Laughter as medicine: 'St. Denis Medical' enters the field

“What someone told me early on is it doesn’t matter if five people are doing a hospital comedy, just be the best show that is a hospital comedy and people will forget the rest,” says David Alan Grier. “When ‘Die Hard’ came, action-adventure-whatever flicks were dead, and it was an old, tired genre. But when it was done well enough, it reinvented and refreshed the genre.”

Now, Grier is part of “St. Denis Medical,” a comedy about a hospital in central Oregon.

Its administrator, played by “The Goldbergs’” Wendi McLendon-Covey wants to make it a destination medical property. “She’s competent,” says McLendon-Covey, “but she has very unrealistic expectations.”

A hard-working staff, however, keeps St. Denis Medical (named after a decapitated bishop) plugging away, even though it could experience highs and lows all in one day.

“The Office” trafficked in the mundane. “St. Denis,” however, has to deal with a range of stories – from highly dramatic to absurd.

“We’re really attempting to find a balance,” says Executive Producer Eric Ledgin. “At the end of the day, a job is a job like any other – except this happens to be in the highest stakes place possible.”

Grier, who plays an ER doctor, is joined by Allison Tolman as a supervising nurse in the department; Mekki Leeper as a newly hired nurse; Josh Lawson as a self-important surgeon; Kaliko Kauahi as the front desk attendant; and McLendon-Covey as the executive director. They all want the hospital to succeed, but understaffing has taken its toll.

Despite her promotion, Tolman’s character can’t get away to be with her family. “Everyone who is visiting the hospital is in extreme circumstances,” Tolman says, “but as extreme as they are they’re not extreme for us. It’s just another day and someone has a day off and somebody has a birthday. I find that really charming. Every episode has a moment where that sort of sincerity and that heartfelt core shine through.”

Learning from reality

The “Fargo” star got a chance to see a hospital in action before shooting even started. “Before I took this role, my father was very ill,” she says. “I went home to Texas for several months, so I was really entrenched in the hospital and the healthcare system for the first time in my life. When I got this script, it just felt like kismet. I wanted to make a half-hour comedy because that was what kept us afloat when my dad was so sick. Then, to have it be about these people who saved my father’s life… it was really a blessing.”

Grier, too, has a point of reference. His father was a noted psychiatrist; his siblings have also gone into medical fields. The script, he says, was “good, well-written and intelligent. I’m familiar with the milieu.”

For McLendon-Covey, who played the mom on “The Goldbergs” for 10 seasons, “St. Denis” represented a chance to go in another direction: “What I loved about this character is that she is not nurturing at all. Don’t come near her wanting a hug. She does not want your germs, and she cannot keep a plant alive. But she’s devoted to this hospital. That’s her baby.”

While Kauahi lugs a large cross through the hospital in an early episode, most situations aren’t that absurd.

“I find something really charming about the mundane in the most extreme circumstances,” Tolman says.

Fertile ground

“St. Denis Medical” should work, Ledgin says, because a hospital is such a “stakes-y” place. “There’s so much inherent drama and joy and awareness and camaraderie. It felt like such fertile ground.”

The mockumentary aspect pulls it away from other medical comedies – like “Scrubs” – because it “limits us and says we are always going to be the much more grounded version,” says Executive Producer Justin Spitzer.

When Tolman took a risk with “Fargo,” she had no idea where it might lead. “I’m so blessed that I’ve been working consistently now for 10 years,” she says. “The thing about success is that you never actually reach it. You’re always striving in this business. Maybe Tom Cruise is not striving anymore, but the rest of us, you’re like, ‘Am I doing the right thing?’”

“St. Denis Medical” airs on NBC beginning Nov. 12.