‘The Santa Clauses’ co-stars Eric Stonestreet, Gabriel Iglesias talk “brilliant” ‘Modern Family’ collab

Eric Stonestreet and Gabriel Iglesias can be seen, respectively, as the Mad Santa and Kris Kringle in the second season of Disney+’s hit The Santa Clauses, but the pair previously collaborated on Stonestreet’s former show Modern Family. 

In one season 9 episode, Iglesias pretended to be Manny’s biological father in an elaborate April Fools’ Day prank on Rico Rodriguez‘s character staged by his mom, played by Sofia Vergara.

“Yeah, it took a long time, but we made it happen,” Iglesias told ABC Audio.

“I think I willed that into the world, when I told people that, you know, the little kid on Modern Family looked like me, or that people thought that was my son,” he says with a laugh.

Stonestreet giggled recalling the installment, called “Daddy Issues,” noting, “like, that episode wrote itself … when we saw that casting. That was … such a visual, funny thing of of Rico and Gabriel together. It was  brilliant.”

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