Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach and Donald - My Pilot/My First Day

Episode Date: October 14, 2025

Zach and Donald discuss filming in an abandoned hospital, the audition process, and why they were so starstruck by Sarah Chalke, aka Dr. Eliot. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Samihante, it's Anna Ortiz. And I'm Mark and Delicado. You might know us as Hilda and Justin from Ugly Betty. Welcome to our new podcast, Viva Betty. Yay! We're re-watching the series from start to finish and getting into all the fashions, the drama,

and the behind-the-scenes moments that you've never heard before. But you were still bartending? I didn't know that. The barback is like, is that you? And it's a commercial for Betty. And I was like, I could have to go. I quit. Listen to Viva Betty on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Hey guys, it's Stephanie Beatriz and Melissa Fumero, and this is more better. We are jumping right in and ready to hear from you. Your thoughts, your questions, your feelings about socks with sandals. And we're ready to share some possibly questionable advice and hot takes. God, that sucks so hard though. I'm so sorry. you out petty them? Can you match their pettiness for funsies?

Yeah. All the things. Because aren't we all trying to get a little more better? Listen to more better on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm the home grader that knows a little bit about everything and everybody. Let me know.

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deep dives on some of the biggest moments in pop culture oh my god listen to the latest with la Rosa weekdays on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast welcome to in case you missed it with Christina Williams the podcast that's your go-to source for women's hoops from buzzer beaters to breaking news, I bring you the highlights, analysis, and expert insights you need to stay ahead of the game. The people have spoken, and it's time to give the stories that matter most the spotlight. Listen to in case you missed it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And remember, in case you missed it, don't worry. I've got you covered. Donald, Donald, if you're not recording, I am going to squeeze your balls. Well, I've been

since for like three minutes and 17 seconds so there will be no ball squeezing necessary. Hello everyone. Hello everyone. Three, wait, three, two. Here's some stories about a show we made

about a bunch of dogs and nurses and a janitor who love me. I said here's the stories that we all should know. So gather around who here are Gather around who here are Scrots.

The show is Zach and Donald. Hello, everyone. My name is Zach Braff. Hi, I'm Donald Faison. And I can't believe it. But guess what, guys? We're going to do a Scrubs rewatch podcast. Yeah, that's exactly what we're doing.

Dude, your voice changed completely all of a sudden. We were all talking normal. I know. And then the podcast started and you're like, hey, everyone, it is I. I got nervous and I felt like I should sound like a radio broadcaster. But no, okay, I'm back to me. There we go. this is pretty exciting. I'm excited about this. I got to tell you, I'm very excited that we've been talking about this for a long time. We've been trying to figure it out. I've been teasing social media, as have you been.

Well, you've been teasing social media a little bit more than I have. But I know, because I wanted to get people titillated, Donald. I wanted to titillate the masses. Well, let's thank IHeart Radio, first of all, for putting this, helping us put this all together. We had to figure out who to do it, and we found a perfect partner with IHeart, and we want to thank them. And also, Also, we want to thank the fans across the universe because I just think it would be crazy for us not to start with saying we wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for the just incredibly loyal, amazing fan base we have around the earth, right, Donald? Thank you very much. All of you who watched the show and who are listening to this podcast right now, wow, we appreciate you so much.

Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. I mean, this has been so many years of love for this show. And, you know, it's funny. I'm sure Donald, you have this experience, too, where people come up to the street, Like, I'm sure this is so annoying, but I just want to say I love the show. And I'm like, I'm always like, it's not annoying. Are you kidding me?

That's like the best comment you can give us. Well, it's annoying when you're eating food. Yeah, maybe when you're eating food and somebody comes up to you and they're like, sorry to bother you. You know what the first? Why are you saying sorry to bother you? You're not sorry to bother me. You're meant to bother me at that moment. You know what I mean?

Yeah, well, just guys, if you're going to see Donald in public, don't do it while he's eating. Or with my kids. I don't play that. Oh, yeah. All right. Well, just wait outside the restaurant for him in a dark alley. That's how I prefer people to approach me in a dark alley. My only request is not online at the pharmacy because I'm usually sick and I don't want to

I once had a guy asked me to sign his box of condoms at a pharmacy and I just did you No I was like dude this is weird I don't want to sign the condom anyway we've already digressed we love our fans and we're so glad you're listening so the rough plan is that We're just going to talk through episodes of Scrubs. We're going to start with season one, obviously. Today we're going to talk about the pilot, and we're going to just kind of tell stories and go through it, scene by scene, and just kind of tell anecdotes and stuff.

And then eventually we want to have guests on. Today we're going to take a very first fan question, which is thrilling. Joelle figured out how to do that. She's amazing. We're really excited about this. We should start. Do you remember the name of the pilot what the first episode was?

No. Wait, I just wanted to tell them one more thing. So we were going to do this in person, but then, of course, because of this COVID insanity, the good people of IHeart have figured out a way for Adela and us to do it remotely. So we're looking at each other over Zoom, and he's in his closet, which is friggin hilarious, because I guess that's what the only place you could hide from your kids. Yeah, well, yeah, they're downstairs. We put on Captain Underpants, so they'll be quiet for a bit.

But if you hear someone yelling or screaming, it's probably going to be my son Rocco or my daughter Wilder. I'm going to take a picture of this to post on the interwebs because it's very adorable right now. Well, let me get my, let me get a fresh pose then. Oh, my God. You're so cute. All right. So Donald has children and a wife and everyone's in quarantine, so he's in his closet recording. And we're looking at each other.

So we're going to do it like this for the foreseeable future. Every week we'll be coming to you talking about the next episode of the show. And we'll hope that you'll watch it along with us because that's kind of the idea. if you watch that episode and then we'll shoot the shit about that episode. I just watched it. I got very nostalgic. Did you feel nostalgia? Well, yeah, just how young we were, first of all.

We were so young. You were so young. I didn't remember how young I was. I was 26 at the time, and I'm 45 turning 46 this year, and that was 20 years ago. So, you know, watching the pilot for the first time really felt like it was brand new. Like, I remembered some things, but other things, I was like, I don't remember any of this. You know, I remember certain poses that John C. McGinley made, like, when he put his hand on the back of his head and stuff like that, I remember being like, wow, that's

interesting that he chose to do that right now. And as a show goes on, it became his Dr. Cox stuff. But while we, while watching it for the first time, I was like, oh, my God, this is where it all originated. This is where this came from. There were so many moments I had while watching it, too, where I was like thinking, first of all, we can't start off even five minutes of this without talking about Bill Lawrence, who is the creator of the show, the reason we're all here talking. And I was just amazed watching it how much Bill got it. It's like 23 minutes long and how much he was able, how much storytelling and character introduction. Pilots are always hard because, you know, the showrunner,

creator has such a hard job to introduce so many characters and do it in 20, three minutes and it's just amazing how much how many characters are introduced how many storylines and like love interests are introduced how much is packed into one episode yeah that that's some of those i have questions for you as a matter of fact just on you know how the whole pilot came together and everything well wait let's start with that let's sorry i didn't interrupt you but let's start with cat i feel like we should tell our stories about auditioning because that's well yeah that was my first question for you so when we first started the pilot i i had already done quite a things. Like I was in Clueless. I had done, remember the Titans already, waiting to exhale.

I was guest starring on Felicity at the time. And this was a pilot that came up for me. And I was like, yeah, sure, I'll go out for it. I'd love to go out for it. Anybody wants to be on a show. And it wasn't until after I auditioned for it and got it, that everybody was like, all my, I remember all of my agents being like, this is like the number one pilot of the season. Everyone wanted to be a part of this. And you booked it. And I remember being like, holy cow, I was just looking at it as let me get another job because I got kids to feed. You know what I? You were completely different. You were like, I mean, I know you had been in some things and stuff like that,

but you hadn't even really popped yet. Yeah, I'd done little things. You know, I'd been in an indie. I was in an indie, a couple of indies, one called the Broken Hearts Club that went to Sundance. But I was still waiting tables. Who directed that, by the way? A now superstar famous person named Greg Berlani.

It was his very first film. And he gave me one of my first early big breaks being in that movie. And I was a waiter at a French Vietnamese restaurant in, in Beverly Hills. That's an interesting combination. And people who, you know, if you saw Garden State, my film, I'm kind of spoofing that in the beginning when I'm working with a tunic on

and waiting on horrible people. But anyway, I was a waiter there, and people would come from having, Broken Cards Club was in the theater. And people would come from the theater and they'd say, for dessert to the restaurant. And they'd be like, we just saw your movie. And I'd be like, oh, cool, thank you.

Thank you for going. And they'd be like, you were great. And I go, oh, thank you so much. Let me tell you about our special. And it was like, only in Hollywood, can you go see a movie and then have the star of the movie wait on you for dessert? How did you feel about that? Were you ever embarrassed by it? Oh, I was so embarrassed.

I remember I would go to like a general meeting. In Hollywood, there are these things called general meetings where you kind of go and like you're like bragging that, oh, my career is going so well. And we should really work together. And you're just kind of schmoozing. And I remember I did one of those and like it really went well and I came out feeling so good. And then that night I looked down at one of my tables and the guy was at the table. Oh, that's awesome. And I didn't, I had left out the part how I was still, you know, hustling and waiting tables.

But, um, so, you know, I got the audition. I was waiting tables. I got the audition. Now, my story is a little funny because I went out first for it in New York. I happened to be in New York. And I, I didn't prepare. It went so poorly. I hadn't read the script.

You know, not every audition do you go in killing it. And I didn't do a good job. And I, when I got back to L.A., my agent said, look, they still. can't find this guy for the show. And it's really, like you said, everyone's talking about it. This is like one of the hot new shows of the season. I think you could just go back in. Like, they wouldn't even know. Like, your audition, I don't even, they were like, I don't even know if your tape made it from New York, like, because no one was, no one, no one even responded to whatever the fuck you did. So I, this time I took it seriously. I memorized that. I worked on it. I practiced a lot.

And then when I went in, I remember the cast director, Brett, right? I was his name. He looked up at me like, oh, okay, like with a smile. And then it was off to the races. Then I met Bill and I worked with Bill. And then, you know, I literally auditioned six times before I got it. And finally, my final audition was for the network and it was down between four of us. And I read with Sarah and I, you know, I had given six times. I wore the exact same outfit every single time because I was so superstitious, and I could really tell that Bill was rooting for me. He made it known to me that he wanted me to get it. But there were a lot of people that were more famous than me that were, I mean, that were famous, that were up for it.

So I couldn't believe I got it. But anyway, so tell me about your audition process. So I auditioned for it. The first time I auditioned for it, I don't know who was in the room, to be honest with you. I just auditioned, and they were like, they want to bring you back. And then I came back and I auditioned again, and this time Bill was there. And I remember being like, okay, you know, at this point in my career, it was like, I'm just going to audition for things as many times as I can until they say yes, you know what I mean, or until they say no. And I remember they were like, all right, look, you're going to test for this, but they want you to go on for one more audition before that, just to run lines with Bill and work on the jokes and stuff.

And I was like, yeah, absolutely. The one thing I remembered, to this day, he's still like this. if Bill wants the joke to work, he'll laugh. Even if it fell flat, he'll still laugh to give you the confidence of, yo, dude, that's the joke. That's where the joke lands, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so we went into the room and we're working on it.

And he's laughing at everything. And I'm like, oh, I'm crushing it. And then after every take, he'd be like, all right, now let's work on this beat. And I remember it was him and Danny Rose at the time. Yeah. Danny Rose is another one of... At the time he was Bill's assistant. but then he rose up in the ranks and became a producer on the show.

Right. And so we did it. And then he was like, all right, good luck tomorrow. And I was like, all right, bet. And so I went on the audition and I saw a bunch of friends of mine auditioning. And Sarah was there. And, you know, we were there for about an hour and a half all of us testing in front of the network. And I remember at one point, you know, we're all sitting out there for a while and they hadn't come out in a big.

And Bill comes out, I was like, Donald, I need to talk to you real quick. And I was like, oh, well, I guess I'm the first person to go home. And he says, so look, your audition, you probably could tell already, but you kind of fucked it up. Oh, my God, you must have been dying. And so, you know, I want to give you another shot because the things that I've seen you do, you just didn't do that time in the room. And so if you could just bring it down a little bit and because I was, I agree with them? Did you agree with them and think like, oh, shit, I was so nervous and he's right?

No, I thought I was crushing it. I was doing everything that we, I thought I was doing everything that we had done in the rehearsal. Right. So finally, I go in there and I remember toning everything down and him being like, perfect. And then leaving, and he sent everybody home except for Sarah, myself, and one other person. And that night I found out I got the job. Wow. You know what I mean?

and, you know, when I went in on the audition, I expected to see the guy that he had kept. You know, it was me, Sarah, and this one guy, and we were like, holy cow, I guess we got it. Right. And I expected to see the guy at the table read, and you walked in. I was like, that's not the same, dude.

Wait, so I knew who you were, obviously, but because I loved Clueless. I had not seen anything you were in, no. No, you wouldn't. I'm sure. I didn't mean to say that you'd seen by two little indies. I just mean, like, I guess I don't know what my question is. I mean, like, have you even seen a picture of me?

You didn't even know anything about me. I knew nothing about you. You knew an unknown guy got the part, at least, right? I feel like I remember what you wore to the table read, though. I feel like you wore a corduroy brown pants. I could be wrong. I can't believe that you would remember this. And a t-shirt.

And we met at the bar while I was getting a drink. I remember I was writing this out of my notes. First of all, it was at Krista Miller's and Bill's old house. And Charlotte Lawrence had just been born. Charlotte Lawrence was a baby, and we walked into, I remember it was a sunken living room, and there was a bar in the corner, and then you turned around and gave me this big smile, and you were like, yeah, buddy! And I was like, it literally was love at first sight.

Right. I just felt, I was so nervous you have to understand. I mean, I knew you were, obviously, I knew John McGinley was. I had met Sarah at my audition, but, like, I was, you can imagine, I mean, we're all nervous, no matter who you are. But I was, because also people do get fired after table reads. So, you know, you're like, you're like, I mostly have it, but I really got to make sure I keep it. And then I saw you and you were so warm.

And I think we hugged. I think the first time. Yeah, no, we did hug. Yeah. The first time we met, we hugged. Well, that's, that was the, that was the craziest thing was, I remember not knowing who you were and being like, all right, they were. And Bill was like, let's start the table read. And I remember being nervous for myself.

And then you started reading, and all of a sudden, the jokes that I didn't see in the script when I read it, all of a sudden started to appear because you were knocking it out of the park. And everybody was laughing and, you know, really excited. So when it was my time to come and I was like, yeah, the energy was there. And you know what I mean? I just remember being like, holy cow, this kid is amazing. Oh, thank you. I remember being like, this could actually turn into something. This is at the table read.

I remember being like, this could be something special. My agents weren't lying when they told me this was the one. Yeah, yeah, man. I remember that special feeling, too. I also wanted to say that when I drove home from my test, I had the Motorola Star Tech. You remember that? Yeah, the two ways.

No, no, the Star Tech was the little flip phone, the little black flip phone back in the day. Oh, I don't, no, man. Anyway, I had my little flip phone, and I put it on the passenger seat as I was driving. having home from the network test. And I was just waiting to see if it was going to ring. And like, is my life about to change substantially or not? And the phone rang. It was Bill. He told me I got the part. And I was just flipping out. I mean, I had no money. I didn't have a

dollar to my name. I was living. Oh, dude, who are you telling, man? I had kids. I bought a house with all of this clueless money that I had. And you know what I mean? I thought I was going to be a baller. And I remember having to call home and beg my mom. for money so I could get gas to go on these auditions. Oh, really? Because I was broke. My parents loaned me $5,000 to buy a car out in L.A. So I bought a car.

I bought a Nissan 240SX. I remember that. Which did me really, really well. And then I was just, you know, living off my waiter's salary. But I got the call from Bill. I freak out. I call my mom. I call my dad.

And then I called the manager of the restaurant, who was amazingly supportive of me. And she was an actress herself. And she was like, I'm so happy for you. And I was like, well, I quit. And she was like, wait, wait, wait. I never forget that she was like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

You have to work tonight. I was like, what now? She's like, you have to work tonight. And I was like, I do. She's like, babe, you can't leave me hanging like that. You got to work tonight. I was like, oh, I'll work tonight. And I just got, I had hammered.

People were like waiting on me like, you know, because it was one of those restaurants where people were like really dushy and like, sir. And I'd be like, just wait your turn. You know, I was like. Everybody, everybody calm down, all right? Your French Vietnamese food is coming. Right on. I remember after we shot the pilot just to jump ahead

and having to wait for so long for the show to get picked up, right? And running into you at a club and you being out of your mind blitzed. Yeah. Yeah, that's probably what happened. I could never get into the club. Like I went like in the classic thing with like the red velvet ropes and like I can even picture like me being online at the club.

club being like, all right, well, I'm going out to a nightclub tonight because I got some money in my pocket. And it's like, I picture, I see like Donald going in, like, the guys, like, the bouncers, like, part the red velvet ropes is Donald and his posse gets, gets led into the club. And then I get in and I saw you. I remember, I remember the first night I saw you like out in the real world and I like screamed because I was like, dude, you were so loud and you was so drunk. It was so funny. Well, I had to celebrate. So let's get, let's get back to the, let's talk about the pilot. Now, the first thing I want to say about the pilot, the first thing I noticed is that that's not the hospital.

Right. The pilot for Scrubs was filmed, we filmed technically in three spots. The pilot was filmed in a Burbank hospital. And this one that they show it in the exterior is actually not even that. It's just a different hospital. But then we shot the bulk of the series at a hospital in Valley Village, which is now apartments. And then season nine, which we'll have plenty of jokes about, was shot actually on a

black lot on stages, but the bulk of the show, the one that you all know in love was shot, all inside a real hospital. I'm sure not everybody knows that. It was a real hospital. I remember the sound man saying something about, you know, I think when we did the pilot, I'm not sure if, I'm not sure if it was the pilot or the actual series, but I think it was the pilot saying, you know what, I'm going to set up in this room because this is the room that my father died in or something. Really? Yeah. That's so dark. Our dressing rooms, you know, you've seen a lot of times on sets, people have trailers that are their dressing rooms.

Well, our dressing rooms were hospital rooms. For eight and a half years that we worked at this hospital, we lived and did everything inside this hospital. I mean, our dressing rooms were in the hospital, the makeup rooms were in the hospital, the offices were in this hospital, the editing, the writer's room, everything, all the other sets, like, you know, whether it was the inside of a bar or our apartment, all those were built into this really discussed,

ancient hospital. Okay. So I want to talk about the first scene where you wake up and it's time to, that was that a reshoot? No, it was not a reshoot. I think it was done like after the fact. I think it's probably one of the last things we did. I do remember thinking that I didn't think this was funny, this, this whole shaving cream

thing. It turned out to be really funny. Well, that's, Bill, Bill turned it into something. I remember thinking like, what? Why would I be doing this? Why would I on my first day so nervous be making a shaving cream bra? Or being like a warrior? A warrior.

And then going to the screen. Look how young I am. I'm just scrolling through because I like to just reference it. But anyway, I didn't think it was funny at the time, but then I saw it. And I remember thinking, yeah, that was clever. Okay. And then the scene where you walk into the hospital and the lady gives you all of this energy about what's going to happen,

day, et cetera, et cetera. And then you not really knowing where to go. Yeah, I mean, this was one thing you'll hear me say over and over again was, and Bill always said this, was like, there's no person better to play someone young and in over their head than me, because here I was, I didn't know anything about, I mean, it was all method acting. I didn't know anything about starring in a TV show. I didn't know anything about, like, I mean, I knew I had some experience, but every time I was playing the wide-eyed guy walking around, I was just being me, because I couldn't believe that this was happening to me. You know, it was the exact. same life that I was living.

You know what? Speaking of wide-eyed, before we started the pilot, they wanted us to all go on rounds with doctors and stuff like that. Right, I did that. Right. I did not. I opted out. I was like, get the fuck out of here.

I'm not doing that shit. I don't want to see any of this. But meanwhile, I'm like, I'm like the diligent student who's like, all right, send me out. Right. I remember getting on the phone with the young lady who was my contact that was going to take me around on rounds and her being like, so you're coming down the night and me being like yeah about that no i i i don't see myself ever doing this uh if you could just tell me some anecdotes that would be great but yeah i was the exact i was like the good student i was like

did you see anything crazy no but i remember thinking it was really inappropriate actually um that she was having me like go around like to visit patients with her like she she put a stethoscope around my neck so i would look like legit like i know it's kind of fucked up in hindsight like i should not have been doing that but did she ever refer to you like no no because she she she She was just treating me like I was a medical student. And she wasn't doing what she should have done, which is being like, hey, is it okay? There's someone who's an actor researching a part.

She wasn't doing that. I was just going in and being like, hey, how's the guy's going? And she'd kind of like, and the people would be like looking at her. And then they'd like, they'd nod to me. And I'm like, I would just be nodding. I remember I was just kind of had like a serious nod on my face. Like I was listening and understanding what's going on. Right on.

Cats are masters at using up their nine lives, like chasing laser pointers into walls or jumping onto high shelves. But the one thing cats never do, text while driving. So be like a cat and protect your one and only life. Don't text and drive. Don't drive distracted. A message brought to you by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Project Yellow Light, and the Ad Council. What's up, everybody? This is Snacks from the Trabner's podcast, and we're bringing you the horror every week all October long. Kicking up this month,

I'll be bringing you all my greatest fear-inducing horror games from Resident Evil to Silent Hill, me and Tony Bringing Back Fire Team on Left for Dead 2, and we're just going to be going over some of the greats. Also, in October, we'll be talking about our favorite horror and Halloween movie, and figure out why black people always got to die first. The Umberal Reliquary invites any and any,

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Once I saw the gun, I tried to take his hand and I saw the flash of light. Listen to the Chinatown Sting on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get your podcast. Welcome to Decoding Women's Health. I'm Dr. Elizabeth Pointer, chair of women's health and gynecology at the Atria Health Institute in New York City. On this show, I'll be talking to top researchers and top clinicians, asking them your burning questions and bringing that information about women's health and midlife directly to you.

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening now. I want to talk about the title sequence because that's the next thing that comes up. I was going to ask you about that too, man. Dude, how much did you hate that until you saw it? That's one of those things where I was like, this sucks, man. It took, for those of you who don't know, it's a motion control camera, and it really took a long time to do that. And at the time, we didn't know how cool it would look.

So it was like, it took like a full day to do. do it. And I remember we were all kind of really over it by the end. Then it came out and it was really fucking cool. And then we've heard this for many times our whole scrub's existence, but the x-ray at the end is backwards. And every doctor wanted to point that out. And we used to be like, oh yeah, yeah, that's on purpose. Get it? Because they're like med students. It's a comedy, right. Yeah, and they're med students and they don't fully get it. People and we're like, no, it wasn't the fucking prop guy fucked up. The shit backwards. We did. And but we got lucky with that too, because that kind of set the tone for this offbeat, wacky show of ours,

you know what I mean? I know, I know. But early on in like, in like commentary, I remember everyone being like, the x-rays backwards. And we were like, yeah, we meant to do it. And to do it again when we do it next time. Do you remember when we, um, a few years in, they tried to redo this sequence with Neil Flynn? They wanted to add Neil. Yeah. They wanted to add Neil and Neil the janitor. Yeah. And then so they aired it a few times and the fan base was like, what the luck is that opening it. They were not having it. They were like, sort of like season nine, how they weren't having season nine either. Right. But anyway, all right, we digress.

We have 180 episodes to get you before. We digress. We digress. But wait, and then I want to say that the song was a song I found from a band called Laslo Bain that I was friends with. Because originally we wanted five for fighting. That was the theme song. Yeah, that was the original theme song. It was something like, I'm more than a bird. We can never use this. I'm more than a plane. I think you're allowed to sing a few lines. I'm more than some Superman beside a train, however it goes. Anyway, so this song, I can't stand to fly.

My friend, I'm not that naive. All right, all right. My friend Chad Fisher was in this band, and I thought the lyrics were perfect because it's not only was it a great song, but it's like what the show's about, you know? I'm no Superman, Donald. Get it? Well, that's the same thing the Five for Fighting song was about. You just found somebody who wrote something kind of similar to it.

I can't do it all. Donald, I couldn't do it all on my own. I needed my friend. I'm more than a bird. Oh, my God. You have such a pretty voice, though. I just remember how perfect the song was when they sang it. And we didn't really necessarily know that it was going to be the theme song until...

I remember you playing it from me and being like, dude, and being like, oh, yeah, that's cool. But I didn't realize it was going to really be the theme song until we had that first cookout before we started shooting. the show, and he sang it with the bullhorn and his boy playing the guitar next to him. I'm going to be like, oh, that's really cool. And then we made a music video. If any of you never saw it, it's kind of cool. I shot a music video for the song, and I shot all this kind of cool footage of us. I'm sure it's on YouTube.

All right. Okay, so let's talk about the first scene with you and I. I'm gathering my notes because I did a lot of prep. I want fans to know. I did a lot of prep for this. Right on. So the first scene with you and I were. we're talking and Ted the lawyer is explaining to us, you know, legal procedure in the hospital.

Yeah. I remember him making up the line. And if your patient's dead and you're sure. And you're sure. That's hilarious. And I remember that was when I realized, oh, wow, Bill's going to let us, he's going to let us improv a little bit. Yeah. And we're going to have opportunities to be funny. Yeah. I think that's one of the things that made Scrubs really special, is. is that Bill really let everyone kind of make it their own. I mean, his running rule through the whole series was, you know,

please get it the way that it's written first, make sure we've got it good, and then you guys can play around and improvise, and if you have some wacky idea, you can do it. And that was from the get-go. And then he hired all these amazing people like Sam Lloyd, who plays the lawyer. Who played Ted the lawyer. And a little trivia, who's Christopher Lloyd's nephew. you. You know, just hilarious character actors like that that could, that would just bring all

their own, and no matter what the size of the part, you know, it's from, from our size part, all the way down to people who had, you know, would have one line in an episode. There was so much freedom to just kind of riff around and make it funny. Yeah. And we should give a shout to Adam Bernstein who directed the pilot. A pilot director. Yeah, a pilot director, for those you don't know, really sets the look of the show and the style. You know, Scrubs has a very specific style with the whip pans and the flashing to flashbacks and fantasies and even the color of the show to make how it looks so much like a hospital and isn't overly saturated like a lot of TV shows that deal with hospital life they you know they want their actors to pop on screen so the

blues or bluer and the eyes and the you know what I mean scrubs it looked dingy and dirty in the hospital in that first episode I noticed a lot I noticed that it was clearly a thing. I noticed, you know, the whole idea was that it was a, it was a hospital with, it had very little money. And I noticed there's a lot of stuff I, I, you know, I haven't watched this pilot in how many years, 20 years, but I remember, I was looking at the ceiling tiles. There's all these like missing ceiling tiles.

Yeah. And it was, and Bill and Adam really made it feel like a dingy, you know, it was not supposed to be a nice hospital. Also, the show was shot on film, which a lot of people probably don't know. This was, the entire series was shot on 16 millimeter film. That's why there's no Blu-ray and there's no. know if you look at it normally how it's meant to be seen, it's a square because it was before high-deaf video and 16 by 9 televisions. And no one ever like up-resed it. So this is all we got.

I watched the iTunes version, which has the original music. Do you want to explain to them about the music thing? Hulu doesn't have the original music? Well, just, you know, just because this is a question we get from a lot of fans at times on social media, all this music that was put on scrubs and a lot of people love was licensed before streaming. So these days, a lot of times, if you watch it on Hulu where it's currently playing or wherever you're watching it, it might have some of those songs that you love replaced because they weren't licensed for streaming rights. iTunes is the only place, or owning the DVDs, obviously, is the only place where all of the original music would be there. Let's talk about your teeth for a second, because I don't think we can just let this go.

I had baby teeth when we started shooting the show. I don't have baby teeth anymore. I spent a lot of money on new teeth. There it is. If you freeze frames, there was a saga of Donald's teeth because he used to have, he had fake braces famously in Clueless. Yes, because they were trying to hide my small teeth. Go on. Oh, was that really why?

Absolutely. Oh, we're getting an exclusive here. So you're telling me you're famous. They shaved my head in Clueless because my hairline was receding at 18. You know what I mean? By the time I was 21, I had this hairline right here that you, that I'm, well, you guys can't see it. But I had this, I had the same. By the way, I feel like we're breaking news.

Your famous braces were because- When I was a kid, they called me George Jefferson, okay? Because of my hair line. Are you happy? Are you happy? But I never knew that the clueless braces were because of your fucked up chicklet teeth. Yes. And then the hats that I wore in clueless was because of my hairline.

Oh, my God. Like, I have a baby face. I have a baby face. It's a baby, right? I have a baby face. Yeah. But I don't have a baby's hairline. Right.

I had baby teeth. Who called you George Jefferson? Your parents? No, some like dickhead that I grew up in my parents. You're an asshole. That'd be hilarious. George! All right, let's go forward with your chickle teeth.

Oh, and then, oh, and then, by the way, funny story. So then one season, Donald shows up. He decided on his own. We could talk about this some other time. We don't need to talk about this now. Well, can I just tease it for later? It tracks. it'll track.

All right, Donald showed up with braces on the inside of his teeth and had a lisp and Bill was like take your fucking braces off what the hell are you thinking? All right, let's move on.

But there's like six episodes where I'm talking like this the whole And Donald shows up and he's like, Donald Bill, I don't think anyone's going to notice. And Bill's like,

no one's going to notice? What the fuck are you doing? What did you do? And Donald's like, well, I just got braces. But you can't see him because they're on the inside

in my mouth. Okay. All right. I don't even think that's a funny story, dude. I think it's a lot. hilarious. All right, let's talk about Sarah Chalk's entrance into the lounge room. Absolutely.

Dun, dun, done, the brilliant and beautiful Sarah Chalk. So I remember at the audition seeing Sarah and being like, that's the girl from Roseanne. Holy cow. Yeah, second Becky. And thinking, she's definitely going to get this part because that was the girl from Roseanne. You know what I mean? Yeah. I didn't know.

I knew she was second Becky, as she jokingly called herself and people called. because she had replaced the original Becky. But I wasn't until I read with her in front of Bill, and then I read for their, with her at my final studio network test, that I got to meet her. And I was just smitten. I just thought she was so funny and so beautiful.

And that was one of my notes, actually. You guys had such great chemistry in the pilot. And it showed on screen that, you know, I think that worked for the remainder of the show because of, you know, it's hard to tell a will they, won't they, early on in a pilot, you know what I mean? Like, you can say one person has a crush, but you both kind of had a chemistry for each other in the pilots,

and it was undeniable, you know what I mean? So, like, right away, you knew that at some point you guys had to get together. You know what I mean? Even if it didn't work, you knew it you guys had to get together. And then there was that scene where I'm in the staircase, and I'm supposed to be looking at her butt going up and saying it looks I never understood why two pringles

which is what I say her butt your butt looks like two pringles hugging I never knew why that was Because they curve because it's a little Okay so a pringle isn't a flat chip I don't know if it's a compliment for a butt though Is it? My dude

Are you trying to tell me you don't appreciate A round booty? No I love a round booty but I just don't think What the hell are you talking about? But bro you think I would say like Oh it looks like a juicy peach I wouldn't say it looks like two Pringles that are like sharp and breakable

Okay, let me ask you a question How would you describe a nice bottom Like to a piece of food You would choose Pringles? Well, I mean, okay, do we need to get into this? Well, you can say it in a nice politically correct way. Okay, so for a really long time,

yes. People of Caucasian colors didn't necessarily like to have big round booties. Okay. And so a Pringle being a tiny curved chip, if you put them together, they look like a little tiny tiny booty. I got it. So you're saying because she had a tiny white girl booty, it was Pringley. Right.

Nowadays, because of certain actresses and Instagram models or whatever it may have. Influencers. Sure. Yes. Everyone in their mama likes a round booty now, a big round booty now. I see. So much so that they're starting to put fake booties. They're starting to put fake stuff in the buttocks area to make the booty rounder.

Now, I've heard this. Some women had really round booties already and decided, yo, you know what? It ain't round enough. And took more to make it bigger. I have a question for you about this. Yes. Now, is your theory that certain famous. influencers have influenced women to add, not just exercise.

Not just women, men too, men too. Now they exercise, you can choose to exercise and build up your booty, but you're saying that people really do put fake implants into their bottoms. They not only put it into their bottoms, they put it into their chest area, they put it into their abs, they put it into their arms. There are so many people out there where you're like, wow, that dude works out or, wow, she must really work out, and it's all enhancements. You think men get ass implants?

Absolutely. Do you have a number for a doctor who does this? That's true because you got a little two by four behind, that's for sure. I know. It's small. It's very small. I was thinking the other day. That was the other thing that I noticed about you that for the first time I met you,

I was like, he had a really small booty. Oh, you noticed that at the table read. Absolutely. When you walked away. Anyway, go on. I just wrote down because there was a shot of her butt, which I thought looked beautiful. and then I kind of thought about the line Pringles

and I didn't fully understand it. All right, let's move on from Sarah and her glorious touch. Let's talk about John C. McGinley. Yes, let's. Dr. Cox. Before you get to Cox, I want to talk about just, I think Matt Winston is first. So Matt Winston is the guy who's saying,

I'm a tool, I'm a tool, I'm a tool. And I always thought he was so frigging funny. In fact, I put him in my film, which I was here and a little bit of trivia for the trivia buffs out there. He's Stan Winston's son, the late great Stan Winston. Did you know that, Donald? I did not know that.

Yeah. Wow, a huge fan of his dad. He wasn't used a ton. A bill sort of phased him out, although he did have a hilarious line where he goes, it's like a baguette. Yeah, that's later on. I think when he was talking about Kelso's penis. All right. So Johnny C. McGinley.

I mean, where do we begin? The legend. The legend. I remember when we, after the table read, when I saw him at the table read, I was like, I'm to stay clear of that guy. He's a little intimidating. Yeah, he's a little scary. And then we did the rehearsals at the hospital, and I remember watching him, and I was like, and I remember telling myself, focus on him right now because we're all, you know, kind of wide-eyed and don't necessarily know what it is we want to do.

He came into the game already with Cox like, he was like, this is how I'm going to play him, this is how he's going to be, you know what I mean? He knew right away what he was doing. And I remember I was like, focus on that guy because he seems to be already out the gate. You know what I mean? He seems to be running already where we're, you know, getting a slow start. He's already off and running. So focus on him and try and match

that energy that he has. And nobody worked harder. I mean, Johnny, throughout the course of the season, had those endless, really hard to do monologues. And he would sometimes get him the night before. And he would work so hard. I mean, this is not a guy who ever phoned in I don't think Johnny ever flubbed a line

in nine years. I mean, that's not true. He's flubed lines. Well, I'm saying most rare, the least often of any of us. And he was just so on it and so, he's so made it his. You know, there's a thing in acting where you say, like, oh, I don't want to just do it a generic way than anyone to do it. I want to, I want to make it specific to me and make it mine. And a lot of actors, I think, force that. And so they put all this shit onto it.

It isn't necessary. They're just trying to be different. Whereas some actors just do that, and it's natural. It feels right. And I think Johnny's the ultimate example of that. He's someone who, all these characteristics and all the things, the gestures, the hands on the back of his head, the touch in his nose. Like, that's all just Johnny. That's all stuff that's so specifically him that he brought to that part.

You know what I mean? Absolutely. And he stayed consistent with it the whole time. Everything he did, he was consistent. Like, we all evolved into different characters as the show went on. If you watch the show, we're very, you know, you and I, when it's not as broad as the show goes on. on. Johnny stayed consistent from the beginning. He was the same level the whole time. And you really see it in that first scene where he comes into the break room and is doing his thing. You know what I

mean? It's really interesting, you know, to go back and watch now because when making it, I, you know, I paid attention to him specifically because of who he was. But to see how I evolved, to see how you evolved, to see how Sarah evolved, to see how, you know what I mean, uh, Judy evolved. Yeah. It really, and all from this pilot, you know what I mean? It's like the pilot is a tame version of what scrubs became. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Although there's things about it, you know, I, I don't know if you noticed, but there's things that are in the pilot that you can see both Bill and Adam Bernstein, the director are figuring out, like, that we eventually phased out, like, all the, I mean, like, there's like whip noises when Johnny turns his head, and there's like, there's like way more sound effects early on I think in the show that they eventually toned down but I mean that's a digression from Johnny

so Johnny's just amazing and people always ask what he's like and I say he literally is this intense but he's just the most nice person you've ever met it's just like he's like picture that intensity of a human being but he's a super sweet and nice person but nothing but love though that intensity

with nothing but love and when he shakes your hand he puts out his hand and goes there's five good ones for you meaning his fingers. Five good fingers. Yeah, there's five good ones for you. Grab it and squeeze. Yeah, he's got all sorts of sayings, but I'll never forget there's five good ones for you.

Yeah, that one and there's some ammo in that. Oh, yeah, we'd finish a scene in one of our editors' names was Jean-Michel, and he'd go, I think we gave Jean-Michel some ammo. All right, so let's go. The next thing I wrote down, I don't know if you have anything before this, but was the sitcom fantasy I have.

where I, where I, with Sarah on this. You'd a man. You'd a man. So I don't even know what, this was a sitcom must have been on, on NBC or something, or maybe ABC, because, but I don't remember, we borrowed some, actually people out there might, who know the sitcom might recognize who said it is, but we just went to an actual set and shot the scene there because we didn't, you know, was the pilot. Was it like, Good Morning Miami or something like that?

That could have been it. I don't know. It probably was a pilot of the same, of the same season. right or something and I remember this was just surreal we were in like on a real sitcom stage and granted I have a huge crush on Sarah and I'm doing my best to like hold it together and then all of a sudden we're doing a scene where she rips off her top and mounts me and we make out yeah you know what back in the day I was like wow she ripped off her top that's cutting edge now I look at it and I'm like oh well did she have to rip off her top well I think the show you have to look at it in the context of the year I mean everybody forgets now because we have all this everything streaming and cable and everything's

so much more risque and you go to you seek out whatever you watch I mean from the show girls the crazy show they would do on there to to everything and anything that's on Netflix now but back in the day you know I think Bill was trying to push the envelope the show was on at 9 or 930 he was trying to push the envelope what you could do on network television right so both with being politically incorrect at times both with sex, with language. I mean, he was trying to say, like, hey, network, you can compete and be a little bit, you know. Risque.

Risque. And so this for the time was pretty risque. I mean, it was very risque. There was a lot of sex in the show. You know, it's funny. I'm sure you do. You have people who go, hey, I'm showing my kids scrubs. And I can't even be in the same room.

It's so awkward because there was a lot of sex in the show. No, I don't, you know, I don't let my kids watch scrubs. Well, your kids are too young, but I'm saying like. I got a six-year-old and a four-year-old. Watching Scrubs any time. No, I didn't mean your kids. I mean, like, Matt Tarsus, who was one of the writers, he told me that his son, who was a teenager,

was watching the show. And he's like, I had to walk out of the room. I was like watching, like, you and Sarah have these sex scenes. Like, that episode where we were eating pizza and we're like banging all over the place. Okay. Cats are masters at using up their nine lives, like chasing laser pointers into walls. Or jumping onto high shelves.

But the one thing cats never do, text while driving. So be like a cat and protect your one and only life. Don't text and drive. Don't drive distracted. A message brought to you by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Project Yellow Light, and the Ad Council. Welcome to Decoding Women's Health. I'm Dr. Elizabeth Pointer, chair of Women's Health and Gynecology

at the Atria Health Institute in New York City. On this show, I'll be talking to top researchers and top clinicians, asking them your burning questions and bringing that information about women's health and midlife directly to you. A hundred percent of women go through menopause. It can be such a struggle for our quality of life, but even if it's natural, why should we suffer through it? The types of symptoms that people talk about is forgetting everything, I never used to forget things. They're concerned that, one, they have dementia, and the other one is, do I have ADHD? There is unprecedented promise with regard to cannabis and cannabinoids, to sleep better, to have less pain, to have better mood, and also to have better day-to-day life.

Listen to Decoding Women's Health with Dr. Elizabeth Pointer on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening now. What's up, everybody? This is Snacks from the Trapner's podcast, and we're bringing you the horror every week all October long. Kicking off this month, I'll be bringing you all my greatest. Fear-inducing horror games from Resident Evil to Silent Hill, me and Tony bringing back by our team on Left for Dead too, and we're just going to be going over some of the greats. Also in October, we'll be talking about our favorite horror and Halloween movie, and figure out why black people always got to die further.

The Umbral Reliquary invites any and all fooling, brave enough, to peruse its many curiosities. But take heed, all sales are final. Weekly horror side quest written and narrated by yours truly With a full episode read and a commentary special And we will cap it off with horror movie battle royale Jason versus Freddie Michael Myers versus the 80th thing with the little tongue muster October we're doing it Halloween style

Listen to the Travener's podcast from the Black Effect Podcast Network On the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast In early 1988 federal agents race to track down the gang they suspect of importing millions of dollars worth of heroin into New York from Asia. We had 30 agents ready to go with shotguns and rifles and you name it. But what they find is not what they expected. Basically, your stay-at-home moms were picking up these large amounts of heroin. They go, is this your daughter? I said yes.

They go, oh, you may not see her for like 25 years. Caught between a federal investigation and the violent gang who recruited them, the women must decide who they're willing to protect and who they dare to betray. Once I saw the gun, I tried to take his hand, and I saw the flash of light. Listen to the Chinatown Stang

on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get your podcasts. You know, that's, that is true. Sarah did have to take her top off, but I'm going to be honest with you. I think the guys on the show were way more naked than the females were on the show. You know what I mean? Yeah, you were naked a lot. I was naked so much.

Your body looks fierce. Thank you. Like Tay Diggs, baby. Like Tay Diggs. Tay Diggs. You know, funny bit of trivia, Rob Machio, who was often only in his banana hammock and worked very hard to maintain that physique. He would do all sorts of push-ups and stuff. When the show moved, whatever season, from NBC to ABC, which is owned by Disney,

they made a rule that we could no longer film him from the waist down when he was in his banana hammock. Did you know that bit of trivia? I did know that bit of trivia. I also, I remember, and we'll discuss this later on, but there were times where we were actually really naked because it had to be that way for the camera. Wait, you didn't have like a sock on your penis? I did one time I did have a sock on my penis. and I remember having to walk in the parking lot with a bunch of people with a sock on my penis.

Yeah, I remember that. Not only that, I had a, I had also a very big leaf, very big leaf. It was a big leaf, first of all. A large, like an oak leaf. It was like a maple leaf, like a huge maple leaf. It wasn't like one of those thin, like bamboo leaves. No, no, no. It wasn't like a, it wasn't like a eucalyptus leaf. It was a, it was like a maple leaf to cover my junk. No one has ever bragged about their sexual prowess through leaf size. So that's a first for our podcast. podcast. I do want to say that I once, there's a scene where I was dancing in front of Tara Reed and I was supposed to be naked and they were shooting me from behind. And so I just, I packed everything I had into a sock and I was doing the dance in front of Tara Reid. Remember that? And then, and then the sock came off. And then I was like, what is a real experience?

Here's Tara Reid just staring at my junk. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Oh. I mean, What am I going to do? I apologize and... All right, so we got a collar on... Wait, why are you interrupting? I just want to say that it was a tube sock, much like your leaf analogy. It was not one of those little... It wasn't a dress sock.

It was a tube sock. No, you know those little socks people not wear they're just like... It wasn't an ankle sock. It was a tube sock. What are they call those things that just go in your seat? Ankle socks. Yeah, it wasn't an ankle sock. It was a tube sock.

It was a tube sock. You got to say we're basing your boys. It was a tube sock, man. A long one. So we got a collar. It was a woman's thigh high. Okay. So I don't mean to interrupt you, Zach, but we got a caller on the line.

This is exciting because I daydreamed when we said we were going to do this, that we should take fan questions from all around the world, and it's really happening. So go ahead, Donald. So I'd like to introduce Chris to the podcast. Chris, how are you? Hi, Chris. How's it going, guys? I'm doing well. Thank you for having me on.

Thank you for our very first guest. So we really want to nail this. We want to give you the best answer to your question that's ever been given to any question throughout the history. Okay, gotcha. Let's hear that. No pressure. Exactly.

All right. I guess the question I'll ask you all, this one comes from a buddy of mine named Andrew. I have a question about the soundtrack. I think that's something that was such like an iconic part of the show. Just across all the seasons, you introduce so many people to so many awesome artists. over the years, was that something?

Was there someone that spearheaded that? Did you guys just have great taste? Like, how did you come up with this soundtrack? It was all me. It was all me. Donald had nothing to do with it. I literally had nothing to do with it. Yeah. Because at that time, I was listening to...

In nine years, did you ever get a song on, ever? No, because I was listening to songs like Jodacy. I was listening to, you know, songs by Wu-Tang Clan, you know what I mean? They weren't for things like that. Yeah. So, that was great. Donald didn't pick the music. Matter of fact, a lot of the artists that were on the show,

I was introduced to for the first time while watching the show. So who did we have on the show? Keen, all these people, I had no idea who they were. You know what I mean? And some artists that were well-known. I just didn't listen to that type of music at the time. It wasn't until Scrubs that all of a sudden started listening to Indian folk rock. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I think that, you know, first of all, was a lot of people. It was definitely Bill Lawrence, obviously, who created the show, and his wife, Krista Miller, who played Jordan and myself. I think we were the three probably the main people, but also a lot of the writers in the writer's room, a lot of times when it was their script, they'd go. It was a lot of people. And of course, the editors would get like 10 ideas,

and they'd be the ones to try and shape it to see what would work the best. So there was a bunch of us. But Krista Miller definitely did a lot of song choosing, and I got a bunch on myself that I'm excited about. our best friend got his... Joshua Raiden got his start. Really? Before Scrubs, what was Josh doing?

He was... Sleeping on my couch. Was he really? Yeah, I mean, he didn't even have a job. And he had written the song Winter, which we played in the episode where Brennan Frazier's character dies. Spoiler.

And Winter... They killed Brendan Frazier? Yeah. Winter was so popular that it launched a career for Josh. And everyone was like, what other songs do you have? And he's like, that's the only song I've ever written. And so he had to, like, frantically make an album.

Yeah. I remember going to watch him at two concerts with, like, me, Zach, my girlfriend at the time, Zach's girlfriend at the time, and that was it. Yeah. And now he sells out, you know, he does. He does really, really well. So that's it. It was a lot of fun.

You know, I think Bill was early on in putting music at the, you know, now it's become very popular and very common to sort of end your episode. of TV with an emotional piece of music and then cut around in a montage and watch how everyone, you know, what they learned from the episode. And I think Bill was at the forefront of doing that definitely because, you know, now it's pretty commonplace. But I think Scrubs was kind of one of the first shows to do that. You know, I like to think the Wonder Years was a, was a early version of what single camera comedy, I mean, Mash, obviously, but the Wonder Years really took the time that it was in and used the music of that time to help tell the story. And Scrubs, I feel like, is the next

thing to do that. Yeah. And Allie McBeal, also Allie McBeal, I think Bill would say that, if remember the show, Ali McBeal, how they would cut away to wacky shit. I mean, I think Scrubs meets Scrubs is sort of Allie McBeal meets MASH meets Wonder Years. Right. All right, do we answer your question? You did. That was awesome. Thank you so much.

Do you have another one? We'll give you another one. Yeah, we'll give you another question. All right, I've got a two-part question. It's kind of common knowledge now that the janitor wasn't supposed to make it past season one. He was supposed to be a figment of J.D.'s imagination. Yeah. So two-part of here.

One, how is that supposed to be written in? How was it going to come to be known that the janitor was, you know, just a figment of the imagination? And then the second part of that is, is there any plot line that didn't come to fruition that you really wish did? Yeah, I know that. But wait, I just want to say, we're going to have Bill on for everyone. Bill will probably be our first guest because he can answer all sorts of questions about what his plan was for the writing and such. But I do remember that Neil Flynn, first of all, I was going to talk about this when we got to Neil in the pilot. But Neil was supposed to just have a small part. Bill wasn't even intending that he was going to be in the show beyond the pilot or maybe a few episodes.

but he was so hilarious that Bill just kept adding him and adding him and adding him and to the point where he became one of the stars of the show and Neil is a hilarious improvisational actor and so a lot of times he would just make up his own line throughout the whole run of the show in fact it got to a point where sometimes in a script it would just say like and then Neil makes up something funny

like it wouldn't even have a line for him because Neil was just so gifted and hilarious was that whole scene improv'd With you and him, with the penny in the door? No, the penny in the door was all written. But I'm saying, like, right off the bat, everybody could tell, like, this guy, Neil Flynn is really funny, and he's got to be more in the show. And, you know, Bill would kind of try people out.

And when they killed it, he'd keep using him, you know, just like all the people that fans grew to love, like, you know, Phil Lewis, Hooch, like, we all thought he was so friggin hilarious. We just kept putting him in the show whenever we could. So, anyway, long story short, if you, I think throughout season one, the janitor only addresses me, if I'm not mistaken. No, that's true. So Bill kind of had the idea like, oh, my God, if this doesn't go too long, it might be funny to do a big reveal that the janitor is totally in, in JD's imagination.

But then how crazy would that have made JD, though? You would have been like a freaking psycho, dude. You would have been... Look at nine years of wacky fantasies. Remember when you were a goat? Yeah, dude, but it was a fantasy. These were fantasies. Goat tur.

If you actually had somebody that you, an imagine... imaginary friend that you talked to and would talk back to you and you're a doctor? I know. I think it could have been cool. But anyway, the point was that the show kept going and Bill, I remember Bill, I heard Bill say like, I had to, I had to have this guy interact with other people because it was like, you know, and then it became, you know, wanted to, I think fans also wanted to see the character of the janitor interact with people, although you never knew his name or did you. Name was janitor, or was it Glenn Matthews? Did we answer the second part of the question? Oh, storylines. We did a medicinal marijuana long before it's time. We did a medicinal marijuana plotline and started shooting it. And then the studio told Bill to shut it down.

That ain't happening. Yeah. It's funny because, of course, now marijuana is legal in California and so many other places. Well, I remember it had just started becoming legal at the time when we were shooting. Well, for medicinal, for medicinal. Yeah. I do remember that because there were a lot of people that were. smoking weed

while we probably shouldn't bring that up in the first episode of this let's get to how high everybody was in future episodes we have to tease something I'm just saying I was a tease okay in future episodes

Donald will out people for who was baked when all right thank you Chris we're gonna want thank you Chris thank you guys so much thank you Chris

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to sleep better, to have less pain, to have better mood, and also to have better day-to-day life. Listen to Decoding Women's Health with Dr. Elizabeth Pointer on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening now. that would be so funny that would be so funny if that's how we did it in that scene he's high i think you need to come clean when we get to scenes where you were baked that'll be like the whole series run okay great um how long into the series did you stop memorizing your lines

Uh, vert. We'll talk about that in future episodes to come as well. Oh, I wanted to say the scene with Johnny in the in the in the lounge with the woman that that was my audition scene where Johnny comes in with the woman he says is dead and he's telling me to throw Tylen all in her face. That was one of the main, I think one of the three scenes that I audition with. What was your audition scenes? Do you remember? My audition scene was I'm really scared I'm so happy that I get to wear a surgical mask

a mask because if I didn't have it on my face would look like this and then I make the scared face that was one of my audition scenes and then And did you improv I love you or is that in the script? No, we improv that. Bill came up to me and was like, tell him you love him at the end

That was funny And I was like, what? He was like, just say it and then laugh when you walk away. And then Lonnie, by the way everyone, that's Lonnie Lonnie, he's playing the pizza delivery guy. I had no idea that was him until watching the pilot. So Lonnie exists, it's one of the few people that exists as two different characters in the Scrubs universe. I feel like it's three different characters, but yeah, okay.

Why, there's Lonnie, there's Pizza Delivery guy. And who was, was Lonnie also the guy that played basketball? I don't remember. Okay, anyway. Scrubs fans will answer for us. But, yeah, that was very funny. I love that when you say I love you, he looks, we both look at you like, what? Now I say it to you all the time

In this scene also, the woman was supposed to be really dead And I remember the network pushed back against Bill And said, no, you can't have her I'm really genuinely pushing around a dead woman You have to have her at the end go I'm not really dead So that was a rewrite forced by the network Because Bill thought it was funny

If he really was just pushing around a corpse Very funny too I want to talk about Ken Jenkins for a second Yes Because I feel like he was the MVP of our show You know what I mean? Yeah. In so many ways.

Like, it's really difficult to be on a show with such a huge ensemble cast where everyone is likable. From the lead all the way down to the guest stars, everyone's likable. I think the hardest part, the hardest person to play in all of that would be the bad guy. You know what I mean? And he made it so that the bad guy, you didn't like it. him, but you still loved him, you know what I mean? Yeah, that's interesting way to put it. And I felt like he was literally the MVP, him and Judy Reyes actually, were the MVPs of the show because Judy had to tackle all of the dramatic stuff, you know what I mean? Her character

felt everything. She was the nurse. She was the mother of the hospital. And Ken Jenkins, his character was the evil dad or the, you know what I mean? The grandpa who was just over it all and was like, I just, you know, I want this hospital to make money, we're broke, and all that matters is if their insurance is going to pay for it. If they're not, get them out of here, because we're broke, we got no dough. And I thought to make those two, to make that character lovable is a really, really, really hard thing to do, and he did it effortlessly, it seemed like in my eyes. And same thing with Judy, you know what I mean?

Judy would play a role that was definitely needed in this band of misfits. She played this character that was just motherly and took care of, you know, Bambi came from, that stuck throughout the whole show, you being called Bambi. Yeah, I noticed that her very first line that comes out of her mouth is calling me Bambi. I didn't know that. I didn't remember that, but that stuck for the whole run of the show. And of course, people still call me that on the street. when I'm past them.

But her very first line is calling me Bambi. Yeah, you know what I mean? And it was just, we knew what we were there to do. We're here to be funny and we're here to make everybody laugh and, you know, and at times we're going to get dramatic and everything like that. But Judy and Ken had the tough roles, in my opinion. You knew Judy was supposed to make everybody feel safe. Ken was supposed to make everybody feel anger, you know what I mean, in this crazy world?

and they did it so perfectly. And Ken had a lot of the, you know, social commentary that Bill was trying to get in there about how fucked up the health care system is and how, how fucked up it is that hospitals are like, no insurance, get them out of here. Like, right away in the pilot, of course, these issues are so relevant today more than ever, but right away in the pilot, you have them going, look, I don't care that you know nothing. Let me tell you a couple things. If they don't have insurance, get them out of here.

And Bill geniusly found a way to make that, of course, Ken Jenkins as an actor, together, they found a way to make that character so lovable, even though he was a, he was the antagonist. Yeah. I want to talk about 13 minutes and 38 seconds. I'm looking at a still of you making out with Judy Reyes. Right on. And Todd, in the frame I have up, Todd is watching because it's part of the fantasy. He wants to high five you.

It's so hot. So what was it like? You know, I think people who aren't. actors are always curious what's like when you meet someone, hey, nice to meet you, and then all of a sudden you have to just go do a fake makeout scene with them. I feel like that was the first day I met Judy, too. Really? Yeah, I feel like that was our first scene together.

And I hadn't, you know, I remember me. I don't remember Neil at the table read. I don't remember Judy. I don't remember Ken at the table read. I remember me, you, Johnny, and Sarah for some reason. And so when we did the makeout scene, I feel like. that was my, I know it's not the first day I met her, but that's my first real memory of Judy. You know what I mean? And I remember she smokes cigarettes right before the scene. And I was

like, ah! That's a power move. That's a power move. That's how you do. But I realize that's how you do it. If you're going to make out with somebody, make it so they got to work and not make it so it's them having a great time making a, no, this is a job, dude. This isn't, this isn't, this isn't you getting your rocks off while we're doing this scene. It's funny to think about someone's smoking. Like, I mean, I don't, do you know any, I mean, it's rare to see anyone smoking cigarettes at all anymore. Oh, no. There are a lot of people that still smoke cigarettes.

Now that vaping has turned into the worst thing ever for your body. Vaping, of course, but just the idea that Judy was, I guess, a smoker when we started, right? Is that what you're saying? I was a smoker when we started. Oh, that's right. And Neil was always a smoker. Yeah. when we started doing the show

I think a lot of us smoke cigarette I mean in the cast maybe you Sarah and Johnny and Ken didn't but everyone else did Yeah I didn't remember that And then us doing the kissing stuff And then watching the episode And none of that made the show really

All it is is me We're kind of cuddled up together We're kind of cuddled up together And and Robbs over us watching But I remember doing the scene If feeling way more intimate than that. You know what I mean? Way more, you know what I mean? And then watching it being like,

oh, they didn't use any other good stuff. Right. Well, it's a really quick moment. And I love that she's, I love that you're naked and she's like, all right, thanks. I'm out. I thought that was a cool, like, introduction of her character. She was like, and I also, and I also like that your imagination was me scoring. Right. In reality, the real, what really happened was I got played and it got turned into, you know, I got, you know, I stripped down for someone. Right. And she was like, she got, you know, she just wanted to make out with someone and be like later. And she like, she was like, she kind of like used you. Whereas in my imagination, you were using her. Right. Right. Yeah, that was clever. Yeah. I wanted to just quickly talk about that, it's going backwards, but that deer in headlight thing, I still have the foam antlers.

I'm staring at them right now from that fantasy where I imagine I'm a deer in headlights. And what we had to do was they backed the macup, the big semi, right up to my, face and the idea was for the that the truck would floor it in reverse and and then we'd play it and then we'd play it backwards right so it looked like it was hit and then of course it hit a mannequin too but for this one shot and I remember standing there with my face against the grill of a of a mac truck and being like leaning out to the driver being like you sure it's in reverse right like like there had to be some OSHA rule against that but I but I was like standing there going if this dude like I don't want to cause any waves or anything but I just want to double check you're in reverse.

We have me finally saving a life. Oh, we have a Loma. We should talk about Aloma Wright, the beautiful and talented Aloma Wright, who played by Nurse Roberts. Nurse Roberts, whose introduction in the show is, you know, amazing.

Can you just call him so I can go home, please? Yeah. Can you just call him so I can go home? She's so good. And Loma was one of the, again, another example of someone who Bill just loved and thought was so talented and she, you know, ended up being in the whole show.

until he eventually killed her off, felt bad, and brought her back as her twin sister, which we'll get to that in later episodes of this podcast. Lavernegan. Lavernegan. I'm going to call you Lavern again. So we were thinking of like trying to summarize what the lesson of the episode was. But I mean, I think the lesson of the pilot was basically the theme song,

which is I can't do this all on my own, right? I mean, it's the introduction of how difficult it is to be, a doctor in a hospital and how the medical staff at a hospital really depends on each other to work. Yeah. And I think, I think, I mean, I don't think it's a big leap to say that a lot of people related to the show because they could see that in their own lives and how you turn to your friends and your family. I mean, I think the show can be, as we all know, can be very, very heartwarming. And that was what Bill did so geniusly was how it'd be so funny and crazy and silly and fantasies and everything and then all of a sudden you can turn a corner and you're

losing a patient like I did at the end or or or you see that our friendship is so is so pure is still solid also uh conquering fear you know what I mean uh J.D was so afraid to do everything as a matter of fact him and Elliot hide in a closet at one point and uh Dr. Cox catches them doing it and understands why they're afraid but then at the end of the show still gives J.D. the confidence to perform whatever it is you did with the tube and the blood and all of that stuff. Something that, you know, J.D. was very afraid of and made him feel like he was going to be okay. And he was, and he had a support group around him. Yeah. And I think that's it. That's, that's the pilot. I think we just, we just did it. We did our first podcast. I love

you. I love you so much, man. Hey, listen, if you're a fan and you made it to the end, thank you. We're going to keep doing this. We want you to watch the show with us. We're going to do this every week, and you can just join us, tell your friends, and every week we're going to go through another episode, and we're going to take a fan question. If you have a fan question, Donald, we have set up a Gmail account, the IHeart people have. Right, and that account is? That account is Scrubs, iHeart at gmail.com. So Scrubs and then iHeart at gmail.com. That's very well said.

Thank you. We want you to submit questions. And then our beautiful producers here will work out all logistics. And we'll have you on. We're going to take a question each podcast. We're going to have guests on. We're going to start having fellow cast members. We're obviously going to have our creator of the show Bill Lawrence on.

Who else we're going to have on Donald? Some of the crew members. Oh, my goodness. We're going after, you know, even some of the people that you remember, but don't know, like Snoop Dog intern, we're going to reach out to him. They're reaching out to Doc to Mickhead. Did he already? Snoop Dog intern already slid into my DMs.

Mickhead already said he's down. We're going to even have the, we're going to have the stand-ins on the show who did a lot of the work that you see before we went in and did it. set up the shots they you know so it's going to be a bunch of people writers we're going to have directors everything hopefully we could get some big names too i'm sure scott foley would come on and we could just say nobody cares sean over and over nobody cares so um follow donald and i on instagram and uh and twitter and please tell your friends because uh we hope this is a is a big success because for us this was i don't know about you don't but this was a lot of fun i kind of don't

want to stop talking, but I feel like we should. This was actually the, you know, I talk about Clueless as the jump off point in my life where I was introduced to the industry and I learned a lot of things. But Scrubs was really like the, you know, that was the thing that took it over the top for me as an actor, where I had an actual job where I was able to, you know, pay my rent and I built a family because I was able to be a part of this wonderful show. So, you know, I owe a to you, Zach. I owe a lot to Bill Lawrence. I owe a lot to the cast and the crew of this of Scrubs. So I'm really excited to talk about it with fans who enjoyed the experiences

that we had. Yeah. And as always, I agree with everything you said. And as always, thank you for being our fans and thank you for supporting the show. It was a joy to make it for you. And Donald, I hate this quarantining. I just want to be with you all the time. I want to be with you in that closet. There will be a day again. Hopefully there will be a day again where you and I can eagle. I can't wait to ride you. I can't. I feel like that's how we should end. Should we end with that? No, let's end

with that. Don't say, don't speak. Don't speak. Let's just end with that. Goodbye, everybody. Here's some stories about show we made. About a bunch of doctors and nurses in a Canada who love me. I said he's got stories. Never should know. So gather around to hear our Get around to hear our Scrudge We watch your with Zach and Donald Samihante, it's Anna Ortiz. And I'm Mark and Delicado.

You might know us as Hilda and Justin From Ugly Betty. Welcome to our new podcast. Viva Betty! Yay! We're rewatching the series from start to finish and getting into all the fashions, the drama, and the behind-the-scenes moments

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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey guys, it's Stephanie Beatriz. And Melissa Fumero, and this is more better. We are jumping right in and ready to hear from you. Your thoughts, your questions, your feelings about socks with sandals. And we're ready to share some possibly questionable advice and hot takes. God, that sucks so hard though. I'm so sorry. Can you out petty them? Can you match their pettiness for funsies? Yeah. All the things. Because aren't we all trying to get a little

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