Inside the Set of ‘Mid-Century Modern’

[Nathan Lee] Ready?

Yeah. Everybody dance now?

[Matt] Yes, five, six, seven, eight.

Well, hi there. [laughs]

Oh, what a pleasure, I'm Nathan Lane.

I'm Nathan Lee Graham.

And I'm Matt Bomer.

And welcome to our beautiful home in Palm Springs.

We're the cast-

[All] Of Mid-Century Modern.

Come on in.

[upbeat music]

This is where we kibitz, this is where we hang out,

this is where a lot of the situation

of whatever the episode is gonna be usually

gets established. The situation of the comedy?

Yes.

In this room right here. Yes.

Lots of drama in this room.

Lots of exposition.

I play a character named Bunny Schneiderman,

who is a very wealthy and successful manufacturer

of women's bras.

This is the palatial home he has built

and where he's been living with his mother

and invites his two closest friends, Jerry and Arthur,

to live with him.

We never see each other.

We FaceTime every night.

I use a filter, it's barely even me.

[audience laughs]

You love a classic sunken living room in Palm Springs.

Wow, you really like the-

I do. Loves a sunken living room.

Now that is truly classic.

The mid-century movement architecture in Palm Springs

was big with a lot of architects.

The house we copied was a Wexler house,

happened to be the Dinah Shore estate

back in the late '50s, early '60s.

It's a sunken living room.

It resembles the character in a place where they can gather

and hang out and enjoy their happy hour drinks.

One of the things I notice when I go to Palm Springs,

there's a little bit of quirkiness to the decor

in a lot of ways, and I feel like they picked up on that

in a very classy way.

Peter Gurski, our set decorator, does a phenomenal job

of just mixing up, like these look like little Kenzo-style-

[Nathan Lee] Yeah, they're lovely.

[Matt] Serving napkins.

[Nathan] And a horse full of bourbon.

Yes.

That you could drink right out of its ass.

[Nathan Lee] Classic.

[Matt] And the flowers on the set

are always real and practical.

Like us.

I hope you all took your Allegra.

He's looking for love, and I think these two friends

of his bring that as he's invited them into their home,

and so we need a gathering, so they gather around the bar,

they gather in the living room,

and I think that's been important to the show,

to be able to show the love between these three guys.

You know?

We used to have a penis sculpture,

but the network made us kill it.

[Nathan chuckles]

What are you gonna do?

These are the sacrifices you have to make in comedy.

All we have left is the big gay knob.

[lively music]

This is Peter Gurski.

And this is Greg Grande, our production designer.

Set decorator.

We thought we'd show you a little bit

of our little hidden treasures,

some of the cool little elements that you find

at a vintage store in Palm Springs.

These are actually CB2 sconces.

So we've been also trying to mix the current

and the mid-century,

and keep it all sort of in the same styles.

And when we talk about architecture, right,

the simplicity, but then the organicness of the lighting

in some of what we used.

Obviously, the architecture's simple,

but what Peter brings is some of the fun to the game.

We do have a little Easter egg upstage in our dining room,

a little sculpture up here

that was also on Will and Grace,

Max and David's first show, that was done

by Max's mother-in-law.

[Peter] Susan Hyman.

You're too poor for New York.

You hate Atlanta.

I like Atlanta.

You hate it, why don't you know this?

[audience laughs]

You'll both move in with me.

Palm Springs, somewhere along the line, became a haven

for, you know, gay men retirees.

We knew we wanted to do a show about this subject,

guys who were really, really good friends

their entire lives, who decided, you know,

in the absence of children and families,

let's be each other's chosen family.

They're modern, but they're an old kind of modern, you know?

The aesthetic seemed to match the theme.

We always knew that Palm Springs would be it

because we're fans of this architecture.

In the script, it was referred to

as a white on white on white Dinah Shore extravaganza.

I was very clear that I wanted this place

to be old Hollywood, you know, chic terrazzo floors,

this Billy Haines low furniture.

This is the direction that we ended up going in.

Obviously, Linda Lavin has a nice little tribute to her.

[Peter] That was painted by her husband, Steve Bakunas.

We added that early on.

[Greg] Yes.

When Linda was still

with us. With us.

And now it's kind of a special, little moment for her.

[Matt] There's some singing done back here.

Yes, the late Linda Lavin sang a song back here.

There was an episode that deals with her character's death,

and then we find a, the last song that she was playing,

the Vera Lynn number, We'll Meet Again,

and we sing a little bit of that.

♪ I dreamed a dream one day ♪

♪ And now that dream is here beside me ♪

So the backdrop was picked on the pilot.

Glenda picked that.

Because pilots happen so quick,

it's always a difficult process to make it perfect

for a show like this that eventually got picked up.

You talk to your DP, and you talk to the gaffer,

and you say, Look, you know, let's try to make this

as believable as we can, what can we do?

There's a pool back there.

We want it to look morning, evening, dusk.

There's furniture in the patio, there's greens in the patio.

So before you look at the backdrop,

your eye automatically is deceived

because you see some of the furniture elements,

some of the lighting that kind of create that imagery

from the camera aisle, if you will,

looking out into these large picture windows.

[upbeat music]

After you.

This is where I usually sit and have my coffee

and, you know, witty repartee.

[Nathan] The set decoration, it's always amazing.

We always have-

[Matt] The fruits are always real and fresh.

[Nathan] Vegetables, pastry.

[Nathan Lee] The shenanigans that go over with the drawers

being pulled out- Oh yes.

And all of that. Oh yes.

We have little bits sometimes.

There was a time where you were looking through a ton

of Tupperware down here, and they would feed it

through a tube on the other side of the wall

while he was digging

through that. Yes.

The great thing about the kitchen is that it has a nod

to, actually, my grandmother had that Frigidaire Flair oven

in there.

The old O'Keefe and Merritt flair built in.

We actually found that.

Another set decorator we know, Amy Feldman,

had just bought a house and was remodeling

and had this real beauty of a stove

that's so typical of the mid-century design

where it has the pullout burners,

this beautiful Sub-Zero refrigerator,

but it's actually plugged in and working

because props needs to keep food fresh for the actors

to actually, you know, consume during the scene,

and then Greg and I like to have a very organic set,

so we love having a real alive set,

so we do a lot of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables.

I mean, in my mind, I make up stories every week

about what they're making.

[Greg] And some of the collectibles.

I actually went out to Palm Springs

and found a great little shop called Reside.

They also had this great artist,

where she took vintage plates and wrote irreverent sayings,

but one of them says, Eat shit,

so I have to hide it back there.

We like to mix it up.

So this is from the new CB2 collection.

Some of it's vintage from the prop house.

You don't work for CB2, do you?

No, no, but I [chuckles] could you send a check?

I don't know.

[upbeat music]

[Nathan] This is a den.

I love this room because it is cozy.

You feel like you're in some sort of cocoon.

It's lovely in here,

and everything informs your physicality.

I mean, the way I'm sitting right now

is the way that I would sit.

I'm in this wonderful club chair that swivels,

and I got some nuts here.

I mean, you know, it's pretty damn-

[Nathan] Easy now.

It's pretty damn fabulous.

You immediately can just go into your character

being supported by the environment in which you live.

[Matt] It can do so much work for you if it's done well,

and you can understand so much about a character

and who they are by the place in which they live.

If you have a really great production designer like we do,

I feel like you have a really established sense

of who these men are and what their lives are like.

And this is Linda's little desk and office area.

[Nathan Lee] A lot has gone down in this room,

a lot has gone down emotionally.

And there are little flourishes too in the decor

that speak not only to kind of this sort of whimsical nature

of a lot of the decor in Palm Springs

that I've experienced, but tonally,

I think they also lend themselves to comedy,

like even that lampshade there, there are little

aspects of colors- So whimsical, yeah.

And prints that sort of feed a comedic tone.

This Gordian Knot is symbolic of the writing process

over the course of the week.

[Nathan Lee laughs]

What we have to untangle from day one of an episode

to when we do it in front of 500 strangers.

[Nathan Lee] Exactly.

And these are our cards when we play gay poker.

You don't have to wear your readers

when you play with those.

It takes days, days to get through a game.

A straight, I win.

Not at this table.

In this house, a straight is the worst hand you can get.

[audience laughs]

This is a fun room that kind of creates the moments

at the end of the show that give it a little more intimacy.

These two pieces here were found at the vintage store

in Palm Springs Reside.

Some of the artwork that you see on the wall, again,

local artists that Peter found.

There's a couple of Easter eggs, one over here.

This was sort of Linda Lavin's, her character's desk,

but in her real life, on her desk,

she always had a little cup full of reader glasses,

so we kind of recreated that here sort of as an homage

to her, and then over here, Bunny owns a lingerie company,

so we created lingerie awards.

We love to tell a backstory.

[bright music]

Behind me is our home base set.

That's usually the living room, kitchen, their house.

Swing sets are sets that come and go each week,

each episode, so in this particular episode,

we have Sybil's bedroom.

Every episode has two or three swing sets in it, usually,

and that's our process.

To get those built, make it look believable, you know,

you gotta put windows in there, you gotta put wallpaper up,

paint it, light switches, sconces,

dress it, flooring, carpet.

We've had a few, the country club,

last week was a pickleball court.

Oh sorry.

[audience laughs]

Let's take it from the top.

[audience laughs]

[relaxing music]

Welcome to the grotto.

♪ In the grotto ♪

There you go.

♪ In the grotto ♪

Now, listen, whilst we're in the hot tub.

Yeah.

Is that to simulate that we're actually, you know,

in our birthday suits? Yes, yeah,

we're bottomless, yeah. Yeah.

The temperature in there does vary.

Sometimes it's a little chillier than others.

A couple nights ago we got it just right, though.

No, it's perfect.

Felt really good.

[Nathan Lee] But I mean it's so technically wonderful.

I mean, they build these things,

and I mean, there's a hot tub here.

They keep the water level right here

'cause they don't wanna see nips.

Nips aren't funny.

Nips are funny.

I mean, I think my nips are funny.

Nips are definitely funny.

So the process of the jacuzzi started with looking

and doing some research for getting,

just buying a real hot tub and building it within,

but the complicated things about hot tubs

is they all have these lounge seats and, you know,

that's not comfortable for the actors

once we're in filming mode, so we ended up building it,

but that's the process that happens in a multi-camera show.

I had to kind of encompass this into a corner

of the backyard, which is why we use the rockscape

and the plant life and some of what would make it look

as believable as possible.

So we talk a little bit about greens.

Obviously, the succulents are important

'cause they last in the temperatures out there.

Lighting is really important.

I just recall seeing, on a lot of the houses,

some really elaborate mid-century lighting fixture

that was very sculptural, but I couldn't find anything.

So we found this singular one right here,

combined five of them together.

You've got this great glow in this sculptural piece,

and something that's one of a kind.

And now he sells it on CB2.

It's called the Peter Gurski Collection.

Yeah.

If you look around,

it's not just about a light here or there, it's layering,

and how he layers this lighting,

and how he textures the walls.

A lot of people don't understand

is that I can design a great box, if you will,

and some color with it.

Peter can bring in the furniture and the elements,

but if it's not lit right and you don't get texture

and you don't get depth.

The beauty of this show

is everybody's kind of on their game.

It becomes a family that everyone can rely on each other

and trust each other.

It's nice in this atmosphere to have the opportunity

to be able to do that.

[David] The common spaces feel lived in.

The kitchen feels like a kitchen

where you would spend a lot of time.

The den is cozy.

But it's specific, this set.

There's no part of it that's generic.

The art that's on the wall, Herb Ritts' photograph

of Fred with Tires is an iconic photograph taken

by a gay photographer, a very important piece of art,

but, at the same time, the B on that wall

is absolutely a nod to Mary Tyler Moore,

and the M that was on the wall in her apartment,

and it's funny, there will be little gay kids

that will notice things about this show

that I've already enjoyed.

You know, watching Linda Lavin, you know,

float in and out of this room in a Pucci

nightgown- Blouse.

And blouse is just fantastic, you know, it's fun.

It's, you know, it's aspirational in a way.

We can show you where we enter from oftentimes,

where we're just waiting in the wings

while the audience is filing,

and we're usually right back here,

and we wait back here nervously,

and we all hold each other's hands and-

Say, Why?

Why are we doing this?

Why have we chosen this

as a profession? Why did we do this?

I've been doing this for 50 years,

and this is one of the happiest experiences I've ever had,

and it makes it, it makes it really special,

and that sort of, you want to spread that,

especially at this time of my life.

It's about gratitude and having good work to do

and doing it well and enjoying yourself

and still having fun.

And I remember Linda saying to me,

It's like doing restoration comedy.

Yes.

And I think that's the most accurate description

of this medium.

You're playing the truth, you're finding the truth,

but there is this dance you're doing with an audience

at the same time.

I hope it turns America gay

is really what I hope this show does.

When the world watches this show,

hopefully, when they turn the TV off, they're gay.

[relaxing music]

Bye, thanks for coming. Bye, everybody.

See you later. That's a Schneiderman.

It was a pleasure.

Come again. Bye, bye.

See you next time. Not too soon.

Bye, AD.

Bye. Gotta go to work.

[door clicks]

[relaxing music]