The Stars of 'Will & Grace' Were Gifted Porsches After Season 1 — But Who Immediately Sold Theirs?

Eric McCormack and Sean Hayes opened up about the story on their new "Just Jack & Will" podcast, which launches Thursday on Amazon Music

Sean Hayes and Eric McCormack
Sean Hayes and Eric McCormack . Photo:

Manny Carabel/Getty

The cast of Will & Grace got quite the pricey gift when network executives realized just how popular the show was after its first season — but it wasn’t the ideal gift for one cast member.

During the Just Jack & Will podcast premiere event Monday at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, hosts Eric McCormack and Sean Hayes, who played lead characters in the show which the podcast is named after, revealed how it all went down.

“In the summer [after the first season], people were finally checking out the show and our ratings kept going up and up and up,” McCormack, 60, told the audience at the event. “And I think [executives] realized they had a hit on their hands.”

“[Executive] Scott [Sassa] took us out for lunch in Pasadena because there was some sort of press event … and then we walked through the parking lot and one more time Scott went, ‘Anyway, we just want to say thank you,’ ” he continued.

“And he keeps gesturing and he gestures to the parking lot, and there are four Porsches with ribbons on them," McCormack added.

WILL & GRACE -- Season 3 -- Pictured: (l-r) Megan Mullally as Karen Walker, Eric McCormack as Will Truman, Debra Messing as Grace Adler, Sean Hayes as Jack McFarland
Cast of Will & Grace circa season 3.

Chris Haston/NBCU Photo Bank

However, there was one cast member who immediately didn’t take to the gift.

“Sean leaned over to me — I don’t make this up — and said, ‘Is it expensive to insure a Porsche?' ” the Emmy winner recalled, to which Hayes added, “ ‘Cause I literally can’t pay rent right now.’ ”

“And I said, ‘It’s not that expensive when the Porsche is free! It amortizes,’ ” McCormack said.

But that wasn’t enough to convince the Tony Award winner, 52, who said he sold the car “right away.”

“I was like, ‘Well, I could drive a car or live in an apartment and pay my rent,’ ” he joked.

WILL & GRACE
Sean Hayes and Debra Messing on Will & Grace (2003).

NBCU Photo Bank/Getty

McCormack said the cast noticed six weeks later when Hayes’ old Camry instead of his new Porsche was parked in his parking spot, “And I said, ‘What happened?’ and you said, ‘I like my Camry.’ ”

Hayes teased another hilarious moment with season 1 finale writer Adam Barr.

“He came out to the parking lot when he saw I was back having my Camry, and he taps the [car] twice and goes, ‘Uh are you not getting your checks?’ ” Hayes said.

The pair’s discussion at the event will be turned into an episode for Just Jack & Will, a rewatch podcast in which the two discuss behind-the-scenes events that went on while filming the show.

“It’s a Will & Grace rewatch podcast for SmartLess Media,” Hayes wrote of the series, which he announced in an Instagram post last month.

McCormack previously told PEOPLE that the project was cooked up “at a lunch that we were having."

"We started to talk about what would we do if we did a podcast," he recalled. "And I said, ‘We could rewatch the show?' "

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The Emmy winner — who also trades Hollywood war stories with pal Steven Weber for their Eating Out with Eric & Steve podcast — revealed that Hayes admitted he wasn't much of a viewer of Will & Grace during its runs (first from 1998 to 2006, then in a revival from 2017 to 2020).

According to McCormack, Hayes “said, ‘Yeah, I'd have to watch it [for] the first time. 'Cause I've never really watched it.’ He said, ‘That's the show.’ ”

Just Jack & Will launches Thursday on Amazon Music and on all podcast services June 22.

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