Going on The Ellen DeGeneres Show always puts you at risk of being scared. Eric Stonestreet knows this better than anyone else.
During an appearance on the show airing Thursday, Ellen DeGeneres took the Modern Family star for a trip down memory lane as she played a montage of the many, many times the actor has been scared throughout his 18 appearances.
Fans of the show will recall that when a guest is scared, it's frequently done by someone popping out of the table on set. As it turns out, that little contraption was originally created to scare Stonestreet, so the host had it dedicated to him!
As she explained, "This became the Eric Stonestreet scare table because we ran out of ways to scare you, so we created this table. And we're gonna now dedicate this table." Responding to the sweet gift, Stonestreet said, "Thank you! That is so sweet. I'm honored."
Next on the agenda was talking about the final season of Modern Family. But Stonestreet stopped the conversation when he thought he was about to be scared once more. "I just heard something," he said, not trusting DeGeneres for a second.
Throwing him off the scent, the host casually responded, "It's probably my mic." And so, the TV talk continued.
Stonestreet then explained the longterm prank he's been pulling on co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson throughout this last season of the Emmy-winning comedy.
As he said, "I decided this year that I would send Jesse off with a great send-off. So, every picture I post of Jesse on Instagram, I age him." He then walked DeGeneres and the audience through all of the hilarious photos, but before he could finish, a Ferguson lookalike jumped out of the Eric Stonestreet Scare Table!
Naturally, the 48-year-old let out a huge scream. "Son of a bitch!" he exclaimed, getting out of his seat.
Clearly, he was right when he thought he heard movement earlier in the interview. To figure out how this scare happened, Stonestreet walked over to his table. As he discovered, "You built a tunnel?!" Well, now we know how all those surprise scares go down!
DeGeneres and the crowd were in stitches as he continued, "A tunnel?! Oh my God, there is a tunnel! It's like Shawshank Redemption!"
As the host quipped, "It's the Eric Stonestreet Tunnel now."
Later in the interview, the two stars played a game of "5 Second Rule." Standing at a tall, white podium, the players were asked a question and had five seconds to give three answers.
As one of the show's producers asked Stonestreet, "Name three things that scare you," the actor joked back, "Oh, Ellen DeGeneres..." Before he could say the other two things, however, the Ferguson lookalike jumped out of the podium and scared the star again.
"You mother!" the actor screamed. Having none of this, he walked straight out of the studio. And thus concluded Eric Stonestreet's final appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.