Parker Posey Says she "Didn't Get" her Jokes on "Will & Grace"
Parker Posey "Didn't Get" her Jokes on "Will & Grace" by Ryan Coleman
June 9, 2025
Parker Posey can make anyone laugh, but she can't always explain why.
Recalling her two-episode arc on "Will & Grace" as Dorleen, Jack McFarland's (Sean Hayes) love-hungry floor manager at Barney's, the indie queen said figuring out how to fit into the manic pace of sitcom shooting was "like tap dancing."
Posey told Lisa Kudrow in a recent episode of Variety's Actors on Actors series that "really having to make that step" into the regimented sitcom mold wasn't only challenging, but confusing.
"I would say stuff like on Will & Grace and people would laugh, and I'd be like, 'I don't get it,'" Posey admitted.
"What, you mean like, what are they laughing at?" Kudrow asked Posey, who explained, "I didn't think it was funny. Yeah, like, 'What are you laughing at?'"
Kudrow playfully ribbed, "Was it a joke that they had written?" Because "that happens sometimes." But Posey managed to elaborate on her initial misgivings about Dorleen, who continues to be a fan-favorite side character.
"I take it seriously, and then you go, 'Oh, well, that was kind of funny,' and then they throw jokes at you as you're doing it, because everyone else has been doing it for a few years," she explained. "Then you're called in, and you're like, 'Hey, Megan Mullally'... and Sean Hayes, and you're just watching this whole other vaudeville, you know?"
Parker Posey Says she "Didn't Get" her Jokes on "Will & Grace"
