- You look so great.
- Thank you.
- I love your whole outfit.
- Oh, thank you. - Yeah, have a seat.
Get comfortable.
- It's kinda tone on tone, you know?
- Yeah, you blend in, yeah. (Kelly laughs)
- Thank you. Thank you.
This is great backstage.
This is my first time here.
- It is! It is your first here--
- Nice dressing room.
Great host everyone.
- Oh, thank you. (audience applauding)
We lucked out with a dressing room.
- Huh?
- We lucked out with the dressing rooms.
- Oh my God. - They're huge.
- Huge, they're usually jammed in these little rooms.
- You're in a closet with like three other people--
- Hundred percent.
- Doing hair, makeup, wardrobe.
- Yeah, now that's great.
- We lucked out, but I heard there's a congratulations
in order, you recently got engaged?
- I did. (audience applaud)
- That's exciting.
(Eric laughing)
That's so exciting.
How did you propose if you don't mind me asking?
- Well, everyone knows, that follows me on social media
that I mess around with my girlfriend a lot
and prank her a lot.
So I knew I had to be really clever and creative
so she wouldn't be onto to me.
So I pretended like there was a company that was interested
in us doing a social media campaign together.
(Kelly chuckles)
And I said, we need to send in like a chemistry video.
- This is like a deep lie--
- So do your hair, do your makeup.
So she would be beautiful in the moment.
And she wanted to be beautiful.
And so I set up the camera, had a couple other cameras
and then pretended that we were gonna ask her a question
but the question was actually, "Will you marry me?"
- That's so great, I love that.
- Yeah, and it's documented right there in her...
It's all captured right there.
- That's so sweet and thoughtful.
Like I love that.
- I can't decide where to put myself--
- You know what?
I'm so short, I have no legs-- - That hurt.
Like I'm all torso.
So I've just sit so far up in my seat.
Cause otherwise I'm like Lily Tomlin in that big chair.
(Eric chuckles)
- I know.
- My seat don't touch the ground.
But if you wanna put pillows behind you, that's what I do.
- Maybe I'll hug it like this.
- Just hug one.
Well, her name is Lindsay and she seems to really love you
because she does put up with I hear a lot of recordings
that you do. - Yes.
- So you make the recordings in bed, right?
- Well that's one of the--
- Not that kind of recording you dirty, dirty people.
- Edit that out.
Yeah, that's one of the things I do to her.
I like when, once she's asleep I will have
preset things on my nightstand,
on my side of the bed.
- I love how thought out you are.
- Oh, I spend a substantial amount of time
thinking about how to mess with other people in this world.
(Kelly Laughs)
- You better not become friends with me,
like you're friends with me-- - Beware
- Because it'll be coming your way.
- I love it.
- So anyway, I think of things to set on the nightstand
that, you know, might sound good.
- I think we have an example.
So here's an example of how you mess with her.
(crunching sound)
- [Lindsay] What you doing?
- [Eric] Having some Corn Nuts.
(crunching sound)
- [Lindsay] You're having Corn Nuts right now?
- [Eric] It's like puffed up corn.
(crunching sound)
- [Lindsay] Wait, am I gonna have to come over there
and take them?
- [Eric] You better not.
- [Lindsay] I will throw them away.
- [Eric] Okay, and I will retrieve them out of the crash.
(audience laughs)
- [Lindsay] Oh gosh.
- [Eric] Mmm! I haven't Corn Nuts in forever!
- [Lindsay] Could you do it in the daytime?
- Could you do it in the daytime?
(audience applauds)
I love that she sounds like such a mom when she was like,
"Do you think that's an appropriate snack to have in bed?"
- Oh, no.
But it all started with walkie talkies
because I have walkie talkies with her boys
that we mess around with.
- I love that.
- So I quietly set one up on her side of the bed
and turned it on.
And then after she'd gone to sleep,
I'm like, Lindsay, can come here?
(both laugh)
- Oh my God.
- That's where it started.
- Does she ever lose it on you?
- She does lose it on me.
I think probably one--
- Do you enjoy that?
(Kelly laughs)
- Yes I do, but I remind her;
It's like, think of all the boring people
you could be with in this life--
- Exactly. - Right.
- I'm exciting--
- And I'm exciting.
You'd never know what's coming.
But I think probably one of the most frequent sentences
screamed in our house is
"Eric you are 50 years old."
Like you are 50.
- But a child at heart.
- Yes. - Yes, exactly.
- I'll never let that go.
- I don't think, don't let that dream die.
- Thank you, Kelly.
- Well, speaking of birthdays, is it true that you performed
at birthday parties is a clown when you were a kid?
- Oh yes.
- I love this.
And actually I can see that at happening.
- Yeah, I mean, I have been a clown I think,
oh, there I am.
- This is awesome. - Yeah.
- It's a line in one of the episodes of "Modern Family."
Once I found out that "Modern Family"
or clowns were just regular people with makeup
I was like, well, that's what I want to do with my life.
And so my grandma started making me clown costumes
and I started putting on my mom's makeup.
- She loved that.
- But this is where I always say I'm so thankful
for the great parents that I had,
that my dad being a Kansas man and me a Kansas boy
here I am playing football, raising pigs,
taking karate, playing the drums
and putting on my mom's makeup
and wanting to put on a wig.
And he was just like--
- Yep. - Go for it--
(audience laughs)
You Know? - Love it.
- And it 100%--
- That's a real dad, that's a great dad--
- Led me to right here.
(audience applaud)
- Yeah, I love that though.
I think clowns is something, you love to make people laugh.
You love to make people feel good.
- To bring joy to people's lives.
- Exactly-- - And I get--
- You're making a joke, but you truly love that--
- A hundred percent. - Yeah.
- That's what I tell Lindsay all the time.
(Kelly laughs)
- When she yells at me--
- I'm just bringing joy--
- "You're 50.
"Take the Corn Nuts somewhere else."
- Yeah.
- So we were talking about your engagement earlier, right?
- Yeah.
- So how did your "Modern Family" co-star kind of react
cause you're on a show that long
you built such relationships with these people.
- Yeah, there they are.
- Were they like freaking out for you?
(audience applauds)
- Well, they were very happy
when Lindsay and I started dating.
I think, I was the kind of the last holdout
everybody else had...
The adults had partners.
And when I met Lindsay--
- They were adulting?
- Yeah.
- And when I met Lindsay and started bringing her around
everyone was just in love with her right from the get go.
So, when I asked her to marry me, they were very excited.
And of course, Julie, once when we were out here
she's like, I'm coming over to see the ring.
And she was very interesting--
- How about that she said the ring.
- Oh God, yes.
(Kelly laughs)
She's like, that's what she needed to see right after that.
- I love it.
- It passed her inspection,
which if it passes Julie's inspection
and Sophia's inspection--
- You've nailed it. - You're good.
- I love that.
It's always good.
I feel like to have your friends' approval of people
they can, you know?
- Yeah.
- Sometimes you have blinders on,
but they'll point it out, that's awesome.
They'll love her right after that that's--
- Yeah, they loved her.
- So wait, so did you move back to Kansas
since "Modern Family" ended?
- Back and forth, but you know, that's--
- Do you like going home?
Is it kinda--
- I love being home and you know, not to bring it down.
I lost my dad in November and being there
the last year and a half back and forth with him
was just like bonus found time
that I never in a million years
thought I would end up having.
So while the pandemic's been terrible
for a lot of people and awful,
it was good that I got to spend so much quality time
with my dad before we lost him.
- 100%, and you got that time in.
- Yep. - Wow.
Well, you mentioned that you grew up farming pigs.
- Mm-hmm. - That's amazing.
- Yep, because of my dad.
- I love that though was that fun?
- Well, my friends got jobs, you know,
like little little kid jobs
like delivering papers or helping their dads--
- Yeah, mowing the lawn--
- Right.
And so I said, "Well, I wanna get a job."
And he said, "You don't need a job."
And I said, "Well, I want to get a job."
And he said, "All right."
So one Saturday we drove to Nebraska
and got 60 pigs and built fence.
And from the fourth grade on
I was raising pigs in my backyard.
- That's awesome. - Yeah.
- I love animals so much.
I love farms--
- But pigs are the best.
- And growing up on them though, you can tell too
your personality is such a type that like
you can tell you grew up in some kind of environment
where everybody pitched in.
- Yeah.
- Like you're one of those people--
- Well, what, having animals to that level teaches you
is that the world exists outside your three foot perimeter.
Right? - Your egocentric zone, yeah.
- Yeah, if I don't feed my animals after school
and before I go to school, they don't sustain life.
It's up to me to do that.
So it's good having something that relies on you
at a young age.
- I think my plants are speaking to me right now.
(all laugh)
- Orchids like, "Yeah, can you talk to Kelly about that?"
- "Water would be great."
I'm like, it rained the other day and it never rains here.
And I was like, God bless.
It's just I didn't have time and I was like--
- Kelly, I got news for you,
It doesn't rain inside.
- No, they're outside. - Oh okay.
- They're outside.
I get the ones inside, but sometimes
it's like you're a single parent,
you're putting them to bed.
You're doing all the things, you're prepping for show.
it's you forget?
- Yeah, so people--
- And I walked outside and one of my flowers
literally just looks sad and bend over--
- But then how great is it, when they're like back up
and you're like, you're welcome.
- Exactly. (audience laughs)
Oh, I see you're a glass half full.
I like it--
- This is fun and this is what makes a good TV show.
We're just talking right now.
- That's my goal.
Thank you, that's my goal to make it conversational.
(audience applauds)
I do wanna talk about, cause we were talking about your show
while we were watching it.
- Yeah.
- I'm actually obsessed with like watching domino's fall
is so somehow therapeutic and like, I love it.
It's like how people like ASMR.
Like I love watching that sound--
- Well there's that in there too.
The sound is so good. - The sound is awesome.
- So it's intense.
I will tell you, this is what I tell everybody.
This show is like camping, it's intense.
(all laughs)
- Dad jokes? - Dad jokes, hello?
- I love it.
- The dads are laughing, look at these guys over here.
This guy is great!
(Erick imitates belly laughter)
- Wait, but it's it's Domino Masters, right?
- Yeah, Domino Masters is the name of the show,
March 9th.
It's incredible, I mean, what I loved about it
is exactly what you said,
which is, I've watched these YouTube videos
of people setting up root Goldberg machines,
chain reactions, dominoes
in your backyard with hot wheels
going through the yards and all that stuff.
I was always obsessed with that.
So when this show kind of came in my world
I asked the nine year old boys who live in my house,
Lindsay's boys, like, have you heard of this stuff?
And they're like,
" Oh, we watch domino videos all the time."
And I was like, all right, well, let's have that meeting,
let's hear about it. - Yeah.
- And they sold me on it.
And I just love celebrating these people
who have dedicated their lives to setting up dominoes.
And it's enough now for them that a network is giving them
a TV show and honoring them.
And I wanted to be part of that.
- I think that that's super cool too.
And also this is like, look, this is the jerk in me.
Okay, when you're on set, has it ever happened
where one has accidentally gone off and you're like,
oh my God.
Because I just feel like I would cry.
- Well--
- Putting all that up and like, it's about to go.
And like some camera guy backs up too much.
- They're all very, very careful about that stuff--
- So it didn't happen?
- Well, not a camera person did knock anything over
but they themselves knock things over and--
- Did they weep? - Cry.
(Kelly laughs)
Like when I tell you this show is intense
you have everything, you have the drama of it,
the emotion of it because it's 16 hours,
they're working on this 400 square foot area,
full of dominoes.
There are fields, they call 'em domino fields.
I learned all the terminology.
But anyway-- - I'm so hip.
- Yeah, I'm really down with the domino people.
But anyway, there's fields of 5,000 dominoes in one square.
That they took for six hours to set up.
- Oh my God--
- There's a million dominoes on the show
that they have at their disposal
of every color and everything you can imagine.
- I'm totally gonna watch, I'm so excited.
- Yeah it's great, you're gonna love it.
You'll all love it.
- You specifically.
(Kelly laughs)