Sean Hayes’ recent Tony Award was in the bag according to his friend and former Will & Grace costar Eric McCormack — who added a bit of comedy to boot!
The duo spoke on Monday during the Just Jack & Will podcast premiere event at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, where Hayes, 52, revealed that McCormack sent him “the funniest text I ever got” after Sunday’s ceremony.
“We’d spoken earlier in the day and I’ve been telling him for years he’s gonna win the Tony and he’s like, ‘Shut up, shut up, shut up,’ ” said McCormack, 60. “And then yesterday, I just texted him after the win. I was like, ‘How was the rest of your day?’ “
“That was it,” Hayes replied with a chuckle. “I died laughing at 2 in the morning, ‘cause I’m going through some other texts. Just one sentence. Laughed out loud.”
At Broadway’s big night on Sunday, Hayes won the ceremony’s award for lead actor in a play for his performance as Oscar Levant in Good Night, Oscar.
Hayes thanked husband Scott Icenogle, whom he has been married to since 2014, as he accepted the award in front of an audience at New York City’s United Palace Theatre.
“Oh my God, this has gotta be the first time an Oscar won a Tony. I’m shaking, I can’t believe — this is so surreal,” the actor said. “First of all, my husband, Scotty — it’s Scotty, right? I can never get it right. You are my purpose, every single day of my life.”
Hayes’ Tony nomination this year’s marked his second career nod; the actor was previously nominated for best actor in a musical for Promises, Promises back in 2010, when he hosted the ceremony himself.
Meanwhile, Hayes and McCormack’s larger discussion/Q&A at the Tribeca event will be turned into an episode for Just Jack & Will, a rewatch podcast in which the two discuss behind-the-scenes events that went on while filming the show.
“It’s a Will & Grace rewatch podcast for SmartLess Media,” Hayes wrote of the series, which he announced in an Instagram post last month.
McCormack previously told that the project was cooked up “at a lunch that we were having.”
“We started to talk about what would we do if we did a podcast,” he recalled. “And I said, ‘We could rewatch the show?’ “
Just Jack & Will launches Thursday on Amazon Music and on all podcast services June 22.