Jesse Tyler Ferguson has addressed being cut from an episode of Absolutely Fabulous early on in his career, saying that the final edit made him look like a “crazy extra”.
The 49-year-old actor, who is best known for playingMitchell Pritchett on the hit ABC sitcom Modern Family from 2009 to 2020, has spoken about his brief appearance on Absolutely Fabulous’ fourth season in 2002.
While the actor had been cast to play a reporter interviewing one of the show’s stars, his scene was cut down to him frantically waving goodbye, which he said made him look like a “maniac”.
Speaking in the latest episode of Mel Giedroyc’s podcast Where There’s a Will There’s a Wake, Ferguson recounted appearing in the episode, titled “Gay”, which sees Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) go to New York to find her long-lost son, and Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley) going to cover fashion week.
The two-time Bafta-winning show followed the antics of self-absorbed best friends PR Edina and editor Patsy as they try to stay relevant in the fast-paced fashion world.
Ferguson explained that the original scene had been gutted from the episode, with only his out-of-context exit from the scene remaining in the final cut.
He told Giedroyc: “It was when they went to New York and we filmed at Fashion Week, I was playing a reporter and I interviewed one of them, I can't remember which, if I had a scene with Jennifer or Joanna. I don't remember which one it was.”
“The scene ends with me sort of seeing someone off screen and me doing an over-the-top wave, ‘hello, hello’. Then that was my exit. Like, oh, I'm off to go see someone.”
“But they cut my scene,” he said. “So, the scene starts with me just in the foreground waving to someone like a maniac and then leaving the camera, leaving the shot. I look like a crazy extra, and yet people who have watched Modern Family or know my work, know that that's me.”
Ferguson said that fans watch it and have one of two reactions: “They always either love it or think, ‘my God, how did he make it this far? Look at his early work.’”
Absolutely Fabulous first aired on BBC Two in 1992 and eventually ran for five seasons, as well as inspiring a handful of special episodes. The final episodes were broadcast in 2012 on its 20th anniversary.
Before his brief Absolutely Fabulous appearance, Ferguson had made acting debuts in the 2000 TV series Forbidden Love, and the 2001 film Ordinary Sinner.
Ferguson appeared in 11 seasons of Modern Family, which won 22 Emmy awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series five years in a row from 2010 to 2014.
He went on to star as Peter in the 2023 horror filmCocaine Bear, about a black bear who ingests a significant amount of cocaine and embarks on a drug-fuelled rampage.
Ferguson is currently starring in the comedy satire play Here We Are at the National Theatre in London, which is the late Stephen Sondheim’s final musical. Ferguson plays a plastic surgeon, alongside Downton Abbey’s Harry Hadden-Paton, a foot-fetishist bishop, and 30 Rock’s Jane Krakowski as an interior designer. The three go for brunch together, but the events descend into something more.
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