Scott Patterson’s next mission, should he choose to accept it? Keeping a straight face.

Though the Gilmore Girls star feels nothing but admiration for the show’s “iconoclastic sort of irreverence,” there was one joke the actor who brought Luke Danes to life had trouble delivering.

“I’m a fan of Tom Cruise, how can you not be?” Scott prefaced during an exclusive interview with E! News. “But Luke had a line—I think Kirk came in and I told him, ‘There’s nowhere to sit. Everything’s taken.’ He goes, ‘Well, if I were Tom Cruise, where would you tell me to go or sit?’ And my response was, ‘An acting class.’”

Stressing how he doesn’t believe the sentiment on a personal level, which made it “hard to say,” Scott conceded, “I thought it was extremely funny.”

“That’s one of the elements of the show that makes you fall in love with it,” the 67-year-old continued. “I think people are just tired of everybody sucking up to everybody. Here comes a show that’s smart, really funny, and irreverent and heartfelt and small town. And it’s just so good. It’s just so fun to watch it.”