70 Fun Facts About Will & Grace

What is Will Truman's profession?

He studied at Columbia and NYU Law and later becomes a part-time law professor in the revival.

What does Grace Adler do for a living?

Her firm is Grace Adler Designs, staffed by an assistant who never cashes her paychecks.

Where is Will & Grace set?

The original run was actually filmed at CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles.

Who created Will & Grace?

They modelled it on Mutchnick's friendship with childhood friend Janet Eisenberg.

Who plays Karen Walker?

She originally auditioned for Grace, worried Karen was too close to Christine Baranski's Cybill role.

Who plays Jack McFarland?

He was spotted by an NBC casting executive in the indie film Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss.

On which network did Will & Grace air?

It became a staple of the Must See TV Thursday lineup after debuting on Mondays.

What is the name of Karen's rarely seen, extremely wealthy husband?

He is obese, has worn a toupee since his teens, and Karen is his second wife.

What is the name of Karen's maid?

They met in 1985 when Rosario was working as a cigarette lady at a club.

Why does Jack briefly marry Karen's maid?

Karen arranged the union; the two later split.

Which gay icon does Jack idolize above all others?

He owns a rare doll of her, and Will says he has the best gaydar in the tristate area.

What is the first of the one-man shows McFarland stages to showcase his talents?

He followed it with Jack 2000, Jack 2001 and Jack 2002, all to marginal success.

Who plays Grace's meddling mother, Bobbi Adler?

Bobbi performs gender-swapped roles with the Schenectady Players such as 'Death of a Salesperson'.

Which actress plays Will's mother, Marilyn Truman?

Marilyn collects Lladro statues and thought Les Miserables was unrealistic because 'poor people don't sing that much'.

Which Oscar-winning director plays Will's father, George Truman?

George dies in season eight, days after admitting he wished Will were not gay.

Which singer plays Leo Markus, the doctor Grace marries in season five?

Leo meets Grace in Central Park while she is on her way to be inseminated with Will's baby.

Where is Leo working when he cheats on Grace, ending their marriage?

He has a one-night stand with a Red Cross doctor there.

Who plays Vince D'Angelo, the police officer who becomes Will's first long-term boyfriend?

Vince first met Will after giving Karen a speeding ticket.

Which diminutive actor plays Karen's wealthy Southern frenemy?

Beverley's much older wife Crystal holds the money; Megan Mullally hoped to build a Karen musical around their rivalry.

Who plays Elliot, the son Jack discovers he fathered through a sperm donation?

Rosie O'Donnell plays Elliot's mother Bonnie.

Who plays Bonnie, Elliot's mother?

Bonnie is a lesbian who had not come out to her son.

Which Monty Python member plays Lyle Finster, Karen's husband for about 20 minutes?

Lyle is the father of Stan's mistress Lorraine, played by Minnie Driver.

Who plays Lorraine Finster, the cafeteria worker Stan has an affair with?

Stan began the affair while jailed for tax evasion in season four.

Which Bob Newhart Show alumna plays Karen's con-artist mother, Lois?

Karen and Lois had been estranged for years before Jack helped reunite them.

Which star of the Boston-bar sitcom plays Nathan, Grace's neighbor and boyfriend?

He proposes to her during sex, which she makes him take back and redo.

Which actor, famous as Ross Geller, plays the 'West Side Curmudgeon' Grace dates in season ten?

His character Noah Broader is a Twitter-based critic.

Which actor plays Malcolm Widmark, the government agent who helps Stan fake his death?

He and Karen turn out to have an annual rendezvous in the revival.

Which Karen alias does she use when tempting bachelor Lionel Banks?

Rip Torn plays Banks; St. Croix and Popeil were her first two husbands' surnames.

What is Karen's maiden name?

She was born in January 1959, though she tries to keep her age a secret.

How many times has Karen been married by the end of the original run?

Her husbands were St. Croix, Popeil, Stan Walker and, briefly, Lyle Finster.

Where was Grace born?

Will, by contrast, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to WASP parents.

At which university did Will and Grace meet?

They briefly dated before Will came out in 1985.

Which two actors have played Grace's father, Martin Adler?

Grace competes with two sisters for his affection.

Which two actors played Will's brother Sam Truman?

Slattery played him in season one and Weber in season eight.

How were the events of the 2006 finale explained away when the show returned in 2017?

In the new continuity Grace never had a child, Jack never got rich, and Will and Vince had no son.

In the original 2006 finale, whose children grow up to marry each other?

Ben and Lila meet at college; the revival later erased them.

Whose money does Jack inherit in the 2006 finale, making him rich?

The revival retconned this, leaving him poor and still across the hall.

What prompted NBC to revive the series in 2017?

In #VoteHoney, Karen backs Trump and Jack is swayed to Clinton because Katy Perry supports her.

How many seasons did Will & Grace run across its original run and revival combined?

Eight seasons from 1998 to 2006, then three more from 2017 to 2020.

How many Primetime Emmy Awards did Will & Grace win?

It was nominated 83 times, and every one of the four leads won at least once.

In which year did Will & Grace win the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series?

Despite 30 Golden Globe nominations, it never won a Globe.

Will & Grace is one of only four live-action sitcoms where every principal actor won an Emmy. Which is NOT one of the others?

Mullally won twice, the second time in 2006 for the final season.

Which sitcom legend directed the pilot and virtually every episode of Will & Grace?

He co-created Cheers and directed more than 50 pilots.

Which sitcom, cancelled the year before, made Will & Grace's path to air easier according to David Kohan?

Kohan argued Will had known he was gay for 20 years, sparing viewers the coming-out journey.

Which NBC comedy's departure led the network to seek the show that became Will & Grace?

Kohan and Mutchnick spent four months faxing NBC's Warren Littlefield the grosses of gay-themed hit films.

Which two hit films' box office numbers did the creators fax to NBC to prove gay characters could sell?

NBC was positive but nervous about the subject matter.

Which sitcom role did Karen's actress audition for in 1989 before Julia Louis-Dreyfus got it?

She was later a seven-time guest as Tammy Swanson on Parks and Recreation.

Jack's actor studied what at Illinois State University before acting?

He left a few classes short of graduating to become a theatre music director.

Jack's actor won a Tony Award in 2023 for playing which pianist and wit on Broadway?

He co-hosts the SmartLess podcast with Jason Bateman and Will Arnett.

Which comedian did Jack's actor portray in a 2002 CBS TV film?

He also voiced the villainous cat Mr. Tinkles in Cats & Dogs.

In which country was Eric McCormack born?

He spent five seasons with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival before Hollywood.

Debra Messing starred in which Fox sitcom with Karen's actress before Will & Grace?

Messing was the last of the four leads cast and reportedly agreed while tipsy at a party.

Which NBC musical drama did Debra Messing star in from 2012?

She played Julia Houston, a Broadway lyricist.

Where was the original run of Will & Grace filmed?

The revival moved to Stage 22 at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Which sitcom's departure as lead-in caused Will & Grace to start losing viewers after 2004?

From 2001 to 2005 it was the highest-rated sitcom among adults 18-49.

Which season-four episode remains the most watched in the show's history?

It aired on February 7, 2002, and ranked eighth for the week.

Roughly how many viewers watched the 2006 finale, 'The Finale'?

NBC preceded it with an hour-long retrospective called 'Say Goodnight, Gracie'.

How much were creators Kohan and Mutchnick awarded when their lawsuit against NBC settled in 2007?

They had sued for $65 million, alleging NBC kept the show's rights in the family instead of shopping them.

Which US vice president said the show 'did more to educate the American public' on LGBT issues than almost anything?

He said it on Meet the Press in May 2012, days before Obama endorsed same-sex marriage.

Which institution added Will & Grace scripts, props and set decor to its collection in 2014?

Will and Grace's apartment set had earlier been displayed at Emerson College's library.

Which gay TV network does Jack work for in seasons seven and eight?

He loses his talk show after speaking out against its new right-wing owners.

Which two pop stars has Jack claimed to have been a backup dancer for?

His other jobs include cater-waiter, student nurse and Banana Republic sales associate.

Mutchnick modelled the show on his friendship with Janet Eisenberg, who worked as what?

The two met at 13 while rehearsing a play at Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills, where he starred in the Hebrew school musical.

Before Will & Grace, Kohan and Mutchnick executive produced which NBC sitcom?

They had earlier worked as staff writers on HBO's adult comedy Dream On.

The revival was filmed on Stage 22 at which studio lot, rather than the original CBS Studio Center?

NBC first ordered 10 revival episodes in January 2017, then expanded the season to 16.

Despite 30 nominations, Will & Grace never won which award?

It collected several GLAAD Media Awards and 18 Emmys, and Hayes and Mullally each won three SAG Awards.

On which night of the week did Will & Grace debut in September 1998, before moving to Thursdays?

The move to NBC's Must See TV Thursday lineup cemented its place in the Nielsen top 20 for half its original run.

Why was Megan Mullally's planned Broadway show Karen: The Musical cancelled?

She had lined up Fox Theatricals, director Casey Nicholaw and composer Jeff Blumenkrantz before the stakeholders pulled out.

Which Friends spin-off reportedly put Sean Hayes off a proposed Jack & Karen spin-off in 2008?

NBC had floated the idea with Hayes and Mullally reprising their roles, but it never moved forward.

Which cable channel held the show's rerun rights for eight years from 2005, after WGN America?

WE tv and Logo picked the rights up in 2013 before Hulu grabbed the series ahead of the 2017 revival.