Talking About the Naughty Bits With Eric Stonestreet of 'Modern Family'

By Nicki Gostin Posted Apr 14th 2010 10:00AM

Eric Stonestreet on Modern Family as Cameron

While you may not recognize Eric Stonestreet's name immediately, a huge number of fans are deeply in love with his endearing portrayal of Cameron, the cuddly partner of uptight Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) on ABC's 'Modern Family' (Wednesdays at 9PM on ABC). The 38-year-old Kansas City native talked about girlfriends (yes, he's straight), raising hogs and Benny Hill with PopEater.

PopEater just named you and Jesse the best couple on TV.
I know! It's so sweet.

Are you amazed at the reaction to you guys?
I would say I'm not amazed at the non-reaction, meaning the sort of people having a problem with it. But we are all amazed at how open and generous and kind people are at how our relationship and the show has affected their lives. I thought people would be like, "Oh, I really like your show," not, "Your show has given me something to look forward to every week, thank you for being able to see myself on TV for the first time." It's just really over and above nice compliments. That 100 percent has been surprising.

You're straight. There was an article in the National Enquirer about how the show is ruining your love life.
That was the dumbest article I've ever read. I never knew I would be the object of a National Enquirer article.

Isn't that fabulous?
Yeah, it's great because basically it was a nice compliment to my work and the show saying I was convincing, but it was completely made up. Not one ounce of truth. I can report that my love life is just bustling.

A Typical Example of Cameron Greatness on 'Modern Family'

Good! But I hope you're not dating any gold diggers.
I'm a pretty good judge of character. Besides my parents taught me better than that.

You raised pigs. Any pig raising tips?
Pigs don't have sweat glands, so you have to give them a nice place to cool off. That's why pigs wallow in mud, to cool down. You never want to get between a momma pig and her baby because she will protect her young. I got charged by a pig growing up and she bit my belt buckle off of my jeans -- that's how close she got to getting my naughty bits.

Naughty bits?
You don't know what naughty bits are?

Yeah I do, I've just never heard anyone refer to them as naughty bits. Who are you? Benny Hill?
I would love to be Benny Hill someday. Benny Hill was a huge comedic influence on me, along with Don Knotts and Carol Burnett. You know all those people I watched with my grandma and grandpa. I would watch Benny Hill with my brother late at night because you'd see boobs. Every fifth episode you'd see some toplessness.

And that's very good, right?
Yeah, absolutely.

You must be getting a lot of fan mail from the bear section of the gay community.
I think I'm a pretty popular guy in that community. By the time it got out that I was straight, the fan mail tailed off a bit -- but every once in a while, I'll get a tweet that says they just found out I was straight and I've devastated their lives.

You're lucky you didn't have to lose weight for the show.
No, and I am who I am. If anybody has a problem with it, they know where they can go.