The Pilot/My First Day

Zach and Donald talk about filming in an abandoned hospital, discuss the audition process, and explain why they were so starstruck by Sarah Chalke, aka Dr. Eliot. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, Donald, Donald, if you're not recording, I am going
to squeeze your balls. Well I've been recording since for
like three minutes in seventeen seconds, so there will be
no ball squeeze. Here we go, sorry, hello, get to me.
Hello everyone? Three? Wait three two. Here's some stories about show.
We made about a bunch of stories. So yead around here,

(00:33):
yeado around here. Hello everyone. My name is Zach Braff. Hi,
I'm Donald Fason, and I can't believe it, but guess what, guys,
We're gonna do a Scrubs rewatch podcast. Yeah, that's exactly
what we're doing. Dude, your voice change completely all of
a sudden. We were all talking normal, you know, my

(00:55):
podcast started be like, hey everyone, it is I. I
got nervous and I I felt like I should sound
like a radio broadcaster. But no, okay, I'm back to me.
There we go. This is pretty exciting. I'm i gotta
tell you, I'm very excited that we've been talking about
this for a long time. We've been trying to figure
it out. I've been teasing social media, as have you been.

(01:18):
You've been You've been teasing social media a little bit
more than I have but I know because I wanted
to get people titilated. Donald, I wanted to titillate the masses. Well,
let's thank iHeartRadio first of all for putting this helping us.
We had to figure out who to do it, and
we found a perfect partner with iHeart, and we want
to thank them. And also we want to thank the
fans across the universe, because I just think it's would

(01:39):
be crazy for us not to start with saying we
wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for the just
incredibly loyal, amazing fan base we have around the earth. Right, Donald,
thank you very much all of you who watched the
show and who are listening to this podcast right now. Wow,
we appreciate you so much. Thank you so much. Yeah,
thank you. I mean, this has been so many years

(02:00):
of love for this show. And you know it's funny.
I'm sure Donald, you have this experience too, where people
come up through the street like I'm sure this is
so annoying, but I just want to say I love
the show, and I'm like, I'm always like, it's not annoying.
Are you kidding me? That's like the best comment you
can give us. So well, it's annoying when you're eating food. Yeah,
maybe eating food and somebody comes up to you and
they're like, sorry to bother you. You You know, at first,
why are you saying sorry to bother you? You're not

(02:20):
sorry to bother me. You're meant to bother me at
that moment, you know what I mean. Yeah, Well, just guys,
if you're gonna see Donald in public, don't do it
while he's eating. Maybe just with my kids. I don't
play that. Oh yeah, all right, we'll just wait outside
the restaurant for him in a dark in a dark alley.
That's how I prefer people to approach me, in a
dark galley. I also, my only request is not at

(02:42):
the not online, at the pharmacy because I'm usually sick
and I don't want to UM. I once had a
guy asked me to sign his his box of condoms
at a pharmacy, and uh I just who No. I
was like, dude, this is weird. I don't want to
sign Anyway. We've already digressed. We love our fans and
we're so glad you're listening. So the rough plan is

(03:03):
that we're just gonna talk through episodes of Scrubs we're
gonna start with with season one. Obviously. Today we're gonna
talk about the pilot and we're going to just kind
of tell stories and go through it scene by scene
and just kind of tell anecdotes and stuff, and then
eventually want to have guests on. We're gonna today we're
gonna take a very first fan question, which is thrilling.
Joel figured out how to do that. She's amazing. We're

(03:25):
really excited about this. We should start. Do you remember
the name of the pilot what the first episode was? No? Wait,
I just want to tell them one more thing. So
we were going to do this in person, but then,
of course, because of this COVID insanity, the good people
of iHeart have figured out a way for dollin us
do it remotely. So we're he's we're looking at each

(03:45):
other over zoom, and he's in his closet, which is
frigging hilarious because I guess that's the only place you
can hide from your kids. Yeah, well, yeah, they're downstairs.
We put on Captain underpants so they'll be quiet for
a bit. But if you hear someone yelling or screaming,
it's probably gonna be my son. Rocco or my daughter Wilder.
I'm gonna take a picture of this to post on
the interwebs because it's very adorable. Right, well, let me

(04:06):
get my let me get a fresh post. Then, oh
my god, you're so cute. All right. So Donald has
children and m and a wife and everyone's in quarantine.
So he's in his closet recording and we're looking at
each other. So so we're gonna do it like this, um,
and for the foreseeable future, every week we'll be coming
to you talking about the next episode of the show,

(04:28):
and we'll hope that you'll watch it along with us,
because that's kind of the idea if you if you
watched that episode, and then um, we'll shoot the shit
about that episode. I just watched it. I got very nostalgiic.
Did you did you feel nostalgia? Well, yeah, just how
young we were. First of all, we were so young,
so young. I didn't remember how young I was. I

(04:49):
was twenty six at the time and I'm forty five
turning forty six this year, and it was that was
twenty years ago. So you know, watching the pilot for
the first time, I'm really felt like it was brand new.
Like I remembered some things, but other things I was like,
I don't remember any of this. You know. I remember

(05:09):
certain poses that John c McGinley made, like when he
put his hand on the back of his head and
stuff like that. I remember being like, Wow, that's interesting
that he chose to do that right now, And as
the show goes on, it became his doctor Cox stuff.
But while we while watching it for the first time,
I was like, Oh my god, this is where it
all originated. This is where this is where this came from.

(05:31):
There were so many moments I had while watching it
too where I was like thinking, first of all, we
can't start off even even five minutes of this without
talking about Bill Lawrence, who is the creator of the
show and the reason we're all here talking. And I
was just amazed watching it how how much Bill got
it it's like twenty three minutes long, and how much
he was able how much storytelling and character introduction. The

(05:53):
pilots are always hard because you know, you have the
showrunner creator has such a hard job to introduce so
many characters and do it in twenty three minutes. And
it's just amazing how much how many characters are introduced,
how many storylines and like love interests are introduced, How
much is packed into one episode? Yeah, that's some of those.
I have questions for you, as a matter of fact,

(06:14):
just on you know, how the whole pilot came together
and everything. Well wait, let's start with let's sorry I
didn't interrupt you, but let's start with I feel like
we should tell our stories about auditioning, because that's well, yeah,
that was my first question for you. So when we
first started the pilot, I had already done quite a
few things, Like I was in clueless. I had done

(06:34):
remember the Titans already waiting to exhale. I was guest
starring on Felicity at the time, and this was a
pilot that came up for me, and I was like, yeah, sure,
I'll go out for it. I'd love to go out
for it. Anybody wants to be on a show. And
it wasn't until after I auditioned for it and got
it that everybody was like, oh my. I remember all
of my agents being like, this is like the number
one pilot of this season. Everyone wanted to be a
part of this, and you booked it, and I remember

(06:56):
being like, holy cow. I was just looking at it
as let me get another job. I got kids to feed.
You know what I mean. You were completely different. You
were like I mean, I know you had been in
some things and stuff like that, but you hadn't even
really popped yet. Yeah. I'd done little things, you know.
I've been in an indie. I was in an indie,
A couple of indies, one called The Broken Hearts Club
that went to Sundance, but I was still waiting tables.
I directed that, by the way, a now superstar famous

(07:19):
person named Greg Berlani. It was his very first film,
and he gave me one of my first early big
breaks being in that movie. And I was a waiter
at a French Vietnamese restaurant in Beverly Hills combination and
people who you know, if you saw Garden State in
my film, I'm kind of spoofing that in the beginning
when I'm working with a tunic on and waiting on

(07:41):
horrible people. But anyway, I was waiting there and people
would come from having Broken Hearts Club was in the theater,
and people would come from the theater and they'd say
for dessert to the restaurant, and they'd be like, we
just saw your movie and I'd be like, oh cool,
thank you, thank you for going. And they'd be like
you were you were great, and I go, oh, thank you,
thank you so much. Let me tell you about our specials.

(08:02):
And it was like, only in Hollywood can you go
see a movie and then have the star of the
movie wait on you for dessert. How did you feel
about that? Were you ever embarrassed by it? It was
so embarrassed. I remember I would go to like a
general meeting in Hollywood of these things called general meetings
where you kind of go and like you're like bragging that,
oh my my career is going so well and we
should really work together, and you're just kind of schmoozing.
And I remember I did one of those and like

(08:22):
it really went well, and I came out feeling so good.
And then that night I looked down at one of
my tables and the guy was at the table, and
I didn't I had left out the part how I
was still, you know, hustling and waiting tables. But so
you know, I got the audition. I was waiting tables.
I got the audition. Now that my story is a

(08:43):
little funny, because I went out first for it in
New York. I happened to be in New York, and
I didn't prepare. It went so poorly. I hadn't read
the script. You know, not every audition do you go
in killing it. And I didn't do a good job.
And I when I got back to La, my agent said, look,
they still can't find this guy for this show. And

(09:03):
it's really, like you said, everyone's talking about this is
like one of the hot new shows of the season.
You I think you could just go back in, like
they won't even know, like your audition, I don't even
They were like, I don't even know if your tape
made it from New York, like because no one was
no one, no one even responded to whatever the fuck
you did. So I this time, I took it seriously.
I memorized that I worked on it. I practiced a lot,
and then when I went in. I remember the cash

(09:24):
director Brett Right, I was in. He looked up at
me like, oh okay, like with a smile. And then
it was off to the races. And then I met
Bill and I worked with Bill, and and then you know,
I literally auditioned six times before I got it, and
finally my final audition was for the network, and it

(09:46):
was down between four of us, and I read with
Sarah and I, you know, I had in six times.
I wore the exact same outfit every single time because
I was so superstitious, and I could really tell that
Bill was rooting for me. He made it known to
me that that he wanted me to get it. But
but there were a lot of you know, people that
were more famous than me that were that were I

(10:06):
mean that we're famous, that were up for it. So
I couldn't I couldn't leave. I got it. But anyway,
so tell me. Tell me about your audition for So
I auditioned for it. The first time I auditioned for it.
I don't know who was in the room, to be
honest with you. I just auditioned and they were like,
they want to bring you back. And then I came
back and I auditioned again, and this time Bill was there,
and I remember being like, oh, okay. You know, at

(10:28):
this point in my career, it was like I'm just
going to audition for things as many times as I
can until they say yes, you know what I mean,
or until they say no. And I remember they were like,
all right, look you're gonna test for this, but they
want you to go in for one more audition before that,
just to run lines with Bill and work on the
jokes and stuff. And I was like, yeah, absolutely. The
one thing I remembered to this day he still liked this.

(10:52):
If Bill wants the joke to work, he'll laugh. Even
if it fell flat, He'll still laugh to give you
the confidence of yo, dude, that's the joke. That's where
the joke lands, right. Yeah. So we went into the
room and we were working on it and he's laughing
at everything and I'm like, oh, I'm crushing it. And
then after every take he'd be like, all right, now,
let's work on this beat. And I remember it was

(11:14):
him and Danny Rose at the time. Yeah, Danny Rose
is another one. At the time, he was Bill's assistant,
but then then he rose up in the ranks and
became a producer on the show. Right, And so we
did it, and then he was like, all right, good
luck tomorrow. And I was like all right, bet, And
so I went on the audition and I saw a
bunch of friends of mine auditioning, and Sarah was there,

(11:37):
and you know, we were there for about an hour
and a half, all of us testing in front of
the network, and I remember at one point, you know,
we're all sitting out there for a while and they
hadn't come out in a bit, and Bill comes out.
It's like, Donald, I need to talk to you real quick.
And I was like, oh, well, I guess I'm the
first person to go home. And he says, so, look,

(12:00):
your audition you probably could tell already, but you kind
of fucked it up. So and so you know, I
want to give you another shot because the things that
I've seen you do, you just didn't do that time
in the room, and so if you could just bring
it down a little bit. And because you agree with him,
did you think did you? Did you agree with him

(12:21):
and think like, oh shit, I was so nervous, and
he's right, No, I thought I was crushing it. I
was doing everything that we I thought I was doing
everything that we had done in the rehearsal right. So
finally I go in there and I remember toning everything
down and him being like perfect and then leaving and
he sent everybody home except for Sarah, myself and one

(12:43):
other person. And that night I found out I got
the job. Wow, you know, what I mean. And you know,
when I went in all the audition, I expected to
see the guy that he had kept. You know, it
was me, Sarah and this one guy, and we were like,
holy cow, I guess we got it right. And I
expected to see the guy at the table read and

(13:04):
you walked in. I was like, that's not the same dude. Wait,
so I knew who you were obviously, but because I
loved I had not seen anything you were in. No, No,
you wouldn't. I'm sure I didn't mean to say that
you had seen my two little indies. I just mean, like,
I guess I don't know what my question is. I
mean like you even seen a picture of me. You
didn't even know anything about me. You just knew nothing

(13:26):
about you. You knew what you knew. An unknown guy
got the part at least right. I feel like I
remember what you wore at a table read though, I
feel like you wore corduroy brown pants. I could believe
that you would remember this and a T shirt. And
we met at the bar while I remember this, I
remember I was writing this down in my notes. First
of all, it was that Christa Miller's all and Bill's

(13:47):
old house and Charlotte Lawrence had just been born. Charlotte
Lawrence was a baby, and we walked into I remember
it was a sunken living room and there was a
bar in the corner and then you turned around out
and we're like, gave me this big smile and they
were like, yeah, buddy, like and I was like, it
literally was love at first sight, right, I just felt

(14:09):
I was so nervous. I didnt understand. I mean, I
knew you were obviously, I knew John McGinley was. I
had met Sarah and my audition, but like I was,
you can imagine. I mean, we're all nervous no matter
who you are. But I was because because also people
do get fired after table reads, so you know, you're like,
You're like, I mostly have it, but I really got
to make sure I keep it. And uh and then
I saw you and you were so warm and and

(14:29):
I think we hugged. I think the first time, I know,
we did hug Yeah, the first time we met, we hugged.
Well that's that's that was the That was the crazy.
The craziest thing was I remember not knowing who you
were and being like, all right, they were and Bill
was like let's start the table read. And I remember
being nervous for myself and then you started reading, and

(14:51):
all of a sudden, the jokes that I didn't see
in the script when I read it, all of a
sudden started to appear because you were knocking out, knocking
it out of the park, and everybody was laughing and
you know, really excited. So when it was my time
to come and I was like, yeah, the energy was there,
and you know what I mean, I just remember being like,
holy cow, this kid is amazing, and I remember being

(15:14):
like this could actually turn into something. This is at
the table read. I remember being like this could be
something special. My agents weren't lying when they told me
this was the one. Yeah, yeah, man, I remember that
special feeling too. I also wanted to say that I
when I drove home from my test, I had a
Star Tech. I had the motor role of Startek. You
remember that, Yeah, yeah, the two ways. No, No, the

(15:38):
Star Trek was the little flip phone, the little black
flip phone back in the day. Oh, I don't know. Anyway,
I had my little I had my little I had
my little flip phone and I put it on the
passenger seat as I was driving home from the network
test and I'm just waiting to see if it was
gonna ring, and like, is my life about to change
substantially or not? And the phone rang. It was Bill.

(15:58):
He told me I got the part, and I was
just flipping out. I mean, I had no money. I
didn't have a dollar into my name. I you know,
I was living, dude, who are you telling man? I
had kids. I bought a house with all of this
clueless money that I had. And you know what I mean.
I thought I was going to be a baller. And
I remember having to call home and beg my mom
for money so I could get gas to go on

(16:20):
these auditions. Oh you know what I mean. Because I
was broke, my parents loaned me, um, five thousand dollars
to buy a car out in La So I bought
a car. I bought a Nissan to forty SX I remember,
which did me really really well. And um, and then
I was just, you know, living off my waiters salary.
But um, I got the call from Bill. I freak out.
I called my mom, I called my dad, and then

(16:41):
I called the manager of the restaurant, who was amazingly
supportive of me, and she was she was an actress herself,
and she was like, I'm so happy for you. Congratulations.
And I was like, well, I quit. And she was
like wait wait, I'll never forget that. She was like,
work tonight. I was like what now, But she's like
you have to work tonight. And I was like I do.

(17:02):
She's like, babe, you can't leave me hanging like that.
You gotta work tonight. I was like, I was like, oh,
I'll work tonight. And I just got I like I
had hammered. People were like waiting on me, like you know,
because it was one of those restaurant where people were
like really douche and like sir, and I'd be like,
just wait your turn. I everybody, everybody calmed down, all right,
your food is coming right on. I remember after we

(17:25):
shot the pilot, just to jump ahead and having to
wait for so long for the show to get picked up,
right and running into you at a club and you
being out of your mind blitzed. Yeah, yeah, that's probably
what happened. I could never get into the club, like
I went like and the classic thing with like the
red velvet ropes and like I can't even picture like

(17:46):
me being online at the club, being like, all right,
I'm going out to a nightclub tonight because I got
some money in my pocket. And it's like, I picture,
I see like Donald going in, like the guys, like
the bouncers, like part the red velvet ropes. Is Donald
and his posse gets gets led into the club. And
then I get in and I saw you. I remember,
I remember the first night I saw you like out
in the real world, and I like screamed because I
was like, dude, you was so loud and he was

(18:08):
so drunk. It was so funny. Well, I had to celebrate.
So let's get Let's get back to the Let's get back.
Let's talk about the pilot. Now. The first thing I
want to see about the pilot. The first thing I
noticed is, uh that that's not the hospital, right. The
pilot for Scrubs was filmed um. We filmed technically in
three spots. The pilot was filmed um in a Burbank

(18:29):
hospital and this one that they show it in the
exterior is actually not even that. It's just a different hospital.
But then we shot the bulk of the series at
a hospital in Valley Village which is now apartments. And
then season nine, which We'll have plenty of jokes about
um was shot actually on a backlot on stages, But
the bulk of the show, the one that that you

(18:51):
all know and love, was shot all inside a real hospital.
I'm sure not everybody knows that it was a real hospital.
Remember the sound man saying something about, you know, I
think when we did the pilot, I'm not sure if
I'm not sure if it was the pilot of the
actual series, but I think it was the pilot saying,
you know what, I'm gonna set up in this room

(19:12):
because this is the room that my father died in
or something. Really, yeah, that's so dark. Our dressing rooms,
you know. You know you've seen a lot of times
on sets the people have trailers that are their dressing rooms. Well,
our dressing rooms were hospital rooms. For eight and a
half years that we worked at this hospital, we lived
and did everything inside this hospital. I mean, our dressing

(19:33):
rooms were in the hospital, the makeup rooms in the hospital,
the offices were in this hospital. They editing, the writer's room, everything.
All the other sets, like you know, whether it was
the inside of a bar or our apartment, all those
were built into this really disgusting ancient hospital. Okay, So
I want to talk about the first scene where you

(19:54):
wake up and it's time to that. Was that a reshoot? Um? No,
it was not a reshoot. I think it was done
like after the fact things, probably one of the last
things we did. I do remember thinking that I didn't
think this was funny, this this whole shaving cream thing.
It turned out to be really funny. Well that's Bill.
Bill turns it into something. I remember thinking like, what,
why would I be doing this? Why would I, on

(20:17):
my first day so nervous be making a shaving cream
bra or being like a warrior? A warrior? Like how
young I am. I'm just scrolling through because I like
to just reference it. But anyway, I didn't think it
was funny at the time, but then I saw it
and I remember thinking, yeah, that was that was clever. Okay.
And then the scene where where you walk into the

(20:39):
hospital and the lady gives you all of this energy
about what's going to happen today, et cetera, et cetera,
and then you not really knowing where to go. Yeah,
I mean, this was one thing I'll hearing you say
over and over again was and Bill always said this
was like there's no person better to play someone young
and in over their head than me. Because here I
wasnew anything of I mean, it was all method acting.

(21:01):
I didn't know anything about starring in a TV show.
I didn't know anything about like I mean, I knew
I had some experience, but every time I was playing
the wide eyed guy walking around, I was just being
me because I couldn't believe that this was happening to me.
You know, it was the exact same life that I
was living, you know what, speaking of wide eyed. Before
we started the pilot, they wanted us to all go
on rounds with doctors and stuff like that. Right. I

(21:24):
did that, right? I did not. I opted out. I
was like, get the funk out of here. I'm not
doing that shit. I don't want to see any of this.
But meanwhile, I'm like, I'm like the diligent student who's like,
all right, send me out right. I remember getting on
the phone with the young lady who was my contact
that was going to take me around on rounds, and
her being like, so you're coming down to night and
me being like, yeah about that. No, I don't see

(21:47):
myself ever doing this. If you could just tell me
some anecdotes that would be great. But yeah, I was
the exactly. I was like the good student. I was like,
did you see anything crazy? No, but I remember thinking
it was really inappropriate actually that she was having me
like go around, like to visit patients with her, Like
she she put a stethoscope around my neck, so I
would look like legit, like I know, it's kind of

(22:08):
fucked up in hindsight, like I should not have been
doing that. But did she ever refer to you like no, no,
because she she was just treating me like I was
like I was a medical student and she wasn't doing
what she should have done, which is being like, hey,
is it okay there's someone who's an actor researching a part.
She wasn't doing that. I was just going in and
being like, hey, how's the guy's and she kind of

(22:29):
like and the people would be like looking at her,
and then they like they nod to me, and I'm
like I would just be nodding. I remember, I was
just I was just kind of had like a serious
nod on my face, like I was listening and understanding
what's going on. I want to talk about the title sequence,

(22:50):
because that's the next thing that comes up. I was
going to ask you about that too, man, Dude, how
much did you hate that until you saw it. That's
one of those things where I was like, this is sucks. Man.
It took for those of you who don't know, it's
a motion control camera, and it really took a long
time to do that, and at the time we didn't
know how cool it would look, so it was like
it took like a full day to do it, and

(23:10):
I remember we were all kind of really over it
by the end. Then it came out and it was
really fucking cool. And then we've heard this for many
times our whole scrubs existence, but the X ray at
the end is backwards, and every every doctor wanted to
point that out, and we used to be like, oh, yeah, yeah,
that's on purpose. Get it because they're like med students

(23:31):
comedy right, yeah, and they're med students. They don't fully
get it. When we were like, no, it wasn't the
fucking prop guy fucked up the ship backwards. We did.
But we got lucky with that too, because that kind
of set the tone for this offbeat, wacky show of ours.
You know, I know, I know. But early on in
like in like commentary. I remember everyone being like the
X rays backwards and we were like, yeah, we're meant

(23:51):
to do it, and to do it again when we
do it next time. Do you remember when we a
few years in they tried to redo this sequence with
Neil to add Neil. They wanted to add Neil and
Neil that played the janitor. Yeah, And and then so
they aired it a few times and the fan base
was like, what the fuck is that over? No, they
weren't having it. They were not having it. They were

(24:12):
like so like season nine, how they weren't having season
But anyway, all right, we digree. We have one hundred
and eighty episodes to get to you before we wait.
And then I want to say that the song was
um it was a song I found from a band
called laslow Bane that I was friends with and I
because originally we wanted five for fighting. That was yeah,
that was the original theme song. It was something like, uh,

(24:34):
I'm more than a bird. We can never use this,
I'm more than a plane. I think you're allowed to
sing a few lines Superman beside a train. However it
goes anyway, so, um, I can't stand my friend. Um right,
all right, my friend Chad Fisher was in this band,

(24:54):
and I thought the lyrics were perfect because it's not
only was it a great song, but it's like what
the show's about. You know, I'm Superman. Donald, get it, Well,
that's the same thing the Fight for Fighting song was about.
You just found somebody who wrote something kind of similar
to it. I can't do it all, Donald, I couldn't
do it all on my own. I needed my friend.
I'm moving, bod. You have such a pretty voice, though.

(25:18):
I just remember how perfect the song was when they
sang it, and we didn't really necessarily know that it
was going to be the theme song until I remember
you playing it from me and being like dude, and
and being like, oh yeah, that's cool. But I didn't
realize it was going to really be the theme song
until we had that first cookout before we started shooting
the show, and he sang it with the with the

(25:42):
bullhorn and his boy playing the guitar next to him,
and then we made a music video. If any of
you never saw it, it's kind of cool. I shot
a music video for the song, and I shot all
this kind of cool footage of us. I'm sure it's
on YouTube all right, Okay, so let's talk about the
first scene with you. I'm gathering my notes because I
did a lot of I wanted fans to know I

(26:04):
did a lot of prep for this right on. So
the first scene with you and I, where we're talking
and Ted the Lawyer is explaining to us, you know,
legal procedure in the hospital. Yeah, I remember him making
up the line and if you pay if your patient's
dead and you're sure and you're sure and uh, I

(26:26):
remember that was when I realized, oh wow, Bill's gonna
let us. He's gonna let us improv a little bit. Yeah,
and opportunities to be funny. Yeah. I think that's one
of the things that made Scrubs really special is that
Bill really let everyone kind of make it their own.
I mean, his running rule through through the whole series was,
you know, please get it the way that it's written first,

(26:47):
make sure we've got it good, and then you guys
can play around and improvise and if you have some
wacky idea, you can do it. And that was from
the get go. And then he had and he hired
all these amazing people like Sam Lloyd, who plays Lawyer,
who played Ted the Lawyer, and a little trivia who's
Christopher Lloyd's nephew? You know, just hilarious character actors like

(27:08):
that that could that would just bring all their own
and no matter what the size of the part, you know,
from from from our size part all the way down
to people who had you know, would have one line
an episode. Um, there was so much freedom to just
kind of riff around and make it funny. Yeah, and
we should give a shout out to Adam Bernstein who
directed the pilot. A polo director. Yeah, a pilot director

(27:28):
for those of you who don't know, really sets the
look of the show and the style. You know, Scrubs
has a very specific style with the whip pans and
the flashing to flashbacks and fantasies, and even the color
of the show to make how it looks so much
like a hospital and isn't overly saturated like a lot
of TV shows that deal with hospital life. They you know,

(27:49):
they want their actors to pop on screens. So the
blues or bluer and the eyes and the you know
what I mean, Scrubs it look dingy and dirty in
the hospital. In that first episode, I noticed a lot.
I noticed that it was clearly. The thing I noticed
they you know, the whole idea was that it was
a it was a hospital that was had very little money.
And I noticed there's a lot of stuff. I know,

(28:10):
I haven't watched this pilot how many years, twenty years,
but I remember I was looking at the ceiling tiles.
There's all these like missing ceiling tiles, and yeah, and
it was and Bill and Adam really made it feel
like a dingy you know, it was not supposed to
be a nice hospital. Also, the show was shot on film,
which a lot of people probably don't know. This was
the entire series was shot on sixteen millimeter film. That's

(28:31):
why there's no blu ray and there's no if you
look at it normally, how it's meant to be seen.
It's a square because it was before high def video
and sixteen by nine televisions and uh and no one
ever like upraised it. So this is all we got.
I watched the iTunes version, which has the original music.
Do you want to explain to them about the music thing?

(28:51):
Hulu doesn't have the original music. Well, just you know,
just because it's a question we get from a lot
of fans at times on social media, all this music
that was put on Scrubs and a lot of people
love was licensed before streaming. So these days, a lot
of times if you watch it on Hulu where it's
currently playing, or wherever you're watching it, it might have
some of those songs that you love replaced because they

(29:12):
weren't licensed for streaming rights. iTunes is the only place
or owning the DVD's obviously, is the only place where
where all of the original music would be there. Let's
talk about your teeth for a second, because I don't
think we can just let this go. Ah, I had
baby teeth when we started shooting the show. I don't
have baby teeth. And if you spent a lot of
money on new teeth there it is if you free streams,

(29:34):
if you freeze frame. There was there was a sage
of Donald's teeth because he used to have he had
fake braces famously in Clueless. Yes, because they were trying
to hide my small teeth. Go on, oh is that
really why? Absolutely? Oh, we're getting an exclusive here, so
you're selling they shave my head, and they shaved my
head and Clueless because my hairline was receding at eighteen

(29:55):
you know what I mean? By the time I was
twenty one, I had this hairline right here that you
that I'm well, you guys can't see it, but I
had this. Uh. By the way, I feel like we're
breaking news that you're famous. When I was a kid,
they called me George Jefferson. Okay, because of my hairline?
Are you happy? Are you happy? But I never knew

(30:17):
that the clueless braces were because of your fucked up
chicklet teeth. Yes, and then the and then the hats
that I wore and clueless was because of my hairline.
Oh my god, Like I have a baby face. I
have a baby face. It's a baby right, Like I
have a baby face. Yeah, but I don't have a
baby's hair line, right, I had baby teeth. I had
baby teeth. Who called you George Jefferson? Your parents? No,

(30:40):
some like dickhead that I grew up my parents. You're
an asshole. That'd be hilarious, George, all right, let's go
forward with your teeth. And then and then well, by
the way, funny story. So then one season Donald chose up.
He decided on his own. We could talk about this
some other time. We don't need to talk about this now. Well,
kind of just tease it later it tracks, it'll track,

(31:02):
all right. Donald shut up with braces on the inside
of his teeth and had a lisp, and Bill was like,
take your fucking braces off. What the hell you guys?
All right, let's there's like but there's like six episodes
where I'm talking like this the whole and Donald chose
up but he's like, I don't build. I don't think
anyone's gonna notice. And Bill's like, no one's gonna notice.
What the fuck are you doing? What'd you do? And
Donald's like, well, it's a brave but you can't see

(31:25):
him because they're on the in fife in my mouth. Okay,
all right, I don't even think that's a funny story, dude.
I think it's hilarious. All right, let's talk about Sarah
Chalk's entrance into the lounge room. Absolutely done, dune, duh.
The brilliant and beautiful Sarah Chalk. So I remember at
the audition saying Sarah and being like that's the girl
from Roseanne. Holy cow. Yeah second Becky, and thinking she's

(31:50):
definitely gonna get this part because that was the girl
from Roseanne, you know what I mean? Yeah, No, I
didn't know. I knew she was second Becky was as
as she jokingly called herself, and people called her because
she had replaced the original Becky, But I wasn't until
I read with her in front of Bill and then
I read there at my final Studio Network test that
I got to meet her, and I was just smitten.

(32:13):
I just thought she was so funny and so beautiful,
and that was one of my notes. Actually, you guys
had such great chemistry in the pilot, and it showed
on screen that, you know. I think that worked for
the remainder of the show because of you know, it's
hard to tell a will they won't they early on

(32:36):
in a pilot, you know what I mean, Like you
can say one person has a crush, but you both
kind of had a chemistry for each other in the pilots,
and it was undeniable, you know what I mean. So
like right away, you knew that at some point you
guys had to get together, you know what I mean,
even if it didn't work, you knew what you guys
had to get together. And then there was that scene

(32:58):
where and we're in the staircase and I'm supposed to
be looking at her butt going up and saying it
looks I never understood why two pringles, which is what
I say her, but your butt looks like two pringles hugging.
I never knew why they curve because it's a little Okay,
so a pringle isn't I don't know if it's a
compliment for a butt though, is it? My dude, I
was trying to tell me you don't appreciate around booty. No,

(33:21):
I love around booty. But I just don't know what
the hell are you talking about. But bro, you think
you think calling I would say like, oh, it looks
like a juicy peach. I wouldn't say it looks like
two pringles that are like sharp and breakable. Okay, let
me ask you a question. Would you how would you
describe a nice bottom like to a piece of food?

(33:42):
You would choose pringles? Well, I mean, I'm going, okay,
do we need to get into this? Well, you can
get it into this. You can say it in a
nice um political correct For a really long time, yes,
people of Caucasian colors, it didn't necessarily like to have
big round booties, and so a pringle being a tiny

(34:05):
curved right chip, right, did you put them together, they
look like a little tiny booty. So you're saying, because
she had a tiny white girl booty, it was pringly right.
Nowadays right because of certain actresses and Instagram models or
whatever it. Yes, everyone in a mama likes a round booty,

(34:30):
now a big round so is you're starting to put
fake booties, and that's starting to put fake stuff in
the buttox area to make the booty round. Now, I've
heard women really round booties already and decided, you know what,
it ain't round enough and took more to make it bigger.

(34:51):
I have a question for you about this. Yes, Now,
is your theory that certain famous influencers have influenced women
to to add not just exerc not just women, men too.
Men too. Now they exercise it. You can choose to
exercise and build up your booty. But you're saying that
people really do put put fake implants into their bottoms.

(35:13):
They not only put it into their bottoms, they put
it into their chest area, They put it into their abs,
they put it into their arms. There are so many
people out there where you're like, Wow, that dude works out,
or wow, she must really work out, and it's all enhancements.
Do you think men get ass implants? Absolutely? Could you
love a number for a doctor who does? That's true

(35:36):
because you got a little too buffalo behind. That's no,
it's small, it's it's very small. I was thinking the
other day that was the other thing that I noticed
about you that the first time I met you. But
really small booty. Oh you notice that it's a table
read Absolutely when you walked away anyway, gone. Now. I
just wrote down because there was a shot of her
butt and which I thought it looked beautiful, and then
I kind of thought about the line pringles and I

(35:58):
didn't fully understand it. Right, Let's move on from Sarah
and her glorious Let's talk about John C. McGinley. Yes,
let's doctor Cox. Wait before you get to Cox, I
want to talk about just I think Matt Winston is first.
So Matt Winston is the guy who's saying I'm a tool,
I'm a tool, I'm a tool. And I always thought
he was so frigging funny. In fact, I put him

(36:19):
in my film which I was here and a little
bit of trivia for the trivia buffs out there. He's
Stan Winston's son, the late great Stan Winston did you
know that Donald I did not know that. Yeah. Wow,
So he wasn't used a ton a Bill sort of
phased him out, although he did have a hilarious line
where he goes, it's like a baguette. I think when
he was talking about Kelsell's penis all right, So Johnny

(36:41):
c McGinley, I mean, where do we begin the legend?
The legend that I remember when we after the table read.
When I saw him at the table read, I was like,
I'm gonna stay clear of that guy. He's a little intimidating. Yeah,
he's a little scary. And then we did the rehearsals
at the hospital and I remember watching him and I
was like, I remember telling myself focus on him right

(37:04):
now because we're all, you know, kind of wide eyed
and don't necessarily know what it is we want to do.
He came into the game already with Cox like he
was like, this is how I'm going to play him.
This is how he's going to be, you know what
I mean. He knew right away what he was doing.
And I remember I was like, focus on that guy
because he seems to be already out the gate, you

(37:26):
know what I mean. He seems to be running already
where we're you know, getting a slow start, he's already
off and running. So focus on him and try and
match that energy that he has, and he nobody works harder.
I mean, Johnny throughout the course of the season had
those endless, really hard to do monologues, and he would
sometimes get him the night before and he would work
so hard. I mean, this is not a guy who

(37:46):
ever phoned in. I don't think Johnny ever flubbed a
line in nine years. I mean not sure he flubbed lines. Well,
I'm saying most rare, the least often of any of us.
And he was just so on it and so he
so made it his. You know, there's a thing in
acting where you say, like I I don't want to
just do it a generic way that anyone would do it.
I want to. I want to I want to make

(38:07):
it specific to me and make it mine. And a
lot of actors I think forced that, and so they
put all this shit onto it that isn't necessary. They're
just trying to be different, whereas some actors just do
that and as natural it feels right. And I think
Johnny's the ultimate example of that. He's someone who all
these characteristics and all the things, the gestures, that hands
on the back of his head, the touch in his nose,
like that's all just Johnny. That's all stuff that's so

(38:28):
specifically him that he brought to that part, you know, absolutely,
and he stayed consistent with it the whole time. Everything
he did, he was considered. Like we all evolved into
different characters as the show went on. If you watched
the show, we're very you know, uh you and I
when you know it's not as broad as the show

(38:49):
goes on. Johnny stayed consistent from the beginning. He was
the same level the whole time. And you really see
it in that first scene where he comes into the
brake room and is doing his thing, you know what
I mean. It's really interesting, you know, to go back
and watch now because when making it, you know, I

(39:10):
paid attention to him specifically because of who he was,
but to see how I evolved, to see how you evolved,
to see how Sarah evolved, to see how you know
what I mean, Judy evolved. Yeah, it really and all
from this pilot, you know what I mean. It's like
the pilot is a tame version of what Scrubs became.

(39:31):
You know what I mean. It's also there's things about it,
you know. I don't know if you noticed, but there's
things that are in the pilot that you can see
both Bill and Adam Burnsteing the director are figuring out
like that we eventually phased out like all the I
mean like there's like whip noises when Johnny turns his
head and there's like there's little there's like way more
sound effects early on. I think in the show that

(39:51):
they eventually toned down. But I mean that's a digression
from Johnny. So Johnny's just amazing and people always ask
what he's like, and I say, he literally is this
inten but he's just the most nice person you've ever met.
It's just like he's like picture that intensity of a
human being, but he's a super sweet and nice nothing
but love though that intensity with nothing but love. And

(40:12):
when he shakes your hand, he puts out his hand
and goes, there's five good ones for you, meaning his fingers. Yeah,
there's five good ones for you. Grab it and squeeze. Yeah.
He's got all sorts of sayings, but I'll never forget
there's five good ones for you. Yeah, that one and
the Amo in that Oh yeah, he will. We'd finish it.
We'd finish a scene in. One of our editor's names

(40:33):
was Jean Michelle, and he'd go, I think we gave
Jean Michelle's a mammo. All right, so let's go. The
next thing I wrote down, don't know if you have
anything before this, but was the sitcom fantasy I have
where I where I with Sarah on this? You de man?
So I don't even know what this was a sitcom

(40:53):
must have been on on NBC or something, or maybe ABC,
because but I don't remember. We borrowed some Actually, people
out there might who know the sitcom might recognize who
said it is, but we just went to an actual
set and shot the scene there because we didn't, you know,
it's the pilot. Was it like good Morning Miami or
something like that that could have been it. I don't know.
It probably was a pilot of the same of the

(41:15):
same season, right or something. And I remember this was
just surreal. We were in, like on a real sitcom stage.
And now, granted I have a huge crush on Sarah
and I'm doing my best to like hold it together,
and then all of a sudden, we're doing a scene
where she rips off her top and mounts me and
we make out. Yeah, you know what, back in the day,
I was like, Wow, she ripped off her top. That's
cutting edge. Now I look at it and I'm like, oh,

(41:39):
whoa did she have to rip off her top? Well,
I mean I think the show you have to look
at it in the context of the year. I mean,
everybody forgets now because we have all this everything streaming
and cable and everything's so much more risque, and you
go to you seek out whatever you watch. I mean,
from the Show Girls, the Crazy show they would do

(41:59):
on there, to everything and anything that's on Netflix now.
But back in the day, you know, I think Bill
was trying to push the envelope. The show was on
at nine or nine thirty. He was trying to push
the omblope what you could do on network television. So
both with being politically incorrected times, both with sex with language.
I mean, he was trying to say, like, hey, network,

(42:20):
you can compete and be a little bit, you know, risque,
and so this for the time was pretty risque. I
mean it was there's a lot of sex in the show.
You know, it's funny. I have I'm sure you do.
You have people who go, hey, I'm I'm I'm showing
my kids Scrubs and I can't even be in the
same room. It's so awkward because it's because there was
a lot of sex in the show. No, I don't
you know, I don't let my kids watch Scrubs. Well,

(42:41):
your kids are your kids are too young. But I'm saying,
like I got a six year old and a four
year old watching. I didn't mean your kids. I mean,
like like Matt Tarsus, who was one of the writers,
he told me that his son, who was a teenager,
was watching the show and he's like, I had to
walk out of the room. It was like watching like
you and Sarah have these sex scenes, like that episode
where we were eating pizza and we're like, hang, okay,

(43:06):
you know that's that is true. Sarah did have to
take her top off. But I'm gonna be honest with you.
I think the guys on the show, we're way more
naked than the females were on the show. You know
what I mean? Between you so much, your body looks fierce.

(43:27):
Thank you, like Tay Diggs, baby, like Tay Diggs. You know,
you know funny bit of trivia. Rob Maschio, who was
often only in his banana hammock and worked very hard
to maintain that physique do all sorts of push ups
and stuff. When the show moved from whatever season from
NBC to ABC, which is owned by Disney, they made
a rule that we could no longer film him from

(43:48):
the waist down when he was in his banana hammock.
Did you know that bit of trivia? I didn't know
that bit of trivia. I also, I remember, and we'll
discuss this later on, but there were times where we
were actually really nai because it had to be that
way for the camera. Wait, you didn't have like a
sock on your penis. I did one time. I did
have a sock on my penis, and I remember having
to walk into parking lot with a bunch of people

(44:12):
on my penis. Yeah, I remember. Not only that, Not
only that I had, I had also a very big leaf,
very big leaf. It was a big leaf, first of all,
a large like an over leaf. It was like it
was like a maple leaf, like a huge maple leaf.
It wasn't like one of those thin like bamboo. No, no no, no,
it wasn't like it wasn't like a eucalyptus leaf. It
was a It was like a maple leaf. To cover

(44:33):
my job. No one has ever bragged about their sexual
prowess through leaf side, so that's a first for our podcast.
I do want to say that. Um I once there's
a scene where I was dancing in front of Tara
Reid and I was supposed to be naked and they
were shooting me from behind, and so I just I
packed everything I had into a sock and I was
doing the dance in front of Tara Reid, remember that?
And then and then the sock came off, and then

(44:55):
I was like, what is the real experience? There's Tara
Reid just staring at my junk. Oh my gosh. Yeah, Oh,
I mean, what am I gonna do? I apologized and
and all right, So we got a caller on, wait,
why are you interrupting? I want to I just want
to say that it was a tube sock. It much
like your leaf analogy. It was not it wasn't It

(45:17):
wasn't a dress sock. It was a you know those
little those little socks people now where they're just like
go for There wasn't an ankle sock. It was a
tube sock. What do they call those things that just
go with socks? It was a tube so it was
a tube sock. I gotta say, we're basing your boys.
It was a man a long one, so we got
a call It was a woman's thigh high. Okay, So

(45:42):
I don't mean to interrupt you, Zack, but we got
a caller on. This is exciting because I I daydreamed
when we said we were going to do this, that
we should take fan questions from all around the world,
and it's really happening. So go ahead, Donald, and I'd
like to introduce Chris to the podcast. Chris, how are
you hi, Chris? How's it Kellen, Guys, I'm doing well.

(46:03):
Thank you for having me on very first guest. So
we really want to nail this. We want to give
you the best answer to your question. That's that's ever
been given to any question throughout the history. Okay, got
you that's here that no pressure exactly. Um, all right,
I guess the question I'll ask you all This one
comes from a buddy of mine named Andrew. A question

(46:25):
about the soundtrack. I think that's something that was such
like an iconic part of the show. Um, just across
all the seasons, you introduced so many people to so
many awesome artists over the years. Was that something was
there someone that spearheaded that did you guys just have
great taste? Like, how did you come up with this soundtrack?
It was all me, It was all Donald had nothing
to do with it. Let me just I literally had
nothing to do with it. Yeah, because at that time

(46:47):
I was here, Did you ever get a song on ever? No?
Because I was listening to songs like Joda see Uh.
I was listening to you know uh songs by Wu
Tang Clan, you know what I mean. Weren't things like that? Yeah,
so D took the music. A matter of fact, a
lot of the artists that were on the show I

(47:08):
was introduced to for the first time while watching the show.
So who who do we have on a show? Keene?
All these people I had no idea who they were,
you know what I mean? And some artists that were
well known. I just didn't listen to that type of
music at the time. It wasn't until Scrubs that all
of a sudden started listening to Indian folk rock, you
know what I mean? Yeah, I think that you know,

(47:28):
first of all was a lot of people. It was
definitely Bill Lawrence obviously who created the show, and his
wife Krista Miller who played Jordan, and and myself. I
think we were the three probably the main people, but
also a lot of the writers in the writer's room.
A lot of times when it was their script, they'd
go a lot of people. But and of course the
editors who would who would you know? They the editors
would get like ten ideas and they'd be the ones

(47:50):
to try and and shape it to see what would
work the best. So there was a bunch of us,
but um, Christi Miller definitely did a lot of song choosing,
and I got a bunch on myself that I'm excited about.
Our best friend, Uh, Joshua Ding got his start really
before Scrubs. What was josh doing? He was sleeping on

(48:11):
my couch, was he really? Yeah? I mean he didn't
even have a job. And he had written the song Winter,
which we played um in the episode where Breton Frasier's
character dies spoiler and uh and yeah, w Winter was
so popular that that it launched a career for josh
and everyone was like, what other songs do you have?
And He's like, that's the only song I've ever written,

(48:33):
and so he had to like frantically make an album. Yeah.
I remember going to watch him at two concerts with
like me, Zach my girlfriend at the time, Zach's girlfriend
at the time, and that was it. Yeah, and now
he sells out, you know, he does. He does really
really well. Um, so that's it. It was a lot
of fun, you know it. I think Bill was early

(48:55):
on in putting music at the you know, now it's
become very popular and very common to sort of end
your episode of TV with an emotional piece of music
and then cut around in a montage and watch how everyone,
you know, what they learned from the episode. And I
think Bill was at the forefront of doing that definitely,

(49:16):
because you know now now it's pretty commonplace. But I
think Scrubs was kind of one of the first shows
to do that, you know. I like to think The
Wonder Years was, Yeah, he would be was a was
an early version of what single camera comedy. I mean,
mash obviously, but The Wonder Years really took its the
time that it was in and use the music of

(49:39):
that time to help tell the story. And Scrubs I
feel like it's the next thing to do that. And
then yeah, and Alan McBeal also Ally mcbell. I think
Bill would say that. I remember the show, Ally mcbell,
they cut a way to cut away to wacky shit.
I mean, I think Scrubs meets Scrubs is sort of
Ally mcbell meets Mash meets Wonder Years. Right, all right,

(49:59):
do we answer your question? Yeah? That was awesome, Thank
you so much. Do you have another one? We'll give
you another one. Yeah, we'll give you another question. All right,
I've got a two part question. It's kind of common
knowledge now that the Janitor wasn't supposed to make a
past season one. He was supposed to be a figment
of Jad's imagination. Yeah, so two part or here one,
how was that supposed to be written in? How is

(50:19):
it going to come to be known that the janitor was,
you know, just a figment of the imagination. And then
the second part of that is is there any plotline
that didn't come to fruition that you really wish did? Yeah?
I know that, but wait, I just want to say
we're gonna have Bill on for everyone. Bill will probably
our first guest because he can answer all sorts of
questions about what his plan was for the writing and such.

(50:40):
But I do remember that Neil Flynn. First of all,
I was going to talk about this when we got
to Neil in the pilot. But Neil was supposed to
just have a small part. He wasn't. Bill wasn't even
intending that he was going to be in the show
beyond the pilot or maybe a few episodes. But he
was so hilarious that Bill just kept adding him and
adding him and adding him, and to the point where
he was one became one of the stars of the show.

(51:01):
And Neil is a hilarious improvisational actor, and so a
lot of times he would just make up his own
line throughout the whole run of the show. And in fact,
it got to a point where and sometimes in the
script it would just say like and then Neil makes
up something funny like it wouldn't even have a line
for him, because Nia was just so gifted and hilarious. Well,
that whole scene was, that whole scene improved with you

(51:22):
and him. The penny in the door was all written.
But I'm saying, like right off the bat, everybody could
tell like, this guy Neil Flynn is really funny, and
he's got to be more in the show. And you know,
Bill would kind of try people out, and when they
killed it, he'd keep using him, you know, just like
you like all the people that fans grew to love,
like you know, Phil Lewis Hooch, Like we'd all thought
he was so freaking hilarious. We just kept putting him

(51:44):
in the show whenever we could. So anyway, long story short,
if you I think throughout season one the janitor only
addresses me if I'm not mistaken. So so Bill kind
of had the idea, like, oh my god, if this
doesn't go too long, it might be funny to do
a big reveal that the janitor is totally in in
uh in Jad's imagination. But then how crazy would that

(52:07):
have made? J d though you would have been like
a freaking psycho dude. You would have look at look
at nine years of wacky fantasies, remember when you were
a goat. Yeah, dude, but it was a fantasy. These
were fantasies. If if you actually had somebody that you
an imaginary friend that you talked to and would talk
back to you, and you're a doctor, I know, I

(52:29):
think it could have been cool. But but anyway, the
point was that the show kept going and Bill. I
remember Bill. I heard Bill say like, I had to,
I had to have this guy interact with other people
because it was like, you know, and then it became
you know, he wanted to. I think fans also wanted
to see the character of the Janitor interact with people,
although you never knew his name or did you name
is Janitor or was it Glenn Matthews? Did we answer

(52:50):
the second part of the question, Oh, storylines? Um, we did.
We did a medicinal marijuana um long before it's time.
We did a medicinal marijuana plot line and start shooting
it and then the studio told Bill to shut it down. Yeah,
it's funny because of course, now marijuana is legal in
California and so many other places. Well, it had just

(53:11):
remember it had just started becoming legal at the time
when we're fi. Yeah, I remember, I do remember that
because there were a lot of people that were smoking weed. Wow,
we probably shouldn't bring that up in the In the
first episode of this, let's get to how high everybody
was in future episodes were a tease something I'm just
saying that was a tease. Okay, in future episodes, Donald

(53:34):
will out people for who was Big Twin. All right,
thank you Chris. We're gonna thank you Chris, thanks for
being our first guest. That would be so funny. That
would be so funny if that's how we did it.
In that scene, he's high. I think you need to

(53:57):
come clean. When we get two scenes where you were baked,
that'll be like the whole series run. Okay, great? Um,
how long into the series did you stop memorizing your lines?
H D. We'll talk about that in future episodes to
come as well. Oh, I wanted to say, um, the

(54:19):
scene with Johnny in the in the in the lounge, Um,
with the with the woman that that was my audition
scene where Johnny comes in with the woman he says
is dead and he's telling me to throw tile in
all her face. That was one of the main I
think one of the three scenes that I auditioned with.
What was your audition scenes? Do you remember My audition
scene was I'm really scared. I'm so happy that I

(54:39):
get to wear a surgical masks a mask because if
I didn't have it on, my face would look like this.
And then I make the scared face. Yeah, that was
one of my audition scenes. And then and did you
improv I love you? Or is that in the script? No,
we improv that. Bill came up to me. It was
like telling me you love him at the end. That
was funny and I was like, what he just say

(55:00):
it and then laugh when you are And then Lonnie,
by the way, everyone that's Lonnie's playing. Lonnie's playing the
pizza delivery. I had no idea that was him until
watching the pilot. So Lonnie Lonnie exists. It's is one
of the few people that exists as two different characters
in the Scrubs universe. I feel like it's three different characters.
But yeah, okay, why there's Lonnie, there's pizza delivery guy?

(55:21):
And who was a was Lonnie also the guy that
played basketball? I don't remember. Okay, anyway, scrubstns won't answer
for us. But yeah, that was very funny. I love
that when you say I love you, he looks. We
both look at you, like what UM say it to
you all the time. And this scene also, the woman
was supposed to be really dead, and I remember the

(55:42):
network pushed back against Bill and said, no, you can't
have her really genuinely pushing around a dead woman. Um,
you have to have her at the end go I'm
not really dead. So that was a rewrite forced by
the network because Bill thought it was funny if he
really was just pushing around a corpse. Very funny too.
I want to talk about Ken Jenkins second, Yes, because
I feel like he was the MVP of our show,

(56:03):
you know what I mean? Yeah, in so many ways, like, uh,
it's really difficult to be on a show with such
a huge ensemble cast where everyone is likable, from the
lead all the way down to the guest stars. Everyone's likable.
I think the hardest part, the hardest person to play

(56:26):
in all of that would be the bad guy, you
know what I mean. And he made it so that
the bad guy you didn't like him, but you still
loved him, you know what I mean. And I felt
like he was literally the MVP. Him and Judy Rays
actually were the MVPs of the show because Judy had
to tackle all of the dramatic stuff, you know what

(56:47):
I mean, Her character felt everything. She was the nurse,
she was the mother of the hospital. And Ken Jenkins,
his character was the evil dad or the you know
what I mean the grandpa who was just over it
all and was like, I just you know, I want
this hospital to make money. We're broke, and all that

(57:09):
matters is if their insurance is going to pay for it.
If it's if they're not, get them out of here
because we're I we're broke. We got no dough. And
I thought to make those two to make that character
lovable is a really really, really hard thing to do,
and he did it effortlessly, it seemed like in my eyes.
And uh, and same thing with Judy, you know what

(57:30):
I mean. Judy would played the role that uh was
definitely needed in this band of misfits. She played this
character that was uh just motherly and UH took care
of you know, Bamby came from that. That's that that
stuck throughout the whole show. You being called Bambi. Yeah,

(57:51):
I noticed that. Her very first line that comes out
of her mouth is calling me Bamby. I didn't I
didn't know that. It's I didn't remember that, but that
stuck for the whole run of the show. And of
course will still call me that on the street when
I'm past them. Um, but her very first line is
calling me Bambi, Yeah, you know what I mean. And
it was it was just we knew what we were
there to do. We're here to be funny, and we're

(58:11):
here to make everybody laugh, and you know, and and
at times we're going to get dramatic and everything like that.
But Judy and Ken had the tough roles. In my opinion,
you knew Judy was supposed to make everybody feel safe.
Ken was supposed to make everybody feel anger, you know
what I mean, in this in this crazy world. And
they did it so perfectly. And and Ken had a

(58:33):
lot of the you know, social commentary that Bill was
trying to get in there about how fucked up the
healthcare system is and how how how fucked up it
is that hospitals are like no insurance, get him out
of here, like you know, what do you like right
away in the pilot. Of course, these issues are so
relevant today more than ever. But right away in the
pilot you have them going, look, I don't care that

(58:53):
you know nothing. Let me tell you a couple of things.
If they don't have insurance, get them out of here,
and uh and and and and Bill geniusly found a
way to make that. Of course, Ken Jenkins as an actor. Together,
they found a way to make that character so lovable
even though he was a he was the antagonist. Yeah,
I want to talk about thirteen minutes in thirty eight seconds.

(59:13):
I'm looking at a still of you making out with
Judy reyes um And and Todd in the frame I
have up. Todd is watching because it's part of the fantasy.
Why so, what was it like? You know, I think
people who aren't actors are always curious what it's like
when you meet someone. Hey, nice to meet you, and
then all of a sudden you have to just go
do a fake makeout scene with that. I feel like
that was the first day I met Judy too, and really, yeah,

(59:35):
I feel like that was our first scene together and
I hadn't you know, I remember me. I don't remember
Neil at the table read. I don't remember Judy, I
don't remember Ken at the table read. I remember me, you,
Johnny and Sarah for some reason. And so when we
did the makeout scene, I feel like that was my

(59:57):
I know, it's not the first day I met her,
but that's my first real memory of Judy, you know
what I mean? And I remember she smoked cigarettes right
before the scene, and I was like, Ah, that's a
power move, that's a power move. That's how you do
But I realized that's how you do it. If you're
gonna make out with somebody, make it so they gotta work,

(01:00:18):
and not make it so it's them having a great
time making out. No, this is a job, dude. This isn't.
This isn't This isn't you getting your rocks off while
we're doing this scene. It's funny to think about someone smoking,
like I mean, I don't do you know any I mean,
it's rare to see anyone smoking cigarettes at all anymore.
Oh no, there are a lot of people that still
smoke cigarettes. Not vaping has turned into the worst vaping

(01:00:43):
of course. But just the idea that Judy was, I
guess a smoker when we started, right, I was a
smoker when we started. I smoke started and Neil was
always a smoker. Yeah, when we started doing the show,
I think a lot of us smoked cigarette. I mean
in the cast maybe you, Sarah and Johnny and Ken didn't,
but everyone else did. Yeah, I didn't remember that. And

(01:01:05):
then us doing the kissing stuff and then watching the
episode and none of that made the show. Really, all
it is is me, we're kind of cuddled up together.
We're kind of cuddled up together, and and Rob's over
us watching. But I remember doing the scene if feeling
way more intimate than that, you know what I mean,

(01:01:25):
way more you know what I mean, and then watching
it being like, oh, they didn't use any other other
good stuff, right, Well it's a really quick moment. And
I love that she's I love that you're naked, and
she's like, all right, thanks, I'm out. I thought that
was a cool like introduction of her character. She was like,
and I also and I also liked that your imagination
was me scoring right in reality the real what really

(01:01:47):
happened was I got played and then got turned into
you know, I got you know, I stripped down for someone, right,
And she was like she got you know, she just
wanted to make out with someone and be like later
and she like she was like she kind of like
used you, whereas in my imagination you were using her
where right? Yeah? That was clever. Yeah. Um, I wanted
to quote talk about that it's going backwards, but that

(01:02:08):
deer in headlight thing, I still have the foam antlers.
Uh Um, I'm staring at them right now, um from
that fantasy where I'm imagine I'm a deer in headlights.
And and what we had to do was they backed
the macup, the big semi, right up to my face.
And the idea was for the truck would floor it
in reverse and and then we play and then we'd

(01:02:32):
play it backwards right so it looked like it was
hit and then of course it hit a mannequin too,
but for this one shot. And I remember standing there
with my face against the grill of a Mac truck
and being like leaning out to the driver, being like
you sure it's in reverse? Right, Like like there had
to be some OSHA rule against that, but I but
I was like standing there going if this dude, Like
I don't want to cause any waves or anything, but

(01:02:53):
I just want to double check you're in reverse. We
have finally saving a life. Oh we have a Loma.
We should about a looma right, the beautiful and talented
Aloma right who played Nurse Roberts. Nurse Roberts, who who
whose introduction in the show is you know amazing? Can
you just call him so I can go home? Please? Yeah?
Can you just call She's so good? And and Aloma

(01:03:16):
was one of the again another example of someone who
Bill just loved and thought was so talented, and she
you know, ended up being in the whole show until
he eventually killed her off, felt bad and brought her
back as her twin sister, which we'll get to that
and later after lavernadcast Lavern again, I'm gonna call you
Laverne again. So we were thinking of like trying to

(01:03:37):
summarize what the lesson of the episode was, But I mean,
I think the episode, the lesson of the of the
pilot was basically the theme song, which is I can't
do this all on my own, right. I mean, it's
the introduction of how difficult it is to be a
doctor in a hospital and how the medical staff at
a hospital really depends on each there to work. Yeah,

(01:04:02):
and I think I think, I mean, I don't think
it's a big leap to say that a lot of
people related to the show because they can see that
on their own lives and how you turn to your
friends and your family. I mean, I think the show
can be, as we all know, can be very very heartwarming,
and that was what builded so geniusly, was how it'd
be so funny and crazy and silly and fantasies and everything,
and then all of a sudden you can turn a

(01:04:22):
corner and you're losing a patient like I did at
the end, or or or or you see that our
friendship is so pure, is still solid, also conquering fear,
you know what I mean. JD was so afraid to
do everything. As a matter of fact, him and Elliot
hide in a closet at one point and U doctor

(01:04:43):
Cox catches them doing it and understands why they are afraid.
But then at the end of the show, still gives
JD the confidence to perform whatever it is you did
with the tube and the blood and all of that stuff,
something that you know, JD was very afraid of, and
UH made him feel like he was going to be okay,

(01:05:07):
and he was, and he had a support group around him. Yeah,
And I think that's it. That's that's the pilot. I
think we just we just did it. We did our
first podcast. I love you and I love you so
hey listen, if you're a fan and you made it
to the end, thank you. We want we're gonna keep
doing this. We want you to watch the show with us.
We're gonna do this every week and UM, and you

(01:05:28):
can just join us, tell your friends, and every week
we're gonna go through another episode and we're gonna take
a fan question. If you have a fan question, Donald,
we have set up a Gmail account the iHeart people have, right,
and that account is that account is Scrubs. iHeart at
gmail dot com, So Scrubs and then I heart at

(01:05:54):
gmail dot com and so said thank you. We want
you to submit question and then our our beautiful producers
here will will work out all logistics and um, and
we'll have you on. We're gonna take a question each podcast.
We're gonna have guests on. We're gonna start having fellow
cast members. We're obviously gonna have our creator of the show,
Bill Lawrence on. Who else we're gonna have on Donald,

(01:06:16):
Some of the goodness we're going after, you know, even
some of the people that you remember but don't know,
like Snoop Dogg. In turn, we're gonna reach out to him.
We're reaching now he's done into my dad did he already?
Snoop Dogg intern already slid into my dms and I
Nick had already said he's down. We're gonna even have that.
We're gonna have the stand ins on the show who
did a lot of the work that you see before

(01:06:38):
we went in and did it set up the shots
they you know, So it's gonna be a bunch of
people writers, We're gonna have u directors everything. Hopefully we
could get some big names too. I'm sure Folly would
come on and we could just say nobody cares Sean
over and Sean nobody cares. So um, follow Donald and

(01:06:59):
I on Instagram and Twitter and please tell your friends
because we hope this is a is a big success.
Because for us this was I don't know about you, Donald,
but this was a lot of fun. I kind of
don't want to stop talking, but I feel like, oh,
absolutely should. This was actually the you know, I talk
about Clueless as the jump off point in my life
where I was introduced to the industry and I learned

(01:07:20):
a lot of things. But Scrubs was really like the
you know, that was the thing that took it over
the top for me as an actor, where I had
an actual job where I was able to you know,
pay my rent and I built a family because I
was able to be a part of this wonderful show.
So you know, I owe a lot to use Zach,
I owe a lot to Bill Lawrence. I owe a

(01:07:42):
lot to the cast and the crew of this of Scrubs.
So I'm really excited to talk about it with fans
who enjoyed the experiences that we had. Yeah, and as always,
I agree with everything you said, And as always, thank
you for being our fans, and thank you for supporting
the show. It was a joy, boy to make it
for you and Donald. I hate this quarantining. I just

(01:08:04):
want to be with you all the time. I want
to be there will be a day again, Hopefully there
will be a day again where you and I can eagle.
I can't wait to ride you. I can't all right,
I feel like that's what we should end. Should we
end with that? Now, let's end with that. Don't say,
don't speak, don't speak. Let's just end with that. Goodbye, everybody.

(01:08:26):
Here's some stories about show we made about a bunch
of doctor nurses and said, he's the stories should so
yet around here are yeado? Around here are describe