Mild spoilers below for anyone who hasn't yet watched St. Denis Medical's Season 2 premiere on NBC or via Peacock subscription.
Early November isn't usually when network TV breaks out its best comedy shows, but 2025 is basically the wild west, and our cowboys are decked out in hospital chic. Wait, no, they're actually just the dedicated healthcare professionals comprising the staff of St. Denis Medical, and CinemaBlend sat down with series stars Alison Tolman, Mekki Lepper, Kaliko Kauahi, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Kahyun Kim to celebrate Season 2's debut.
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Obviously, fans can expect to see characters like Ron dealing with the challenges of aging vs. pride, while Joyce will continue having full hands trying to nail the balance between running an exemplary medical facility and over-spending on flashy uselessness. And Keith will no doubt continue to be Keith.
But I wondered if the cast members ever had any real-life experiences that felt as if they would have taken place within the walls of St. Denis. And it turns out there are few things more universal than "awkward hospital visits." Alison Tolman summed it up quite well, pointing out that the show's waiting room scenes are indeed reflective of her own experiences. In her words:
I've spent my fair share of time in, like, emergency room waiting rooms, and so anytime we have anything in the waiting room, I'm like, "That's what it's like. It's the seventh circle of hell.' Waiting rooms at ERs are rough! Rough and scary places.
Alison Tolman
Not that it's just the waiting rooms that are a nightmare. Never that.
Mekki Leeper, who bumbles around good-naturedly as nurse Matt, shared a story about dealing with a wildly annoying hospital situation that seemingly didn't need to happen at all. As he put it:
I would, yeah. I got food poisoning once, and I was in the hospital for a long time, and there's a deafening beeping noise. There was only one nurse that was very Matt-like who was on the floor, and he was just pacing around frantically for like 20 minutes. Then right in front of my [bed], it was like a curtain, so I couldn't really see, but I can hear. And he stopped right in front of my bed and flipped a switch, and then it stopped. So it feels like he could have done that the entire time he was walking around. And it made me think of Matt, yeah.
Mekki Leeper
To me, that's akin to a neighbor letting their dog out, and then waiting another 20-30 minutes to let the animal back in, despite it constantly barking, whining and scratching at the door the entire time. Not so much a hospital thing, but unnerving all the same.
Kahyun Kim had a completely different kind of awkward doctor visit, as she talked about going into a plastic surgeon's office feeling one kind of way, and then slowly having that feeling get reversed by the time she left. As she put it:
I went to a plastic surgeon my fourth year of school because I was thinking of getting a nose job [with] the best plastic surgeon in Korea. I remember walking in, and the reason I didn't get it was because all the nurses looked the same. You couldn't tell the difference because it was by the same doctor, the head doctor. And I did not get plastic surgery because of that. . . . That whole story, kind of freaky. The only way you could tell them apart was the height.
Kahyun Kim
I suppose there's a certain amount of victory to be felt in having perfected a surgery in a way that can be replicated as such. But that's maybe not the best-case scenario for how to show off one's skills.
Wendi McClendon-Covey also had a story to share that was less about feeling innately uncomfortable, and more about dealing with a practitioner who was lacking a certain amount of societal couth while handling her job duties. As the Reno 911! vet put it:
Well, I remember being at the doctor once, and the girl trying to draw my blood just wouldn't shut up about how her boyfriend had taken her phone away, and all this stuff. She was just really unloading on me, and I was about to faint — I'm not good with needles — and I just kept thinking, 'When is this going to end?' But you always feel like you have to be polite and listen to this story, but there was nothing professional about it. And I guess, you know, look: you go through nursing school, and you get all Cs, you still pass, right? And they still work. And I got one of those.
Wendi McClendon-Covey
All that glitters is not gold. And all that go to med school are not Hippocrates. Yet we live on. So even though the NBC comedy's storylines might not seem as realistic as all kinds of other hospital TV shows, awkwardness is very much alive and well in the medical field. And there's a Bruce in every hospital who would love to tell you all about it, and himself.
St. Denis Medical will continue giving audiences all manner of awkward and meaningful hospital moments when new episodes air every Monday night on NBC at 8:00 p.m. ET. Don't forget to let them know your emergency contact.
