Ty Burrell talks the series finale of ‘Modern Family’ and looks back at 11 years of Phil Dunphy
After 11 seasons, “Modern Family” is coming to a close. Ty Burrell, who plays lovable goofball Phil Dunphy, explains what to expect from the series finale, what memorabilia he took from the set, and what Phil taught him as a father.
Video Transcript
- I think it's time that you considered formula. It will help the baby sleep, and the pediatrician says it is perfectly healthy.
- I'm living proof. I was a formula baby-- had a full set of teeth at six months.
- Can you tell us about what it was like shooting your last scene as Phil? What was that experience like doing your last take?
TY BURRELL: It was wet, because we were all crying so much. They timed out filming the last scene to the last scene of the episode. It was the entire family together for the last time we would all be together as actors and as characters. And it was the only time in my life that a director and our showrunner had to come out and ask, could everybody not cry so much? Like, cry less. Everybody was just trying not to cry in between scenes.
- What can you tell us about where Phil specifically sort of ends-- what his sort of-- what his sort of moment in the finale is-- if there's a little moment a breakthrough for him.
TY BURRELL: I think it's really shared with Claire that they're finally actually empty-nesters and going to have some adventures. I think that's basically what their decision is that the next chapter is going to be adventure.
- Were there times where you sort of pushed the writers to do things that they maybe weren't sure they could do, but you felt like, no, I can do this. This is something that I want to Phil do.
TY BURRELL: Well, usually, that was kind of physical stuff. Like, I really enjoy that stuff a lot-- I mean, more than I probably should. It was usually trying to convince them that I could pull it off. And then I would be at home practicing, you know, a hoverboard by myself for five hours because I'd lied and said I could do a scene. I can't tell you how many times that happened.
- You had the chance to sort of watch this young cast grow up. What has that experience been like and just coming to the end of that-- knowing they were kids and now are all adults essentially?
TY BURRELL: It becomes more of a friendship, which is, I hope, what happens with my own daughters. You know, it's been very cool. You know, Nolan and I have grown close and had some adventures together outside of the show. And I like all of them as people, and I'm anticipating that'll be the same thing with my daughters. I'm not sure how much they'll like me, but we'll see.
- Are there any lessons you can take from Phil that you've already applied in your own life with your daughters-- like any--
TY BURRELL: Absolutely. Just try-- try hard is really, like, the big lesson. Like, there's a lot of forgiveness in there. And I think we're all more forgiving of somebody who's just trying hard. You get annoyed if people are trying too hard, which is what Phil was doing for the bulk of his life, and probably what I've seen in my daughters exercise all kinds of new muscles around their eyes and eye-rolling, you know, new directions that I didn't think you could roll an eye at me from trying too hard.
- Is there something that you took from set as a souvenir that you were really-- on the last day? Do you have any of Phil's things?
TY BURRELL: I tried to take the Head-scratcher TM, which was an invention that Phil had-- just for scratching your head, because that's what Phil did. But apparently it was on its way to the Smithsonian, so I had to put in an application for it, which seems hilarious that the Head-scratcher would be in the Smithsonian. But I did take a plaque from the wall from one of Phil's real estate accomplishments. So as long as nobody looks very closely in my personal office, it will look like I achieved something in my life. So that's good.
- But let's talk about Tip Your Server, because that is your new initiative to help restaurant workers. And as a restauranteur yourself, you clearly realize the need for that.
TY BURRELL: We partnered with the mayor of Salt Lake City, Erin Mendenhall, and the Downtown Alliance of Salt Lake to create a program called Tip Your Server. There's about 15,000 unemployed in that industry in Salt Lake City right now-- many of them also unemployed because of a series of earthquakes in Salt Lake City-- the salt in the wound to the COVID crisis. So we're really trying to create a stop gap to get them from now to, you know, federal funding and unemployment and those things which are kind of notoriously slow and also, in that industry, difficult.