Video: Carrie Coon Reflects on Audience Reactions to Broadway's BUG
Manhattan Theatre Club's Bug is playing through Sunday, February 22.
By: Josh Sharpe Jan. 15, 2026
Carrie Coon is now back on Broadway in Bug, the play penned by Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright and her husband, Tracy Letts. The performer recently visited Live with Kelly and Mark to talk about her experience in the show, along with the response she has received from audience members.
During the conversation, Coon spoke about the play's timely themes of paranoia and conspiracy theories, which range topically from government to the increase of technology and machines. She also highlighted the humor of the play, which she says is sometimes overlooked.
"People sometimes are afraid to laugh at plays [that they think] are supposed to be serious. But [Letts] wants you laughing. It means you're listening," she explained. Coon, who has garnered acclaim for her onscreen performances in shows like The Gilded Age and The White Lotus, also noted how many audience members are newcomers to the theater.
"A lot of people are coming who had never seen a play before because they're television fans," she said, adding that some younger audience members are shocked to find themselves in a space where there are no phones. "It's actually quite revolutionary for some young people."
Check out the discussion with Coon, where she also talks about the process of performing nude on stage in one of the scenes from the play.
Manhattan Theatre Club's Bug, written by Letts and directed by Tony Award winner David Cromer, is now running at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Originally scheduled to play through Sunday, February 8, the production will now play through Sunday, February 22.
Bug stars three-time Emmy Award nominee and Tony Award nominee Carrie Coon as Agnes White, Namir Smallwood as Peter Evans, Randall Arney as Dr. Sweet, Jennifer Engstrom as R.C., and Steve Key as Jerry Goss.
This production marks the Broadway premiere of Steppenwolf’s acclaimed staging of a cult classic about an unexpected and intense romance between a lonely waitress (Carrie Coon) and a mysterious drifter (Namir Smallwood). What begins as a simple connection between two broken people in a seedy Oklahoma motel room twists into something far more dangerous. When reality slips out of grasp, paranoia, delusion, and conspiracy take over in this sexy psychological thriller.
