Eric Stonestreet

what I want to do. My name is Eric stone Street. I played Cameron Tucker on Modern Family, and I am a Chiefs fan. Hello everybody, it's a new day. It's a new Tuesday, which means a new episode of Off the Beat. I'm your host, Brian Baumgartner. I am so excited to share with you today. This is the reason that we're doing Off the Beat conversations like today, my guest,

you just heard the one and only Eric stone Street. Now, I've known Eric for a long time and I know that he had a bit of an unconventional start in show biz. Well I'm not sure if performing at parties quite counts as jobiz, but it certainly was the road that led him to where he is today. You probably know him as Cam from Modern Family, half of the iconic duo that was Mitch and Cam, a couple that would pave the way for same sex couples on primetime television.

He's one Emmy's He's made appearances on everything from America's Got Talent to C s I to even a weird Al Yankovic music video. Now like me, he is a huge sports fan. Yes, and he's done his fair share of voice acting. And oh yeah, I almost forgot. He could have been Kevin Malone on the Office. So there's that. Let's just dive right in. Please welcome my friend and yours America's sweetheart, Eric stone Street. Bubble and Squeak. I love it, Bubble and Squeak on Bubble and Squeaker Cookie

at every month left over from the NAT before. What is happening? Wi, Brie, Brian? How are you good? How's it going? You know? I almost wore my packers hat. I was wondering if you would have the Chiefs thing rolling? I know, I mean what I heard so much? It does? It does? I mean, especially after you guys won, what might be the greatest game in the history of the NFL. Yeah, it was the greatest game. Is there any good feelings about that or is it just still no? It makes

it worse, like because none of it matters. I mean, that's the great thing about the sport we love so much, right, it only matters what you do in this game. It's like it's just immediately erased from meaning anything means zero. Now. Yeah, well listen, I want to get back, go back into your history. But the first thing I feel like we need to talk about because I think we have never discussed this specifically, but you we're up for the role

of Kevin Malone in the office. And I don't know if you've ever heard this story, but when Steve left the show, Alison Jones came to me and said, you know, I was looking for like momentum. Alison Jones throws nothing away. She keeps every document, every casting sign in sheet, every note ever written. I'd love to see some of my notes, like from maybe my Curb your Enthusiasm audition. But she said, I didn't really find that much for Steve, but I found this for you. So this is, you know, seven

years into our run. This is circa and she hands me up a sheet of paper and it says, Kevin Malone, Brian Baumgartner, Eric stone Street and Jorge Garcia. What and this was the final three for Kevin Malone. We were the three? Did you know that you were that close? Or is this a surprise to you know? Not a surprise, but what's so cool about this? And you're right that

we've always known this little bit of Hollywood trivia. I have perspective on it from my end because I was friends with Angela Kinsey and Warren lieberste from my improv Olympic days. Well, when I came in and read like I'm sure you did. It started with me reading for you know, the Steve Carell part, like that's was my just go in and meet Allison Jones and read and then she called back and said, well, you're not right

for that, but come in for this other part. So then I went in and I read for your part, and I called Warren and you know, I knew his brother had something to do with the show, and his brother in law, you know, had created the show with

the old Marin version. Mike, Dude, I'm testing for the show and he's like, yeah, you're you're in the top three, Like there's three tapes that they're looking at, and I don't know what time of year it was, this is your story, so you would have better references than I would, because I quickly tried to have to forget about this moment. But for whatever reason, whether it was a football game, a baseball game, or whatever, I was over at Paul

Deieberstein's house and I saw your picture. I saw your picture at his house, really, and I yeah, like the decision hadn't been made yet, and so I knew who you were and I saw your picture and tapes, and I just wanted to be like, be like nose over there and be like, what's there any of that? What's you know? Like, what's any of this? Say? Like is there anything written down yet? Is it decided? But then it wasn't long after that that you know, you got it and and I didn't get it. But yeah, what

a great what a great moment. But it's also great for everyone who wants to be an actor and in our business to understand that you know, you got the part because you deserved the part. It was your part. They just didn't know it was your part yet. And it wasn't my part and it wasn't my time. And then a couple of years later, then another audition rolls around for Modern Family and that turned out to be my part, and Hey obviously had his part. He found

his part. So it's pretty cool little Hollywood intersection for us, it is. And I think the other thing that is so cool about it was, you know, we were three guys not well known at all at that point, um, but everybody ended up getting their part. As you said, everybody ended up. You know, it's not like who was that guy? Has anybody ever heard from him before? Yeah?

Everybody did. Yeah, really really neat And you know, you you were the best, Like we as fans of TV and fans of things like you, you watched TV shows and think like, well, nobody else could have done that. And my version of that character certainly wasn't your version. Your version wasn't mine. And you know I went to the right person. Now here we are, here we are, Yeah,

you could be talking to me right now. I guess I will disagree with you about Alison Jones not throwing anything away though, because she threw me away a lot of times out of those but she kept the mementos of throwing you away. Yeah, she it and she I know you've talked to her and talked about her many times, but I just want to reiterate she's the greatest, the best. And here's a great Allison Jones story for you. So when I came from Chicago, I had an acting teacher

in Chicago named Glenn Haynes. And when I moved out here, Allison was nice enough to you know, she came to prop Olympic and I got a one line part on um Michael J. Fox's TV show that he was the mayor assistant. Well, all of a sudden, I get called from my agent and said, hey, you've got to You're

gonna work on Spin City this week. I'm like, I've never even auditioned for Spin City and she's like, yeah, well, Alison Jones saw you in an improv show and there's one line of a photographer and she's just giving you the part. And I'm like, that's awesome. So I go in, I do the part whatever, and then this is you know, we're talking here. So then Allison would call me in for different things over the years, never got anything. Then got you know, close with with the office and we'll

hear from her every once while. Ever got anything. Well, Glenn Hayes, this acting teacher. I happened to run into him in Los Angeles. He was out here. I said, what's going on? He's like, Oh, I'm out here doing some classes and I'm I'm actually living, um stay with Alison Jones. I'm like, this is before Modern Family. I said, would you do me a favor? Like, would you ask Alison Jones honestly? Like, what's what her assessment of me is?

You know, I never know because I'm this insecure actor like all of us that she keeps calling me in but I'm not booking anything, And so he asked her. He called me the next night and he said, Alison Jones said, you are a series regular waiting to happen. And you know what, whether it was true or not, it was so gracious of her to give me that

moment of confidence. She knew. The basis of my question was I'm not feeling great about myself right now, like I'm not I have traction, but I'm not really I'm not really making it. And Alison's response was whether she believed it or not, which I think she's an honest person, and I value her opinion. She said, you're a series regular waiting to happen, and that just lifted me so much and made me feel so good. And that's what a casting director can do to you in addition to

helping you get hired on jobs. Yeah, that's that's an amazing story. And also the first part of your story about Spin City. I mean, she is the hardest working casting director in Hollywood, and she is out there all the time. And the fact that she goes and sees an improv show and sees you and it's like, Okay, that guy needs to work, that guy needs let's throw him something. No, I mean let's throw him something because

he he's got it. And yeah, she's she's the best. Um. So, before your audition for the office, we're gonna get back to some of those other things. Apparently every funny person in Hollywood working today grew up in or around Kansas City, Missouri. You know, I've talked Keckner, Wriggle, all of these guys. You're in Kansas City. Your earliest dream was to be a clown, Is that correct? That's where it all started. Yeah,

I wanted to be a clown. In the circus. After I went to the circus and it was explained to me that clowns were just normal people with makeup on. Oh you didn't know that at first, Yeah, you know. I I thought that's just how those people looked. So I was like, hold on just a second, you're telling me I can look like that, Like, yeah, just makeup on. Okay, Well that's what I want to do. How old are you? Oh?

I was like eight when that epiphany happened. And then at my Grandma's making me clown costumes, and I'm going, you know, in four h and I'm taking makeup classes with shrine clowns. And you know, I always give my dad so much credit, you know, and my mom too, but my dad more importantly because here he's you know, I'm in Kansas, I have pigs and cows, I'm playing football, taking karate, put on my mom's wig and makeups, you know, things like that. So I know at some point he's like,

what's going on? Uh, And he didn't yield. He just he's just like, this is my son, and I'm not gonna you know, they encouraged me so much to just follow any and all my dreams and interests. I wanted to play the drums. I had a snare drum. I was in karate, I had a karate I wanted to be a clown. I had a red nose, you know, whatever, whatever it was. So I'm thankful that they allowed me

just to do that. And you went then to k s U Kansas State, and yeah, and you when did you decide that this was something that you wanted to do? That was it? Was there a moment? Was it a gradual progression to say, oh no, I want to be an actor? M hm? So I had a high school girlfriend that broke my heart, broke broke up with me, and she stayed behind. That's okay, so anyway, she stayed behind. I went on to Kansas State. I did a year

of track and field. I threw the shop putting discus until I found out that sixteen pounds is a lot. Every of the twelve pounds and I'm like, I can't throw this thing. This is too heavy, this is this is this is really heavy, guys. So I went to UH. I went to Kansas State, left my track and field dreams behind and we ended up ending our relationship. And my best friend then Paul, who I met is still

my best friend, Paul. Now he saw that I was bombed and down and you know, melancholy, and he's like, you know, you you always want to be a clown. I know it's not clowning, but why don't you audition for a play? Have you ever thought about doing it? I'm like no, He's like, well, I did forensics and plays in high school. All audition, if you will. So we both went up to the theater department. It was to fraternity guys in audition for Hamlet and pray Lude

to a Kiss to plays. He got cast as Bernardo and Hamlet, and I got cast as Uncle Fred in pray Lude to a Kiss. Smallest part ned Baby played at the movie. So I did that. I had a few lines, and I loved it. Man. I loved writing my little notes on my pages. And I loved all the people. I mean, you're talking about this not that I was a farm kid, but I certainly was mostly

farm kid. But now I'm I'm in the theater department with all these people with piercings and tattoos and having these crazy parties that I knew nothing about, that we're going on on campus. I'm like I love this, like it's a pass for me on a lot of it. But wow, this is really interesting. Uh. And you know, met some of my closest friends still that worked for Blue Man Group in New York and have you know forever I always called Tim my first GID guy I ever met tim O Miller Tim, and so I loved it.

And then people made the mistake of telling me they thought I was good, and I made the mistake of believing that people in Manhattan, Kansas knew what good was. And then I was like, well, Ship, I guess I'm going to give this a try. So I kept auditioning for plays and got bigger parts in the plays, and then I think it was after my first lead that I decided, well, I'm gonna go for this, and that

was it. Yeah, at that point, there's probably not a whole lot of outside of college in Manhattan, Kansas opportunities. You eventually go to Chicago. So was that the decision, like, you're gonna leave school, You're gonna graduate from school and go to Chicago and try to pursue this. How did

you make that path? Yeah? I basically stayed in school an extra year and learned kind of the business just and did another play, got a little more experience, and then always knew Chicago would be where I went because of the improv stuff and Second City, and so I moved there just to kind of figure out, like if I could hang with people that maybe had gone to DePaul or Loyola or acting schools, and just to see like where I ranked, you know, and if I was good. Again.

It was really me testing out to see if you know, my professor in Manhattan, Kansas knew what good was. I didn't know. So I needed to go figure that out. In Chicago seemed like a safe place to kind of land first, So I went there, and of course, you know, ended up being around some of the people that we now rely on for a lot of our humor in the world. The Tina Phase, the Rachel Dredges, the Keckner's, the Brian Stacks, Pat Finns, you know, tons of improvisers

and actors that are just really truly funny people. They had all kind of moved on, but I got to see them performed. Tina Fe was my level two teacher at the Second City Conservatory program, and so I just

started taking classes and assessed that for my experience. I was doing okay and then said it in my mind that I'm going to move to l A. I'm going to give this a run here in Chicago, and then moved to Los Angeles because my friends Paul, that guy talked about he had moved out here and was pursuing a writing career. So I was like, well, my best friends in l A. I don't really have any close friends in Chicago, So well that direction right. How long

were you in Chicago? Two years? One year in eleven months? And the reason I decided to leave Brian was because here I had put all my eggs in the set Can City basket. I'm like, I'm gonna be on the main stage a second city someday, Like that's a goal. There was always one of our body types on the main stage, the Chris Farley's and Ratio Sands and John Candy's. There always was a heavy set dude. So I thought, well,

I have a decent chance. Well, then I did my Level five conservatory program and at the end of it, I asked my teacher, John Hildreth, was Kelly Leonard here where the producers a Second City? Did they see me perform?

And He's like no, Like, wait a minute, so no, nobody that makes decisions on like casting was here and no, like no, I'm in the pipeline and they're like no. So then I realized I had just done that conservatory just to start over and go and audition again at some other point, and I'm like, screw this, I'm going to Los Angeles. So you had a friend? Did that make that transition fairly easy coming to Los Angeles? Socially?

At least socially for sure? You know, UH had no real traction other than one name of a casting director who you've run into. I'm sure. Her name was Julian O'Neill, and she worked with Nicky Valco Casting and the producer in Chicago that had helped me get my SAG card by doing three backgrounds. She's like, when I was moving, she said, Oh, I have a friend that is a casting associate for somebody in l A. And I'll give you her name. That was the only professional name I

came to town with. And she was nice enough to accept my head shot and she's like, yeah, we'll call you in. You know, something comes up, we'll give you a call. And she called me in and it took me, you know, maybe four or five times of going in for I can't think of his name, biggest producer in town, TV wise, big bank, Theory Lori, Chuck Lori, Yeah, Chuck Lori. It took me like four or five times going in

and getting called back. And finally I got a little part on Darman Greg and that was really the beginning. But I didn't, you know, know anybody. But again it all comes down to people just being nice and like giving me a shot, right. I think for me, a big lesson you learn is how important just like the number of jobs you get, regardless of what they are. Right. So there's like commercials and there's this show and that show, and you start to build a career. I know you

did a lot of commercials. I hear over a hundred commercials you did. After arriving in Los Angeles. Well, I did a national campaign in Chicago for the n c A where I played this character named Joe Football, where I was painted red and blue. And then that helped me get a commercial agent in l A. And then I was lucky enough one day to meet a guy

named Joe Picka. And Joe Picka is a legendary commercial director unless Angelists, and I went in and I auditioned for an American Express Tiger Woods commercial where the balls traveling all over the world and I was just a guy on a tea box somewhere and the ball lands and I smashed the ball. So I go into this audition and when before I went in, my agent called me and was like, you're auditioning for Joe pa Like, okay, what what does that mean. She's like, you don't know

who Joe Pitka is. I'm like, no, what do I need to be right now? Do I need to pull over? What's happening? She's like no, he's very intimidating. He's very scary, you know, he's very loyal. Just be cool, becom, don't poke the bear. I'm like, what the hell? So I go in and I auditioned for this Tiger Woods commercial where it's like, I don't even think I have lines. He just was like looking me up and down at my body and maybe a swing the golf like a

golf club or something. And I'm standing there and he's just staring at me, like literally like a lion about to pounce on a pound of meat. He goes worried from, and I said, um, from Kansas City. It was Kansas City. I said, yeah, where are you from? And he goes Pittsburgh. I said Pittsburgh. He goes, yeah, you got a problem with Pittsburgh And I said, well, no, but it seems like you have a problem with Kansas City. He's kind of have a problem with Kansas City. Why do you

think I have a problem with Kansas City? And I said, well because I said where I was from, and you were like judgemental about it. Yes, I wasn't judgemental about He goes, what's your problem? And I go, well, I don't have a problem. And I'm like, oh my god, it's happening. Like she warned me that this could happen, and I've just been I'm engaged. Now I'm in an argument with the guy who like is maybe hiring me.

So he's like, get the funk out of here, and like literally said it like that, and like I leave, and I'm like I call her and I said, well, I guess I screwed that moment up. I guess I didn't heed your warning. She's like, what happened? I said, Well, we got into an argument about where I was from like, She's like, what did you do? What did you do?

I said, I didn't do anything. I just answered his question. Well, long story short, like a day later, she calls me and she's like, you are not going to believe this. And I said what she said, you are not getting that American Express commercial? And I said, well, yeah, clearly. She goes, but Joe Pitca had his casting director callback and say he can't wait to work with you on something. And I was like so confused. And then a month later I get a phone call. It says, show up

in the Long Peach Harbor. You're in an IBM commercial with Joe Picca. And that was the beginning of our our run. Wow, incredible, unbelievable. How many did you end up doing with him? This is gonna sound so ridiculous what I'm about to say, but it's like a couple of campaigns, but it was like almost sixty and he would just call and listen. I have talked about him when I've been asked, you know, for comments about acting and things like that. I just had dinner with him

a month ago here in Los Angeles. And he doesn't like to hear this because he's this guy. You know, he's Polish from pitts Burg. He's stubborn and he's bullheaded, and he's you know, he is he him. But I'm like, Joe, you have to acknowledge my appreciation and my thankfulness to you, because you taught me so much about like working under pressure. You taught me so much about like being prepared you saw me, taught me so much about being patient and

like confident in your abilities and like you. But more than anything, you gave me the ability to go into these theatrical auditions with the confidence that I had somebody outside of this room it's going to hire me for something, And like you don't know what that means to an actor to know that, Like I'm not walking in with desperation on my brow. It's like fuck you, Like no, I'm serious. You need to know that you mean a tremendous amount of my career and that I wouldn't be

where I ended up being without you. And that's all I'm going to say about it. That's amazing. Yeah. Good, He's a good guy. I just figured out his stick man. I mean, he he is tough, but he just appreciated that I in that room that first moment that I engaged him and that I wasn't like whimpering, and that was his test. His test was like, well, can you work with me on set when there's ten hours of time we've wasted and we've got to get the shot in one minute? Can you be that person? And that's

what he kind of puts people through. It's another thing you don't hear so much about in terms of in terms of other things you could be thankful to him for. But just you know, you can be at Second City. You can I mean, hell, you can be at SNL. You can be on live stage in front of a thousand,

two thousand people. There's something different about the camera and shooting in front of the camera that's not a live setting, and just the process of going through that, as you said sixty times or a hundred times or however many times, it was having that onset experience. I know it sounds stupid, but just like hitting your mark, showing up knowing what you're supposed to do, what your ultimate job is, and then also being pliable enough to change and adjust in

the moment. It sounds so simple, but unless you actually do it in stakes that matter. A tremendous amount to people, meaning they're paying a bunch of money for this shoot to happen. It doesn't ever feel the same way, and that's got to be an amazing gift. Well it is, And let me tell you that is why directors have people they hire over and over again, because you know, as you know as well as I know, everybody is

scared of someone in this business. So Joe is being hired to shoot a commercial and create a commercial that needs to be good, right or he doesn't get hired again. Well, how does he go about making sure he makes a good commercial? Well, he hires people he can really I on and count on and that no, aren't going to

waste a bunch of time. And like that's just it is the practice and experience of being in front of the camera and like you said, hitting a mark and having the confidence to hit a mark and knowing your lines. I just remember showing up on like the first set of a TV show being nervous as hell, but also knowing that I had been through it and knew what my job was and knew to be prepared. And that

was because of that experience. Yeah, that's that's awesome. So at this point, you you have this confidence and you start booking small roles on things, you start becoming a working actor. Obviously almost famous comes to mind through my research. I understand you auditioned for Lester Banks, which you didn't get. But the legend is Cameron Crowe said you needed to be in the movie. He need it Happen World movie. Yeah, Gail,

another casting director. You know, as actors that are listening, we always wanna kind of pit ourselves against casting directors sometimes and think of most gatekeepers. And I'm not going to tell you that doesn't exist, because I think that does exist. But the really great casting directors, which is so true in all of our business, the really good, good, great people at their jobs are not that the confident people in their abilities. They're not what you think of

as the worst of the worst. It's kind of like when I hate to use this analogy because it sounds so fancy, but it's just one that works. You like when you're in first class sometimes and most everyone in first class is really nice to everyone and accommodating and helpful, and then some a hole gets on and is mean to the flight attendant and can't believe they don't have

ranch dressing when he clearly ordered ranch dressing. If you look at that person's ticket, you will probably see that they themselves aren't paying for that ticket or they got upgraded. They're playing the role of what they think a person in first class acts like Snootye and Nobody. That's not to say there aren't a holes that are in first class. For the most part, the confidence of being someplace and in your abilities doesn't always translate to what people think

it is right. Actors are the same way. The really good actors and the really good confident people aren't punching down at people. Casting directors that are really good at their job and confident in their job and work for big people, they're not punching down at people. They're helpful. They want you to succeed. They hope you're the next Marlon Brando when you walk into the room, right, because that means their days over. They just found the part. Anyway.

My point on Gail Levin, the casting director for Almost Famous, she called me in and she again she said, honey, you're not going to get this part of Lester Banks, and I'm like, god, No. I had the episode of Dharmaine Greg on my resume at that one. She said, but you're really really good, like you did a really good job with this, and I said, well, thank you, and she said I think Cameron should meet you and I said okay, And so I leave that audition. I

called my parents. That's back when I would call my parents and tell them news before they started hounding me constantly about well, have you heard anything? Have you heard anything? You get? Oh? Are we this? We have the same parents that is, oh my god, have you heard anything that audition that you did three weeks ago that you mistakenly told them you had. You wish you had never told them you had that audition, but now they're asking you about it, and of course I didn't get it.

Have you heard anything? Did you? Now? I know you had that callback to have you heard like? Yeah, the answers no. Marshall Bell. Marshall Bell, great character actor that I worked with with Joe Pitka. He's the one that taught me that Hollywood as the fastest yes and the slowest. Now and I told my parents that, I'm like, if I haven't heard anything, The answer is no, like I

would tell you if I got the McDonald's commercial. Yeah, So Gail I call home and I say, well, she told me she wants me to meet the director and Cameron Crows like a legendary director. We'll see if it happens. And then she called a couple of weeks later and was like, can you come in and meet Cameron? And so I did, and this is again talking about the best act in a different way. He's just so nice

and so accommodating. He's like, hey, so do you mind if I follow follow you around in the room with my cam quarter And I'm like, uh, for these four lines and he's like yeah, yeah, yeah, And I said sure, So I read my four lines and he's just like moving the camera all around me like a like it's on some kind of jib and he's like, yeah, okay, now show me one like like do jealous? Like do really jealous? Do angry? Do sad? Do do like you've been up all night? Like he had to run through

all these emotions. And I leave there so artistically, creatively fulfilled, because it didn't matter then if I got the job. I just went through the most incredible work session with Cameron Crowe and I learned so much and I left and they called and they were like, yeah, you're gonna do this part in the movie, and I said okay, And that really kind of helped helped me get started. Like that did that was a major help for my career Almost Famous? Yeah, Well, because again, like I said,

and as you know, everyone needs somebody else's opinion. And so now when I walk into a room, it's not just Chuck Laurie's opinion that I was good enough to be on an episode of Darmaine Greg It's Cameron Crow's opinion that I'm good enough to be in one of his movies. And we know small parts in feature films are very hard to get auditions for and very hard to book. And so now when I walk into an audition for cs I for a recurring role, my intro is this Sarah stone Street who's just an almost famous

and he's so funny in the movie. Like, it just changes the perspective for everyone, for you in that moment. So I always say that Almost Famous changed the landscape for me, not because it's like I made all this money or something like that. It was just that now someone could say point to Cameron Crow and DreamWorks and Steven Spielberg and say, well, he's good enough to be in their movie, right right? How many episodes of I Did You Do? Did A fifteen? Or sixteen? Yeah or

something like that. Were you ever on that one? Did one? Did? What did you put? Did you play killer? I was a furry? Oh my god, I remember that. Remember that episode. I don't know that you were. I definitely didn't have any scenes with you, but I don't know. I think I might have been hold on, well, you're rolling the camera, but they people won't be able to see this. But I do have something to show you and loathing fur and loathing was the name of it. Dude, Brian, I

think I was in that episode. I was in the lab. Probably. Look, here's this is for you. I could send you is I had my own trading card, Ronny nice. Look at that. That is amazing. They did not give me that. Have somebody find out if I that's Kevin Bacon were in one one episode of TV show together. That's great. So I want to talk to you a little bit, obviously about modern family. I'm gonna tell you a story that

I know I haven't told you. Also, but in two thousand and ten and eleven and twelve, that's fine, But you were nominated for the Best Supporting Actor the Emmys, and this is the time the office was getting nominated and we were all there and I was sitting next to Angela Ckenzie and I you know, I met you, We spent some time together. I know that you worked with Angela, as you mentioned earlier, quite a bit at improv Olympic. She loved you, and I didn't know you

that well. I took a little bit of a different path, more through the theater route, but I envisioned us as a as having sort of a similar journey. And I remember sitting there in the audience and I was sitting next to Angela and we were like, this is bizarre, but we were like essentially holding hands when they were announcing you. And when you won, I cried and Angela cried hard tears. Angela cried hard tears. I cried, maybe because she was crying, but I think that that's just

me not owning up to it. It was something about you, your work. Your work was so good. So there was that, but it was also like, well, to quote Kevin Malone, I guess it's just nice to win one. It felt like you winning was like winning for me in a weird way. I don't even know how or like, not just me, but like all of us who are sort of in the ensemble cast of the office. That it was.

It was just like a validation of like someone who works hard in Hollywood has a career, builds a career and keeps working at Improv Olympic, trying to get better and doing commercials and doing these little roles. It just felt like a victory for all of us. So that's a true it's a true story. I don't I don't think i've ever because it's a weird thing to say, Like we weren't like brothers, are like best friends, but somehow you're winning. That was that was a thing for me.

That is so nice that that means a lot. I mean it means a lot because what you're describing you felt is exactly how I felt, right I I felt that way like I was nominated for all of us and I won for all of us, because you know, a year before that, I didn't know what I was doing on a Thursday, I joke. But we were shooting the pilot a modern family, and everybody we're getting to kind of know each other. Everyone had something to do, like Rico was gonna he was shooting an episode of

Some and c I S the next week. Julie was in second position on a pilot. Tyberrelle was in second position on a pilot. Jesse was going to do a Broadway musical. If it didn't go Ed was just rich and he didn't care. He was going to go home and put a pot roast in a crock pot and drink a bottle of thousand dollar wine like it wasn't a big deal to him. Sophia had a deal at ABC. Everybody had. My point is everybody had something in the in the hopper. And it's not like I was this

down and out actor. I don't want to portray that. But I didn't have anything lined up because I got this audition, and I wasn't going on every pilot audition at that point. I was going on a lot. But here I got it. And then a year later, I'm nominated for an Emmy and I'm up on stage with the late great Betty White handing me my Emmy, and look out, I see John Goodman in the crowd and I completely blank out, Like I just blank out. And so for you to say that that's how you felt.

Helps me feel exactly how I felt at that time, which was this journeyman who was just like everybody else. Yeah, I mean literally just like everyone else. And now I'm in a tuxedo in front of a bunch of fancy people winning a trophy. That's what it felt like, and that's what it was. So thank you. That's very meaningful and very nice of you to say. It just takes me back, man, it just takes me back. So I'm I'm happy to hear that story. What a year. Here's

a good one for you. There's a good one for you, Brian. When I walked off stage the night before the party, Tina Fey asked me if I had a speech ready, and I said, I really haven't written anything down. And she's like, look at me, write something down, just write some bullet points down. I said, okay. So I went home and I put a little trip sheet in my hand out the size of my palm, and I wrote

some bullet points down. Parents, Steve and Chris co workers, just things like that, and they say my name, and I get up, and if you watch the video, you see me take it out of my jacket pocket and then I proceed to never look at it again. I just blanked out, but I said what I wanted to say, and I went off stage. And the person that greets me when I walk off stage as I'm handing back the fake Emmy that they give you is John Lithgow.

John Lithgow, who I admire respect a doors, one of the greatest American actors ever, looks at me and he goes, that was a great speech. And I looked at him and I said, John, I'm going to trust that it was because I have no memory of it. But if you say so, I believe it. And that was that was it. That's so awesome. Oh I love that. I love that. Couldn't happen to a better guy. Um. The show unlike The Office, it, I mean, it comes out of the gate just enormous. How is that for you?

That experience of you're doing guest stars, you're doing commercials, you're working at Improv Olympic, you're doing all these things. What is that for you that it just you're suddenly you're on a show and it's like the number one show on TV. Yeah, I mean, and it it happened that fast shoot the pilot you wait, it gets picked up and then we start production. The first my first day of work on the show, the series, not the pilot, but the series. My first day of work, I show up.

In the first scene I shoot is the scene of me charging across the parking lot with trash can above my head, screaming I'm gonna break the window. So here I am on my first like of I don't know what it means to be on a show on a daily basis, you know, And now I'm there, I mean, I'm in it. And that's where the pick of stuff comes back to play. It's like, I better just get this job done. Like they've given me this job, so

they clearly have confidence in me. I better find the confidence in myself to know that, like, well, I'm here because I'm supposed to be, and I better start acting like it. So it was quite a shock to have

a place to go to work. I mean, you remember that, You remember pulling up to your sound stage and thinking, like, I have a place to go after For me, it was it was eleven years and then two in Chicago, thirteen years, thirteen years of never knowing where I was going to be day to day or week to week, and now I had a place to go. I I just remember thinking, like, I bet I can drive a

golf cart on a studio a lot. I'll bet if somebody, if I asked somebody, I'll bet I could drive this golf cart around here, and thinking that was the greatest thing I've ever heard of. That's the thing. Ever, Yeah, that's amazing. You were on Where Where were you? I wish we would have been on Warner Brothers like a paramount. They're just such iconic lots. I mean, twenty is fine, but it's not Warner Brothers. It's not universal where you have all this interaction with these people that the that

are just happened to be there. There's nothing better than being on set and walking to set and then a tour walked by from you know, Illinois, and being like, holy cow, there's one of those actor folks getting, you know, like and you'd be like, Hi, welcome to Los Angeles.

I mean, that's what you want to do, right. I Mean, it's just so fun because I remember coming to l A and going on on a four eight trip to the Ross Shafer Show and Chuck Norris was a guest, and I got to ask Chuck Norris a question from the audience and like, I'm like, I'm never forgetting this in my life. And so I always just thought it was so cool to see, you know, just your folks from the Midwest on a studio tour and then be able to go home and say, and yeah, there he was.

He was walking, he had bandies all over his face. He was just he's just like you and me. Everybody. I think everybody who's ever been here has some story like that. Mine was, Chuck Norris is pretty good. Mine was. I was doing a tour on the Universal lot and I saw Kit the night Rider Car. Oh my gosh, that was it. That was That was my star siding was Kit the night Rider Car. I don't know what

that means. It's it's pretty good. God. You and Jesse played the first committed queer relationship on a major network prime time television show. Yeah. Were you aware of that in advance? Like where were you thinking, like, oh, this is a first or did that come later like when you were cast, when you were going through the casting process or whatever. Yeah, not not the first thing i'd or not the aspect of us being the first, that wasn't on my mind at all because I didn't. I

don't think I knew that. I didn't realize that, but you know, more than anything, I just wanted the part, and like I felt like my life perspective as an actor as a person could enhance and help people get

over fears of gay people. Like I just thought, like, this is a good opportunity for this pig rays and farm guy cow steer tipping, you know, dude, to be like I'm so confident in myself and also so not concerned with anyone thinking that I would be gay like to play this part, and that I thought that I could be any I could be a really good ally, like I thought, and I just thought my life experiences to that character would be making really diverse, like with

the drumming, the clowning, the farming, football and all that. It's like that would just make this character hopefully a very well rounded gay man, not just a gay man. Right, So that's what I was fighting for from the beginning, is just like I just want this part. I just

feel like I can do this part. And then the idea that we were first and cultural touchstones for people just added to the meaningfulness of it, Like it just made it even better and more fun and more important for myself, but also but for the gay community, which was great. Were you embraced by the LGBTQ community. Oh yeah, Jesse and I were at all the different functions in the beginning of Trevor projects, the human Rights campaign all that.

I think it was great. You know, I just wanted to create a character people liked and loved and thought that was my uncle, or that's my aunt, or that's my brother in law. I just didn't want I just didn't want anyone to see one thing right. I wanted him to be able to and that that was would always mean the most to me is when I would be out and they would say, oh my god, your character reminds me so much of my cousin, like, oh,

what's his name? It's like, oh, no, her name, Or they would say, your character reminds me so much of my uncle. Well what's his name? Well he's not he's not even gay. Like, I just didn't want to be defined. I want him to be a confident gay man, but I didn't want the fact that Caim was gay to be what defined him. Right, and Steve and Chris were the same way. Yeah, it's amazing to me obviously talked

to Rain Wilson a lot. His character is sort of the most easily identifiable in this way, but like a character full of dichotomy, right, So like Dwight Shrut drives a trans am, listens to heavy metal, but is into dungeons and dragons, and as the sheriff's you know, deputy, you know, all of these things that don't go together, yet when they go to that's reality that actually brings a greater reality. And I think that your character a

lot of the same things can be said. Taking what someone would expect and you know, pig farming football, playing from Kansas. How much of your life was put into the character? I mean how much did did you influence how that character was written? Eventually, well, quite a bit from the beginning we when I got the part. In between getting the part in the pilot and then the pilot and shooting the series, they talked to us a lot. I have a very vivid day of the day that

Michael Jackson passed away. I, along with my dad, was the twentieth Century Fox having a meeting with the writers and giving them examples of my my raising, my rearing childhood, and they're just all right, and all this down and you know a lot of it. But they had written it's so hard because they had written this character and they said, the more paternal of the two, the more enthusiastic. Those were the words they used. But then they said,

but not over the top. Well yet they wrote in the pilot a scene where I introduce our baby with a spotlight to the lion king theme. So as an actor, you know that, Well that's a pitfall, right, How do I build a character that is it over the top, yet that's where we're headed to that moment? So how do you have those stepping stones in place in an arc that's not too over the top but yet leads to a way over the top place. So that was

what was hard about the character. Well, that's why I ended up kind of in the world of opposites, you know, playing sort of a character inspired by my mom cut with my physicality being six ft one pounds, and then hutting that with avoid a soft voice and a soft approach and the jewel tones of the clothes and the hair. All that. I thought, well, those all kind of work in opposite together, and maybe that would work. That will be the pathway there. So that's that's how that happened.

But it's always this balance of delivering these crazy lines, these word gymnastics, these crazy scenarios, but yet maintaining a sense of believability. Well, the way I did that was I used my mom as a guide post, because my mom is not a character, She's a fun, loving character. So I thought, well, I'll always just take it up to how my mom would say it, and if I just leave it at that, then I know it's still in the world of believability. Yeah, congratulations on all than

you eleven years. What is the thing that you think about the most now that you don't necessarily have a place to go quite in the same way that you did for those eleven years, what's the thing you think about the most? You know, a smell, the feeling of a sound stage at six thirty seven o'clock in the morning, the construction, the paint, the noises, the sound stage coming alive with the hundreds and some men and women that

come to work and bring everything. The smell of craft service and catering, the coffee bruin and the makeup trailer, like all the stuff around it. Because that's what as an actor you fantasize about of like being on a set. That's all we ever wanted was just that set experience. Like you said, the experience is what builds your career. And then here we are our own place to go

with relationships. I know the first name of the grip, I know the first name of the painter, I know the first name of the best boy, and we're all kind of working together to bring this thing. So honestly, what I think of is just the composition of an all right, take a step back and look at that sound stage in think of everything that goes into making

that tick in that day. That's what I miss. You know, I always joke, but I'm very serious that I cry at parades because I love a parade because I know and think about all the conversations that went in to getting everybody at that starting line, the dance studio, fire trucks, the shriner's, the phone calls the night before of like my costumes ripped, I don't know what I'm gonna wear it, Tommy,

It's gonna be fine. You're gonna still show up at eight o'clock, and everybody taking it so seriously, Well, that's Hollywood every day. Everyone has over and over conversations about making sure Brian's suit is the way it's supposed to be, and somebody sets it there and you know what, I have insuls in my shoe and you know what, we've missplaced Derek's insults from last time. Somebody has to go

get those insults. Like all, So what I think about is the production of it all, the company of making it all happen, and how it's so fun to be a part of that. Amen, congratulations on everything. Domino Masters. Now you're a hosts Domino Masters, you're a host. Now. I'm so happy for all of your success, truly, and I know maybe we maybe we got to go to a game together at some point. This year was the year you could have come to the Packers game in

Kansas City. You know that game didn't carry the same enthusiasm because they're not playing or just because yeah, because I was thinking about it, I've never been. I need to come. Now let me ask you this. Will you have two teams next year you root for if there is a split? Uh yeah, yeah, because you're going to root for the player, yeah, and you're going to root for the team. Yeah. Now, if it was actually wait, a minute. Actually, wait a minute, Wait a minute, wait

a minute, was that like a fancy catch? I don't know that there will will be two teams. Let me say that very clearly. Yes, we'll see what happens. But what if it was a far situation, would you all of a sudden route for Aaron to do well? And not that he's going to Minnesota, but like Chicago, Minnesota. Listen between us and anyone listening, I just I really, I really don't want him to go to the Niners. That would be that would be the one that would

be the hardest. And you know what for him, No, well, listen, I don't know that he would go to the Niners because what's made part of what's made Aaron so great is the chip on his shoulder that he's had that they did the Niners didn't take him, Like why would he give him that satisfaction now? Right? Like I would think the player with the edge that he has that

I assume he has that people say he has. It's like, hey, we could have had a love affair for the last twelve years, Like you guys chose not to have that love affair with me. Why am I going to now come give you a little bit of my Aaron Rodgers love no ask you know selfishly. I want him in the A f C. West. I'll take him in Denver. Interesting, do you want him there? His hair do matches Denver? Now he's kind of a gren old guy looking like dude, looks like he's got his tevas on driving his subar u.

How good was the cornuroy suit? Oh my god? Can you imagine imagine the friction you and I would have in that corduroy suit. You and I'm working in that corduroy suit. It would just be what it would get. It would get worn down quicker, that's for sure. It we'd have some tiger bomb in action. Thank you, my Fred. Yeah, good, good, good chat. We'll get to a game together though. Let's do it. Eric, thank you so much for stopping by. I am so excited to see where your career takes

you next. Where the dominoes fall, if you will. That's it. That's our episode. Everyone follow us on Instagram at Off the Beat and let us know what you thought of today's episode. You'll find me here, same time and place next week, where we have another amazing guest, one that you may never want to captain your ship. We'll see you then. Off the Beat is hosted an executive produced

by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langley. Our producers are Diego Tapia, Liz Hayes, Emily Carr, and Hannah Harris. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary Art. The theme song Bubble and Squeak performed by Hi Great Friend Creed Bratton, and the episode was mixed by Seth Olandscape