Emmys 2013: Jon Cryer talks about longevity and battling Spanx

Jon Cryer joined the Envelope Emmy Roundtable to talk comedy.

By Oliver Gettell

June 6, 2013 12 AM PT

Ten seasons in and counting, the sitcom “Two and a Half Men” has proved remarkably popular and durable, even weathering the much-publicized firing of Charlie Sheen two years ago.

At a recent Envelope Emmy Roundtable on the subject of TV comedy, even “Two and a Half Men’s” own Jon Cryer seemed a bit surprised by the show’s enduring appeal.

WATCH: The Envelope Emmy Roundtable | Comedy

Cryer joked that it might be the show’s Everyman story that draws viewers. “We’ve all been there,” he said. “We’ve all been a chiropractor with a womanizing brother with an incredible knack for picking up women who dies in Paris getting run over by a train, and then a billionaire tries to kill himself on the beach. I mean, who hasn’t that happened to? I think that’s the appeal.”

“It’s so relatable,” fellow panelist Don Cheadle (“House of Lies”) chimed in.

Getting a bit more serious, Cryer said: “The show is really bawdy and funny. ... Any opportunity to humiliate me, they seize upon — and it’s worked.”

He offered a recent example: “I just did an episode where I have to wrestle myself out of wearing full-body Spanx,” Cryer said, referring to the popular body-constricting undergarments. “I have to say I’m surprised it took them 10 seasons to get me there.”

For more from the panel, including how hard Cryer struggled with the Spanx and how he was finally freed from them, click the video link here.

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