Partners Star Michael Urie Shares His Dating Advice (and a Cute Pic of His Dog!) in This Exclusive Interview
Michael: The episode was "Follow the bouncing ring," basically. It was about this engagement ring—my Nana's engagement ring that I gave to Joe to give to Ali because when he proposed to her, if you remember from the pilot... Her own ring, from her store, so it was actually costing her money. So, I give it to her [in the episode] and then Wyatt (Brandon Routh) is like, Why did you do that? What if we have a daughter someday?' And I'm like, Oh crap,' and I have to take it back. And I bring it back to Wyatt, and he says, You took it back? You can't just take it back.' So it keeps going back and forth. And no one wants it.
Glamour: Your characters on Ugly Betty and Partners are very different, but we feel like they have a lot of similarities too.
Michael: Great similar energy. I'm a nice guy [on Partners]. They're similar. When I read Partners, I was like, This is that kind of funny again that I got to do on Ugly Betty.' It's that kind of funny mixed with the genre of multi-camera studio audience shows, which is what I grew up watching. All of my favorite shows were those shows, and obviously our creators did Will & Grace and our director is the guy from Cheers and Taxi and Will & Grace and Friends and Fraiser.
Glamour: Everything!
Michael: It really is the dream team. Our bosses are the best at this kind of show. So when I first read it, I though, Oh my God, this is getting to do something funny in the vain of Ugly Betty, but in front of an audience.'
Glamour: How big is the live audience?
Michael: 300 people.
Glamour: Are there any awkward moments that happen with a live audience? Like laughter where it shouldn't be?
Michael: Occasionally. One person tries to throw in an Aww!'
Glamour: Or a really obnoxious laugh?
Michael: That's happened. Somebody has a really annoying laugh early. They laugh before it's funny, and that's never a good sign. That happens more in theater though because the studio audience is so well trained.
Glamour: So they know what to do.
Michael: And in sitcoms, you know when the joke is coming. We surprise you as much as can, but there are still jokes. It's a sitcom. What I love about the show is that we're finding that the broader, more farcical story lines don't work because the problems these characters have are very real. We did an episode last week that was all about Ali, Sophia's character, when she goes to her old stomping grounds at the straight bars. There's a whole joke about how straight bars are actually just called bars. She goes to this sports bar where she used to work, and every guy there thinks she's hilarious. And then she comes over to our place for gay TV night, and we're watching Mob Wives, and she can't get a laugh for her life in front of all the gays. It's this big group of gay guys, none of them thought she was funny at all. It's because she's 'pretty' funny. She's pretty and funny—that's why the straight guys laugh.
