James Burrows Says Goodbye to ‘Will & Grace’ for the Second Time

Will & Grace is my all-time favorite show. The original run’s release coincided with an important time in my life when I was coming out and the world may not have been ready for network television to include stories about gay people. Luckily for all of us, the world embraced the antics of Will, Grace, Jack, and Karen (and Rosario!), and we got one of the most enduring comedies of all time.

Director James Burrows directed all 246 episodes of Will & Grace, and he is nominated this season for his tribute to comedy’s most indelible leading lady, Lucille Ball. Over the course of one episode, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally, and even Sean Hayes get to don the curly red wig and pay homage. It’s a sincere and loving episode that is staggering in its execution. Put those episodes side by side and things are almost identical. It’s not purely imitation but a loving honor.

Burrows and I chatted a lot about what Will & Grace might mean to the public. As a director, he didn’t want to hand over duties to someone else simply because he always had the time of his life watching the actors. Sitcoms like this don’t really exist anymore–or at least people aren’t as eager to churn them out–but Burrows is optimistic. Laughter never goes out of style.

Awards Daily: I had heard everyone was interested in doing a tribute to I Love Lucy for some time now. Can you talk to me about how that tribute may have developed from your perspective?

James Burrows: There were a lot of rumors. I think Bob Greenblat had an idea about doing it and Max Mutchnick had an idea. From 1997, everybody said Debra Messing was the closest thing to Lucille Ball on television, so I think the germ probably started there.

AD: I was surprised when I heard that everyone had the standard amount of time from when you got the script. The episode is so lovingly detailed. How did you ensure that the episode was as close to the original as possible?

JB: Well, my age. I was alive when she was done.

AD: (Laughs)

JB: That’s my contribution. My dad was in show business, but I never met any of them. I definitely watched that show when it was originally broadcast so I feel that my age was a big help. I think this was Max’s passion. The conceit of the show and leading up to it and doing scenes from the Lucy show into the vignettes, that was all the writers. I wish I could take credit for it, but I can’t.

AD: What was it like to walk onto those iconic set recreations?

JB: They are a lot smaller than I thought.

AD: Oh, yeah?

JB: I was really surprised. Will & Grace’s living room is probably twice as big as Lucy’s. The chocolate factory is really small. It was interesting to see that. They molded those Vitameatavegamin bottles to match the originals and there was not a thing left to chance.

AD: If you could do this again, is there another I Love Lucy moment that you love that you would want to do in another tribute?

JB: Hmm. I don’t know. That’s an interesting question. My favorite one is when they have to interpret and she goes through five or six people. I think they are in France? That is one of my all-time favorites.

AD: The first series became iconic rather quickly and the world has changed so much since the first series ended. Marriage equality has happened and so many things have changed over time. Since you got to revive Will & Grace for three additional seasons, what do you think the legacy will be?

JB: The legacy was cemented in the first incarnation. What it meant to the gay community and what it meant to the United States. We had that tribute from Joe Biden on what the show meant. I always talk about how I never, in all my directing, I am not a prophet. I don’t do political shows and I don’t do shows that teach lessons that way. I try to do funny and poignant shows. I would drive carpool on Thursdays for my daughter who was 13 or 14 and I would pick up four kids. When I picked up that fourth kid and everyone was in the car, someone would invariably ask, “What’s on Will & Grace tonight?”  After four or fives times of that questions, I thought, “Oh my God….this show is having an effect on young kids.” If this show makes one young kid less homophobic then I have finally done a show that has means something. I never set out to make a political statement. I don’t think the boys did either, but it’s a tribute to the execution by the writers and, hopefully, a little bit of my magic to make this a seminal show.

AD: My husband and I would agree that it’s a seminal show.

JB: Wait. You’re gay?

AD: Yes. Quite gay actually.

JB: (Laughs)

AD: I know a lot of people consider it an important show because it shows how gay people can be relatable and flawed. Sure, the pop culture references might be lost on someone who is 15 or 16, but the heart of the show endures no matter how old it gets or how much the world changes.

JB: Well I have to tell you that when I was doing it, there were a lot of references that I didn’t get. Max and David grew up in the ‘80s and I was working hard on other things at that time. There was a “Come On Eileen” joke and I had no idea what that was. So I know what the 15-year-olds feel like now.

AD: You’ve directed some of the most iconic shows of all time and I was wondering if there was anything that you learned while doing the show?

JB: In what way?

AD: Either about directing itself or something you personally learned.

JB: I can’t learn anymore.

AD: (Laughs)

JB: I can teach, but I can’t learn. I did every episode.

AD: Which is incredible.

JB: It’s the only show that I’ve worked on where I did that. I did it because it made me laugh so hard. Uncontrollably. It was just that way. I like to say that the show was the fairy tale both literally and figuratively. We said some outrageous things on that show and that’s because it was a fairy tale. You know, that was just a delight to me to hear an audience roar every Tuesday night. If a joke didn’t work, they would replace it the next time I shot the scene. I just learned to be happy from the show.

AD: I have seen photos or videos of you watching the show—either behind the monitor or just watching—and you can tell that you’re having a great time watching these actors play around.

JB: Yes.

AD: I was trying to see if any other director directed every single episode of a show before, and I couldn’t find it. It might be out there and I just couldn’t track it down.

JB: There might be some show that ran for 13 weeks that I’m sure one person did every episode.

AD: Sure, maybe a limited series, but you did a hundred of episodes for Will & Grace.

JB: As far as long-running shows, I have a friend named Jay Sandridge who would do a lot of other shows, but I just had too good a time to do that. This is late in my career, you have to remember. I started Will & Grace when I was 57, so to be able to have something that wonderful going into my sixties, I knew it would give me energy for a long life. I did about 240 episodes of Cheers, but I’d have to check. That show didn’t make me laugh as hard though. It was more poignant.

AD: They don’t make sitcoms like this anymore. There’s a lot of cynicism and darkness so maybe we are creating content in response to that. I feel like we need another show like Will & Grace but it might feel like a bygone type of program. Can we get back to that?

JB: I have put on my black suit and walked behind the hearse of the multicamera show many times. It was dead in the early ‘70s and the early ‘80s and the early ‘90s. It always comes back. Now you have this master warrior named Chuck Lorre who continues to do a show because he loves it as much as I love it. I’m not sure if network television will be around though. It seems that streaming will swallow that up. There will always be room for multicamera sitcoms as soon as an audience is allowed back in the studio.

All of Will & Grace is available on Hulu and its latest season can be streamed on Peacock.