Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - RE-RUN: ED O’NEILL — skirting a life of organized crime and hanging out with Tennessee Williams

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

This week, we revisit my conversation with “Modern Family” and “Married…with Children” star Ed O'Neill. Over some fancy sandwiches, Ed talks about dodging a career in organized crime, hanging out with Tennessee Williams, Lucille Ball and so much more. This episode was recorded at Lunetta in Santa Monica. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Today on the show, a legendary TV dad, you know him from Married with Children and Modern Family. It's my TV dad, Ed O'Neill. Youngstown was not a good place to live. There was nothing there for me. The only thing that I had that I could have done and thank God I didn't was organized crime. This is Dinners on Me and I'm your host Jesse Tyler Ferguson. When I was putting together a list of dream guests for this podcast,

Ed O'Neill was on the very top of the list. I played his son for 11 years, we naturally became very close. But seriously, Ed's life is one for the books, and I just wanted to share it with everyone. His stories are incredible. Each story he tells about his early years or his career seems to top the last story he told. Ed has always been a tad shy around press, so I was so thrilled when he immediately agreed to be a guest on this podcast. I did wait until season two because I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what I was doing

before I asked him on. I was so eager to spend some one-on-one time with my TV dad, but I was even more excited for my listeners, who were undoubtedly going to be treated to some of his epic stories. And once again, Ed did not disappoint. I asked Ed to meet me at Lunetta, a charming restaurant by chef Rafael Lunetta. He's been well known on the West Side for quite a while now. He's a familiar face at farmers markets and the beach. He's a surfer.

He's also a big reason that the whole small plates movement took off in the mid-aughts. The thing I love about Lunetta is that they have lots of familiar comfort dishes that are just dialed up a notch. Great sandwiches, burgers, steaks. I thought this would be a perfect place for Ed, but he was nowhere to be found. Hello? You're lost? The streets of Santa Monica can be confusing. We'll ignore the fact that Ed lived on the West Side for roughly three decades. Well then, right?

Yeah. Jesus Christ! This is a green... I know this area! I don't know if you do, Ed. Well, I guess I don't. Now I'm at 11820. Okay. So I must ask after turn around. I offered to stand on the side of the street and flag him down, but he said that was overdoing it.

Although there were moments I thought my intervention might be necessary. And I'm gonna go under the freeway here in a second. Okay. After I run over this girl. Don't run over anyone. So this went on for quite a while. He had gone all the way to the beach and then back so he basically done a tour of Santa Monica, but eventually

He made it I can it actually reminds me remember when you came to see fully committed on Broadway It reminds me exactly of that because you- And I thought I knew Broadway. You thought you knew Broadway. You knew that the show was at the Lyceum, but you didn't know which way on 46 or whatever. I was going west.

You were going west and you should have been going east. It's on the east side of Broadway. Yes. And you walked basically all the way to the river. Oh, it was crazy. And then back, and then back the other way. And then you didn't have your phone on you, so you couldn't, cause you just left it in the hotel room.

And so you were wandering the streets of New York with your modern family hat on, asking tourists if they knew where Jesse Tyler, you didn't remember the name of the play. If they knew where Jesse Tyler Ferguson was doing his play. It was unlucky I found it. I know.

Really lucky I found it. And of course I was late. Was I late? You told me you missed the first. I missed the first little bit. Like 10 minutes or something. Yeah. So how many guests have you had on this show?

We're in our second season now. So you are like the 26th or something. Great. So I kind of know what I'm doing now. Good, I don't. I know. You're lucky that you do and I don't. I've had Julian, I've had Sarah on.

I knew you had those two guys on. Yeah. Wait, but no, I was going to say, I know you're not on social media or anything, but did you know after that reunion we had, because we had that printed photo of Ty. Yes. Did you know that the internet thought that we had gathered

because Ty had passed away? Yes, I saw that. I thought that was hilarious. Hilarious. Also like kind of confirmation that the internet is just full of misinformation and that's cool. The other thing I noticed too is I brought my 17 year old daughter.

Yeah. Just cause she knows Sophia and she got like Someone somehow found out who she was and she had this on her thing. It just blew up like really I I don't know you your ed's daughter. Wow, how old are you? Oh, yeah my god Jeez She loved it, of course But I didn't I wasn't crazy about that. But we had fun, I had fun. I had so much fun.

You know, I drove Aubrey home. Like, I car pulled with her. I almost said, do you know what you're doing? You know, but she had to have a ride. No, she, her mom dropped her off. Yeah. And then I drove her home. She looks great, by the way.

Doesn't she? I know, I'm so proud of her. I had just seen her in her school play. She was really good, by the way. She was really good in the play. And, but Justin and I were laughing because I've spent so many scenes with Aubrey, you know, with her in the back of the car,

you know, we're shooting these car scenes. And it was just like, it was just like that. She was sitting in the middle of the back seat so she could be like, you know, in the eye line. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was so weird. But it was such a fun night. I'm so glad we did that. Hi, how are you?

How are you? Is everything besides water? Do you want anything besides water? Do you want a glass of wine or? No, just water's fine. Yeah, I'm fine with water too. Thank you, we're good, thanks. It's interesting, because with people that I've known,

I've worked so closely with for a lot of years. You don't know a thing about us. Well, I don't know a single thing about you. The one thing I didn't know is that you worked in the steel mills. Yeah, but I got in the mills about, when I was I don't know a single thing about you. The one thing I didn't know is that you worked in the steel mills. Yeah, but I got in the mills about, when I was like freshman in college. Okay, okay.

I would work the summers in the mills. Yeah. Because my father had worked there, my grandfather had worked there, my brother worked there after me. That's just unbelievable. It's good training for someone. For what?

You know, it's a good incentive to get out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you were doing theater also in Youngstown? I started theater right around that time. The last stint in the mill. Right, but I mean you were like an athletic guy. You're like, you know, I mean, how did you fit in with that group?

With the mill workers? No, with the theater people. Oh, very weird. It was very strange. Because I had been working as a bellhop in Florida in Fort Lauderdale when I was cut by the Steelers. Right, I want to talk about that too, yeah. So I hooked up with my college roommate.

His name was Sammy Angot. Sammy pitched short relief for the Pirates, Pittsburgh Pirates. So I was a rookie with the Pittsburgh Steelers. I got a job at the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel, which was the only hotel in Lauderdale actually on the beach. And we had a little apartment on the canals.

Yeah. When you were recruited by the Steelers, Chuck Knoll was the head coach for- First year. That is, okay, so I don't know a lot about sports. You know this about me, but even I know who Chuck Noll is. I mean, that's a big deal. He's like one of the most iconic head coaches of all time.

Yeah, yeah, four Super Bowls. Yeah, and he has one of the longest careers of any head coach. He was a wine connoisseur. He was a very intelligent guy. Very kind of sophisticated guy. And I really liked him. And you know, I didn't make it.

I mean, he basically said, Ed, look, you know, you're trying to make the team and learn the position you never played. That's hard. My first year. So when you were recruited from college and you were playing a different position, and then when you were with the Steelers, they wanted you to play something different or? We didn't have that position on our college team.

It was outside linebacker. In the college, we ran what they call a five-four. There's a middle guard and two linebackers behind on either side. The outside linebackers play out by the defensive ends. It's a little trickier. So we never had the position. Right.

So was that like, because I mean, that's pretty exciting to be recruited by such a prestigious team. It was. I mean, it was Joe Green, and I played with all these guys, and you know, Hall of Fame guys. Yeah. Yeah. And it was, yeah, it was interesting.

I mean, what was it like? Was it rough for you to get cut? Did you feel kind of like, what now? Or did you have a backup plan right away? You know what's funny about it? I'll tell you what's funny about it, because I haven't really thought of this really too much. When I got cut, you know, I made it,

I was pretty far along. Uh-huh. And then they come and they say, you know, the coach would like to see you bring your playbook. That means you're cut. Right? Yeah. So I went in and Noel could not have beenbook. That means you're cut. Right? So I went in and Noel could not have been nicer. You know, they're nice to you.

Sure. When they're cutting you. They're very nice to you. I mean, have you, after you had your success, did Chuck Noel ever reach out to you? No, we never spoke again. Really? But I heard from him.

Did he know that you were the same Ed O'Neil? I got a message from somebody from him after he was finished. Right, because he retired after like 23 years. And he just said, tell Ed O'Neill I'm so happy for him. Because he actually said, well before I left and never saw him again, he said, well I wish you the best of luck.

He said, I think you're going to be okay. Whether he meant it or not, you know. It sounds like a line. Yes, and the thing was, I was sort of in a, almost sleepwalking for the next few months. Right. Because I didn't have a clue what I was gonna do. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So that was, and Youngstown was not a good place to live for opportunities. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was, you know, and Youngstown was not a good place to live for, you know, opportunities. Right, right, right. Really, there was nothing there for me. The only thing that I had that I could have done, and thank God I didn't, was Organized Crime. Because I had friends in Organized Crime. We're going to take a quick break, but don't go away.

When we come back, we'll hear more about Ed's career decision to go the acting route and skip the whole organized crime thing. Probably a good idea. Okay, be right back. Hi, this is Jesse, host of the podcast, Dinner's On Me. The holidays are always hectic, and by the time January rolls around, I am craving simple, healthy meals that don't take hours to prepare.

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and 365 day returns. That's quince.com slash JTF to get free shipping and 365 day returns. That's a year people, quince.com slash JTF. And we're back with more Dinners on Me. This is is Jeff. Hello. How are you doing?

You two have met before. I was told. Yeah, you look familiar to me. We had coffee almost every morning at Cafe Lux. I used to bring my son in there. Oh, that's right. I haven't been there in so long. Yeah, it's been a while, but I would bring him there every morning and on the way to

school, enjoy the cappuccino. Yes. It's good to see you. I just looked at you. I know thisino. It's good to see you. I just looked at it, I know this guy. It's great to see you. This is Chef Lynette's place and then he has a place next door too.

It's a nice place. I mean, I've never been here before. Well, it's great to have you here. Thank you. Tell us what you're known for and what you recommend. So I mean, for lunch, I think we could do you know, a fish sandwich.

The grilled fish sandwich is quite nice. The burger's amazing. The chicken sandwich is good. If you like, we can do- Ed wants a sandwich. So a fish sandwich and chicken sandwich. What do you think? Fish sandwich, okay, we're ready. I want the burger. amazing. The chicken sandwich is good. If you like, we can do it. So a fish sandwich or a chicken sandwich? What do you think? Fish sandwich. I want the burger.

Do the burger. Do the burger. OK. So let's do a chicken sandwich. Do the chicken. No onion. No onion. Beautiful crispy chicken sandwich, no onion,

and a snake river burger. Perfect. Got you. Don't like raw. Thank you. Good to see you. Yeah, he told me he had met you before. Yeah.

Unbelievable. Yeah. Unbelievable. Yeah. So, what was I saying? Oh, but you were, so after the Steelers cut you, you didn't know what you were gonna do. How long, how long? Organized crime.

Oh, organized crime. So here, here, here's what happens. I went to see, here's the funny thing about my life. So I had friends whose fathers were in organized crime. Now they, most of them actually were not mafia made guys. There weren't that many made guys in Youngstown, but there was a lot of gangsters in Youngstown, all associated with these made guys.

And a lot of these guys were called associates. So I had a friend, I went to school with a kid, even today I can't name these guys. He was in a- You can't name them because you don't remember? Or you can't name them because? No, I remember them. They just, you know, you can't get out there.

Hey, I understand what you're saying. So this guy was an associate. Okay. I went to grade school with him, I went to high school with him. I played football with him. He was a dear friend of mine. Yeah.

So, and he came to every play I was in. So when he, right around that time, so I would be like 23, he called me and said, hey, take a ride with me, I wanna talk to you. Pick me up, we're driving. And he said, how you doing? You know, you got cut, you got no money?

I said, no, I'm broke. I don't know what I'm gonna do, Jack. His name's Jim. He said, well, let me stop you. I gotta see a guy about something. Come in with me, I wanna get a drink. So we went in this place, fancy, place I never would go. And he went to the bar, he started talking

to the bartender, I'm right next to him. I'm 23 years old, I'm right off the Steelers, you know, I'm in great shape. He says, I'm looking for this kid, his name is whatever, Demko, his name is Jimmy Demko, do you know him? And the guy says, no, it doesn't ring a bell, you know, and he said, well, I heard he comes in here a lot,

you know, big kid, you know, no, I don't think, I don't know him. So he gives him 20 and he says, look, he's an old friend of mine. I haven't seen him in years. You know, I'm looking to reconnect, but I'd like to surprise him. So if he comes in again, this is mine. You can call this number, you can reach me.

You put it on the $20 bill? Yeah, on the 20, gave him a 20. And this was, you know, 68. Okay. So we left and he said, you can do this kind of stuff for me. You know, I'll protect you. Yeah.

I'll give you easy stuff. Just you collect here, you do that, you drop something off here and there. You know, you may have to lean on a guy, you're good at that. He said, you can make some good money. Until you, you know, I said, let lean on a guy, look at him, good at that. He said, you can make some good money. Until you, you know, I said, let me think about it, Jim,

because I don't know I might be leaving town to pursue this acting thing, which he knew about. Oh my God, this is the fork in this road, acting or lobster life? So here was the thing, I went home, and I was thinking about it. I thought, you know, what else am I gonna do? Wow.

So my father, unbeknownst to any, he didn't know anything about this. He knew I took a ride with Jimmy. Okay. Because he was on the porch. Was that enough for him to know something? Yeah, I didn't know that. Okay.

Because I thought my father was just a steel worker. Uh-huh. And he said, hey, the next day I came out on the porch and he said, I want I talked to you about something I said yeah, yeah, what you never clue you know yeah? He said I saw you take a ride with Jimmy He liked Jimmy a lot, huh? he said uh I Just want to ask you a question. Can you do time?

Wow that was my father. Yeah, I said no He said you couldn't do time. You'd have a hard time being in jail, right? I said, no, I don't think I could do time. He said, okay. That's all he said. That's it. That's it. And then I went and then I called Jimmy and I thanked him and I said, I'm going to New York. I'm gonna try this other thing.

That's what happened. I said, I'm going to New York. Yeah. I'm gonna try this other thing. That's unbelievable. That's what happened. Wow. So he went to New York instead.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, it was pretty unbelievable because I was looking at your career and your life and like kind of just where you were in the world. And I didn't realize there's a lot of parallels where I kind of followed your footsteps in a lot of ways, in ways that surprised me.

So you were- Well, you came from a family of murderers, didn't you? I mean- I did, I did. Yeah, my episode of Who Do You Think You Are, yeah, we discovered that my great grandfather was like acquitted of maybe murdering my great aunt. I know, I know, I know, truly.

Oh, and I laugh so hard because the other kid from, It was like acquitted of maybe murdering my great aunt. I know, I know, I know, truly. I laugh so hard because the other kid from, you know, that great show that your friend, you know. Oh, Jim Parsons. He was on with you and he was like from Royal One. Yeah, yeah, exactly. They like took him to like the middle of Europe. And you were like with a gang of murdering family.

That's right, that's right. Oh my God, that's so funny. That's exactly right, yeah. But you lived at the Imperial Court on 79th Street. Yes. I like literally six blocks up Yeah, but you lived at the Imperial Court on 79th Street. I like literally six blocks up is where I first landed in New York at this place called the Cambridge House. It was student housing for the school that I went to.

The school was the Dakota. So I was at the 86th and Weston Avenue and you were at 79th and Weston Avenue. Yes, and when I was at that hotel, it was a resident hotel, was basically the elephant burial ground at this point. There was old people dying there. Same, same with my place, yeah. Oh my God.

Sympotico. Can I say my night with the Tennessee Williams? I, I, no. That's, that's later, we can do that. No, are you sure? Please. Well, here's what happened. No, you got to.

Okay, you'll love this story. We're gonna take a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, we'll hear some of Ed's insane New York stories, which include, get ready, Tennessee Williams and Lucille Ball. Oh my God, the life he's lived. Okay, be right back. With Uber Reserve, good things come to those who plan ahead.

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The Knockout. Knockout. Yes, which was your first Broadway play. And it was Danny Aiello, you know, that whole thing. I had a ball, believe me, I had a ball. It was your first professional job, right? Well, no, it wasn't my first professional job, but it was my first, no, it was. Well, it was your first Broadway show.

No, it was my first professional job. I mean, before. Because I started as the understudy. That's right. So, okay, where first Broadway show. No, it was my first professional job. I mean, before. Because I started as the understudy. That's right. So, okay, where am I going with this now? Tennessee Williams. Yes. There was a woman hanging around the show

who was friends with somebody. I don't remember who. And I was introduced to her. You know, we'd come in for the matinee and she was there. And she was really a nice looking, probably, I don't know, mid-40s. I was probably, I was 30. And she was like really pretty, you know,

I don't know, there was something about her. And so I was introduced to her and I said, what is your name? And she said, Gloria Graham. And I said, I know that name, Gloria Graham. She said, yeah, you're an actress. She said yes. She was huge.

Yeah. Gloria Graham. Yeah. So I'd see her, you know, like for maybe a week. And she said, I'm on my way to London to do a play. And I said, oh great, what are you gonna do? And she said, The Glass Menagerie. And I said, oh, it's one of my favorite plays at Tennessee Williams. And she said, yeah great, what are you gonna do? And she said, the Glass Menagerie. And I said, oh it's one of my favorite plays

at Tennessee Williams. And she said, yeah, do you know him? And I said, oh I don't know him. But I've read all his stuff. And she said, well he's a friend of mine. She said, as a matter of fact, I'm having drinks with him tonight at Ted Hook's backstage. You know, that was on 46th.

No, 44th. And would you like to join us? Because I told him about you. So she had a crush on me, right? This is a crazy story. And I didn't know she had a crush on me. Because I was usually, I was a little dumb in that regard. Little like I am anyway.

Sort of a last to know, right? So I said, well yeah, I'd love to join you, but we're doing a show tonight. She says, well come over after the show. You know, 10. We'll just be getting started. So I do, I go over and okay. And he's in there with the Greek fishermen cap on.

And you know, they're drinking. And I remember she introduced me to him and he said, well hello young man. I've heard quite a bit about you. So we're having a wonderful time and then she goes to the, no he goes to the men's room and she said, don't tell him, I never read the play, I haven't read the play yet and I've never seen it done.

Glass menagerie. Glass menagerie. And I said, well that may be, you know, I'm being, that may be a good thing. You're not influenced by Loretta Taylor and Catherine Hepburn. Maybe read it. I should say you should probably read it.

So then he came back and it was really a wonderful night. We talked about everything, Brando, when he did the whole everything. And that was great. That is incredible. That was great. And so then she left and I kind of looked for the play and I didn't realize it was touring as well. Okay.

Throughout England. And so I think they were in Manchester. They were getting great reviews. She was getting rave. I thought, ah, I want to see her. You know, when she comes back, she's doing so great. She died on the way back. I think on the plane.

What? Like a plane crash? No, it was some kind of, apparently she had some kind of cancer that was the fastest size. It killed her. And then Tennessee died a couple of weeks later. Wow. He was in a boutique hotel on the East Side

and he got up and he had been drinking and he had to take a pill. And he thought he threw the pill down, but it was the cap. And he choked to death. Is that how he died? That's how he died. He choked to death.

Wow, I'm so, what an incredible night that must have been. Oh, it was. All right. It was. Hi, how are you? Good. Uh-oh. Here we go.

Thank you. Of course. One night I was in Ted Hooks and I was with Lucy Arnaz. Lucy Arnaz was doing a comedy with Robert Klein. Okay. They were doing a comedy with Robert Klein. Okay. They were doing a musical on, right by our theater, right by, we were at the Helen Hayes. Wait, that's why they take me out.

What? That I just won a Tony Award for. That's why I had to take me out, the Helen Hayes. Oh yeah. Another moment that we've promised. Unbelievable. We did the last play at the Helen Hayes before they tore it down.

Before they tore it down, yeah. And they rebuilt it, yeah. So I had met her, and her mother was flying in. Said, you have to meet my mother. I said, Lucy? She's coming in from California. So Lucy comes in.

Are you telling me I'm gonna change smoking? No. Drinking, she was great though. That was the day on that flight she was banned for life on TWA. Because she was disruptive? Yeah, disruptive. Wow.

She sent these fucking bastards, you know. Incredible. But, so that night, in Ted Hooks, they had this young guy who played the American songbook on piano. You know, that's very common. Was Ted Hooks where you just would always

hang out in the theater district? Yeah, after every show, in that way. That's where you had drinks with tennis, you'd see Williams and, okay. Same place. Okay. And so I had, we had an expense account in there, from the show. Okay. Could you just put it on the tab, cuz it was financed by gangsters

Are you serious? No a show called the knockout on Broadway is financed by gangsters. So now I'll tell you guys. Uh-huh. So That night with Lucy and her daughter in comes Rosemary Clooney Stop it cheetah Rivera., and Rita Moreno. No. The three of them. They walk in. They come to our table. I'm at the table.

Oh my God. I'm at the table having a drink. Hi, hi, oh this is Ed O'Neil. Hi honey, how are you? They all join us. So the guy, young guy on the piano, American songbook, so he says to everybody, Rosemary, would you like to,

would you please honor us with a song? Stop it. Mm-hmm. She said sure, so she gets up. And I think she sang, it was either Autumn Leaves or it was April in Paris. It was so beautiful.

And then she had Cheetah and Rita go up and they did the one from West Side Story in America. I like to be in America. They did that, it was fabulous. I was like, I was sitting there going. Yeah, pinch me, oh my God, absolutely. Because I had only been I was sitting there going. Yeah, pinch me. You know? Oh my God, absolutely. Because I had only been in New York six months.

This is incredible. I mean. I come from this other life. Young show. When you were having dinner with Tennessee Williams. Yeah. And now you're meeting Cheetah Rivera and Rosemary Clooney, that's incredible. How long were you in the play for?

Did it close or did you leave it? No, it closed. It closed. And then after that is when you were like doing regional theater and went to Hartford Stage to do Mice and Men. You know that's, this is another place where it crossed. I did a show at Hartford Stage as well.

What did you do? I did two shows there. You did Mice and Men, what else? Andrew Cleese and the Lion. Okay, I did Comedy of Errors. That old chestnut. But wasn't it that performance of Mice and Men that the cast and director for Married with Children saw you, right?

Yeah. Hirschfeld. His name was Hirschfeld. Mark Hirschfeld. He was in to visit his aging aunt in Hartford. In Connecticut. And it was like a Sunday or something and and he was bored, and he said, I'm gonna, you know, this play is supposed to be good.

Yeah. We got rave reviews. You played Lenny? Lenny. Yeah. But I mean. But the Meissenmen got me married with children. Right.

Did you have to fly to LA and test for it and all that? Yes and no. I was out there anyway. Okay. For a failed pilot that never got off the ground. Okay. And while I was out there, I was at the Y playing handball, the Hollywood Y,

and I got a call from my agent saying, there's this thing that this new thing, Fox, they're getting into TV, I saw that, that's great. I got this pilot called Married with Children, and it's a horrible show. I said, well, why are you talking to me? Well, they want to see you. Levitt and Moyer, these two guys,

they'd done some things. Jeffersons and some things. They said, okay, where are you? I said, I'm in the locker room with the Hollywood Y. And they said, can we send over the script? Read the script and then call us

and then tell me if you want to go over there. And I read it and I thought, this is kind of funny. Never work. Broad. It will be thrown off the air. Right, right. My whole thing when I read it was my uncle who had this self-deprecating sense of humor.

So in other words, and this actually happened, and he was a judge. Yeah. Very brilliant guy. Come home from work, his wife's nickname was Curly. Hi, Curl. How you doing? She said,

Joe, I killed the dog today. I was in the driveway sleeping, I ran over it. Dead. His dog. He said, it was for dinner. Because he expected bad news. He said, it was for dinner. Because he expected bad news and got it. And that's how I read it. And they never heard that.

Right. You said you thought it was funny and your agent was like, it's terrible. What did you, do you remember like what the, like the industry's response to it was? I mean, it was a success. Yeah, it was a huge success. But it was not, it wasn't respected, you know,

by my peers. I thought though, that not always of course, you know, some of the shows, especially towards the end, we were basically out of gas, but some of those shows I thought were very funny. I didn't just poo poo it. I mean it was definitely one of those shows,

I think I've told you this, but like in my household growing up, like you would hear, ba-ba-da-da-la-ven-men, and my parents would run in and like turn off the TV. Like I was not allowed to watch it. I mean, they would watch it without me, but like I wasn't allowed to watch it, you know?

There's no question that it wasn't everybody's cup of tea. Well, I mean, I was watching some episodes recently before sitting down with you today, and of course I gravitated toward the ones that were controversial. Right. Like there's the one where you go bra shopping. Right.

That was a hugely controversial one at that point. I think people were calling on advertisers to boycott the show, and that maybe happened for like a few weeks, and then they were back. Do you think any of the controversy around the show was like overwrought? I mean, I personally think the show was ahead of its time, and usually when you say things like ahead of its time

in shows that didn't get their due, this show obviously ran for 11 years, but I do feel like it was a, ahead of its time, and shows that didn't get their due, this show obviously ran for 11 years, but I do feel like it was a bit ahead of its time. It was also kind of a show that nobody wanted to admit that they liked. Sure, yeah. Or for example, you do 260 shows, you run into a lot of people,

and they'll tell you how, if they liked the show, if they didn't like it, they usually don't even come around, but if they like it, they would say, you know, you remind me of my brother. You remind me of my uncle. Yeah. You remind me of my father, my best friend, never them. Yeah.

Yeah. I never once heard you remind me of me. Yeah. Because that wasn't good. No one wanted to admit it, yeah. Wow, that's incredible. No, it was, I mean, you all had incredible chemistry and it was, did you ever kind of draw parallels to like, you know? You know what, let me say, I'm gonna jump here.

I did a thing on the show that involved Amanda Burse, but I regret it. We didn't get along. And we did for a long time. We were great friends. And we did for a long time. We were great friends. And I could guess, you know, I don't want to speak for her. And I think it was, it started when we got the cover

of TV Guide. And her and David Garrison were the neighbors and they were told they could not be on the cover. Because they had a rule, there's only so many can be on the cover. Now they violated that for like two shows. I think it was MASH and Dallas. That was an exception. They weren't doing it for us.

We were lucky to get it. And it was like the sixth year in or something. We were thrilled when we got to cover a TV guy. That was big. And Amanda and David came out in unison from the dressing room. We were on the soundstage and she said, we expect you to go to Ron Lovett and tell him this doesn't work. We're all on the cover.

I should have said, if I was diplomatic, I should have said, fine, I'll talk to him about it. But instead, I said, no, I'm not doing that. I'm sorry you guys aren't on the cover, I really am. I wish you were. But I can't do, we can't do anything about it. What do you want me to do? Lie to you and tell you that, you know, I'm gonna go to bat for you?

I'm not. Yeah. Do you think in hindsight you would have handled it differently or? Yeah, I would have. And that's my regret. I know that that show ended also in a way that there was not a lot of closure for you.

Oh, there was none. There was none. Yeah. They came in, we were doing the last show of the 11th season. Actually 10 and a half. And it was Christina getting married and she blocked the deal.

It was pretty funny. But we're in, it's like a Wednesday. So we were camera blocking I think. And I look up and I see all the guys, all the suits from Fox, four or five lined up. And I thought, I know what this is. Yeah. So they came over and they said,

hey, you're so good, you know, we love this show. And is there any way we could make this, like, maybe like a last episode, just in case? Oh God. Because we're going on Iatus. We don't think so, but you don't know. And I said, no, no, can't make this over now. We're shooting the fucking thing on Friday.

They wanted an alternate ending? Alternate ending, you know, probably wouldn't have taken too much and it wouldn't have been very good. Right, well it wouldn't have been thought out at all. No, so I said, no, guys, gotta live with this one. Yeah. That's what it was.

We just shot that show and then we went back and it's so funny, I've told this story, but it was, I was in Youngstown and there was a university hotel called the Wick Pollock Inn. It was really old, very nice. And I was coming out to get my rented car to go somewhere and I saw this car pull in with the just married, you know, with the things, the cans and everything,

and the girl gets out there young, she's got the wedding dress on, and they see me, you know, like, oh my God, you know, I said, oh, congratulations, you guys got married, and yes, and yes, and we're so sorry about your show. Oh. And I said, what? What do you mean?

Oh, well it's on the radio, it's been canceled. Oh my God, Ed. Oh my God, and the girls, oh my God, we're so sorry. And I said, I'd rather hear it from you. Yeah, yeah. So I said, let's go in, I'll buy you, and I bought him a bottle of champagne, you know, the least you can do, make him feel better.

And then I, that was it. And then months went by, and I got a call from Peter Roth, who had taken over. And I said, hi Peter, how you doing? Good, Ed, oh geez, you know, the way that came down, you know, there were so many regrets. So many, I said, Peter, Peter, I never got a call from you guys.

This is the first I'm talking to anybody. Yeah. It was months, I said, but let me ask you something, and this is the most important thing. No gifts for 11 years? 11 years. No gifts. You know, golden girls, they got Mercedes Benz. Ed, do you really think we'd let you go without a wonderful, wonderful going away gift?

And I said, yes. What is it? He said, no, that's a surprise. What did you get? Nothing. Oh, nothing. He was lying. Oh no.

I mean, it's so beautiful. And you didn't scramble and find something? No, they lied. Oh no. They don't say, no, I lied. You had no closure to that. None. That's crazy.

And not only is it crazy, it's stupid. Yeah. Because I said, you could have won the night. All you had to do was say, it's their last show. And we deserve. Huge missed opportunity. You do deserve that. Absolutely.

No. And the fans deserve it too. The people who invested 11 years. Was that one of the reasons that you were nervous to do Modern Family? Because you felt like you kind of had already done that? I did a sitcom. 11 years. When I read it, I read it twice.

And I said, fuck, this is good. What did it feel like, because I mean that was one of my first shows on television, but for you having done something for 11 years that the industry maybe didn't appreciate, what did it feel like to be a part of this thing that was getting these incredible reviews that you were suddenly being nominated for Emmys for. It was great.

It was great for, not so much for the industry, for me, but it was the peers, our peers. Spielberg came up and was, oh my God, you know, how do we know? And that I really liked. And that's why I only gave one fuck about best comedy, because that to me was the diamond. That's all of us. That's the ensemble.

That's why I think those SAG awards for the best comedy cast really meant a lot to us. Oh yeah, best ensemble. Yeah, best ensemble. Screenplay for Skilled. We won it four times. No one's ever done it. You know, my dad, when he came to set finally, it was on a day when you weren't there, and I was so excited for him to meet everyone,

and he just wanted to know where you were. He's like, where's Ed? I want to meet Ed. Why didn't you tell me he was coming on the set? I know, you ended up meeting him. You probably told me and I still, I don't care. Yeah. You ended up meeting him at my 40th birthday party,

and he was really excited to meet you. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I knew I met him. And you're basically almost exactly the same age, and you remind me so much of each other, You ended up meeting him at my 40th birthday party. That's right. He was really excited to meet you. That's right. I knew I met him. And you're basically almost exactly the same age. You remind me so much of each other. And now I love you like a real dad. Well.

That will be forever. Listen, you know, I feel the same way. I mean, I just think you're one of the really, really fine actors that I've ever worked with. You're a joy to watch and to work with. You know, when I worked with you on so many of those scenes, like the Starry Night scene, the back of the car, you know.

When I'm in Sophia's, Gloria's dress. Yes, yes. It just always seemed so real to me. You know, I mean, you know, there's real and there's real real. And when it's that good, you really do get caught up in it. Yeah. And I always did with you. Well a lot of that I think you would understand this comes from the

people you're playing with. Yeah. You made it very easy. So thanks for meeting me for dinner. I'm happy you found it finally. Now you know where it is for next time. What if I just walked in now and said I've been walking down the the... I would have waited. I know you would have. That's what was making me crazy. I said, he'll wait. Oh, I love you, Ed. Anyway, this was great. Thank you. I hope you got enough. We're gonna start now.

That was just a warmup. Dinner is on me is a production of Sony Music Entertainment and a kid named Beckett Productions. It's hosted by me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. It's executive produced by me and Jonathan Hirsch. Our show runner is Joanna Clay. Sam Baer engineered this episode. Hans-Dale Shi composed our theme music.

Our head of production is Sammy Allison. Special thanks to Tamika Balanz-Kalasny and Justin Makita. I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week. I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson, that should be me. Yes, yes it should. It's time to upgrade your winner. It's time to Toyota. Lease a 2025 RAV4 LE all wheel drive from $98 weekly for 40 months at 5.99% with $2,500 down. Visit shoptoyota.ca or your local Ontario Toyota dealer today.