Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - JANE LYNCH — on how a Frosted Flakes commercial led to ‘Best in Show’

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

'Glee’ and ‘Best in Show’ star Jane Lynch joins the show. Over some cacio e pepe, Jane tells me about getting her start in iconic Christopher Guest films, working with Meryl Streep on ‘Julie & Julia’ and why ‘Glee’ was such a special show. This episode was recorded at Tre Lune in Montecito, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jesse, get in the car. Is this a new car? What's going on? This is crazy. Well, we're hitting the road today and leaving the LA bubble to eat with our guests in Montecito. And I thought why not arrive in style in the all new Nissan Murano. I like this. It's so luxurious.

Let me show you something. Oh, wait. Does this seat have massages in it? Oh, wait. Is this a spa? Yes. Wait, let me show you something. Oh, wait. Does this seat have massagers in it? Oh my, what, is this a spa? Yes, wait, let me show you something else. Oh, the lights are changing colors in here. What's going on? Yeah, it's a vibe, right?

Like, what are you feeling color-wise? Cause I mean, there's 64 color options. There that many colors? Yes. Okay, I'm simple blue. You got it. Oh, oh, okay. This is very luxurious, very relaxing.

You have seat massagers. Let's put your seat back. Okay. Oh, wow. Yeah, look at this view. Just sit back, relax. We're going to be there in no time. All right, I'm ready.

Are you ready? I'm ready. Montecito, here we come. Woo. Hi, it's Jesse. Today on the show you know her from Only Murders in the Building, Glee, and her multitude of roles in Christopher Guest films. It's Jane Lynch.

She said sometimes at night we see guys holding hands, walking down the beach and they're gay. And I was like, I'm the girl version of that. Oh. This is Dinners on Me, and I'm your host, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Okay, the year was 2000. I was 24 years old,

crammed into a studio apartment deep in Brooklyn. I was juggling three jobs, one for rent, one for food, and one for my MetroCard, which was basically a monthly subscription to Disappointment. I was juggling three jobs, one for rent, one for food, and one for my MetroCard, which was basically a monthly subscription to disappointment. Any spare moment I had, I was auditioning, running across the city in shoes that were probably falling apart.

One freezing winter day, between appointments and Manhattan, I ducked into a movie theater just to get warm. The movie I decided to see was Best in Show and from the moment it started I was absolutely hooked. Now I already loved Christopher Guest's previous film Waiting for Guffman but Best in Show it was an instant classic. I saw it again and again and again. I dragged friends with me every time I saw it. The second that the DVD hit the shelves I bought it and practically wore it out,

memorizing lines, obsessing over deleted scenes, and idolizing every member of the cast. And then there was Jane Lynch. Now I'd never seen her before, but as Christy Cummings, she was electric. I became a fan for life in that moment, tracking her every project like a heat-seeking missile. Now flash forward a decade, Modern Family premieres

and my life changes in ways I never could have imagined. Running around to all those auditions in unsensible shoes obviously paid off. The same season that Modern Family started, another show explodes onto the scene, Glee. And right there at the center of it in all her tracksuit clad megaphone wielding glory is Jane Lynch as coach Sue Sylvester.

I remember watching, beaming with pride for this actress I had admired for so long. And then something even wilder happened. Through the swirl of Hollywood events, red carpets and industry parties that came with those early modern family years, Jane and I crossed paths. And then we kept crossing paths.

And before I knew it, she wasn't just an actress I admired, she was my friend. It's a strange and wonderful thing when someone you idolize turns out to be just as incredible in real life as you'd hope they'd be. Jane was sharp, hilarious, and deeply kind. We just clicked. So when the opportunity came up to take a road trip to Santa Barbara for a meal with Jane,

I didn't hesitate for a second. It felt like a full circle moment. The kind of thing that if you told 24 year old me about shivering in that movie theater back in 2000, I would never have believed. But life has a funny way of surprising you. Jane, thanks for doing this with me. Oh, I'm so thrilled. I love your little old school notepad.

I know, right? I know. Just simple notes. We know each other so well, I really don't need it. I brought Jane to Tre Lune in Montecito. Now, well, actually, I should say Jane brought me because it was really her suggestion. She's a regular there. She even has a regular table that she may or may not frequent with none other than Carol Burnett. Funny story, when we were talking to Trey Lunae

about hosting this episode, Jane was apparently sipping some coffee on the patio. I mean, she basically lives there. Anyway, Trey Lunae is a celebrity hotspot for a reason. It serves up authentic, simple Italian recipes that let the fresh ingredients really shine through, like rigatoni with porcini, shiitake and button mushrooms

in a light tomato cream sauce, or fresh sauteed salmon with lemons and capers. Whew, now I'm hungry. Okay, let's get to the conversation. Thanks for having us here in your little hometown now. This, yeah, this is Montecito and this is Tre Lune and I come here probably at least four times a week. I love it up here so much.

I'm so jealous that you could live here year round. It's a wonderful place to live. Yeah, wait, have you lived up here for a while now? Five years. Okay, okay. So that was, what made you want to make that move from LA to come up here? Well, Jennifer, my wife and I, one of our first dates,

our first weekends away was up here. And I had always said, I want to live here when I retire. When I get old, like, because everybody hears you look around, everybody's of a certain age. What is your day like up here? Oh gosh, it's really slow and it took me a while. I'm in the place now where it feels good

and it feels normal, but I really have nothing to do, except if I go off and work, but I take a walk. I mean, I run into people all the time and say, you walk a lot around here. And I go to the grocery store and get my food for the day. I mean, it's really simple and easy. Then I go to Cafe Lux and get my non-existing coffee anymore, because I can't drink coffee because of my GERD.

You know what we're talking about, that's what we're both having a real... I can't, and it's been my big addiction. Letting the coffee go, it's almost like when I stopped drinking, it was like I felt I have no reason to live now. I know. So I'm going through a little bit of that downer. Have you really completely given it up?

Yeah, I have to. Wow. I have to, I'm burning on my voice box and my voice has gotten a little lower. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so that's basically what I do. I get my groceries for the day and then I go home. You get your groceries and you deal with the acid reflux.

I do, that's all I do. That's all you do. You're a whole new person up here in Santa Barbara, Montecito area. I am. Do you, now just to be clear, you haven't retired, even though you're living here. No, but that's the funny thing is that I,

when we got up here, we took a weekend up here and Jennifer said, you know, you're almost 60, so this is almost like retirement age. You wanna look around? And I was like, sure, so we found something, a house, and then the prices went through the roof. I'm so happy you're up here. You seem really happy up here.

And you're welcome, you and Justin, and the kids are welcome to come to the, we have a little carriage house that's so sweet. You have to come visit us. I love that. How is marriage 2.0 going? Great! Really, really well.

I'm glad. Yeah, when you said 2.0, I was thinking, oh, because I had been married before. But it's great. She's one of the happiest, peaceful people I've ever met in my life. And we're both very independent. Very independent.

Like, if we hadn't found each other, we would for sure be single. It's just really perfect for both of us. Yeah, yeah. You've always been, I think, fairly independent from what I understand. Yeah, I like to do things on my own. I remember one of the first times I saw you in person

was right after I moved to Los Angeles. Just speaking of coffee shops and your love of coffee, I drove by King's Road. Of course. I remember being so excited because I was such a huge fan of yours and I was too nervous to say hello to you, which I don't know if it's because I just found you

intimidating and tall, which you are at least one of those things. But I was so pleased when we finally became friends when you were doing Glee and I was doing Modern Family because those two shows started at the same time. And you know, they were both such hot shows at the time. Yeah, it was a heady period of time for us, wasn't it? Right?

Yeah. Yeah, it was crazy. Yeah. I mean, I had already known you, you knew your work was so impressed upon me just with the Christopher Guest stuff you done in 40 Old Virgin, but it seemed with Glee, like it was a whole other level of notoriety

that you were getting and people were so excited about you in that show and obviously awards attention and for me it was just, that was such a big deal for me at that moment too. And I feel like it was Glee and Modern Family were like the two hot, buzzy shows, the two comedies that people were really talking about. Right, it was rarefied air for sure.

Absolutely. So exciting. And I really loved getting to know so many people that your coworkers and but mostly you. It was such a treat loved getting to know so many people that, you know, your coworkers, and, but mostly you. It's like, it was such a treat to get to know you as a person. Same here. And that's where our friendship sort of began. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, I remember the last time we worked together, which we didn't share the screen, was that it was in Vancouver. Yes. And I moved out of that hotel. Oh, I didn't tell you. No, you told me you moved out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, that was when you told me you moved out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But yeah, that was when we were shooting Ivy and Bean. That's right. Yeah, but I remember we went out to a vegan restaurant and I'm just gotta let you know I'm a carnivore now. Oh, really? Okay, so this is so interesting. No, we didn't go to a vegan restaurant, but you ordered vegan.

Yeah, right. Because I took you to a place that I loved and you're like, I can't eat any of this stuff because I'm vegan. Did I say it like that? God. Well, I don't know, might've been exactly that. Probably, I might have that vegan arrogance. I think I kind of tried that because I'm vegan. Did I say it like that? God. Well, I don't know. It might have been exactly that. Oh, you know, I might have had that vegan arrogance.

I think I kind of tried that on for a while. I can't eat any of this. I can't eat any of this. Animals were slaughtered for this. No, I don't think you said that. Well, maybe, but I do remember specifically, this really is, and I was so excited to eat with you again because it was like the last time it was so funny,

is you were like, not only can I not eat meat, but I don't want anything spicy. And do you remember this? Where are you gonna taste this, girl? So you ordered, they had a basically buffalo wing cauliflower, which is- Made out of cauliflower, right, right, right. But you didn't want the spice on it,

you didn't want the sauce. I'm so boring. Well, this is- Was my company that boring? I hope not, good Lord. But so you ordered this basically steamed cauliflower and I had my meal and then the waiter, do you remember this?

The waiter came by the table and was like, how was your meal? And you hadn't eaten very much of it and you're like, well, it's kind of bland. And he was like so apologetic and you're like, no, I mean, it's my fault. I ordered boiled cauliflower. And I think they didn't charge us for it or something. The Canadians are so nice. I'm sorry, I'm boiled cauliflower. And like, I think they like didn't charge us for it

or something. The Canadians are so nice. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But when you were doing Funny Girl, I don't know if I ever told this, but I really desperately wanted to send a head of cauliflower to your theater

as an opening night gift. Hello. Good, how are you, honey? Good to see you. Jane's a regular. I am. And you know what I want. What do you usually get?

I get the tagliata. It's delicious. You don't have to get it, but you can what I want. What do you usually get? I get the tagliata. It's delicious. You don't have to get it, but you can certainly have bites of mine. I'm so impressed. I was really like, what is she gonna order? What else do you love here? What are you known for?

Jane? No, no, let him tell you first. This is not your question. No, it's not, I'm sorry. I'm so into the interviewee mode. Well, I will say one of the questions. Okay, tell me. I don't know if you're okay with everything

or there is something you might know. I'm okay with everything. The cacio e pepe. Cacio e pepe is really good. I love cacio e pepe. Oh, that's Jen's favorite here. I'm gonna do that. Yeah.

I'm gonna do a cacio e pepe. Could I do a little salad on the side? Yes, yes. And to drink, I would love something effervescent if you have something like sparkling that's non-alcoholic. Or even a lemonade. A limonata Italian. Yeah, that's great.

I'd love that. Oh, there you go. Sparkling, color green, thank you. Which is not great for my gird, but. Yeah, I was gonna say. Yeah. You know what, make it flat. No.

Yeah, and I'm sorry. I'm always boring when I go out with you. You always disappoint me. I'm so sorry. I'll do sparkling and just throw it in your face. There you go, go crazy, yeah, right. And do you ask for bread? Do you want bread?

Oh, I don't want bread. Do you want bread? I don't want bread. We're Hollywood actors, we don't eat bread. No, we don't do that. Listen, even though we're upstate. Upstate. We're upstate California, upstate LA.

Jennifer and I were talking about this. I said, I think, saw somewhere it said Santa Barbara and the central California coast. I think we're in central California. We might be. So I'm not a SoCal gal anymore. No you aren't. That rhymed though.

It's SoCal gal. Get a tramp stamp that says SoCal gal. And then you go to go what about that, it says former. I love that you live up here. I love that you have gotten away from LA. I assume you go back a former. I love that you live up here. I love that you have gotten away from LA. I assume you go back a lot. Like how often do you have to go back to the city? Never.

I rarely go back to the city. I go to New York. I go to New York. Everything I've done in the last three or four years has been in New York. Have you worked in LA a lot? In Vancouver? Not since Modern Family finished.

Yeah, it's been crazy. Yeah, very little. I'm going to Toronto to do some work. I'm going to London. I'm going to New York. Yeah. Oh, I wish I was going to London. I am going to London.

Why are you going to London? I'm going to, I'm not working. But over the summer, Jennifer and I did this two years ago, we go to Oxford University and we take a summer school class. I was gonna say, do you take a class? For three weeks and we stay in the dorm. And we have a summer school class. I was gonna say, do you take a class? For three weeks and we stay in the dorm.

And we have a class, we do it through Berkeley because that's where Jennifer went to school. So it's all of these people, and we're like the youngest ones. Really? And they teach you in the Oxford way, which is you sit at a conference table, the teacher, and they call the teacher the tutor,

sits at the front and we discuss. In a powdered wig. In a powdered wig. In a powdered wig. Yes, and they make sure it's really hot and we all smell bad. And we discuss, like mine was Shakespeare. So we talked. That's what you studied?

Yeah, that's what I studied. This is incredible. Five plays. This is my dream. You totally love it, with a wonderful teacher. I mean, the love of learning in this program is just. It's a three week thing. It's a three week thing. I wanna do this.

What are you studying this summer? I'm studying Shakespeare, same group. Again? Five different plays, I don't know what they are yet. And it's basically the same group. So I got in early to make sure, because that class closes up really fast. Have you always loved Shakespeare?

Yes, yes. I didn't know that about you. Ever since I started working on it in undergrad. Interesting, I know that you were a big fan of theater. Yeah. But I feel like I was hearing, I must have listened to this on a podcast that you got scared of theater very quickly.

Was it that you? Oh yeah, and when I was a kid, when I was a freshman in high school, I got cast in a one act that was based on the Princess and the Pea story. Yeah, yeah when I was a kid, when I was a freshman in high school, I got cast in a one act that was based on the Princess and the Pea story. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was called The Ugly Duckling. And I auditioned for the King, I don't know why,

but I did, I got tons of laughs in the audition. And they like, we're gonna cast her, starting kind of this pattern of me doing roles that were originally written for men. So at the first rehearsal, I sat down on my throne and I did the same thing I did at the audition and no one laughed. In rehearsal?

Yeah, and I quit. I didn't tell myself that's why I quit, but that's why I quit. I told myself, you know. After one rehearsal? One rehearsal. I said, I got so scared. I said, I don't want to be on the tennis team instead.

And then I went back because I couldn't stay away. And I be on the tennis team instead. And then I went back, because I couldn't stay away, and I worked on the crew for that play. Because I just- Did you watch the person who was playing the king? Yes. Were you jealous? Yeah, more heartbroken for myself. Yeah, I mean, how much,

and when I first became a fan of yours, it was through the Christopher Guest films. Oh yes. The first one I saw of his was Waiting for Gufman, which you weren't in. No, that was the first one I saw too. Yeah. Yeah. But his second film was Best in Show.

And you are absolutely brilliant, I think you and Jennifer Coolidge. Thank you. And you could tell that it's being improvised, you could tell that this is not scripted, but at the same time, everything seems so planned out and everything seems to work so cohesively together. How complicated is it to bring so many brilliant

improvisers together and have everyone be on the same page? What did Christopher give you as far as direction for- Backstory and stuff, yeah. Well, the first thing he does is he says, I'm gonna do another movie and here's your character. Okay. And so he gives us a little bit of our backstory. We're lovers and she's got an old man and she's married too.

So then for me what I would do is I would write out, I mean I did all that acting school stuff, wrote out the history of the character and made decisions about her. I went so far as like I would read like the news. I would pick up a newspaper and I would comment on the newspaper as the character and that's how I like really learned who she was and Then Jennifer and I got a hold of each other and we were both very nervous because we were both First-timers, but we had talked so much and our stories synced up and we had a lot of fun doing it We would walk through Stanley Park and say what if I say ha ha ha so we kind of planned out what our

Interactions would be. Right. But then doing Mighty Wind, we worked so hard on those, long and hard on the music that when my Michael, John Michael Higgins and I and are doing our first scene together, I have no idea what he's gonna say. And he's my husband.

Yeah. Like how we met or anything. He's a brilliant improviser. Oh my God, he's the best. He's so funny. He's brilliant on about 150 different levels too. I mean, so he tells his story, I tell my story and he's hearing mine for the first time

and what's really funny, at one point he thinks I'm about to say, and I met the man who would change my life and he kind of sits up and I go, Bert Wiseman, the pornographer. Yeah, yeah. And then you see his spine kind of crumble. It's so good. I was actually just,

I was rewatching that clip on YouTube this morning. You play this former porn star who is now part of this singing group. Almost like Sing for Jesus singing group. Yeah, they're very- Oh my God, it's so funny. You tend to play these like, you play a seductress,

so you do it quite well. You did it in the 40 year old Virgin, like aggressively coming onto C4L, and you kind of did it in Best in Show as well, sort of like the side to Jennifer Coolidge, about like, I'm a disciplarian. Yeah, yeah, right, dynamite the sack. Thank you for laughing at that.

I remember coming up, I'm going to say dynamite. Yeah, yeah, you for laughing at that. I remember coming up, I'm going to say dynamite. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then for your consideration, you were also so great. And those three Christopher Guest films for me are just such iconic, so different. Everyone in those ensembles gets to play such a wide variety of different types of people. And for me, it's like your career really took a big turn after that.

It did, yes, absolutely. Before that, I had been doing guest spots on things in the occasional pilot, where you get your hopes up and then they're dashed, and then you just go up and continue doing your thing. I did a lot of voiceover and really enjoying where I was for the most part. Although I always wanted more, I wanted something bigger. I was for the most part. Although I always wanted more, I wanted something bigger. I kind of didn't expect it.

Right. And so when the Christopher Guest thing started happening, that was... And how'd you meet Christopher Guest? I did an audition for a commercial and went to the callback for it, for Colors for Us to Place, and he was the director. Oh, wow.

So I walked in and there he is. And I knew him from Waiting for Gufman, so I was kind of like, ah, ah. Oh yeah, he's also an ad. So it's like, you know. So I knew who he was. And it's just such a great guy. It's so packed full of beautiful things.

Someone retweeted the scene of Parker Posey where she's out in the middle of winter in Ohio with a coat on, barbecuing. One chicken thigh. One chicken, it's just beige. Yeah, yeah, it's just beige. Yeah, yeah, it's so good. She's smoking a cigarette.

I'll always have the DQ. You'll always have the DQ, coming up with a fat, flake-free, sugar-free blizzard. Yeah, yeah. Oh, it's so good. Just so brilliant. Yeah, so yes, for those movies definitely, took me up to a new level that was

year two, four, unexperienced for me. When did you move to LA? In 91, I was in Chicago up until then, and we did a show called The Real Live Brady Bunch. Yes, I know about this. Yes, which was the Brady Bunch. With Andy Richter, right? Yeah, with Andy Richter, he was Mike and I was Carol.

So we did it at the Village Gate in New York. And then we did it at the Westwood Playhouse, now the Geffen Playhouse. And so we all basically stayed in LA. So Brady Bunch was kind of what brought you back to LA. Yes. Yeah. And that was a huge hit.

I wasn't in LA at that time, but I remember reading about it and hearing about it. You were just a kid. I was a baby. You were a baby. Would have been 1990, 91. Yeah, no, I was starting high school. Yeah. Yeah.

And where did you grow up? What time? Albuquerque. Oh, I didn't know. I don't know why my voice just said that. Well. I just, my gurg kicked in. Albuquerque, New Mexico, yeah. Wow.

How did you not burn the shit out of your skin? Oh, it's a terrible place to raise a redhead. All redheaded in their families? Like fair skin, but I was the real redhead. My sister's sort of strawberry blondish. But yeah, it was a lot. When you were growing up, did you know that you were gay as a kid?

Yeah, around 12. Yeah, same here. Yeah, when I heard a friend of mine, she was going on vacation in Florida, I forget where, but I guess there were gay guys there. She said, we'll see. In Florida? In Florida.

My word. She said sometimes at night we see guys holding hands, walking down the beach and they're gay, and I was like, oh, I'm the girl version of that. And it felt like I had a disease, like I have that. Yeah, yeah. Because they didn't say it with any affection about him, you know, these gay guys, you know, holding hands.

Well, I assume Chicago at that time probably wasn't the easiest place. Well, I was in a suburb, so I think Chicago, Chicago always had a gay neighborhoods and like any big city. And so when I finally got to the city, you know, it was teaming with the gays and so was the theater world.

And it wasn't a big deal. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, definitely, I mean, that's one of the reasons I love theater so much is because I felt really at home in that community. It didn't matter one way or the other. It did not matter at all. When I did my first TV show, which was The Class,

I played a straight guy on it and had this really sweet relationship with Heather Goldenhersh on the show. You know, I was very much out to my cast, I thought. I remember we were doing up fronts in Canada for the show and Andrea Anders, who was in the show with me, she said, do you have a girlfriend? And I was like, no.

I kind of said it like, no. And her next thought was she goes, oh my God, are you a virgin? I was like, Andrea, no, I'm gay. She's so shocked. I was like, oh my God, am I really passing as a straight person? Wow.

But I remember feeling like there wasn't a lot of pressure for me to come out as gay, especially that time until Modern Family really happened. And you're playing a gay man. And I'm playing a gay man. Was there, how was it for you when you came to LA? Well, you know, I played a gay woman in the Christopher Guestville. Yes, I do.

I didn't have a single thought of it. Yeah. Like, oh, will I have to come out? Will people know I'm gay? I was like, I got the best job in the world. Yeah. So I didn't really think about it. At that point, I mean, I hadn't come out to my parents.

I was about 30. Okay. So I waited a long, but once I- How did your parents react? Great. Oh, that's incredible. I think it would have been different when I was 18, but they were just great. And it was, in fact, we kind of jumped into a new relationship

because I had kind of separated myself because of this and was kind of, I felt alone and I didn't think that they would love me anymore. No. No. And so once that broke, that fever broke, I don't remember, like, even pausing it. Not that I came out and said, hey, I'm gay, but, yeah, I don't remember it feeling like a big deal.

And a lot of that has to do with the fact that... Right as I was starting to come on the scene in Hollywood, Ellen and Melissa Etheridge and Katie Lang, they had all come out. And they had all kind of lived to tell the tale. So I think that they did a lot of work that kind of gave me subconsciously some kind of security and safety.

Oh, I think absolutely. When that was all happening, it sort of felt like if you don't come out on the cover of a magazine, is it really coming out? Right. If a tree falls in the woods, no one hears it. Right. But so it felt like you had to sort of

make a big deal about it. And at that time it was like Neil Patrick Harris and well, T.R. Knight, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer. But a lot of these people, it's sort of the same way I feel like I came out in that it was just, I continued to live my life as I lived it and then that information seeped out in ways and it didn't feel like I had to make a big

splashy moment of it all. Right, and don't you think too that because you played a gay man, Yes. that people just assumed you were? Yes. Because I think that might be, as I'm moment of it all. Right, and don't you think too, that because you played a gay man, Yes. that people just assumed you were? Yes. Because I think that might be, as I'm thinking of it right now here at this table at Tre Lune,

that the fact that I kind of came on the scene, if you will, as a gay woman in a movie, that maybe people thought, just thought I was. But then the next time you were like, I'm a porn star who loves getting, like she's the only one who does certain things that other women won't do. That girls won't do.

So it was for a loop. Yeah, you know, I definitely really respect people who came out before me and paved the way and I think made things easier. But you know, I think it's always interesting for someone like me, who's more of a character actor and someone like Matt Bomer, who's like, you know, this leading man.

Yeah, gorgeous kind of. You know, and it's like, it's strange that those, that coming out is two totally different experiences for us just because of the way that the industry looks at us. And I think that we're, it's almost like, we should go back to the old Hollywood ways where everybody wants to,

it's about our personalities. They want to know too much. Everybody wants to get behind the curtain and see how things are done. There's like a celebrity obsession and that I think is starting to go away. Yeah, no, agreed, yeah, for sure. Now for a quick break.

I actually need to run to the car really quick and put some money in the meter. Speaking of my car, I have to say, I was already in a great mood today since I knew I was gonna be having this chat with Jane Lynch, but I arrived so relaxed and re-energized coming up the coast in the all-new Nissan Murano.

We were so excited to partner with Nissan because they're a brand that understands that sometimes the greatest rush comes from not rushing at all. And that's something I really care about and one of the reasons why I wanted to start Dinners On Me in the first place. I wanted to be able to create an opportunity to simply be with another person purely for the sake of enjoying good food and good conversation. So thanks again to Nissan for sponsoring this episode of Dinners on Me and for reminding us to take a moment and breathe.

Learn about the all new Nissan Murano at nissanusa.com. Panoramic moonroof, ambient lighting, and massaging leather-appointed seats are optional features. And now let's get back to our conversation with Jane Lynch. features. And now let's get back to our conversation with Jane Lynch. How much did you love working with Scott Ellis doing Mazzle? Very kind. Marvelous Mrs. Mazzle. Great, great, great. I loved doing that show.

It was a great show. I loved it so much. Soup to nuts. Acting, writing, the people, the costumes, the background people were lovely and great actors too. They knew being a background actor is an art because if it's not good, you notice and it can destroy what you're doing. There's some, I saw it on YouTube or TikTok, there was, I guess there's some background actor on an episode of Modern Family, it's so funny, I love it so much,

who's at a table in the background, and I guess they were probably given instruction to like, you know, have a conversation, like make it look natural, but she's not sitting at a table with anyone, but she must've was like, well, I guess that's what they told me to do. She's talking to thin air, right behind me. Like it's right off my left shoulder,

and it's me having a scene with, I don't know, Claire or whatever, and then there's this person behind me talking to an empty chair a lot. And it's one of my favorite things. I'm like, I want to find this girl and give her a special award for this. She was just doing what they were telling her. She was taking directions. Yeah, if you don't want that, you want to find this girl and give her a special award for this. She was just doing what they were telling, she was taking directions.

Yeah, if you don't want that, you got to be more specific. You said make conversation. Exactly. You didn't have to say it was with a person. Anyway, speaking of background actors, I was looking and it's like, you are basically an annual invite to the enemies.

Like, I think it's something like 15 nominations. Basically every year you're nominated for something. Guest star, usually. Guest star or host or something. Yeah, yeah, that's right. I know you won for Hollywood Game Night. Hollywood Game Night. Which I was a contestant on.

I know, you were great. The episode that I shot was with John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Jane Krakowski, and Zachary Quinto. You were so great at that. And that's a whole art in itself. It is, yeah. To really be on your toes and to be working, especially when you're working with people

who are actually competing to win real money for their families. Oh, it's not. There's a level of. There's no effing around. And there's standards in practice because of where there is money. So you definitely have to.

Doing Hollywood Game Night was kind of like bootcamp for hosting a game show. The Weekend Slank, yeah. Yeah, because Hollywood Game Night was so challenging. Right, also you were developing the blueprint for Hollywood Game Night, like that was a new show. Exactly, yeah. Five games every episode.

Celebrities, which social anxiety, hello. Yeah, because every week you're like, kind of have to be the one to make all these people feel comfortable on top of doing your own job. Exactly, exactly. And understand, I mean, everything's in the teleprompter, but you've got to understand the game. Like we would do two or three days of just me working

on the games before we started shooting. And you know, it became an easy thing to do and it was always enjoyable. But when Weakest Link came along, I mean, I'm standing behind a podium and with these really, you know, they know how to pick people really nice. Yeah, it also had been, it had been done.

It had been done, it's basically the same people. We had done Hollywood Game Night, which logistically was just all over the place. So you take those people and put them on Weakest Link, and it's a much simpler game. And so we just flow like a well-oiled machine. It's an absolute delight. And I love trivia, especially the Weakest Link.

One of the first episodes we did, we literally had a rocket scientist who had like five degrees from like Stanford, Oxford, really smart guy. And his questions were, the first one was about the Kardashians. Oh. He didn't know.

And then somebody else got like a science question and he's like. What topic are you on? Yeah, and then one was about a breakfast cereal. What breakfast cereal says it? It's great or something like that. And he said, I know that one. Cocoa Krispies.

I was at the commercial. Let's go back to 1992. Roll the tape, please. And so he got booted off in the first or the second round, which was just, I thought, amazing. Even the greats fall hard. And so he got booted off in the first or the second round, which was just, I thought, amazing. Even the greats fall hard. They do. They go all over the place, quite a range.

Yeah. Can we talk about Julia and Julia for a little bit? Oh yeah, sure. You were so fabulous in that. She's from here, Julia Child. I did know that, yeah. She lived out her life here. Yeah, such a great film.

Meryl Streep, you played her sister. I've gotten to meet Meryl a few times. I've never worked with her. You've gotten to work with her a few times now. What is that like? Well, I didn't work with her on Only Murders in the Building, but I saw her around. But in doing Julie Julia, this is all me,

this is not her. I felt like I was working with Queen Elizabeth in the way I was humbled and careful of my decorum and just kind of that crazy stuff. It's like meeting the president. But there is something about her that is very regal. Yeah. And so Nora Ephron, who directed the movie,

wanted me to come a day early. That too, that's also pretty incredible. Yeah, so I went a day early to watch, she said, I want you to see the world that Meryl has created. You know, how she's playing her, and I got to see her do a scene with Stanley Tucci, and she went through the gamut of the emotion,

oh, oh, oh, and then she was crying, and I was like, oh, okay, good. I mean, I kind of worked on it that way. Yeah. Kind of big and ooh. Yeah. Because they were known for being, they loved each other.

But effusive and everything was, my goodness, this is wonderful. So, you know, when we did the first take of the scene where I get off the train and she greets me, and she came running for me and I opened my arms and it was just a wonderful way to start this experience with her, actually meet our characters meeting.

And you're in instant love and you're in instant adoration through the vehicles of these characters and it made it so much easier for me. It's so interesting that you said that like there was, I know a sense of like reverence around her because when I watched that film, you two just look like you've had a lifetime together. Yeah, thank you, I'm so glad.

I mean, it's just, there's so much love between you two and such a comfort level and like unspoken language. It's really great. Now, you know, Meryl's not a tall person and you are. Right. And they were both, you know, I know they were both very- Julia was 6'2". Yeah.

And the sister, she was 6'4". Sister. And so with Meryl, they had her on platforms like Harmon Munster platforms. Yeah. And for some reason optically, whatever the fabric of her dress was, they took that fabric and they covered the shoe with it.

Even though it wasn't a long, I don't know how it worked, but it did something that caused. Like an optical illusion? Yeah, that caused you not to see that she was wearing funky shoes. Oh, that's so interesting. Isn't that something? Yeah. And then they dug a little ditch for Stanley at one point.

I was going to say that they dug a trench for you. Uh-huh. Yeah, they did for, not for me. I got to be at my full glory. Ha ha ha. But they lifted her up. Right. That's so funny. They put her on a higher ground, if you will. Oh my God.

Yeah. I love that. Because I think she's like on a higher ground, if you will. Oh my God. I love that. I think she's like five four, five five, five six or something. I love the whole structure was created around her height. You talked a little bit about playing the king and the princess and the pea. And it started off your trajectory of playing men.

Men's roles. Men's roles, yeah. Or roles that were written for men that they maybe restart. I know the role in 40y-Year-Old Virgin was originally written for a man. You know, Sue Sylvester certainly had a masculine quality to her. Absolutely, yes.

Disciplinarian. I also love that even though you are playing a woman in Only Mirrors in the Building, you play Steve Martin's stunt double. Yeah, she's basically, if we were to, yeah, I think Saz is, people would call her trans today. I don't think she operates as a woman. Except she has a very tender heart.

But men can have tender hearts too. Yeah, I didn't feel like I was playing a woman. Yeah, yeah. I was playing his stunt double. My whole life was about him and protecting him. He was my raison d'etre for everything. So I was a guy. Yeah.

I went out with the guys. Yeah. Ranked at the guys, went to the bar that they created, that all the sudden people go to called Concussions. Yeah. It's so good. It's so good. It's so, so good. I was reading somewhere that you were talking about Sue Sylvester.

It was such a great part. I mean, first of all, I want to talk about the sort of genesis of that part, because from what I understand, Ryan Murphy wrote it for you or created that part for you. I feel like Glee needed a villain. And do you know kind of what the show was before you,

before your character was involved with it? I don't. I don't know what it was, but it was Kevin Reilly, who was running Fox at the time, said, we need a villain. And from what I understand, I don't know if this is true, Ryan said, her name will be Sue Sylvester and she will be played by Jane Lynch, which flatters me to know, and I didn't know if this is true, Ryan said, her name will be Sue Sylvester and she will be played by Jane Lynch,

which flatters me to know, and I didn't know him that well, but Ian Brennan. I love Ian. Yeah, isn't he the best? He's great. He actually created Sue. Yes.

The contours of Sue, and he wrote almost all of my lines. And the stuff that would come out of her mouth. So it's kind of an Ian Brennan thing. Yeah, yeah. I feel like I read somewhere that you said if Sue was around today, she would definitely be MAGA. Oh, absolutely.

Now wait a minute. I don't know that I said that. Let me think if I think that's true. Don't you think she would? Do you think she would? I think she's got more integrity. She's definitely conservative. She's mean.

She's mean. She's definitely conservative. She's mean. She's mean. She's cruel. But it, she has, because she's a television character and no one can be totally mean on television and go from week to week. Yeah. She had a heart. Yes.

And it was that cruelty was covering a really tender soul that had a Down syndrome sister. Yep. And her best friend at school was a Down syndrome student. And even when the chips were down for the gay kid, had a Down syndrome sister, and her best friend at school was a Down syndrome student. And even when the chips were down for the gay kid, she stood up for him. But I don't think she'd be a mad guy.

She might've started out, you know, got a few good licks in before her conscience bothered her. I mean, you know, being a kid who went through high school, you know, queer as did I, and I certainly felt a great deal of- Were you open? No, no, no, no, no. I didn't talk about it, no.

I certainly felt a great deal of pride doing Modern Family and representing a gay couple on television. Something for kids to look toward and be like, oh, I can have that. Yes. That was very important to me. What I did love so much about Glee and what I continue to love so much about Ryan Murphy is he really is such an advocate for representation.

And the stories about these gay kids in this high school were such an integral part of what Glee was. You know, it was a group of outsiders, but also many of them were queer kids. And you know, he's also, obviously he's mentioned these Down Syndrome characters that he brought into Glee, and also he's done such great work with Poe's and the trans community.

I love the way he's constantly looking out for where we can find representation. But what did it mean for you to be playing such an integral part in that story as an adversary to these kids? I mean, you did say that she stands up for the gay kids and has a soft spot for them. She was an adversary in a comical way.

Nobody really disliked or was afraid of Sue. The audience, I mean, sometimes the kids were, they should be, but she wasn't Hannibal Lecter. Yeah. I certainly was so taken by it. It was one of those shows, even though I was doing something at the time that felt like, oh, this is a cool thing to be a part of.

I felt it was such a special time to be a part of. That TV season, because Glee was around too. And I just kept thinking 13 year old Jessie would have been so lucky to have a show like this on TV. That's how I felt that 13 year old Jane, if she had Glee, oh my God. I would have been, and I'm sure you too, obsessed with it.

Just seeing kids your age going through stuff and then singing a song and people having your back. That was the big thing about Glee that was so, I think, emotionally compelling for kids is, you know, the halls of McKinley High is like a metaphor for life. You know, you get a slurpee in the face, you get thrown into the lockers, but when you're in that choir room, everybody's got your back. Yeah, yeah. I think that, it's so funny, we're in such a cruel, we're back into like an even, like we're uber cruel now. Yeah.

You know, society has been given permission to be mean and not care about each other. And I think it's just gonna explode into a golden age of caring about each other. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. It's a crazy time for sure, yeah. But you know, I love that, you know,

entertainment can be that thing to remind you of like, oh yeah, we can be kinder to one another and it's something that's. It was such a simple little show and your show too. Was very real and you got on each other's nerves, but at the end of the day, you were a family. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know if you've ever told me

how you and Jennifer met. How what? You and Jennifer met. We met in 2001 at a gay event at a gala, you know, at the Century City Hotel. You know that room? Yeah, was it like an HRC event or something? Something like that.

Okay. Yeah, with the round tables. Uh-huh, yeah. Paddles. Yeah, exactly, for the auction. We were at the same table, and I thought she was adorable. At first I was like, oh, she's not even gay.

She looked like a straight little housewife. She actually had just been a straight housewife. Oh. Yeah, she had been married. Okay. And yeah, so we started dating and we dated for about two years and we stayed friends. You know, we're not monsters, we're nice people.

We were sharing a dog and we both went on to do other things. She went to Berkeley at the age of 50 and got two degrees and I got married and got divorced and glee happened and so it's about 2014 and she came back and I said well why don't you, she said I don't know if I'm coming to LA or not and I said well why don't you just you know stay with me and know if I'm coming to LA or not. And I said, well, why don't you just, you know, stay with me and figure it out. So she did, she never left. Really? Yeah.

Wow. Yeah. So we're just, you know, real easy, real, real honest, you know, so really, really wonderful relationship. So happy for you. Yeah, me too. And you are married, right? Yeah, we got married here in 2020. Okay. In Santa Barbara.

Where did you, what did you do? At the courthouse. Oh, sweet. Which is so sweet. Have you ever seen the courthouse in Santa? It's so cute. I have, it's very cute. And her son, he's 32.

He lives with us, Harry, and he's a real sweetheart. And he read the vows, or he was the officiant. Oh, that's sweet. He got his, what is that? The universal life church. That's right. It's so easy to get by the way. Yeah.

You literally go to like, I want to marry someone.com. I know it comes back and they go, dear Reverend Lynch. That's right. That's right. I had to get one for Sarah Highland. I married Sarah Highland and her husband, Wells. It was supposed to be Ty Burrell actually. And then last minute he couldn't travel in from Salt Lake City.

And so with like over, it was like two weeks before the wedding, Sarah was like, can you, would you be able to do this? Of course you have to say yes. I was already gonna go, I couldn't say like, oh, I couldn't lie and not be at his town. I'm literally going to the wedding. So she's like, instead of just coming to the wedding,

will you actually marry us? And so I got my license and yeah, the whole thing. You had to write out the script, Did Ty have the script written out? I said, can you fast track this for me and just let me know what maybe you were gonna say and maybe I can use some of your jokes because he's incredibly funny. It is.

And so I stole some of his jokes, but I also took my own ceremony from when I got married to Justin and used some pieces of that as well. It's just stuff that I love that was written for that ceremony. So it was a group effort, but yeah. Oh, that's so nice.

Oh, how lovely. Yeah, it was nice. Thanks for doing this with me. Oh, my pleasure. Thanks for bringing me to one of your hotspots. Yeah, sure. Thank you again to Nissan for sponsoring this special episode of Dinners on Me.

Learn more about the all-new Nissan Murano at NissanUSA.com. This episode of Dinners on Me was recorded at Tre Lune in Montecito, California. Next week on Dinners on Me, you know him as Pacey from Dawson's Creek and more recently as Dr. Max Bankman on Ryan Murphy's medical drama, Dr. Odyssey, it's Joshua Jackson. We'll talk about being a teen heartthrob, dealing with imposter syndrome, and rebuilding his life after a major loss. 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 search your free trial today. Dinners 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 showrunner is Joanna Clay. Our associate producer is Alyssa Midcalf. Sam Baer engineered this episode. Hans-Dale Shee 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.