Modern Family's Ty Burrell Has a Dirty, Hairy Secret!

The ABC sitcom cast dishes on what's ahead, including a big trip to Hawaii

By Kristin Dos Santos Mar 03, 2010 7:17 PMTags

Just one more reason to love Modern Family, which (hooray!) returns tonight on ABC: Some of the stuff that happens on the show is real.

First, we learned that Eric Stonestreet (Cam) actually was Fizbo the Clown as a kid.

And now, you'll never guess what high-larious little secret Ty Burrell (Phil) just revealed when I met up with the whole cast...

His mustache was a true Hollywood story!

Remember a few weeks back when Ty's character, Phil, slapped on a fake mustache after his photo was Sharpied on a bus-bench ad?

Well, that was inspired by Phil's real-life desire to channel Tom Selleck.

"I have a deep desire to wear a mustache because I love them," Ty tells me. "And I feel like it's the only facial hair I can actually grow. My wife will not have it. I sent a photo to [the producers] of me in a mustache last summer, like, 'Just think about it.' A real mustache! I was like, 'Just consider it!' And they were like, 'Get it off now. Do not show up with a mustache.' And I'm pretty sure that's where that episode came from. The mustache was tragically real."

You can see how funny Ty is in real life—along with the rest of the cast—in the video clip above, in which they also dish some scoop! I met up with them at the Paley Festival event for Modern Family.

ABC/Bob D'Amico

Ed O'Neill and Julie Bowen also both share a lot in common with their characters. "I have three kids at home, so it's not acting," says Julie. "I'm just living my life!" While Ed says, "I'm basically just playing myself at a very confusing age. I don't know how to treat people."

Ed also insists (in a way that I so believed him) that the "episodes are getting better." Pshaw. As if that's possible.

The cast is heading to Hawaii in a couple of weeks to shoot a "family vacation" episode. According to executive producer Steve Levitan, they shot an entire episode at LAX airport (preparing to fly to Hawaii) that was inspired by Seinfeld's parking lot episode, and then the idea arose to actually go to Hawaii.

Hmmm...Maybe it is getting even better. And the cast's dreams are coming true, too!

"If you work hard," Eric Stonestreet (Cam) says, "you one day can touch butts with TV icon Ed O'Neill."

Words to live by.

Are you loving Modern Family as much as we are? And shall we start a campaign to let Ty keep that gross soup strainer on his upper lip? Yeah, I think not...