There are plenty of sitcoms that have come along and made a sizable impression on pop culture, but once they go off the air they more or less vanish from the public consciousness. Will & Grace is a sitcom that was formative upon its release and quickly became one of its most popular comedies in spite of its material, which was seen as somewhat ambitious for the time.
Will & Grace is one of the few sitcoms that has come back with a modern revival and actually maintained the momentum of its original years and continued to be a success. With Will & Grace now celebrating its momentous final season, there's never been a better time to revisit some of the more interesting trivia from throughout the show's run.
15 The Series Was Originally Pitched About A Straight Couple
As crazy as it sounds, when David Kohan and Max Mutchnick were first pitching the sitcom to NBC, it was supposed to center around a straight couple and Will and Grace would have still been on the show, but only as supporting characters. NBC was so drawn to the idea of a relationship between a straight woman and homosexual male that they told them to make that the show's focus.
14 Megan Mullally Had To Choose Between Sitcoms
Megan Mullally is an extremely talented comedic actress and her portrayal of Karen Walker is such a delight that it's hard to imagine that she's nothing at all like the character. Mullally is such a talent that she was also offered the role of Kevin James' wife on King of Queens the same time she was offered the Will & Grace gig. She chose the latter and the other job went to Leah Remini.
13 Britney Spears' Choreographer Came To Teach Her Dance Moves
Some of the best and silliest moments on Will & Grace are total non-sequiturs and come out of the cast just having fun with each other. One such moment involves Grace and Jack practicing the moves to Britney Spears' "Oops! I Did It Again" dance routine. To make the bit as authentic as possible, Spears' actual choreographer from the video came in to work on the moves with Messing and Hayes. Spears herself would later appear on the series.
12 One Of McCormack's Favorite Physical Bits Of Comedy Was An Accident
There are countless examples of hilarious physical comedy and sight gags throughout the run of Will & Grace, but Eric McCormack has confessed that his favorite that he's performed was actually a happy accident. Will finds himself frightened and surprised by his old high school bully, which results in him putting too much lotion on his hands, slipping, and smashing his face into his desk. It's a brilliant bit and the natural quality of it makes it even better.
11 Karen Walker Could Have Had Her Own Broadway Musical
After the original run of Will & Grace came to its end, Megan Mullally was still having so much fun with the character and not ready to say goodbye so she looked into continuing things through an unconventional route. Rather than a spin-off series, Mullally wanted to do a Karen Walker Broadway musical, but Mullally reveals that once NBC started getting into the legal territory of the show's syndication rights, the whole thing was kiboshed.
10 The Original Pilot Had A Larger Cast
It's not unusual for changes to happen after networks view the response to pilots and they want to remedy things before it goes into a series. One of the biggest changes from the original vision for the pilot was that Will had a straight law partner at his firm named Andy. After the chemistry between Will, Grace, Jack, and Karen was so strong, the rest of the cast was deemed unnecessary and cut.
9 The Live Episode Had To Deal With Some Repercussions
Live episodes with sitcoms have become an increasing trend in the form, but Will & Grace was playing with the idea far ahead of the curve. They pulled this off in their season eight premiere, but in the episode, Karen strangely gets around on a scooter a lot of the time. This is a result of Mullally injuring her ankle before filming and the show still had to go on since as it was a live episode.
8 Beverly Leslie Was Written For Joan Collins
Will & Grace has a lot of fantastic supporting characters, but one of the more entertaining thorns in Karen's side is Beverly Leslie. Leslie Jordan plays the role to such perfection that it seems like the part was written for him, but that's actually far from the case. A People Magazine article speaks to how the part was written for Joan Collins, but she walked when they wouldn't change the gag in the script where the character gets their wig ripped off. When Jordan came on board, nothing about the role, including the name and dialogue, was changed.
7 Elton John's Cameo Came From A High School Connection
One of the bigger and more satisfying guest star appearances on Will & Grace’s lengthy run is when Elton John shows up in the series. The way that this cameo came about is that Eric McCormack performed in high school plays together with John's husband, David Furnish. This connection led McCormack into John's inner circle and he started to send him videotapes of the show, which spurred John to want to appear himself.
6 Megan Mullally Improvised A Classic Comedic Bit
As natural as the comedy is on Will & Grace, it's actually a sitcom that has very little improvisation done between the cast and most of that humor is right on the page. However, during an appearance on The Rosie O’Donnell Show, Debra Messing spoke to how Mullally improvised the piece where Jack comically swipes a credit card through Karen's anatomy. It speaks to Mullally's natural knack for comedy.
