The Times interviewed Vergara at Urth Caffe in Beverly Hills in October, where the Colombian actress proved why she might be on her way to becoming America’s No. 1 funny lady. The following are excerpts from that interview. You can read the rest here.

Fess up. Who’s your friend at ABC? They keep giving you opportunities.

My friend or my friend? (Laughs.) I think [ABC President of Entertainment] Steve McPherson. He always said, “I’m going to look for something for you.” He always believed in me. All of the three shows that I’ve done has been his idea. 

How did you meet him?

I met him when he was at Touchstone. I did a pilot with Damon Wayans for ABC. And he was one of the executives. The pilot didn’t go through, but they tested the pilot and I scored pretty high. I don’t know what that means. Then ABC gave me a holding deal until they found something for me. And now it looks like they found it.

Did you have fun at work today?

It’s always funny. Today we were working on the Christmas episode. So today we sang a song.

Do you crack up around Ty Burrell? He’s so funny.

It’s so hard to be straight around him. But you learn because then the hours are too long. That scene we had where I throw the underwear at him, we had to do it so many times because I would throw it on his face and I would just laugh and laugh.

You named your son after Manolo [Steven Bauer] on “Scarface,” right?

I was so obsessed with Steven Bauer. He was so handsome. He was gorgeous. But now my son always says, “Yeah, yeah, you named me after a drug dealer junkie. That’s fantastic, Mom.” I tell him, “It was because he was handsome.” That’s my favorite movie. [She looks down at her plate.] It’s a weird time to be eating this salad. 4 p.m.?