaker 7: for the first time, and I think your show is
Speaker 7: very similar in that it lives on this platform now
Speaker 7: and people are they they'll discover Seinfeld and watch it
Speaker 7: and fall in love with it all over again, you know,
Speaker 7: fifty years later.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I mean it's almost we're getting there.
Speaker 4: We're getting really close. But yeah, theater was always my
Speaker 4: first love.
Speaker 1: So yeah, here's here's the question.
Speaker 5: It's a weird question, and I don't want it to
Speaker 5: sound like I'm not grateful or anything like that, but
Speaker 5: did you when you were up for the Emmys? Did
Speaker 5: it was it important to.
Speaker 1: You to win it?
Speaker 7: I want to I'm going to say no, but I'm
Speaker 7: also going to I'm going to say that I was
Speaker 7: disappointed not to win it. Yeah, but when the first
Speaker 7: time I was nominated for an Emmy, I really was
Speaker 7: so shocked that I was being recognized because I was
Speaker 7: in this ensemble of six brilliant adults, and also the
Speaker 7: kids were so fantastic. I knew Eric would be recognized.
Speaker 7: I knew Tibe I would be recognized. I really kind
Speaker 7: of had a I couldn't make a case for any
Speaker 7: of the other people, but then the fact that I
Speaker 7: was included was just sort of a surprise, And so
Speaker 7: for me, it just sort of felt like that was
Speaker 7: the win and the I mean, I never like stood
Speaker 7: in front of my bathroom mirror imagining winning an Emmy
Speaker 7: or even an Oscar.
Speaker 4: But it was always a Tony.
Speaker 5: That's exactly all I when I'm asked about this. Yeah,
Speaker 5: and so now I'm going to ask you the follow
Speaker 5: up questions. Yeah, I won my Tony when I was
Speaker 5: twenty nine, and I thought I had very Robin you
Speaker 5: bet you. I thought I had really realistic dreams about,
Speaker 5: oh maybe when i'm forty, I'll get to Broadway and
Speaker 5: maybe i'm sixty, I'll play some great role and I'll
Speaker 5: be nominated for Tony. And then at twenty nine it
Speaker 5: hits me and I again, I don't want to lead
Speaker 5: the witness.
Speaker 1: You win the Tony. Did it meet your expectations?
Speaker 7: I'm going to say yes, only because I did a
Speaker 7: lot of theater before that, and I did some roles
Speaker 7: that I felt like were Tony nominational worthy?
Speaker 4: Right, But I was, I had been.
Speaker 7: I don't want to say ignore because everyone that was
Speaker 7: nominated was obviously very worthy about there was some disappointment there,
Speaker 7: and so when I was nominated, just being able to
Speaker 7: stand in front of it. I'm kind of glad that
Speaker 7: it did happen later in my career, not not when
Speaker 7: I was in my twenties, but like I was able
Speaker 7: to stand in front of this community that meant so
Speaker 7: much to me and meant so much to me before
Speaker 7: I even got to New York, like I dreamed of
Speaker 7: being on Broadway when I was a kid in Albuquerque, Mexico,
Speaker 7: listening to Cast albums in my bedroom, like to stand
Speaker 7: in and like, you know, Patty Lapone and Bernard Peters
Speaker 7: are in the front row, and like, these are some
Speaker 7: of the people that I would listen to in my
Speaker 7: They rescued me from situations when I was a kid,
Speaker 7: like they meant so much to me. And to stand
Speaker 7: in front of that community and say thank you so
Speaker 7: much for allowing me in that meant everything to me
Speaker 7: so in that in that respect, Yes, it did mean
Speaker 7: as much as I thought it would. It probably meant
Speaker 7: more than I thought it was going to me. Yeah,
Speaker 7: because I got to thank the community the ward itself.
Speaker 7: Probably not like I think all awards like never mean
Speaker 7: as much as you want them to mean. I don't
Speaker 7: change your career in ways that you want them to change.
Speaker 7: But for me that personal moment of being able to
Speaker 7: stand in front of the New York theater community and
Speaker 7: thank them was really powerful.
Speaker 5: It's so interesting I hear and understand everything you just said.
Speaker 5: And you know, my experience was. I was young enough
Speaker 5: that I kept thinking, well, when I win the Tony Award,
Speaker 5: I will be someone, or my life will achieve something,
Speaker 5: or I'll be a I will have gotten to the
Speaker 5: there that I dream about. And I remember same thing going,
Speaker 5: I can't believe I'm here. I can't believe this is happening.
Speaker 5: Tommy Toon gave me the award. He hugged me, his
Speaker 5: belt buckle went into my face. And I made the speech,
Speaker 5: and I went to the party, and I went home
Speaker 5: and there were twenty messages on my machine.
Speaker 1: And twenty messages was a lot.
Speaker 5: I mean, the normal day is three four messages, but
Speaker 5: it wasn't a hundred.
Speaker 1: It was twenty.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: And I went to bed that night, and my wife,
Speaker 5: who knows how much I love the show Pippen, says
Speaker 5: to me, how do you feel? And I went I
Speaker 5: thought there'd be more plumes, and it was a lead
Speaker 5: great lesson about it's not the destination, it's the journey
Speaker 5: and yes, and that's why when when I start, when
Speaker 5: I started getting nominated for Emmy's, I.
Speaker 4: Thought, well, that's a lark.
Speaker 1: I never even thought i'd be on TV.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, and sure you get there and you go, well,
Speaker 5: this would be cool. I guess you wanted, but it
Speaker 5: was never I never had that sort of crushing Oh geez,
Speaker 5: I should or why not me?
Speaker 7: Or you know, I think if you're starting to feel
Speaker 7: that you're you're obviously for the wrong reason. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 7: I'm sure we can always be disappointed, but like, think
Speaker 7: about how many people are on television and just you
Speaker 7: were one of five or six showsen to be honored
Speaker 7: by just the nominat.
Speaker 3: Oh wait, let me ask you about that. You guys
Speaker 3: decided we're all going to be supporting actress. They got
Speaker 3: together and said, nobody's going to be the breakout. We're
Speaker 3: going to do this because you're a thompl Seinfeldt also
Speaker 3: shared those guys would say, like, I know, Jason would
Speaker 3: say to Juliet, you know, I think this line's funnier
Speaker 3: for you than me. It was very much that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean that was the you know, to the
Speaker 5: extent that I can explain Why are ensemble became an
Speaker 5: ensemble was very early on when the show was struggling
Speaker 5: and we thought, let's just get some good tape for
Speaker 5: our next audition. We couldn't help but enjoy with each
Speaker 5: other we're doing. And there were instances where, you know,
Speaker 5: George would have a bit and I'd say, wouldn't this
Speaker 5: be better on a lane? I mean, if it's really
Speaker 5: a coin toss, it'd be funnier on our Or we'd
Speaker 5: have a thing going and we'd go, you know, we
Speaker 5: could we don't need this whole section of Michael just
Speaker 5: falls on, you know, the trips over the thing. We
Speaker 5: just started thinking of passing the ball right, and I
Speaker 5: would have to assume you guys were you know, you
Speaker 5: were the Harlem Glove drotterers.
Speaker 1: When it comes to that.
Speaker 5: It was just there were so many Well it.
Speaker 7: Was a big cast, yeah, I had just I had
Speaker 7: done a show a few seasons previous where it was
Speaker 7: also a big cast. You know, the character is kind
Speaker 7: of got lost, and so when I was part of
Speaker 7: a big cast again, I was like, oh, I've been
Speaker 7: through down this road before, but for some reason, the
Speaker 7: writers were so good about for some reason, that's what
Speaker 7: the Emmy Awards. But like they they they were so
Speaker 7: great about like really carving out moments and really clarifying
Speaker 7: who these people were a very efficient amount of time.
Speaker 7: And so the reason why there was so much richness
Speaker 7: that I think it's because we were a great ensemble,
Speaker 7: and like I think if you took a single person
Speaker 7: out of that that group of six adults, like we
Speaker 7: wouldn't have been as strong as a as a team.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 4: Yeah, as a stupid question, sure, who were you all talking?
Speaker 3: Yeah, the documentary the car where's is the guy going on?
Speaker 5: You can do so storytelling and really trunk.
Speaker 7: There was an early version of the show where the
Speaker 7: documentarian was actually a character and it was a a
Speaker 7: Nix change student that had stayed with the Pritchetts when
Speaker 7: they when he was young, like a Dutch exchange student,
Speaker 7: and so he came back and he was doing a
Speaker 7: documentary about this family that he used to live with
Speaker 7: when he was a kid, and so they had actually
Speaker 7: honored that character as well, so he was part of
Speaker 7: the story. Then it came to the point where like
Speaker 7: we need to cut some there's too many people, and
Speaker 7: he was the most natural person to cut, so but
Speaker 7: they still kept the device of the documentary, so you know, none.
Speaker 1: Of us know.
Speaker 3: Good.
Speaker 4: But also in the first.
Speaker 7: Season we really were like, okay, well if this is
Speaker 7: a documentary crew and we're coming in from outside and
Speaker 7: we're going inside, and then like season three, you know,
Speaker 7: we'll like you know, come home from picking up groceries
Speaker 7: and like open our door and there's already a cruise
Speaker 7: us like we've you know, we lost that device.
Speaker 5: Because I'm such a linear thinker, the minute they cut
Speaker 5: the documentary character, I'd go, why are we doing?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 3: He would be doing So they're in the bedroom, so
Speaker 3: they went into the bedroom really and the guy guy sitting.
Speaker 7: Here scenes in the the night like wake up a
Speaker 7: dream or something. I'm like, why is the camera over you?
Speaker 5: Over you guys on the ceiling?
Speaker 3: Okay, I just we just want to know that this
Speaker 3: isn't really no, really, in Iran they took your sitcom.
Speaker 3: They took the gay characters and made them heterosexual. Right,
Speaker 3: But they do basically a word by words shooting of
Speaker 3: modern family. Can China really know? Really they have shows
Speaker 3: and in Russia they have It's always Sonny in Moscow,
Speaker 3: So I'm wondering either a couple of things and I
Speaker 3: don't know the answer, but I'd like to explort. Is
Speaker 3: it because other countries are just as non creative as
Speaker 3: we are that they do that they have to do
Speaker 3: something they've.
Speaker 7: Seen We took the office and the pilot of the office.
Speaker 7: The American office is exactly the same as the British.
Speaker 3: But these are there are countries that hate us, that
Speaker 3: are taking our cultural families and putting them on. So
Speaker 3: there must be something resonating.
Speaker 5: I'm just gonna be I'm going to give you a
Speaker 5: little life lesson because you haven't been in as much
Speaker 5: of the world as I have.
Speaker 1: When you say a country, hey, the country doesn't.
Speaker 3: Understood, I'm just saying people you know, but that's the
Speaker 3: governments might not do understand. But the fact that they
Speaker 3: understand to talk then, but like in Russia to allow
Speaker 3: that and Iran to allow that and openly.
Speaker 1: Iran Mitchell and camera bay Ruse and Elham.
Speaker 5: Yeah, a husband and wife, so what do you think
Speaker 5: and you are to have children because Bayrus is infertile.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, different problems.
Speaker 5: So I want to because you have been a huge
Speaker 5: gay right to advocate, especially when we were advocating for marriage.
Speaker 5: So I just want to get your feeling in this,
Speaker 5: and this is the way I'm gonna I have two
Speaker 5: questions about it, and then I just want to see
Speaker 5: where you go. I have two friends that are directors
Speaker 5: that are gay, and you know, there's a lot of
Speaker 5: in all of our unions, a lot of focus now
Speaker 5: on diversity and inclusion and all this stuff. Gay is
Speaker 5: no longer consider diversity g GA. It's not a diversity
Speaker 5: higher right thoughts.
Speaker 3: Because apparently all the boxes have been checked, so it's China.
Speaker 7: I mean, okay, here are my thoughts. I think it's
Speaker 7: great because that means that there's been progress. And I
Speaker 7: think that like the fact that you know, the Modern
Speaker 7: Family started, this gay couple was a really revolutionary thing, but.
Speaker 4: I think so, yeah, and on at least on network television.
Speaker 7: And and you know, the fact that by the time
Speaker 7: this show was ending, we weren't so revolutionary, I think
Speaker 7: is actually really great. And you know, there was a
Speaker 7: time when I feel like you know that it was
Speaker 7: there was a great stigma around being openly gay and
Speaker 7: trying to find work in this business. And I still
Speaker 7: think that that actually exists. I'm not gonna save art.
Speaker 7: We're completely free from that but I do think that
Speaker 7: there are other there are other groups that we need
Speaker 7: to be helping along, specifically a trans community. I mean,
Speaker 7: you look at all these wonderful trans stories that are
Speaker 7: being told, and there is a there's a plethora of
Speaker 7: really talented transactors and actresses, and I you know, they
Speaker 7: need to be given opportunity.
Speaker 3: I mean M J.
Speaker 4: Rod Rigers was nominated for an Emmy.
Speaker 7: Because she's fantastistic and you know, so, I think there's
Speaker 7: a laziness around trying to find people in these communities
Speaker 7: that can you know, be part of the work that
Speaker 7: that they live. So I'm I'm fine saying like we're
Speaker 7: good for right now, let's like put that energy that
Speaker 7: you were putting on us on university.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm are you as as a character like a
Speaker 3: gay man? And do you get judged by the community,
Speaker 3: Like do you get a hate mail that says you're
Speaker 3: doing this and it says and you're going, wait, what
Speaker 3: do you mean? Well?
Speaker 7: I don't get hate mail, but I do I do
Speaker 7: feel like, you know, I I I think there's a
Speaker 7: pressure of representing an entire community and I'm representing one
Speaker 7: person in that community. It's like if you know in
Speaker 7: mitchellin cam you know, first of all, almost every character
Speaker 7: on sitcom, and a sitcom specifically, is a stereotype. You
Speaker 7: can't you have to be your broad strokes and like
Speaker 7: you color in, like you obviously bring the nuance to
Speaker 7: to to the character, but you know on the page
Speaker 7: that they're going to be pretty bad.
Speaker 3: But I wondering because I thought, that's that's a responsibility,
Speaker 3: an added level of responsibility of how am I coming
Speaker 3: off not only to comedy to the ensemble, but to
Speaker 3: an entire well.
Speaker 7: I mean, Oprah made me feel really good because I
Speaker 7: heard her say one time that she sometimes feels like
Speaker 7: she's representing the entire black community. I was like, well,
Speaker 7: if she feels that way, then I certainly am okay
Speaker 7: feeling that I can feel. I feel like I can't
Speaker 7: represent the entire gay community, right.
Speaker 5: I have played at least one notably overtly out gay
Speaker 5: flamboyant character in the movie of Love Alur Compassion Lane's Yes,
Speaker 5: So I prefaced that with your partner on Modern Family,
Speaker 5: Eric was as a straight man playing a gay character.
Speaker 1: I thought he was wonderful.
Speaker 5: So at the Academy, I think the entire audience thought
Speaker 5: he was wonderful. If he were cast as that today,
Speaker 5: I think there would be a lot more noise because
Speaker 5: there is an outcry for authenticity in casting. And I
Speaker 5: know I've had many conversations with friends about you know,
Speaker 5: how that extrapolates out and plays out. I remember Neil
Speaker 5: Patrick Harris saying, well, I hear that, and I respect that.
Speaker 5: But by the same token, I've done an awful I've
Speaker 5: made an awful lot of money.
Speaker 1: So does this cut both ways?
Speaker 5: Do you have any particular feelings about the specificity of
Speaker 5: straight actors playing gay or how this also like, you know,
Speaker 5: my friend Brian Cranston got some flak for playing a
Speaker 5: disabled character.
Speaker 1: Because he's not you know, where are you on all
Speaker 1: that stuff?
Speaker 4: It's all about for me, it's about.
Speaker 3: Where are you on all that stuff?
Speaker 7: It's all about for me, it's about representation and it's
Speaker 7: about opportunity.
Speaker 4: So I tend to agree with Neil on this.
Speaker 7: You know, as actors, I think we all want to
Speaker 7: be able to play all different types of roles. If
Speaker 7: you're telling me I can only play gay roles, I
Speaker 7: think that's that's even worse than like the opposite, like saying, like,
Speaker 7: you know, gay men currently represent other gay men. I've
Speaker 7: had this conversation with Eric Stonestry too. He and I
Speaker 7: both feel if we were casting Modern Family today, he
Speaker 7: might not have been allowed to play camera. However, I'm
Speaker 7: looking back and let you know this now fifteen years
Speaker 7: when I I was and he loves when I tell
Speaker 7: people this, But I was cast before Eric was, and
Speaker 7: so I did a lot of the chemistry reads with
Speaker 7: different actors, and I read with gay actors, I read
Speaker 7: with black actors, I read with tall actors in short like,
Speaker 7: I read so many different types of people. I was
Speaker 7: like speed dating, you know, and Eric was the one
Speaker 7: who I had the chemistry with, and that's most.
Speaker 3: That's more.
Speaker 7: Then there was some gay actors who were wonderful, but
Speaker 7: I didn't have chemistry with them. And I didn't know
Speaker 7: if Eric was gay straight, Like I mean, he came
Speaker 7: in like you saw him what he does, damn, Like
Speaker 7: that's what I saw.
Speaker 4: So I was like, I don't know, maybe he's gay.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 7: And then when I met him for coffee, you know,
Speaker 7: after we both got cast, is like, oh, you're obviously straight,
Speaker 7: but like the chemistry was there, and that's what I
Speaker 7: cared about I was like, we want the best shop
Speaker 7: for the show.
Speaker 4: So that's that.
Speaker 7: But when I'm but when I talk about representation and opportunity,
Speaker 7: I just feel like when there was a point where
Speaker 7: I think a lot of these roles were being written
Speaker 7: and there wasn't great opportunity for the people who represent
Speaker 7: who are who live these roles to even audition for
Speaker 7: for some of these parts. You know, there's I thought,
Speaker 7: I'm thinking back to that that role of a there's
Speaker 7: a trans character that that Scarlett Johansson decided to back
Speaker 7: away from. I don't I don't know the ins and
Speaker 7: outs of all that. I know that you know, she was,
Speaker 7: She's a huge star, and like there was a reason
Speaker 7: that maybe the story wasn't gonna be told it all
Speaker 7: because she is not in it. But I don't know
Speaker 7: how many transactors were actually seen for that if are
Speaker 7: they just offered it to Scarlett Johnson. I tend to
Speaker 7: think that maybe they did maybe a very brief search
Speaker 7: and then.
Speaker 4: Said okay, let's get Scarlett Johnson to do this like
Speaker 4: the talent.
Speaker 3: But then again, because it's monetary, I know that Scarlett
Speaker 3: Mhanson's name above the credit is going to get people
Speaker 3: to watch, so they're they're torn.
Speaker 7: I'm but you know what well, I mean, like Hillary Swank,
Speaker 7: she had done like one show and then obviously we
Speaker 7: put her in Boys Don't Cry, and like that's you know,
Speaker 7: that might be a bad example. She's not queer, but like,
Speaker 7: you know, there's so many people who we've discovered Barbara
Speaker 7: streisand okay, let's go there. Like, I mean, no one
Speaker 7: really knew who she was when you know, they were
Speaker 7: casting Funny Girl. They had a list of huge stars
Speaker 7: who would have sold that film. But like she played
Speaker 7: the part, and now she's iconic for it. Like we
Speaker 7: have to get we have to assume that there are
Speaker 7: people out there who like can handle it, and sure,
Speaker 7: you hire an unknown to play the lead, then bolster
Speaker 7: with like find other people that are fantastic to act
Speaker 7: around them, to support them, and like give the talent
Speaker 7: a shot to grow.
Speaker 3: I mean, well, man, it's monetarily driven. So I got
Speaker 3: to ask you the storyline. You probably talked about this,
Speaker 3: but I just want to know how it happened. They
Speaker 3: used your life story that you came out to your
Speaker 3: father three separate times, right, I try to get my
Speaker 3: head around how did he after the first time being
Speaker 3: the father, how did you have to do it? The
Speaker 3: second time? Was he like, Okay, I think I heard it,
Speaker 3: I say, he said, did he say? I mean, how
Speaker 3: did that happen to? You? Said? You know what, A
Speaker 3: I think I got to do this again because it
Speaker 3: didn't take. And then the third time you went it
Speaker 3: really didn't take. I got to do it a different way.
Speaker 7: Wasn't that funny? Me and my dad both laugh about it.
Speaker 7: Now He's like, I get it now, believe me, I
Speaker 7: get it.
Speaker 4: I mean.
Speaker 7: The thing is I didn't advertly come out to him
Speaker 7: the first time. I was caught stealing some materials from
Speaker 7: a bookstore that suggested I might be of interest, and
Speaker 7: so I was caught with that, and so like he
Speaker 7: saw the nature of the materials I had stolen, so
Speaker 7: I for me, I felt like, well, there you go,
Speaker 7: like I don't need to come out now, like that's it.
Speaker 4: And then and then later.
Speaker 7: My mom and I finally had a discussion about I
Speaker 7: think after I moved to college, and I think, you know,
Speaker 7: I kind of officially or she said, I know you're gay,
Speaker 7: and like she was, she was having a hard time
Speaker 7: with it as well. You have to also understand this
Speaker 7: is a time we're still in the AIDS epidemic, and like,
Speaker 7: you know, there's a danger and an assumption that you know,
Speaker 7: if if you're if you're gay, you're gonna and especially
Speaker 7: if you moved to New York like yikes. And uh so,
Speaker 7: you know, I think she mentioned to my dad, you know,
Speaker 7: I've had this conversation with Jesse and you know, this
Speaker 7: is a competition we had, so she sort of came
Speaker 7: out for me to him. And then my dad was
Speaker 7: visiting me in college. This is how I remember it,
Speaker 7: and he asked if I had a girlfriend, and I
Speaker 7: was like, Dad, why would I have a girlfriend? And
Speaker 7: he and I was like, you know, I'm gay.
Speaker 4: He's like, mother. So I just feel like those were
Speaker 4: the three shot.
Speaker 7: Oh okay, you know I didn't I don't think i've
Speaker 7: verbally ever said like I'm gay, and he's like, I
Speaker 7: didn't hear it, but like, you.
Speaker 3: Know, okay, I I had to know how I had
Speaker 3: to break it down for yeah, yeah, because it's not like, ah,
Speaker 3: did you say that and then totally totally ignoring that.
Speaker 7: And I did feel that way to feel like, you know,
Speaker 7: stealing a gay pornography magazine is pretty much as clear
Speaker 7: as you can get.
Speaker 5: It's such a stupid question the way I'm gonna ask it.
Speaker 5: But you're living a version of modern Family. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 5: you and Justin and you have two chicks now.
Speaker 1: And how how how is that? How is life?
Speaker 7: It's in the Modern Family. It's fantastic. It's it's not
Speaker 7: as well written, not as funny. Uh longer, it feels longer. Uh,
Speaker 7: it's so interest because people had always ask me, I,
Speaker 7: do you feel like you're ready for fatherhood having done
Speaker 7: it on television? But you know, and I, uh, I
Speaker 7: don't know. I just feel like it was always something
Speaker 7: I knew I wanted to do. I knew I wanted
Speaker 7: to be a father and and we're having a really
Speaker 7: a great time doing it.
Speaker 3: You played in in a Broadway show where you played
Speaker 3: forty characters. I don't understand that at all. I've seen
Speaker 3: him play a number of characters. How do you keep
Speaker 3: straight forty?
Speaker 7: I played ten of them? Well, okay, the other thirty
Speaker 7: were like kind of iffy?
Speaker 3: Is that accurate?
Speaker 4: I don't know. It's it's a play called fully Committed.
Speaker 4: Do you know the play Jason?
Speaker 6: I do.
Speaker 1: I saw Jason groddu Oh yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7: It's it's about a reservationist at a very very fancy restaurant,
Speaker 7: and the play is about the preservationist and he's been
Speaker 7: left alone with the lines all day. His co worker
Speaker 7: has not shut up to work, and so you watch
Speaker 7: him sort of like work through this hectic day and
Speaker 7: he plays obviously himself, but then also the people on
Speaker 7: the other end of the line. So all these different
Speaker 7: people trying to get reservations, the chef, the hostess. You know,
Speaker 7: he plays all these characters. It's all done through phone
Speaker 7: calls and phone conversations. And what's different about it though,
Speaker 7: is because you know he is having dialogue with these people.
Speaker 7: There's never like a monologue of one character, Like no
Speaker 7: character is is present for more than like maybe three sentences,
Speaker 7: So you're basically in conversation with yourself for an hour
Speaker 7: and a half.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 5: By the way, Jason Grat told me the funniest interaction
Speaker 5: with the audience story happened to him on that show
Speaker 5: that he's playing it out here in a mid size theater. Yeah,
Speaker 5: a huge theater, so he's well aware of yeah yeah,
Speaker 5: and he's doing a matina and he goes it's a
Speaker 5: dead house.
Speaker 7: It's just oh and nothing is worse that house. It's
Speaker 7: like trying to surf in a lake.
Speaker 5: So a phone goes off in the audience. That's the
Speaker 5: first thing is you go, huh God, and now he
Speaker 5: hears this is what he hears. And I'll do it
Speaker 5: in real time. Imagine you're doing the show and you hear.
Speaker 4: Hello, I can't talk to you right now.
Speaker 1: I'm watching a play.
Speaker 5: How he didn't leap off the stage and killed this
Speaker 5: person before we.
Speaker 3: Go because we gotta wrap. I gotta ask you something, okay, cocaine,
Speaker 3: barry your plate in theater. Now, two things about this.
Speaker 3: First of all, tell you tell your story. You told
Speaker 3: about somebody saw you in it in common well.
Speaker 7: So the first of all, Cocaine bears as a ridiculous
Speaker 7: premise of ridiculous movie. It's it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 7: If you want something serious, just steer away. But the
Speaker 7: trailer itself got a lot of buzz when it came
Speaker 7: out because everyone's like, what the hell is is this
Speaker 7: a real movie? Like people thought it was something that
Speaker 7: that the Onion created. It's about a barrow on cocaine.
Speaker 3: The titles based on a truth thing where cocaine out
Speaker 3: of there.
Speaker 7: Is a real situation where all this cocaine from the
Speaker 7: cartel was lost in the woods and a found it
Speaker 7: and made it and then went into cardiac arrest and died.
Speaker 4: But in our version.
Speaker 1: Got it the exact before the right.
Speaker 7: So the trailer came out and it was, you know,
Speaker 7: this very buzzy thing, and I tend to think that
Speaker 7: the trailer actually got more attention than the movie itself.
Speaker 7: But there was all these think pieces on the trailer,
Speaker 7: and like people were dissecting it. And I remember reading
Speaker 7: this one that was like cocaine Bear has everything. Eighties
Speaker 7: fauns and Carrie Russell, Margot Martindale is a is a
Speaker 7: park ranger. Jesse Tyler Ferguson in a fat suit. I
Speaker 7: wasn't wearing a fat suit. You in the middle of
Speaker 7: the pandemic, and I was not. I was just you know,
Speaker 7: living and not going to the gym. And I was
Speaker 7: slightly heavier, yes, And then I was also wearing harnesses
Speaker 7: because I was.
Speaker 3: So In the trailer, you can see Jesse, a young
Speaker 3: kid is up a tree to avoid the band. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and Jesse climbs the tree also very hot. Yes, were
Speaker 3: you really that high in the tree. It was very high.
Speaker 3: It was extremely high. I was, I was on wires
Speaker 3: and they had a stunt double for me. But I
Speaker 3: was really wanted to do the sense myself. And I,
Speaker 3: you know, because it's like, when am I going to
Speaker 3: do this?
Speaker 4: I don't.
Speaker 3: I'm not.
Speaker 4: I don't get to do stuff like that scale building.
Speaker 3: I'm scared of heights.
Speaker 4: I am too, but I was like.
Speaker 3: I'm going to do it.
Speaker 7: Let me tell you what they when I was up
Speaker 7: there in rehearsal, because I had a whole de of rehearsal.
Speaker 4: First, I'm all the way up in this tree.
Speaker 7: I'm very very high up, Like if I fell, I
Speaker 7: would be dead for sure. They start putting down mattresses
Speaker 7: at the bottom of the tree, and it was like
Speaker 7: that actually makes me more nervous.
Speaker 4: That makes me more nervous.
Speaker 7: Because that means like something could go wrong, and I
Speaker 7: know that mattress is not gonna save my life. If
Speaker 7: I bought this tree, I'm going to bounce off that
Speaker 7: and hit that other rock that I see right there,
Speaker 7: cover the rock. Like I really was like, please don't
Speaker 7: put the mattresses, Please just don't let me fall. Let's
Speaker 7: just I had a harness.
Speaker 3: It was a tied to something, so if you fell,
Speaker 3: you're hanging there.
Speaker 7: And I don't know all the details, but I was
Speaker 7: told I was very safe. I didn't feel unsafe. I
Speaker 7: felt very taken care of.
Speaker 3: And then the big question, the most important, cal Swift
Speaker 3: still in TOUCHI were in her video.
Speaker 5: We created her by the way, do you know that
Speaker 5: we put her in the breath, put her in her
Speaker 5: first video ever?
Speaker 3: You know not?
Speaker 4: I think she was going to do good. Regardless, I don't.
Speaker 5: Think wepening for him in the twenty thousand Seed arena.
Speaker 4: I think you're very lucky that.
Speaker 3: You got his video. Jason got hired to direct. She
Speaker 3: was a backup singer and she was an open She
Speaker 3: was the opener, but we put in a video where
Speaker 3: she was the Jason director, where she was the backups.
Speaker 7: Yeah, she was foteen at that time. God, I love her.
Speaker 7: I just I really admire her so much. I just
Speaker 7: went and saw her errors tour. Yeah, I mean, does
Speaker 7: she do you go backstage after I have before gone
Speaker 7: backstage after her concert, but with the airs, she was
Speaker 7: on stage for three and a half hours. I don't
Speaker 7: think she Yeah, yeah, she paid on first, so I needed.
Speaker 7: I'm tired now I can't, I can't stay any longer.
Speaker 4: I got.
Speaker 3: She made a billion, one billion dollars on that. Good
Speaker 3: for you, Yeah, for her, amazing, the fact that she's
Speaker 3: man good. But for her, I remember she was thirteen.
Speaker 3: She convinced she was good enough that she convinced her
Speaker 3: parents to move out from Pennsylvania to National for a
Speaker 3: publishing contract. Yeah. And even as a little gir because
Speaker 3: I was doing country music at that time. Yeah, yes, mister,
Speaker 3: so she was on it, just on it. But to
Speaker 3: have a career this long, yeah, and not waiver.
Speaker 4: And she reinvents herself and her family.
Speaker 7: I mean her dad, you know, still is like at
Speaker 7: all her shows and came into the Hello to me
Speaker 7: and brought me some of her guitar pecks to get
Speaker 7: to my kids, Like you know there.
Speaker 3: That he gave you guitar. That's it, guitar guitar.
Speaker 7: And actually some swag I got I gotta tell And
Speaker 7: the concert people are waiting in line for like ten
Speaker 7: hours to get swag.
Speaker 4: So you know he saved me.
Speaker 5: What I tell you what I love and admire about
Speaker 5: her aside of the talent, and I do love her talent.
Speaker 5: I'm a fan, but man, she at any given moment,
Speaker 5: she's the biggest star in the world. She can't blow
Speaker 5: her nose without it making national news. And under that microscope,
Speaker 5: I think she has managed to live an honest, agreed,
Speaker 5: and and rather extraordinary life of of real service.
Speaker 1: She's always for my money.
Speaker 5: She's always speaking out about the right things, standing up
Speaker 5: for the right things.
Speaker 1: I think she's extraordiny.
Speaker 7: Two of her background and backup singers are are friends
Speaker 7: of mine, and they have nothing but the kindest things
Speaker 7: to say about her. They all it's a family unit.
Speaker 7: That that entire tour is such a family unit. She
Speaker 7: does so much, so many good things for them, and
Speaker 7: she gave him all these crazy bonuses when the guitar pics.
Speaker 3: Okay, and thank you for being with the show. I
Speaker 3: will tell you everything now.
Speaker 1: That now that we've been here, can we be best friends?
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 1: I would love that too.
Speaker 3: Can you invite us? I know I'm not a star,
Speaker 3: but I'll tag along to one of your your your podcasts?
Speaker 1: Can we pick?
Speaker 3: I can never afford would be great watching him interview
Speaker 3: Good Jesse on your podcast. When we eat together? Break bread?
Speaker 1: All right? David.
Speaker 5: We just spent a lovely time with Jesse Tyler Ferguson,
Speaker 5: and I don't know, is there anything we didn't find
Speaker 5: out anything We don't know.
Speaker 1: No, you got very comprehensive.
Speaker 3: Thank you very.
Speaker 8: There was one thing about Jesse Tyler Ferguson that I
Speaker 8: just didn't quite under like, why the Tyler?
Speaker 1: Because there was a Jesse Ferguson.
Speaker 8: In the Union, right, So who are the other Jesse
Speaker 8: Ferguson's out there? So I wanted to play a little
Speaker 8: game called Jesse or not Jesse. These are Jesse's that
Speaker 8: don't have the Tyler? And are they real or.
Speaker 1: Did I just make them up? Okay, they're not necessarily
Speaker 1: just actors.
Speaker 3: These are Jesse's.
Speaker 8: They could be They're they're Jesse Ferguson.
Speaker 1: I do not understand.
Speaker 3: I tell you right now, Frailer fit real effect.
Speaker 2: This.
Speaker 8: Jesse Ferguson is a retired heavyweight boxer who is best
Speaker 8: known for beating the then undisputed heavyweight champion of.
Speaker 1: The World, Buster Douglan.
Speaker 3: True or false? True?
Speaker 1: He does exist. I think that's how you play.
Speaker 3: No no chills, Okay, go.
Speaker 9: Ahead, almost get you Jesse Tickler Ferguson is an American
Speaker 9: drag performer who is known for celebrating and fabulolizing classic
Speaker 9: Jesse Tyler Ferguson characters.
Speaker 8: Such as Mitchell Pritchett, Marvin from High School, Musical Ugly,
Speaker 8: Betty's Doctor, Gabe Parcas, and of course the fan favorite
Speaker 8: Francis's True.
Speaker 3: Would work so hard, it wouldn't work so hard.
Speaker 5: And also you would be, you would be. You don't
Speaker 5: want to step on drag performance.
Speaker 3: So also, do you think David is going to take
Speaker 3: all the time to make up all that true?
Speaker 5: False?
Speaker 8: Yeah, sh Along Jesse Ferguson.
Speaker 10: It's the real life cowboy who inspired the classic nineteen
Speaker 10: fifties Western character Sure pop Along Cassidy, known for his
Speaker 10: clean cut appearances, sasparola, drinking, and of course, his pension
Speaker 10: for never shooting first.
Speaker 3: So it should have been hop Along first. I don't know,
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 5: I don't think this, I don't care, I don't think
Speaker 5: so false false, that is false.
Speaker 1: That is I'm doing.
Speaker 2: I can feel the love.
Speaker 1: I'm only gonna.
Speaker 3: I can feel people tuning out like Drew knocking eat
Speaker 3: over again.
Speaker 1: People love a good game.
Speaker 3: I'll play all right, doesn't exist, so I jumped a
Speaker 3: gun go ahead.
Speaker 1: Known as the Bard of Cornwall.
Speaker 8: This Jesse Ferguson is a Canadian and writes folks song.
Speaker 3: Yes, I believe it absolutely, if you could read my mind,
Speaker 3: that's that's one hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: That was lovely.
Speaker 3: And strong.
Speaker 1: Do you know, by the way, do you know that Jesse? Honestly?
Speaker 5: I mean he does musicals, A lovely singer. Really again,
Speaker 5: big Broadway store?
Speaker 3: Right, yeah, there's no right, yeah, David, thank you.
Speaker 5: Maybe next week we'll play people named David hop along.
Speaker 3: Here's one. Here's one. Earl Ferguson will be calling you
Speaker 3: later to say, don't do that again or false. Thank you, David,
Speaker 3: thank you, Laurie, thank you, Jesse, Jason and Jesse Jesse
Speaker 3: Tyler Ferguson.
Speaker 2: Now, really, really, that's another episode of really, no really
Speaker 2: comes to a close. You may be wondering other than
Speaker 2: Jason and Jesse won other big stars never won a
Speaker 2: Primetime Emmy Award that Outstanding List in a moment. But first,
Speaker 2: let's thank our guest, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. You can follow
Speaker 2: Jesse at his website Jesse Tyler Ferguson dot com.
Speaker 1: On Instagram, TikTok, and threads.
Speaker 2: He is at Jesse Tyler and you can always check
Speaker 2: out his podcast Dinners on Me with Jesse Tyler, ferguson
Speaker 2: our Little show, hangs Out on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and
Speaker 2: threads at Really No Really podcast And of course you
Speaker 2: can share your thoughts and feedback with us online at
Speaker 2: reallynoreli dot com. If you have a really some amazing
Speaker 2: factor story that boggles your mind, share it with us
Speaker 2: and if we use it, we will send you a
Speaker 2: little gift. Nothing life changing, obviously, but it's the thought
Speaker 2: that counts. Check out our full episodes on YouTube, hit
Speaker 2: that subscribe button and take that bell so you're updated
Speaker 2: when we release new videos and episodes, which we do
Speaker 2: each Tuesday. So listen and follow us on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And now
Speaker 2: what famous actors doing wonderful work have never been able
Speaker 2: to snag a Primetime Emmy Award?
Speaker 1: Well, other than Jason and Jesse.
Speaker 2: This glorious list of losers includes e Ers, George Klooney,
Speaker 2: Girls creator and star, Lena Dumms, star Trek, the Next
Speaker 2: Generation's Captain, Sir Patrick Stewart, Game of Thrones, Kalisi, Emelia Clark, Ozarks,
Speaker 2: Jason Batedon, House of Guards, First Lady Robin Wright, Both Matts,
Speaker 2: LeBlanc and Perry of Friends Killing Eves, Sandra Oh and
Speaker 2: some of the Biggest Losers SNL's Christian Wig with nine Losses,
Speaker 2: Hugh Laurie of House with ten Losses, House of Lies,
Speaker 2: Don Cheadle Tying with Steve Carell of the Office for
Speaker 2: eleven losses each, and Our Biggest.
Speaker 1: And most Beloved Loser, Star of Murder.
Speaker 2: She wrote, the Late and Great Angela Lansberry, who lost
Speaker 2: a grand total of eighteen Emmy Awards. They may not
Speaker 2: have statues, but they have our hearts. Really No, Really
Speaker 2: is a production of iHeartRadio and Blase Entertainment