jesse tyler ferguson got a backstage reunion in New York City when Eric Stonestreet and Ty Burrell showed up at a performance of his play Tru. Stonestreet turned the moment into another round of doctored photos, keeping a running joke alive that has followed Ferguson since at least 2019.
Backstage at Tru
Ferguson, who is 50 years old, posted his own unedited photos from the night and made the real headline something else: newly minted Pulitzer Prize winner Bess Wohl came to see Tru. That choice left Stonestreet and Burrell in the frame, but not in the center of Ferguson’s post.
Stonestreet, who played Cam Tucker on Modern Family, posted edited reunion images that gave Ferguson white hair and more pronounced wrinkles. He wrote, “I’d tell you to go see @jessetyler in his Truman play, but I saw it late and it’s almost over!” and added, “It never gets old seeing him on stage. He was just incredible in it! Not surprising at all.”
A running bit since 2019
Those photos fit a pattern that started at least in 2019, when Stonestreet began sharing digitally altered pictures of Ferguson as a recurring gag. He repeated it in January, when Ferguson appeared on his podcast Dinner's on Me, and again in March, when a doctored image left Ferguson speechless. He also pulled the same stunt when Ferguson attended the 2024 Emmys.
Stonestreet’s latest caption went beyond the photos. “All the lines he had to learn gave me so much anxiety though,” he wrote. “Truly impressive and done in just a beautiful old space.” He closed with the part that mattered most to the reunion: “And a bonus hang with Ty too!?!? What!?”
Ferguson keeps the focus
Burrell, who played Phil Dunphy, joined the backstage visit alongside Stonestreet, but Ferguson’s own post pointed elsewhere. He shared the reunion images without centering the Modern Family pair and instead highlighted Bess Wohl, then added photos with Jane Krakowski and comedian Lea DeLaria.
Wohl responded in kind, writing, “You were absolutely BRILLIANT - but that's not news to anyone. Bravo bravo bravo!!!!” Katie Lowes also weighed in with, “@jessetyler is an INCREDIBLE actor. Good lord,” which helped make the night less about a sitcom reunion than about the stage work pulling former castmates back into the same room.
For readers following the bit, the practical takeaway is simple: Stonestreet is still using Ferguson as the setup, but Tru gave him a fresh backdrop and a live audience for the joke. As long as Ferguson keeps playing the part in New York City, the doctored-photo routine has somewhere to land.
