Jesse Tyler Ferguson made his Broadway debut opposite Lea DeLaria in the 1998 revival of “On the Town.” Ferguson was shaped like a beanpole in those days; DeLaria, we have to admit, was not. In “Come Up to My Place,” she picked him up and hurled him around the stage as if he were made of straw.
That number sprang to mind the other day at Sardi’s, where Ferguson was honored with one of the restaurant’s famed caricatures. The beanpole in the sailor suit from “On the Town” is now, at 40, one of the most famous actors in the world. Ferguson has five Emmy nominations for his role on “Modern Family,” going into its eighth season. He’s said to have one of the highest Q ratings (a measure of likability) of any actor on television.
But he’s a Broadway baby at heart, and is having fun creating 40 different characters in the one-man comedy “Fully Committed.” Though critics and Tony nominators slighted the show, Ferguson’s popularity’s turned it into a nice hit. The producers have extended its run by a week, to July 31, and theater insiders predict weekly grosses of up to $600,000 this summer as “Modern Family”-loving tourists descend on New York.
In it, Ferguson plays a struggling actor who takes reservations at a fancy Manhattan restaurant. While he’s never waited tables here, he’s certainly paid his dues.
“I worked in the rear orchestra bar at the Winter Garden when ‘Cats’ was there,” he says. “I saw the first act of ‘Cats’ for a year and a half, and I have to say I loved it. That’s my dirty little secret.”
He also sold T-shirts at “The Phantom of the Opera,” and posters, key chains and snow globes at the Theatre Circle shop on West 44th Street.
“I did all sorts of odd jobs, but I never had to clean up feces in the bathroom the way my character does in ‘Fully Committed,’ ” he says. “I somehow managed to get work within the theater community.”
His breakthrough role was as Leaf Coneybear in 2005’s “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
“I saw the first act of ‘Cats’ for a year and a half, and I have to say I loved it. That’s my dirty little secret”
- Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Ferguson, who has a reputation of being an excellent improviser, helped create the role, including the costume — a cape and a helmet.
“He just came in one day wearing that outfit, and it was perfect,” says “Spelling Bee” producer David Stone.
High schools put on the show all the time, and every kid playing Leaf Coneybear wears Ferguson’s trademark cape and helmet.
While on Broadway, Ferguson was cast on the TV show “The Class,” which lasted a season. Then came a writers’ strike and Ferguson, who’d moved to Los Angeles, watched his bank account dwindle.
“I really needed money,” he says, “so I accepted a TV show called ‘Do Not Disturb.’ It was panned — I mean, panned — by the critics and was canceled after three episodes. It is not something I’m proud of.”
Before he had to go back to selling drinks at intermission, however, he landed the role of Mitchell Pritchett on “Modern Family,” which won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in its first season. The show has since won more than a dozen more awards in multiple categories.
Ferguson still marvels at its success. “In one year I was on a show that got canceled, and then I’m on one that wins the top prize. In this business, careers can change in the blink of an eye.”
“Modern Family” will probably keep him tied up for a while, but once it finally comes to an end, Ferguson wants to return to Broadway in a big new musical.
“I’m always putting out feelers and bugging composers I know,” he says. “I call my friend Michael John LaChiusa [Broadway’s “The Wild Party”] and say, ‘Hey, don’t forget me. Keep me in mind for something!’”