WEBVTT - Jesse Tyler Ferguson 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.040 The Craig Ferguson Fancy Rascal Stand Up Tour continues throughout 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:07.320 twenty twenty four. For a full list of dates and tickets, 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:10.560 go to the Craig Ferguson Show dot com slash tour. 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:13.640 See you out there, the Greig Ferguson show dot Com 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:18.759 slash Tour. My name is Craig Ferguson. The name of 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:23.520 this podcast is Joy. I talk to interest in people 0:00:24.000 --> 0:00:29.920 about what brings them happiness. You probably know my next 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:33.000 guest from his work on Modern Family. But let me 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.519 tell you this. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and he's one of 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:39.960 the Tyler Fergusons, which makes him better than me. Has 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:43.720 a fascinating career and story. Let's listen to it. 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:51.280 I have my own podcast now that I'm going to 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:53.840 talk about. Oh yeah, that's always the thing. When it's 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:54.720 like a friend of mine, I was. 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:58.440 Like, oh, I'm gonna, yeah, we're rolling out somebodyeah talk. 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:00.600 About something like they might you know, I not want 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:01.320 to talk about. 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:04.880 But ilwa was try just I mean I would try 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:07.199 you in a position today, Well you talk about something 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:09.520 you don't want to talk about. But there's very little 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:11.319 that I won't talk about. But you know, the truth 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:14.440 is as well, I think that it's it's I don't 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:17.160 want to do that to people anyway. Yeah, so why 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:18.840 would you do it in a like I'm not a 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:22.080 journalist of course. Now tell me about something you're so 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.840 ashamed of. Yeah, like, I don't I want to hear 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:25.639 that from you. 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:27.120 Got to get that question now, I don't know what 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:27.520 it would be. 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:30.800 Okay, Then tell me something you're really ashamed of. Yeah, 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:31.200 I don't. 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:32.720 I don't want to talk about that right now. 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:38.279 You I've always been jaious of you for two reasons. 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:42.039 Tell me, Well, one your Broadway Royalty, which is I 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:47.320 think a great thing to be. I just admirable and aspirational. 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:50.000 And the other thing is, you know, not just Jesse Ferguson, 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:51.880 you're Jesse Tyler. 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.240 Yeah, there's already a Jesse Ferguson, and yeah, I figured 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:57.000 it might be that. Yeah, So I had to go 0:01:57.080 --> 0:01:59.720 with my middle name, and I'm named after my grandmother, 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:01.639 so I really wanted to keep the Jesse. 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:02.720 I like the name Jesse. 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:04.040 Yeah, this is nice name. 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:07.600 And I wanted kids and that I grew up with 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:09.600 to know that I had succeeded because I was bullied 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:10.440 a lot as a kid. 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:13.280 You surprised me. You from Montana or something. 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.760 I'm was born in Montana, raised in Albuquerque, Okay. And 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:18.840 I was just not very popular, you know. I was 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:21.000 a sort of an awkward kid, and I was pretty 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:23.720 ruthlessly bullied. And then when I made well, I you know, 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:25.919 became very successful, and the thing that I wanted to do, 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:30.480 I wanted all the assholes who bullied me to know 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:31.360 that I'd made it. 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:32.400 So I kept Ferguson. 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:36.960 So they're going to remember that name, Jessica when I 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:37.680 throwned the tyler. 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.240 So it's funny because have you ever met the head 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:44.800 of the Ferguson clan name? No, he's a friend of mine, 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:48.000 No really, yeah yeah yeah. His name is Adam. He 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:51.200 lives in a place called cal Karen, which is the 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:55.400 seat of the Ferguson name in Ayrshire and Scotland and 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:59.359 island Tom. He's spectacular, that's fascinating. 0:02:59.400 --> 0:02:59.839 I have him. 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:01.840 When my grandmother passed away, I took a book from 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:04.519 our house and it was all about the Scottish Tartans 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:07.880 and I she had a little squatch of fabric from 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:09.720 the Ferguson Tartan so I. 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:11.680 Have that you don't have a kilt in the Ferguson tartan. 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:13.640 I don't, I don't. I should get one made. 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:15.920 I feel like I feel like I know what's coming from. 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:19.120 Let me tell you what though, I feel like the 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:25.639 Ferguson tartan is the same as the private school uniform 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:28.639 that I had to grow up wearing our Lady of Fatima, 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:31.120 and I think, I mean, it's listen, it was. 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:33.040 It's a very lovely tartan. But like that's what it 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:33.720 will remind me of. 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.040 But maybe it's time. Maybe it's time to let it go. 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:39.560 Yeah, to let it go and like reclaim. 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:43.960 Reclaim the reclaim the plaid. I feel like, actually that 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:47.960 that sounds like a rallying cry right, reclaim the plaid. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:50.080 I might be doing that for fashion Week this year, 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:55.520 reclaiming the plaid. Yeah, I'm reclaiming the plaid. It's funny 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:57.720 because when I think of you growing up in Albuquerque, 0:03:57.760 --> 0:03:59.360 because you look like a lot of guys that I 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:01.720 grew up with. You, you have the coloring and the 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:03.400 complex and of a lot of people I grew up 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:08.480 with in Albuquerque. Must have been tough for someone of your. 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:11.200 My my skin tone of right, I'm not the greatest 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:12.720 place to raise the right head, well. 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.000 Redhead in the sun like that. Then you were bullied 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:17.640 at school, I'm amazed you're not a stack up community. 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:20.960 It sounds traumatic. Was it really bad? 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:23.360 Do you think it was pretty bad? Yeah? It was 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:23.840 pretty bad. 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.080 In fact, when I was in grade school in my 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:28.800 eighth grade year, I well, right before my eighth grade year, 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.560 I told my parents was like, it's really blea good. Yeah, 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.600 well they actually changed I changed schools. 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:36.040 Listening to you, did it help? 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:39.440 Yeah, I mean it was nice to be relocated to 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.320 a different like a different pool of people. I was, 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:44.920 you know, didn't like I didn't. It didn't change who 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:46.600 I was. I was, you know, a very shy kid, 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:49.520 so you know, I still wasn't super popular, but it 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.120 sort of gave me a little bit of a relief 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:54.640 from the constant bullying. But then I went to the 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:57.680 high school I went to was the one Catholic high 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:00.240 school in Albuquerque, and so a lot of the people 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:01.800 that I went to grade school with I saw them 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:02.960 again when I was in high school. 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:04.200 But it was a bigger pond, you know. 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:06.479 Right, so it was easier to escape you. Are you 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:07.640 an observant Catholic? 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:12.159 No, no, no, no, no, all right, there's your coffee. 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:12.880 What did you get? 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:17.240 Just I like a thank you very much. It's just coffee. 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:20.480 I like just a regular coffee. No sugar, no sugar, 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:23.520 no milk. Two shorts of this spread. So but in 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:25.320 a cup that normally has three. 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:28.200 Okay, okay, so that's a clever red eye. 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:31.120 Yeah that's right, it's a slightly let Do you want 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:31.840 a cup of coffee? 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:33.760 No, I've had my I've had two today and. 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.600 Yeah, that's that's all I get. As well, this is 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:39.000 my second, and then that's I get two cups. Ago. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:42.479 I have become that guy. Yeah, that used to be 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:46.080 so bad. You never you never fail into that drugs 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:47.919 and alcohol and all that kind of stuff. No, no, no, 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.520 but I did cut back on drinking a lot this year. 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:52.680 Just you know, but your kids are young. 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:54.440 My kids are young, and I'm just I can't deal 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.240 with a hangover. So my coffee intake has definitely opped. 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.440 Yeah. Yeah. Do you ever get like this is the 0:05:59.480 --> 0:06:01.440 sight of middle I think, do you ever get to 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:04.560 the point where it's nighttime and you're excited, oh because 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:05.760 morning's coming and you can. 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:07.920 Go, you know, Craig something. I wake up and I'm 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:08.800 excited for night time. 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:11.159 I'm like, oh my god, in twelve hours, are going 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:12.360 to be back in the same spot. 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:17.360 It'll be time again. Oh god. Absolutely, I get excited 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:21.080 for breakfast. I mean that pathantic is that it's like, oh, 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:23.120 I'm going to I can't eat late at night because 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:25.440 I'll get you know, into gest but in the morning, 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:28.840 I'm going to have such a breakfast right right right. 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:31.440 So let me tell you that you're you're growing up 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:34.760 in Albuquerque, in New Mexico, Yeah, right where they have 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:37.320 got the Rattlesting Museum. I believe we've discussed this, Yes, yeah, 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.560 we talked, and I think myself, No, you're a theater 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:44.320 kid and you're growing up in a society at that 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:48.039 time it's not really cool to be a theater kid 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:51.119 who's emerging as a gay man as well. 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:53.800 It's going to be especially in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:55.960 just wasn't a community there to sort of support that 0:06:56.880 --> 0:06:59.880 probably is not I would think more so now. Yeah, absolutely, 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:01.880 you know, I think Albaque has changed a lot, and 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:04.960 I I do. I do still I've always loved Albuquerque, 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:07.440 even though I had a kind of tricky childhood there. 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:09.880 But I do like going back and visiting. I've I've 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:13.120 taken my kids for that. They have the largest international 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:14.400 hot air Ballymfiesta there. 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:15.400 Yes, that's which. 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:20.080 Unbelievable. So I really like, I really like going back 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:22.080 for that. I saw a family that lives there. I 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:25.160 love the food there. I I have grown to sort 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.920 of appreciate the state as as a as a nice 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:31.840 place to visit now. But yeah, when I was a kid, 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.360 you know that, especially as a theater kid, there wasn't 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:36.280 a lot of opportunity. 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:38.680 There was a great we had a pretty great. 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:41.120 Community theater program, and I you know, I had auditioned 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:43.040 for the shows. But in my my my high school 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:44.360 didn't have a great theater program. 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:46.360 But you but you're a Catholic. There's plenty of theater 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:47.240 in the Catholic church. 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:49.200 Oh my god. 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:58.040 You know, circumstance because I was raised as a Protestant Scotland. 0:07:58.080 --> 0:07:59.720 I mean we get you know, the wolves are painted 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:02.120 why and maybe we get a heater in the church. 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:05.559 Maybe don't. That's it. But you know, the Catholic kids, 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.840 they go wow, they kind of scared me. Actually, was like, 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:09.520 go the Korra. 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:12.200 I mean, looking back on it, I'm just you know, 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.119 that was you know, I go to Mass every day. 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:16.800 Every morning would start with and when I was in 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.200 grade school, every morning would start with a Mass, you know, 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:23.040 an abbreviated Mass, thirty minutes usually, but then we would 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:26.800 go to Mass, take the Eucharist every morning every morning. Well, 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:29.960 you know, after my first communion. Uh yeah, but I 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:32.360 had my first communion, I was baptized, I did all that, 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:35.040 all that stuff. And it's funny because my parents weren't. 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:39.080 They weren't super observant sort of the it felt like 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:41.880 a community that they were raised in and then decided 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.520 to raise their kids in. But you know, I kind 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:47.160 of broke the mold for what. 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:50.439 About because you're a parent, you got little kids. I 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:54.960 mean that sometimes changes people's perception of their religion and 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:57.040 their upbringing. Sure, what do you think. 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:00.319 Well, we aren't a religious family, you know, just since 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.440 what didn't go to church. But you know, I think 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:07.280 that it's sad thing of as I'm as I'm teaching 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:10.000 my kids, you know, I'm learning that you know, certain 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.400 ideas that I'm trying to teach them are rooted in 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.080 like my faith and certain things are rooted in like 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:18.560 just my my who I am as a person. Now, 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:20.400 you know, I meditate a lot and I like to 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:23.240 I'm spiritual, I guess in a different way. So you 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.920 know a lot of those a lot of those ideas 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:28.280 are pasted down to my kids. But like I you know, 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.040 I'm I haven't we haven't taken them to church. We 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:33.240 haven't done any of that stuff. You know, we certainly 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:36.560 certainly around. It's interesting because we you know, my son 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:39.560 now understands what Christmas is, and you know, it's you know, 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:42.200 I I was like, well do we start talking about 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:45.000 this other thing, this like Catholic component to it or not? 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.079 And and you know, I when I was a kid, 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:50.600 I created a Nativity scene for myself and it's this 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.960 really adorable thing, created on blocks with pieces of felt. 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:55.920 And I enjoyed points. 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:59.640 It's so it's so adorable, and my parents saved it 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:01.040 and they pas down to me and so we put 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:01.800 it out every year. 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:03.200 But it's just like weird thing. 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:05.240 It's you know, my kids don't know what it is. 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:07.120 I'm like, well, this is the baby Jesus. I'm like, 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:08.160 what am I talking about? 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.480 But I love all the tradition of all. I mean, 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:15.679 I think I feel like with religion, what I do 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:17.160 now is I take what I want and I leave 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:20.120 the rest. Yeah, and if anyone's got a problem with that, 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:22.160 then they had a problem in the first place. Right, 0:10:22.480 --> 0:10:25.800 It's that whole thing of you know, a lot of 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.960 people who are angry, they were angry before they even 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:31.200 heard are you that's right? You know, so it's kind 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.800 of you got to let it go. Yeah. I wonder though, 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:38.440 because I think you said you're a spiritual person, and 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.760 I think about that a lot, and I'm not a 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:45.200 religious person, but I find that I can't. For a 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:47.839 while there I thought it was an atheist, but it 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:53.400 felt like too dogmatic and rigid to take like you 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:54.360 knew the answer. 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:56.000 Yeah, I get that. 0:10:56.320 --> 0:11:00.679 Yeah, it's like, you know, all these theologians, Thomas of Aquina, Einstein, 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:02.839 they were all wrong. But I'm right. 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.520 Right, right, I mean, I certainly I never thought of 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:09.880 myself as an atheist, but I don't know, it's sort 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:14.240 of I think it's okay to be uncategory and uncategorizable. 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:16.560 I think that's okay, totally fine. 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:19.080 I think actually, with things that are going on right 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:22.839 now in lots of areas of society. Huh. I think 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:26.720 that that's actually good, it's healthy, because I was thinking 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:30.040 that there. I was. I was thinking about, you know, 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:35.120 what's the statute of limitations on gay because when I 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:40.600 was eighteen nineteen years old, I gate for you, Yeah, 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:43.959 how are you going to know something you like something 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.960 unless you try? And I tried it thought well, it's okay, 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:49.440 and I like the person involved, but it's not really 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:54.280 for me. And then I thought, but does that you know, 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:56.840 what does that? Where does that place me in the Well? 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:01.280 I think everything's on a spectrum, you know, So that's yeah. 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:03.800 I know so many people who are very straight and 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:08.160 have kids and have wonderful marriages, and you know, they 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:11.960 dabbled a bit in high school and college, and you know, 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:13.160 it's and. 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.360 The other way around. By the way, I know plenty 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:17.600 of gay men who were straight. 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.959 Now, hey, now, now that's something I haven't done. Well, 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:21.960 I've never dabbled. 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:24.720 Wow, you know, I look, if you're making fail. 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:28.160 I know, that's right, that's right, that's right. 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:30.200 Did you know right away you were like, oh gosh, 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:31.360 this is what I'm dealing with. 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:34.320 Well, I don't necessarily know how to categorize it. But 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:39.480 I knew that it was something that was not you know, 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:41.160 growing up Catholic. You know, that's sort of all you 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:41.840 hear about is like. 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:43.600 You know, anal It's. 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:45.559 Like, oh gosh, it just seems like it's something I'm 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:48.640 not super interested in. Or I didn't see a place 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:53.120 for myself in that, you know that in that arrangement. 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:56.040 But like I I don't know if I knew that 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:58.680 it was gay until you know, I was a little older. 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:00.640 But I wonder if do you think that's what I 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:03.360 tried to do to theater and broadways because it has 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:06.800 a lot of the drama and the pageantry and the 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:11.360 ceremony even of Catholic church, but it famously much more 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:12.880 accepting of gay people, right. 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:16.760 I mean perhaps I did like the you know at 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:20.840 Christmas time, the live Nativity scene. Who does you know 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:26.319 that the shows in church were really exciting. Yeah, but 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:27.679 you know it was all about for me, like the 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.000 production value. If it looked good, then I was into it, 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:32.640 you know, I didn't want to look great. 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:33.120 Yeah. 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:37.160 I just find that so kind of it's something very 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:39.840 wholesome about that. I think something lovely about it. Sure, 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:42.439 So how did you how did you get from Albuquerque. 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:44.880 To to broadly what happened. 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:48.960 I came to New York right after I graduated high school. 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.520 I was accepted into a performance arts academy called the 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:54.880 American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Uh And so my dad 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:58.280 and I drove cross country and his suburban and we 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:00.600 packed all my stuff up in the back seat. And 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:03.200 it was like a four day road trip for me. 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:06.640 You no, I know, he's so sort of him to 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.760 drive me. And then we drove into Manhattan and the suburban. 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:11.719 You know, my dad, it's you know, he's a used 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:13.760 to driving driving in Albuquque in Mexico. Here we are 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:16.720 in Manhattan and people are honking at us, and you know, 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:18.680 they are very aggressive drivers in New York. 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:20.800 And my dad's, you know, a rule follower. 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:22.880 You know, he's the type of guy that, like Hanks 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.120 twice before backing up to make sure no one's behind him. 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:28.600 You know this, this type of timid driving was not 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:32.400 going to fly in Manhattan. So he dropped me off, 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.080 we unloaded the car. I think he stayed a few 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:37.600 days with me while I sort of settled in, and 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:39.960 then he drove back to Albuquerque and left me behind 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:41.760 in New York and did you feel. 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:45.040 Like you were you were where you were meant to be. Yeah. 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:47.840 You know, it's interesting. I had never even before I 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:49.280 went to New York, I knew that's where I wanted 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:50.360 to go. And I think part of it is just 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:52.400 because I would watch the Tony Awards on TV and 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:56.040 I knew that this place that had this incredible theater 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:59.000 scene called Broadway was you know, it existed only in 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:02.360 New York City, and I just I had I was 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:04.160 aware enough of that that culture. 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:04.360 You know. 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:07.280 I had all these cast albums and I would collect 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.200 the musical scores of these shows. Even though I didn't 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:11.880 really play piano. I would just like to look at 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:13.880 the photos and like, look at the sheet music, and 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:18.760 I just had a great appreciation for the work that 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:21.480 went into putting these shows on and I want to 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:23.119 be a part of that in whatever capacity. 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:25.920 It is a real world into itself Broadway as well. 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:29.360 It's fascinating that there are people who are big stars 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:33.040 on Broadway that you know, cross the East River and 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:35.680 you know, people are like, I'm sorry, I don't know 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:37.360 who you were talking about, you know, I mean, it's 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:38.240 it's I had. 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:40.600 To explain the other day to someone who Patty Lapone was, 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:42.400 and I was like, I'm sorry, I don't know if 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:42.920 I can do this. 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:48.400 Wait, yeah, but I think that it's quite an interesting 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:52.240 thing because you there's somebody that there was anctor called, 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:54.640 you know, Jim Dale, of course, and Jim Dale was 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:57.760 a huge Broadway star, but in Britain. I knew him 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.520 from doing these kind of cheesy comedies when I was 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:02.840 a kid growing up. We used to that and I 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:05.840 only heard years later he had become this force on 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:08.840 on Broadway. It's such a such a strange thing. Well 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:10.200 have you done there recently? 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:12.800 My most recent thing on Broadway was a play called 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:16.760 Take Me Out, about a baseball team. The lead player, 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.800 who's like a Derek Jeter type, comes out of the closet. 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:23.800 That role was played by Jesse Williams from Grey's Anatomy Okay, 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:27.280 who's a fantastic stage actress. It was his stage debut, 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:30.560 and I played his business manager, who is a gay 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:32.440 man who doesn't know anything about baseball and then falls 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:37.320 in love with the game. C It's a beautiful play 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:38.960 written by Richard Greenberg. 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:38.960 Who. 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:42.680 Is such a lover of baseball, and I had these 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:46.240 amazing soliloquies about baseball and how they're so you know, 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:50.240 it's like democracy, and how it's. 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.560 A weird game. It's an interesting thing because it does 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:56.640 contain something that I don't think other sports do. Yeah, 0:16:56.760 --> 0:16:58.680 it's weird. I feel that about baseball. 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:00.880 It's that thing of first of all, it's lonely sport. 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:02.960 You know, you're not you're playing kind of by yourself. 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:05.639 You each have your own positions. And then it's something 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:08.240 else that there's no clock, which is so interesting. You know, 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:11.600 there's no countdown. It's you have this moment on the 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:14.080 plate and you have Everyone has the same opportunity and 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:18.960 the same chance to achieve something, and they're given the 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:20.679 space and time to do it. And that's sort of 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:23.720 what this character found so beautiful about the game of baseball. 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:27.480 When I became an America uh huh, it was about 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:31.600 baseball was the thing that I've think explained America to me, 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.240 okay in a way that I didn't understand before, and 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:36.000 why I was so attracted to it. And here's what 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:41.760 it is. It is Failure is unnecessary and probably the 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:44.960 majority of what you will do is fail And it 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:48.959 doesn't matter if you can swing at the ball and 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:51.680 head it one time out of ten, you're a Hall 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:55.879 of Fame. Yeah, And I thought, oh my god. Yeah, 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.880 So if you fail, it's just part of the process. 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.680 It's just part of it. Spot a thing because where 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:04.760 I'm from, you fail. I tried in the first place, 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:10.240 audible we boys. But if you in America, you fail, 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:13.600 you go, well missed it next Yeah, you know, And 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:16.359 I love that about That's why I kind of like, 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:18.639 I'm not a baseball for Thattica or any means, but 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:21.520 I kind of like I respect it in a weird way. 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:23.800 I think it as a as a real soul in 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:26.280 it that I that I'm. 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:27.399 Very emotional sports. 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:30.040 It is right and the idea of when you have 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:32.399 you you've been to games, right, so you know that 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:35.560 they particularly actually in the Midwest or in the West 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:39.920 where the sun hangs forever, and there's that vibe. It's 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:42.639 a very it's like it has a it has a 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.480 spiritual quality about it, which I've never been able to 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:49.879 achieve watching other sports. It's it's amazing. Yeah, it's a 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:56.640 great a theater about it. Yeah, spiritual theory. The Craig 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:00.040 Ferguson Fancy Rascals stand up to her continues throughout the 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:04.120 United States in twenty twenty four. For a full list 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:06.920 of dates and tickets, go to the Craig fergusonshow dot 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:13.600 com slash tour. See you out there. Talk to me 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:16.359 about meditating, because I'm trying to do it, and it's. 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.280 It's what do you find hard about it? Finding the 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:21.320 time or just calming your body down? 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:21.760 Are both? 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:25.320 You know? I feel like what it is is that 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:28.359 when I try and meditate, I do. I do do it, 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:31.280 and I try and do it every day. It's I 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:34.040 kind of put a value on it, like that was 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:37.919 a good meditation that was it worked then or it 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:41.399 didn't work then. But I suspect that's probably not the 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:44.399 correct go about that. 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:46.760 I think that's right right, Well, you said right there, 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:48.159 you know the correct way. I don't think there is 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:49.800 a correct way to do it. But the type of 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:53.960 meditation that I started practicing was TM transcendental meditation that 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:56.640 I'm actually dead. Director David Lynch set up a foundation 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:00.119 here in Los Angeles because he became so enamored with 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:02.080 this type of meditation and he wanted to make it 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:05.879 accessible to everyone, you know, kids and people who were 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:09.360 suffering trauma. So he basically set up this nonprofit and 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:11.600 you pay, like, say, I want to learn how to 0:20:11.600 --> 0:20:13.720 do translated on meditation. I find a week that I 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:17.000 want to do this, and I pay a fee and 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:19.199 that that money goes to help teaching other people how 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:22.360 to do it. So I did a week long seminar 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:26.240 with the David Lynch Foundation, and like, you go every day, 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:28.639 and I think I only had to go three or 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:30.160 four days, and it was just you know, you find 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:31.520 like I think it was like an hour and a 0:20:31.520 --> 0:20:32.840 half or two hours, but you have to be able 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:33.720 to do it every day. 0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:34.920 So I had to sort of carve it. 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:37.199 It was when I was shooting Modern Family, and so 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:38.800 I had to really make sure I had It was 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:40.560 my hiatus week and I didn't have any other work 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:42.960 to do, so I was able to clear out some 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:44.000 afternoons to do it. 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:46.960 But you know, they what it requires of you is. 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:49.840 Twenty minutes in the morning and twenty minutes in the 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:54.240 evening or the late late afternoon. And to be completely honest, 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:56.280 I've not been great about doing it twice a day, 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:57.760 and I'm trying to get back into the habit and 0:20:57.800 --> 0:20:59.159 I feel like what I need right now is a 0:20:59.200 --> 0:20:59.960 refresher course. 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:02.119 Is there a lot of instruction required. 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:03.639 That's the thing. 0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:06.840 I mean, you're you're, you're, you're assigned to mantra, and 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:10.159 you know, they teach you how to do it. And 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:12.080 I learned in a group of people and then I 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:14.560 had sort of one on one sessions as well. But 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.720 it's really just quieting your body down, repeating this mantra 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:20.800 in your head and then coming into the state. And 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:23.760 it does take practice to sort of tune out the noise. 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:26.439 And some people are really good now they you know, 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:29.040 and they've been this for so long they can do it, 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:31.120 you know, in a in a loud room and they 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:32.800 can still go into that state of meditation. 0:21:33.000 --> 0:21:34.000 I'm not that good. 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:38.440 I'm fascinated by that because I became kind of and 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:40.240 you know, I've been sober for a very long time, 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:44.200 so you know, prayer meditation is something that comes up 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:46.960 and there's an essential part of it and I've always 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:50.040 been fighting with because it was raised in Judeo Christian 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:53.000 you know environment. I'm like, prayer is fighting like you 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:57.160 say sorry and move on, and you're so big and 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:00.720 it's my fault. And over time I kind of, you know, 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:03.480 progressed a bit with that, But meditation always felt there's 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:05.040 a I don't know where I came up with this, 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:08.159 but I always felt a little indulgent, you know what 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:13.080 I mean. I felt like I was indulgent myself guilt. Well, yeah, 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:15.359 it's the same thing. It's just a different set of 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:18.200 a different set dressing the same guilt. I think that 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:21.760 that's that's right. It was like I shouldn't. Oh you 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.320 have to meditate. Oh, of course you do it because 0:22:24.359 --> 0:22:26.520 you can show business. Yes, you know. 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:29.679 I mean I think that, you know, living here in 0:22:29.680 --> 0:22:33.280 Los Angeles, that's certainly a trope to fall into. You know, 0:22:33.280 --> 0:22:35.320 if people here that you live in LA and you meditate. 0:22:35.400 --> 0:22:37.280 Oh boy, okay, well we know what you know. 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:39.560 Well, we know how much kill you get through. And 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:41.880 I don't live in LA anymore. 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:42.640 Where do you live now? 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:47.240 Well? New York and Scotland mostly. Really, I'm here to 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:50.280 do this, I well, this this podcast thing that I do. 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:53.359 I made a rule for myself that I wouldn't do 0:22:53.440 --> 0:22:55.480 any of them remotely, that I would sit across. I'm 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:57.800 so glad you. Yeah, well you do that with your 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:02.760 person as well. Difference I think it does because I 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:05.440 think during COVID when we all go into doing the 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:08.000 Zoom stuff because now they do pictures by Zoom all 0:23:08.000 --> 0:23:08.480 the time. 0:23:08.480 --> 0:23:10.200 Pitches by Zoom, auditions by Zoom. 0:23:10.240 --> 0:23:10.920 It's crazy. 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:11.280 Yeah. 0:23:11.440 --> 0:23:15.320 Do you hear the scandal recently about fake auditions on Zoom? No? Oh, 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:18.480 this is amazing. So a bunch of agents apparently again 0:23:18.480 --> 0:23:20.640 in trouble because they're saying that their clients or you're 0:23:20.720 --> 0:23:22.400 up for this big role, but you have to put 0:23:22.400 --> 0:23:24.920 your cell phone tape. They're not up for the big rule. 0:23:25.080 --> 0:23:27.240 But the clients put them cell phone tape. I think 0:23:27.240 --> 0:23:30.080 they've got a shot. So the agent looks like they're 0:23:30.080 --> 0:23:32.359 getting them these good things. 0:23:32.600 --> 0:23:34.760 I just said no to putting myself on tape for something. 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:37.679 Well, come on, you're Jesse Tyler, fucking fair. 0:23:37.800 --> 0:23:39.160 Talk about this. 0:23:39.560 --> 0:23:41.960 It was like the role and it's it was being 0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:45.680 directed by an actor who I very much admire is 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:48.679 also starring in it, and the role to me on paper, 0:23:49.440 --> 0:23:51.800 I only read the sides was sort of gay best 0:23:51.800 --> 0:23:54.359 friend one on one like there wasn't anything. 0:23:54.119 --> 0:23:57.640 Super interesting about it. But it was a well written part. 0:23:57.680 --> 0:23:59.840 It was sure not bad at all, and I was 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:02.359 only would have entertained the their job before it was 0:24:02.520 --> 0:24:05.080 offered to me, but he wanted me to put myself 0:24:05.080 --> 0:24:07.760 on tape ten pages of this sort of gay best 0:24:07.760 --> 0:24:09.600 friend one on one on tape, and I said, you know, 0:24:09.640 --> 0:24:12.040 I just feel like, after eleven years of Modern Family 0:24:12.119 --> 0:24:14.840 and Tony Award, like, I just feel like, when is it? 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:17.560 When have I proven myself? And I just said I'm 0:24:17.600 --> 0:24:18.840 not going to do it. And they said, well, he 0:24:18.920 --> 0:24:21.360 really needs to see see it. And I said, okay, well, 0:24:21.359 --> 0:24:22.960 I guess I'm not going to get this part. And 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:24.920 I just saw that it was announced that a friend 0:24:24.920 --> 0:24:27.360 of mine got the part, and I'm desperate to call 0:24:27.440 --> 0:24:29.480 my friend and be like, did you put yourself on table. 0:24:30.440 --> 0:24:31.520 Or he just offered to you? 0:24:31.600 --> 0:24:35.240 But you know it's that look. I've directed things as well, 0:24:35.280 --> 0:24:38.800 and I've I've done this into my shame. I shouldn't 0:24:38.840 --> 0:24:41.480 have done it. But it was a long time ago. 0:24:41.960 --> 0:24:43.960 But I asked for people to audition that I know 0:24:44.080 --> 0:24:46.000 they could do them. Yeah, I knew. I knew they 0:24:46.000 --> 0:24:47.399 could do the part and they would be great in 0:24:47.400 --> 0:24:49.760 the part. But I was the director and I was 0:24:50.240 --> 0:24:53.000 you know, I was being I was being a deck 0:24:53.560 --> 0:24:54.680 quite frankly. 0:24:54.920 --> 0:24:57.399 I don't mind auditioning for things, especially I feel like 0:24:57.480 --> 0:25:00.560 if I feel like, uh, it's thing that I'm not 0:25:00.560 --> 0:25:01.879 sure I can do because I want to make sure 0:25:01.880 --> 0:25:03.440 that we're on the same page, that's. 0:25:03.359 --> 0:25:06.239 Well, you're a proper, growing up actor who's no epetulant 0:25:06.640 --> 0:25:08.440 when it comes to edition, because that's what I think 0:25:08.480 --> 0:25:11.240 I was doing. It was like I was making people addition, 0:25:11.400 --> 0:25:13.040 it was some kind of weird parapley. I mean, it 0:25:13.040 --> 0:25:15.600 was a long time agoing out. I don't do that 0:25:15.920 --> 0:25:18.600 because direct and you've directed right a little bit. Yeah, yeah, 0:25:18.640 --> 0:25:22.719 I don't love it. Did you enjoy it? 0:25:23.040 --> 0:25:26.800 I didn't mind it. It's not my passion. I haven't 0:25:26.840 --> 0:25:28.840 directed anything of great importance. 0:25:28.880 --> 0:25:33.840 But you know, it's interesting because I thought for a 0:25:33.880 --> 0:25:35.959 while it was like, I think I could actually direct 0:25:36.000 --> 0:25:39.000 some episodes Modern Family, and Julie Bowen was the only 0:25:39.000 --> 0:25:43.600 cast member who actually directed us. And I ended up 0:25:43.640 --> 0:25:46.200 not even throwing my name into the ring. And I 0:25:46.200 --> 0:25:47.359 think they would have let me do it if I 0:25:47.400 --> 0:25:50.240 wanted to, but I just after, like, you know, this 0:25:50.359 --> 0:25:51.520 was like the end of the run, and after like 0:25:51.600 --> 0:25:54.639 nine or ten years of being with this this cast, 0:25:54.720 --> 0:25:56.280 I just felt like I didn't want to step out 0:25:56.280 --> 0:25:59.240 of that role of being a co star or a 0:25:59.440 --> 0:26:02.359 co acting partner and into this directorial position, like I 0:26:02.400 --> 0:26:05.800 could not picture myself like giving Ed O'Neal direction. 0:26:06.400 --> 0:26:08.200 I just couldn't do it. But yet I think I 0:26:08.200 --> 0:26:09.480 would have been really good at it. 0:26:09.560 --> 0:26:12.000 So I think, well, it changes the family dynamic. I mean, 0:26:12.000 --> 0:26:13.480 if you were in a cast that long, it's a 0:26:13.560 --> 0:26:14.919 kind of familial sh and it. 0:26:14.920 --> 0:26:16.720 Would have been nice to be surrounded by people who 0:26:16.720 --> 0:26:19.720 trusted me and the crew that already I already knew. 0:26:19.920 --> 0:26:22.240 And the thing is, Julie Bowen did a great job. 0:26:22.480 --> 0:26:30.400 I could see Julie being great. She's so organized, she's 0:26:30.440 --> 0:26:34.000 a very good let's get it done. She was great. Yeah, 0:26:34.040 --> 0:26:37.120 I can imagine she would be. She has a podcast 0:26:37.280 --> 0:26:39.880 as well, of course she does. Yeah, I think who does. 0:26:40.520 --> 0:26:47.120 It's a bit like having a tattoo or our blog stage. Yes, 0:26:48.320 --> 0:26:51.080 tell me about your podcast that you do. Then dinner 0:26:51.280 --> 0:26:54.240 with dinners on me? Dinner's on me. People eat food 0:26:54.280 --> 0:26:55.200 from your naked. 0:26:55.040 --> 0:26:58.600 Body, not dinners on me physically. 0:26:58.200 --> 0:27:03.800 Honest, thataway, like it's like the people eat from you. 0:27:04.280 --> 0:27:08.680 Although yeah, that could be an interesting twist. No, dinner's 0:27:08.680 --> 0:27:10.440 on me meaning I pick up the bill or rather 0:27:10.520 --> 0:27:16.040 Sony picks up the bill because they're my producers. And yes, 0:27:16.520 --> 0:27:18.040 I take I take a friend out to to a 0:27:18.119 --> 0:27:20.919 meal and we have a conversation over dinner and what 0:27:21.040 --> 0:27:23.320 I love about it and what always gives I have 0:27:23.400 --> 0:27:25.840 several friends who have podcasts as well, and some of 0:27:25.880 --> 0:27:28.240 them have been on the show, and you know they 0:27:28.840 --> 0:27:30.919 Doak Shepherd was just on an episode, and you know 0:27:31.000 --> 0:27:34.480 he has obviously Armchair Expert, which is such a popular podcast, 0:27:34.840 --> 0:27:37.359 and he arrived at the restaurant and he was just 0:27:37.480 --> 0:27:41.959 he couldn't let the micromanaging go. He was worried about sound. 0:27:42.040 --> 0:27:45.040 He was worried about, you know, the the ambient noises. 0:27:45.040 --> 0:27:47.560 He was worried about the fact that a third person 0:27:47.600 --> 0:27:49.359 was coming over to the table to like give us 0:27:49.359 --> 0:27:51.280 our menus and tell us a special He was like, oh, 0:27:51.359 --> 0:27:51.959 what's happening. 0:27:51.960 --> 0:27:53.080 I was like, well, he's a director. 0:27:53.119 --> 0:27:53.679 He's a director. 0:27:54.880 --> 0:27:57.240 But That's what I love about my podcast is it 0:27:57.280 --> 0:27:59.360 is feels very it feels very fly on the wall. 0:27:59.400 --> 0:28:02.320 You feel like at this you're the third chair at 0:28:02.320 --> 0:28:04.399 this table and you're having lunch with us or dinner 0:28:04.440 --> 0:28:06.160 with us. And I love that you hear the way 0:28:06.160 --> 0:28:07.760 to come over with the table and get the specials 0:28:07.760 --> 0:28:10.120 and you hear about our dietary restrictions, and like it's 0:28:10.119 --> 0:28:12.560 just a normal dinner service except for it happens to 0:28:12.600 --> 0:28:13.400 be recorded. 0:28:13.560 --> 0:28:16.119 You go to like Chili's and all of dark, or 0:28:16.280 --> 0:28:16.800 you go to like. 0:28:17.760 --> 0:28:20.520 Fancy usually we'll not always super fancy. 0:28:20.560 --> 0:28:23.640 I you know, I took Weird All Yankovic was a 0:28:23.680 --> 0:28:27.000 recent guest and he's vegan, and I took him to 0:28:27.359 --> 0:28:30.600 uh Cafe Gratitude here in Los Angeles, which is, you know, 0:28:30.640 --> 0:28:34.360 a very casual dining place that has amazing vegan food. Uh, 0:28:34.359 --> 0:28:36.560 and obviously he had been there before. And then I 0:28:36.600 --> 0:28:39.360 took Sophia Vagara to Dante, which is this beautiful new 0:28:39.400 --> 0:28:41.400 restaurant on top of the hotel. 0:28:41.080 --> 0:28:41.880 In Beverly Hills. 0:28:41.880 --> 0:28:44.000 So you know, it's just sort of a mix of 0:28:44.000 --> 0:28:47.160 where I think these people would enjoy and restaurant. I 0:28:47.320 --> 0:28:50.120 choose it with sometimes the help of my guests, and 0:28:51.000 --> 0:28:52.520 I try and match up, like where I think they 0:28:52.600 --> 0:28:53.080 might like to go. 0:28:53.160 --> 0:28:55.280 I'm going to tell you no Yankovic story. Tell me 0:28:55.360 --> 0:28:58.720 so favorite. I love this. So out comes to visit 0:28:58.800 --> 0:29:02.640 me in Scotland, this very old house in Scotland, and 0:29:03.080 --> 0:29:07.120 just before your eyes, I'm in the basement slash dungeon 0:29:07.320 --> 0:29:11.560 of this old house and I find an accordion, an 0:29:11.600 --> 0:29:15.320 old ACCORDI like an old, fancy accordion, and I bring 0:29:15.320 --> 0:29:18.280 it up the stairs and and Al arrived like later 0:29:18.360 --> 0:29:20.480 that day, and he's like, oh yeah, this is a 0:29:21.240 --> 0:29:24.720 sprinkledanger forty eight or something. And he fixed it. He 0:29:24.840 --> 0:29:26.960 fixed it, fixed it well, he said, you know, I've 0:29:27.000 --> 0:29:28.280 fixed it as much as I can. 0:29:28.800 --> 0:29:29.600 That's incredible. 0:29:29.720 --> 0:29:31.600 But it was like I couldn't believe it an accordion, 0:29:31.680 --> 0:29:34.520 and then I'll arrived. It had a spiritual. 0:29:34.040 --> 0:29:36.040 Compati is incredible. 0:29:35.720 --> 0:29:41.400 MESSI Al Yankovic. I think it's like amazing happened that. 0:29:41.480 --> 0:29:43.320 I just I really told you the story to let 0:29:43.360 --> 0:29:46.480 you know that Al Yankovic show enough. 0:29:46.640 --> 0:29:48.440 I met him for the first time at his house 0:29:48.480 --> 0:29:50.320 in Hawaii. I don't know if he was if it 0:29:50.360 --> 0:29:51.640 was his house, if he was renting it, or if 0:29:51.680 --> 0:29:52.240 he actually. 0:29:52.120 --> 0:29:54.640 Oh yes, because the reason was in Scotland is because 0:29:54.800 --> 0:29:57.080 the volcanic ash thing was going on Hawaii and he 0:29:57.080 --> 0:29:57.600 couldn't go. 0:29:57.560 --> 0:29:59.960 There, gotcha, Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah yeah yeah. 0:30:00.160 --> 0:30:05.400 So the only reason I so you went to his 0:30:05.480 --> 0:30:06.880 houseband Hawaii? Yeah? Yeah. 0:30:07.160 --> 0:30:09.320 He and Eric Stone Street were kind of buddies. Uh. 0:30:09.560 --> 0:30:12.440 Eric was a music video of his Yeah. 0:30:12.920 --> 0:30:16.320 And Eric and I happened to be in not only 0:30:16.320 --> 0:30:19.200 in Hawaii, but at the same resort with our significant 0:30:19.240 --> 0:30:21.640 others at the time. Mine I went on to marry 0:30:21.640 --> 0:30:25.000 who's not my husband, but Eric was. I was dating 0:30:25.000 --> 0:30:27.000 his the girlfen he was dating at the time, So 0:30:27.160 --> 0:30:30.160 we were all at the same resort. And uh, I 0:30:30.200 --> 0:30:34.240 mean just totally by happened. Chance happened, stance happened, chance happen. 0:30:35.040 --> 0:30:40.920 It's probably correct. Chance stands is. I was like, you're 0:30:40.960 --> 0:30:44.920 about to start a number. Yea happened by Yeah. 0:30:44.960 --> 0:30:45.160 Yeah. 0:30:45.760 --> 0:30:47.920 I have a real good habit of making up boards 0:30:48.280 --> 0:30:49.960 and mispronouncing things all the time. 0:30:51.040 --> 0:30:51.600 Don chance. 0:30:52.040 --> 0:30:53.840 Uh So anyways, Eric like, do you want to go 0:30:53.880 --> 0:30:57.280 have dinner with Alan Susan his wife, And uh, I 0:30:57.320 --> 0:31:00.640 was like, yeah, let's let's meet them, and he all 0:31:00.640 --> 0:31:01.480 went out to dinner together. 0:31:01.720 --> 0:31:03.880 It's such a sweet, sweet guy. Yeah, he's lovely. He's 0:31:03.920 --> 0:31:06.200 really a lovely man. So let's talk a little bit 0:31:06.240 --> 0:31:07.800 a bit more than family then, because it's come up 0:31:07.840 --> 0:31:10.160 a couple of times, it's one of those like it'll 0:31:10.200 --> 0:31:13.200 be a legacy thing for you for your entire life. No, 0:31:13.320 --> 0:31:15.000 of course. I mean it's like me doing the late 0:31:15.080 --> 0:31:17.520 night show is like, no matter what you do, it's 0:31:17.520 --> 0:31:20.239 going to committed the conversation. It doesn't matter what you do. 0:31:20.360 --> 0:31:23.960 Now it's a thing. Yeah, did you Were you aware 0:31:24.000 --> 0:31:26.400 of it at the time when it started out that 0:31:26.520 --> 0:31:27.760 you were going in that way. 0:31:27.960 --> 0:31:29.920 It felt I mean, I'm sure you felt the same 0:31:29.920 --> 0:31:31.200 way when you were doing your show. You know, when 0:31:31.200 --> 0:31:32.880 you're in the bubble of it, you just kind of 0:31:33.160 --> 0:31:33.560 got to. 0:31:33.480 --> 0:31:34.000 Do the job. 0:31:34.160 --> 0:31:35.040 Ye's every day. 0:31:35.120 --> 0:31:37.920 Yeah, It's interesting because now we've been off the air 0:31:38.040 --> 0:31:43.240 for almost four years, and I find that a new 0:31:43.240 --> 0:31:46.200 group of a new generation of people are discovering it 0:31:46.960 --> 0:31:51.800 and or people haven't been watching or like watching it again. 0:31:52.640 --> 0:31:55.360 I feel like there's a new wave of I don't know, 0:31:55.880 --> 0:31:58.520 I'm receiving a lot of love from it from strangers 0:31:58.560 --> 0:31:59.760 in a way that I hadn't before. 0:32:00.000 --> 0:32:01.520 It's a great show, which is oh, well. 0:32:01.360 --> 0:32:01.680 Thank you. 0:32:01.800 --> 0:32:04.120 I mean, I'm really proud of it, but I I 0:32:04.160 --> 0:32:06.760 think now that like I'm out of it, I really feel, 0:32:06.920 --> 0:32:08.920 oh gosh, this is kind of a big thing, and 0:32:08.960 --> 0:32:10.800 I can compare it to the shows that I grew 0:32:10.840 --> 0:32:12.920 up watching that I love so much, like Friends and 0:32:12.960 --> 0:32:16.680 Will and Grace and uh, you know Steinfeld, Like I 0:32:16.720 --> 0:32:19.560 adore these shows, and I was like, oh, guy, I 0:32:19.600 --> 0:32:21.680 guess I am that for for a lot of people. 0:32:21.720 --> 0:32:23.440 I am that that thing, or I was part of 0:32:23.480 --> 0:32:25.479 that show for a lot of people. But when it was, 0:32:25.560 --> 0:32:27.280 when it was happening, it just felt like, you know, 0:32:27.880 --> 0:32:31.160 it was a job. It was a great job, and 0:32:31.240 --> 0:32:34.200 you know, we were It's it's interesting because we were 0:32:34.240 --> 0:32:36.240 we could be because we were on for so long. 0:32:36.800 --> 0:32:39.320 We went through that whole trajectory of like, you know, 0:32:39.320 --> 0:32:41.280 we were the new show and everyone was excited about us, 0:32:41.320 --> 0:32:43.360 and then we were winning Emmy Awards and then like 0:32:43.640 --> 0:32:45.520 we kind of sort of felt like, oh god, people 0:32:45.520 --> 0:32:47.360 are maybe getting a little sick of us. And then 0:32:47.400 --> 0:32:49.680 we stopped winning the Emmy Awards, and then it was like, oh, 0:32:49.840 --> 0:32:52.560 Modern Family's gone downhill, and you know, you go through 0:32:52.560 --> 0:32:54.920 the whole thing, and they've jumped the shark and then 0:32:55.240 --> 0:32:57.040 and then the show's done, and then it's like, oh 0:32:57.040 --> 0:32:58.920 my god, but we missed the show so much and 0:32:58.960 --> 0:33:00.479 we wish it would do a reboot, and now we're 0:33:00.480 --> 0:33:02.080 in that place like people wanting the show to come 0:33:02.120 --> 0:33:05.400 back so it's just, you know, I feel like, because 0:33:06.120 --> 0:33:08.480 because it is a blove show, we're going to see 0:33:08.520 --> 0:33:10.680 all those different phases of love for the show and. 0:33:10.680 --> 0:33:12.720 Be interested that comes back because you had kids on 0:33:12.800 --> 0:33:15.440 that show. Of course, kids do what they do as 0:33:15.480 --> 0:33:18.680 they grow up and grow up, and then everyone's like, wait, 0:33:18.760 --> 0:33:21.480 why isn't Manny And Manny's like six foot five with 0:33:21.520 --> 0:33:22.080 a bad. 0:33:23.080 --> 0:33:24.960 Well, you know, and like, I still keep in touch 0:33:25.000 --> 0:33:26.760 with Aubrey who played my daughter on the show, and 0:33:26.840 --> 0:33:29.440 they're still close, and I've gone I went to her 0:33:29.480 --> 0:33:33.240 school play a few months ago, and I'm going to 0:33:33.240 --> 0:33:36.000 go to her school musical that's coming up soon, and 0:33:36.120 --> 0:33:38.400 I love supporting her. Her mom was like, you don't you know, 0:33:38.480 --> 0:33:39.880 that's really sweet of you to come to this. It's like, 0:33:39.920 --> 0:33:42.120 I feel like, you know, I'm proud of her. I 0:33:43.000 --> 0:33:45.959 met her when she was three years old, and I 0:33:46.000 --> 0:33:47.520 have a three year old now, and it's like I 0:33:47.560 --> 0:33:49.600 can't even you know. That's part of the reason why 0:33:49.600 --> 0:33:51.960 I feel so connected to hers. Like the age that 0:33:52.040 --> 0:33:53.760 Beckett is now is when I met Aubrey, and like, 0:33:54.120 --> 0:33:56.360 it's just such a there's so much happening in that 0:33:56.400 --> 0:33:58.800 little brain right now that I entered her life at 0:33:58.800 --> 0:34:00.800 that point, like, I want to be there for all 0:34:00.800 --> 0:34:02.880 these big moments because she means something to me. 0:34:02.960 --> 0:34:06.800 You know, it's very special, it's nice. It is nice. 0:34:06.960 --> 0:34:10.000 It's a funny thing though, as you mentioned it with children, 0:34:10.080 --> 0:34:12.719 because now you know you're a very busy parent and 0:34:12.880 --> 0:34:16.880 that very busy part of parenting, which in my experience 0:34:16.920 --> 0:34:19.920 so far, there isn't a not busy part of parenting. 0:34:21.040 --> 0:34:24.239 You'll never sleep well again ever, Like my oldest is 0:34:24.280 --> 0:34:27.040 coming up on twenty three. I'm like, oh, it's okay, Yeah, 0:34:27.480 --> 0:34:29.160 trying to go to sleep, and I hope he's okay. 0:34:29.200 --> 0:34:30.439 I kind of hope. I always feel that way. 0:34:30.560 --> 0:34:32.880 Yeah, I guess. But the thing is it changed me 0:34:32.880 --> 0:34:36.200 as a person alone, becoming Did you just stop drinking 0:34:36.680 --> 0:34:39.160 when I was twenty nine? Oh okay, so this is 0:34:39.200 --> 0:34:42.000 before kids. Oh yeah, I was ten years sober before 0:34:42.040 --> 0:34:46.440 my son was Wow. So like I survived and I 0:34:46.520 --> 0:34:48.920 go better. The ten years before is one. But I 0:34:48.960 --> 0:34:52.840 don't think I became anyone I really would like to 0:34:52.840 --> 0:34:56.480 be until at least my first kid came along. And 0:34:56.520 --> 0:34:59.160 then I was like, okay, wait, wait a minute, I 0:34:59.760 --> 0:35:01.760 chan used to lot. Did it do it to you? Yeah. 0:35:02.000 --> 0:35:05.600 I mean the Oscars were last night and Emma Stone 0:35:05.880 --> 0:35:09.040 one Best Actress and she said something about her daughter, 0:35:09.120 --> 0:35:12.160 who I think she said it was three, and she's like, 0:35:12.200 --> 0:35:14.200 you know, our world is technical her now. I was like, 0:35:14.239 --> 0:35:17.279 oh god, that's so, that's exactly what it is. 0:35:17.480 --> 0:35:28.200 Yeah. Yeah, I get nostalgic for the kids shows that 0:35:28.239 --> 0:35:31.200 I used to watch, Like when Mila was very young, 0:35:31.760 --> 0:35:34.040 I used to watch Teley Toby's with him and I 0:35:34.080 --> 0:35:38.319 was like, oh my god, I wish I still smoked. Yeah, 0:35:38.760 --> 0:35:41.320 it's be great and it's like and I still remember 0:35:41.360 --> 0:35:43.560 all the Talley Toby's names. Is that still a thing? 0:35:43.920 --> 0:35:46.320 I think that was so now, but it's like vintage. 0:35:46.480 --> 0:35:49.319 Yeah, yeah, it's it's like maybe the cool two year 0:35:49.360 --> 0:35:52.719 old watch Toby's. That's right. I don't know. I loved it. 0:35:52.840 --> 0:35:55.480 I mean it was it's so ahead of his time. Well, 0:35:55.520 --> 0:35:58.360 if you look at it, lacky, it's crazy. 0:35:58.480 --> 0:36:01.200 It is made for people who are on Hashi ship. 0:36:01.080 --> 0:36:02.719 I think so. I think there was a lot of 0:36:02.760 --> 0:36:05.640 hash involved in the development of that. You were never 0:36:05.719 --> 0:36:07.279 called to any of that. Where are you drugs and 0:36:07.320 --> 0:36:08.959 alcohol and everything? No. 0:36:09.120 --> 0:36:13.600 I partake in weeds sometimes, but mostly it's like it's 0:36:13.680 --> 0:36:15.200 you know, very very casually and. 0:36:15.520 --> 0:36:20.720 Weeds like having a podcast. Yeah, Cannon does it. I don't. 0:36:21.040 --> 0:36:25.040 I actually I'm very I'm no good around it. 0:36:25.280 --> 0:36:27.040 Yeah, weed, people aren't. 0:36:27.520 --> 0:36:29.440 I get angry about it because I'm in New York 0:36:29.480 --> 0:36:32.000 a lot and it's the street stink of it. 0:36:32.239 --> 0:36:35.000 Yeah yeah, oh yeah, I know. Now that it's legalized, 0:36:35.440 --> 0:36:36.560 it's kind of everywhere. 0:36:36.760 --> 0:36:39.040 And I'm like, and I see an old fashioned drunk 0:36:39.120 --> 0:36:43.480 with a bottle of you know, touching a paper bag 0:36:43.560 --> 0:36:45.360 and a paper bag and why does he have to 0:36:45.480 --> 0:36:48.239 hide Yeah, his scouch in a paper bag and he 0:36:48.320 --> 0:36:50.600 smoked weed, and everybody else I guess to inhale it 0:36:51.160 --> 0:36:55.160 or people will go cigarettes get annoyed. But if it's weed, 0:36:55.200 --> 0:36:56.160 they're like, oh yeah, you know. 0:36:56.160 --> 0:36:58.279 I mean I was young enough when I moved to 0:36:58.280 --> 0:37:00.239 New York that I still remember, you know, it was 0:37:00.360 --> 0:37:01.800 legal to smoke inside restaurants. 0:37:02.040 --> 0:37:06.799 Oh yeah, that was the era I. 0:37:05.560 --> 0:37:08.160 You know, where there was a smoking section and you know, 0:37:08.200 --> 0:37:09.000 it didn't really matter. 0:37:09.360 --> 0:37:14.560 I can remember smoking sections on airplanes, yes, like oh 0:37:14.640 --> 0:37:19.840 my god, the idea absolutely so dangerous, dangerous. 0:37:19.760 --> 0:37:24.279 Like oh no, can we why do airplanes still have 0:37:24.320 --> 0:37:27.480 the little cigarette dispensers because. 0:37:27.160 --> 0:37:29.400 They're old, they look new. 0:37:29.400 --> 0:37:31.759 And I just feel like they they're creating new airplanes 0:37:31.800 --> 0:37:32.839 with these little. 0:37:32.920 --> 0:37:34.920 Well maybe they maybe there are certain markets in the 0:37:34.920 --> 0:37:37.120 world where you're like smoke. I don't think. 0:37:37.200 --> 0:37:38.000 I don't think so. 0:37:38.320 --> 0:37:42.400 I think what it is is they're not new. They're clean, right, okay, 0:37:42.520 --> 0:37:44.200 I think. I mean they're not on the seats. That's 0:37:44.200 --> 0:37:46.120 when it's really old. But like in the bathrooms there's 0:37:46.239 --> 0:37:49.440 like the ones on the door. Sometimes it's as fascinated 0:37:49.440 --> 0:37:51.040 by that. Maybe I don't know. I was on a 0:37:51.080 --> 0:37:54.839 plane yesterday, which I didn't No, I don't think I 0:37:54.880 --> 0:37:58.279 saw any cigarette anything, but they do say that thing 0:37:58.320 --> 0:38:00.320 about you know, I had a friend of theater rector 0:38:00.360 --> 0:38:07.200 actually who who couldn't take a long flight without sneaking 0:38:07.280 --> 0:38:10.040 a smoke in the bathroom. And I was like, man, 0:38:10.120 --> 0:38:13.239 they will put you in jail. And he's like, you know, 0:38:13.320 --> 0:38:14.719 I just take a couple of puffs and then I 0:38:14.760 --> 0:38:15.200 put it out. 0:38:15.239 --> 0:38:19.200 I'm like, there's some sort of a smoke detector in there. 0:38:19.080 --> 0:38:20.799 That he says that if you put your head right 0:38:20.840 --> 0:38:27.520 inside the bathroom, and I'm like, no, no, that's so dangerous. 0:38:29.320 --> 0:38:32.600 But but you never you smoke a little weed and 0:38:32.640 --> 0:38:34.400 that's it. 0:38:34.600 --> 0:38:35.759 Mostly audibles too. 0:38:36.120 --> 0:38:39.720 Yeah, that's the way people do it now. I couldn't 0:38:39.719 --> 0:38:45.000 do it. Any kind of cannabis product made me very antsy. 0:38:45.280 --> 0:38:46.680 Yeah, just sometimes tells me sleep. 0:38:46.920 --> 0:38:50.040 Yeah, well you got your meditation for that now. Plus 0:38:50.160 --> 0:38:52.560 you don't get to sleep now. Now you've got kids, 0:38:52.600 --> 0:38:56.320 young children. Do you have theatrical ambitions for your children? 0:38:56.320 --> 0:38:57.920 Do you have any rooms about that? 0:38:59.560 --> 0:38:59.880 Oh? 0:39:00.360 --> 0:39:04.279 It's you know because I I it's interesting because I 0:39:04.480 --> 0:39:07.120 I was just talking about Aubrey, who I met when 0:39:07.120 --> 0:39:11.040 she was Beckett's age, And I can't imagine, first of all, 0:39:11.239 --> 0:39:16.440 doing the show Modern Family without Aubrey. I can't imagine that, right, So, yeah, 0:39:16.560 --> 0:39:19.120 she's part of the experience. But I also can't imagine 0:39:19.840 --> 0:39:22.239 bringing Beckett into an audition. I just don't think you, 0:39:22.320 --> 0:39:24.400 first of all, would do that. Well, like, he's a 0:39:24.400 --> 0:39:28.240 great kid. I just don't think he has. But also 0:39:28.400 --> 0:39:30.480 just asking it, you know, it's a lot to ask 0:39:30.520 --> 0:39:30.719 of a. 0:39:30.760 --> 0:39:34.080 Kid, I think. So I wouldn't let my boys do it. Yeah, 0:39:34.160 --> 0:39:36.720 And both of them were interested, and I'm like, nah, really, 0:39:36.680 --> 0:39:37.759 the youngest ones. 0:39:38.000 --> 0:39:39.240 What age did they show interest? 0:39:40.640 --> 0:39:42.280 Well, they were around it all the time. 0:39:42.520 --> 0:39:42.680 You know. 0:39:42.800 --> 0:39:45.080 I mean it was like I had I mean, I 0:39:45.120 --> 0:39:47.880 had the Wiggles on Late Night show because Milo liked 0:39:47.920 --> 0:39:49.719 him when he was two, right, you know, it was 0:39:49.719 --> 0:39:52.400 like they were always always been part of the family dynamic. 0:39:52.680 --> 0:39:54.960 And I said, you know, Milo, who's twenty three now, 0:39:55.080 --> 0:39:58.920 and is you know this, he graduated at SVA and 0:39:59.080 --> 0:40:02.040 animation and he has his own animation studio and he's 0:40:02.280 --> 0:40:06.840 you know, he's uh so, he's so in that world 0:40:07.440 --> 0:40:09.920 that I kind of said, no, not until you decide 0:40:09.920 --> 0:40:11.319 to be in it. But he did decide to go 0:40:11.360 --> 0:40:14.239 in it, right right, But I didn't want to. I 0:40:14.239 --> 0:40:16.160 didn't want to push it. And my youngest boy, yeah, 0:40:16.680 --> 0:40:18.560 I have the same feeling, like if you're old enough 0:40:18.560 --> 0:40:19.600 and you want to do sure. 0:40:19.920 --> 0:40:23.879 So for me it was theater was something that brought 0:40:23.920 --> 0:40:26.080 me out of my shell. Like I saw a play 0:40:26.120 --> 0:40:29.360 with my mom when I was very young. I remember 0:40:29.400 --> 0:40:30.840 sitting in the audience thinking, oh, I don't want to 0:40:30.840 --> 0:40:31.960 be sitting in the audience. I want to be on 0:40:32.000 --> 0:40:34.200 stage doing them what they're doing for the people in 0:40:34.200 --> 0:40:36.640 the audience. And I asked my mom if I could 0:40:36.680 --> 0:40:38.439 join the local I mean, it was a community theater 0:40:38.520 --> 0:40:41.520 group wasn't anything professional, but like, uh, you know, I 0:40:41.520 --> 0:40:43.799 think she was sort of shocked that I wanted to 0:40:43.840 --> 0:40:46.880 do that. And I've now and I think it was 0:40:46.880 --> 0:40:48.480 so good for me, and it really gave me a 0:40:48.560 --> 0:40:51.000 sense of like community, and I was like, ok, here 0:40:51.040 --> 0:40:53.160 are my people, and like I felt very comfortable around 0:40:53.520 --> 0:40:55.560 this group of kids who are interested in this thing, 0:40:55.600 --> 0:40:57.239 Whereas you know, at school, I didn't think I had 0:40:57.280 --> 0:41:01.320 that that network of people that I trusted. And uh, 0:41:01.480 --> 0:41:04.840 you know, I've taken Becket, my son, to you know, 0:41:05.280 --> 0:41:08.399 kids shows, but like live performances of things, and he's 0:41:08.440 --> 0:41:12.399 a really attentive audience member and he loves he loves 0:41:12.400 --> 0:41:15.640 seeing live theater. I mean, listen, I'm taking to kids shows. 0:41:15.640 --> 0:41:17.920 But still and I feel like if he wanted to 0:41:19.040 --> 0:41:23.040 explore that, I would say, okay, I'm just kind of 0:41:23.080 --> 0:41:25.840 knowing that that's what I did. But yeah, it's tricky 0:41:25.880 --> 0:41:28.960 because we live in Los Angeles. Like the opportunities are there, 0:41:29.160 --> 0:41:31.080 like I wanted to like bring them in and I 0:41:31.120 --> 0:41:34.239 have an audition for something, but I just I don't know. 0:41:34.360 --> 0:41:37.399 It's uh, it's that tricky balance of like it's an 0:41:37.480 --> 0:41:40.359 occupation I personally love so much, but at the same time, 0:41:40.400 --> 0:41:43.279 I know how complated and terrible it can be. 0:41:43.480 --> 0:41:46.120 Well, it can be very painful. The rejection thing and 0:41:46.160 --> 0:41:50.600 the idea that that I mean, look, everyone, everyone swings 0:41:50.600 --> 0:41:55.640 and missus. Everyone you know, experiences rejection and business everyone. Yeah, 0:41:55.680 --> 0:41:58.719 but I just couldn't bear it for my children, the 0:41:58.840 --> 0:42:02.080 idea that they uh, you know, someone somebody would let 0:42:02.120 --> 0:42:05.360 them know they went right, the right, right, Like I 0:42:05.360 --> 0:42:07.799 couldn't be all. But maybe that's more about me than 0:42:07.840 --> 0:42:08.879 as about we had. 0:42:09.160 --> 0:42:12.160 You know, we our cast of Modern Family won four 0:42:12.320 --> 0:42:14.799 SAG Awards, I think for our second, third, fourth, and 0:42:14.840 --> 0:42:18.840 fifth season Aubrey again in place. My daughter joined us, 0:42:18.880 --> 0:42:21.960 I think on the third season, so she had two 0:42:22.040 --> 0:42:26.440 SAG Awards, you know, like that's she was six and 0:42:26.480 --> 0:42:28.960 she had two SAG Awards, like the collective weight of 0:42:29.000 --> 0:42:31.200 the both awards were double her weight. 0:42:31.480 --> 0:42:32.319 It's a human being. 0:42:32.920 --> 0:42:36.520 And I remember the year we didn't win, uh for 0:42:36.560 --> 0:42:40.520 the first time, she was very upset. She cried and 0:42:40.600 --> 0:42:42.799 she was like she climbed on her mom's lap and 0:42:42.840 --> 0:42:47.560 she was bawling. And I feel like it was Francis McDermot, 0:42:47.640 --> 0:42:49.280 who was sitting at the table next to us. 0:42:49.600 --> 0:42:51.839 I think it was the year of like no mad 0:42:51.960 --> 0:42:53.960 Land or one of the one of the shows she won. 0:42:55.200 --> 0:42:58.400 And she looked over at Aubry because uh, disappointment only 0:42:58.440 --> 0:43:00.359 gets worse as you get older, like she was so. 0:43:01.560 --> 0:43:05.279 Jaded by it all, and I just thought, well, it's true. Yeah, 0:43:06.440 --> 0:43:08.560 but I guess what you learn to do when you're 0:43:08.600 --> 0:43:12.400 older is is you compartmentalize and it's not personal. And 0:43:13.040 --> 0:43:16.520 I mean to any degree, I mean not always, but 0:43:17.680 --> 0:43:20.879 I mean look, when I hear no, I'm still not great. Yeah, yeah, 0:43:21.040 --> 0:43:25.640 I mean I'm still so I won't even ask. It's like, no, 0:43:25.719 --> 0:43:28.200 I don't. I don't ask because I might hear no. 0:43:28.920 --> 0:43:33.640 I think that it's it's a good thing though, for 0:43:33.360 --> 0:43:38.040 a for a parent to try and protect children from 0:43:38.080 --> 0:43:40.759 from that kind of thing people talk about. You know, 0:43:40.880 --> 0:43:42.640 well I was spank as a kid and didn't do 0:43:42.680 --> 0:43:46.160 me any harmy, didn't it. I mean, listen to you, 0:43:46.160 --> 0:43:48.240 you know, like, I don't know, do you have any 0:43:48.920 --> 0:43:50.560 do you have any kind of hard and fast rules 0:43:50.560 --> 0:43:55.759 about parenting that you find controversial or others find controversial? 0:43:55.840 --> 0:43:59.360 May I don't think so, I mean who knows. But 0:43:59.600 --> 0:44:02.759 I know when Justin and I first, you know, told 0:44:02.760 --> 0:44:04.719 our family that we were pregnant, were like, you know, 0:44:06.239 --> 0:44:09.160 no iPads, no screens in this house, and of course 0:44:09.239 --> 0:44:11.960 not and you know, yeah, good luck with that, right, 0:44:12.040 --> 0:44:13.080 And I'll. 0:44:12.719 --> 0:44:15.600 Never ever meet a better parent than somebody who's just 0:44:15.680 --> 0:44:16.919 about to have their first kids. 0:44:17.280 --> 0:44:21.080 I know, you know, these these things that we think 0:44:21.120 --> 0:44:21.640 we're gonna do. 0:44:21.800 --> 0:44:26.920 It's but anyway, Yeah, we definitely pivoted quickly. And I 0:44:26.960 --> 0:44:29.160 don't think that I do anything super controversial. 0:44:29.320 --> 0:44:32.319 Uh uh, they're they're you know, I mean, well, I 0:44:32.320 --> 0:44:35.080 guess look, you're you're you're a two daddy family, is 0:44:35.160 --> 0:44:38.040 they say in the in the. 0:44:37.400 --> 0:44:40.920 Elementary schools in LA. That's no controversial around here, though, 0:44:41.000 --> 0:44:41.200 was it? 0:44:41.320 --> 0:44:42.000 I don't think so. 0:44:42.800 --> 0:44:46.399 That's as parts of it, maybe maybe further further into the. 0:44:46.840 --> 0:44:47.799 Yeah, yeah, I mean he said. 0:44:48.000 --> 0:44:50.840 Becket did ask us about you know, a mom, like 0:44:50.920 --> 0:44:54.160 where like why do some people have moms and some 0:44:54.200 --> 0:44:54.760 people don't? 0:44:54.800 --> 0:44:58.400 You know? It was It's interesting, I guess, because do 0:44:58.440 --> 0:45:00.600 you have to try and explain I don't know how. 0:45:00.640 --> 0:45:02.040 I mean, look, I haven't been in the position. I 0:45:02.040 --> 0:45:03.880 don't know what does one do. Well. 0:45:03.920 --> 0:45:05.760 We just explained that there are different types of families 0:45:05.800 --> 0:45:07.360 and so people have you known want a beach, and 0:45:07.400 --> 0:45:09.360 some people have just one mom one dad, and some 0:45:09.400 --> 0:45:10.680 people have two dads and two months. 0:45:10.960 --> 0:45:11.920 Yeah, he gets it. 0:45:11.960 --> 0:45:13.920 I think that's all you didn't need to do. I 0:45:14.000 --> 0:45:15.560 think to go too much deeper than that. 0:45:15.800 --> 0:45:18.200 Yeah, we went a bit like that because Megan and 0:45:18.280 --> 0:45:22.000 I got married when Milo was uh, well we got 0:45:22.040 --> 0:45:24.719 together when he was four, so he's very young and 0:45:24.840 --> 0:45:29.640 didn't quite understand the like, well, how come mom lives 0:45:29.800 --> 0:45:32.680 over there? Megan's like mom, but she lives in the 0:45:32.760 --> 0:45:35.840 house year And there was a great book about it. 0:45:35.920 --> 0:45:38.080 There's a couple of good kid books about it, and 0:45:38.160 --> 0:45:41.239 there's lots of different Love Makes Families or something some 0:45:41.320 --> 0:45:44.879 guy called Todd something. I remember, the great kid's book 0:45:45.280 --> 0:45:48.480 about all different like two daddy families, two mommy families too, 0:45:48.560 --> 0:45:51.000 you know, one mommi family, one daddy family. 0:45:51.040 --> 0:45:54.600 You know, our youngest is obsessed with Lama Lama, Red 0:45:54.640 --> 0:45:58.520 Pajama and it's this it's this pretty famous book, but 0:45:58.719 --> 0:46:01.080 you know it's all about Mama Mama and the Lama 0:46:01.400 --> 0:46:04.959 Mama Lama and write pajama and too much trauma. He's crying, 0:46:05.200 --> 0:46:08.680 but it keeps repeating the Mama, Lama Lama, Yeah, Mama 0:46:08.680 --> 0:46:11.840 where's my Mama? And but he loves the book, and 0:46:11.880 --> 0:46:13.160 so like I was like, well, yeah, we're going to 0:46:13.200 --> 0:46:14.759 read this book because I'm not going to like change 0:46:14.800 --> 0:46:17.480 it to Papa for that, because the whole rhyme is 0:46:17.800 --> 0:46:19.600 built on the whole books built on this rhyme. Like 0:46:19.640 --> 0:46:22.360 I'm going to destroy the integrity of the writing. 0:46:22.760 --> 0:46:26.520 Good for you. That's a well trained actor, you know, 0:46:26.719 --> 0:46:29.479 respect the text, find the way to make it work. 0:46:29.600 --> 0:46:34.719 Don't go change in the text the act. Yes, it's right, right, Yeah, 0:46:35.000 --> 0:46:38.400 that's right. I remember having an interesting discussion with the 0:46:38.480 --> 0:46:42.000 Night the Ones about this classic, like my character wouldn't 0:46:42.040 --> 0:46:45.680 say that, yes, I had written the part, okay, And 0:46:45.920 --> 0:46:48.160 I said, well, that's the character I wrote. So if 0:46:48.200 --> 0:46:51.640 your characters wouldn't say that, you're playing the wrong guy, right, right, right. 0:46:52.360 --> 0:46:56.120 It wasn't a great day. When did you read? You 0:46:56.440 --> 0:46:59.839 presume you read to your kids, right, yes, So when 0:46:59.880 --> 0:47:02.160 I was reading to the kids, I really enjoyed myself 0:47:02.239 --> 0:47:05.000 doing different voices and as would you do all that 0:47:05.080 --> 0:47:05.359 as well? 0:47:05.360 --> 0:47:07.800 I try to. Yeah, I'm really bad at dialects, but 0:47:08.000 --> 0:47:09.080 you know that's mixed up. 0:47:09.120 --> 0:47:11.799 Man. I love I love doing Danny and the Dinosaur. 0:47:12.200 --> 0:47:14.279 U there was. There's a line and that I still 0:47:14.280 --> 0:47:17.840 remember because I always a suggestive. A carry On movie, 0:47:18.719 --> 0:47:22.360 there's a line in it where a woman says to 0:47:22.440 --> 0:47:26.480 the dinosaur who helps her with her groceries. She said, oh, 0:47:26.680 --> 0:47:30.440 thank you for helping me with my bundles, said a lady. 0:47:30.760 --> 0:47:33.960 And I used to and I don't know why I 0:47:34.040 --> 0:47:36.719 get such and I can still do Curious George by her. 0:47:37.120 --> 0:47:39.360 Oh yeah, yeah, because I was on the road a 0:47:39.400 --> 0:47:41.799 little bit when Liam was very young. So I used 0:47:41.800 --> 0:47:43.920 to it and I i'd phone in and then I 0:47:43.960 --> 0:47:47.000 would do the bedtime story and I just learned it. Yeah, yeah, 0:47:47.560 --> 0:47:49.000 So now I can do it if you need me 0:47:49.680 --> 0:47:52.120 to do Curious George for you right now? 0:47:52.520 --> 0:47:54.040 Who did the audio book? You should do it? 0:47:54.120 --> 0:47:56.960 You should recorded you know why? I can do another one. Yeah, 0:47:57.000 --> 0:47:59.680 I'll do it for nothing. Yeah, I'll do it to 0:47:59.800 --> 0:48:02.600 be should for the coffee, right, yeah, right, right right. 0:48:03.040 --> 0:48:05.279 It's a joy to speak to you. You're You're such 0:48:05.280 --> 0:48:07.880 a lovely man. I enjoyed even though you're one of 0:48:07.920 --> 0:48:11.439 the fancy tyler Ferguson's as opposed to just an old 0:48:11.560 --> 0:48:14.600 fashioned Ferguson, you seem to still keep your feet on 0:48:14.719 --> 0:48:15.080 the ground. 0:48:15.120 --> 0:48:16.719 I know where, but I know where you came from. 0:48:16.880 --> 0:48:20.200 Yeah, I know where you came from. Yeah, yeah, you 0:48:20.200 --> 0:48:21.200 should go there one day. 0:48:21.360 --> 0:48:21.919 I can't wait. 0:48:22.040 --> 0:48:23.520 Yeah. Yeah, you'd love it. They'd love you. 0:48:24.200 --> 0:48:24.360 You know. 0:48:24.440 --> 0:48:27.840 They live in this big, giant old country estate in Scotland, 0:48:27.920 --> 0:48:30.239 the original Ferguson's. They're still there. I've got to go. 0:48:30.600 --> 0:48:31.840 I should. You'd love it. 0:48:32.040 --> 0:48:32.720 Take the kids. 0:48:33.040 --> 0:48:35.239 Yeah, it'd be a fun thing. 0:48:35.640 --> 0:48:37.960 Yeah, I've been. I've been to Ireland, but not Scotland. 0:48:38.000 --> 0:48:41.680 Next d of my family's Irish, right, yeah, the Doyle side. 0:48:41.880 --> 0:48:51.200 Yeah, I've got that too. Yeahs yeah it is. But 0:48:51.960 --> 0:48:52.680 it's great to see. 0:48:52.840 --> 0:48:53.400 Good to see you. 0:48:53.480 --> 0:49:04.040 Get out of here at Popo Taker for two per