Wendi McLendon-Covey is often on the verge of exploding. Her speciality, she says, is dysfunctional women. And she’s played a few over the years; she’s best known for comedy blockbuster Bridesmaids and a decade as Bev, the domineering matriarch of The Goldbergs.
Now she leads the cast in the new medical mockumentary St Denis Medical, starring as Joyce, a hospital administrator – meaning it’s Joyce’s job to make sure her hospital’s finances are in check, which is a certain way to guarantee the pressure will always be building.
Big Issue: What’s funny about the US healthcare system?
Wendi McLenDon-Covey: Nothing actually, which means everything is funny. The uniting factor is that we’re all going to show up in the hospital at some point in our lives. You’re there maybe getting some terrible news, but the person delivering the message to you just really wants to get back to the birthday party that’s going on in the break room, because they’re human too. That’s where the comedy comes in. We’ve got plenty of procedurals where you see the gore and the terrible parts but I think it’s important to balance it out with the light-hearted situations of people just trying to get through their day.
Who is Joyce?
Joyce is a mash-up of a few different women I’ve worked for over the years. Prior to getting into acting, I worked plenty of normal jobs, and while none of these were in healthcare, they still had the predicament of trying to make something go when you have no resources. So, for instance, I used to work at a hotel near Disneyland, and we were trying to make it a destination property – people would fly into California and stay in industrial Anaheim because this hotel was so fabulous, but it was a trucker hotel. But we were still saddled with the task of trying to make it look like a resort and lure people in. Joyce is trying to make this hospital in rural Oregon a destination medical facility. She thinks, OK, there’s money to be made if we spend some money. And by the way, we’re a safety hospital and we have to take everybody, regardless of whether or not they can pay, so she’s walking a fine line of insanity, which I love to play, because she’s about to explode.
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In St Denis Medical it’s nice to see a show focused on people trying to do their best – not always succeeding but at least trying.
Don’t we all get into something for noble reasons? Then once you’re in, you start hitting your head against the wall of bureaucracy, and you’re like, this isn’t what I thought this was going to be. That’s where Joyce is at. She’s stuck. Joyce was an oncologist then she decided to make change from the inside and go into administration. And then found out, oh wait, it was much easier operating on people than to beg for money every single day.
Is this what acting and medicine have in common? You don’t get into it for the money. The money may come at some point but you have to be motivated by something else.
Yes and you have to be a self-motivator. No one will beg you to get into these professions, no one will beg you to stay and no one will mourn you when you go. That’s just the way it is. If you’re getting into it just for the money, boy, are you going to be disappointed. There’s got to be a bigger reason that has to be your North Star.
What was your North Star?
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From the time I was a toddler, all I have ever wanted was to tell stories. If I don’t ever make any money, that’s fine, but I can’t give this up. It was when I made that admission to myself that I started really getting somewhere, weirdly. I can’t tell you why that is, but it really unclogged a pipe, so to speak, for me booking work. But look, I’m not going to say for a minute that acting is just as noble as medicine. It absolutely isn’t. They are doing God’s work, we are the court jesters.
Kahyun Kim as Serena, and McLendon-Covey as Joyce in St Denis Medical. Image: BBC
Why are lots of comedies filmed as if they’re documentaries?
There are so many documentaries out there about different professions, that kind of normalises workplace shows, or that kind of style. People almost expect to see it now. With this mockumentary style, you get to see the jokes in between the lines, if that makes sense, because sometimes someone’s reaction is a punch line, a wordless punch line. It’s a fun way to work, and I think it’s fun for the audience, but, yeah, there’s a lot of them out right now, huh?
Your character knows they’re performing to an audience, but it’s different to the audience that is actually watching the show. Do all these layers make it difficult?
Yes, it is difficult. You don’t want to seem like you’re mugging for the camera. In my mind, Joyce brought in a documentary crew as a fundraising effort. If we can show our board members and everyone what we do here on a daily basis, maybe we can get more funding. So that’s what I’m assuming the crew is doing there. Because I’ve done mockumentaries before and it does seem weird to look at the camera.
Is laughter the best medicine?
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I think anything that takes you out of your reality long enough so you aren’t thinking about your ailment or predicament, that’s very soothing and important. No substitute for actual medicine, but good for your mental state.
What would you prescribe?
One of my favourite shows that always makes me laugh and feel better is Father Ted. Any of The Offices. Peep Show.
When it comes to British TV shows, I read that you were a big fan of Happy Valley.
Yes, which is not funny at all. You have no idea how badly I want to be in a US version. Sarah Lancashire is a revelation. Oh god, I have been trying to get that going, and I think someone is doing it. And I don’t know who to stalk, but I will when I find out who the decision maker is. For me, it’s about telling a good story, warts and all, something that makes you feel like someone took your heart out of your body, twisted it and put it back in. That’s the kind of stuff I want to do.
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Who do you think is the best comedy practitioner?
Steve Martin. There is a warmth to his comedy. It’s not mean spirited, just uplifting. His book – called Born Standing Up – is probably the closest thing to a comedy textbook that exists.
Can you learn to be funny?
You can’t learn to be funny from a book. You just have to try and fail. But there are some very interesting points he makes, one of which is, if your audience is too comfortable, they will not laugh as much. That’s why I think having these lounging seats in movie theatres is a big mistake. You don’t concentrate on the movie, you’re too comfortable, you’re falling asleep. The less comfortable they are, the more they laugh.
We live in uncomfortable times, which is maybe why we need comedy more than ever.
I wish we could go back to a time when people weren’t so emboldened to be terrible. We have entered this time, and it’s not like it just happened a week ago, where people feel very comfortable being assholes to other racial groups, other religious groups. What happened to basic civility? Take care of what’s right in front of you first before you reach out and try to tell somebody else that what they’re doing is wrong. Are your kids functional? Is your laundry folded? No. How about focusing on that?
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St Denis Medical is on BBC One on Fridays, with all episodes available on iPlayer
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