As soon as the words came out of Luke Macfarlane’s mouth, he knew he was in trouble. In an interview with Pride Source published on March 24, 2025, the longtime Hallmark Channel star admitted that his debut appearance on “Sherri” turned into his “biggest nightmare,” thanks to a whole bunch of unintended innuendo.
Macfarlane, who has starred in 15 Hallmark movies, was on comedian Sherri Shepherd’s talk show to promote his latest endeavor: putting his woodworking skills to good use on his new Hallmark+ home renovation series, “Home Is Where The Heart Is.” The “Notes of Autumn” star is an expert craftsman who’s serious about his art, but he didn’t realize how funny and suggestive some of his woodworking terms would sound to Shepherd.
Sherri Shepherd’s Overcome With Laughter as Luke Macfarlane Explains Box-Building Steps
Macfarlane appeared on the March 19 episode of Shepherd’s daytime talk show for a crafting segment. Her audience was already swooning as she introduced the buff actor, revealing his shirtless cover shot for the March issue of “Out” magazine.
“I don’t know if it’s my hot flashes or I’m just hot,” she joked, and then repeatedly touched Macfarlane’s chest, telling her audience, “It’s real. It’s real.”
Trying to stay on task, Macfarlane told Shepherd of his new series, “This is the first time I’ve executive produced. I’m passionate about woodworking, I’m passionate about home renovations, so this show is about those two passions.”
He then began to teach Shepherd how to build a wooden box for their craft segment. Though Shepherd tried to stay focused, some of the terms Macfarlane used — especially after she’d just swooned over his muscular build — came out sounding hilariously suggestive.
“I want to know how good you are with wood identification,” Macfarlane began, and Shepherd smirked, “I’m great at wood identification, absolutely, yes I am!”
As her audience laughed, he showed her samples of walnut and white oak boards, to which she quipped, “You know what, you’re here today — gimme the white oak!”
Things got even more harried as Macfarlane told Shepherd he’d already cut the joints into several pieces of wood to speed up the creation of their box, explaining, “I’ve done all the joints. These are called your little tongues and your little slots … so we’re gonna put the tongues into the slots.”
That term threw Shepherd and her audience over the edge. The talk show host was left speechless, laughing along with the crowd and grabbing Macfarlane’s arm as she tried to regain her composure. He covered his face in embarrassment and tried to get them back on track by exclaiming, “C’mon, let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”
Looking incredulously at her producers, Shepherd hilariously said, “What do you want me to do!?”
Luke Macfarlane Says ‘Good Design is About Listening’
Speaking with Pride Source the following day, Macfarlane admitted the funny “Sherri” meltdown was not the first time people have playfully suggested a double meaning behind his talk of woodworking.
“It is a vocabulary that lends itself well (to that),” he admitted to Pride Source, explaining how things fell apart on “Sherri” the previous day. “I built her this little box and the kinds of joints, they were not dovetail joints, as people sometimes incorrectly identify.”
“They were tongue-and-slot joints,” he continued. “And as soon as I said, ‘You need to fit your tongue into the slot,’ it just was pandemonium. And Sherri picked it up like that and I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is my biggest nightmare.’ It’s something about the vocabulary.”
Macfarlane’s personal woodworking projects include building a crib from scratch for his daughter Tess, born in June 2023, whom he’s raising with his longtime love, sports agent Hig Roberts. But in “Home Is Where The Heart Is,” he and interior designer Olivia Westbrooks transform spaces for other families who need help making their homes reflect what’s meaningful to them.
“Good design is about listening,” he told Pride Source. “You don’t come in with an idea about what’s good and bad. Very few designers have that privilege of like, ‘I’m going to design you a house that looks exactly like what I think good designers do.’ (It’s about asking) ‘Who are you? What do you value? What is important to you? Where do you come from? Where do you live? How do you live?’ And then we adapt and we make something for them that’s special.”
The first season of “Home Is Where The Heart Is” is available to stream now on Hallmark+.
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How Luke Macfarlane’s Talk Show Debut Got Hysterically Derailed: ‘My Biggest Nightmare’