Will & Grace

Good morning. Thank you, everybody, for coming.

Here we go... the last table read of "Will & Grace."

We can all say we were a part of something

that made a little bit of a difference in the world,

and, uh, for that I think I am the most grateful.

We not did it again, but we did it better

than we did it the first time. Yeah.

Will, the baby's coming. It's time, I can feel it.

- It's time! - Okay, everybody.

Did nobody read my email?

What's email?

The one with the subject line:

"Operation Baby. Read. Important. I mean it, guys!"

- I didn't think it was... - I didn't read it.

- You ready for this? - 100% no.

- You're gonna do great. We are gonna do great.

- Wow, 246 shows later. - Yeah.

We just jumped right back into it.

It was within a minute I-I responded and said,

"I'm... I'm... I'm there."

I jumped up, I screamed, I flipped out.

I was traveling to London, and when we landed,

I had all these texts from Sean Hayes saying,

"Honey, have you checked your emails?"

And I went to hit Delete, and then I thought,

"Oh, my God, it's from Max Mutchnick."

Then I deleted it.

- You haven't aged at all. - I'm not allowed to age.

- You're not... - What would happen?

Hey!

Oh, my God, you have brown hair, and I have red hair!

- How are you? - Hi!

Oh, my God, I didn't even recognize you!

- There it is, I got it. - Oh, my God, my thighs.

I mean, I laughed out loud when I read it.

- Oh, I did too. - This is so exciting!

- Did they go? - Okay.

- We're gonna go now. - No, baby.

We're going right now. We're going right now.

I never thought that we would have this opportunity

to come together again and play.

I'm feeling just pure joy right now.

It's so pure, how happy I am,

knowing that I'm gonna walk on that stage.

And now, the cast of "Will & Grace"!

And there it is.

11 seasons, 246 episodes, dozens of guest stars,

and zero plastic surgery.

For real!

Probably.

- Will, what are you doing? - I think you've sprung a leak.

What are you talking about?

I think I feel a song coming on.

Denied, denied, approved.

Kiss, kiss, kiss!

- Nothing? Anything?

- Sorry. - Whee!

Kiss it, kiss it, spank it.

Stay tuned.

- I... I'm gay. - Are you hungry?

What?

- I'm gay. - Are you hungry?

What?

- I'm ga... - Are you hung...

I'm gay.

Grace?

Tonight, before we turn off the lights for good,

we're gonna look back at some of the most memorable on-screen

moments from the past 20 years.

But we're gonna share something else with you.

Because as much fun as we've had sharing these stories

from the stage,

what's meant the most are the stories you've told us,

about how "Will & Grace" has affected you.

It was especially important to me

when I was deployed to Afghanistan.

"Will & Grace" was playing on the kitchen TV

while I was doing homework, my mom was baking,

and my mom stopped, and muted the TV and said,

"Max, you know that I'll love you

whether you're gay or straight."

You've really showed me who I could be,

and to live to my full potential.

"Will & Grace" got me through

some of the hardest times in my life.

The show taught me that I can be strong and still be gay.

It was like this big rainbow

in an otherwise kind of cloudy sky.

When I was pregnant, I had some complications

and had to go on bed rest.

"Will & Grace" made a tough time that much lighter.

Thanks to you, it gave us a platform and representation

that we'd never seen before on television.

I felt like they were my friends,

and they were a part of my life.

And the characters are like family.

It was funny, but also real.

You were tortured.

And I never even thought about that.

You were just being who you are,

and you were scared to death that the world was gonna

find out and hate you for it.

I am sorry for not being there when you needed me most.

And I'm so, so sorry

that I never said this to you before now.

The fact that you are a gay man did not ruin my life.

It made it so much better.

Mine too.

Each of those characters were brilliantly written, um,

and, uh, and... and fulfilled in the... in the performance.

Lightning in a bottle is a very good expression

for how fortunate Max and David were

to find those four people.

Would you look at us?

Will's mean, Grace is flat-chested.

Jacky's pretending like he's following this,

and I'm high from something I found under the sink

in your bathroom.

The gang is back!

Jack, if I'm supposed to stay away from every guy

you've ever slept with, that would leave me with women.

My love for you is like this scar.

Ugly, but permanent.

Hey friends, lovers, mothers, and other strangers,

you're never gonna believe what happened to me.

Oh my God, did you see that? I almost did a half nelson.

I almost bruised my delicates, my delicates,

my "Domo arigato, Mr. Tomatoes."

I can't believe I'm at a public pool.

Why doesn't somebody just pee directly on me?

You better watch it, lady,

'cause the next time you take a bath,

it'll be, "Rub-a-dub-dub,

I dropped a blender in the tub."

- Let's play the Pyramid! - Whoo!

Driftwood. John Wayne. Your parents' marriage.

- Things that are dead. - Yes.

- Me and you. - People who are

- getting married. - Correct!

What?

A duck. A chicken. An emu. Uma Thurman!

He's hot, but not as hot as you.

- Humphrey Bogart! - Ding!

- Our hopes and dreams. - Things that are crushed.

- Yes. - Oh, you're so good at this.

Whoo! Whoo! both: Ha!

She's a lawyer, and she pees with men.

Ally McBeal. Click it.

- Melania. - Uh, James Brolin!

- Things that are whipped! - Yeah!

- Whoo! - Each other.

- Things that you lean on! - That's it!

Who's Diane?

You know, the girl Will slept with after you two broke up?

- What? - You knew that.

You didn't know that?

You didn't tell her?

In 1998, Max Mutchnick and David Kohan

pitched "Will & Grace,"

a show about four best friends in New York.

They love each other, they depend on each other,

and two of them happen to be gay.

It was a show about friendship,

about regular people navigating the ups and downs

of their lives... nothing revolutionary about that.

I just wanna know how long I'm gonna have to wait until

I can see two gay men kiss on network television.

Not as long as you'd think.

But at the time, it was a huge risk for NBC to pick up

a show where the lead character was gay.

NBC took that risk, something that showed

incredible foresight and courage.

In a way, they had to...

their mascot is a rainbow-tailed peacock.

You should do stand-up. That's good.

And that risk paid off big time,

with 91 Emmy nominations and 18 wins.

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner.

- Whoo! - Yeah.

Including Outstanding Comedy Series...

I think I finally met a girl that I want to sleep with!

A couple of thank-yous are in order.

Our director and partner, the great Jimmy Burrows.

And acting wins for all four of us.

- This is my American dream. - Don't give up!

- Thanks. - Oh, my God!

That's what I said!

So we started out by telling our stories.

Stories that, for us, were ordinary, relatable, and human.

What we didn't expect was how powerfully those stories

would affect our audience

or how big that audience would become.

My favorite episode of "Will & Grace" is when Nathan

dumps Grace and she whips out the old Bat Mitzvah slides.

I'm gonna die alone.

Big entrance, everybody!

Now, my boy Jack?

He's a man who can make an entrance.

Still to this very day, I still use

"Milk, milk, lemonade..."