Eric Stonestreet and Gabriel Iglesias can be seen, respectively, as the Mad Santa and Kris Kringle in the second season of Disney+’s hit The Santa Clauses, but the pair previously collaborated on Stonestreet’s former show Modern Family. 

In one season 9 episode, Iglesias pretended to be Manny’s biological father in an elaborate April Fools’ Day prank on Rico Rodriguez‘s character staged by his mom, played by Sofia Vergara.

“Yeah, it took a long time, but we made it happen,” Iglesias told ABC Audio.

“I think I willed that into the world, when I told people that, you know, the little kid on Modern Family looked like me, or that people thought that was my son,” he says with a laugh.

Stonestreet giggled recalling the installment, called “Daddy Issues,” noting, “like, that episode wrote itself … when we saw that casting. That was … such a visual, funny thing of of Rico and Gabriel together. It was  brilliant.”

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