Modern Family: Edward Norton's Bizarre Season 1 Cameo Explained (2024)

Summary

  • The Edward Norton Modern Family cameo as Izzy LaFontaine remains one of the show's most memorable moments.
  • Norton's portrayal of the dodgy mullet-sporting British bassist of Spandau Ballet brought comedic hilarity to the episode.
  • While Norton's cameo was bizarre, Modern Family also featured other hilarious guest stars like Jesse Eisenberg and Matthew Broderick.

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The Edward Norton Modern Family cameo may have happened all the way back in the first season, but it still remains one of the shows most memorable. The mockumentary style sitcom Modern Family ran from 2009 to 2020, and across its 11 seasons it featured a slew of celebrity cameos and guest stars. While some of these were familiar faces from other sitcoms, others were bonafide Hollywood legends. While the bigger names mostly appeared on Modern Family in the later seasons, Edward Norton stopped by the Dunphy household during the show's first batch of episodes.

In Modern Family season 1, episode 8, “Great Expectations,” the Dunphy household is visited by Edward Norton sporting a dodgy mullet and an even dodgier British accent as Izzy LaFontaine — the (fictional) bass player of 1980s new wave band Spandau Ballet. Norton's career was already in full swing by the time Modern Family season 1 arrived, having made his big break in movies like 2000's Fight Club. What made the Edward Norton cameo even more hilarious was that, while Izzy LaFontaine isn't a real musician, the band Spandau Ballet aren't fictional and were huge in the 1980s.

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Modern Family is available to stream on Hulu and Peacock Premium

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Modern Family: Edward Norton's Bizarre Season 1 Cameo Explained (2)

The Edward Norton Modern Family cameo sees him playing a bassist named Izzy LaFontaine from the band Spandau Ballet. He’s hired by Claire to perform a private concert as a wedding anniversary gift for Phil as she mistakenly believes he’s a big Spandau Ballet fan — or “fandau” as Mr. LaFontaine terms it — and that the band’s ballad “True” is their special song.

Apparently, Norton and Modern Family star Ty Burrell go way back, having worked on Leaves Of Grass and The Incredible Hulk together, which likely helped facilitate his cameo.

Unfortunately for Claire, it turns out Phil has no idea who Spandau Ballet are — much to Izzy LaFontaine’s disappointment, who’s even more offended to learn that Phil thinks their special song is “If You Leave” by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. To appease both Claire and Izzy, Phil tells them that “True” is now their new song and so the fading rock star’s private, bass-and-vocals-only performance goes ahead.

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While Edward Norton has had a few comedic roles like Moonrise Kingdom, he’s better known for his more serious films like Primal Fear or American History X, so seeing him pop up on a sitcom like Modern Family was quite surprising. Apparently, Norton and Modern Family star Ty Burrell go way back, having worked on Leaves Of Grass and The Incredible Hulk together, which likely helped facilitate his cameo. While Edward Norton’s Modern Family cameo was bizarre, it was also pretty funny and the sitcom is quirky enough to pull it off.

What makes the Edward Norton Modern Family cameo is the character of Izzy LaFontaine himself, given that he's a fictional musician that's purportedly part of a real band.

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What makes the Edward Norton Modern Family cameo is the character of Izzy LaFontaine himself, given that he's a fictional musician that's purportedly part of a real band. The actual bassist from Spandau Ballet was Martin Kemp. Interestingly, Kemp is also an actor, appearing in many British shows, including popular soap opera Eastenders. It's unclear why Kemp wasn't invited to cameo on Modern Family, though it's doubtful his appearance would have been as funny as Edward Norton.

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Edward Norton Wasn't The Only Hilarious Modern Family Cameo

The Sitcom Had Plenty Of Guest Stars Playing Outrageous Characters Over Its Run

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Edward Norton wasn't the only famous face to grace Modern Family, and the show had some excellent cameos and guest stars over its eleven seasons on the air. Season 5 featured a perfectly cast Jesse Eisenberg as Mitch and Cam’s condescending, environmentally conscious neighbor Asher and a hilarious turn from British actor Stephen Merchant as an eager-to-please butler named Higgins — a role he reprised in the show’s final season.

Going even further back in Modern Family’s history, Matthew Broderick was brilliant in the season 4 episode “Mistery Date” as Dave – a gay friend of Cam’s who mistakenly believes he’s on a date with Phil. The sitcom’s second season boasted an entertaining cameo from Sonic The Hedgehog star James Marsden in “Slow Down Your Neighbors” as a reiki-practicing layabout who claims to be Mitch and Cam’s new neighbor but is actually living in their garden in Lily’s princess playhouse.

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Other notable Modern Family guest stars included Stephanie Beatriz as Gloria's sister, Kevin Hart as Phils' best friend Andre, and Nathan Fillion as a boyfriend of Hayley's. However, while all of these cameos added to the show, it's Edward Norton's appearance as Izzy LaFontaine that sticks out as one of the strangest — and funniest — in the entirety of Modern Family.

Modern Family: Edward Norton's Bizarre Season 1 Cameo Explained (4)
Modern Family

Modern Family is a comedy series that follows the unconventional Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker family as they redefine what makes a family in their modern age. Broken into sub-families, the three diverse groups shake up the nuclear formula with empty nesters, adopted children, gender neutrality, and more as they attempt to navigate the various pitfalls and comedic misadventures of their dysfunctional but warm-hearted family dynamic.

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Cast
Ed O'Neill , Sofia Vergara , Julie Bowen , Ty Burrell , Jesse Tyler Ferguson , Eric Stonestreet , Sarah Hyland , Ariel Winter , Nolan Gould , Rico Rodriguez

Release Date
September 23, 2009

Seasons
11
Network
ABC
Streaming Service(s)
Hulu
Showrunner
Christopher Lloyd , Steven Levitan
Modern Family: Edward Norton's Bizarre Season 1 Cameo Explained (2024)

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