Sean Hayes is back in front of the camera at NBC, with guest appearances on the second seasons of both “Up All Night” and “Smash,” but he isn’t expecting to share the screen in the latter program with his old “Will & Grace” co-star Debra Messing.
“I don’t know that I have any scenes with her, but it was great to see her,” Sean told AccessHollywood.com’s Laura Saltman, who visited the actor on the “Up All Night” set on Thursday in Los Angeles. “We had a table read together and it was really, really great to catch up.”
So far, Sean, who is also an executive producer on NBC’s “Grimm,” has shot just one episode of “Smash,” and not only did Laura want to know more about his role, but Maya Rudolph – who was paired with the actor for the “Up All Night” interview on Thursday, was curious too.
“The character I play is Terry Falls,” Sean said.
“That’s hilarious,” Maya laughed.
“… Who’s this guy who’s an actor from Hollywood, who comes to do Broadway for the first time and changes ‘Dangerous Liaisons: The Musical’ into a comedy,” Sean continued.
“This sounds fascinating,” Maya chimed in. “I’ll watch!”
As for his role on “Up All Night,” it reunites Sean with Maya, whom he shared the stage with on yet another show in his NBC resume – “Saturday Night Live.”
“I’m Walter. I play [Maya’s character] Ava’s old accompanist,” Sean said of his comedy role. “And then, when Ava got her talk show, I thought I was going to be able to come with [her] for the ride, but she gave me the shaft.”
“Kind of stopped returning his e-mails,” Maya explained.
But another thing has stopped on “Up All Night” – Ava’s talk show.
“I’m guessing ratings sucked,” Maya said, when Laura asked, why the show-within-a-show had the plug pulled. “It was just pronounced dead on the table.”
“Did the blogs say anything about it?” Sean asked.
“Oh, the blogosphere went crazy… they said, ‘LOL!’ ‘LMFAO!’” she recounted, with a smile.
“Up All Night” returns for its second season on September 20 at 8:30/7:30c on NBC. “Smash” returns to the Peacock in early 2013.
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