Jesse Tyler Ferguson Plays Truman Capote in a Manhattan Townhouse

Summary

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Podcast Summary

All Of It with Alison Stewart

Episode: Jesse Tyler Ferguson Plays Truman Capote in a Manhattan Townhouse
Date: March 16, 2026
Host: Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Guest: Jesse Tyler Ferguson

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s turn as Truman Capote in the Off-Broadway revival of True, a solo play offering an intimate portrait of Capote. The production is uniquely staged in the library of a Gilded Age Upper East Side mansion, with the audience situated as if they are Capote’s guests. Ferguson discusses his approach to the character, the play’s themes of loneliness, creativity, addiction, and betrayal, and reflects on the enduring fascination with Capote as a literary and cultural figure.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Experiencing Theater in an Intimate Setting

• Immersive Audience Experience (02:18–03:20)
  Ferguson shares how performing in a library for just 99 people blurs the line between performer and audience.

  “I see everything and I see everyone's responses...I've never experienced doing a play where I'm so in tune with what the audience is going through.” — Jesse Tyler Ferguson [02:18]

• Emotional Resonance
  The proximity allows him to read audience reactions closely and even remember making eye contact during specific lines.

Embodying Truman Capote

• First Encounters with Capote (03:44–05:43)
  Ferguson recalls reading In Cold Blood in high school and becoming fascinated with Capote’s unique persona—his voice, mannerisms, and television presence.

• Vocal and Physical Preparation (05:47–07:47)
  Ferguson worked with dialect coach Kate Wilson to balance Capote’s Alabama roots and New York affectations, paying careful attention to the taxing nature of the role on his voice:

  “He has a lot more attic in his voice than I do, and I could always push that and go higher than I expect I could go. That being said, it’s very taxing on my voice.” — Jesse Tyler Ferguson [06:36]

  He also closely studied Capote’s mannerisms, some of which he found mirrored his own quirks.

• Balancing Authenticity and Humanity (07:51–08:36)
  Ferguson talked about the tension between accuracy and empathy:

  “I want to capture him, but I want to bring humanity to him...finding that way that I can sort of work alongside this character has been challenging...this sort of conglomeration of the two of us.” [07:51]

Capote’s Crisis and Loneliness

• Dramatic Context (08:57–11:00)
  The play captures Capote in isolation after being ostracized by his elite circle for publishing personal stories in Esquire—likened by Ferguson to early Cancel Culture:

  “He was sort of like one of the first people canceled. You know, I mean, like, he was canceled before cancel culture really was a thing.” [09:53]

• Writers as Observers
  The hosts discuss the duality of friendship and observation, with Ferguson noting Capote’s affection for his friends but also his inevitable role as note-taker for his writing:

  “You don't befriend a writer and assume that they're not taking notes...what did they think I was there for? The intellectual stimulation and wit. I'm the one that brought the intellectual stimulation away to the party.” [11:44]

Set, Staging, and Cast

• Environmental Theater (13:34–15:20)
  Ferguson and his director chose the mansion library setting to immerse audiences in Capote’s world, leveraging voyeuristic intimacy:

  “It’s less of a shared space. It’s more like you’re eavesdropping.” [13:52]

• Expanded Ensemble
  While True is a one-man show, Charlotte d’Amboise portrays the women in Capote’s life, adding nuance to the piece through music, dance, and dialogue.

Humanizing Capote’s Addiction and Struggle

• Portraying Addiction (19:44–21:00)
  The character’s struggle with alcohol and cocaine, self-medication, and creative paralysis are central:

  “A lot of it was self medicating to get through this very difficult time in his life...he was not able to complete this book, Answered Prayers, which he had been promised to complete for 20 years.” [19:53]

• Infusing LGBTQ Experience
  Ferguson relates his interpretation to his own experiences of marginalization and empathy:

  “I get to play Capote as an out gay man, and I get to bring my own experiences of feeling ostracized as a child. And I get to bring that layer of complexity to him.” [18:19]

Capote's Enduring Fascination

• Legend as Reality Star (22:17–23:11)
  Ferguson and Stewart compare Capote’s exposés to modern reality TV:

  “He was sort of operating on that level before [reality TV] existed. I mean, he was writing about these people who we were fascinated by that lived in these gilded towers...” [22:38]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Poinsettias:

  “Poinsettias are the Bob Goulet of botany...he's the type of guy who disses people when they don't even ask for it.” — Jesse Tyler Ferguson [12:33-13:09]

• On Stage Fright:

  “Every night before I go out on stage...I'm terrified. I'm absolutely terrified. The second I walk out, I relax. There’s something about being in front of an audience that just makes me feel so good.” [23:13]

• On Capote’s Writing:

  “There’s such eloquence in his writing...even when he’s like cateirizing someone and just coming at them. It's done so beautifully and elegantly. I mean, he really knows how to throw a diss.” [21:06]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:18] – Connection with the audience in an intimate performance space
• [03:44] – Ferguson’s first encounters with Capote’s work
• [05:47] – Voice and mannerisms: finding Capote’s sound and movement
• [07:51] – Merging the actor’s and Capote’s identities
• [08:57] – Capote’s social crisis: the Answered Prayers scandal
• [10:36] – Discussing writers as both friends and observers
• [13:34] – Choosing the environmental performance in a mansion library
• [15:20] – Inclusion of Charlotte d’Amboise as Capote’s “swans”
• [17:53] – The role of loneliness and talking to oneself
• [19:44] – Portraying addiction and creative struggle
• [21:06] – Admiration for Capote’s prose
• [22:17] – Capote’s lasting fascination and reality TV analogy
• [23:13] – Coping with stage fright before each show

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Conclusion

Jesse Tyler Ferguson delivers a multidimensional portrait of Truman Capote, drawing emotional lines between the famously sharp-witted writer’s public persona and his deeply private struggles. The unique staging in a Manhattan townhouse library, coupled with Ferguson’s meticulous preparation and personal investment, invites audiences to reevaluate Capote’s legacy through the rhythms of live, immersive theater.

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Transcript

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[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC Studios, SoHo. Thank you for spending part of your day with us. I'm really grateful that you're here. On today's show, actor Thomas Sadowski joins us to discuss his new film group, the Schopenhauer Effect, along with director Alexis Lloyd and co star, a real life psychoanalyst, Dr. Elliot Zeissel. Plus, we'll recap last night's Academy Awards with Louis Fertel. He's the co host of the Keep it podcast and an Oscars historian. That's the plan. So let's get this started with Tony award winning actor Jenny Jesse Tyler Ferguson. In revival of the play True. Audience members get an intimate look into the life of Truman Capote. And I say intimate because this play is staged inside a real gilded age mansion. In the library, of course. Imagine that you have entered the home of Capote. We meet him just before Christmas. He's in a tough spot. His high society friends aren't speaking with him. After an excerpt of his proposed new novel was published in a magazine, a gossipy section that revealed some stories about the wealthy women of Manhattan. He has become a social pariah. Alone in his apartment, Truman begins to talk to himself and to the audience. We learn about his struggles with addiction, loneliness, love and loss. True is running in the library of the House of the Redeemer on East 95th street through May 3rd. And I'm joined now by Jesse Tyler Ferguson who plays Truman Capote. It is nice to meet you in real life.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Nice to meet you. Although I saw you this weekend at my show.

[Alison Stewart]

I was there. It is such an intimate setting. It's about 99 people in the room. Yes, 99. Do you get to see people one on one?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It's been really interesting. I think you saw my 9th or 10th preview, so I had a few under my belt. But I really see everything and I see everyone's responses. You know, there's some people who are not quite comfortable having me quite so close. There's some people who are very comfortable having me close. You know, if you glance down at your watch, even for a moment, I see that, you know, I have people who have tears in their eyes. And I see that, so I see everything. I've never experienced doing a play where I'm so in tune with what the audience is going through.

[Alison Stewart]

Does that change each performance a little bit?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, one of my favorite parts about being a live theater actor is that every performance is different, and the audience informs so much of that. But I'm not used to having the line blurred between myself and them as blurred as it is in this play.

[Alison Stewart]

Sure.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

We share not only rarefied air, but literal space together.

[Alison Stewart]

Sure. It's so interesting because it was funny to watch the audience a little bit. Some people look away. Some people want to engage with you. It was just an interesting place to be.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

We made eye contact.

[Alison Stewart]

We did make eye contact.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

And I remember on what line, too. That's how, like, in tune I am.

[Alison Stewart]

Wow.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

I say something. The rich are very nervous with you if they think you don't have any money. And I think I looked right at you. Oh, does that feel familiar?

[Alison Stewart]

It does feel familiar. It does, yes. It was so interesting. Let me ask you about Chummy Capote. What was your relationship with Truman Capote's work?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

I read In Cold Blood in high school. It was required reading. I loved it. I felt very. I felt. When I was reading In Cold Blood, I was like, how is this something that's required? I mean, it's very dark. You know, I grew up. I was born in 75, so I think, you know, in the 80s in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was. It wasn't super weird for us to be reading this book, but I couldn't believe that I was being allowed to read this and that. It was required of me, too. And it was unlike anything I'd ever read before. I mean, it was unlike anything that had ever been written before. You know, something that marries true crime and, you know, fiction. He sort of created his own genre with that book. And then after that, I just became fascinated with him as a person. You know, he sort of lived in. You know, he was on my TV on, like, different talk shows.

[Alison Stewart]

Mike Douglas.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I just was aware of this, like, really strange, peculiar man who had

[Alison Stewart]

a very strange way of speaking.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

And, you know, and I just became fascinated with him. And then, you know, I became a fan of other people's portrayals of him. Philip Seymour Hoffman being the first one. That sort of really struck a chord with me. I loved the movie Truman that he won an Oscar for, or Capote, rather, is the name of that film. And, yeah, it was very fascinating. As an actor, to then see people tackle this character and sort of seeing how far you could go with that characterization and still make it a human and still make it someone that is, you know, an extension of that actor.

[Alison Stewart]

So, yeah, I'm curious. Did you work with your vocal coach, Kate Wilson?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Kate Wilson, yeah. She and I have been working together for quite some time, and I have done several projects with her. I adore her. She's on staff at Juilliard, and I've done everything from Shakespeare in the park to my last outing on Take Me Out. I worked with her on that. And so I called her when I found out I was gonna be doing this, and I asked her if she could help me out. And, you know, she does help me with dialect a little bit. He was born in Monroeville, Alabama, so that dialect creeps out. I think he was one of those people that once he moved to New York, he tried to get rid of his accent. But it does creep out specific when he drinks. So that was fun, finding places for that to emerge. And then also just where his voice sits. He has a lot more attic in his voice than I do, and I could always push that and go higher than I expect I could go. That being said, it's very taxing on my voice. It sometimes feels at the end of a show like I've been singing for 90 minutes. So learning how to then take care of my voice and warm down, as they say, and make sure that I'm being quiet during the day. And she gave me a lot of tools around that as well. Kate Wilson.

[Alison Stewart]

It's also interesting you have his mannerisms down, the way he sort of strokes his eyebrow when he's thinking, you know, it's true.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

And I think that I innately share some of those mannerisms. Oh, funny, because certain things, like, I remember I would do that with my eyebrow. I'd do this. Or like, I would sort of brush my leg of my pants sometimes. And Chris Lloyd and Steve Levitan, who created Modern Family, would always make fun of me for that. If they were to do an imitation of me, it would be one of those two moves. So I've been able to incorporate those kind of seamlessly. But then there's other things. There's so much great footage of Truman in Interview or in documentaries. And so stealing his mannerisms and his physicality has been very easy, very accessible.

[Alison Stewart]

What's been the hardest thing to figure out about him?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Oh, the hardest thing to figure out about him, I think. Oh, that's such a great question. Because I feel for me, it's been the marriage of me and him that's been hard for me to figure out because I want to capture him, but I want to bring humanity to him. And for me, as an actor, I've always found my pathway to humanity is by bringing myself into it and using that as the conduit for humanity. And so finding that way that I can sort of work alongside this character has been challenging. But not being Jesse, being Capote, but rather this sort of conglomeration of the two of us, that's been a really interesting challenge for me.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest is Tony Award winning actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson. We're discussing his transformation into Truman Capote in the Off Broadway show True, which is staged in a real library on the Upper east side. It's running at the House of the Redeemer through May 3rd. Okay. When we encounter Truman Capote at the beginning of this play, what's going on in his life?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

It's a few days before Christmas and he is in the midst of a crisis. He has been ostracized by his closest friends. And a lot of this story, a lot of people know about now because of Ryan Murphy's very wonderful series, Capote versus the Swans, which was on television a few years ago, which tackles the same period in Capote's life. But he let Esquire publish a chapter of his book Answered Prayers, which he had been working on for 20 years. He started working on Answered Prayers before he even started working on In Cold Blood. And it was a piece he kept coming back to. And he basically was drawing from the experiences, the life experiences of his closest friends, the Paleys and the Whitneys and the Coles and Slim Keith and Gloria Vanderbilt and all these sort of, you know, the doyens of New York. And he was taking their moments with him, what they thought were their private moments with him and recording them in his mind and writing about them. And he published a chapter of Answered Prayers rather to sort of lure himself out of a depression, as he says in the play. And these women read their stories in the pages of Esquire, and they were obviously very angry with him and turned their backs on him. And he was left alone. I always say he was sort of like one of the first people canceled. You know, I mean, like, he was canceled before cancel. Culture really was a thing, you know,

[Alison Stewart]

I thought was interesting in the play. And it was something that my friend and I discussed because we were both journalists afterward. And it was a subject, the idea that writers are observing you even if you Say you're friends with them, they're always observing you in your version. Does he think the people he hangs out with are his friends, or is he just observing the elite of New York?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

I think it's a little bit of both. I think that he is observing the elite of New York, but he does care for these people. I know he was very close with Bay Paley and Slim Keith. They were two of his closest friends. And all of his, quote unquote, swans, I think he had a great affinity toward. But I think there was also. They were allowed into his circle because of their status. He was obsessed with status and obsessed with people who came from wealth. And he wanted to run in those circles, even though he didn't have a lot of that money himself. But he wanted to be invited on the yachts. And, you know, it's sort of like how we. I look at a lot of influencers today. I see people on some of these yachts with these famous people. Like, how did they end up there?

[Alison Stewart]

How'd they get there?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

They just made good friends with the people who happened to own these boats. But I think he did care for them deeply. But also, I think he assumed because he was a writer that these people knew that he was taking notes. And so when they were angry at him for writing about them, it's like they should have known. You know, you don't befriend a writer and assume that they're not taking notes. He says, in the play, you know, what did they think I was there for? The intellectual stimulation and wit. I'm the one that brought the intellectual stimulation away to the party.

[Alison Stewart]

You know, it's so interesting. There's a point when he gets this huge, enormous sort of poinsettias comes to his door. And he's highly offended by this.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Highly offended.

[Alison Stewart]

What to the poinsettias mean to him?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

It's tacky.

[Alison Stewart]

Tacky, yeah.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

So tacky. I like them, but I do too. I always have poinsettias at our house for the holidays. I think they're great. He hates them. He says it in the play. Poinsettias are the Bob Goulet of botany. You know, he's offended by it. Which also is like such a diss to Bob Goulet. But, you know, he's the type of guy who disses people when they don't even ask for it. He says, I can't imagine a friend who would even think. Think about giving me such a tacky thing. I don't even wanna know who they're from. Yeah. So it's one of the first moments in the play is him receiving this delivery.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

A truckload of poinsettias and Bob Goulet

[Alison Stewart]

takes one for the team.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

I know, right? What did he do? He wasn't hurting anyone.

[Alison Stewart]

So the production of this is amazing because you are inside this beautiful library. There's only 99 seats, as I mentioned. What changes about your approach as an actor when you're in such an intimate space?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

When we decided to do this play, I felt it has to be something that's done environmentally. I really wanted people to enter into the space and feel like they're already immersed in that world before the play even starts. The play takes place in Truman Capote's living room. And it can be done on a stage. And it was done on a stage when Robert Morse did it in 89 and 90. But I wanted it to feel different. I wanted. I was like, how can I. To make this play feel current and different and separate from what was already brilliantly done? And so I thought, let's actually make people sit in the living room. And it's one of those things, when I walk in, it's like, you are in my space. It's less of a shared space. It's more like you're eavesdropping. And there's something a little voyeuristic about it as well. And it definitely changes my relationship with the audience. You know, there are certain things that only one side of the house will see because my back is to the other side. And it's my job to make sure everyone feels included at one point. I move around the room constantly, so everyone at one point is very close to me. There's not a bad seat in the house. You could be sitting somewhere thinking, oh, I'm so far away from him. But like, you know, it's like when you go see a concert and like Britney Spears was on like a revolving stage and all of a sudden she gets floated over to you. That's what I feel like. I'm basically like Beyonce. I move around the stadium. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I move around the stadium.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest is Tony Award winning actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson. We're discussing Truman Capote show, Off Broadway show, it's called True, which is staged in a library on the Upper east side. It's running at the House of the Redeemer through May 3rd. We should mention you're not the only performer on stage.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

That's right. It is a one man show, technically, but. But we have allotted some of the lines to my brilliant co star, Charlotte d'. Amboise.

[Alison Stewart]

She's amazing.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

She's gorgeous and wonderful. This was a concept that Rob Ashford had, my director. We wanted to include an element of the women in his life and so that is being embodied by Charlotte Dambois, who is a Tony nominated actress and dancer. She's incredible.

[Alison Stewart]

What's it like to get to dance with her?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

I do get to dance with her. I'm like, you can lead me, Charlotte, you can lead me. She's a very skilled dancer, but she's like, no, no, you leave me. You leave me. But yeah, she embodies the swans. At some point she sort of embodies the spirit of my mother. There's a scene from my past that plays out with her. I love having her in the room with me. It really makes it feel less lonely and I just feel like she brings an added layer of complexity to the piece.

[Alison Stewart]

We also get to know Truman through phone calls. He has what's revealing about him when he speaks to people on the phone?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Yeah, well, the people who are calling him are people who are still willing to talk to him. So he has a great affinity to them. These are the people who are his lifeline still. So when the phone rings and it's someone you know, I feel like when the phone rings, he's always a little nervous, like, is this bad news or something? And if it's someone who he cares about, like Carol Matthau, Walter Matthau's wife, calls at one point and he has a lovely conversation with her. There's a wonderful exchange with a Western Union operator who confesses that she's a fan of his. And his friend Jan calls at one point. And I should also mention, I don't know if you saw this in the program notes, but these voices of the people who call are voiced by some very special cameos. Kristin Chenoweth, Jan Krakowski and Sandra. Oh, wow. Fun little Easter eggs there. Yeah. In our digital program, there's a thanks to them. But, yeah, those are our voices that are calling in.

[Alison Stewart]

There's a moment when you play a recording of Truman. He's recording his life's work for his. I think it's his biographer. Yeah. Is that him or is that you?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

That's me.

[Alison Stewart]

That's you, yeah. That's so interesting. Yeah.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

He was recording pieces for Gerald Clarke, who wrote his biography, and it's sort of in the play, it's the device that starts him talking about his life and it's sort of the reason why he's telling his story.

[Alison Stewart]

He also says sort of to the audience. Like, we all talk to ourselves, don't we?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

Do you talk to yourself?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

I do all the time. Like, I talk about the lists I need to make and. Yeah. And I sometimes talk myself off ledges. Like, it's okay. I'll just deal with that later. You know, like, no one's in the room except for me.

[Alison Stewart]

That's okay. Yeah, it's good. You're a good listener.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Yeah, exactly.

[Alison Stewart]

We learn a lot about the loneliness that Truman Capote was going through. How did you want to convey his loneliness to the audience?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

I think there's a lot of people who feel like he did a really bad thing by exposing the lives of his friends. And I don't disagree with them. It's my job as an actor to bring humanity. Humanity to him. And also, I care for him deeply. I need to care for him. And one of the things I'm so proud of is I get to play Capote as an out gay man, and I get to bring my own experiences of feeling ostracized as a child. And I. I get to bring that layer of complexity to him. And so there are parts of the story that I find very moving and that bring tears to my eyes. And I let that happen. And I try and let Capote's conflict with what's going on in his life really come out. He lets down his guard because technically, even though there's an audience in his living room, he's in his own space. He's in his safe space. And so he feels safe enough to, you know, reveal certain parts of himself. And I think that's a really interesting part of the play is I think it allows us to see kind of his struggle with what's going on in his life and his loneliness and his deep desire to reconnect with some of the people who have banded him.

[Alison Stewart]

We also get to witness his, I guess, sort of addiction.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Yeah, Alcoholism and addiction. Sure.

[Alison Stewart]

There's also cocaine at one point. Yes. What role does addiction play in this story?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Well, he was known to be quite a partier after the success of In Cold Blood. You know, he became sort of the toast of the town, and he really lost himself in the nightclub scene. And he became a very heavy drinker. I mean, if you look at photos of him during the height of In Cold Blood, he was trim and healthy. And then you look, you know, 10 years later, he's really gone downhill. He's very bloated. And he became a victim of alcoholism and addiction and a Lot of it was self medicating to get through this very difficult time in his life. But also he was going through a crisis of not being able to write. And he was not able to complete this book, Answered Prayers, which he had been promised to complete for 20 years. And so he was self medicating and. And, you know, basically using any sort of. He was using alcohol and booze to keep his mind off of the fact that he was really in a crisis with being able to write.

[Alison Stewart]

You read some of Capote's work out loud in the play. What do you admire about his writing?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Oh, God. I mean, there's such eloquence in his writing. Even when he's being super tart about something or super. You know, even when he's like cateirizing someone and like just coming at them. It's done so beautifully and elegantly. I mean, he really knows how to throw a diss.

[Alison Stewart]

I mean, just sculpt with a scalpel.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Right?

[Alison Stewart]

Slice with a scalpel.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

And I just find his prose to be stunning. And it was present in his early writing. You know, I've read his very, very early work and it was all there. And then you read some of his writing that he wrote at the end of his life and it's still there and even deeper. And he really brought his life experience into his writing. And there's just no one who has. No one compares to him. And his writing really holds up. I mean, In Cold Blood is still such a fantastic read.

[Alison Stewart]

Why do you think you remain such a fascination for people? You mentioned Ryan Murphy's the Swans. How many movies and plays have been done about him? What is it about him that's so fascinating?

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

I think because he was such an interesting character in his real life as well as such a wonderful writer. I also feel like, like I said before, he was one of the first people canceled. Like before Cancel Culture existed, he was truly canceled very publicly. But also we have this deep fascination with reality TV now and, you know, the Real Housewives and all this stuff. And he was sort of operating on that level before that existed. I mean, he was writing about these people who we were fascinated by that lived in these gilded towers that we didn't have access to and he was exposing their secrets. And I think that there's that thing that we're so fascinated by now with Real Housewives and reality stars and the Bachelorette and all these reality tv. I think he was already onto that back then. And so he was tapping into something that I feel like we didn't even realize we were interested in.

[Alison Stewart]

How do you get psyched up to do the show? It's just you.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Yeah, well, coffee. Coffee and sleep, both of those things are very important. Every night before I go out on stage, before I enter that room with those 99 people, I'm terrified. I'm absolutely terrified.

[Alison Stewart]

Really.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

This is pretty similar to every time I walk out on stage. The minute I walk out, though, the moment. The second I walk out, I relax. There's something about being in front of an audience that just makes me feel so good. And I've done my work, I've prepared. I know what I'm doing. I know I'm in charge of that piece, and I'm in charge of that room. And I feel like I just want to give these people a great show. And so the minute I walk into that shared space, I get a jolt of adrenaline that's unlike anything I've ever felt before. And it always gets me through.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest has been Jesse Tyler Ferguson. You can see him transform to Truman Capote in the show True, which is on the Upper east side. It's running at the House of the Redeemer through May 3rd. It has been really nice to have you.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Thank you for having me, my dear. So good.

[Alison Stewart]

Oh, no.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

My coffee.

[Alison Stewart]

Brawny here.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

New brawny 3 ply is now more absorbed.

[Alison Stewart]

Wow. Got a clean shirt.

[Jesse Tyler Ferguson]

Do you wear plaid, Ronnie?

[Alison Stewart]

Some of the strongest.

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