Will & Grace stars Eric McCormack, Sean Hayes share what made their on-screen kiss extra special
Watch the full episode of Couch Surfing streaming now on PeopleTV.com, or download the PeopleTV app on your favorite device.
Joe Biden once said that Will & Grace "did more to educate the American public" on gay people, culture, and relationships "than almost anybody’s ever done." The sitcom broke numerous barriers in the depiction of gay characters on network TV, and managed to do so in a very meta way.
In the latest episode of PeopleTV's Couch Surfing, Will & Grace stars Eric McCormack and Sean Hayes look back at memorable moments throughout the show, including Will and Jack's big kiss in season 2 — one of the first gay kisses on network TV. The moment occurs as the duo are protesting after a scheduled kiss between two gay characters on TV (on NBC!) doesn't happen, which leads them to confront Al Roker as he's hosting The Today Show on the streets of New York, and take matters into their own hands (or own lips?).
"That was special for lots of reasons. Obviously, it was a great big gay kiss on network TV. And the fact that it was so meta, that it wasn't just two men kissing. It was Will and Jack, on purpose, kissing each other in order to make a point," McCormack says.
That episode also marked the first time that the sitcom taped scenes on the streets of New York, which McCormack notes added "a veracity" to the show.
"Obviously tons of shows shoot on the streets of anywhere, but sitcoms exist on a stage," he says. "So when we took these characters... and put them in the real world of New York, the world they were supposed to be entering from every time they came through that front door, I remember thinking, 'OK, now I got it. I know who Will is, I know the world he lives in.'"
For more with McCormack and Hayes, check out the Couch Surfing clip above, and the full episode over on PeopleTV.
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