Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach and Donald - Real Friends Classic - 110: My Nickname with Bill Lawrence

Episode Date: March 13, 2025

On this week's episode of Scrubs, JD and Carla's friendship hits a rough patch, and reoccurring character Jill Tracy makes her debut. In the real world, Zach and Donald welcome back their first repeat... guest, Bill Lawrence!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here? How? Goes lower? From Blumhouse TV, iHeart Podcasts, and Ember 20 comes an all new fictional comedy podcast series. Join the flighty Damien Hirst as he unravels the mystery of his vanished boyfriend. I've been spending all my time looking for answers about what happened to Santi. And what's the way to find a missing person? Sleep with everyone he knew, obviously. Listen to The Hook Up on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Starting point is 00:00:30 Dressing. Dressing. Oh, French dressing. Exactly. Oh, that's good. I'm AJ Jacobs, and my current obsession is puzzles. And that has given birth to my podcast, The Puzzler. Something about Mary Poppins? Exactly.
Starting point is 00:00:47 This is fun. You can get your daily puzzle nuggets delivered straight to your ears. Listen to The Puzzler every day on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Mary Kay McBrayer, host of the podcast, The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told. This season explores women from the 19th century to now. Women who were murderers and scammers, but also women who were photojournalists, lawyers, writers and more. This podcast tells more than just the brutal gory details of horrific acts. I delve into the good, the bad, the difficult and all the nuance I can find.
Starting point is 00:01:28 Because these are the stories that we need to know to understand the intersection of society, justice and the fascinating workings of the human psyche. Join me every week as I tell some of the most enthralling true crime stories about women who are not just victims, but heroes or villains or often somewhere in between. Listen to the greatest true crime stories ever told on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts
Starting point is 00:01:56 or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Mark Seale. And I'm Nathan King. This is Leave the Gun, Take the Canole. The five families did not want us to shoot that picture. This podcast is based on my co-host Mark Seale's bestselling book of the same title. Leave the Gun, Take the Canole features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Kobla, Robert Evans, James Kahn, Talia Shire, and many others.
Starting point is 00:02:21 Yes, that was a real horse's head. Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Canoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Dude, how are you, man? What's that Beastie Boy, I'm great. What's that Beastie Boy's song that's like, intergalactic, da, da, da, da, da.
Starting point is 00:02:38 Planetary, planetary, intergalactic. Now someone told, yeah, and someone told me that if you listen closely, you can hear, intergalactic kill the children, kill the children, intergalactic. And I'm telling you, once you hear that, you will forever hear it when you listen to that song. I want you listeners after this podcast to go intergalactic. Because I refuse to believe that the Boosie Boys are about sacrificing young children.
Starting point is 00:03:02 You know when someone points something out to you and then you can never not hear it that way? Yeah, it's like listening to that song. Suh, suh, doo, see. Suh, suh, suh, suh. Suh, suh, da, da, da, suh, suh. They put on the interweb on memes and stuff. They give you fake lyrics, and it really sounds like these people are saying that.
Starting point is 00:03:25 A cup of soup. Bill Lawrence is in the house. Bill Lawrence arrived in the Zoom call, everybody. Intergalactic kill the children, kill the children. Intergalactic. I don't like that. I don't like it either. But the Beastie Boys did it, Donald.
Starting point is 00:03:38 They did not do that. I'm not one of the Beastie Boys. But I'm a huge fan of the Beastie Boys, and I refuse to believe that they kill children or that they want you to kill children in an intergalactic planetary way. Intergalactic kill the children, kill the children. Here's Bill Lawrence, everybody.
Starting point is 00:03:55 Do you guys watch the Beastie Boys documentary? Not yet, I really want to watch it, though. It's on my to-do list. I'm stuck on the, right now I'm watching- You know who really likes the Beastie Boys a lot? Who? The Beastie Boys. Oh.
Starting point is 00:04:10 Oh. You watch them, you watch them. You watch the documentary, it's two of those dudes on stage being like, and then we did this great thing. Bill, I imagine you, as a sports fan, you're watching the the the the the that's the one I'm stuck on the bulls. Yes. Oh my gosh. This but Bill, doesn't this remind you of why you love Michael Jordan so much when you were younger? Like this makes me
Starting point is 00:04:38 realize why he was one of my idols growing up. Even I had the poster guys, I want you to know that I had a poster of him in my room because I wanted to be cool too. Every kid that age, our age at that time, had the Michael Jordan poster. And even though I didn't watch any of it, I was like, well, I'm going to need one of those. There is nothing funnier than you with the Michael Jordan poster. It was right next to a Phantom of the Opera beach towel. My father bought me a Phantom of the Opera beach towel, and I was me a Phantom of the Opera beach towel,
Starting point is 00:05:05 and I was supposed to use it at the beach, and I was like, this is art. I will hang this on my wall. And I took thumbtacks and hung it like a tapestry, like a really precious, rare tapestry. It was a Phantom of the Opera beach towel. And right next to that was Michael Jordan dunking with his tongue out.
Starting point is 00:05:24 So there you go, I was trying to fit in. Should I start this voice memo now guys? All right. Well you should have. Oh yeah. Zach forgot the other day. Oh I fucked up. I hear that. I'm the only one I haven't heard. I haven't heard Judy's yet because I fell asleep last night. It's so good. Judy was amazing. It's good man. She was amazing. It's good, man. She was great. Wait, we forgot to sing.
Starting point is 00:05:47 We forgot to sing. Bill, say five, six, seven, eight. Oh, I've always wanted to do this. There you go. But wait, is it going to be mm-hmm at the end or oh yeah? Yes, the audience weighed in, Bill, and thousands of people did an online Twitter poll and decided that the mm-hmm stays. All right, well, I'm going to do oh yeah because that's what it is in my head.
Starting point is 00:06:02 Five, six, seven, eight. Oh yeah. around to hear our Scrubs Re-Watch show with Zach and Donald. Oh yeah. Bill, you're the very first, for the obvious reasons, you're the very first guest we've invited back. He's our reoccurring. Yes, you're recurring, Bill. Bill, just how you had the power to make characters on Scrubs Re-Occurring, we, Bob Donald and I,
Starting point is 00:06:41 have the power to make you the creator of the show recurring and we've chosen you. Oh, I like that. It makes me feel like it's tenuous, like I could lose this at any second. Yeah, Bill, you could fuck up and be cut any time. You know what, speaking of Recurring, it has a lot to do with the episode, but where did you find Rob? How did that happen? What's the Rob story Bill because how did you find Rob who plays the Todd
Starting point is 00:07:10 everyone all my loud loud moments in this episode were Rob and I'm embarrassed to say that because they're the dumbest fucking sex jokes but ever every time I always write down lol just so I can mark when I actually left out loud and they were all Rob moments. Rob was an actor that got cast in a play that I wrote. And so I got to know him and he was a standup comic and his performance was always better than his material because he was just, you know, had crazy amounts of confidence. And I just got to be buddies with him playing basketball and hanging out. And my wife always says that I ruined his life because Rob went to Columbia and I think he was thinking about doing other things besides acting. And right then I said, hey, I'm doing a Scrubs pilot.
Starting point is 00:07:58 You want to be the jockey surgeon? He might have a line here and there. I think Rob had one line in every episode for nine years. And then, you know, and after that, I think, you know, he was a guy that had been doing it so long, it was too late to reinvent himself and to start over as anything other than an actor. But this has a very good ending,
Starting point is 00:08:22 because he's a hugely, he's still the Todd, and he has a hugely successful real estate business in Venice, California, and is killing it out there. And he still occasionally, though, dyes his hair black, puts the fake tattoo on, and goes to European comic cons as the Todd. And people pay him for high fives, yeah. And he's got his cameo business,
Starting point is 00:08:43 which you can get him to cameo all your friends if you go if I were hiring Rob to do a Todd appearance He'd have to be in the banana hammock like I'd be like and you have to probably cost extra Donald it probably costs extra I would probably cost ever extra and now he probably needs about a six month lead time on that Start starving himself. By the way, if you need a real estate broker in Southern California, especially down at the beach, hire Rob Mascio because I'm sure he'd be willing to give you a high five while
Starting point is 00:09:20 he shows you places in Venice. There is without a doubt a way to buy a house for me high five out there for someone. You could buy a house and get a high five from Rob. I'm sure he'll throw it in with the work. Yeah, I don't even think you have to pay extra for that. But he couldn't be a nicer guy, loved the show. I used to love how passionate he was about it. And you guys made the joke,
Starting point is 00:09:43 cause he would have one line and he would be running it over and over. made the joke, because he would have one line, and he would be running it over and over, and it's still one of my favorite jokes. Rob's over there running line. Running line, singular. He would take it so seriously, and we were laughing with him,
Starting point is 00:09:56 because he would laugh at it with us, but he would be over there in the corner being like, high five, high five, high five, high five? Working it out. But I mean, come on, high five. Working it out. But I mean, come on, always delivered. He's so fucking funny, man. It's always the same joke, but that's another testament to Rob.
Starting point is 00:10:12 It's always an innuendo joke. It's always the same. It's the same joke, and it's always an sexual innuendo joke, but a testament to you and him, I laugh every fucking time. You, by the way, you just nailed it, You and him, I laugh every fucking time. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha.
Starting point is 00:10:26 You, by the way, you just nailed it. I believe it might be old war in history, but my favorite Todd joke, I think came from a, I think it was Neil Goldman, and I hate giving him a name check because he wants them so badly. I know, I saw it on Twitter, Neil Goldman. I saw that.
Starting point is 00:10:44 Neil Goldman wrote on Twitter, he's like, there's been six episodes. I've been mentioned once. I know. But I think it was him. I think someone in the writers' room said, is every time the Todd talks, just going to be sexual innuendo. And I think he's the one that said, innuendo. In your endo.
Starting point is 00:11:03 He has the best line. He has the best line in this episode. It made me laugh so hard when he says, though. He has the best line. He has the best line in this episode. It made me laugh so hard when he says, uh. It's one of my LOLs, I bet. I bet you it is. When he goes, you know what else? You know what else? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:11:15 You know what else stands up for yourself? I've got to find it in my notes. It's 10-0-4. It's in tennis. I'm going to remember. I think it's, I'm not sure, Todd, but I'm going to guess it's your penis. Yeah. You know what else stands up for yourself? Right, right, right. I'm not sure Todd, but I'm going to guess it's your penis. You know what else stands up for yourself? Todd, I'm not sure, but I'm going to guess it's your penis.
Starting point is 00:11:33 And it was. Now, Bill, in your mind, is he a good surgeon? Yeah. I don't know if you remember if you guys have gotten there yet. No, we're only on this one. 10. One of my favorite moments that the writers room all loved was because we had read something about how surgeons are just cutters. You know, medical guys call them hammers
Starting point is 00:11:55 and the patient a nail. And if they get too caught up in their head, they sometimes aren't as good. And that gave us the idea for Turk's character asked Dr. Wen who the best surgeon is thinking it would be that young girl Bonnie or whatever her name is and Dr. Wen says you really want to know who it is and he points at the Todd and you say no way and then Dr. Wen says you're all caught up in your brain thinking about all these problems you know what Todd's doing and And they cut to Todd in surgery.
Starting point is 00:12:25 We actually paid for the bonanza theme because he's just he's just looking at all his instruments. He's going down to London, London, London, tiny scalpel. It was like, done to London, London, London, Tom, to slice about. Yes. So it's so he's so present. He's so present in the moment because his mind isn't getting distracted He's just like by a he's got nothing to distract him. It's like somebody it's like it's like how somebody that's not that bright Could be great at the video game. That's Todd
Starting point is 00:12:55 Let's talk about Bonnie Because we mentioned it earlier that she was supposed to be my nemesis at one point, right? Like that was supposed Yeah, we we she got another gig. She was good. She would have stayed around the same way Doug did in the same way other, uh, you know, JD had Doug on the medical side. She would have been the person that stayed around on the surgical side. Uh, but she got another gig.
Starting point is 00:13:16 Yeah. That's why, uh, we, we sent her off on that trip, um, and came up with that story only cause we knew she was, uh, she was not going to be around to work for a while. That's always tough, man. That has to be difficult. Like when we talk about the people that have come through the show and you know, like Aziz and all of these other people, it's like, you know, if they weren't bubbling and doing
Starting point is 00:13:39 their thing at the time, they would have been staples on the show for years to come. Oh, without a doubt, man. Even Charles Chung disappeared for a second because he got some pilot or movie and stuff, and we loved having that dude around. He's just a really kind of meat and potatoes good actor. And he worked for the show. He was a good straight man too for Donald because he was just so good at deadpan. And Donald could be like wacky Turk and he was just perfect like straight You can keep listing them. Remember Neil and Garrett called them our weapons chest and those were one-line characters that we thought were so very funny that not just Ted the lawyer
Starting point is 00:14:17 and Aloma you know Nurse Roberts but like Dr. Zeltzer you know. Bob Clendenin. Yeah oh my god. By the way I just? And, oh. Bob Clendenin. Yeah, oh my God, he's so amazing. By the way, I just want to shout out to Bob Clendenin, who is yet to make an appearance. I don't know if he arrives in season one or not, but you introduced me to Bob Clendenin on the show, and he played Zeltzer, and I just thought,
Starting point is 00:14:35 that is one of the funniest character actors I've ever met. I've put him in a bunch of stuff since, because I just love that guy. He's amazing, you know, Lloyd and Krista and Aloma, I mean, they could all be regulars on any show. And so it was definitely- Well, Krista was a regular on a show. I know.
Starting point is 00:14:56 Yeah, I know. It was a fine line, though, of like, you'd have your guest star level, like Krista, and then you'd have the Aloma level, and then you'd have people you used to call your assassins who would just come by once in a while and they'd do like a drive by one liner and just kill it. And Bob Clendenin was one of those. I remember that episode where he goes, will there be prostitutes?
Starting point is 00:15:20 My favorite part of that joke, you loved that, my favorite was Dr. Cox going, no, and Bob's read up, oh, good. So, wasn't good. Was it prostitutes? No, oh, good, good. He was not worried about it at all, he was hopeful. Hey Bill, I thought we could start off since we have you and I was thinking today, cause you're here and I put on a nice shirt
Starting point is 00:15:46 I was telling before you got on that because we had you I put on a nice shirt and I actually did a lot Of preparation for this episode. I watched it last night too. I'm ready. It's very good episode First of all such a great episode dude, Judy fucking right Holy cow, Judy We gotta do you guys gotta carry one torch for me beforehand The only thing that really bummed me out about this episode and all of my experiences is when I catch up with you guys, unless I want to pop a DVD and I watch on Hulu and the song that Krista picked at the end of this episode was so good and it's not, you know, the original
Starting point is 00:16:19 music is not on these episodes and streaming and it bums me out. I heard you, we keep telling the audience that. And just to reiterate, if you're just hearing this, not that we don't love Hulu, but we do love Hulu. We love you, Hulu. We love you, Hulu. But because of streaming rights and contracts and such, you're not gonna get all of the original songs
Starting point is 00:16:38 that Bill and Krista and others placed in these songs. And Zach and Neil. And Neil Coleman. The ending song of This in the Rain was a song by a band called Sebado. And it was so good and so poignant in the real production of it. Speaking of music, we used it so much. But by by by by by. But it's here. That's in this episode.
Starting point is 00:16:58 Right. It's one of the one of the first. So I noticed it's kind of new in the scrubs. It's like the second time we've used it. But by by by by by by. But when it came on, it pissed me off so much. I noticed it. It's kind of new in the scrubs. It's like the second time we've used it. Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. But when it came on, it pissed me off so much. It was like, oh, you ruined it with the ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. What's funny is back when they introduced that sad cue,
Starting point is 00:17:15 this was like a 10th episode of season one. It was genuinely sweet and heartfelt. Now that we did nine seasons and then started to make fun of it, now when it's in a pointy moment, you're like, oh, not that fucking sad shit. Not the ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba- Because at first I was like, oh, such a beautiful moment for so long for so long. And then somebody was like, dude, the sad song, we got to figure that out. I think it was you, Bill, that said that. Yeah, you were like, it's got to go. In our head, all those cues were the stuff that's happening in Zach's head,
Starting point is 00:17:56 exact characters head while he's roaming around. You know, so then you ended up doing a moment in one of the episodes where I actually referenced the cue. Well you say, what do you mean? Now is when you say something poignant that makes me think about it and then the sad music plays. It goes, buh buh buh buh buh buh. And then you hear me in the voiceover go,
Starting point is 00:18:15 buh buh buh buh buh buh buh buh. And then I think, and then you geniusly fucking then use the cue out of that scene. That was so funny. Yeah. Yeah, he walks away and says, you're an idiot. Genius League fucking then use the cue out of that scene. That was so fun Yeah, he walks away it says you're an idiot and it goes the real cue goes But my mama my mama and then you lip-sync the last one you I thought that guy's name is Jan Stevens and I think he won a bunch of score awards for our show I don't think he was happy when you were like, I don't like the bubba bubba anymore. I want
Starting point is 00:18:52 Understood got it that guy got it. He's back. He got the rights But by the way, just like hard guys a very hard assignment to do it Just like you guys were joking about yourself as with anybody that was a dude that guys were joking about yourself as with anybody that was a dude that worked his butt off oh my god here for years and then when you get later in it you'd be like hey we need a cue for and your inbox will go bloop how about this one just be literally he was like one hand on his keyboard when you said I need a cue just going bum bum bum bum there you go done I'm gonna head out to the park
Starting point is 00:19:24 what's funny was that there you go, done. Yeah. I'm gonna head out to the park. What's funny was that there, you know, there's these things called stings, which are really quick little moments. See, they're all over scrubs. And it's funny when Jan. Bow. Yeah, Jan would write one, like,
Starting point is 00:19:34 hey, we need some stings for the end of the scene. And you get one and be like, bow. And you'd be like, bow. But we'd use them. It was like big scrub scene. And a bow da bow bow. Chit da da dip bow. I thought because we have you here
Starting point is 00:19:51 and we're really not only entertaining the audience but we want to provide a service that you could explain a little bit about what a show runner does. Because I was thinking as we were having you on today that I honestly think I've done a bunch of different jobs in my career. I think a showrunner is the hardest job there is. And it dovetails with this episode because this is about taking on too much workload
Starting point is 00:20:15 and being stressed and being overwhelmed, particularly for the character of Jill Tracy and Sarah Chalk. And I thought you could explain to people that aren't in the business what a showrunner is, what a showrunner does, and why it's such a fucking impossibly hard job. Well, here's what's interesting, man. Hollywood, first thing that you know, even when you're a kid, if you like movies and TV
Starting point is 00:20:35 and stuff like that, is that you know that feature films are a director's industry. We have all gone like, oh, it's a Martin Scorsese movie, it's a Steven Spielberg movie, no matter who wrote it, you know? And the directors get to do what they want the script and they cast it and they argue for final cut. And what's really interesting is in TV, directors come and go week to week and so the person that creates the show, the head writer, often becomes, in the event of the term for it, the showrunner. And it's why I think, and I'm not being self-aggrandizing,
Starting point is 00:21:06 I'm talking about other people, not myself, some of the best writers in entertainment stay in television because unless you're the movie director in movies, you're like, hey, you give us the script and then we'll do whatever we want to it. And in TV, they go, all right, if we decide to do your TV show, you get to cast it. You get to write it.
Starting point is 00:21:30 You get final cut. You pick the music. You're in charge of the director so that you can come down and say, no, I don't like the way the scenes blocked. It's gonna be funnier if you do it this way. And you get to run the whole shebang. And so that's really appealing the danger of the job is since they said essentially if you're the
Starting point is 00:21:50 showrunner you can do everything the people whose brains explode are the ones that go all right I'm gonna do all those things but I'm also gonna do wardrobe and I'm also gonna stand on set and make sure no one changes and to also and I'm also going to stand on set and make sure no one changes and to also. And I'm also going to do props and I'm going to do, you know, and those are the people that sometimes they melt. Sometimes they're viewed as kind of tyrants, you know, like, you know, Aaron Sorkin, I think would be one of the first people to tell you that he's hard to work with and for, because, you know, every last detail, you know, drives him banana pants. And the job, the hard part of the job becomes whether or not you can let go of control and seed some things to talented people. And
Starting point is 00:22:38 I was lucky enough that we had so many talented people there. I, Carrie Bennett, the head of wardrobe, she's done a lot of shows for me after that. If I was somebody that needed to look at every t-shirt, every outfit, I think I would have not made it. I would have burnt out quicker. But I was lucky and said, hey, you do this and I'll only say a word if I think it's wrong. And then I never had to say anything. So to me, yes, that's what the gig is great. It forces you to pick the things that you prioritize the most personally and not get lost in the things you don't care about. And the people that drown try to do everything.
Starting point is 00:23:11 But even in not micromanaging, Bill, in a typical hour, you are leading a writer's room, then being called to set to watch a rehearsal for the scene being shot, then needing to go to editorial to look at a cut that has to go out to the network. Doing rewrites of jokes don't work. Right, I mean I just remember watching you and thinking,
Starting point is 00:23:32 God, I mean, it takes a person who can multitask without going fucking nuts because it's just a lot of pressure. The hardest, believe it or not, the hardest part for me, and I had a little bit with YouTube, but more with the writers, is you also become, if not a big brother, a parent and a psychiatrist to people. And the joke was, a lot of the writers stayed for five,
Starting point is 00:23:54 six, seven, even eight years on Scrubs. Which is unheard of on shows. I didn't know that. It was a good gig. Yeah, usually you take off, but if you're on a hit show, you stay, and your salary goes up every year. And the joke was that by the end,
Starting point is 00:24:08 every single writer had been in my office, emotional crying about something, you know what I mean? And Zach and Donald, you guys can't see them, they're laughing because I think they both inherently know that I'm the last person on earth that wants somebody to be in his office. We turned you into a hugger, Bill. Donald and I... I remember when you didn't hug for shit.
Starting point is 00:24:28 Donald and I broke you down. I remember when you were finally like, yo, dude, come on, let's hug. And I was like, really? Yeah, Donald and I broke him down. He was not a hugger. He was a very Waspie, Connecticut guy. Oh, and they used to always make fun of you. They'd come in with some emotional thing of work or life or whatever.
Starting point is 00:24:45 And I would subconsciously, with all the things on my desk, build a wall between the two of us. I could be almost nuts. What's going on with you and your boyfriend? Yeah, you had to do that with everyone. And also, I think, you started on Spin City where you were young and you had a legend like Michael J. Fox to work with and to make sure he was happy and then when Scrubs came on
Starting point is 00:25:12 and we were all unknown, did you feel a little bit of an onus to keep everyone's egos in check? I mean, I would think that you had. Yeah, I really wanted to keep people's egos in check because in between, you know, I'd between, I had seen how hard it is when certain things hit you. I was on the first year of Friends and I actually empathized with actors and actresses
Starting point is 00:25:33 because watching how that group of kids, how their lives all changed so fast, sometimes to the better, and you guys know this burden, nothing to complain about, but sometimes in complicated ways. So yeah, it was really important to me to have a good culture at work, to keep everybody's egos from blowing up. And I'm not, you know, I don't, to equate it to sports, because we were talking
Starting point is 00:25:58 about the Michael Jordan thing. No, I'm not Michael Jordan. But to be a leader for a group of people that they at least knew there were levels of respect you had to have for each other and the ways you're supposed to behave and that somebody would watch your back. You might not be a Michael Jordan, but I think of you like a Mike Jerminsky. Oh boy.
Starting point is 00:26:15 Donald and I are basketball guys, it's such an insult, man. That is, the problem is that that's the only basketball guy he knows. No, listen, when my father, of a certain age, my father would drag me to the New Jersey Nets games. And so I only know whatever year that was, that team, Darryl Dawkins, Mike Juminski, Otis Birdsong.
Starting point is 00:26:36 So whenever I have to make a basketball reference, I'm still like, oh, you mean like Otis Birdsong? Do you know Darryl Dawkins' nickname? Yeah, he broke- He does not. Wait, he does not. Chocolate Thunder. Okay, not bad. And he used to break backwards. Yes, and you know why I care? Because there was a pitch that we were really trying to do. I don't know why we got bogged down in it, but it lived for the better part of two years that everybody wanted Daryl Dawkins to be Nurse Robert's ex-husband. Oh, that would have been awesome. Oh, man.
Starting point is 00:27:08 God rest his soul. But that would have been awesome if he was on the show. That would have been the best day. That would have been a highlight for me. Oh, my gosh. It was so, like, it sucks because it breaks, it sounds like it breaks down on male-female dynamics because there's a lot of guys sports fans in there.
Starting point is 00:27:23 But it was one of those things that a lot of the great female writers on that show were like, I don't understand. Why do you want this former seven foot tall NBA center that they called Chocolate Thunder to be your exercise? Not even an actor. Right. Is he waiting for being funny? No, he breaks. He breaks backboards. Why was why? Am I right with the trivia that he was famous for being funny? No, he breaks backboards. Why was, why am I right with the trivia
Starting point is 00:27:46 that he was famous for breaking backboards and why was, why did he do that and how could he do that? He didn't do it in person. He used to, the Thunder, he used to dunk so hard that occasionally when he would dunk, even just with a rubber basketball, he would, a leather basketball,
Starting point is 00:27:59 it would shatter the backboard. Yeah, he's, he would do it in games too. Yeah, he would do it in games. So what do they do, they clean up? It wouldn't even. Yeah, he was the first one to do that. He would do it in games too. Yeah, he would do it in games. So what do they do? They clean up? Yeah, the whole fans would go nuts. They'd have to sweep it up and put a new one up. It was really crazy because when Shaq broke the backboard,
Starting point is 00:28:13 he just made the backboard fall to the ground. You know what I mean? Like the whole thing came down. Chocolate Thunder, when he hit the rim, that thing exploded like the Death Star, dude. It was like, wow! It was such a, he has like two or three of dude. It was like, wow! It was such a, his, he has like two or three of them, I think two, but they were so thunderous and monstrous, man. And
Starting point is 00:28:31 when he dunked it, it was so hard. And this was both, you know, basketball is a finesse game. And you know, it's a, it's a, it's a game of, you know, where athletes, they run real hard and then they go at this little cup and it's so like, you know, graceful and everything like that. There was no grace in the way he slammed a basketball. You know what I mean? It was like, wow! You know what I said, you know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:28:52 I heard it that time. Yes, drink! Wow, drink up! Bill, Bill, Bill, the fans have started a drinking game because Donald says, you know what I mean so much that they're drinking every time he says, you know what I mean? I would force people, oh by the way,
Starting point is 00:29:05 I wanna say two things, one to that, one to that. You guys can see the connection to how much fun it would have been for JD to wanna call Turk as one of his many nicknames, Chocolate Thunder, and then Nurse Roberts doesn't like it, and then you guys don't know why she doesn't like it, and it's because the man that left her is chocolate thunder girl doggies.
Starting point is 00:29:27 Oh my God. It must have been so late in the night in the writers room when you guys are wrestling with them. Just hours. How do we reach? By the way, and by the way, I'm sure he was a lovely man, but there's no doubt in my mind the while he's alive, if he had showed up, first of all, if he had gotten that call,
Starting point is 00:29:46 he would have been like, they want me to do what? Beyond Skye, because I don't think I ever saw him on Love Boater or on any shows. Right. No. He wasn't an actor. They want me to come out of retirement to do something I've never done before and play a nurse's husband?
Starting point is 00:29:58 All right. You wouldn't have to have him break a backboard or something. I think people should also drink at any time, Zach, and I've only heard it three or four times, that you say one of the things that you would always say to sum up the show and the voiceovers at the end, because it's become part of our lexicon. And one of them, I heard you going,
Starting point is 00:30:18 at the end of the day, it was so funny to me, because you're talking about scrubs in an episode that if you listen to it goes, at the end of the day, all you can really hope. And then you go, at the end of the day, you know what we... So any scrubs at the end of the day type things. Okay. And I also had another drinking game idea for people.
Starting point is 00:30:37 You're going to get shitfaced listening to this podcast, but I got really excited in this episode when I had a Snoop Dogg intern sighting and I thought it might be fun for fans to also do a shot every time you see Snoop Dogg intern resident attending. Well it should start with Snoop Dogg but then once you know Mick Head shows up and and and Beard Fasay, Colonel Doctor, Colonel Doctor, oh man, God bless his real two, Colonel Doctor passed away didn't he? Yeah Colonel Doctor just so everybody knows is called Colonel Doctor. Oh my god. Colonel Doctor passed away, didn't he? Yeah. Colonel Doctor, just so everybody knows, is called Colonel Doctor because he looks like the Colonel from Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Starting point is 00:31:10 Yeah. And my favorite thing about that, that's why you think he's, I mean, it's funny that that's his nickname, Colonel Doctor, and his name turns out to be Coleman Slosky, which is coleslaw. Oh my God. Here's what I like. My favorite thing that you guys all liked that Zach is the first one kind of that he noticed was he had all these great background performers and we wanted the consistency of recognizing nurses and doctors.
Starting point is 00:31:38 And so he tried to have the same people come back. And then because they were around, whether it was Coleman Slawski or Dr. Mick Head who ultimately I think murdered his spouse and he needed to murder weapons. Yeah on the show yes. And Colonel Doctor and Snoop Dogg, Beardfusset. And the world's oldest intern, Gloria I think. But the point is that even amongst the background people they became tears like a call sheet And I started noticing that I'd come into like the background holding area
Starting point is 00:32:11 And there'd be all the background and then there'd be the king shit background of those four Doing the equivalent of like drinking martinis is the ones that The ones that have names to sit around going like, we're fucking, we're ruling this world. And I love that. Yeah. What was really cool was when you would trust them with lines and stuff like that and they would deliver. Like I remember Mick Head had so many lines
Starting point is 00:32:35 and you gave him a storyline and everything. And it was because you were like, yo, he delivers every time I give him something. Every time I give him something. He's an interesting cat, man. Yeah. Well, a lot of those folks were actors. They just hadn't had a break yet.
Starting point is 00:32:46 And like any group of actors, some could act and some couldn't. But I think Mick Head was one that was actually really good. Yeah, Frank was amazing. Frank's backstory was fascinating. He was a paid screenwriter that none of his, even though he'd sold a bunch of movies, none of them ever got made. And you eventually reach the end of that career.
Starting point is 00:33:02 And he was still plugging away writing and came by to make dough. And then when he was doing it, he at least had a knowledge of film enough that he was good and subtle. And he's like, what are you making me into an actor for? This is not my plan. It was really fun. Well, and Manley Henry delivered one of the greatest lines in Scrubs history, where Mahoz
Starting point is 00:33:20 at. I haven't seen them. I haven't seen them. I play golf with Mick Head, I play golf with McHead quite a bit. We play, that's one of my golf buddies and he still writes books. He's a novelist. You know, he writes novels with his, with his wife and it's pretty awesome. Say hi for me, man. He was a nice man. Yeah, I will. I definitely will. Let's take a break. We'll be right back after these fine words. There's a type of soil in Mississippi called Yazoo clay. It's thick, burnt orange, and it's got a reputation.
Starting point is 00:33:50 It's terrible, terrible dirt. Yazoo clay eats everything, so things that get buried there tend to stay buried. Until they're not. In 2012, construction crews at Mississippi's biggest hospital made a shocking discovery. Seven thousand bodies out there or more. All former patients of the old state asylum. And nobody knew they were there. It was my family's mystery.
Starting point is 00:34:17 But in this corner of the South, it's not just the soil that keeps secrets. Nobody talks about it. Nobody has any information. When you peel back the layers of Mississippi's Yazoo Clay, nothing's ever as simple as you think. The story is much more complicated and nuanced than that. I'm Larysen Campbell. Listen to Under Yazoo Clay on the iHeart Radio app,
Starting point is 00:34:40 Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here? And I go in and she's eating my lunch. Or if hypnotism is real? You will use a suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. But what's inside a black hole? Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe. Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart Original Podcast, Science Stuff.
Starting point is 00:35:05 Join me, Jorge Cham, as we tackle questions you've always wanted to know the answer to about animals, space, our brains, and our bodies. Questions like, can you survive being cryogenically frozen? This is experimental. This means never work for you. What's a quantum computer? It's not just a faster computer. It performs in a fundamentally different way.
Starting point is 00:35:23 Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming? It's not really a faster computer. It performs in a fundamentally different way. Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming? It's not really a safety issue. It's more of a comfort issue. We'll talk to experts, break it down, and give you easy-to-understand explanations to fascinating scientific questions. So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to Science Stuff on the iHeart Video app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here?
Starting point is 00:35:48 How goes lower? From Blumhouse TV, iHeart Podcasts, and Ember 20 comes an all new fictional comedy podcast series. Join the flighty Damien Hirst as he unravels the mystery of his vanished boyfriend. And Santi was gone. I've been spending all my time looking for answers about what happened to Santi.
Starting point is 00:36:06 And what's the way to find a missing person? Sleep with everyone he knew, obviously. Mm, pillow talk. The most unwelcome window into the human psyche. Follow our out of his element hero as he engages in a series of ill-conceived, investigative hookups. Mama always used to say,
Starting point is 00:36:22 God gave me gumption in place of a gag reflex. And as I was about to learn, no amount of showering can wash your hands of a bad hookup. Now, take a big whiff, my brah. Listen to The Hookup on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Some people won't give you the to your favorite shows. Some people won't give you the real talk on drugs, but it's time we know the facts. Fentanyl is often laced into illicit drugs
Starting point is 00:36:53 and used to make fake versions of prescription pills. You can't see it, taste it, or smell it. Suppliers mix fentanyl into their products because it's potent and cheap, and the dealer might not even know. Keep yourself and others safe by knowing the real deal on fentanyl. Get the facts. Go to realdealonfentanyl.com.
Starting point is 00:37:13 This message is brought to you by the Ad Council. We watch your Wizette and I know. Okay, so we're back. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, Bill, it's mm-hmm. No, no, no. And we don't do the full song at the commercial breaks, Bill. Okay, so we're back yeah, oh yeah And we don't do the full song at the commercial breaks bill The songs start whenever I say five six seven eight
Starting point is 00:37:38 Dan's got his finger on the trigger whenever you say five six seven eight he hits please don't say five six seven Stop saying five six seven eight That's my favorite he should dance and just be contractually obligated to do it whenever he hears that. Yeah. Five, six, seven, eight. Dan, whenever he... Dan, oh, he started it. He started it. Dan, I have the power to say, cut it.
Starting point is 00:37:57 All right, Donald, you were going to start us off. We're 40 minutes in. We should probably talk about the TV show. Okay. So, first of all, Whie Dancer was pretty good. I'm gonna put that out there. I thought that was a very funny nickname. I laughed very hard at that.
Starting point is 00:38:11 And I was mad that it didn't stick. But Scooter, short for Scooter Pie, is even funnier, because he hates Scooter Pie. There's two things, it was hard for me to watch that story because A, Neil Flynn is funnier than the material we gave him, you know what I mean, in that one, because we, Neil Flynn is funnier than the material we gave him. You know what I mean? And that one, because we could have done
Starting point is 00:38:26 much funnier stuff with your nickname. And then B is, I don't know why he's eating a popsicle in that next one. I don't know, he seemed to want to be eating it, which made me really laugh. And then the third one is I remember that because we were strapped for, figured out a moment at the end when someone finally calls you Scooter,
Starting point is 00:38:48 which is a moment I do like, and I go, it's reveal Neil. And he's like, how should I celebrate? I'm like, I don't know, do some kind of dance or Irish jig or something. And that made me laugh out loud because he committed to it. And he did it. And I'm like, yeah, like good God, yeah. He could really, he could, but did Neil just way that I'm like, good God. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:05 He could really, but did Neil just pull out an Irish shape because it looked pretty good. Yeah. I don't think that he, we had planned that, you know, and then we put the music to it. Yeah. We put the music to it afterwards. It was really funny. He went straight River dance. He went straight River dance.
Starting point is 00:39:18 That made me laugh. That was funny. Now, before that- That's also not us at that beach, by the way. Yeah. I was going to ask you, I don't, those doubles, because that's not my hair, and I don't know if that is your head or not. That is not my head also. Yeah, no, I think we went and got that without you guys.
Starting point is 00:39:32 Okay. But Donald's double is good. No, it's not. It doesn't look like my head. My head is very unique. I'm going to it. Don't do that. No, I'm going to it.
Starting point is 00:39:40 Don't do that. Donald, that looks like your head. I'm at 44 seconds if you're following along. I wish it was my head. I wish it was my head. I wish it was my head. It is so not you guys, A, and B, you guys, this is the show runner issue. I don't know if you guys have this.
Starting point is 00:39:54 The unfun thing about watching these shows for me is that I just watched them for all the mistakes I made, especially early. And like even that stupid fantasy, I didn't have a frontal shot coming back on YouTube, like the flash out of it. So it was a weird transition. I'm like, oh man, I screwed that up too.
Starting point is 00:40:13 So we're still at this stage. I think this is such a funny episode. I laughed so many times in this episode. So what you guys watch it and hate stuff. What you see is your mess ups. What I see is, you know, I, that's how it know, I feel like that's how it always is with people. You know what I mean? Like we make things and then we find the flaws in them.
Starting point is 00:40:32 But if you sit back and let other people tell you how amazing it is, you'll be like, really? I didn't see that. You know what I mean? I said it again. That's another one. Drake, Bill, I laughed that you chose smooth jazz from when we're sitting on the bench, unless that's another track that Oh, drink. Bill, I laughed that you chose smooth jazz from when we're sitting on the bench.
Starting point is 00:40:45 Unless that's another track that's been changed. But when I had to- I don't know, but I didn't remember it. Look, I had my first weird thing. I was giving you guys shit here at home for not remembering any of this stuff. And I wrote this script by myself, like at home, to catch us up.
Starting point is 00:41:03 And I didn't remember writing it. I didn't remember what it was about till I watched it, it was really weird. So is that what, just talk to that for a second. So when you're the show runner, you're overseeing your writing staff having episodes and then of course you end up rewriting them a lot yourself. But when you said you wrote this to catch up,
Starting point is 00:41:20 just explain that to people. The, you know, in comedy staffs especially, someone will go out and write a draft. The whole staff will help kind of, you know, you'll outline it and do lots of whole staff will help kind of punch it up. And then the show runner of any show that you've ever loved will usually do a pass of it before it shoots, you know, just not just out of arrogance but out of wanting the show to sound like it's from that one distinct voice. That's why people over the years, you know, they noticed when the showrunner
Starting point is 00:41:51 on one of their favorite shows left for a year, how it suddenly sounds different, you know? And when you get caught behind in writing, you know, when you look at all the different stages, outline, which has to be approved by the showrunner, draft, which gets notes from the showrunner, rewrite with the whole staff, which the showrunner does. You know what I mean? You often can catch back up if you're behind writing. If as the showrunner you're like, hey, while we're all doing this,
Starting point is 00:42:17 I'll outline one on my own and write it, and then just drag this whole gang in to punch it up really quick and then we'll shoot it. And so that was one of those one and sometimes those to tell you the truth in a weird way sometimes don't aren't those aren't as good as other episodes because Show runners don't have to listen to other people's input and sometimes and sometimes instead of the whole group punching it up You'll just hand it in and go that's done now We're as long as we don't spend four days trying to make it better
Starting point is 00:42:48 We're back on on timing again, you know to make 24 episodes this year Well, you nailed it with this one man This one has everything that you're looking for from you know from the drama to the comedy This was I I laughed so many times at this episode There's a couple things I really liked it episode. There was a couple things I really liked in it, mate. At 114, Neil is just boring a giant hole in the reception desk for no apparent reason. I was trying to think about what Neil's doing. No, you know what that's for? This is what you'll see early on. You guys should look for it. There
Starting point is 00:43:19 are certain things that exist solely because directors once they knew that they were allowed to have fun visually on this particular show, would work backwards from the shot they wanted. So that, without a doubt, was somebody working backwards from, in the script, JD going, hey, and the janitor turning and being imposing.
Starting point is 00:43:40 Do you know what I mean? Saying, oh, you know what'd be cool, is this giant 10-foot drill in JD's face. I know, I know, but I'm just laughing. what would be cool is this giant 10-foot drill in JD's face. I know. I know, but I'm just laughing. I'm just laughing because I like to just rationalize things. I'm like, what assignment did he have with that drill and that reception desk? I guess he was adding a new hole for a new phone line or something.
Starting point is 00:43:56 Well, dude, we used to get... It's so funny if you think about this in terms for writers, at first it would annoy us when you would see what directors came up with for like, why is the janitor there? How is he going to be imposing? And then when we would get trapped, we'd start making jokes out of it. And one of my favorite ones, we needed the janitor in there and we didn't know why. And so we had him say, I don't really have anything to do.
Starting point is 00:44:19 I'm mopping the rug. I don't know if you guys remember then the rest of that scene when you guys walked across that rug you would hear squishy sounds. Like why is that guy mopping the rug? I love that Neil would take it seriously and he'd be like, why would my character be mopping in a carpeted room? Yeah, it's just, everybody wants their motivation. You know what I mean? Of course, but Donald pointed out,
Starting point is 00:44:46 I think, Donald, it was you who mentioned that, I never realized either, but the janitor feels like he's a pretty good janitor, right? I mean, he's- Yeah, absolutely. I never realized until re-watching it, but even though he spends his entire existence foggy with me, he does his best. He's pretty much a one-man band,
Starting point is 00:45:02 except for that crazy- Troy. Troy, oh my God, nice calls. Except for Troy, and then Martin. Troy was the best because Troy frustrated the janitor to no end. My favorite thing was when Troy's like, I'm gonna go beat you up. He's like, that's not how we do it, man.
Starting point is 00:45:18 That's not how we do it. It was literally like, we're better than that. Ah, man, I enjoyed working with Flynn. I forgot about the frozen effect thing, Bill, and it's really cool. It's at 243. It's really done well, and I don't even remember how he pulled that off, but the foreground
Starting point is 00:45:36 and background are frozen. Yeah. And whoever that was executed was really good. And then we go to the guy who's, then on the other side of things, we go to the guy who's just frozen and doing a horrible job trying to be frozen without anything. I know. You know, you know, it's really interesting is it one of the things you'll see in
Starting point is 00:45:53 the first year, much like the sound effects that you guys notice is they're drifting away, I think they're almost gone. I'm hoping. We keep laughing. We keep laughing that, uh, that you say they're almost going away and then we hear the next big jingle bells. Yeah. We keep laughing that you say they're almost going away and then we hear like NYEOWW Big time NYEOWW DRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII and the rules of the world. And this broke one of them. And we made it right after this,
Starting point is 00:46:26 was you can't still be in a fantasy after you're out of a fantasy. You know, because then- Interesting, interesting. Wow. Yeah, after you flash out, it has to be real. The conversation that tortured people forever, and we didn't show the answer to it
Starting point is 00:46:39 till like the sixth or seventh year, is when JD has these long fantasies, what's he doing? Is he just standing there? That's happening. And eventually, eventually we had you talking to the Todd in like the sixth or seventh year when you go, oh, that makes me think about trolls. And you go like this. And then Rob was a better part of like 30 seconds. And then you're like, and that's why you shouldn't buy blah, blah, blahs. And whatever. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:47:10 Yeah, well, you started, it's funny, because the last time you were on, we talked about how when I came out of a fantasy, I had agreed to buy Nurse Robert's dead husband's bowling shoes. And I didn't know because I was in a fantasy land. But I forgot, you didn't really keep that little thing going. That would have been a funny runner if JD, because he's in a fantasy, ends up agreeing
Starting point is 00:47:29 to all this random shit. We didn't have any of the rules yet, man. And we were trying, people used to argue all, like the biggest argument that you guys can look for in the writers' room at eight up hours the first year was was JD's voiceover omniscient? Did he know what was going on in the other stories and could narrate them or did we have to write it so general as if he's talking about himself but
Starting point is 00:47:52 doesn't know about those stories and it used to drive people insane. Right. Were we a hit at this time at this point where we like did we get the back nine at this point? Yeah, the first show, Did we get the back nine at this point? Yeah, the first the show The show did so well coming out of the gate the first year that it was considered a hit and then the second year they made a mistake in my view and the first year the show is sometimes increasing on its lead-in and just crushing and Following Frazier if I'm right at? They should have kept it there forever. And then they said, it's such a big show for us,
Starting point is 00:48:29 next year we're gonna put it after Friends. And the combination of no show could retain 85% of Friends' audience. It was a cultural, you know, lightning bolt. And so, you know, we were like the eighth ranked show in the country, but they're like, you're only retaining like 67% of their audience. So we're, and just so you know,
Starting point is 00:48:53 anytime they want to do a 40 minute episode, we're going to make it super sized and you guys will be moved or not on or whatever. And they never, they should have, they didn't own the show. They should have put us after Friends and left us there in perpetuity. The show would have been bigger and bigger, but instead they put 9,000 different shows, one after another after Friends, each time pulling them when they don't get the same ratings as this giant monster juggernaut and never established a new successful show after
Starting point is 00:49:21 that show in its entire existence. Yeah. Wow. You know, not only that, in its entire existence. Yeah. Wow. You know, not only that, it was also the end of Friends, too. And then Joey came right after that, and then we followed Joey for a little bit. And I remember- We followed Joey. It didn't work either.
Starting point is 00:49:34 Yeah. Yeah, we followed Joey for like a little bit, and then that was it. For those of you who don't know, what the networks want, and Bill, please correct me if I'm wrong, is they want you to hold, that is to say keep 85% of the lead in show's audience, which is pretty impossible if it's Friends and it's the biggest show ever, and if you go below that then they kind of start thinking about moving you or losing you, right? Oh yeah, the only difference is, they would have, because the show is so well reviewed and was doing really well, if they owned our show, this is all boring business, they would
Starting point is 00:50:04 have kept us on there forever going, Hey, we'll keep this on forever and make tons of money for ourselves. But since they didn't own it, the second it didn't immediately become bigger than friends, they said, let's try some shows that we own to see if they become bigger than friends and just kind of feel like that was, I feel like friends was the end of TG of not TGIF, but that Thursday night line up must see must see Thursday. I feel like that's a no. Yes or no, because you'll like this. You guys should get it. And I interrupt. I'm sorry, Donald. But Jeff and gold, who was an NBC exec has a must see Thursday poster in his office. He's proud of when it was us 30 rock the office and Parks and Rec were all Thursday.
Starting point is 00:50:45 And that's that was a cool. That was a cool lineup. Yeah. At one point, that was a Thursday night. I think it was I can't remember if I have the no, it might have been Earl, but it was us 30 Rock office and either Earl or you know, but it was he's like that was total a total must. They were still doing that's a pretty good must see Thursday, man.
Starting point is 00:51:06 That's a pretty must see Thursday. Should we talk about Nicole Sullivan, guys? Sure. Absolutely. Bill, tell us about, obviously, a lot of people know new Nicole Sullivan from MADtv. And how did you choose her? Were you friends with her? She was obviously hilarious.
Starting point is 00:51:22 Yeah, she was another, we brought people through our world that were friends of mine that I knew were super talented. We wanted to have her in this world because not only is she really funny, but we knew she could actually act. And we had, you know, kind of the idea beforehand, whether it was with Brendan Fraser or her or Mrs. Wilk, that there were
Starting point is 00:51:47 sometimes patients that we would say, let's bring them in and know that they're going to come back. You know? And so we didn't know right then that Nicole was going to die, but we knew she was going to come back. And so we were setting her up for the crap that, you know, journey that her person went down, you know, in a cool way. I think the most fun way to do that,
Starting point is 00:52:09 Donald said something about it, is you sneak it up on people. You introduce somebody as something that's just gonna be funny and a goof to see them, and you get people emotionally invested. So when there's stuff, when the wheels come off, people are just, you know, emotionally affected by it. That was something that just you know emotionally affected by it. That was something that you know and it just shows how great of a writer you are you
Starting point is 00:52:30 know I'm sure you know this already but he does like a like a like a Michael Jaminski of writing almost. You would give everybody clues the clues are there and if you're really paying attention, you know, if you're really, really paying attention when it happens, it's not that big of a surprise. Like, it's foreshadowed so much. Yeah, you talked about that. And I really appreciated it because the way our staff worked that I thought was cool in the pre-production every year before we wrote episodes, we talked about what big things, arcs and stuff we wanted to do. Like we'd say, hey, we want Turk and Carla to get engaged,
Starting point is 00:53:14 but we want it to be a little bit of a rocky road. And then we would work backwards. Same way we'd go, hey, we want Johnny C to end up with his ex who he's never moved past. Now he's a more mature son. We work backwards. We're gonna kill Brendan Fraser, let's work backwards. And then it would almost seem when we're doing these initial episodes, since we had already plotted out these
Starting point is 00:53:32 arcs, it was very easy to go, alright, so if Nicole Sullivan's gonna eventually die, and let's establish her here as a fun neurotic person that you think is just being kind of a hypochondriac. And then, do you know what I mean? So it is set up because we were working backwards from the big episodes that we wanted to accomplish was part of the fun. Yeah, that's good writing to me. That's because whenever you can look back and say to yourself, oh, it was there and I didn't see it. Right. I feel like, you know, Kaiser Soze, you know? It's the trick of it all. That's the trick is that, you know, you're not going to, the audience isn't going to have the
Starting point is 00:54:12 heartbreak for an asshole, you know? You got to have the audience fall in love with them and go, oh, I love this girl. She's wacky. She's silly. I want to be her friend. You want to fall in love with the person before Bill kills them. It was the one trick we went back to a lot that was too mean was we knew in 22 minutes it was too hard to get people to love someone and then kill them. So we're like, all right, let's bring them into another story. And our goal is not only to do a successful story, but make people like this person so that when they die, we're screwed.
Starting point is 00:54:47 The only time we thought we pulled it off that we killed someone people cared about in one episode, it ties to this one because this is me being a dummy. So Nicole Sullivan, you know, one of the bridesmaids at my wedding, old friend, I'm not good at naming characters, so she played Jill Tracy. And then I didn't realize until later, Jill Tracy, who's Tim Hobart, the executive producer,
Starting point is 00:55:13 one of the great actress in her own right, not only had I not put her on the show, but I named another character after her. And somebody else played it. So then Jill Tracy came and played the woman who died in a Broadway musical waiting for my real life to begin. That's a great episode. Colin, hey. Colin, hey, yeah. On a clear day, when I can see,
Starting point is 00:55:40 see a very long way. The, so anyways. See you very long way. She was great. So did she call you? Did real J.L. Tracey call you? And was she like, um, hey? No, Tim's just such a good buddy. I realized it as it happened. And I'm like, oh, I'm a piece of shit.
Starting point is 00:55:58 We've got to make sure we get you in there. And she was luckily also a Broadway level singer and had done musical theater her whole life. She was great. Hey, I'm looking at these Blackberries. And I remember that this was like the time that Blackberries came out. and she was luckily also a Broadway level singer and had done musical theater her whole life. She was great. Hey, I'm looking at these blackberries and I remember that this was like the time that blackberries came out and Bill, as I recall,
Starting point is 00:56:11 you gave us all our first blackberries as a present. Yeah, I gave them to everybody as a Christmas gift. And I have a memory. I remember you were like, what is this? So you can type on it? Yeah, I wrote that down. Nicole Sullivan says, email as we're talking. That kind of dates the show. Yeah, that I wrote that down. Nicole Sullivan says email as we're talking. That kind of dates the show. Yeah, I know. I know. It was so weird.
Starting point is 00:56:33 Right when they all came out. I mean, that's we were like state of the art. She's got a state of the art gadget. Getting back to the show. That was one of my favorite things because we really wanted everybody had their thing to overcome on this show. And we really wanted Sarah Chalk's character to overcome how hard she always is on herself and how much she buries herself psychologically and on an unhealthy way with all her work. And my favorite scene in this, besides the Judy and Zach went out in the rain, was Sarah and Johnny C, with Johnny C doing some really subtle stuff, when he says, go ahead and make your case
Starting point is 00:57:10 why Jill Tracy can stay in the hospital. And Sarah is saying, you know, sometimes you get overwhelmed and it's this and this. And John McGinley is without doing anything big, proving to her that she does the very same thing to herself. I loved that moment. The reason I loved it as a writer, was it wasn't something that Sarah was necessarily doing in this episode, but she had done it in every episode up to this one. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:57:33 I wrote that down. That's such a great moment. That scene is so awesome. And Sarah pulls it off really well where she's talking about Nicole's character. And then Johnny says, but have you looked at yourself? I know I'm a skank. And then she keeps going back. Yeah. And she's like, and then she'll do anything. She's such a people pleaser for anyone. I think he says, will you go clean up my dog's shit and take it to the vet? I can do it at lunch. She's really good in that scene. Oh, but it cuts right from that into you pulling up
Starting point is 00:58:09 in the cab with, and that's where I got pissed off cause right there, buh buh buh buh buh buh buh. You're like, no, not now, Jan. But it's, but it marries so well, you know what I mean? Yeah. By the way, and then the pairings we did in this one, the pairings we did in this show Made me think of another question. I answered you guys in previous episode because I believe Kelso calls you
Starting point is 00:58:32 Turk in this episode because you guys are having a battle and he did it in another episode, too He did it, but that's why it's important. It's important to know that that's why It's important to know that that's why we do believe he thinks your name is Turkelton, but that's why we got to the logic with the writers that he thinks your name is Turk Turkelton. When we said, you know, he thinks your name is Dr. Turkelton, you know, in the writers, you fight about everything,
Starting point is 00:59:00 writers room, a lot of the writers were like, he can't, he's called him Turk before. And then somebody's like, well, then he thinks his name is Turk Turkelton. That's one of the best, and to this day, to this day, to this day, there are a lot of, there are a lot of Scrubs fans that know, you know, Christopher Turk is the name, but there are some that honestly believe Turk Turkelton is the character's name. You know what else by the way came up randomly is somebody asked me after why you were named Gandhi, like why Dr. Cox named checked you as Gandhi.
Starting point is 00:59:34 Because I was a bald head guy. It wasn't just that it was because I was concurrently looking at cartoons and okaying the character design with Chris and Phil for Clone High and the Gandhi character They had him with a hip goatee because he was a young teen version and whatever and I'm like, oh shit We should go I told I do we were definitely gonna talk about that right now. Let's just go to go to real quick Okay, sure. I'm gonna work commercial five six There's a type of soil in Mississippi called Yazoo clay. It's thick, burnt orange, and it's got a reputation.
Starting point is 01:00:14 It's terrible, terrible dirt. Yazoo clay eats everything, so things that get buried there tend to stay buried. Until they're not. In 2012, construction crews at Mississippi's biggest hospital made a shocking discovery. Seven thousand bodies out there or more. All former patients of the old state asylum. And nobody knew they were there. It was my family's mystery.
Starting point is 01:00:40 But in this corner of the South, it's not just the soil that keeps secrets. Nobody talks about it. Nobody has any information. When you peel back the layers of Mississippi's Yazoo clay, nothing's ever as simple as you think. The story is much more complicated and nuanced than that. I'm Larysen Campbell. Listen to Under Yazoo Clay on the iHeHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you
Starting point is 01:01:06 get your podcast. Have you ever wondered if your pet is lying to you? Why is my cat not here? And I go in and she's eating my lunch. Or if hypnotism is real? You will use a suggestion in order to enhance your cognitive control. What's inside a black hole? Black holes could be a consequence of the way that we understand the universe. Well, we have answers for you in the new iHeart Original Podcast, Science Stuff. Join me, Jorge
Starting point is 01:01:29 Cham, as we tackle questions you've always wanted to know the answer to about animals, space, our brains, and our bodies. Questions like, can you survive being cryogenically frozen? This is experimental. This means never work for you. What's a quantum computer? It's not just a faster computer. It performs not just a faster computer It performs in a fundamentally different way. Do you really have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you can go swimming? It's not really a safety issue. It's more of a comfort issue We'll talk to experts break it down and give you easy to understand explanations to fascinating scientific questions So give yourself permission to be a science geek and listen to science stuff on the iHeart video app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Starting point is 01:02:08 Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here? How goes lower? From Blumhouse TV, iHeart Podcasts, and Ember 20 comes an all-new fictional comedy podcast series. Join the flighty Damien Hirst as he unravels the mystery of his vanished boyfriend. And Santi was gone. I've been spending all my time looking for answers about what happened to Santi. And what's the way to find a missing person? Sleep with everyone he knew, obviously.
Starting point is 01:02:34 Hmm, pillow talk. The most unwelcome window into the human psyche. Follow our out of his element hero as he engages in a series of ill-conceived investigative hookups. Mama always used to say, God gave me gumption in place of a gag reflex. And as I was about to learn, no amount of showering can wash your hands of a bad hookup.
Starting point is 01:02:54 Now, take a big whiff, my brah. ["I Heart Radio"] Listen to The Hookup on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Some people won't give you the real talk on drugs, but it's time we know the facts. Fentanyl is often laced into illicit drugs and used to make fake versions of prescription pills. You can't see it, taste it, or smell it.
Starting point is 01:03:22 Suppliers mix fentanyl into their products because it's potent and cheap. And the dealer might not even know. Keep yourself and others safe by knowing the real deal on fentanyl. Get the facts. Go to realdealonfentanyl.com. This message is brought to you by the Ad Council. We watch your with Zach and Darno.
Starting point is 01:03:43 Okay, we're back. Steph is in the house, y'all. Steph is in the house y'all. Steph is in the house. Steph Steph is in the house. All right, Steph is in the house. We're just going to finish the Clone High chat. So Steph hang out for a second. Okay, so let's get back into Clone High. Dude, you now had Phil and Chris done anything before this? Or did you find them? They were barely getting their careers started. They were young animators for Disney that went to Dartmouth and were also very funny and were just starting their careers kind of comedy writer, animator.
Starting point is 01:04:14 They'd done nothing. It was like the first project that I supervised someone else the way I was supervised. And now they're two guys that are going to give me and you and Steph and Joel a job eventually. I pray that they give me Just explain now Donald. Why don't you explain the context cuz not everyone's gonna know what the hell, okay? So Chris and Phil have gone on to create shit movies like 21 Jump Street 22
Starting point is 01:04:35 Let go Street the Lego movie the bet probably the best spider-man movie ever into the spider-verse where they do the animation and everything Yeah, cloudy with a chance of meatballs. Yes. They were the animators, directors, writers of that as well. Yes. They've gone on to do some amazing things, but in the beginning, before this all happened, there was a little show called clone high, which Bill was an executive producer on, and while we were making scrubs in the basement, they were doing
Starting point is 01:05:02 all their recordings and in the mental ward- In the mental ward, I believe. And because of that- Well, that was the writers room, yeah. We hid, to save money, we hid our writing staff of that show in the hospital, and then you guys just casually started to notice other writers around the commissary every day eating. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:05:18 Just hanging out, yeah. But they put us in the show too, so I got an opportunity to play two really cool characters in that show. Who were you? I was in it too, but I forgot your name.. It was George Washington Carver which is a fan favorite. I was George Washington Carver and I was also Toots who was Joan of Arc's father-in-law or something like that. Yeah he was a blind former jazz man. It's so weird because a bunch of clone high nerds, I love Big Mouth, but Toots is very much like the jazzy ghost that they have in that cartoon Big Mouth, you know?
Starting point is 01:05:47 Are you guys bringing it back in some way, Bill? I'm not at liberty to discuss that yet, Zach. Oh, I stumbled across something top secret, audience. That would be awesome! That's a good tease. I was in it too, but I don't know who I played. Joelle, you weren't in it a lot. I don't minimize my part. I did occur.
Starting point is 01:06:05 Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was such a cool college film-making type atmosphere, which is what Scrubs was anyways, that you guys would be shooting scenes and we would literally go, hey, do you mind, while you're eating, to walk downstairs and record a voice being a cartoon character? And you guys were all so nice about it. Yeah, well, it was fun. I loved working on that show, man. That was a lot of fun.
Starting point is 01:06:24 I was Paul Revere, Joelle is telling. So Paul Revere's an important character, everybody. Yeah, but that was like one episode. Shut up, John. Yeah, but then you had a bigger one when you were selling a weird energy paste with Sarah Chalk, and Marilyn Manson came in and sang the Food Pyramid song. It's very weird.
Starting point is 01:06:40 Dude, I just remember being there, and this is the first time I met Mandy Moore. She did a guest spot on the show. I met uh, I've never met her. What do you like? Should we go to Steph? Right? Yeah, Tom Green. That was cool That was the first time I've ever met Tom Green and he was on fire at the time and I just was on it Steph was on Born a bit we have a caller guys our caller has has finally we're gonna let her talk. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Steph at any point that you want to hear that awesome song just say five six seven eight You want to hear that awesome song just say five six seven eight
Starting point is 01:07:29 It's official anytime you say five six seven eight Three whole minutes, so I think it. Stop it, we're not playing the whole song. Do you wanna do the tag at the end, Steph? Do the tag at the end. I don't know how to do that. Yeah, Steph, give us the tag. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 01:07:53 There you go. Yes, you got a good voice. All right, this is all gone to shit. Steph, what's your question? So I'm finishing up my second year of medical school, which is in part due to scrubs. So basically, yeah, super funny story. I alluded to this in my personal statement, but left out certain details because I didn't
Starting point is 01:08:15 want them to not take me seriously. But basically, my mom is a surgeon. So when I was growing up, I saw like, you know, pictures of her job and stuff like that. And I thought it looked awful. I was like, I have no idea how you do what you do. She's a breast cancer surgeon. So I was like, that's disgusting. Like how do you look at boobs all day?
Starting point is 01:08:34 It's so weird. I never am going into medicine. How do you look at boobs all day? That's just, I don't know. It's easier if you're not a medical professional. Continue. Oh, got it. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:08:44 So I started washing Scrubs maybe like, I don't even remember when, maybe in middle school. And I related to Elliot's character on such a spiritual level that I was like, this looks really fun. Maybe I will go into medicine. And since then kind of became more legitimate, but definitely the first thing that piqued my interest
Starting point is 01:09:02 was Scrubs. So thank you guys. Do you use the word Frick a lot? um, I kind of graduated to the you version You mean fruck I gotta say I only interject Steph because that means so much to me because We wanted to make sure that medical personnel seemed like heroes and the job seemed like fun. And I just was talking to the real JD last night and his wife, Dolly,
Starting point is 01:09:33 who Elliot's based on and their favorite thing is to consider, you know, that they might have had a tiny part in some people kind of embracing medicine as a career, because it means so much to them. That's A. And B, for those of you that are just listening, is that you can't see Steph could easily have played Elliot, just so you guys know. She's Elliot-esque. She's Elliot-esque, both in her mannerisms and her appearance. And I almost, by the way, this is the thing that I have to watch out for late in life
Starting point is 01:10:06 So I'm much older than all these people But I almost said I am here talking to a young Sarah chalk but Sarah chalk still very young Yeah, I did not say that Sarah's not an old person at all. Yes, Sarah never ages My med school friends all tell me and all the ones that watch scrubs religiously are like, you have the same luck that she does when you guys did the episode with Sarah Chalk, how like the crazy stories that come out of nowhere, you're like, there's no way that happened to you on a Monday, that's me.
Starting point is 01:10:33 Like 100%, yeah. I was watching that, I think that story that Zach and Donald told led us to write a story in which he bought a new car and every 30 seconds someone took another door off it. Yeah, brick on a stick with a brick. That would happen to Sarah. in which he bought a new car and every 30 seconds someone took another door off it. Yeah. Brick on a stick with a brick. That would happen to Sarah.
Starting point is 01:10:48 The best part of that episode is when the grumpy radiologist is like, thanks for stopping by and don't forget your car door. She's like, I didn't have anywhere else to put it. You're a fan. You know what, Steph? You're a real fan. This will make you laugh.
Starting point is 01:11:04 And I don't even know if Donald and Zach remember it. Different things from different episodes would stick on set and people would say them over and over and I never could predict what it was. And I don't know, Zach, Donald, if you guys remember what it was from this one, but it was a made up flavor of smoothie that you guys kept saying for weeks.
Starting point is 01:11:20 Orange goo goo. Wait, which episode is that? I remember that. That was the D is that? What flavor do you want? I'll have a raspberry, I'll have a strawberry, I'll have an orange goo goo. I believe that came from in the writers rooms, you would have the assistants do like a smoothie run and you'd all be like calling out weird Jamba Juice flavors. Yes, we'd make up fake flavors and just to torture the poor young people working on hourly wages. Yeah, and some would be like, I want an orange goo goo.
Starting point is 01:11:50 I want an orange goo goo. With immunity. All right, Steph, we're taking this on. Come on, come on. It's your time, it's your time, Steph. It's your time, it's your time, Steph. Goonies, go ahead, Steph. So it's actually kind of perfect that Bill is here on this episode because it kind of relates to the behind the scenes part of it.
Starting point is 01:12:12 But since I watch the show so much, a lot of the times when I'm studying, I'll recognize words that'll remind me of certain scenes of the show. And I know you guys talked about trying to make it really medically accurate. It is re-verifying. But it's also really funny, which I think is hard to do with medical vernacular if you're not really used to it. So I was wondering if there was a specific member of the writing team that was, you know, kind of crucial in making the medical scenes, specifically the funny ones, because I think it would be kind of hard to write if you didn't have that medical knowledge.
Starting point is 01:12:50 I'm gonna give props to, first of all, we have actors and actresses that can sell comedy and they were great, but the real JD is, as I can tell by your persona, he is a guy that I would not have been surprised if he went into comedy writing. He was funny. And so for me, it was, it'd be interesting to even go back to all his memories. But I remember him talking about pimping, you know, when you get grilled with questions and rounds. And he would be like, I was never ready. I
Starting point is 01:13:22 always felt, you know, like I was a deer in the headlights. And then just from him saying that, I was like, oh, JD's gonna be a deer in the headlights when I ask him a question. You know what I mean? And I would bet stuff that you, when you go through all this stuff, will meet it with humor and banter,
Starting point is 01:13:41 because if you don't, I think you go crazy. So I'd give him the props for it and the performers the props for it because they'd find ways to make it funny. Bill, did JD ever like overstep the line? And he's like, hey Bill, I got an episode for you. Here's what's gonna happen. Yeah, and they did two things.
Starting point is 01:13:56 One, he and Dolly once said, hey, we got bored because we were both sick and stayed in all weekend. We wrote an episode. And I was like. Oh my God. I was like, yeah. And I didn't, so of course I'll look at it. And then they're like, no, we're not gonna show it to you.
Starting point is 01:14:08 We forget it. We don't wanna do that, right? Which was super cool. Probably brilliant. And the movie version would be like the most brilliant script ever written. I know. And then the other thing was, to answer Steph's question,
Starting point is 01:14:21 we would sometimes work backwards, which was really hard, because for him, because'd go, I want to do this funny moment. We need you to say something that would cause this guy to not have a sense of smell and not blah, blah, blah. And it can't be serious enough that I have to worry about whether or not he'd die and he should still be conscious and be able to talk because he has to talk in the scene. And JD would be like, dude, this is worse than med school homework. This is impossible. That would be hard. One of my favorite ones, speaking of funny medical jargon, it's pronounced analgesic.
Starting point is 01:14:55 I can't believe you said that. That is literally, I had to give a talk to my med school, it was one of our small groups and they were talking about how it's so important to be able to articulate in kind of layman's terms what you're talking about. And I was like, yeah, there's a scene of scrubs where Turk has to explain that analgesic is like not the same as analgesic. And everyone was like, I mean, yeah, I guess that works. And everyone was like, I mean, yeah, I guess that works. That was on my top 10 jokes that I did not write that I wish I could take credit for. That's such a funny joke, man. Don't say Neil Goldman whatever you do.
Starting point is 01:15:33 No, I'm not gonna. It really bums me out. I think it might have even been Tarsus or Gabby. I don't even know. Or Hobart. It sounds like a Tim Hobart joke too. All right, Steph, you got another question? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:15:43 It kind of piggybacks off of the first one a little bit. So you guys talked about early on in your episodes that you kind of work to develop this character and figure out what kind of mannerisms you wanted and all that kind of stuff. It really shows throughout the progression of the season. They kind of grow into those character traits while also still growing as people. But I find that they're really kind of congruent with how you would expect that person to act as a clinician.
Starting point is 01:16:11 And I was wondering if the kind of character that you developed influenced the way that the writers wrote scenes of how you practiced medicine, like later on. I'll set Donald and Zach up to talk about this, but I'll tell you my philosophy of running a TV show is, because they were talking about show running earlier. So your question's awesome because,
Starting point is 01:16:33 and it means a lot to me that it felt that way to you, because when I teach sometimes, like I teach the Writers Guild for kids running shows for the first time and stuff, I said the most successful shows in my mind, when you write the pilot and come up with it and actors and actresses don't exist, the characters time and stuff. I said, the most successful shows in my mind, when you write the pilot and come up with it and actors and actresses don't exist, the characters belong to you.
Starting point is 01:16:49 You invented them. And then you cast these people, and when you do the pilot, the first episode, for it to be great, it's gotta be a partnership. It's half mine and half yours. But then for a show to work, ownership, you have to stop being a control freak, and ownership has to go to the actors
Starting point is 01:17:07 and actresses playing the parts. And so I would ask Donald and Zach, at this point in the show where they said, because what would happen is it's really cool. Eventually on good shows, people start coming up to you and going, I don't think my character would say it this way. Or are you sure this is how my character would react in this moment?
Starting point is 01:17:27 Or should my character be more like this? And you, on shows that are working, you have to listen. And I, did you guys eventually kind of feel like those characters were yours, you know? In terms of- I definitely felt like Turk became, if not I became Turk or Turk became me, I definitely at some point, everything, it just seemed like I was living life
Starting point is 01:17:48 on camera at some point. And what really helped me though, was you realizing medical jargon wasn't my strength. And once you realize that and I'm just finding that out. And once you realize that made Turk, uh, just Turk just a scalpel jockey, it freed me, you know what I mean? And I didn't have to worry about having to say certain things, you know what I mean? Drink up. I didn't have to worry about saying certain things, whereas Zach and Sarah would say, and Johnny would say things, and I'd be like, I'm so happy I don't have to do that. I remember being in the makeup chair in the morning and looking through the sides and being like, oh no, Donald's got a medical jargon monologue. Lunch is gonna be late today.
Starting point is 01:18:34 Yeah, those would be the worst days. But once Bill was like, I'm not gonna give you medical jargon anymore. Turk knows it, he just doesn't like to use it. Right. Life became so much easier. It's a good question though, because you guys eventually even would start riffing your own lines and I gladly would use them because they knew their characters and how they would react and what they would say and didn't bother me at all.
Starting point is 01:18:59 It made me happy. And you know, even getting to talk to the same way of getting to talk to you makes me happy. One of the things I, mementos I have on my wall in my office from Scrubs is from a med student Steph who pulled an answer at rounds out of their ass because they remembered a chunk of dialogue on our show and they said the attending was so blown away because it was a question they shouldn't have known the answer to. Do you know what I mean? And I wish I could remember it. Yeah, my mom says the same things about her med students
Starting point is 01:19:25 that like all of the fact like trivia that people don't really, they're not supposed to remember, you know, beers into practice because it just is, you never see it. She was like, yeah, all the med students know it because of scrubs. That's cool. That's dope.
Starting point is 01:19:39 That's awesome. Bill, that's really cool. What kind of doctor do you want to be, Steph? I'm leaning towards surgery, but we'll see. Open to anything. I think it's really, really neat that you're doing that. And it's a gig that's of service. It's like being a teacher, it's awesome.
Starting point is 01:19:54 And the most important jobs to be of service, I think like teacher, soldier, physician, and of course comedy writer, I would think, right? Absolutely. Not at all. All right, Steph, thank you so much. Thank you guys. That was some amazing questions and also really inspired us. I mean, you made us all feel like we may have inspired at least one person to go into
Starting point is 01:20:17 medicine. A lot, a lot. Let me, yeah, you guys have a huge medical fan base. Well, good luck with everything. Promise me that you'll dress up as Elliot for at least one Halloween. Oh yeah, every Halloween. And every day of your life. Whoever, if you have friends that go as Turk for Halloween, tell them please no blackface.
Starting point is 01:20:37 I was about to say, they better not be white. Please make sure they're really black because on Donald and I cringe. No, they don't even have to be black. If you're gonna be Turk, just don't paint your face. Right, okay, but Donald and I cringe every Halloween when people tag us on Instagram, excitedly like, Turk and JD for Halloween, and still in 2020, there's still people painting their faces brown and black and it's horrible.
Starting point is 01:20:59 Although we did it a lot on Scripps. By the way, one of the many things that doesn't hold up in retrospect on the show, the, hey, Steph, good luck with all this stuff. And thanks for saying all the cool stuff. Thank you, Steph. And if you don't mind, hi, Vic and Hayden. Hope you guys are jealous.
Starting point is 01:21:19 OK. What's up, Vic and Hayden? Vic and Hayden. 5, 6, 7, 8. No! Bill, stop. No. Damn. Turn it off. Turn it off,den. 5, 6, 7, 8. No! Bill, stop.
Starting point is 01:21:26 No, Dan, turn it off. Turn it off, Dan. Thank you, guys. Turn it off. See you, Steph. Steph thought she was just going to sneak in a Vic and Hayden quick thing, but I think we should just keep talking about Vic and Hayden. I like Vic, but I don't like Hayden.
Starting point is 01:21:38 I don't like Hayden at all. I want their shout-out to go awry. Vic and Hayden shout-out? No. Yeah, I want- Let's do a Vic and Hayden episode. OK. We should. So at 444, guys, what's happening?
Starting point is 01:21:51 444? At 444, what's happening is mentioned. Holy cow, we haven't talked about this episode at all. I know. No, we have. Here's what I like. We've talked about the Sarah story, both with Steph and us. And we jumped around.
Starting point is 01:22:03 We jumped around. And we talked about the Neil, but we haven't talked about the Judy and Zach story. We're going to get into it. And we're going to get into it. And, you know, listen, Donald, Bill Lawrence episodes are always going to be long because he brings a lot to the table and he's no, I'm not complaining. I'm not complaining about the length of the episode. I'm just saying some people, some people want to listen to a rewatch podcast
Starting point is 01:22:22 and actually rewatch the show. And well, then they should listen to a different show. We happen rewatch the show at the same time. Well, then they should listen to a different show. We happen to meander. At 440 fucking 4, what's happening is mentioned for the first time. Okay, you don't need to start banging on. I did. I banged the table.
Starting point is 01:22:38 I banged the table on that. Why am I yelling? What happens at 440? What's happening is mentioned for the very first time on Scrubs. Oh, yeah. And you guys did the dance And we don't even idea it really she says it's not that great a show Expected people to know what we were talking about and that's such an old reference I know and nowadays kids don't even know the glory of what's happening unless you're our age
Starting point is 01:23:01 Glory of what's happening or what's happening now. I know do you remember what? What's happening now Shirley owned the restaurant? They all grew up and now D is not just a small character. She's like the star No, surely was the star. I think cuz she all was a star they Everybody came back. I didn't like what's happening now as much as what's happening. What's happening? I just I just liked reruns dance and I liked much as what's happening. Well, what's happening is not classical. I just liked Rerun's dance, and I liked the moment you guys did for me,
Starting point is 01:23:28 which is forever. I liked, hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. What's happening, Raj? Hey, hey, hey. Do you remember in the opening credits when they left Rerun, and he's driving down the street, and Rerun's like. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.
Starting point is 01:23:42 Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do making fun of the heavy said guy. But watching me run chase after that truck was funny. Come on. This show was, because he had suspenders on. Yeah, well that and the hat and the same red. His outfit never changed. Do you remember the episode where Raj decided he was gonna be a nude model? My favorite thing that's happening right now is you guys said, we haven't talked about the show yet. And then you're going, do you remember the episode
Starting point is 01:24:23 of what's happening? Like, God. By the way,, and then you're going, do you remember the episode of What's Happening? Like, God. By the way, if I was like at 10, 15 in that What's Happening episode, that's the first time that Shirley says. I just remember, we can go back to the show, but I just remember there was an episode where Raj was doing nude modeling for artists,
Starting point is 01:24:42 you know, when they paint a nude model. And I remember thinking as a child, like this is scandalous, Raj is gonna take off his clothes? Like, that's crazy. Okay, let's get back into the show. Okay. So let's talk about the JD and Carla storyline,
Starting point is 01:24:57 which is a very interesting storyline. Yes. Because at the beginning of the show, you guys are really clicking and grooving. One reason because your best friend and his now girlfriend are always, you know, we live together, or your roommate and his girlfriend are always around. And so you guys have developed a relationship.
Starting point is 01:25:18 And because of that, you're a dynamic duo of your own. You know what I mean? She doesn't work, drink up. She doesn't work for you, but you guys are a team that is very, very, very cohesive. And you go along and you fuck it up by becoming judgmental. Right, well I'm feeling everyone is being condescending to me
Starting point is 01:25:38 and I'm starting to become a good doctor, I'm starting to get my groove, I'm starting to know what's happening. And all of a sudden... Oh my God. Okay, go on. And I just, you know, like someone does, he loses his temper. And of course he loses his temper at the worst person possible, his teammate, Carla.
Starting point is 01:26:01 Yeah. This was also a product. The reason I wrote this is interesting. This is a product of two things. One, all the nurses that were nice enough to give us interviews, one of the stories that you saw was the nurses are essentially the last line of training for a lot of these medical students and residents
Starting point is 01:26:19 and interns and stuff. Because when you first show up, you know more than they do. Even say it in the show, then the training kicks in and the dynamic shifts. And so many of them ultimately told us that it's so interesting how to navigate that because there is an air of superiority to some doctors when they get to that point and it messes up that dynamic.
Starting point is 01:26:44 And I wanted to combine that with my personal life, when they get to that point and it messes up that dynamic. And I wanted to combine that with my personal life, my mom's family, my mom and then me were the first two on her side of the family to go to college. And then you always kind of enter these dynamics of like, oh, you think you're smarter than me because you actually went on to secondary education
Starting point is 01:27:03 and did that stuff. And, you know, as you get older, you realize that doesn't have anything to do with anything, you know, at this point in my life. I know tons of geniuses that didn't finish high school, and tons of, you know, grad school graduates, they're the dumbest people alive, do I mean, but around youthful things that kind of carries there. And my favorite part of that stuff was her challenging you to admit it and you actually admitting it.
Starting point is 01:27:33 Do you know what I mean? And that was what enabled you guys still to be friends, I think. That scene was really... I mean, Judy's... I'm just the straight man in that scene. Her performance in that rain outside the bus I thought was just incredible. She did such a beautiful job and it was heartbreaking. Still to this day I'm watching it and was so moved by how heartfelt and open she was. And I wrote down, because this is what we
Starting point is 01:27:57 wanted to do, that people didn't understand at comedy at the time and why Judy Reyes was so perfect, you know, because there weren't a lot of dramedies on. And one of my favorite jokes in this episode was before you get off the bus, she's leaving and she's like, I'm so mad at you. And you said, you forgave me. You can't just change your mind. And without selling it as a joke,
Starting point is 01:28:20 she's like, have you never met a woman before? And she walks out into the rain. Do you know what I mean? And it wasn't read like a punchline. It was read like, yeah, you can still be funny in drama and amongst pathos when you're feeling bad. And that was like the tonal stuff. That's why she's so good, man. Because she's always so real. Very, very, very good at this. Yeah. I look back at it like I had no clue how much of a powerhouse she was or is I should say. And when I watched these episodes, I said it in our first podcast, her and Ken, wow, really, they're really MVPs of our show. You know what I mean? Drink up.
Starting point is 01:29:03 You don't have to tell people to drink when you say, you know what I mean? I know. They're just gonna do it. They're just gonna do it. I'm bringing it to my attention that I said it. This is the most you've ever done, by the way. You went from the previous episode being conscious of it and doing none to this one doing like 30. You know what I mean? I probably said it several times in the last episode also. I probably said it several times in the last episode also. This episode is also about how important your name is, regardless of if it's Bambi or JD or your reputation or scooter, whatever it is, your reputation is very important and
Starting point is 01:29:40 you only get one chance to make a first impression. And after that, people will have judgments of who they think you are. And this episode really touches on that. Here's the thing I screwed up in this episode off what Donald is saying, it bothers me. What Dr. Cox's character does to JD, you know, of shaming him was so bad that it bummed me out that he never got his comeuppance for that. Do you know what I mean? Because you didn't tell her to go protect you shaming him was so bad that it bummed me out
Starting point is 01:30:07 that he never got his comeuppance for that. Do you know what I mean? Because you didn't tell her to go protect you and then he makes everybody stop and goes, we're all to be super special to this little flower, you know, and I thought that was so egregiously mean, you know what I mean? But his character, I guess, was flawed. But we should have gotten him,
Starting point is 01:30:22 have him make amends for that or get thumped for that. Mm-hmm. But boxing fantasy was pretty funny though. Johnny C oiled up. I was about to say, holy cow, how much oil did he have on? Well, there was a lot of oil. I remember there being a lot of oil. That was a lot of Crisco, yo.
Starting point is 01:30:35 A lot of Crisco. Guys, I watched it with Krista, who had to do all of her romance scenes with Johnny C, and she will eventually be on You're So Nice your, you're so nice about her too. He came, he came on as a punching bag and she was half asleep. So you're upstairs in the room and she goes, uh, half drowsy. Here it comes all old up. Just glistening with Johnny C has a full bottle of chrisco oil let's be honest though he's ripped he looks he's ripped he looks amazing yeah he doesn't even i don't think it's
Starting point is 01:31:11 drawn on oh you know what i wanted to say and i wanted to tell me if you guys thought this in real life when i say that is what i wrote the last thing i wrote down about judy what i say like when you get really lucky it's not the writing or anything else it's all it's everything and the casting people have to really nail these characters and be who they are. And the amazing thing watching Judy back then, you guys, Zach and Donald, were such kids. And Sarah's character, and Sarah felt like a kid.
Starting point is 01:31:39 And Judy, and this is one of the reasons I think the show works, she was not significantly, she's essentially the same age as all you guys, but she seemed like such a grown up, even from the start. Yeah, she was definitely way more mature than we were. You know, and seemed like such an adult that it made the show work of like, oh, one of these four is, you know, old for her years and an adult already. Whereas Judy is the, you know, she could have easily, on a different
Starting point is 01:32:06 show, been Elliot or been the little kid. And so was she like that in real life or was she just that good mattress? In real life, Judy was way more mature than the three of us. I think we were just as silly and goofy as our characters. And Judy was funny and would play along with us, but I think she was definitely more mature than us. Absolutely. By the way, there's a really funny fuck up, Bill. At 1203, when Donald runs into the room
Starting point is 01:32:32 that Kelso's lured him to, you can totally see a hand come in and it's on the floor, and it's holding the door open. That's hysterical. And it made me think... Now we paint shit like that out. I know, I know. Nowadays, we just paint it out. But it made me think that we paint shit like that out. I know. I know. Nowadays we just paint it out. But it made me think it was probably Patrick Bolton or something lying on the floor.
Starting point is 01:32:50 Oh Patrick. Shout out Patrick Bolton. Patrick Bolton was the onset dresser. If it has wheels, that thing will be on set. I enjoyed, after hearing the interesting thing you guys both said about eating, I think I've never seen the two of you do more eating in an episode. Zach having to jam a cupcake in your mouth. Donald just wolfing sandwich.
Starting point is 01:33:08 Did you guys really eat that stuff or were you just spitting it out as soon as they said cut? I do love a sandwich. I'm not going to lie. I do love a sandwich. Well, and also a cupcake doesn't count, Bill. If someone says, we need you to jam this cupcake in your mouth, you're going to do it. I mean, that's your excuse.
Starting point is 01:33:20 And also it was that cheap cupcake. What are those called? Ho-ho's. Hostess cupcakes? Ho-ho's or Susie Cakes? No, Joval, you said it. Ding-dong was that cheap cupcake. What are those called? Hostess cupcakes? No, it was how you said it. Ding dong. That was a ding dong. Listen, I'll tell you something right now. You put some cold cuts, some cheese in between, some hero bread. That sounds delicious to me. You could put some lettuce, tomato on it. I'll eat that shit. And another strike at the janitor not speaking to anyone in season one, Bill,
Starting point is 01:33:44 is that he clearly has told Dr. Cox to call me Scooter at the Janitor not speaking to anyone in season one, Bill, is that he clearly has told Dr. Cox to call me Scooter at the end. I don't know what you're talking about. He never ever spoke to anybody except JD and Z. Donald and I have been going through like detectives going, we're trying to keep the Janitor lore alive for season one. It's alive. It's not true.
Starting point is 01:34:01 The facts are problematic. It doesn't track. The facts are problematic, Bill. It doesn't. We've done all the work true. The facts are problematic. It doesn't track. The facts are problematic, Bill. It doesn't. We've done all the work, just like Turk Turkelton. There was just zero... Okay, so how does...
Starting point is 01:34:10 So in your mind, Bill, hit your rationalization button, how does Cox know to call me Scooter? It's just a random coincidence. It's the nickname he's got. I love it. I really want this to be a running gag that Dalton and I do the detective work to see how the janitor talks to other people. The only one I think you've ever seen him speak to is Elliot in the thing when they're all walking up to each other mad.
Starting point is 01:34:37 Yes. Yes. Well, she speaks to him. He doesn't necessarily speak to her. Exactly. That might not have even been a janitor she made mad. This is just is all seen through JD's lens. The last thing I want to last thing I remember you know what and you're absolutely right.
Starting point is 01:34:52 Actually the very next person that the janitor the very next person that's attacked after Elliot does that to the janitor is JD. So it could be it could be that that one. That one's imaginary and Elliot was talking to an intern or an orderly or something. Or no, that's a possibility. Or she's just not even talking to anyone. There's no one there and she's just saying it. Yeah, it's very fight clubby. When we at the end, we should have shown very... Yeah, exactly. Thank you. The last thing I want to say is this, they went overboard with the filters on Sarah in the bathtub
Starting point is 01:35:23 because it's like Barbara Walters. You can barely see her through filters. And she's in this most enormous fucking bathroom. And I was thinking, why does... But then I remembered, isn't Elliot supposed to have money from her parents? Her parents are paid. Because Elliot's in the bathroom of a millionaire's house. It was subtext that we had planned for and a lot of it got cut, but it eventually pays off when she tells her dad she doesn't want to go into a female specialty and he
Starting point is 01:35:50 stops paying for her life. So she has to move in with you. She loses her whole apartment. She works at that apartment. She's like, this place is big. She works at the clinic. She starts working at the clinic. All of that stuff.
Starting point is 01:36:02 I remember. Well, thank you. Sorry, audience. Are we done? Yeah. Audience, we went all over the place. I remember well. Thank you. Sorry audience Yeah, audience. We went all over the place today, but we're so excited that we all should know. So gather round to hear our, gather round to hear our scrubs, we watch your Wizac and I know. Mm-hmm. Do you remember what you said the first night I came over here? Ow. Goes lower. From Blumhouse TV, iHeart Podcasts, and Ember 20 comes an all new fictional comedy podcast series.
Starting point is 01:36:45 Join the flighty Damien Hirst as he unravels the mystery of his vanished boyfriend. I've been spending all my time looking for answers about what happened to Santi. And what's the way to find a missing person? Sleep with everyone he knew, obviously. Listen to the hookup on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Dressing. Dressing. Oh, French dressing. app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Dressing. Dressing. Oh, French dressing. Exactly.
Starting point is 01:37:09 Oh, that's good. I'm AJ Jacobs, and my current obsession is puzzles. And that has given birth to my podcast, The Puzzler. Something about Mary Poppins? Exactly. This is fun. You can get your daily puzzle nuggets delivered straight to your ears.
Starting point is 01:37:27 Listen to The Puzzler every day on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Mary Kay McBrayer, host of the podcast, The Greatest True Crime Stories Ever Told. This season explores women from the 19th century to now. Women who were murderers and scammers, but also women who were photojournalists, lawyers, writers, and more.
Starting point is 01:37:53 This podcast tells more than just the brutal, gory details of horrific acts. I delve into the good, the bad, the difficult, and all the nuance I can find. Because these are the stories that we need to know to understand the intersection of society, justice and the fascinating workings of the human psyche. Join me every week as I tell some of the most enthralling true crime stories about women who are not just victims,
Starting point is 01:38:20 but heroes or villains or often somewhere in between. Listen to the greatest true crime stories ever told on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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.
Starting point is 01:38:43 This podcast is based on my cohost Mark Se Seale's best-selling book of the same title. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Kobla, 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.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.