Fast Chat: 'Family' man Eric Stonestreet

Eric Stonestreet is definitely not in Kansas anymore.

The Emmy-winning actor, who grew up on a Kansas farm where he often tended to pigs, these days is in Hollywood, where he's having a lot more fun hamming it up as Cameron, the sometimes dramatic but always funny life partner to Jesse Tyler Ferguson's Mitchell on ABC's Wednesday-night smash "Modern Family."

Newsday's Daniel Bubbeo recently rang up Stonestreet, 39, during a break from shooting, to chat about the Emmys, the show's success and what he had hidden in his bicycle shorts.Were you surprised at the Emmys when they called your name and said you had won the supporting actor award?

I was surprised, but watching awards shows in previous years, the level of surprise needed to be measured. I did have a one in six chance of winning, not like a one in a million chance. I'm always put off by people who act like it's the craziest thing that's ever happened to them. . . . But we were just happy the show was nominated to begin with, and the individual stuff is just icing on the cake. But the comedy award, the reason that one does mean something to us is because that acknowledges everyone who goes to work every day on our show.

How much of the ideas for the episodes come from things that have actually happened to either the writers or the cast?

What's great about our show and what people respond to is that everything starts with a nugget of truth, whether it's from our writers or a story that one of us has told on the soundstage or whether it's from a writer's friends. All of our writers are parents for the most part and husbands and wives, so the stories we tell are relatable.

What stories have you suggested?

I was a clown growing up as a kid. I wanted to be a clown, so there was a particular episode that came from them hearing about my love for clowns. They knew I played the drums before they wrote one episode. They knew I had a rural upbringing. I was born on a farm; we had pigs and cattle growing up in Kansas City. So we all influence the characters somewhat.

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Were you surprised by all the interest from fans to see you and Jesse Tyler Ferguson kiss on the show?

We were surprised that people felt like it was some active idea of the studio and the network and the writers - who introduced us two grounded, loving, active gay men who adopted a baby - that they would not go further. What didn't surprise us was that people cared so much. We knew the show was hitting and resonating with people, so the fact that people signed up for a campaign and got on board with it because they care about the characters so much, that didn't surprise us.

I'd heard that you had a lot of fun with Julie Bowen shooting the episode about Cam's bicycle shorts. What did you do?

She had to have this great reaction when I came out for the first time in them. So I wanted to give her as genuine and honest of a shock moment as I could. I had pantyhose full of rice in my pants, so that when I walked in, she would see quite the endowed Cam and be completely and utterly shocked. Every take after that, I'd have stuff in the kitchen. I had an actual banana I put in there; I put my BlackBerry in there. I put two apples in there. I had all kinds of stuff, so it became a running gag.

I think one reason for the show's success is that, despite all their quirks, the members of each family really seem to like one another. Would you agree with that?

When "Modern Family" came on the air, we were kind of on the tail end of people really liking the shows that are sort of snarky and mean-spirited. We definitely have our moments on the show where we give each other hell, but at the end of the day, we all do have mass affection for each other, personally and as our characters, and I think it comes through. Our writers and the creators of our show should be commended for risking putting their heart on their sleeve like that. A lot of people have a problem with the end of our show sometimes where they wrap up with something that they feel to be on the sappy edge, but that's life, too.