Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Side Dish: More with Richard Gadd

Episode Date: August 6, 2026

More of my interview with ‘Half Man’ and ‘Baby Reindeer’ creator and star Richard Gadd. Richard and I discuss the final season of ‘Modern Family’ and the show’s lasting impact. Plus, we get into his love for Scotland’s Edinburgh Fringe and we discuss whether a musical is in Richard’s future – never say never! This episode was recorded at Frederick’s in Islington, London. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We've been doing a lot of traveling as a family lately. I just wrapped up my run as King Herod and Jesus Christ Superstar in London. And then afterwards, we escaped to the coast of Spain for a few days, which was great. Beckett and Sully have basically become these little beach kids. And, you know, I'm doing what I do best, which is finding the nearest umbrella and aggressively avoiding the sun. Now, as nice as it is to get away, I always have that moment where I think, well, you know, while we're away, making new memories, our house is just sitting there empty,

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This week we had on The Brilliant Richard Gadd. You know Richard as the star and creator of the smash hit Baby Rainier, and more recently for the acclaimed drama Halfman, airing on HBO Max and BBC. We met up at Fredericks in the Islington neighborhood of London, and over some nice roasted fish, we talked about what happens after making a culture-defining hit like Baby Rangier,

the unique magic of the Edinburgh French Festival, and finding humor in dark places. What's it like doing such an era-defining show for so long and the moment it finishes? Oh, my gosh. Or is that too big a question? No, no. If you have to get in the theater, it's hard.

I mean, you'll understand when I say, like, when you're doing it, you're in the bubble of it, and you don't, like, macro out and you don't see all that. Yeah, yeah. You can't, or also, like, the, it just becomes too overwhelming. Yeah. But I feel, like, in hindsight, and also because the show had social ramifications in ways that, like, most shows don't, like, specifically around a gay, same-sex couple, and, you know, just, like, my relationship to playing that character.

Like, I have a tie to it that feels very, like that bond with my character in me. Like, it's very strong. I mean, I got married the same year in real life that I did on television. Wow. And, you know, I also, I couldn't ignore the fact that, like, you know, we were a reflection of what was happening culturally in that moment with, like, same-sex marriage being legal in the United States, or at least at that point in California. And because of that, that I was able to get married in real life.

And, you know, it was sort of all tied together. And, like, the show is changing minds while, and it was also directly affecting me. And so when something like that ends, it feels, it was, it's very surreal. I mean, it's because it's living so vividly still for people, it feels great that that 11 years of work is, like, not in its sense. time capsule, you know what I mean? Yes, yeah, yeah. And that people are still able to enjoy it.

And I'm meeting kids who now were babies when the show started that are enjoying it as teenagers now. Wow, wow, wow. That feels really special. I think makes the end of it feel okay. Also, that group of people, because it was 11 years and it was such a life-altering experience for all of us, we're so close. and having those relationships

like it feels like a men's whatever heartbreak I have about the show ending I mean you know how it is like when you know the crew and like all those people like it's a big extent of family and you don't have that every day yeah so at least that you know there are crew members I'm still close with

but the cast itself like that part like we're all very very close still but I'm really proud of it oh it's so good it's such an amazing show it was 2020 2020 it ended yeah It's like we didn't right before the world shut down for COVID. Wow, wow.

Which was, you know, kind of a miracle, but also a crazy time to process the end of a show like that. You're literally stuck processing it. You can't go anywhere. I don't know what lockdown was like in L.A., but I assume semi-similar to how it was over here. Yeah, I think so. But it was almost like you were allowed out for like one hour of exercise a day almost. Yeah. It was, that must be so strange.

You almost forced to process it in a way. Maybe healthy, who knows, like, in that respect. Well, and I was meant to go into another job. I was meant to start playing. And that had to end, obviously. I had to stop. Well, it ended up happening later, but we had to stop rehearsal for it and go back inside.

And I just felt, and I was also expecting my first kid. So, like, I was able to really slow down in a way that I hadn't in 11 years. And I, I mean, I hate to say that. was a good time for me because it was a really hard time for so many people. But emotionally for me, I think there was something about that reset that really did me some good that I had to like just focus on what was it, you know, right in front of me, my family, my friends, my husband, in fact that I was going to be a dad, you know, the important things.

Yes, yeah, yeah. And yeah, yeah, and sort of like, because it's a life-changing experience. I mean, you understand this after baby reindeer. Like, so many people all of a sudden know who you are and have a relationship with you because of the work that you put out. Yeah. And that's not always an accurate depiction of you or in that relationship that they have with your character is not, you know, a relationship with a real person. And it's like, you know, it's a very tricky thing. I assume it's one of those shows that make, it makes you very approachable one of those shows.

Yes, it does. Well, when you're in someone's living room, I think, you know. Yeah, yeah. And that type of show, yeah. I mean, God, Jesus Christ, don't like a man. I think half man and baby reindeer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Very approachable.

I wasn't nervous to meet you at all. But it's, it was such an amazing show, and you were so brilliant in it. And because it had that family feel where you almost were part of it, you know. I can imagine people come up and they've grown up with it. and they almost see you as an extension of the family. I can imagine it being quite intense. It is. I mean, I had a girl at the stage she was with her the night

who had a, she made a collage of modern family photos that she wanted me to sign. And she was really pulled together for a little while, and I signed it, and then I was talking to her for a little while, and then she just started crying. And her mom was like, you, the show means a lot to the family. And, you know, I just, it was so emotional for me. Like, I gave her a big hug,

and that made her cry more. I was like, I don't know what to do. but you know I the fact that she had that reaction and it was so visceral like she couldn't really even she was trying to control it but then like it just came out I was like wow that's that's really profound

and powerful that like that that show meant that much to her so yeah yeah I feel very fortunate that I could be part of that yeah and it's lovely to give give them that time and stuff like that yeah I always think that's that's really important I um I always try and give people the time when I can you know like yeah yeah it's it's it's it's lovely that they're so

moved moved by that yeah yeah yeah in LA it must be slight I'm assuming London's like because London everyone's trapped in amongst each other yeah I assume you must get it a bit more here here and yeah and also it's such a well this time of year it's such a melting pot of tourism so it's like oh yeah people from all over the world and you know I find out where the show is popular and Where it's not. So yeah. Yeah.

Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Richard explains why he believes the Edinburgh Fringe is one of the last true meritocracies in entertainment. And I revealed the very unexpected performance skill I picked up as a kid that maybe qualifies me for the festival. Okay, be right back. On days off from Jesus Car Superstar in London this past summer, we would head out to the English countryside for a little family recent.

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on back home. Find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host. One thing I can always count on with Beckett and Sully, if I make them a good sandwich, I know it's going to get eaten. And honestly, when you're packing lunches day after day, that is a win. You want something your kids are excited about, but you also want to feel good about what you're sending them off with. That's why I love Boar's Head. At the deli counter, our favorites are freshly sliced and made with the quality I can count on. Their maple honey ham and maple honey turkey are made with premium whole cuts and crafted with 100%

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even when I would do shows that weren't smash hits, because I did 10 years in a row. Did you? And it's an up and down kind of thing, you know. It's kind of up and down, but you feel like you're sort of still, like, increasing anything. But it's almost like the stock market, almost in a way. But I went 10 years in a row,

but I never ended Edinburgh and thought that I didn't get something out of it. whether it was meeting someone who was like an important contact for me, or whether it was doing a show and feeling like I got like good reviews and the people came down or whether it was selling. I always ended that month feeling like I had advanced, whether the show had been a massive success or not. And I think it is, and I would almost say that that will happen to anybody who goes as well. It's just the nature of the way that festival works.

I feel you will get something out of it by the end. And I think because of Fleabai, because of Baby Rainer, because of, and there's been other success stories up with the fringes, like all the, you know, everything Garpenorangy star, play Steve Coogan, Mighty Bush. They all sort of originated there. League of Gentlemen. Like quite a lot of, like, very, like,

a lot of comedies that are very much, like, embedded in the culture of, like, British societies which started up at the fringe. and so I think broadcasters and channels know that in a lot of ways a hot property up in Edinburgh can translate quite well to screen

yeah yeah yeah I remember Ben I've always wanted to go oh wow oh it's quite something it's quite remarkable I mean I I think I think people come and they they don't quite realize the scale of it until they're there but it's almost like every

it's beautiful thing I love it when I think about it I sometimes get emotional because it holds so much like kind of nostalgia for me and it's like I've made the best friends and the best connections there and I've had the best times for people best memories of my life I think in Edinburgh but I think people can't believe the scale of it almost every every street corner every pub every

theater every it's stopped for the performers back to back somebody's juggling somebody's singing somebody's playing guitar somebody's doing a comedy show somebody's doing a theater show somebody's miming. Miming. Yeah, yeah. That's what I would do. I was a mime when I was a kid actually.

I took a mime class. Wow, wow. Did you ever do it, like, do it on the street or anything? Sort of, we went to, I remember we would, we would go do certain events. Like, we would get to, we had like a five-minute presentation that we could do. A lot of, like, pulling the invisible rope, you know, that sort of stuff. Yeah, hamster wheel, stuck in a hamster wheel. Oh, wow.

That's good. but then I do remember one time I was trying to think how that's top I wouldn't stop it involves like getting your foot high enough so you can like a step it's all about establishing the perimeter you know and it's the whole thing of like going too fast and then stopping

and then it's a whole thing well that's a lot of course strength Richard yes yeah I bet I bet yeah but I also remember one time we we went to a mall and they put us in a window of like a clothing store and we were just like put amongst the mannequins and we were just doing like you know and then like every once a while and like

that's good it's all about the start and the stop it's really good um yeah yeah and like we just did that for like 20 minutes i don't know why and were people in the shop window like looking in being like yeah people would walk by it was like one of the indoor malls like people would be walking by and they'd be like oh that i wonder if that's a real person you just like stay still for a really long time and then And then they'd all scream, you know. Wow, wow, wow. So they're all like looking through and then you give them like a shock. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That kind of stuff, yeah, that's... So basically I'm ready for Edinburgh. I could just take that. My hamster wheel. Yeah, I mean, I remember once seeing a fully mime show for like an hour and thinking it was... Well, it's kind of what Bill Irwin does. Yeah, yeah, it is incredible. It was...

I can't remember the name of it now. His name was Marcel Marceau. It was, yeah, and it was incredible, and you get all kinds of, I think it's where, it does feel like one of the last true meritocracy sometimes that at the fringe in the sense that I think, like, if you have a good show, people will come and you will get your time in the spotlight. It does feel like one of those places where good stuff rises to the top and kind of be ignored. And that's why I think it's such a great place to go and try and do new work. Yeah, yeah. But you got go. It's such a, such a thing to behold.

I do want to go. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Richard reflects on the long road from stand-up comic to TV show creator. And we compare notes on opening nights, stage fright, and whether Richard might have a musical in his future. Okay, be right back. Ever since Beckett and Sully came along, I swear, I swear I do more laundry every single day. I don't know where all these tiny, clothes come from, I can't believe how many outfit changes they have during a day, but somehow

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Yeah, so I got up to the fringe and I do live shows. I think the aim, whereas I love comedy and I love being a comedian, real tough. I found it really tough, you know, and I was always doing a comedy style, similar-ish to baby reindeer. One of the things that sometimes frustrates me about baby reindeer is I think people think I was a really, really bad comedian. I was a bad comedian in the show.

But I did have a style that did work. And by the end of my comedy career, things were going all right. But it was, I mean, things were going good, but it was extremely hard, you know, every year going up to Edinburgh. And the Edinburgh Fringe is a beautiful thing. It's a very tough thing, and it's a very, it's a very sort of vulnerable thing to do. And it's a really tricky. And then, of course, going around the circuit and gig,

in a lot and doing all the festivals and stuff. It is a tough life on the road and stuff like that. And so I think there was always a desire to get like a television vehicle away and do something like that. Yeah, that was always the aim. But I think I will go back to the live space at some point. Do you? I think so, yeah.

But I'm not sure what to do. Maybe not like, maybe not a comedy show again. I don't think I'll be putting on the comedy suit any time soon. I mean, the thing is there is so much. humor. I remember when before I even started watching Baby Ranger, I remember people telling me how funny it was too. Oh, yeah. How surprisingly funny it was. And like it's really tough and especially, you know, they're like, you know, episode four. It's like, it's like really dark and there's, you can't believe it's going to some of these dark places, but it's really funny. And I think that's why, you know, what I'm so drawn to with your, with your work is that there is, it deals with such, you know, big issues, toxic masculinity and, you know, co-dependent relationships and, like, big things, you know, big broad strokes.

But there's so much nuance in there and then so much levity where you least expect it, which I think is really refreshing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I always think, like, it's the light can never exist without the dark and sort of vice versa. and I think with Baby Reindeer, I wanted to have a sort of playful, sort of ironic school. I wanted Halfman to be quite a bit more socially realist, a bit more sort of like a bit more grit in real life to it.

I felt like the story had to be told. You almost had to feel the weight and the oppression of the characters for it to work. Whereas with, because of the voiceover in Baby Ranger and because of the kind of the way it like whips you through time, There was licensed for playful tone, playful style. And comedy always felt very important. It's funny, like with Halfman, the comedy isn't as prevalent as it is in Baby Rainier,

but I still like to put it through. There's a scene I really love in Halfman where they're getting interrogated in EPS6 and the lawyer's there and he's like, you've tested positive for, and Jamie does it so well, but it's like you've tested positive for meth and crack cocaine or whatever. And he goes, oh, I didn't know about the second one.

Yeah. It's kind of like, looking a bit awkward. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And really well-performed by Tom Andrews. Yeah, and I sort of like all that stuff. You know, I, it's that whole, yeah, like giggle at a funeral thing. You know, I think there's been times like where even at the lowest of low, I find myself laughing. And I think that is very, very human in a lot of ways.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, it's, it's so well done. And it's, yeah, you definitely thread that needle. And it's a hard one to thread, and I think you do a great job with it. Oh, thank you. Yeah. How long do you have left on, Jesus Christ?

Because it was a massive premiere, wasn't it? Oh, my God. It was huge when I saw all the photos. Yeah. Yeah. They shut down the street outside of the theater. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've done movies that didn't have this big of a premiere.

I mean, it was crazy. Were you nervous? Was it one of those things where everyone? one backstage is you feel it's like adrenaline, everyone's highs. I mean, I felt more nervous for like the first few shows, because that's like when Andrew and Weber was coming to see it for the first time. I was more nervous for him to see it, like the creatives, like Tim Rice and Angela were the guys who wrote the show.

But yeah, the opening night, the critics night. I mean, that's the other weird thing about, you know, here in the UK, they do these press nights, and it's actually so much the press actually comes on those nights, where on Broadway, in the States, we have a preview process where the critics come, and then the opening night is really just for friends and family and a party. So there's no, like, critics there.

So it's like not only they have all the famous people there and the creatives there, but also people who are, like, going to judge you and write articles about you when they go home and publish them after the embargo lifts at midnight. You know, it's just like, it's a lot of things at the same thing. Yes, yeah. And, you know, you press interviews afterwards.

It's just a whole, it's quite a production. But I'm only in the show until Saturday, and then there's a rotating cast of guys coming in to play this one part. It's like a role that really is sort of, you could plug anyone into it. It's like you could have an afternoon. If you want to do it, Richard, I'm sure they'd love to have you.

If you want to do it tonight, actually, we could probably get you in. Wow, wow. Yeah. Yeah, it's one of those things where I feel the fear about to do it anyway. Have you done a musical? I'd love to. I worry I can't sing. You worry you can't sing.

They sing a lot, but I worry that I can't sing. I don't think I'm the greatest singer. Wait, no, did you do musicals in school? I've never done a musical, no, but I've been to a lot of musicals, and I've had friends and people close to me who have been in so many musicals, and I love them. And I do have a little thing in my head, but I'd be like, I would love to try one.

I'd love to try one. But I think people go for that blend of, well, I mean, they go for the singing talent and the ballads in the heart, that stuff. And I've always wondered, I was trying to think of a musical where it has someone in it who can't really sing. Rex Harrison and My Fair Lady.

Right, okay, yeah. Henry Higgins. You just speak the songs. There is something quite beautiful about someone trying to sing who can sing, I feel. Yeah, sure. I always remember, like, there is something, it's, there's something kind of so vulnerable about it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or maybe I'm just trying to convince myself to do it. There's something beautiful about a bad singer. No, I bet, I feel like you're probably better than you think you are. Like, yeah, okay, maybe you're not Sam Ryder, but like, who is? Yeah. I bet, I bet you'd be great. Oh, thank you.

I don't know. I've never heard you sing. Maybe you're terrible. I think it was, I'll give you a reference. condition after this. Okay, yeah, please. I'd do a musical song. Are you sure you don't want to do it right now?

audition? Yeah, it's yeah, it's definitely definitely something I'll, yeah, something I hope to do. Yeah, maybe, maybe, we'll see. Yeah.

That was a little more for my conversation with Richard Gad. If you haven't heard our full conversation yet, make sure to check it out on Dinner's On Me. This episode of Dinners On Me was recorded at Fredericks in Islington, London. Next week on Dinner's On Me, you know her from Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, and now is Miranda Priestley in the West End production of The Devil Wares Prada.

It's Vanessa Williams. We'll talk about the heartbreak of saying goodbye to Ugly Betty, the resilience she built after being forced to resign her Miss America crown, and the advice she says every parent should remember. Dinner's 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 She composed our theme music. Our head of production is Sammy Allison. Special thanks to Tamika Balance Kalasni and Justin Makita. I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week.