t’s officially closing time for Season 2 of Happy’s Place as Reba McEntire’s Bobbie and her hilarious crew enter a new chapter of shenanigans at the Knoxville tavern. After a season defined by twists and turns, the Season 2 finale of Happy’s Place (“Couples Counseling”) was jam-packed with dynamite guest stars, including the hilarious Eric Stonestreet.
The Modern Family icon made his way to the hit NBC sitcom as a couples therapist named Dr. Russell Peabody III, who attempts to help Bobbie and Isabella (Belissa Escabedo) navigate some bottled-up tensions. Ahead of his Happy’s Place debut, NBC Insider spoke with Stonestreet about the joys of playing Dr. Russ, and he sang praises of working with the tight-knit cast.
“Everyone’s happy,” Stonestreet revealed. “I’m like, ‘You guys are freaking crazy over here!'”
The wholesomeness on set also had Stonestreet biting his tongue at times because, as he explained, his sense of humor is “dark, it’s cynical, it’s not appropriate at times.” He even pulled aside Melissa Peterman, who he’s known since the early days of their acting careers, and said, “I’m doing everything I can to not be myself here this week and say things that I want to say and cuss.”
“It’s just so nice and kind and good,” Stonestreet said of the Happy’s Place set, jokingly adding that he was on his “best behavior” all week. “This is such a fun place. It’s very exciting.”
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Eric Stonestreet played Dr. Russ, an eccentric couples therapist on Happy’s Place Season 2
Bobbie and Isabella crossed paths with Stonestreet’s one-of-a-kind Dr. Russell Peabody III after being successfully convinced to seek a professional’s opinion on their repressed conflicts. After placating over the task in the waiting room, Bobbie and Isabella were shocked after an eavesdropping bystander revealed himself to be Dr. Russ, gaining some valuable intel on his new clients.
By the time Bobbie and Isabella sat down in his office, Dr. Russ humorously quipped that he already had them figured out. After schooling both Bobbie and Isabella about some of their blatant idiosyncrasies, the half-sisters both stormed out of his office.
“From the beginning [I felt the Happy’s Place cast chemistry],” Stonestreet said, adding that the effortless collaboration and “mutual respect” behind the scenes of Happy’s Place cultivates a “family” energy. “It starts right when you get there to know that this is a functioning family.”
Despite his no-nonsense approach with patients, Isabella later visited Bobbie to admit that Dr. Russ had made plenty of valid points while calling them out. Bobbie was hesitant to agree, but after coming clean about some of the inner turmoil surrounding her late father, Bobbie and Isabella were able to find themselves on solid ground again.
Eric Stonestreet gushes over his Happy’s Place guest appearance: “It was a dream”
Joining the Happy’s Place guest star lineup was an absolute joy for Stonestreet, who shared with NBC Insider that he’s a longtime fan of McEntire and longtime friends with several cast members.
“Reba’s from just south of me in Oklahoma, and I have been a fan of Reba’s for forever. Not only as an actor, but obviously the queen of country music, in my opinion,” Stonestreet gushed, adding that he’s connected with Rex Linn and Peterman over the years during various points in their careers. “It was great to go there and work with people that I have a familiarity with.”
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Aside from shaking things up among the Happy’s Place crew in the gripping finale, Stonestreet’s Dr. Russ also got to cross paths with Saturday Night Live icon Cheri Oteri, who has recurred as Monica on Season 2. After Emmett called for a break-up, a heartbroken Monica visited Dr. Russ in hopes that the therapist could provide guidance on getting Emmett back. Dr. Russ was dubious, but hilariously obliged the request, getting an uproarious laugh from the Happy’s Place studio audience.
“[Happy’s Place] exposed me to what a great process multi-cam sitcoms are. And I’d never done it before,” Stonestreet revealed. “I was obviously on Modern Family for 11 years and had been on a lot of TV shows before that, but never in front of a live studio audience … It was a dream. [It was] just an absolute pleasure to be there. And then [playing Dr. Russ] made it crazier and better.”