Jesse Tyler Ferguson Recalls Jane Krakowski Recognizing Him as Her Starbucks Barista: 'This Is Where I Know You From?'

"You come in and you see me, and you say, this is where I know you from," the 'Modern Family' alum said of seeing the '30 Rock' star while he was at work

Tyler Jesse Ferguson and Jane Krakowski are looking back on the unusual way they met.

On the July 16 episode of the Modern Family alum's Dinner’s on Me podcast, the two told the story of their early interactions when Ferguson, 48, was a barista at a New York City area Starbucks.

At the time, Krakowski, now 55, was starring in the 1995 Broadway production of Company — and Ferguson actually saw her in the musical. The actor had been "waiting by the stage door" after one of her shows when she came over and embraced him.

"You walk right over to me, and you're like, how are you? How have you been? I haven't seen you in a while. And you give me a great big hug," Ferguson said to Krakowski. "Meanwhile, I'm thinking, I do not know this woman. I know who you are. I was a fan. I'd already been a fan of yours from Grand Hotel. I absolutely knew who you were."

The Cocaine Bear actor remembered thinking, "Oh, my gosh. Jane's hugging me." But then, Ferguson said that the 30 Rock star began trying to recall how they knew each other.

"I was like, maybe we did a commercial together and we're trying to, like, place it. And you're like, well, I don't know. I'll figure it out later. But it was good to see you. Thanks for coming," Ferguson said. “And I was sort of speechless.”

Krakowski noted, "I was very very touchy-feely."

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Ferguson, who said he was "very taken by the encounter," then stated that "a week or two later" he was working at a Starbucks location near the Upper West Side "on 79th and Broadway" when he saw the actress again.

"You come in and you see me, and you say, 'This is where I know you from?'" he continued.

The actor said he appreciated their interaction because Krakowski began to ask him about his recent auditions. "You know, every actor understands you do what you need to do to, like, make ends meet. I felt so seen by you because I was like, 'I don't wanna be a barista forever.' I'm not bemoaning that at all. Like, it's what I was doing at the time, and I was, you know, making ends meet," he explained. "But I had such high dreams and hopes for myself."

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Ferguson referred to their interaction as "really powerful," saying, "That was one of the first times that I felt like, oh, the Broadway community is actually a community of people. It doesn't really matter where you are on that journey. It's just such a wonderful group of people."

Krakowski responded, "I remember coming in, and every morning, I'd order my coffee. And I guess just at the backstage of the theater, I knew I knew you because it's such a familiar person that you get to know every single morning.”

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While on the podcast, the actress also told a story about getting evicted from her N.Y.C. apartment after landing the role of Elaine Vassal on Ally McBeal.

"I remember the first time I came back to the East Coast after Ally McBeal aired because my parents were still here. I'm very close to my family, and I would come back on hiatuses and go see everything I could on Broadway too, you know, see everybody," the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star said. "I literally got evicted because I was on Hollywood Field. I had, like, a rent-stabilized apartment on the Upper West Side."

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