Ty Burrell

“My wife has taught me about unconditional love. When there's a conflict, there's never a thought that we won't work it out.”

“A lot of modern comedies are difficult to watch too, because they're so ironic and so detached and so quote-unquote clever. They kind of keep you at arm's length. They can be really funny, but they're not really nourishing.”

“I'm glad I had to wait until my 40s for success. I was not a mature young man and would probably have gone off the rails.”

“Everything I do from now on, I'll have a mustache. I can promise you that. I don't care who I have to convince. If you see me with a mustache in a movie or on stage in the future, you'll know that I pitched the idea.”

“It's kind of a crazy thing with kid actors because a lot of them get hired without people really knowing if they're good or not. They get hired for the way they look at a really young age. You also have your fingers crossed around kid actors... because the lessons they learn on set aren't always the best. You can really get whatever you want.”

“Comedy can be fun no matter what you're playing. It always has the potential to be a blast.”

“I'm prone to hyperbole.”

“I am very lucky that I came from a stable home, but I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life until acting sorted of landed in my lap when I was in my 20s. Acting, to me, was a bit like the ladder I used to climb out of feeling lost.”

“I spent most of my formative years in rural Oregon.”

“After my father passed away in 1989, I fell pretty hard for theater as an undergraduate at the University of Oregon. Before he died, he planted the seed that maybe I should look into performing.”

“You know, I used to think I was a foodie, and then my wife went to culinary school and basically explained to me that I was just a guy that likes to eat.”

“I grew up on 'Monty Python.'”

“I think once I fail enough as a dad, I'll be looking for help wherever I can get it. I just need enough time to screw things up and then I'll start looking to TV dads for advice.”

“I'm not very romantic. My idea of romance is more practical - like washing the car.”

“My younger brother and I have been writing together, mainly for fun, for years, but we've been improvising together since we were kids. Literally.”

“My dad was a fiercely funny guy, and he and his brother would get on runs. So my younger brother and I were basically mimicking them when we started goofing off.”

“My favourite game is wiffle ball, a fake version of baseball with a plastic ball and bat that's really for kids.”

“I'm not saying this just to be self-deprecating, but I have always taken delight in playing people who are oblivious, because I do think I have giant, giant blind spots. It's a very comfortable place to be.”

“Once you do a show like 'Modern Family,' which has been an amazing thing, and I'm so happy about it, it does make it a little challenging to do other things.”

“Our house was a place where you were welcome to make an idiot out of yourself. Silliness was valued. My dad worked with foster kids in the foster care system, and I think silliness was a way for him to leaven things up.”