Talking Shop is our series where we talk to interesting people about their most interesting buys.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson got his fair share of parenting lessons playing Mitchell Pritchett on Modern Family — his character had a baby in season one and a tween by the time the series ended 11 years later. He thinks about them frequently now that he and his husband Justin Mikita are dads to Beckett, 5, and Sullivan, 3, making Father’s Day a special celebration, even if the kids are too young to really understand it.
“I have to sort of sell it like it’s my birthday, but it’s not my birthday,†he says. “Then they want to know if they can have an extra day in the year that’s not their birthday, like a kid’s day.â€
Ferguson’s ideal Father’s Day is laidback: being surrounded by loved ones, sharing good food and spending time outside together. He’ll get some of that this year, but he’s splitting his time between home and the theater. Ferguson’s run as King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar just started at The London Palladium, and his family traveled to Europe with him. “It’s like a family vacation, but I’m working — I love doing theater though, so it doesn’t really feel like work when I’m doing it,†he says.
Before Ferguson’s busy summer overseas, where he’ll also film new episodes of his podcast, Dinner’s On MeI talked to him about the products he (and his kids) are obsessed with — some would even make a great late Father’s Day gift.
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“I’m really loving the Aura frame right now, and I gave one to everyone in our family,†says Ferguson. “Not all of my family is on social media, and I have a private Instagram page for my kids that some of my family follows, but I’m not good about updating it. The Aura frame is really great because I can send pictures to everyone’s frames and they get to see them in their homes. I also have two in our house, one upstairs and one downstairs, and I love getting to see the photos, too.â€
“The Yoto is great because it’s basically a little boom box or a personal music player for kids,†says Ferguson. “It’s like a CD player but instead of CDs, there’s little cards you put in that play music or podcasts. You can also record things for them. Their former nanny made a little mix tape of all the music they listened to together, so they love listening to that, and they have so much fun choosing what they want to listen to.â€
Ferguson says the Yoto Mini travels really well — he always brings it on the plane, along with his son’s favorite magnetic chess board. He recommends getting the Yoto card case or travel case to store everything when you’re on the go.
“I turned 50 this past year, and people have been asking, ‘What are you doing to your skin?’ I’m like, I’m literally immersing it in an ice water bath,†says Ferguson. He found The Facetub on Instagram and now uses it every day. “I’ve found that it’s doing wonders on my skin. It wakes me up in the morning — it’s an alternative to an espresso. It has a little breathing thing, so you can emerge your face for as long as you want. It’s gone viral since I bought it.â€
“My kids have this globe with a little stylus, and you can poke different parts of the globe and it will tell you about that country. You can learn about flags and animals, and my kids use it in the car a lot on the way to school,†says Ferguson. “I find myself learning through it, too. The other day the globe was asking my son to find a country, and I was trying to guide him there and he found it. I felt so accomplished — maybe I’m not as bad at geography as I thought I was.â€
“A bounce house is a game changer, and for the scale of them, they’re not as expensive as you might expect,†says Ferguson, who has one similar to this option from Little Tikes. “Obviously you need some space — if we were living in New York, this would not be an option for us. But even for a small yard, some of them fit, they collapse pretty easily and they inflate quickly. My kids really go to town in theirs and fly off the sides. It’s amazing how much energy they get out.â€
Ahead of July Fourth , Ferguson is working with Lysol on its Address the Mess campaign — the brand is calling July fifth “Address the Mess Day†to encourage people to spend time with loved ones during the holiday and save cleaning for the next day.
“I’m someone who entertains a lot and I throw a lot of dinner parties. I love cooking for my friends, but one of the things I always find myself doing is I end up not enjoying the party because I’m cleaning up after people,†he says. “The sign of a really great party is a really great mess, so I love this campaign because it’s going to be a fun challenge for me to incorporate into my everyday life.â€
Ferguson’s favorite Lysol product is the all-purpose cleaner because it “handles everything.†He keeps it under the sink in his kitchen and bathrooms so it’s always available for him to use. He also relies on the brand’s disinfecting wipes and laundry sanitizer, too.
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I’m a reporter at NBC Select who writes our Talking Shop series, interviewing people like Maureen Kelly, Lindsay Hubbard, Paige DeSorbo and Chase Crawford. To write this article, I interviewed actor, podcast host and cookbook author Jesse Tyler Ferguson about his favorite products.
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