"...While "Will & Grace" may be the official title of the show, Jack & Karen would be no less fitting. Outrageous sidekicks Sean Hayes (Jack) and Megan Mullally (Karen) often steal the show as the other gay man/straight woman couple. Catch up with "Just Jack!" this season as he gets cozy with his new bride, Rosario, under the watchful eyes of the INS, and confronts a few junior-high-school traumas."

"....Megan Mullally, who plays an acerbic office assistant on NBC's ``Will & Grace,'' and Sean Hayes, who plays her gay friend, claimed best supporting actor and actress honors over rivals from top-rated sitcoms like ``Friends'' and "Everybody Loves Raymond.''

"...The very first acting award of the evening went to Will & Grace's Megan Mullally as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her outrageous non-gay character Karen, who although mega-rich inexplicably plays at working for Grace and is best pals with Will's flamboyant friend Jack. Jack won Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Sean P. Hayes (Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss). The non-gay actor who plays gay attorney Will, Eric McCormack, had no more hesitation about planting a big smooch on Hayes' lips in congratulations than Hayes did on Mullally."

"...Will's other friend is Jack, who is also gay. Karen is Grace's assistant and is good friends with Jack."

"...Karen is Grace's socialite assistant who only works for Grace to stay in touch with the "real world." She and Jack are close friends, but she enjoys making fun of Will and Grace.

"...The hoot that is Karen Walker, Will & Grace's rich bitch of a character, was best nailed last season when her très gay buddy, Jack, deliriously proclaimed in an October episode of the hit NBC sitcom, "You're like an icon to gay men. You've got the sass, the class, and the ass!"

"...So how does Hayes get along with his co-stars? "We're lucky if we even talk to each other. We constantly throw food," Hayes deadpans, then corrects himself. "It's wonderful. I know you hear this all the time, but we really do all get along. It's probably because we all have the same bizarre sense of humor. The writers try to appease us by writing stuff that reflects that. Like in one episode, Jack and Karen touch stomachs as kind of a high five for fabulous people. What's that all about? But it's hilarious onscreen. As the show begins, the big connections are between Jack & Karen and Will & Grace . But as the show progresses, you're gonna see all four of us connecting with each other in really interesting ways."

From "Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally, Will & Grace" By Greg Baerg, UltimateTV News

"...While "Will & Grace" has failed to find the audience NBC hoped it would (it doesn't crack the top 50 prime-time shows year-to-date), the supporting duo of Hayes and Mullally has developed a cult following all its own. "

"...soon after the show premiered, it was easy to see "Will & Grace" was about a lot more than just the two title characters. Will's friend Jack, a flamboyant, bitingly-funny gay man, and Grace's sarcastic, wise and worldly (in the most interesting ways) assistant Karen (who calls everyone "Honey") soon began to draw viewers' interest, especially following episodes that highlighted their comedic talents.

"...Regardless of how strong the supporting characters are, the show is called "Will & Grace," not "Just Jack!" (or "Just Jack and Karen")..."

From "Mixed Doubles: A Second Friendship Between a Gay Man and a Straight Woman Is Winning Over Viewers of Will & Grace"

"The NBC comedy is called "Will & Grace", but it really should have a subtitle: Jack & Karen. Since the show's September debut, these two wonderfully eccentric scene stealers, Jack McFarland and Karen Walker, have been winning lots of raves.

So have the actors who play them, Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally. Hayes Jack is the flamboyantly gay friend of the less obviously gay title character, Will Truman (Eric McCormack)."

"...In separate phone chats, both actors were very complimentary of each other, and obviously fond of their characters, whom the show's producers try to give at least one scene together in every episode, Mullally says. Recently, they shared a large subplot, when Karen reluctantly allowed Jack, an aspiring masseur, to practice on her, then became addicted to his touch.

"There's a flirtatious quality to that relationship," Mullally says. "Jack and Karen have a very unorthodox flirtation happening."

"...As Will's other best friend, Jack, Sean Hayes provides a smartly rendered flamboyance (his comic skills turn a gay male stereotype into a stitch); as Grace's rich-bitch assistant Karen, Megan Mullally steals scenes with a sneer. Put Hayes and Mullally together, and you have the most potent comic duo since Burns and Allen (or at least since Jerry and Elaine). "There's a flirtatious quality to their relationship," says Mullally, a broadway musical vet. "I'm the diva he's always wanted to be."

"...Yet it's the secondary duo who have created much of the show's buzz. Sean Hayes plays Will's swishy friend Jack McFarland, who has a parrot named Guapo but no apparent career, and Megan Mullally is Grace's socialite secretary Karen Walker, whose husband is so wealthy that she has taken a job only to have something to do. The odd combination is so good that a viewer might begin thinking of a spinoff series."

From: Will And Grace Find Charm In Love

The Ottawa Sun (September 28, 1998)

"...Tonight, Jack meets Karen. Two wonderful actors combine. They're directed by James Burrows, who happens to be the best. "And he works really, really fast," Mullally says, "so you get to go home early."

"...The stars are adorable but need comic relief, which is supplied in abundance by Will's outrageous best friend, Jack (Sean Hayes), and Grace's dizzy assistant, Karen (Megan Mullally). The first meeting of Jack and Karen, a mutual-admiration society of kooky attitude, is a riot."

"...The ensemble gains its brio from the more cartoonish supporting turns by Sean Hayes as Jack, Will's queeny friend, and Megan Mullally as Karen, Grace's mink-wearing assistant. Hayes brings winning physical comedy to Jack's barbs, swishes, and one-liners ("Welcome to Cynical Island. Population: You"), and Mullally takes Karen's unapologetic superficiality and indolence to delightful new depths. Gradually, the writers have let the two expand their unique rapport, which is bound up in sexual attraction, cattiness, fabulousness, and an inexplicable enthusiasm for rubbing bellies together. Also, Karen has been cultivating an amusing dislike for Will, and Jack has been in and out of a dislike for Grace, both of which give the group some needed quadrangular tension."

"...Next week's episode includes an absolutely delightful scene in which Jack and Karen meet and engage in the most curious and original flirtation I've ever seen. Like any two unique characters, they . . . rub stomachs. You have to see it."

"...The series also features this season's strongest new supporting players: ultra-fey Jack (Sean Hayes) and ultra-hag Karen (Megan Mullally), whose shrill, increasingly repetitive but still funny byplay often threatens to overshadow the title characters. As for Jack and Karen--well, they're already living in their own chummy little fantasy world (I'd call it Camp Camp). Since Karen's always saying her marriage is terrible and Jack's always out of a job, why not have Karen divorce, make an alimony killing, and ask Jack to move in with her?"

From Jim Mullen's Hot Sheet (Entertainment Weekly, Dec. 22, 2000): "Will & Grace": It points out the major difference between gay men and straight men in New York City. The gay men have girlfriends.

From "A Seond Opinion" by Bruce Frettys (Entertainment Weekly, Dec. 22/29, 2000): "Will & Grace": It's the feel-gay show of the year!"

From "Dr. No-No" by Dave Karger (Entertainment Weekly, Dec. 22/29 2000): May 23 - The boob-tube bitch-slaps kick into high grear: on "Will & Grace", Will (Eric McCormack) quips to Grace (Debra Messing), "You're a fairly good judge of people - you hated Dr. Laura long before the rest of the world did."

From "Best of Tube" (People, Dec 25-Jan 1st, 2000): "Will & Grace": Gay man and straight woman (Eric McCormack and Debra Messing) make beautiful music on NBC's snappy sitcom, but sidekicks Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally are the real humdingers."

From "Celeb Picks" (People, Dec 25-Jan 1st, 2000): Faith Hill, singer: "'Will & Grace' is great writing, great acting. It's a great show."

From US Weekly: "One of the running jokes in Will & Grace is that Karen is sexually attracted to Jack. Megan and Sean enthusiastically work this subtext even in rehearsal. She stands behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist as he repeatedly squats and rises with increasingly - and what might be called increasingly passionate - tempo! It's funny because it's good, old-fashioned slapstick. It's also funny because Megan and Sean - who won Emmy Awards last year as Outstanding Supporting Actress and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for the show, which also triumphed as Outstanding Comedy Series - know they're getting paid to simulate sex with each other!"

"These eight scene-stealing newcomers have the potential to become this season's Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally, or the next Allison Janney or Richard Schiff."

"While bland Will and Grace are cookie-cutter sitcom characters, the idiosyncratic antics betwixt quirky combo Sean P. Hayes and Megan Mullally - as Jack, the king of queens, and his sugar-mamma Karen - is what turns the series from musty TV to must-see TV."

Tom Gavey's Who Should Win This Year's Emmy:
Lead Actress - Comedy: [Debra] Messing, in our opinion, shows more range than any other actress on TV.
Supporting Actress - Comedy: Megan Mullally, perhaps the wackiest and funniest female on TV.

"Grace may be the dizzy redhead, but the show's Lucy Ricardo figure is clearly the second-banana Jack (Sean Hayes), a childishly impulsive struggling actor. Jack, like Lucy, has a whole lot of nerve (it helps that Mr. Hayes is a nimble clown who can, and will, get physical for a laugh). He has such unshakeable confidence in his dubious talents that his get-famous projects, like the unintentionally hilarious one-man cabaret show "Just Jack," take on a kind of loopy grandeur.

From a review of Megan's play, "Mayhem":
"Although Mullally takes a back seat to White, who has the wittiest lines, she cuts through strongly in her scenes with Offerman. Offerman plays her ox-like, insensitive husband with caustic conviction. We share his incensed reaction when newly aware Susan repels his advances, protesting, "I can't have sex when people are dying." This sequence reaches the heights of absurdity as Susan watches TV, dressed in an Afghan burka, and strokes David indifferently to climax while keeping her eyes glued to current events."

From an Entertainment Weekly article by Ken Tucker on Madonna's "Will & Grace" appearance:
"One thing that helped Madonna's 'Will & Grace' appearance? The always hilarious Mullally."
"NBC touted the appearance as Madonna 'for the first time in prime time!' Madonna-as-TV-actress beat out Madonna-as-movie-actress, primarily because she was paired with a pro like Mullally.'

From a Knox News article by Terry Morrow: "It seems Karen is not nearly played out yet. Mullally has been nominated for another Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy. And as "Will & Grace" ages (the show launches its sixth season this fall), the show retains a big and loyal audience. Last season, against juggernaut "CSI" on Thursday nights, "Will & Grace" managed a Top 10 finish each week."

From "U.S. TV Needs More Mean, Nasty Women", a San Francisco Chronicle article by Kelly Mills: "While Will and Grace are as smart and threatening as stuffed animals, Karen comes on like a chain saw. She's funny, awful and the only redeeming thing in a sea of bland."

From ""Will & Grace" Move On", an E!Online article by Natalie Finn: "Meanwhile, the series' title may have been Will & Grace, but it was Hayes' narcissistic struggling actor Jack McFarland and Mullally's pill-popping socialite Karen Walker who sashayed and squeaked into viewers' hearts."

From "Calling it quits", a North Jersey Media Group article by Virginia Rohan: "The cast was great at physical comedy, and the amazing Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally raised the status of sidekicks to a new high."

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