When the stars of “Will & Grace” sped into the spotlight, their bank accounts could hardly keep up the pace.
The sitcom was a major staple of NBC’s “Must-See TV” lineup back in the late ’90s. The sitcom became such a successful entity that then-entertainment president Scott Sassa bought stars Eric McCormack and Sean Hayes their very own Porsches after the first season.
However, Hayes, 52, who played the flamboyant Jack McFarland, was forced to sell his sports car so he could afford his apartment rent.
At the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on Monday, Hayes and McCormack, 60, conducted a live recording of their new podcast, “Just Jack & Will.”
McCormack, who played gay lawyer Will Truman, and Hayes discussed the early days of filming the comedy.
“In the summer, people were finally checking out the show, and our ratings kept going up and up and up. And I think they realized they had a hit on their hands,” McCormack said, according to People.
He added that Sassa took the men out for lunch one day following the conclusion of the premiere season and they walked through a parking lot where they saw “Porsches with ribbons on them.”
“Scott went, ‘Anyway, we just want to say thank you,’ ” he said.
However, the “Perception” star explained that “Sean leaned over to me — I don’t make this up — and said, ‘Is it expensive to insure a Porsche?’ “
“Cause I literally can’t pay rent right now,” he recalled Hayes saying to him. “And I said, ‘It’s not that expensive when the Porsche is free! It amortizes,’ ” McCormack continued.
But the “Good Night Oscar” star sold the car “right away” just to be safe. “I was like, ‘Well, I could drive a car or live in an apartment and pay my rent,’ ” Hayes quipped.
Six weeks later, McCormack noticed that Hayes was driving his old Camry instead of the shiny new German vehicle. The “Slasher” actor wondered why and Hayes simply replied: “I like my Camry.”
“Will & Grace” aired on NBC from 1998 until 2006, having a revival in 2017 and officially ending its run after 11 seasons in 2020.
Debra Messing and Megan Mullally also appeared in the iconic series, playing interior designer Grace Adler and boozed-up socialite Karen Walker, respectively.
Messing, 54, also stopped by the Tribeca Film Festival event earlier this week and dished to People that there was one scene on the show that left the audience speechless.
“I think the big fight that Will and Grace got into during the first run,” she noted, specifying the moment that the pair of pals got into a major fight in one episode of the eighth season.
She added: “I think that was surprisingly painful to shoot and I think that it really surprised the audience.”
“And they were dead quiet, which we had never experienced in all the years and so we knew that something important was happening,” she said of the studio audience. “So, that’s a very clear memory for me.”
