Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Chris Perfetti – on bringing Jacob to life on ‘Abbott’ and why theater is home

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

'Abbott Elementary’ star Chris Perfetti joins the show. Over oxtail pasta and bee sting pizza, Chris tells me about the evolution of his character Jacob, why they didn’t need to overexplain his sexual orientation, and w g his love of theater with a busy sitcom schedule. Plus, I recall a run-in with Chris at LAX, that now seems like it was a big turning point in his life. This episode was recorded at Roberta's in Studio City, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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premium wild caught seafood. That's wild alaskan.com slash JTF for $35 off your first order. Thanks to Wild Alaskan Company for sponsoring this episode. Hey, it's Jesse. Today on the show, you know him as Jacob Hill in Abbott Elementary. He's also in the film Twinless. It's Chris Perfetti. It's amazing that we're talking about this because I feel like, certainly in the context of network TV, like, your character ran so that, so that, so that Jacob could be, you know, whatever that is. We held the door open for you.

Yeah, yeah. This is Dinner's on Me, and I'm your host, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. So today I am at the Sportsman's Lodge in Studio City, and we are going to Roberta's. Now, if any of you East Coasters think Roberta's, it sounds familiar, it's because, yes, this famous pizzeria started in Brooklyn, and it's finally made its way to the West Coast. We have a few locations here, and it's known for a really great slice, a really great vibe, and my favorite pizza of theirs is the Beasting Pizza, and it's a little bit spicy, it's a little bit sweet, just like my friend Chris.

So I'm so glad he was able to join me while he's in Los Angeles for a few days for heading back east. And I'm excited to see him. All right, let's get to the conversation. This is a funny thing. I keep trying to do gluten-free for like two weeks because my doctor was like, just try it

to see if like your energy level is better. And I cannot get it started. Yeah, that's good. I mean, you're living in the best place to be able to do that. I find so many gluten-free things I enjoy more than the original. Like a gluten-free pastry, forget about it. A gluten-free pancake?

Forget about it. Forget about it. Love that shit. What do you think? I don't know. I know I want that pasta if you've got it. Okay, we're definitely doing the oxytale bricotone. And I want those green lettuces.

We want the green lettuces. I have to confirm everything. Just, you know, everything has to go through me. I'm an idiot. Little stinker or bee sting, what do you think? Honestly, I would say why not go with the classic, with the be sting. Okay, let's do it. Yeah, you got it.

Okay. That's the green lettuces, the baked dogs, tail, rigatone, and the bee sting, right? Yes. Right? Yes. All right. Thank you so much. I can take these out of your way right now.

Thank you. Thank you. I'm seeing you very soon. Okay. Do you have any olives? Actually, yes, we do. We have a really good plate of all of this. Olive. Let's do that as well.

Absolutely. You got it. Thank you so much. I'll see you soon. But you grew up in New York, right? I grew up super upstate, like near Canada. And my people are from outside Rochester. And then I went to drama school like a half hour north of the city. And then I moved into New York after school. Where'd you go to college?

I went to purchase. where I met Broadway's Micah Stock. That's how we became buds. Yeah. You went to school in the city, didn't you? I went to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. In New York, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. On the Upper West Side. Yeah. It's a conservatory where you get a certificate of completion. You went to like a... I went to a conservatory, but it was for full year.

Okay. Would you come into the city a lot to see theater? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think I would have done well going to school in the city. I think I would have been pretty distracted. Before you went to college, and what kind of relationship did you have with performing on stage?

Did you do that at home? Was there a community theater that you were involved in? Yeah, I did, I kind of fell into it by way of music. I was into music and I thought I was going to be in band and stuff like that. You don't sing, do you? Not really. I mean, I sing constantly, but I've never been paid to sing, and I don't think I will. But yeah, I did planes in high school.

I did stuff locally. There was an amazing regional theater in Rochester that, you know, showed me what it could be like. I mean, I fell in love with it. because of that. Yeah. And it was pretty shit at everything else. And so I was like, I think I'm going to go to school for this. And there was enough, you know, as much as I shit on Rochester, like where I grew up,

there was so much there. There was enough to kind of like show you where to go. And so, you know, I went to, there's like a governor's school for New York State that really kind of showed me what training to be an actor would be. be like and it made me kind of fall in love with it, I guess, for the right reasons. Whereas before I was like, I'm going to make you laugh and I'm going to be the center of attention. And it...

Did you... Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Just right here in the center? Yeah, sure. You got it. Thank you.

Enjoy you guys. Beautiful. I mean, I grew up six hours from New York City, so I wasn't that far. But I had, the first time I visited New York, I was 16 or 17. And the Tony Awards are really kind of like, they were like, they were like the rainbow road for the, they were like, you know, connecting the country. It's amazing how many people like had an experience watching it as a kid. For sure. I mean, it was my pipeline to so much.

Yeah, because, you know, those titles of like, you know, Angels in America, they weren't making their way to the Albuquerque in New Mexico. It was really just through those performances and seeing this, like, tiny little clips, like those little itty bitty morsels of like whatever they had to offer for like their 90 seconds of screen time that they had on the Tony Awards. I would latch on to and then do like crazy research to try and figure out, you know, how I could find out more about these plays and all these like shows that you know were a little too abstract because like an albuquerque it was like you know Oklahoma it was and like these are the shows that like I was exposed to um mouse trap you know yeah like yeah you're like I want

I want Shakespeare yeah I don't know if I wanted Shakespeare in the boy did you find it was this summer the seventh one yeah holy moly Yeah, I know. It's so amazing. Oh, here's our pasta. This is the baked oxhill brigatone. Thank you. And for this one, be very careful.

Try not to touch the edges of that cast iron. Ooh, I want to touch it. Ooh, I thought I wanted to do. Yeah. Great. You'd like me to clear some of these out of the way. Just put them up. Yeah.

Yeah, you can move things over there. Thank you. Look at you can see them still. Thank you. You said you did Shakespeare a lot in the final year. Yeah. Our whole fourth year is just kind of... Oh, you're so lucky.

Our whole third year, rather. And so I felt like I had a good handle on all of the plays, and I had a really... Perfect, gorgeous. Okay. Incredible. Anyway, that was a very special summer. I enjoyed doing that, and I enjoyed meeting you that summer. There really is nothing like being under the moon in Central Park.

Yeah. Doing a play. Yeah, that's really special. It's pretty cool. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Chris and I get into our early days doing theater together, and he tells me why he still makes time for theater when he's not filming Abbott Elementary. I love that.

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What is it called Open Throat? Yeah, open throat. Which Joanna said she read that book. I haven't read it. Yeah, it's a phenomenal book. I think you would really like it. About a gay mountain lion in Griffith Park. Yeah, it's a queer mountain lion who kind of like stumbles into,

it kind of chronicles their interactions with humans and the experience of, it's kind of like a love story and a take down. of L.A. all at the same time. I gotta read it. Yeah, it's pretty cool. He's a phenomenal writer. His name's Henry Hoke. You would, I think you would dig this book.

Yeah, Little Island. The park has some competition now. We've got some outdoor venue. It's like a little tiny mini-dor-dart theater. Yeah. It's an amazing space. It's literally in the Hudson River. Yeah.

And they're programming some really rad stuff. You know, there's opera. others dance, there's theater, there's music, there's conversations, all kind of happening there. I hope it really becomes a thing. I mean, as much as I say, like, there will be nothing like Shakespeare in the park. Yeah, there's room for other experiences. Yeah, bring it on. New York's such a cool place for that. I remember during, um, I don't know if it was, I don't know if it was, I think he was during the pandemic, but I actually think it might have been before. Might have just It's been like a regular summer in New York.

I just like associated with the pandemic. But there was this woman who lived off of her apartment. And you can tell she'd probably been in this apartment for like, you know, 30 years or something. But it was one of those apartments that overlooked the highline. It was old apartment. Like the old fire escapes. And she would do a cabaret on her fire escape. Yes.

Every like Friday night over a summer. And it became this thing, timeout in New York, like wrote up a big thing about it. Yeah. And then, like, the city of New York was like, you actually can't do public performances on your fire escape. Yeah. So they made her shut it down,

but they gave her notice that they were going to, like, shut it down. So, like, she had a final performance. And I remember reading, and I wish it could have gone to it. You attended the closing night performance? I wish I had. I really wish I had. But I saw photos from the final performance. There was thousands of people in the street under this woman's fire escape,

and she was just doing this, like, cabaret. And so... I'm glad she was able to find a way to take back her apartment from the High Line. Right, exactly. Can you imagine? I know. But it's like stuff like that that I feel like so cool about New York. So, you know, this theater space in Little Island, which, you know, I watch...

I live in Chelsea, we have an apartment in that area. So I saw this island kind of, you know, forming over the past 10 years. But it is such a cool space. It's one of my son's favorite place to hang out. And, like, I love that there's a performance there. I really wish I had seen that play. I saw photos of it. It looked incredible.

With New Jersey in the background and the river, it looks so cool. Yeah, it was a good time. You have done a very good job just put on top of the pasta. Yeah. Oh, no, don't do that, actually. Here you go. Thank you. You were saying I've done a good job?

You've done a good job of doing what I did when I was in a modern family and going back to New York and doing theater almost every hiatus. Yeah, I've been very lucky. And I'm so impressed. I remember my cast would be like, why? Why? First of all, I'm like, why do you like to work so hard on your hiatus? It's like, they're so hard. It's like so much work.

Because I'd be like learning the play, you know, in like the final weeks of doing your family. And like, I was like, God, you're already having to work on your next job? Like, it just seems like so much work. I was like, I love it so much. It doesn't feel like work. It doesn't feel like work. I mean, does your cast seem to understand, like, I mean, I don't think you have any theater

people in your cast. It was Shirley Ralph, you know, what am I saying? Theater icon. Theater icon. Yeah, they're similarly kind of like, I mean, to their credit, we've kind of like, we've kind of like bitten off a little more each year and we're, you know, doing some of these ambitious shoots and everybody's life, obviously, as the show has gotten bigger, has gotten bigger. And so they're all busier and Tyler is directing, you know, he's directed a couple of our episodes. And so I think they're probably more ready for a break at the end of it than I am. I just, yeah, I've been so lucky that there's been a play or something to work on during that time.

I feel like so many people have said to me, like, especially people who know you or worked with you, like they remind me that I'm on sort of a shrinking island and how great it is when you can get this job, which can work so fast and furiously, but, you know, it takes us only half the year to shoot 22 episodes. And so I've got the other half of the year to do what else I want. I mean, I kept hearing about this when I was doing my own family,

but it is now being on the other side of it and having the show behind me, I can say it pretty confidently to you, but it's so rare that, you know, you have a network television show that films 22 episodes and does as well as out of elementary as doing, and people really love it. I mean, it's just, it's such a gift. And I'm just so impressed that, you know, you're still able to do what you,

I know, because I know you were rooted so deeply in the theater, and I love that you are taking these opportunities to come back and, you know, do interesting things that are stretching you. Because that's the other thing, and I'm not, if you're feeling, I don't know if you feel this way, but I certainly did with, you know, doing a network television show. You get, on a sitcom, there's not a ton of room for growth with these characters. You know, the audience, they don't want to see Jacob not be.

Doing 180. Yeah, exactly. Because they need, it's comfort TV for them. You know, you don't have a ton of room to stretch. especially when you've been doing a role. You know what's now five or six seasons that you've been doing Jacob? Yeah, we're in our fifth right now.

Yeah. Yep. So, you know, the idea of doing theater and getting to stretch is extremely exciting. But I just, I love that you have been, I mean, I know you constantly go back to New York and the fact I remember asking you, like, where do you live? You're like, I live in New York, I just work here in L.A.

Like, you really have kept your feet from what planted, in these coast, which is impressive. LA feels more and more like home every year, but I think just because of the sheer number of years that I've lived in Brooklyn, like it's still... It feels like home... It still feels like home.

And theater feels like home. It feels the most, like, acting to me. It doesn't feel like I'm... Yeah, like you said, like, we're going to work or like I'm doing something difficult. It's what... connects me to that thing that I'm chasing. It's still the greatest high I've ever experienced.

And I'm so glad that there's been something to do in those months off. I think they really kind of keep each other in check. It was only when I was working on a play while we were, as you said, finishing up our season. And getting to ping pong between the two is just so fun to me. It made me realize how much Abbott is kind of informed by being able to trust your ensemble. And like, everything is always about timing to me. Like even, you know, incredibly dark moments or, you know, whatever you have to access psychologically, it feels like,

Like, rhythm to me is still kind of like a driving factor in discovering truth or telling a story, like, especially when you're in a play. And, you know, a sitcom is all about rhythm. It's like you have to know how to, like, show up for that thing. Yeah. And so they really feed each other in the same way that New York and L.A., I feel like, feed each other. New York has everything that this place doesn't, and this place has everything. that New York does in. And it's so amazing to, I never imagine

that I would get to spend my life. Like, it's so crazy, actually, that we go from one side of the country to the other side of the country. Yeah, I resisted Los Angeles for a really long time. And even up to like 10 years ago, I was like, I'm in New York or I'm just here for a little while. This is after like having substantial work here.

Like I was rooted pretty heavily in here. It wasn't really until I met Justin, got married, and start a family that, I feel like, okay, this is where I live now, and I get to live in both places. But, you know, I think both, like you just said, I mean, being able to go back and forth makes me appreciate each city so much. Now let's take a quick break, but don't go anywhere. When we return, I get into the exact moment that I realized Abbott Elementary is going to be a smash hit, the logistics of filming mockumentary-style television, and Chris tells me about his new movie Twinless. Okay, be right back.

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Visit medcan.com slash moments to get started. And we're back with more dinners on me. I remember what I saw you, I don't know, was about five years ago now, I guess, at baggage claim. Yeah. Was it a JFK or LAX? I don't remember where, if you were coming or going. We were both landing in New York. People landing in New York.

I hadn't seen you in a while. And I was like, what are you doing? You're like, I just shot a pilot. I just finished a pilot called Abed Elementary. entry. Oh my God. It was before any of this happened. And then I remember, like, you know, late summer, you start to see all the billboards

go up for, like, the next season of shows, and there was your face. I was like, oh, my God, it's Christmas show. I can't wait to watch it. And you just never know with these things. Yeah. And I absolutely fell in love with it. I think I reached out to you to tell you how much I loved it. You did.

It was, it's so. special and I got to meet Quinta shortly after that we were with the same agency for a while and we were at some Christmas party and it was you know only five or six episodes to come out

at that point she was there and I introduced myself to her she's awful charmless there's so much room for improvement there you know there's so much potential honestly just charmless

I've said that to her Yeah, I'm set it to her face. Charmless is wild. I have notes. I have notes, and these are the notes. My God, I mean, it's, I was, I'm so happy for you, but I was just so proud that, you know, you were on a show that was so good because you deserve to be. I mean, you're so fucking talented. And it's just such a perfect part for you.

I mean, I was curious because, you know, with Modern Family, a lot of this stuff was a lot of like what became. the show was not on the page when I first audition and it sort of became that thing as we created the show together. But like, from what I understand, there was like a, was there a lot for Jacob? Like, I mean, I feel like Quinta had a pretty, like, what I remember reading, a pretty outlined version of who this person was. He's also, like, one of the only white people in the show. So I think there was, like, there was, you know, how did that, why,

how does this white guy fit into, like, a, prominently black ensemble. I'm laughing because I was imagining the character descriptions of all of the other characters as being extremely thorough, and then Jacob Hill, white. Oh, really? Yeah. No, that's not what it was, but... No, I think Quinta had a really...

I mean, like any great writer, comedian, collaborator, she comes in with a strong sense of what makes her laugh and then is open to what the universe wants to show her as well. And I didn't feel like I had any authority on this character. I just, you know, I read it, and I thought she had a really specific idea of who they all were, and that's why I thought the show was funny. And so I just kind of, like, vamp off of that.

And I definitely know guys like Jacob. There are a lot of Jacobs in my life. And then, yeah, after we shot the pilot, this weird, you know, this weird kind of like alchemy happens where like you start to become the authority on this person. And it's like she brought them into the world, but you're going to be their parent for however many years you are. And you're going to, you know, be in their skin for 22 episodes a year. And so it's weird to simultaneously feel like I'm the expert on Jacob, and yet 10 other people are as well who are like writing for him every week. And I think what attracted me to the show was that she took some big swings.

And it felt like she was writing for just herself. And she was writing people that when put up against each other would cause. some kind of sparks. Yeah. And then she was like, who do you, who do you, like, what do you have to say about, what do you want to bring to this person? What did you contribute?

What did you have to offer? I mean, not that much. I feel like what I have to offer is like, I just have to find a way to make real for myself what is interesting to you. And then I'm going to go off and do my work and obsess myself with the things that I think Jacob is interested in and afraid of.

And, um, Was he always a queer character? No, I mean, we shot the pilot, and when we got picked up, Quinta and I talked about that. And I so appreciated that she didn't, like, give the character some big coming-out episode. And, I mean, it's amazing that we're talking about this, because I feel like, you know, certainly in the context of, network TV, like, you know, your character ran so that, so that, so that, so that Jacob could be, you know, whatever that is. We held the door open for you.

Yeah, yeah. So you could fly. Well, I mean, not the, I remember being so struck by that because you're right. In the pilot, there was no mention of like, who Jacob was privately. And then, you know, in very simple, almost blink and you miss it sort of ways, there were these Hence, like, who all these characters were in their pilot lives. Not just Jacob. I mean it when I say, like, when I read the pilot,

I felt like she was writing jokes for just her, which on a network sitcom is, you know, somewhat revolutionary, I think. But the more you kind of get specific, and any writer-artist will tell you that, like, when they're having fun, when they're doing something that seems truthful to them, that's when people want to get involved. Yeah. You know, it's when you try to please everybody

or you do something general that people are like, that's actually not how the world works. Right. And so I think she just thought, like, people are queer and some of them are teachers and, like, I'm not going to spoon-feed this story to perhaps half of the audience

who might, like, do a double take about that. We're just going to... It's also, I guess, sort of baked into the mockumentary format that, like, we're trying to convince you that this is real life. We're trying to dupe you into thinking that this is happening somewhere, really, in the world. And so just got to let it be and not over-explain it. I do love that you all justified the documentary, the documentary of... Did Modern Family Not?

We tried to. So I guess in the original version, That's amazing. The reason this documentary was happening was because a former exchange student who, the Dumfies, my character and Julie Bowen's character, we had, when we were younger, this kid from Sweden living with us, an exchange student. And then he comes back to, like, do a documentary about his American family. And the original title, the show is My American Family.

And so it was all from his perspective, and he was actually written as a character in the show. and then they were just like a few characters too many and so he was the first to go and so the documentary or mockumentary conceit stayed but there was no explanation it's like why this family was having a documentary

about them but I do remember in the first season like we would do things like I remember in the pilot specifically we're like you know what would happen if this was a documentary okay so we're bringing this baby home from the hospital the camera crew is obviously with us. We're all getting out of the car together.

They're getting out of the car. They're behind us. We're leading into the house because we have the keys. It's our house. We open the door. We have to hold the door open. The camera crew comes in and the camera wouldn't be in there before you. So, and they all these things.

And we did that for like, I don't know, eight episodes. And then we're like, okay, never mind. Camera crews are already in the house. It's just too much. It became too much. Yeah, yeah. And so we just sort of like, as it gets slicker and slicker and slicker and slicker. There's a scene in one of our later episodes where Sophia Vigara's character announces that she's pregnant and then it fast forward a few years.

And we do like this kind of beautiful, like cinematic circle thing where like it goes around. Like then all of a sudden like we're in a different time and like Sophia's pregnant and like I was like, you know. You're like break the fucking rules. There are. There's no rules anymore. Like now what are we doing? We're doing dream sequences people. Exactly.

Yeah. But we literally were. just doing this the other day. There's this hilarious moment that we just shot where Quinta needs to barge into an office and start screaming about something, but then she realizes that they're on the phone, and so she tries to, like, you know, backtrack. Yeah. And all of us are right behind her, and the camera is obviously with us coming behind Quinta, because that's how it would be in the documentary, you know, the camera would not already be in the room. Right. Anticipating her arrival, right. coming in. And so we did this over and over trying to get the choreography right so that we could see it, you know, so that there was a camera there to capture it, but that it was, you know, also feasible.

Right. You know. So then we're still trying to work with the construct of like a documentary. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

But you guys had so many locations. And so like ours is, I think, I think we are helped by the framework that like there are cameras in the school. and there are people working there's a crew working in the school. You guys had, you know. Yeah, we're out in the world. Yeah. For sure.

Yeah, I remember the first season of Modern Family when we were trying to still do this construct and like there was a scene where we were in, we just shot an episode in Hawaii and we were in an elevator and they wanted to shoot it with just the elevator doors open and like straight on.

I was like, no, that's not interesting. Like that would not be like how it would be shot. So I suggested they build in what looked like security cameras in the elevator in the corners. And then I said it and like, and I said, and what if, like, me and Cam are, like, taking videos of one another on our phone? And that's, like, the footage you get. So it's like, you know, you work with what you would have in the elevator.

And so that's how we shot it. And that's what made it in. And that's my idea. And so, like, I was really proud that, like, I was trying for a little while to, like, keep up with this idea that there was a mockumentary happening or documentary rather but yeah yeah it's been one of the more kind of like unexpected fascinating parts of the show is i feel like i'm kind of going to film grad school in a way right i eat some of these olives yeah please okay we're going to talk about twinless oh yeah which by the way so twinless i i just watched it i finished it this morning

Oh, cool. I'm kind of obsessed with this guy who wrote it and stars in it. She's very good. Yeah. Tell me his name again. James Sweeney. The movie is great. I don't know why I was like, I started it off as like, okay, I think I know what this is going to be.

And it ended up completely surprising me. It's really, really well done. Talk about someone with like a vision. I mean, this guy's James who wrote it and directed it and stars in it is so great. I actually just sent him a message on Instagram. I was like, I'm kind of a new fan of yours saying hello. I told him I was having lunch with you. But yeah, how did you, is this someone you knew before?

No, I met him when he started to make this movie. And I read the movie and I was like, I don't think, you know, tonally, something like this really exists. I was like, I needed to talk to him. I needed to know if he wanted us to laugh at him. him or with him or when it would be sort of the emotional climax of the movie. I thought it was so awesome. Because it is very funny and also dark and tragic and emotional.

It's super dark, yeah. You definitely feel for these characters as well. I mean, like, I felt really bad for him. And he's a character. And anyone who watches the film, well, you know, once you kind of get far enough into the film, you know, your feelings change about many of the things. these characters and it's uh it's it was a tricky performance to pull off totally um yeah it was really really really taken by it i mean it's a really cool project to be a part of oh yeah i i agree i'm so

grateful that i mean we were chatting about it last a couple years ago now and i was like look if you can make this work so that i can come up on the weekend you know while we're shooting abbott i'm i'm yours and god bless him he he did and I really went because I was so taken by the script. That's what it's always, what it always is for me. It's like, if you got good writing, I'm there. And then I was really blown away by him as a filmmaker. I think he's truly like one of the most incredible visionaries I've worked with.

And he's 12. He's so, he looks very young. He's very young. He's very talented. He's very sweet. I will say after finishing the film, I went back and watched the first 20 minutes again, knowing what you know.

Knowing what I know. And I was really impressed by the clues he laid in and just the attention to detail. Yeah. It's one of those films that when you finish you, you're like, wait a minute. It's kind of like, I mean, I don't want to like build it up too much, but I felt the same way after seeing the sixth sense.

I was like, oh, I want to watch it again, knowing now what I know. And it is one of those films that sort of, begs for a second viewing. It's a great. It's a great film. I was really excited to see you in it. Thanks, man. Yeah, I think the whole visual language of it, the story itself,

I just thought we're so unique. Yeah, really cool. I'm glad you saw it. Yeah, I hope everybody can see it and I hope that he is fast at his length. I think he's someone that we're going to see a lot more of. I hope so. I mean, maybe it'll be his new news. Just like, what was her name?

To Josh Safis. Julie Fox? Yeah. I'm Josh Safis. Yeah, I'm a lot of people's news right now. I don't know that I can, that I have room for it. You have room for it? I'm definitely floating.

No, but it's really impressive, and I'm very happy for you. You're the shit. I'm happy for you. You're amazing. I've been trying to get you on here for a while. I love watching you eat. I love watching you eat gluten. You skinny little bitch.

Worth it. I highly recommend. This episode of Dinners On Me was recorded at Roberta's in Studio City, California. Next week on Dinner's On Me, you know her from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl, and so many more things. It's Mary Elizabeth Ellis. We'll get into her and her husband Charlie Day's humble beginnings, raising a teenager in Hollywood and working with acclaimed director Paul Thomas Anderson. And if you don't want to wait until next week to listen, you can download that episode right

now by subscribing to Dinners On Me Plus. As a subscriber, not only do you get access to new episodes one week early, you'll also be able to listen completely ad-free. Just click try free at the top of the Dinners On Me show page on Apple Podcasts to start your free trial today. Dinner's On Me is a production of Sony music entertainment and a kid named Beck. at Productions. It's hosted by me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. It's executive produced by me and Jonathan Hirsch. Our showrunner is Joanna Clay. Our associate producer is Alyssa Midcalf. Sam Bear engineered this episode. Hans Dale She composed our theme music. Our head of productionist Sammy

Allison. Special thanks to Tamika Balanced Kalasney and Justin McKita. I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week.