Phil, Harmonious

Ty Burrell Talks Modern Family's Comic Genius, Becoming A Real-Life Dad ... And What It's Like To Play The Happiest Guy On TV.

By Lori Acken

You may remember him as egotistical plastic surgeon Dr. Oliver Barnes in the 2005 Henry Winkler/Stockard Channing medical sitcom Out of Practice. Or as a smarmy weatherman with an unpronounceable last name in the 2007 Kelsey Grammer/Patricia Heaton sitcom Back to You. Or maybe even as doomed yacht captain Steve Marcus in the 2004 remake of the zombie horror classic Dawn of the Dead.

But odds are even if you've only seen one episode of (or arguably even one commercial for) ABC's breakout comedy Modern Family, you aren't likely to forget Ty Burrell as occasionally dimwitted, always kindhearted Dunphy dad Phil.

It's a role that the new dad believes he may have born — or at the very least raised — to play, as he told me in an insightful and sometimes comical interview from the set of the upcoming feature film comedy Butter, not long before Family's season finale.

Channel Guide: You worked with two of the Modern Family writers -- Chris Lloyd and Steve Levitan — before and they pretty much wrote the part of Phil for you. But they also said that they auditioned literally thousands of actors to come up with a believable family unit -- were you part of all of those auditions?

Ty Burrell: I was. It was a very long process. Just having been on a couple of other shows, you really understand just what a business decision those things are. It's not necessarily up to Chris and Steve who gets cast. And when I hear that something is maybe being written with me in mind, I don't necessarily get my hopes up because there are just so many hoops that have to be jumped through -- the network and the studio and things like that. They have a lot at stake and they have to make sure it's right and they are extremely thorough about it. So I still went through three screen tests for the part and four auditions total. It was elaborate. But looking back on it — it was certainly worthwhile!

Modern Family seemed pretty brave on paper — and came replete with what, in lesser hands, could have been a host of touchy stereotypes and TV clichés — trophy wife, bumbling dad, gay couple. But it's all so organic and there's never been anything quite like it on TV. What did you think when you first got the script?

I am firmly in the camp of believing that there really is no "new" story, you know? And I totally, completely agree with you that when I first heard the idea, I thought in my silly little mind this is either a formula for something genius — or something really generic.

Obviously being written by Chris Lloyd and Steve Levitan is a huge advantage to any show, because in my opinion they are masters of what they do. And I think you're right — in lesser hands, it would be nothing but stereotypes. But the openness of the setup in their hands, because they ARE so good, has become its strength. There are so many combinations and so many storylines that can be told in the family because they've left it so wide open, and while that would be such a challenge to a young writer or to a writer who wasn't as skilled as they are — for them, it's just a huge open playing field. I think it's just a real tribute to their mastery.

We got really, really lucky because there was a comedy drought on television and some of the best writers in Hollywood were between projects or doing something on their own and we ended up with a writing staff where, if you go down through all of their resumes, they've all had their own shows and could have their own shows right now.

Keeping that quality up week-to-week means that you have to have an incredible staff, too. One week to the next, we have that writer on set for the episode. And each week, whoever is in the chair is somebody who is really, really experienced at what they do.

Next: What's it like to work with such an incredible mix of comic talent, right on down to all of the kids? There's no weak link in the bunch ...

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