The Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker clan got back together off Broadway this week, but one family member got the grandpa treatment.
In a funny bit of old-school trolling, Eric Stonestreet celebrated a night out with his ‘Modern Family‘ castmates by digitally aging his on-screen husband, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, making him look old and wrinkled. The photo, posted to Stonestreet’s Instagram, was supposed to be a sweet reunion backstage at Ferguson’s off-Broadway play, ‘Tru‘, with Ty Burrell.
Eric Stonestreet Jokes About Theater Memory While Promoting Tru Play
Fans noticed the joke right away. The real Ferguson is a lively 50-year-old, but Stonestreet’s version gave him stark white hair, deep crow’s feet, and liver spots, making him look decades older than his co-stars.
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“I’d tell you to go see @jessetyler in his Truman play, but I saw it late and it’s almost over,” Stonestreet wrote in the caption, promoting Ferguson’s performance as Truman Capote. “It never gets old seeing him on stage. He was just incredible in it! Not surprising at all.”
Stonestreet, who is 54, then made a joke about how hard it is to memorize lines for a play, adding, “All the lines he had to learn gave me so much anxiety though. Truly impressive and done in just a beautiful old space.” He ended the post by celebrating “a bonus hang with Ty too!?!? What!?”
Long Running Cast Prank Leaves Ferguson Speechless Yet Again
Ferguson responded right away, and he sounded pretty used to it. The Emmy-winning actor commented on the post with a simple, tired sigh: “Here we go.” His husband, Justin Mikita, also jumped in, asking, “Why does Jesse even take pics with you anymore?”
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For anyone who watched the 11 seasons of the ABC hit show, this prank is nothing new.
Stonestreet has kept up a long online tradition of messing with photos of Ferguson. Reports say he has been posting edited images of his former co-star since at least 2019, and the joke hit a peak in March when he posted a really unflattering filter that left Ferguson “speechless.”
In his own unedited post, Ferguson got the last laugh by completely ignoring his castmates. While sharing a real photo of the three of them, Ferguson gave a shout-out instead to Pulitzer Prize winner Bess Wohl, who also came to the show. “The real news here is that newly minted Pulitzer Prize winner @besswohl came to see @truplaynyc last night… with these people,” Ferguson wrote.
Why the ‘Modern Family’ Cast Remains So Close
The reunion showed how close the ‘Modern Family‘ cast still is. They have stayed remarkably tight since the show ended in 2020. Burrell, who famously missed a 2023 reunion and caused frantic internet rumors that he had died, was able to make it this time.
Stonestreet’s love for Burrell is no secret. Earlier this year, Stonestreet appeared on Ferguson’s podcast, ‘Dinner’s On Me‘, and shared that Ty Burrell’s real-life marriage to Holly Burrell inspired him to find his own wife, nurse Lindsay Schweitzer.
“I’ve told Ty, I told him that when I called to tell him that we’re getting married. I said, you don’t know it, but you and Holly… are very prominent in me getting on the direction of what I wanted to do,” Stonestreet said on the podcast earlier this year.
With Tru closing on May 10, this quick Manhattan reunion is a warm reminder that this TV family, filters and all, is here to stay.
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