Childrens Hospital is one of the funniest shows on TV, and really something you should not be missing. For the uninformed, Childrens Hospital is the brainchild of Rob Cordry, and sends up all of the major tropes of medical tv shows, and even itself. A killer cast with some of the funniest people around makes this something you should not miss as it airs Thursdays at midnight (ET/PT) on [adult swim].
They’ve been so successful, they’ve spawned a spin-off: NTSF:SD:SUV:: (National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle:: And yes, I was told those final colons are very important). I’ve got a review of that pilot here, and you should watch both of these shows back to back.
I got a chance to sit down with the cast of Childrens Hospital and it was the most filthy and enjoyable interview of Comic-Con.
First of all, the cast could not stop talking about masturbation. It started with Ken Marino, and then when Erinn Hayes, Lake Bell, and Malin Ackerman sat down with us, they just kept the self-pleasuring train rolling. Lake made the point that masturbation jokes, just like the act, was not just for guys.
So, after riffing about self-gratification and commentary on the variety of recording devices we were all using (Ken mentioned that my iphone 3 was not as up to date as the guy with the iphone 4. Thanks, dude. J/K- you’re a mensch), we actually got down to some real questions.
The basics? We’re going to get 14 episodes of season 2, 6 of which have aired. They’re thinking now about season 3, and have several ideas. Cordry has an idea for how to get Lady GaGa in an episode, if they could get her to do it. (PS- she should) But he doesn’t want to take it too far: “I don’t want to be one of those guest star centric shows because we have such a great cast.”
What should be in future episodes? Well, there will be another Newscasters theme episode, and I hope everyone caught the “Our Town” episode that aired tonight. Cordry implied that this episode might become the basis for a full-blown tour, featuring not only a live performance like this, but also some live music and other comedy. So, more like the Conan O’Brien tour from last summer. Mulally also gave up a major spoiler in that there will be an episode featuring lots of porn stars which takes place on the night shift, during which time Chief is supposed to “run” in slow motion. So, we can look forward to that hilarity and sexiness.
As for the location, which Cordry referred to as “kind of Scrubs-y”, it was recently demolished, so they’re not quite sure where they’ll film next season. “I think we’re going to do it in the rubble of that hospital. And when they build condos there, we’ll film it there,” said Cordry, who also revealed that he had actually never watched Scrubs until after they had filmed several seasons there, and only then seen how noticeably similar the two shows were. “It’s the same thing, just a different coat of paint.”
Erinn Hayes could care less where the show is filming. “Rob is an insanely talented person, I would do a show with him in his apartment… or streetmosphere.”
As for the boundaries put on the show, there really are none. While they specifically state they do not care about things like continuity, rather just focusing on what Cordry calls “the incessant joke barrage” format, “I’ll do anything as long as it’s cool. I don’t care what it is. . . Everything in the show is just an engine for jokes, so I don’t care about continuity or character, but that shouldn’t necessarily be canon.” So, as long as it would be funny to start caring about continuity or have a long character arc, then we’ll see them.
We’ll also hopefully be seeing more of Nick Offerman on Childrens Hospital and also Megan Mulally on Parks and Recreation- the real-life couple has been doing amazing work guest-starring on each others shows, and Megan was overwhelmed at the fan support for Nick as folk hero Ron Swanson on Parks and Rec.
There are a couple of things we might not see. In early episodes Megan Mulally’s “Chief” character had a mole which would move locations. She recounted that during filming, someone ran in out of breath saying that the travelling mole gag had been used in Robin Hood : Men in Tights and they had to stop it. “Well, to be fair, I had just been masturbating,” said Ken Marino. “Don’t you ever masturbate and jog at the same time?” See? The self-pleasure schtick never ended.
As for Comic-Con itself, the cast was in love. Malin was excited to hear that there were people dressed up as Silk Spectre at the con. But the geekery doesn’t end there. If the cast could be superheroes, Malin says she would be Wonder Woman, Erinn would be Evie from Out of this World, and Lake would be her mom. No, seriously, she has a love of Quantum Leap, but rather than being Scott Bakula, she would just want that power to leap in and out of people. And masturbate.
Par for the course. If you’re not watching Childrens Hospital, you need to get your priorities straight.