Since the series debut in 2009, Mitchell Pritchett was played brilliantly by Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who was nominated for five Emmy Awards for his performance in this family comedy. Ferguson hopes that Modern Family doesn’t live in a time capsule. That it can always be a touchstone for people living their authentic lives and being themselves. He marvels that people can see themselves in Mitch and Cam. “When I was a young, gay kid in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I didn’t turn on the TV and see anything on the television that reflected what I hoped to be,” he told The View this past April. “I hope that this relationship on television now will be that for a lot of kids who can turn on the television and say, ‘Yes I can marry whoever I want to marry and have a family with them and experience the same ups and downs of being a new parent that my parents did.’” Over the years Mitchell has said some wild and deliciously wonderful things. Here are some of our favorite Modern Family quotes from Mitchell Pritchett: —Mitchell: I do have something of value: a Spiderman vs. Doctor Octopus comic book. Issue number 3, 1963, near-mint condition. It’s worth 5 grand. I traded a football for it when I was 9 years old, and my dad was mad because the football was signed by Dan Marino. I said, “Get it signed by Rita Moreno, and I’ll keep it.” —Mitchell: My great-great-grandfather helped build the Brooklyn Bridge. I heard that until the day he died, every time he passed it he was filled with such pride. He’d say, ‘There’s a little bit of me in that bridge.’ I know that I’m not the handiest guy, but I’m still a man. And I want to be able to look out into my yard and say ‘There’s a little bit of me in that princess castle.’ —Claire: Any suspicious activity on that phone bill?Mitchell: Well, Cam spent $100 on the psychic hotline, but that’s normal during the run-up to award’s season. Mitchell: I totally missed the connection. A month after the most devastating twister to ever hit Cam’s hometown, I throw a party based on gay cinema’s most famous tornado. —Mitchell: I had to actually come out to my dad three times before he acknowledged it. I’m not sure if maybe he was hoping he heard it wrong, like I said ‘Dad, I’m grey.’ —Mitchell: Look, everybody learns in different ways. My intellectual approach just wasn’t right for Gloria, and it probably wasn’t right for Lily. It- It’s humbling to admit, but I’m just too smart to teach. —Mitchell: Everyone has their strengths. I’m a great gift-giver. —Mitchell: It was Scotty, this local lake kid I met on vacation when I was thirteen. I had a huge crush on him, so on the last day, I decided to take a chance and I kissed him. It was my first time ever kissing a boy, so when he pulled away and said that he wasn’t “into this,” I was humiliated. I mean, I’d obviously misread signals. He was straight. It was five years before I ever made a move on a guy again. And even then, I wouldn’t dare unless he was basically floating across the room. Which is why I ended up with… Well, you know. Jay: I’m dead set against drugs. “Just Say No!” and all that stuff. But I thought, just this once for Gloria. And if I was gonna make a complete ass of myself, I didn’t wanna remember it.Mitchell: The big drug I gave him: baby aspirin. Orange-flavored. He could have chewed it. —Jay: OK, guys, listen up. She gets three walks a day. Keep her off the bed. We’re training her. No chicken bones. If she starts to wheeze–Mitchell: Wow. Remember when you dropped me off at summer camp? You barely slowed down the car.Jay: You never had a condition that made it difficult to breathe.Mitchell: I was a closeted gay kid at sports camp. I spent the week in mid-faint. —Mitchell: I’m hosting a sleepover for Lily’s Vietnamese dance troupe. We want her to be more in touch with her heritage, but breaking the ice with the other parents has been a little tough. Cam and I are the only white parents, the only gay parents, the only parents that find us funny. —Cameron: When Mitchell and Claire were kids-Mitchell: This is interesting to no one.Cameron: Excuse- Please let me finish. Thank you. When Mitchell was 10.Mitchell: 11.Cameron: And Claire was 13, they were competitive ice dancers.Mitchell: Figure skaters. Oh, for god’s sakes, I’ll tell the story. Yes, my sister and I were actually a very good team. We were called “Fire and Nice.” I was “fire,” ‘cause of the red hair. And Claire was “nice,” because it was ironic and she wasn’t. —Mitchell: So, my interest in football ended as suddenly and dramatically as the climax of “West Side Story.” I’m a musical-theater fan. —Mitchell: Mmm. Mmm. I don’t care how much they promote it. Kale is a garnish. It’s not ready to anchor a meal. —Mitchell: It was pretty pricey, but they’re judgey so we knew the’d love it. —Mitchell: Don’t cry, you’ll streak your bronzer. —Mitchell: When I was 12 years old my father walked into my bedroom and caught me doing the most embarrassing thing that a boy can do: dancing to Madonna’s “Lucky Star.” —Jay: I never realized you ever had sex with a girl.Mitchell: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I kinda got around back then, actually.Jay: More than one?Mitchell: Please.Jay: Well, there was Tracy. Who else?Mitchell: Uh, Betty Rizzo.Jay: Don’t remember her.Mitchell: Eliza Doolittle? Nellie Forbush?Jay: These were classmates?Mitchell: Well, some were older. Some were younger. Liesl and Gretl von Trapp. Sisters, obviously. Too far?Jay: I’m not an idiot. You played that record night and day. —Mitchell: OK, Cam, you take the fall for me, and I will go with you to Missouri. I’ll even go for a whole week.Cameron: Make it ten days.Mitchell: OK, fine. But I don’t want to meet anything on Monday that I’m gonna eat on Friday.Cameron: Oh, well, that’s gonna happen. —Phil: You know, I’m as happy now as I’ve ever been. And look, we’re in Yucaipa. That sounds like how Ewoks talk.Mitchell: I used to sneak off to a gay bar in Yucaipa before I came out.Phil: Huh, you don’t really think of gay bars as a small-town thing.Mitchell: Oh, yeah. They serve your rural gays, your closeted gays, your city newbies looking to get their gay sea-legs, kind of like an out-of-town tryout before they hit Broadway. —Mitchell: Cam, come on. Hurry up. We’re gonna be late.Cameron: It’s a toddler play class, not a flight to cabo.Mitchell: We’re gonna be judged enough as the only gay parents there. I don’t want to be the late ones, too. Wow. Paisley and pink. Was there something wrong with the fishnet tank top? —Cameron: Wow. This place has changed. It used to be so much… gayer.Mitchell: Straight people always take our best stuff. First, they came for our brunches, and I said nothing. —Mitchell: OK, everybody’s looking at us. I haven’t been judged by this many people since I forgot my canvas bags at Whole Foods. Next, Ty Burrell Gets Real About the Modern Family Finale
