Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach and Donald - Real Friends Classic - 107: My Super Ego with John C. McGinley

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

On this week's episode of Scrubs, there's a new hotshot intern at Sacred Heart. JD's place at the top of his class may be in jeopardy. Meanwhile, in the real world, John C. McGinley join Zach and Donald as they remember 9/11.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, man, what are you into? I have the hookup. The hookup? The hookup for what? I'm solving a mystery through sex and haven't made a private dick joke until now? Poppers? Why are there so many poppers? All roads lead to... The hookup. You think it's causing people to turn aggro? I'm gonna rip your arms off and use them to... Yeah, that's a word for it.

Listen to The Hookup on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Welcome to My Legacy. I'm Martin Luther King III. And together with my wife, Andrea Waters King, and our dear friends, Mark and Craig Kilburger, we explore the personal journeys that shape extraordinary lives. Join us for heartfelt conversations with remarkable guests like David Oyelowo, Mel Robbins, Martin Sheen, Dr. Sanjay Gupta,

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I'll be sitting down with some of the most hilarious actors and writers and comedians people like Ed Helms Diane Guerrero and Joseph Gordon-Levitt I love storytelling and I love you, so I can't wait. Listen and subscribe to Greatest Escapes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What if you ask two different people the same set of questions? Even if the questions are the same, our experiences can lead us to drastically different answers. I'm Minnie Driver, and I set out to explore this idea in my podcast, and now,

Minnie Questions is returning for another season. We've asked an entirely new set of guests our seven questions, including Jane Lynch, Delaney Rowe, and Cord Jefferson. Listen to Minnie Questions on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Seven questions, limitless answers. What are you drinking today? That liquor cabinet's getting empty. What do we got today?

Listen, I hear the liquor store is not the place to go. I went. When'd you go? I gloved up, I masked up, I hazmat it up, and I went in and filled a frigging basket. Yeah, you know what's crazy? They're talking about opening it back up. Well, not California. Texas is talking about opening back up next week. Yeah, well, that's not gonna work out for anybody.

That's just the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. That's not gonna work out for anyone. Good thing we have Governor Newsom, who I think is doing a fantastic job. And Garcetti, man. Thank goodness for Garcetti too, man. Both doing well. Let's give them both a shout out. Hold on, hold very, very exciting day today on this podcast. Do you know why? We're getting epic today. We're going uber epic today. Yeah. I mean, don't get get me wrong the creator of the show

That's fancy America's favorite Canadian Sarah chalk. That's fancy, but nothing is as fancy as Someone who we love as much as this man who I I can say I learned a lot as an actor from and Is just a really fucking talented and hilarious human being Standby Dan with the thunderous applause cue. Johnny C. McGinley. Yeah! Yeah, boy. The legend.

The legend that is John C. McGinley. Hello, Donald. Hello, Jackie. How are you? I'm firmer. Yeah, you are. Always. Always. Always. Johnny, how's. Always. Always. Always. Johnny, how's the, you were saying just before

we started recording that you had been homeschooling your kids, so this isn't as odd of a switch for you. Tell everybody a little bit about that. We've been homeschooling forever. Billy is 12, Kate's almost 10, and we've been homeschooling for since all the way through elementary school here. One thing they miss is their friends, obviously, and we've been taking this thing super seriously. And we're totally locked down,

because we got Nicole, my wife's father here, who has some pre-existing challenges and pre-existing conditions. And so we've been taking this thing by the letter. And so look, we're lucky enough to live in this place. I mean, I built a baseball field during the writer's strike on scrubs. And so there's a baseball field right behind me. And so we use that almost as a playground. And you know, there's stuff, this is a kid compound, so they can run around here,

but they don't get to see their friends. They don't go to do dance and aerial and pottery and all the stuff you do when you're not homeschooling or go down to the beach. Johnny, do you have friends, do you have friends like, I was just thinking about Donald, who are homeschooling for the first time,

who are calling you and be like, got any advice or anything? Because I'm watching Donald do it and he's hiding out in his closet. I've run from my kids. This is how bad I am. People don't call this department for that. They call upstairs to the Nicole department. Oh, Nicole, you're your wife.

Well, then she and I need to get on the phone because I am failing miserably. My wife is a champion. She runs the household. But I feel like I'm starting to slack so much that she's like, when this is over, I'm leaving you. Yeah. I think if you could compartmentalize and play to your strengths, Donald, you'd be better off.

I don't have many strengths, Johnny. Yeah, you do. You've got sports. Johnny said he's doing PE. You could be in charge of PE. I'm PE. I have a competitive spirit in me that won't allow my kids to beat me. I have problems, guys. I have problems.

My son screams at me because I never let him win. He finally started beating me at this. We have this thing called pop a shot. And it's like, you know how you go to the carnival and you get to shoot as many jump shots as you can and you burst somebody we have that he destroys me in that so much so that I don't want to play the game anymore man well I'm so I'm stoked for you guys doing this this this podcast I've listened to this is either the fourth or fifth one I've listened to everything and I it's it I listened to it while I'm working out because it's about an hour and a half or so and I put it on and I go in the garage and it just makes me happy.

Does it get, when the theme song comes on, does that get you pumped? I like it. Well, you guys are so god damn talented. Johnny, Johnny, we wrote that. It's our first, it's our first time as lyricists. Donald, I don't know if you've been a lyricist before, but it's my first time as a lyricist. I put a lyric or two to songs in song form. I've done it, yes.

Well, it's my first time and I... You're very good at it. That's not your first time. Dude, when you say... Listen, guys, you don't remember the songs that we had? Baby, keep it real. Baby, let's chill. I'm tired of you all up in my crew

See Donald so goddamn talented he could sing all these songs and remembers lines I could only do one thing Remember my lines. Well, I want to talk about that for a second Johnny because Donald did Donald As far as I see it in the world of scrubs there were two extremes. There was you knowing every fucking piece of syllable and punctuation mark and Donald being like am I in the scene? Yeah, but Donald's so goddamn talented that even if it took them three or four takes the fourth take was Perfect. It was heaven. I mean, in this episode, we'll talk about in a second, but there's a scene where he dances to Michael Jackson, a Michael Jackson knockoff, and Billy had to be just, it's like a fair catch in football.

That was manna from heaven, that an actor would bust that out. That's not on the page. That's not on the page. That's not on the page. I think that's also the beginning of Turk dancing in damn near every episode. It's unbelievable, it's a gift. Yeah. Johnny, talk a little bit about how you did those

because sometimes, just for people that are listening, Johnny would sometimes get those speeches the night before because the writers were always- Sometimes the day before, hours before, he'd give those before. Absolutely. Yeah, and I just, for those of you who don't memorize for a living, it can be very hard. But doing what Johnny had to do on the spot is sometimes close to impossible. So I remember you having a bit of a system.

Will you talk about that for people? Well, I keep these composition books. You know the composition books you have in high school, those black and white things? The first thing I do is I write out the text in my own hand and then in the margins I put the verbs of what I'm doing. And so that, just by virtue of writing it out, starts to get it in your skull and then by assigning verbs to every action that you're doing, that's the second stage. And then if I had time, I keep a rehearsal space here, I would go down and there's a whole kind of little film studio downstairs and I would get in front of that.

But a lot of times that was out the window because Billy would hand it to you on your way into the hospital. And I'm not being method hospital. We did in fact work in a defunct hospital. Sometimes I'll say that to different people and they're like, ooh, you're so method. I'm like, no, I'm not fucking method. It was a hospital.

So shut the fuck up. And so I got, when I got to the hospital and they would hand me new lines, every year Disney would give us, I'll make it up, you guys remember, but $1,500 to improve our dressing rooms, since our dressing rooms were hospital rooms where people had died and where people had been saved. And what I did with my $1,500 is I doubled down and I hired an acoustic firm,

and they came in and soundproofed my dressing room so I wouldn't have to hear you idiots in the hallway. And all the dogs. For some reason, because one or two of you brought your dogs, the whole crew decided, well, if Zach and Donald can do it, the guy in sound and the guy in the production, he can do it, so all of a sudden,

there was a pack of about 17 dogs. And as karma would have it, and I like dogs, I hate most people's dogs, I just, I like dogs, but I don't like them at work. And so so they- I remember that. I remember all you would hear was, get out!

I'm trying to remember two pages single space. Do you remember in the Christmas story how he's always fighting the dogs next door? That was like Johnny C on our floor. Because Johnny C was like, oh, someone shut the dogs up. The dogs all wanted to be with Johnny C in a round. Absolutely. And so much so that I don't know what you guys remember.

I don't know what season, but I wrote a letter to our bosses at Disney to the HR department, human resources, and then I did what you're supposed to do with an angry letter, according to my grandfather, I put it in the drawer for two nights. You're supposed to take angry letters. You don't press, this was not when you pressed send. I wrote it and I put it in the drawer for two nights.

And in the intervening time, someone got nipped by a dog on our door. And Disney found out about it, not because of me. And they were like, what? There are 17 dogs pissing and shitting on the third floor. I took that letter and I put it right over in the shredder. I thought you were gonna give us a big reveal that you had written the HR letter,

but you were saying you never sent it. I did not, I kept it in the drawer and then I was let off the hook because if you're the guy who made it so that people couldn't bring their god damn dogs to work because if you're the guy who made it so that people couldn't bring their god damn dogs to work, then you're that guy. I always, look, the fact of the matter is that you asked how do you memorize those things.

Fear, fear is a really good thing. And I was just afraid to disappoint Billy and I wanted him to write those things for me. And so I figured out a way to get him into my skull. You were so good at it, John. And those rants, I was looking on YouTube just as we were gearing up for this episode and just like people have like top five Dr. Cox rants. Like it's like a thing. People love to just listen back to those and just some of them are just so epic

and hilarious. Where they get hard is when Billy started, and I don't know whether it was season four, five, six, it's a good problem, when he just started writing lists that had nothing to do with the item that came before it. And he'd just write two pages of lists, reasons why I don't care about you becoming a doctor

or something like that. And they're just this random list. Those were hard. Memorizing a story is a piece of cake. But these lists, two pages, single space of lists. On the other side, we were talking about how Donald would show up and be like, oh shit, I got a monologue today. That was a time in my life. that was a time in my life.

That was a time in my life. I don't know. I just I don't know what was the matter with me. I smoked I smoked a lot of marijuana back then, too. Not that I don't now, but I smoked a tremendous amount back then. I don't think this was the beginning of the run that I did this. I think as I got comfortable, things changed. And as the show got successful, things changed and I slacked and I remember somebody asking me like,

dude, what do you do when you go home? And I was like, I live my life. They were like, but what about your job? I was like, it's getting done. Like I was so stupid. I think you just got comfortable that you knew that you'd get it and you knew that it would be cut together and it'd be funny, so you were just like, fuck it.

Well, I don't know if I was, yeah, you know, I don't know what it was. Since then, I have, you know, I've tried to make sure that if I ever ran into anyone else, if I ran into people on other jobs that worked with me on scrubs and remembered how I was on scrubs, I wanted them to have a completely different opinion of me after we finished working. And so it's, if anything, all of the, you know, all of the, you know, me being unprepared and stuff like that prepared me for later on because now forget about it. I, you know, I'm like you, Johnny, if I mess up a line, I'm putting a hole through a wall or something like that.

You know what I mean? Well, I want you to get it done in three or four takes. I want us to get out of here. I want to get it in three or four takes. Yeah, if I'm not done, if I can't do it in three takes, then forget about it, man. Like then I've wasted, I feel like I've wasted everybody's time. I feel that more, and especially now when it's not your own show, when I'm going to do a supporting part on something

and I fuck up a line, I just, I get so mad at myself. Yeah. It's funny, after doing the show for nine years, we were so comfortable, and that comfortableness led to a lot of amazing stuff, because there was no wrong answer, and we were so silly with each other and we could riff. But now I find when I go do roles

where I'm not the lead or I'm supporting or I'm in any, whatever I'm doing, I really get mad at myself if I fuck up a line. Like I really put more effort into it than I ever have. I was about to say, because Zach, I remember a night where you put the sides, people out there who don't know what sides are, they're the piece of paper where the line,

where they write the piece of paper where they miniaturize the script into tiny pages. Each day we get a tiny version of the script. It's probably, I don't know, what is it, like eight inches by four inches. Something like that. I remember one night where you taped those sides to my forehead on off camera. Yeah. But I would like everyone to Google Marlon Brando in The Godfather and you'll see, and you can

just put in like Marlon Brando Godfather line memorization and you'll see a picture with James Kahn with a huge poster board taped to his chest. Is that true? Now I'm not saying- Is this real? Yeah, I'll send you guys the picture. I'm not saying I'm I'm Marlon Brando, but I am saying you're James Khan and I Yeah, listen, there's times where you go I'm fucked I do not know this Donald Would you mind taping this to your forehead? No, you didn't say Donald would you mind you were like come here? No, and I used to know the fuck I remember taking on be like you mother

I will know what we used to do is whenever there was a place to hide them off camera, we'd tape them to the desk, we'd tape them to whatever, sometimes we'd tape them to the front of the camera, but I remember that one time when I couldn't get it down and the time was running out and I was like, Donald, I'm so sorry, but my character needs to be looking at your face. And I just.

I just. I just. I just. I just. Johnny, you never did that. Donald and I would hide our sides all over the place. I don't have any memories of you never did that. Donald and I would hide our sides all over the place. I don't have any memories of you ever doing that. No, Johnny used to have like little notes here and there in your hand.

No, but not, he wouldn't hide them and reference them during the scene like you and I would. Oh, no, no, no. No, I just, if I was struggling with Latin, which all medical terms are Latin based, if I was struggling with something in Latin that I hadn't been on the phone with real JD for an hour the night before I would I would phonetically put it on those clipboards that we carried and right the last second. I'd take a look Now I remember the hardest one ever was broken heart syndrome was Toka subo Cardiomyopathy and that's about this long and I still freaking remember it tokusubo cardiomyopathy

now Legend has it that some of the best home tests for movies or television shows Have happened at your house. Is it true that you once dug a hole in your backyard for a part? No, that's not No, what are you talking about? Why would he dig a hole in his backyard? backyard for a part? No. That's not true. No. What are you talking about? Why would he dig a hole in his backyard? I thought he was self-taping and was digging a hole for the self-tape. Oh, he's saying that you got all into your self-tapes and would dig holes?

What would that be for platoon? He's going to audition like digging a hole? No, no. I meant with Oliver V, I'm for platoon. No, no, absolutely not. But you did used to self tape at home a lot though, at some point, right? Well, when that came into Vogue, sure,

now you can do it on this thing, but for a little while, you know, there's a camera on a tripod down, there was down in the rehearsal space. And yeah, for a little while that, that's what audition this came to be. Yeah. Donnie, that's a good segue into,

into your auditioning for this. We, Donald and I, and we asked Sarah to talk a little bit about our experiences auditioning. Sarah's thing was a riot. Hilarious, right? I listened to all of it yesterday. It was genius. So tell us about yours, because we don't... And you heard Bill's telling of yours, but I think our fans are interested in how it all came to be.

Do you remember your very first time reading and all that? Yeah, because you had already been in how it all came to be. Do you remember like your very first time reading and all that? Yeah, because you had already been in so many other things before this. I know, you were coming to it from a very different space because you'd been in such amazing movies and I just wondered, you know, Donald had done some work. I had done virtually nothing.

So how was it different for you? I was coming from, because I heard, Zachy, I heard yours, that you were a waiter at the La Colonial. La Colonial, yeah. Yeah, you were a waiter over there, and I know Donald had done Denzel's movie and done stuff, but I was on a track in how to take something off of this

so it doesn't sound arrogant, but I was on a track of doing about four films a year. And in my brain, it was that if you ever, I said yes to everything, so I did plenty of stinkers. But I just always felt like that more film begat more film. So I was just always around the world doing whatever you offered me. And I wasn't gonna come off the film train.

And so then they sent me scrubs and there was a, as Billy told you, there was a John McGinley part in parentheses, it said a John McGinley type for Dr. Cox. And I'm like, well, just make the offer. I'm not. I'm here. Hey. You mean like this? Yeah. So I went in to meet Billy over at Disney and that was great.

He was, you know, he's one of the great guys on the planet. And then by the time actors do this weird thing, when they get a little too comfortable as they subvert themselves. And I felt like I did that because there were tears of different hierarchy that you had to go through on this thing. There was the casting people, which I got to skip. There was Billy.

Then you had to audition at Disney. Then you had to audition at NBC. And so I tanked the one at Disney. And I don't know why. I was either lazy or presumptuous, but I sucked. Did you know when you, Johnny, did you feel that in the room? I always know, yeah.

And so I said, Billy, just let me go to the next level and I'll blow the back of the room out. Just don't, I just fouled a few off at Disney. And when I went to NBC, I just fouled a few off at Disney. And when I went to NBC, as you guys have sorted it out with Billy and Sarah, there's a room not much bigger than the one I'm sitting in, maybe 16 by 20. And it's the casting guy's room, and there's people on the fence, there's people everywhere.

Sitting on the ground, there's people everywhere. Hiding from the ceiling. Sitting on the ground? All over. It's like a bad Thanksgiving talent show production with your aunts and uncles. And so I didn't recognize, there were four or five other Dr. Cox's era, I didn't recognize any of them. And I was just like, it didn't really matter

because I already did, just for actors, you can get good at auditioning and I got really good at it because I used the rehearsal space as a spot to get this four minute compressed little impression you make discipline down. I got really good at it. The fact that I tanked at Disney didn't matter. I was doing some other bullshit.

But when I went into that room, I was just going to fucking kill it. And I did. And when I shut the door, and at the time I had this Jersey muscle car, I had a Mustang 5.0 black convertible. And I started driving home on the 101 and I was like, I put Bruce on and it was Blair and I'm like, I definitely got that. it was Blair and I'm like, I definitely got that and if I didn't the show sucks. Bill told you your Bill story where he said, Johnny, how do you feel it?

You said like cash money or something like that. I said it was money. I said money. He said, do you want to do it again? And I'm like, for what? I hate when directors say, do you want to do it again? Because if you got it, you got it. Because all I do, when I do things again,

when you ask me, I'm going to start changing things. And I hate rewriting. If everybody thinks I like to rewrite shit, I don't like to rewrite anything. I like it on the page, I like to crush it, and I like to leave. And then if you ask me to keep doing it again and again, I'm going to get bored because I know you have it in the can,

and I'm going to start changing things. What I did with Dr. Cox over the years is I changed his syncopation. I turned into this kind of Martin Scorsese on LSD thing where I did these long pauses and because I was getting bored. Sometimes you'd walk in out and do some crazy pause. I would stretch these words. Oh, but sometimes you'd walkin' out and do some crazy pause. I was, and I would stretch these words and I just wanted... But people love that when you go,

ra ha ha hee hee hee lee. I was bored! I wanted fuckin' some more, I wanted more challenges. And so that's the actor's brains, if it's really firing like our brains were on that thing. Remember, people don't understand, we were there 16 hours a day, five days a week. We spent much more time with each other

than we did any semblance of family because there's a finite amount of hours in a week. And for nine years, pretty much, we were together for 14 to, by the end of the week, 16 hours and that was it. In an abandoned hospital. In an abandoned hospital. In an abandoned hospital and In an abandoned hospital,

and it's almost like Donald will understand when you're practicing free throws, if you do nothing but practice free throws, you will get good at it. You just will. And by virtue of just scrub saturation, people got really good at their jobs. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I agree. That was the other thing. I remember times where you'd have long, long monologues. There were times where you didn't get it in one take, but then there were times where you would get it in one take. And I remember directors being like, should we go again? And you being like, we got it, let's go. And you'd be like, we only got one take, John. And he'd be like, I don't care. Moving on. Let's go. There's so many, Donald, let's go through some of our favorite Johnnyisms. One that just came to my mind was moving on

That's when I'm good ones for you. There's five good ones for you was winning it would shake your hand How are you better now? Yeah better now and then he'd go When we were done with a John Michelle was the name of one of our editors and when when when we were done with the scene He'd go. I think we gave John Michelle some ammo. Yeah. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha from hanging out on the third floor. From the dogs. From the dogs, you just run down to editing and be like, show me what you got. But I also had a post-production company in New York for when I lived in New York, up in the Brill Building for 15 years.

And so post is a very comfortable place for me. Right on. Yeah. I like that stuff. Yeah, and I just remember you being, Donald and I were always trying to sneak in there as well, and you'd be like, I have great memories of you being like, come in here, you gotta see this, you gotta see this.

You gotta see this. People have to understand, it was a very insular place. There was no place to go. It was Scrubs University in this five story abandoned hospital, and you had to be there. You couldn't really go off campus. You'd get in trouble because invariably we'd skip a scene and we'd say, you know, where's John? And he said, well, he went down to do something. He said, you can't go

down to do anything. You have to be here. When you're on a back lot, you can saunter around and you can talk to other shows and you can talk to people that have nothing to do with your show. But there was something I think great that happened on our show in that we were so insular like Johnny said in that hospital that it made us extra close because we never went anywhere. It wasn't like we just all were always together. And I think that made us close. Something Billy didn't share,

which I've brought to different films and TV shows I've produced since, is Billy introduced the first or second day of shooting in the cafeteria, which is the largest space that 120 person crew could all congregate. He got everybody together and he told them that he was gonna put a a no-asshole policy in place.

And everybody laughed and, you know, sounded kind of stupid. Billy's the least confrontational person on the planet. And what he meant was that if you come to work, you've got to bring at least a modicum of respect with you. Otherwise, don't come. And everybody knows just all the way back to the school yard, how to be nice to each other and how to be respectful. And a couple of people subsequently got fired for the no-asshole policy.

It didn't mean you had to come to work and walk on pins and needles, but you had to come to work and be respectful. And I thought that was great, and I do it on my sets now, too. And if people don't like it, they can get the fuck out. Yeah, that's real talk. Since Scrubs, I've been a part of a cast where everybody's been chill and lovely and everything like that, but there's that one time where you have that one person

where you're like, oh my God, I wish I was still on Scrubs right now so I could freaking sit in the background and watch you get fired for being such a fucking asshole right now. You know what I mean? It's not that complicated. It really isn't.

It's really easy to be a good person. We were really lucky, I think, though. I mean, there's so many casts that when you hear about a show that, you know, there's a finite number of shows that go this long, and we genuinely all really liked each other. I mean, I always say that when I'm due press or someone asked me about the show

and what was the secret to the magic. And one of them is that we genuinely all liked each other. We genuinely all rooted for each other. When we would see each other at the bar after we wrapped, we were like just as excited to see Johnny walk in the door. And that didn't wear off. I mean, we genuinely all loved each other's company for nine years.

Yeah, you know that's actually very true. We partied so hard. After 16 hours of hanging out with each other a day, we would still be like, yo, Fox and the Hound still has about two more hours until it closes. And we'd all congregate at Fox and the Hound after spending the whole day and some of the night together, man.

I would go back to my hospital room and go to sleep for the night, because I couldn't drive out to Malibu. And so after having a couple of beers, I went back to the hospital and went to sleep. Wow. And Johnny, tell them about how sometimes you'd come in to beat traffic at like four in the morning. I had this thing where I can't be late. I just can't. I can't organize being late. And so my window was I could leave at a normal, if I had a call time at six or at 10,

but if my call time was anywhere between six and 10, I would take a six o'clock call time and just drive in at five, go to sleep for a couple hours, memorize all that shit that Billy was writing, and then be fresh and ready to go. And plus there was a shower, there was a communal shower at the end of our hallway. And I used that thing all the time.

I've never, I think I used it. You never showered there, Donald? I think maybe once or twice. Oh God, I was in there every day. Was it a good shower? Was it a? It was hot water, I didn't care. That's what's up.

All right, we're gonna go to a break and we'll be right back. Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here? How goes lower? I met Santi at a luau party in October. I'm Santi. Damien.

Oh, it was bizarre. The guy just disappeared one day. Santi has been missing ever since. The hookup. What is that? I'm solving a mystery through sex and haven't made a private dick joke until now? Like, no matter how hard I try, all roads lead to... The hookup. You think it's causing people to turn aggro?

I'm gonna rip your arms off and use them to- Yeah, that's a word for it. This is such terrible representation, I'm so sorry. Poppers? These aren't just any poppers. Mama always used to say, God gave me gumption in place of a gag reflex. No, not my psychiatrist didn't laugh at that one either.

["I Heart Radio App"] Listen to the hookup on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Hi, I'm Arturo Castro, and I've been lucky enough to do stuff like Broad City and Narcos and Roadhouse and so many commercials about back pain. And now I'm starting a podcast because honestly, guys, I don't feel the space is crowded enough. Get ready for Greatest Escapes, a new comedy podcast about the wildest true escape stories in history. Each week I'll be sitting down with some of the most hilarious actors and writers and comedians

to tell them a buckwild tale from across history and time. People like Ed Helms, Diane Guerrero, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Zoe Chow. Titanic. Charles Manson. Alcatraz. Sara Shakur. The sketchy guy named Steve. It's giving funny true crime.

I love storytelling and I love you, so I can't wait. Listen and subscribe to Greatest Escapes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is John Cameron Mitchell and my new fiction podcast series, Cancellation Island, stars Holly Hunter as Karen, a wellness influencer who launches a rehab for the recently canceled. In the future, we will all be canceled for 15 minutes, but don't worry, we'll take you from broke to woke or your money back. Cancellation Island's revolutionary rehab therapies like Bad Touch Football, Anti-Racism

Spin Class and Mandatory Ayahuasca Ceremonies are designed to force the council to confront their worst impulses. But everything starts to fall apart when people start disappearing. Karen, where have you brought us? Cancellation Island, where a second chance might just be your last. Listen to Cancellation Island on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. There was a moment that should have broken me, but just because of how I was raised and my bullishness and arrogance to want to be great hardened me. It gave me a platform to be so singularly focused on greatness. We all have moments like this.

Something happens that's supposed to break us. But it's in these moments that we discover what we're really made of. I promise you, if anyone knows this, it's me. I'm Ashlyn Harris. And we're back. And we're back. We are back. Donald, whenever he does these-

We're here with John C. McGinley. Whenever Donald does these ins and outs of a commercial, he turns into Oprah. We're back! I heard him do that with Sarah, and I was listening to it on the deck, and I was dying. I could have totally given you an Oprah introduction. John C. McGinley!

I was thinking about the 107, which is interesting that we would be doing 107, which when I looked in my composition book, it was actually 106 and it got shifted because of 9-11. But before we get into the 9-11 of it all, which has a profound impact on this episode, when I was looking through my composition book down in the rehearsal space last night when I was looking forward to talking to you guys, I noticed that I always, in the first,

if you're lucky enough to have to write a lot of different composition books like we were on Scrubs, I always put a mission statement on the first page of what I, John, not I, Dr. Cox, want to do with this thing. And I saw that the mission statement on scrubs was to find a place underneath the text

with every episode where you can say, I love you to Max. And I took that seriously because my son Max had been born a year or two earlier, and when we started in 2001, and Max was started in 2001, and Max was born with challenges, Max was born with Down syndrome, he's doing great now. But I decided that Cox, underneath it all, so that it would never became too drippy,

just underneath it, every episode, there had to be one spot where I got to say, I, John, not Dr. Cox, got to say I love you to Max. And in this episode, it's right where, when I'm talking to Judy and I say, just because a guy has problems, it doesn't mean he doesn't need. And then there's this long pause,

and it's because I kept getting an apple in my throat, and then he says, you. And I was reminded me that I took the thing so goddamn seriously, this mission statement that I wrote to Max and it informs everything that Cox does because I think Zachy knows this, I always consider the camera an x-ray machine that it can see through all the actors' bullshit and we all try to bring a walk and a lisp or some eccentricity and unless that's distilled down to a real pure instinct, the camera's just like,

bullshit, that's bullshit. And you can see it's night and day. And so when an actor actually brings a mission statement that demands that he finds a place somewhere in the text, underneath it, not just underneath the text, to say, I love you to a kid who was just born with challenges. That pops. That, the camera goes, oh, that's his truth. He's telling the truth. And that's what pops. I love that you said that, Johnny, because I think one of the magical things that you did with Dr. Cox was find a guy who's so tough and find a way in every episode to show that he was doing everything he can to protect everyone, protect his heart and from people seeing

the amount of love he actually had. He had this super, super tough cement exterior because he was alpha and he was a bad-ass doctor and he didn't want people to know. But then you would just, it was leaking out of him. You couldn't help it. And you would see these little moments where it's like this guy has the biggest heart. He's just keeping it all under wraps.

That's perfect for this episode that we're talking about right now, 107. Carla is the only person in the hospital who's known you long enough at this point to be able to see through that bullshit. Okay, you're being tough on all of these people, but you care. You're in it just like, you know what I mean? You're not scared, but you care. And I think that's what started you, what started Cox, correct me if I'm wrong, to have feelings for her.

Like, okay, well, if everybody's afraid of me and there's this one person in the hospital who's willing to stand up to me, not even stand up, but to call me on my bullshit, there's a special place in my heart for that. And I honestly thought that Carla was gonna choose, you know, when we were making the show, I thought she was going to choose Cox over Turk. I was kind of hoping at that when I was younger that she would choose Cox over Turk so that

I'd have more love interests on the show. Oh my God. I can't wait to talk about that with Judy when she comes on the show. You know, the writers, as Donald was suggesting, out of that writer's room came different nuanced flirtations between Cox and Carla. I never noticed that this one is obviously really prevalent. And I hadn't seen this in 20 years, but I was like, there's a vibe between those two. Oh, it lasts for the next like five six episodes and absolutely. Yeah it's and then and then Cox and Turk have it out and then

Cox you're thinking Donald. Do you remember thinking like because you we didn't know what the fuck the writers were gonna do Do you remember thinking like oh shit is Judy is they gonna write her to go off with him? Yeah, I remember thinking that because they had history That's the one thing that the two of them out of everyone in the show and also Ken's character Kelso, the three of them all have history, but Cox and Carla have history. I imagine Carla, Cox was a very young doctor when Carla came in. You know what I mean? She had been there, Carla had been there for a while, and so they knew each other. That's how I always imagine. They may have hooked up, you know what I mean? She had been there, Carla had been there for a while, and so they knew each other. That's how I always met her.

They may have hooked up. That's what I thought. I thought there was that one time. When I was watching today, I was like, these two fucks. It looks like those characters have history. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and that we're gonna take it to our grave and never speak about this history.

Right. And I, like Donald and like you, Zachy, I unabashedly love Judy. And so that was an easy thing to groove into. You guys had great chemistry. And I was really noticing that, again, we're watching all these with fresh eyes after so many years. And I was watching this one, was really I don't know I just was reminded how good those scenes are when it was you two you guys had

amazing chemistry together. Absolutely. I don't think there's any acting going on like I say the camera is an x-ray machine and it can see through bullshit and it could see that I I love Judy Reyes unababashedly. And I always have. Well, let's get into the elephant in the room because I was actually really nervous to watch this episode. It's the first one that I was like, I had a pit in my stomach because as Johnny touched on this was the episode we were shooting when 9-11 occurred. 9-11 happened on a Tuesday, well, we had shot Monday and then 9-11 occurred and we should all tell

our stories of that day, I think. I remember I woke up to Howard Stern, you know, when you're half awake and you're listening and Howard Stern was talking about it, and it got to a point where I went, wait, what? And I left up out of bed and I went and turned on the TV. And I remember thinking, as we all did, holy shit, this is what the fuck's happening in the world. But also as a young actor who just got on a job, I was like, what are we supposed to do here? Do we go to work today?

Like how? And I remember I still was like, I think I'm supposed to still go to work. So I went in and I remember Sean Hayes, who was our guest star, was there. And he and I sat in my dressing room and watched it happen. And shortly thereafter, the day was canceled. Do you guys want to tell what your memory of that day was? Yeah. I remember getting a phone call and it was like five o'clock in the morning. I

remember picking up the phone and recognizing the number and cursing the person out on the other. What the fuck is your problem? I'm I got work in a couple of hours. How why are you calling me this early? You know what I mean? And she said and she over the phone goes, I'm sorry, shit, sorry. I just want to tell you that a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. And I was like, oh shit, I'm sorry,

whoa, what, what, wait, what, what? And I ran to the television and I turned it on and like everybody else in America, I was stuck watching television for, and then Randall finally called and was like, we're not coming into work, you know, but today, the day is canceled, you don't have to come in.

But I remember just sitting in front of the television, very much like I am right now, you know what I mean? I feel like I wake up every morning and my, and the minute I wake up, I turn on the news to check, to see how many people have COVID-19, how many people we lost because of COVID-19, and what the plan is to figure out how we're gonna get rid of COVID-19, how many people we lost because of COVID-19, and what the plan is to figure out how we're gonna get rid of COVID-19,

you know what I mean? And I, you know, very, for the next week, I remember that was all that I did, was I just watched the news to see what the heck is America gonna do next. How about you, Johnny, were you called in that day? Yeah, I went back and looked it up last night. So the North Tower got hit at 5 45 a.m.

And I would have left about 10 minutes after that to get there. And so I saw the first, well, they didn't really show the first, but it looked like a plane went into the first building and then I had to go. And so the South Tower got hit about 22 minutes later at 6.03, our time, 9.03 New York time.

And so I would have been listening to it on the news. But all of this to me, there's something called a mental model and it's how you perceive things. In my mental model, it was like the plane that hit the Empire State Building before we were born. It was a prop plane that went into the Empire State Building and nothing really happened. Not nothing, I'm sure some people died and it was horrible, but it just sounded like that. And so that's how I was driving into Burbank and when I got there that clearly wasn't the case. And then my brother worked on the 62nd floor of the South Tower. And so I kept trying to call him. And so pretty early on it became clear

that nobody was gonna get through on any lines, on cell lines or land lines, because everything disconnected on those towers. And so I couldn't get through to my brother, and this is when an actor's imagination is a curse, not a blessing, you only imagine horrible things. And it turns out in those 18, 20 minutes, those intervening times between the North Tower

getting hit and the South Tower getting hit, on Mark's trading desk, they all had been there when the shake from Newark, New Jersey, had set off that bomb in the van in the basement 10 years earlier. So everyone on Mark's trading desk got up when the first building got hit and they started to make their way down the stairs. But it was such a clusterfuck going down the stairs in those 18 minutes from the 62nd floor

down. They only made it about 20 stories. Everybody from like 72 up died. And so Mark got a concussion going down the stairs, I don't know how, he got really disoriented, and by the time he got out of the building, he wandered up the FDR drive to East Harlem, and so he was missing for about 12 hours.

And so, there's nothing. He was just washed up. He made it all the way to Harlem? Yes. Holy cow. Was he just in shock, Johnny, and he walked that far? Yes. Wow. And so I sat in the hospital for all that time. And then I tried his wife who lived out

in Short Hills, New Jersey at the time. She only had an outgoing message on her machine saying, She only had an outgoing message on her machine saying, Mark, I know you're okay, I've gone over to the Smith's house and we're waiting for your call there. Well, no calls came for about 12 hours. And so I sat in the dressing room thinking horrible things and then obviously the buildings came down shortly after that and what, almost 4,000 Americans died.

And so that was a that's the backdrop for us shooting this episode. It's kind of miraculous that the episode even makes any sense that because of what some of some people were carrying into the frame. I agree. I think it's a weird episode. I don't know if I'm bringing my own anxiety of the time to it as I watch it now, but I'm also going, we were all not present for these however many days. 100%.

Right, absolutely. And I felt like, especially when you look at the first episode chunk that we've just watched, which are like, holy shit, look at this show, look at their fire in all cylinders. This is the first one where I go, oh, we all, and understandably, obviously, we all look a little spaced out to me. When I watched it last night, I mean, there's obviously a lot of funny stuff in it that I wrote down that made me laugh,

but, and again, like you, Zach, I can't tell if it's me imposing my John McGinley onto what Billy Lawrence created for those 21 minutes. But you just said disconnected. It seemed a little disconnected to me. This one, yes, absolutely. But how could it not be? Right.

Yeah. Right. If McGinley's brother just got out of the, what was it, the South Tower and was missing for a day. What are you Superman? Of course you're going to carry that in front of the lens. Now do you guys remember we took that Tuesday off? Did we work the next day or take that day off as well? No, I feel like-

I think we took Wednesday off and we worked Thursday. Yeah. Now I do remember this. I remember the very first thing we came back, believe it or not, was that fucking dog show fantasy. So I remember feeling horribly guilty that we should, A, should we even be working, but I'm under a contract and I'm an actor and I'm not gonna ruffle anybody's feathers,

but should we be working, but then they're like, yes, everyone's back to work, here we go. And I was like, okay, what are we shooting? I can do this. We're going to do a fantasy where you're a dog at a dog show, and Johnny C. is going to feel your balls. And I was like, the first thing up, Johnny, do you remember that?

It was the first thing up. It must have been Thursday morning, was me on all fours. I do remember it. Now that I watch it, I remember it. Oh my god, I just remembered that was the first thing. I wrote down that during the dog show flashback, I had decided to make you both really uncomfortable. And I think it was because I was really uncomfortable.

So I love actors and I would never do anything to ever, ever hurt an actor, especially when it comes to physical contact. And I think I was not appropriately gentle with you guys. I like took your ears, Zach, and I think I was not appropriately gentle with you guys. I like took your ears, Zach, and you can see, and I took your fucking mouth, and I opened it up, and I took Sean's ear, and I was uncharacteristically, for me as an actor, not cox, but I love actors so much,

I would never ever do anything to hurt them, and I would think I was not appropriate with you two guys in that. I was very rough. I remember being manhandled. Thank you for pantomiming the testicle part though, because I think that would have been a little too rough on me. I'm sure at some point I'd put my fist up your rectum. I don't think so.

At least not in this episode. That may have been in later. I think you did wear me like a hand puppet, but it was in episode four. I think during the dog show thing, I may have engaged you. Well, we were joking with Bill about how the crazy sound effects were slowly phased out. I don't know, maybe because we were all off in this episode, but this episode has so many ridiculous sound effects. So many sound effects.

So many. And there's like a Santa sleigh jingle bell noise when you grab my balls. That's like the choice that was made. Somewhere in sound effects editing, they were like, okay, what's the noise for Johnny grabbing JD's balls, guys? How about Santa sleigh bells? Jingle bell? Jingle bell? Jingle bell? Sleigh bells.

You know what I thought was really funny, Zachy, when you and Kenny are up on the roof and he does kind of a fake attacking you up on the roof. Yeah, yeah. And whether or not you're just a great actor or if it was really weird, it looked really weird. It's a weird scene, by the way. Can I just really weird. It's a weird scene by the way. Can I just not even... It's a weird scene.

I don't understand. He calls you a pansy. He goes, you know what your problem is? Yeah. Is that you're a pansy. Like just straight up. It's a weird scene and I was waiting for something to happen. I remember there was a fantasy where I fell off a roof and there was a stuntman who did

a big jump and I thought, oh, is that this? But it doesn't really go anywhere. And Ken's just up there smoking a pipe, he calls me a pansy, and then almost throws me off the roof, like legit, and then like, that's the scene. That's it. And a couple scenes before that at line 44, when he goes, keep shooting you, the,

he gumps over and gives you a hug and then Kenny wraps his leg around you. But I think that's a fantasy, Johnny. I didn't know what the fuck was happening there either and then there's a white flash out of it. I think that's JD's fantasy. Because why would- But even in the fantasy,

Kenny wrapping his leg around you. He mounted me. Made me laugh. Well, I just want to say, I think that's, I wrote down that I think that's the only time in nine years that Ken Jenkins ever mounted me. Can we talk about jerking off real quick? Yeah.

A big pardon? As a part of the show or just in your own life? Just, yeah, we can talk about both. Let's talk about both. How about that? Okay, good. Okay, so here's the one thing I get that first of all We have two callbacks to mash we have you as a kid playing mash with your brother

Oh, that's right, right and this scene the whole jerk-off scene is actually a scene from mash That's right movie if I'm correct where they trick somebody to go in a bathroom and jerk off. Yeah When did jerking off become a bad thing that you've got to be embarrassed about? Well, at work. No, but you're not supposed to jerk off at work, Donald. Write that down. You're really, it's a sound apart.

As a surgeon. Got it. So wait, hold on. OK, so we're clear. It's OK to masturbate, but once you do it at work, you've crossed the line. Yes, I think this could be a public service announcement. This could be a public service announcement

for people all over the world. Don't masturbate at work. It's crossing the line. The more you know. Dan, you can put in a little more you know sound effect there. I saw something, I saw something when Donald and I get to do the scene that comes before this, when we're in the cafeteria and I tell you to go to go and what's the town I tell

you to go to? Like Spank Town or something like that. I forgot. But what I, what I... Palmdale, Palmville. Palmdale, Palmdale, Palmdale. Palmdale. Palmdale. And I have a pet peeve with actors who wait until they swallow their food to say a line. And if you notice in that thing, I always take the soup to here. It doesn't go in.

No, it never does. I hate when actors- I never eat, by the way. It's disgusting. No, whenever there's a- If you ever see me eating in anything I've ever done, it's rare. I always...my character is always done. Because I don't want to deal with all the continuity and eating for three hours.

Okay, people are starting to notice that actors aren't eating on television shows or in movies now. Whenever I...go ahead. Before, people didn't necessarily notice. That's something that I think people are starting to notice now. Other than Brad Pitt, no one eats. No one. Whenever I see someone legit eating, like whenever I see someone, I watch a scene and

someone's like, I'm like, oh my God, they ate like that for probably four hours. Correct. My character's always done. Always but also if it gets in the way of the actor saying the line and we have to wait for those of us in a big family, nobody waits to talk until they swallow. There's food in their mouth, they just segregated over into kind of a chipmunk cheek and then they just fire out the words. Otherwise, you'll lose the floor at the dinner table.

Did you guys have go-to meals that, you know, they were always, there were lots of scenes where we were supposed to have food in front of us. Did you guys have a go-to thing you would ask to be in front of you? Steak. Soup. Always steak. Meat, soup, because you never have to eat it. Yeah.

I just, I can... I'm going to steal that, Johnny, because I always have a plate of, I would always tell them, can you make it look like I'm done? And like, you know, and, but I'm like, soup, soup's easy. With soup, you can just, the spoon, the prop of the spoon is, it's indefatigable. It's perfect. It can, you can, and plus you can throw it at somebody. You can, it's the prop of the spoon.

You use the spoon. I always went for steak because I could eat steak forever. I could eat steak like nobody's business. So you were eating, you were an eater? No. But if I did have, like there was that one episode where I did have to eat and cuz turk gets a really bad heartburn and it's when Heather Locklear was on the show and

John see myself and Heather Locklear at some benefit and Carl is supposed to meet us there and she never shows up and I wind up eating a bunch of steak and end up in the hospital with really bad heartburn. So I always went for steak because I could eat it, it tastes good, it's easy to season, throw some salt on it, you know what I mean? It's good to go.

I thought there were a couple different times in this episode where despite everything, the ensemble worked in one, where you is where you pass the torch to Sean. And Sean just fits right into the style of the piece. Like he just takes the torch, we pan with you out of frame, we come back, Sean's put the torch down,

and you guys just keep doing your thing. That was clever. That was cleverly directed, and I want to say it's a rare moment where that's obviously a fantasy, and there was no flash in out of it. I was clocking that because, you know, Bill always delineated a fantasy with a little white flash and that noise. And this is one of those rare times where the torch is a character, a prop character in the piece, and there's no, it's both times it comes in, it's just handed off and not really discussed. I mean, so.

What's also interesting with Sean is Sean's introduction, which would become a classic Scrubs introduction, especially with beautiful females, with wind and slow-mo entrances as they walk down a hall. Sean gets to come in on top of a gurney Say yeah someone's life and it's just glorious. I wrote that down Johnny I'm glad you brought that up because I wrote that down I think that might be the best entrance other than other than

Different like dick Van Dyke's entrance is pretty amazing too But that might be one of the best entrances for a male in Scrubs history. Yeah. All right, Joelle, do we need to go a break or we take, go to these lovely people? All right, we're gonna go take another break and when we come back, we have questions from some fans that are calling in

and they're gonna have an amazing question, I'm sure, probably for the legendary Johnny C. McGinley. I'll give you a hint. Her name's Ashley! MUSIC Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here? How goes lower? I met Santi at a luau party in October. I'm Santi. Damien.

Oh, it was bizarre. The guy just disappeared one day. Santi has been missing ever since. The Hook Up. What is that? I'm solving a mystery through sex and haven't made a private dick joke until now? Like, no matter how hard I try, all roads lead to...

The Hook Up. You think it's causing people to turn aggro? I'm going to rip your arms off and use them to f- Yeah, that's a word for it. This is such terrible representation. I'm gonna rip your arms off and use them to f- Yeah, that's a word for it. This is such terrible representation, I'm so sorry. Poppers? These aren't just any poppers. Mama always used to say, God gave me gumption in place of a gag reflex.

No, my psychiatrist didn't laugh at that one either. Listen to the hookup on the iHeI Heart Radio App," Apple Podcasts, and wherever you listen to your favorite shows.] Hi, I'm Arturo Castro, and I've been lucky enough to do stuff like Broad City and Narcos and Roadhouse and so many commercials about back pain. And now I'm starting a podcast because honestly, guys, I don't feel the space is crowded enough. Get Ready for Greatest Escapes, a new comedy podcast about the wildest true escape stories in history. Each week I'll be sitting down with some of the most hilarious actors and writers and comedians to tell them

a buck wild tale from across history and time. People like Ed Helms, Diane Guerrero, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zoe Chow. Titanic. Charles Manson. Alcatraz. Asada Shakur. The sketchy guy named Steve. It's giving funny true crime. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zoe Chow. Titanic. Charles Manson. Alcatraz. Asada Shakur.

The sketchy guy named Steve. It's giving funny true crime. I love storytelling and I love you, so I can't wait. Listen and subscribe to Greatest Escapes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is John Cameron Mitchell and my new fiction podcast series, Cancellation Island, stars Holly Hunter as Karen, a wellness influencer who launches a rehab for the recently canceled. In the future, we will all be canceled for 15 minutes.

But don't worry, we'll take you from broke to woke, or your money back. Cancellation Island's revolutionary rehab therapies like Bad Touch Football, Anti-Racism Spin Class, and mandatory Ayahuasca ceremonies are designed to force the cancel to confront their worst impulses. But everything starts to fall apart when people start disappearing. Karen, where have you brought us? Cancellation Island, where a second chance might just be your last. Listen to Cancellation Island on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. There was a moment that should have broken me, but just because of how I was raised

and my bullishness and arrogance to want to be great hardened me. It gave me a platform to be so singularly focused on greatness. We all have moments like this. Something happens that's supposed to break us. But it's in these moments that we discover what we're really made of. I promise you, if anyone knows this, it's me. I'm Ashlyn Harris. We have a caller. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show, Ashley Cooper Horowitz and friend. Do you know how much money it cost us to get Oprah

to do all these introductions of our guests? It's a fortune. Hi guys. Why did Joelle imply that there was something unique and special about you guys? So I wrote in earlier this week, I was looking if I could figure out a way for you to to do like a birthday shout out this is my husband Alexander.

Hi Alexander. Husband Alexander! Oh my god. He is our physician and absolutely loves your show. What's up man how's it going? Real deal. Oh now Donald changed change now Donald change Donald change respectful boys What is good Not too bad you're just right before work. I'm about to head out of here in about an hour. Oh Man, wow, you're the real deal. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you so much very very much for for calling in Who's gonna ask the question? Yes. Awesome. This is my birthday gift. Oh, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday.

We called Jamie. He's a grown man as you know. He works in the hospital. Not like us. We were fake doctors on a TV show. Yes, bringing it home. So wait, did you not know about this? Is this a surprise? I found out.

I kept it a surprise for maybe 45 seconds. And then I told him. You should have kept it a surprise until you guys zoomed in. How cool would that been? But then you never know. He would have been like, who are these guys? Who are these guys? Right? Who are these guys? All right, guys, go ahead. Sure. So I guess the biggest question is, I guess what it came down to is I watched a lot of the different types of medical shows and I found that throughout my training so far, and I've been attending so far, that the show of Scrubs actually portrays how the hospital life really works the most accurate of all the medical shows, despite it being primarily a comedy. Was that something

that Bill purposely did? Was that something that the staff tried to incorporate? Because I was, I mean, I listened to the first one and felt like Donald really did the out-routes at the hospital. No, I was, you're absolutely right. I was so afraid to go into the hospital. At that point, listen, since then, I've developed a, listen, if something's wrong, or if I feel like something's wrong, I'm going right to my primary and we're gonna talk about it before that though I was just like every other person, you know in the African American community. We have a Stigma when it comes to doctors. We're very afraid of the bad news and you think I'm joking

But this is the honest to goodness truth Right, I've done I've done PSA after PSA about talking, you know, talking about, you know, going and getting your numbers known, get your cholesterol, get your BMI, your blood pressure, your blood sugar. I love that you're trying to list them into an ER doc. I'm just trying, listen. He was like, he was like, glue close. You're like, no, no, no, there's four.

There's four. There's Anyway, but Johnny, Johnny, why don't you answer because you're the special guest about, about his question. I had spent the first three weeks of my son's life a couple of years earlier in the neonatal intensive care unit. And I carried most of that was that functioned largely as all the homework I ever needed

for medical replica, trying to do medical stuff. And Max had different challenges born with Down syndrome and he had microscopic holes in his heart. We had infantile seizures, we had all sorts of different challenges. But if you spend if you're the acronym for it is the NICU, if you spent three or four weeks in the NICU, you should get enough of that on you to be able to tell the truth in front of the lens. And so that's largely what I was trying to honor when we were doing that medical stone

scripts. I think Bill would say- I think Bill would say- As opposed to relationship stuff. I think Bill also has said, we knew we were going to be silly, and we knew we were going to have these crazy fantasies, and we knew in a lot of ways it was going to be a comedy. So he wanted the baseline.

He wanted to drop in for all the medicine to be as accurate as possible. That was also something that John Doris wanted too. The real JD wanted, he was like, listen, you can make fun of all of the things we did that I did in college and stuff like that, but it has to be grounded at the end of the day. Don't make a fool of us. You know what I mean?

Make sure that there's truth behind everything as well. Yeah, I think that that's one of the reasons it works. And I think the American Medical Association has said, which we always thought was bizarre, but that they said that this was the most medically accurate of all the medical shows. So we always took that as a badge of honor. And I think Bill was really, really, really proud of that.

He said, we can be as silly as we want to be. When we get into the medicine, it's all going to be real. And also, once you get that tag where someone says to you, you guys are the most medically accurate, you don't ever wanna fall off that bandwagon. You wanna stay on that. You wanna make sure that every story, at least in the first eight seasons,

I don't know about season nine, but in the first eight seasons, we made sure to stick to the actual script to keep it real as they say. Oh, is that an expression? I hear the kids say that nowadays. Do you have another question? Yeah, go ahead. So that'll be the, I guess the more difficult question.

The easier one is what key things did you guys get? So Rowdy didn't get taken with you guys, but what about like the Tiki necklaces or anything like that? I'm not a souvenir guy, so I don't ever... I should've taken stuff from a lot of different sets, but it's not... I always thought it was bad luck. You never took, like... You don't own any scrubs whatsoever?

I don't have any scrubs in my house. I think it's a jinx. What about the sneakers? What about the kicks? Because Nike sent us a bunch of kicks when we were making that show. I don't have any scrubs in my house. I think it's a jinx. What about the sneakers? What about the kicks? Because Nike sent us a bunch of kicks when we were making that show. That's different. That's different.

Nike's sending you swag. Swags are different than props in memorabilia. I'm not a big prop in memorabilia guy. Yeah, I don't have any. I have the slates from episodes I directed, you know, the thing we clap in front of the lens. You're directing them. Yeah. And then I have the antlers from when we did the pilot when I was a deer in headlights. Donald is showing you his sneakers. I have my 100th episode sneakers. Look how worn and ruined they are. I've rocked these

for like a year. I put mine on a shelf and saved them and they're mint and Donald's are all fucked up. I'm so proud of these. And look, and look, I give them away. They're the best rewraps on the planet for Christmas. You guys want one thing that's funny about this podcast on the zoom call is that whenever Donald wants to reference a piece of clothing, he doesn't have to move from his seat. He just reaches out of frame and pulls it in. Or the pop guy just handing him stuff. Well, we are in my closet. No, it's just funny. You've done that a few times now.

It's not even like you have to stand. You just reach out of frame and pull out. Well, I'm on my side. I'm in like, I'm on my side. So all of this is me. This is my wife's stuff. So if I really, I'm never, you know what I was thinking about doing

was turning it all around and doing it from a different angle. But I think I just confuse everyone. No, I love this. I will forever remember this time of doing this podcast and staring at you like it looks like you're sitting on the ground in your closet. Do you remember what you said the first night

I came over here? Ow, goes lower. I met Santi at a luau party in October. I'm Santi. Damien. Oh, it was bizarre. The guy just disappeared one day. Santi has been missing ever since.

The Hook Up. What is that? I'm solving a mystery through sex and haven't made a private dick joke until now? Like, no matter how hard I try, all roads lead to... The Hook Up. You think it's causing people to turn aggro? I'm gonna rip your arms off and use them to f-

Yeah, that's a word for it. This is such terrible representation, I'm so sorry. Poppers? These aren't just any poppers. Mama always used to say, God gave me gumption in place of a gag reflex. No. My psychiatrist didn't laugh at that one either. ["I Heart Radio App," Apple Podcasts, by Arturo Castro plays.] Listen to the hookup on the I Heart Radio App,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Hi, I'm Arturo Castro, and I've been lucky enough to do stuff like Broad City and Narcos and Roadhouse and so many commercials about back pain. And now I'm starting a podcast because honestly guys, I don't feel the space is crowded enough. Get Ready for Greatest Escapes, a new comedy podcast about the wildest true escape stories in history. Each week I'll be sitting down with some of the most hilarious actors and writers and comedians

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And so this is, this is, this is pretty special thing. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask us. Well, Donald's giving you the rare third question. That's never been bestowed. It's because you're a real doctor. It's never been bestowed upon anyone. In all seven episodes of fake doctors, real friends. All right. What was the most emotionally difficult episode that you guys did? Yes. Good Johnny. What's up? I thought this one would have to be right

up there. Just getting through this one and trying to, to hue to the style of the piece and not fall too deep into the 11 of it all. It was impossible. But Johnny, we have to give a nod to one of the best episodes ever where you were just incredibly good in that Brendan Fraser dying episode. Yeah, but that we got to act. That was acting.

This was real life just killed 4,000 people. And I thought it was almost impossible to get through this episode. And when I watched it, it actually just made sense. Just that it made sense. Yeah. It's good. Yeah.

Not great, it's just good. Yeah, but I was gonna say, it still has some really genuinely funny parts. And the emotion that Sean has at the end of the episode and even the and the emotion that you have with Carla at the end of the episode you talked about that earlier in the podcast about how it gave you a lump in your throat and everything like that because you were speaking your truth at that moment. But I was definitely hanging on to stuff. Right, right, absolutely. I think stuff like potassium and asthmium and TikTok, those things caught me off guard last

night when I was watching it. I also, I'm sorry to be the guy who laughs at a fart joke, but I legit laughed so hard when Todd goes, the wording of this line is so funny. Sir, I farted, long pause, that smell is from the fart that I made. You know he rehearsed that line every which way. But the wording of that, the wording of that, I think that's the funniest thing in the whole episode to be honest, and I'm sorry to be so, so simple

that I love a fart joke that much, I just thought the wording of that that smell pause is from the fart that I made meanwhile the surgeon once his name is in there like what's what's that smell from what the hell happened what's going on with that actor that actor did a good job. Charles. It's kind of a thankless role. Yeah. You know, he's been in a lot of movies, actually. He was in Dumb and Dumber.

He's the guy. Dry and right down the middle. Yeah. Charles was great, man. He stuck around for damn near the whole show. You know, it's interesting. I didn't realize Johnny Castle was in the show that much. Me neither.

He's in like every episode, even starting Doug. You're talking about Doug. Doug, I didn't know. I really don't remember that Doug had this big a role in the show, but Doug's got a lot of stuff going on. Yeah. Thank you guys so much for your questions. And of course, be safe on the front lines out there, my friend. We totally appreciate you. Thank you so much. Thank you so so much. Thank you guys. And thank you Ashley for calling in with your husband on so we could have the honor of having someone. Husband or

boyfriend? That's her husband. Okay good I thought you might have been proposing for him and you just kind of. No if you get a surgeon man or woman, you, you marry that person. Yeah. Lock it down. Lock it down. You're a guy who got a female surgeon. Is it you marry that? Yeah.

Yeah. Be well. Take care guys. All right. I thought Sarah had a really nice beat when Sarah's being overwhelmed for a moment where we're in the closet. She's so good at turning stuff. She just, she's really upset. And then she turns it, she puts on that brave face. And it's great. It's a little gem. And I have no idea if 9-11 imprinted on her in

some way for that. But she just turns it. And it's, it's, she's so nimble. I forgot how how facile she is emotionally. One of my favorite lines in the show is when she goes, I'd let him drool on me. And then the way she looks at Zach after she says it, she meant that shit. That's funny. Donald, do you have any memory of the fantasy at 1047, which is that post-apocalyptic, like, like you're standing by a fire? I have no memory of doing that at all. I remember, after I saw it, I remembered us doing that scene. But I was like, where is this going?

I didn't even know where it was. Was it the basement? It was the basement. It was the basement. It was the basement. I remember. You know what's interesting? I, even though this took place during 9-11, there are a lot of moments in the show where I was like, well, I don't remember.

I don't remember this. I don't, I don't, you know, there's certain things that I did remember. I remembered Sean Hayes and him getting choked. I definitely remembered the last scene with Johnny and Judy, where he kind of slips and professes his love for her. I remembered all of that because that tracked with my story. But other than that, man, you know, I say this every week. Watching this show is, it's so much fun for me because I don't remember any of it. It's like I'm watching it with fresh eyes. If you weren't in a scene, or let me say this about me,

if I wasn't in a scene, I wasn't leaving my dressing room to go watch stuff. Right, but even when the show came on television. It was all new to me. Right. This is all brand new for me. But also, Johnny, you weren't smoking bong hits, so you probably have some of your brain left. Okay, so... Donald was like, I didn't even know the show was about doctors. I was very young. I smoked a lot of marijuana when I was a kid. So was that your first...correct me if I'm wrong, was was that your guys first scene together that you telling him to beat off? Yeah.

It's it certainly seems like it in the con. I don't know, but it seems like in the context of the writing. Yeah. Yeah. After that, you and I had so many scenes, you know, all of a sudden I became Gandhi. I don't even know how that came. Was that an improv from you? Did you make up Gandhi or was okay.

That's Billy. Okay. But yeah, this is the beginning of the Cox and Turk. Yeah, your very first encounter. Because we were the two athletes in the hospital, you know what I mean? And so now it was like, oh, okay. So it was like, you know, Michael Jordan versus Kobe Bryant. You know what I mean? That's what you're charged into. And also, he really didn didn't you know, the whole point was he didn't like you fucking with Carla in the beginning In the beginning, of course beginning but as time goes on

The beef that Cox and Turk have is strictly it's all yo You know this we have this competitive fire You know what I mean? And it needs to be and it needs to be you know Way, we need to fan that bad boy so that you know, we can live and so I think Cox and Turk really enjoyed Trying to one up each other. I do too, but I thought it was a little manufactured because again if the camera is an x-ray machine and you can see how It was a little man. It always felt a little manufactured to me. What do you mean? I didn't believe that I had that big of a problem with you.

Okay. I always looked at it as he didn't like that I was with Carla and because I won and got that one up he was always trying to get a one up on Turk. That's how I always looked at it. But I guess I just I mean even in the basketball, even when we played, even when we played basketball and you hurt your back in that episode that we do that, even that, you know what I mean? But Hey, yeah, you know, I think also the love that we have for each other. I remember my first time being like, Johnny, please don't intimidate me. And you're like, shut the fuck up. Nobody's intimidating you. And you're right. You're right. You're right. you're right, you're right. Come on.

You were always so generous though, Johnny, with us. Because we knew who you were, we both loved your work. And I think I could speak for both of us when we were like, I was nervous to work with you. And I just wanna thank you. For those of you who aren't actors, the person who's got more of a resume and is the bigger star, the onus is always on them to make everyone else

feel comfortable around them. And I thought you always were so generous and never made us feel intimidated at all, unless it was obviously in the scene, but as a person, you never did. I felt like we were gonna, that this truly was, even though Zecchi, all respect, was number one on the call sheet,

I felt like this thing was the truest form of an all respect, was number one on the call sheet, I felt like this thing was the truest form of an ensemble and that was never lost on me. And that a rising tide, there's a saying, a rising tide floats all boats. And I thought we had to do this together or sink, either rise or sink together. With Billy at the helm, there was no confusion about that. One time Billy wrote a scene where I had to kiss his wife who played my wife, my ex-wife on the show, Krista Miller, who is a very dear friend of mine. And so I kissed her and in the middle of kissing her, she stuck her tongue in my mouth. And I was just, I was like, oh, I'm not okay with this.

And so I go upstairs to the third floor where our dressing rooms are, where Billy's office was, and I knocked on his door and I go, Billy, can I talk to you a second? And he goes, yeah, come on in and sit down. I go, I gotta get something off my chest here. I was just, in the scene that you wrote, I was just having a kiss, Krista, and she she stuck her tongue in my mouth. And he's such a bulbustery, he gives it a pause and he goes, Did you like it? They did it to get me. By the way, Johnny, this dovetails into something I said this dovetails was something I said earlier, I think Billy has

a little bit of a little bit of thing for that It was horrifying That's not being kissed by Chris was horrifying but the boss's beautiful wife I could it makes me nervous even telling the story That's so funny. I think I think Billy has a little bit of a special place in his heart for for That's so funny. I think Billy has a little bit of a special place in his heart for a man he likes kissing his wife. I have a question for you guys. When you watch the show now, do you feel like we foreshadowed so much in every episode? Like we foreshadowed a lot in every episode. Like even when watching this episode, it's pretty clear that Sean Hayes' character, he doesn't have it all together, even though he seems like it, hey, he has it together.

And it's, and maybe because we watched the whole episode now, but every time Nurse Roberts came in to address him, he always said, no problem, no problem. And I feel like, I feel like that was foreshadowing. Obviously it was a problem. And this was going to be the issue that broke him. I feel like if you watch Scrubs, what we did very well, we presented the problem to you early on and disguised it, and disguised it, or hid it with comedy and other things, but then at the end of the episode,

we always hit you with the drama to make you feel it. But if you watched all the way through, we would leave crumbs and hints that this was coming. I think in a yes to that, and I think in a, and it reminded me, I'm reminded of it in the first flashback where Zachy is with his brother and the tag out is, we don't even talk that much, he doesn't talk that much to me.

And then there's this long, I don't know, when they get a 20 year disconnect, and when Tommy Kavanaugh shows up at the hospital, all that stuff that Billy had insinuated in that scene yields dividends because they have lost contact. They're completely disconnected. And the disconnect is profound when they're person to person. So when Tommy comes in and Jackie and him don't connect on any level, even the John Ritter of Jackie's father, they

don't connect at all. And that's all in that first flashback. Yeah. But not just that, even you missing Jordan the first time we meet Jordan. At the end of it, you're reminiscing about the wedding and all of that stuff. It tracks later on because you guys get back together and you do still love her.

Even though in between all of that, you guys are warring and you date someone else and you know what I mean? Billy's very good at his job. Johnny did you like this? Will you come back again onto the podcast? Yeah, it seems impossible to unload the number of stories. This was a particularly hard episode when I was watching it.

It was just a hard episode to a lot of stuff from 9-11 came back to me, which I don't know if a lot of people, it's a heavy handed way of approaching something, but actors are human beings. And I was really impacted by 9-11 in an immediate family way. And to have gotten through this episode, in retrospect, seems impossible. And that it's a coherent, well told tale that goes for 21 minutes is good. That's good enough. There are levels of good, better, best, excellent episodes. And this one just goes in under the category of executed. We execute it. There's some funny stuff in it and that's good enough. I totally agree. I, I, I, this is the first one, you know,

I, Donald and I joked when we started doing this, like, you know, there's going to be ones that we don't like. And we're like, oh, that feels, this is the first one that, it's not that we don't like it. It's just that it's like, we, we all have this Pavlovian response to watching it going, oh, this just feels wrong and weird. And we remember what was going on.

I agree. Yeah. And I'm not discounting to all the great work that everybody we all have this Pavlovian response to watching it going, oh, this just feels wrong and weird and we remember what was going on. I agree. And I'm not discounting all the great work that everybody did. I was about to say, I feel like everybody did their job so well though, you know what I mean? At the end of the day, regardless of what we were going through at the time,

if you didn't know that that was the 9-11 episode, you're not gonna be able to tell, you know what I mean? We know because we lived it. I don't know, I don't know, that's probably true. There's so many great jokes and we just talked about all of these great moments. That smell was the fart that I made. Right.

Hey wait, keep her there, keep her here. I've heard you the five, six, seven, eight. Okay baby, baby, baby, Wilder, come here. We wanna thank Johnny C. McGinley, the legend, and Johnny, we really want you to come back because we're just sitting around doing this, man. We got nothing to do. We're sitting around watching episodes and laughing.

Yeah, please come back. The answer is a thousand times yes. And now Donald has a very special visitor who's gonna count us into the theme song. Hey, Walder, Walder, my daughter Walder's here. Say a five, six, seven, eight. Okay, she said no. A five, six, seven, eight. So gather round to hear our, gather round to hear our, scrubs we watch show with Zach and Dono.

Mm-hmm. Hey, man. What are you into? I have the hookup. The hookup? The hookup for what? I'm solving a mystery through sex and haven't made a private dick joke until now? Poppers?

Why are there so many poppers? All roads lead to... The hookup. You think it's causing people to turn agressive? sex and haven't made a private dick joke until now? Poppers? Why are there so many poppers? All roads lead to... The hookup. You think it's causing people to turn aggro? I'm gonna rip your arms off and use them to...

Yeah, that's a word for it. Listen to The Hookup on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Welcome to My Legacy. I'm Martin Luther King III. And together with my wife, Andrea Waters King, and our dear friends, Mark and Craig Kilburger, we explore the personal journeys that shape extraordinary lives. Join us for heartfelt conversations with remarkable guests like David Oyelowo, Mel Robbins, Martin

Sheen, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and Billy Porter. Listen to My Legacy on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is My Legacy. I'm Mark Seale. And I'm Nathan King. This is Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli. The five families did not want us to shoot that picture.

This podcast is based on my co-host Mark Seale's best-selling book of the same title. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Cobola, Robert Evans, James Kahn, Talia Shire, and many others. Yes, that was a real horse's head. Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What if you asked two different people the same set of questions? Even if the questions are the same, our experiences can lead us to drastically different answers. I'm Minnie Driver, and I set out to explore this idea in my podcast. And now, Minnie Questions is returning for another season. We've asked an entirely new set of guests our seven questions,

including Jane Lynch, Delaney Rowe and Cord Jefferson. season. We've asked an entirely new set of guests our seven questions including Jane Lynch, Delaney Rowe and Cord Jefferson. Listen to mini questions on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Seven questions, limitless answers.