When MODERN FAMILY’s Phil and Claire decide to throw son Luke a birthday party a boy won’t soon forget, it’s Cameron who ends up acting like a kid in a candy store. With the aforementioned birthday giving him the opportunity to come out of the closet… and show off his alter-ego Fizbo the Clown! And here to shed some light on the origins of Fizbo, how life has changed since MODERN FAMIILY premiered and who his choice of actress would be to play his fictional TV mom is none other than future Emmy nominee and current scene-stealer himself, Eric Stonestreet.
How has life changed since the premiere of MODERN FAMILY?
Eric Stonestreet: I would say the biggest change for me personally is that people know who I am now. I was very blown away by how fast that sort of thing happened.
Now that people know who you are and millions are tuning in on a weekly basis, do you feel any added pressure as an actor to deliver the funny?
I definitely feel the pressure to make people laugh, but that’s about all the pressure I feel. I think the writers and producer wouldn’t be as brilliant and great as they are if they didn’t feel that pressure. But as an actor, I really try not to think about that.
With Fred Willard being perfectly cast as Phil’s Dad, I can’t help but wonder when we’ll meet Cameron’s parents and who your dream casting coup would be?
Fingers crossed, if we get picked up for a second season, there has definitely been talk about meeting Cameron’s parents (or even on the back nine). Names have been bandied about, but as far as who my dream to play my TV mom would be, no question, Kathy Bates. I think that would be incredible, although I’m not even sure she knows about the show, or even watches TV.
Courtesy of @ericstonestreet comes Fizbo’s one and only business card when Eric Stonestreet was 13.
On tonight’s episode you get to make use of your clowning skills. Was that really a ‘special skill’ on your resume?
You know what was on my resume, balloon art. I can make sh*t out of balloons! How tonight’s episode came about was that the writers heard me talking about my clowning experience when they were making the pilot and they thought it was very funny. The asked me to see pictures and what not, so I showed an article to Brad and Paul [Producers Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh] and they came back to me with this amazing script. Tonight’s “Fizbo” episode is the tightest scripts so far. I mean, every table read is incredible, but tonight’s episode is a different sort of format for the show, it’s a different way of telling a story in an episode and you’ll be very surprised by how they do it. It’s hilarious, it’s great, and for me personally, very exciting to be able to bring that full circle and put the clown character FIzbo that I’ve been doing since I was 9 years old on TV and in primetime and sort of say hello to all the people who used to make fun of me for wanting to play football and be a clown.
Can we expect anymore of your special skills to show up in future episodes?
On my resume I was the Spring Dance King in 8th grade, I do a mean trumpet impersonation with my mouth like Chuck Mangione which I’ve been asked to do in auditions over the years, drums, and I have a fascination with guns. You will definitely be seeing more of my special skills. 
