-You have such a great vibe going.
I hope I don't screw this up. -No.
-No, it's good. Thank you for coming on.
Shawn Mendes -- -I was so happy you're here.
-I'm happy that you're here too.
-Now, is this true?
Well, first of all, congratulations,
before you even start talking, on becoming a dad.
-Yes. -I am so happy for you.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Thank you, thank you.
-How -- -He's -- He'll be 2 in July.
-What's his name? -Beckett.
-Love Beckett. -Yeah, Beckett.
Everyone thinks we named him after Samuel Beckett,
the playwright, but it's really just off of Google.
-Oh, right. What did you type in?
What'd you type in? -"Interesting baby names."
And it was like, "trending baby names."
-You Googled "interesting baby names."
-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. -I love Beckett.
-Yeah, Beckett's a great name. And his middle name's Mercer,
and that's the street I got married on.
-Oh, beautiful. -Yeah, yeah.
So it's, you know, some meaning there.
-Yeah.
-I got to see a video of him in action.
He's very, very -- -Yeah, I was showing it --
He has quite a swagger, yeah.
-Oh, you gotta see this video. -I gotta see it.
-He's wearing a tiny trench coat.
I don't know where you even found that.
He's this big. -At the tiny trench coat shop.
-Of course. On Mercer. -Yeah, on Mercer, yeah.
-He's this big. -He's that big?
That's a small 2-year-old.
-And that's as big as they say he's gonna get.
-They say he's not gonna get much bigger.
He wears a trench coat, he's a detective.
-Yeah, yeah. [ Laughter ]
He's a detective. -He's a baby detective.
-He kind of looks like a mini streaker in his trench coat.
-He's so cute.
And he's got this, like, he was walking around like swag --
Was he -- Did he have, like, a boom box with him?
-Well, there was music playing. Backstreet Boys was playing,
and he was just, like, grooving to it.
-It was -- -I need to see this video.
I'm desperate to see it. -Let's take a look at the video.
Here's the baby with his swag and his music playing.
♪♪
There you go. See?
-Magic of TV. -Magic of TV.
Have you guys -- have you guys met before?
-Yeah, yeah.
We met -- I don't -- like, four or five years ago.
-Yes.
-It was, I think, at an Oscar party.
That's how casual we are about it.
I don't know if it was -- maybe an Oscar party,
I don't know. [ Laughter ]
-That's really how everybody meets.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Oh, my gosh.
"It might've been an Oscar party."
"Where's my champagne?" [ Laughter ]
-Justin and I walked in,
and Shawn was standing right there.
You were by yourself, if I remember correctly.
-I was totally by myself. -And you kind of had this
look on your face like, "Oh, my God, I don't know anyone."
And so we're like, "We'll talk to you."
-You guys were my saviors.
I think you're missing out that part.
I was terrified, and you came in and were like,
"You're alright." -Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
-This is okay, yeah. -Yeah, it's true.
And we ended up talking about -- Justin and I were about to start
a transcendental meditation class.
And I don't know if you'd already started that
or if it was something you were interested in.
-I think I was interested, yeah.
-Right, and so you were like,
"Well, can we exchange numbers?"
And so like, I got -- I got your number.
And then of course, I never called
'cause I was like, "I'm not gonna call Shawn Mendes."
Like, one time your music was playing on the car.
I was like, "Oh, I'm gonna tell him I'm listening to his music."
I'm like, "That's lame." -No, it's not.
-That's a conversation cul-de-sac.
Like, he's gonna be like, "Okay, cool."
-He's like, "You're the guy?
You're the one person listening to Shawn Mendes?
Oh, yeah."
-"Oh, my God, Shawn came on the radio!"
-"Get in line, buddy. Yeah, yeah."
He wouldn't mind that though. -Like, he knows.
-I would love that.
-Anyway, I -- I wasn't Mariah Carey
that way, but, you know -- [ Laughter ]
-"Happy Thanksgiving, by the way."
-"Happy Thanksgiving." -"Happy Thanksgiving."
-So anyways, when I find out you were doing this, I was like,
"You know what? I'm gonna text Shawn."
So I texted, and I --
I don't know if the number's right.
-You texted me?
-Yeah, I texted you. -I don't remember.
-I just want to make sure I have this -- Is this --
Is this your number? Don't look.
This isn't for you. [ Laughter ]
-Yeah, well, I don't have -- -You texted me.
I didn't get your text. -Is that it?
-You did text me. -Did you block me?
[ Laughter ] -Oh, my God.
Did you -- Did you block Jesse Tyler Ferguson?
-You know, there's like, always updates on the iPhone.
Like, you never know. Like, things have changed.
[ Laughter ] I don't know.
-Wow! Wow!
Wow, yeah, get a picture of that 'cause that is --
That's some of the best acting I've ever seen.
You're a good actor.
-I've been here rehearsing all day.
[ Laughter ]
-Speaking of good acting,
there is awards buzz around this, buddy.
And people are just raving about the play in general,
but also about your performance in particular.
-I read reviews, like, through my fingers.
I can't look at them. -Well, you should read --
-Do you not read them?
-I really try not to because good or bad,
it puts me in my head.
-Yeah. You're amazing either way.
-Thank you. -You are.
-Yeah, you are -- but no, I would open --
I would read these reviews.
-Okay, alright. [ Laughter ]
-Yeah, I will let you know.
These are great reviews. -Okay, alright.
-Yeah, you should read these ones
because they're -- it's phenomenal.
Can you explain the play for anyone who hasn't seen it?
-Yeah, it's a play that was written 20 years ago,
and it won the Tony Award
when it was on Broadway the first time.
And it's about a baseball player, like, of, like,
Derek Jeter-size status that comes out of the closet,
and sort of the ripple effect
that that has on his life and his teammates.
And I play his business manager,
who knows nothing about baseball
and falls in love with the game
because he's representing this star player.
And it's about homophobia and toxic masculinity
and racism, and it's like, unfortunately,
incredibly still very relevant.
But it's a beautiful play.
Richard Greenberg is the playwright,
and he writes these amazing arias for this --
The character I play, Mason,
was originally played by Denis O'Hare,
and he won the Tony Award for the part,
so there's no pressure.
-No pressure. [ Laughter ]
-But it's a great play.
-Have you won a Tony?
-No, I've never even been nominated.
I'm a professional loser.
[ Laughter ]
I've been nominated for five Emmys,
as you were kind enough to say in my intro,
and lost all of them.
-"Modern Family." -Lost all of them.
-You did? -So I'm very used to losing
and not getting nominated for things,
but never been nominated for a Tony, no.
-Oh, but you deserve it. You're so great.
I've seen you on stage -- "Putnam County Spelling Bee"?
-Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
-You knocked that one out of the park.
-Thank you, thank you. -Oh, this is the one, buddy.
I'm feeling this one.
[ Cheers and applause ] Right, you feel this?
-Come on.
-I'm feeling this right here, buddy.
-You did musical theater, right?
Did you do musical theater? -I did -- I did --
Like, I was -- Almost --
-He's a magician. -Yeah, I was a magician.
-Yeah, yeah. -Like, a Harry Potter thing.
-Well, when we met, I don't know if you --
You can cut this out if you don't want people knowing this.
But you said you were going to audition for Tony
in "West Side Story," the movie.
-Oh, yes, I was supposed to, yes.
-And then you were like, "I don't know if I want to do it."
And I was like, "You must." -No, pure fear.
-Like, I was gonna, like, be the one to tell you
to audition for "West Side Story."
-No. It's terrifying.
Like, acting is a whole different,
entirely different thing.
-Right. -Yeah.
-Did you end up auditioning?
-I didn't end up -- I did an audition
for one thing one time, and -- and I --
It was like, lip-shaking nervous.
Like, face-shaking nervous.
-I had the worst audition. -And it was traumatizing.
So I never did that again.
-I auditioned for one musical on Broadway.
-Did you? Which one? -"Young Frankenstein."
-Oh, yeah, Mel Brooks, yeah.
-It was a disaster audition.
-Why? -Probably one of the top 10
worst things that I've ever done --
-That has ever happened to you in life.
-Dude, flop sweat starts coming on.
-What starts coming out?
-Flop sweat? -What is that?
-Oh, trust me, I've been doing it all night.
[ Laughter ]
And I'm there, and so I'm like, "Okay.
You know, let's give it a shot." She goes, "Alright, and go."
And I go -- It's so weird.
I'm like, "Lightning, frightening, lightning."
I go, "Sorry, sorry, can we start again?
What was that voice?"
[ Laughter ]
I don't even know where that came from.
She's like -- And the piano player is looking like,
"What is going on here?" I go, "Let me try again.
So I go, "Let me try in a deeper voice."
And I go, "Let's do it again. Play the music."
"Lightning, frightening, lightning -- What is happening?"
I go, "I don't know how to sing anymore."
[ Laughter ] And I go -- And it was so bad.
And I sang like three takes of this new song,
and it was so bad, and she was like,
"Dude, it is a pleasure to meet you."
-No, no, no! -"Thank you so much."
And I go, "Okay, take care."
And I remember walking home and steam
was coming off my body. -No.
-It was so cold, I was like -- -You were that --
-It was that bad. I was like --
it was just a steaming -- -Nothing's worse
when you leave your body
and you're just watching yourself, like,
from the ceiling flop at something, oh.
-It was the worst audition. -You're amazing,
is what we're saying. You're amazing.
-Oh, thank you, Shawn. -Yes, exactly.
Gonna bring it back to you. -Bring it back to me, yeah.
-Yes, yeah, bring it back to you.
I want to mention this documentary if I can.
-Yeah, for sure. It's a --
My husband Justin and I produced a documentary
about Broadway returning after COVID.
And it's -- We just found out
we're gonna be premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival.
-Hey! [ Cheers and applause ]
-Perfect. -Yeah.
It's called "Broadway Rising."
-"Broadway Rising." -Yeah.
-I mean, this city is the greatest city on Earth.
I mean, we're lucky enough to have Broadway.
You know, and as a show, we have Broadway even here
but on our show as a guest.
And man, they got hit, you know.
-They got hit so hard.
And so many people lost their jobs.
Not just the actors and the directors
and producers, but like, all the restaurants
in Times Square, and, like, the dry cleaners
who clean the costumes up in the Bronx.
And so our documentary really celebrates
that entire community.
So it's a really special film. -Jesse Tyler Ferguson,
you're a good man. Thank you for doing this.
[ Cheers and applause ] Congrats on the play.
Go see "Take Me Out" on Broadway,
now through June 11th.