Jesse Tyler Ferguson had no problem with his friend Nathan Lane telling an adult joke to his 5-year-old son Beckett.
Ferguson, 50, hosted Lane, 69, and his wife for him Dinner is for me podcast. Before the dinner, he said he told Beckett and son Sullivan, 3, about Lane’s Disney character to help them recognize him.
“And I thought, ‘You know Nathan, of course. You’ve listened to him, you know his voice from [Timon in] The Lion King.’ So I played Hakuna Matata and on the way to school they sang Hakuna Matata. And I thought, ‘This is Nathan coming to dinner!'”
“So that night, Nathan comes over with Pam, and Nathan walks in, and my son says, ‘I know who you are!’ He called him ‘Athan. Athan, Athan, Athan, I know who you are! You’re from Hakuna Matata, you’re from Lion King!'”
But Jesse’s Modern Family costar was embarrassed about being recognized for a past role.
“Nathan was like, ‘Oh god.’ Like he was stopped by a fan in the street,” Ferguson remembers, laughing. “I thought, ‘Nathan, he’s five years old. Leave it alone!'”
Beckett then left, bringing something with him, which he hid behind his back.
“He said, ‘Athan, Athan, Athan, guess what I got?’” Ferguson recalled. “And Nathan says, ‘Hepatitis.'”
The Modern family star was not bothered by the joke and loved his co-star for his authenticity.
“He said, ‘I don’t mind kids, but I don’t have a relationship with them either. And I hear an opportunity for a joke and this is what I’m going to give.'”
Nathan Lane played Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Mitch and Eric Stonestreet’s Cam’s gay friend Pepper Saltzman. Modern family.
