St. Denis Medical’sMekki Leeper and Kahyun Kim reflect on the unique joys that the NBC mockumentary gives them as performers. Created byJustin Spitzer and Eric Ledgin ofSuperstorefame, the new comedy centers on the staff of an Oregon hospital emergency room. Whereas other shows might play the concept for straight character drama,St. Denis Medicalinstead leans into a sweet-natured sense of comedy, with each member of the cast getting the chance to balance some sweet humanity amid the verbal jabs and gags.
This is especially true with Kahyun Kim & Mekki Leeper’s characters onSt. Denis Medical. Mekki plays the newly hired nurse Matt, whose sheltered religious upbringing has left him with a lot of blindspots he has to overcome. On the other end of the spectrum is Serena, a more experienced nurse at the hospital who has little restraint when it comes to sharing her feelings on any given subject or character. During an interview withScreenRant, Leeper and Kim discussed their characters and what makesSt. Denis Medicalsuch a unique entry to the sitcom genre.
Balancing Humor & Heart In St. Denis Hospital Was An Integral Part Of The Process
“Mekki said Serena sometimes says mean stuff. I disagree. I think she’s just honest.”
Screen Rant: Mekki, you get to have a lot of fun in this series with Matt. He’s a lovable idiot, which can be deceptively hard to make charming and not frustrating. How did you approach that balance with the character?
Mekki Leeper: I really love it, because I love characters like Andy Dwyer and Kenneth. I think that characters like that, Matt included, on one hand, yeah, he’s a little dumb. I always attempt to play him like it’s less an intelligence thing where he’s stupid, and more of a thing where he’s very naive. He’s very uninformed about stuff. His enthusiasm is through the roof. He never knows when he says something stupid.
Kahyun, you get an interesting challenge too with Serena. She gets to be this sardonic without feeling mean, necessarily. How did you approach that balance?
Kahyun Kim: You know, Mekki said Serena sometimes says mean stuff. I disagree. I think she’s just honest. Whatever people are thinking, she’ll say it. She’s the people’s voice [Laughing]. I love that about Serena. I think she’s just honest. She’s really blunt and she says what she thinks. Then that’s kind of me in real life. So I find it very charming.
Kahyun Kim & Mekki Leeper Reveal What Makes St. Denis Medical Unique
“I think that that lends a kind of authenticity and energy to the comedy that feels like it’ll scratch an itch.”
This show has some shared DNA with a lot of great previous sitcoms. There are elements ofScrubs,The Office, andespeciallySuperstorethanks to the creative team. From both of your perspectives, what makesSt. Denis Medicalunique in the comedy landscape?
Kahyun Kim: I think the characters are so personable. It’s a hospital setting, so there are a lot of high-stakes things going on. But what makes it so fun and real and heartfelt is that it feels like real people with real stories. Yes, they are doctors and nurses, and they have a job. But they’re all just like human beings. I think in such a high-stakes environment, that just brings out comedy.
Mekki Leeper: I totally agree… It’s a privilege to be doing a show that’s not heavily plot-driven, or a two-season limited prestigious series. Those shows are so awesome, but for me, I love the hard comedy. I love the sitcom. You just never, in a 10 episode show or a six episode show, you don’t get to spend enough time with those characters. TV is so beautiful because you really get to know people. I think that’s what makes you want to spend every night with them for a decade. In the case of shows likeSeinfeldandFriendsand so many of these shows, it’s been almost like 30 years where you just hang out with these people every day.
Mekki Leeper: I thinkSt. Denis Medical, has some of those qualities when it comes to character. I also think that[St. Denis Medical] uses the mockumentary form in a way that is unique and a bit different than a lot of the shows that exist in the format. We do something called the Lennox Hill Pass, which means that in each scene, we do the entire scene without cross-coverage. We do it with one camera, and it swings to all the different people.
I think that that lends a kind of authenticity and energy to the comedy that feels like it’ll scratch an itch. If you watch sketch comedy on Tiktok, that’s all very loose. It’s just really funny people thinking of something organic and fresh. Sometimes [St. Denis Medical] kind of takes that on energy, which is so hard for a big Hollywood machine to create. So I think that it’s just such a good place for comedy.
More About St. Denis Medical Season 1
Devoted nurse Alex has just been promoted to Supervising Nurse in the emergency department at St. Denis Medical Center in Oregon. She works alongside an eclectic team of underfunded yet dedicated doctors, nurses and hospital staff, including her boss, Joyce, who wants nothing more than to turn the hospital into an international medical destination, and Dr. Ron, who’s done it all, seen it all and is pretty much over it all. They’re all doing their best not to lose their patience in a hospital overrun with patients – while caring for everyone who comes in the door, including each other.
St. Denis MedicalairsonNBC and premieres Nov. 12.
St. Denis Medical
Cast
St. Denis Medical follows a diverse team of doctors and nurses at an underfunded Oregon hospital as they manage patient care and maintain camaraderie amid challenging circumstances.
