Zach Braff Is Back In SCRUBS

I saw the church lady and I honestly thought, I'm not just blowing smoke, I thought it was the funniest fucking thing I'd ever seen in my life. That era, 86, 87, 88, that was my first exposure to it and I just thought, oh my god, this is the funniest shit I've ever seen. In post, we put this big face of MoMoa, like a bobblehead size, and then move the mouth like South Park style. And so then we think they have a total proof of concept before they ever buy it. I got them all and my producer at the time said, just so you know that will never happen again in your career and it never did. And then I showed up and there was that meeting in Lauren's office where everyone goes around and they meeting and says an idea. And I really, I was sitting in a chair, but a lot of them were on the floor. Yeah, he got the King Tut chair. So we've got Zach Braff, who pretty much everyone knows Zach Braff. Zach Braff. Very likable guy, very funny guy, always with Donald Faiz on. We talk about the T-Mobile commercials, which he has a big hand in helping with writing. They really, yeah, they really, they shoot them ahead of time on their phones and show them to the ad agency and stuff. I was thrilled to hear that the kind of control they have, but that's very interesting. That's why they really click. Yeah, he's got, you know, Scrubs is back. Scrubs is back, which is, I think it's like a 15 year hiatus and they're back. I like that. I like when they bring things back, sort of those comfort, relaxing comedies that people like to watch and they don't look about the same. So why not? Sarah Chalk, who was in Wrong Mythy, who we really like. She's a lot of fun. She's of course a big part of Scrubs. And we had his SNL experience hosting SNL, which is very interesting. It's always, it's always, you get a little nervous when someone recants how nervous they were and the intensity of hosting that show. Tighten you up a little bit. It's like, oh boy. It's kind of like, oh my God, you know, it's a whoop-de-doo. Yeah. So here he is. You know him, Zach Barra. And loving. Oh my God. Oh, SpaghettiOs. Oh my God. Holy shit. We're not prepared for this. You have earphones like this. Yeah. You have earphones. We got a podcast there on our podcast. Oh, that's right. Wow. I knew you'd get it. You've got another skill set. We didn't research. No, I know. And I used to do a podcast and people would come on and we'd spend, sorry, I'm doing the thing. I was so annoyed with the other people. Exactly the same thing. I'd be like, come on, get it together. Inside baseball. Martin Short took 45 minutes. And nothing to do with it. It just was, we love Martin Short, you know, but dumb as a rock, but a great guy. Genius in his field. No. Technically is a different thing. I mean, I'm not, are you handy? Can you build a chair? Me? No, I can't do shit like that. No. He knows already. I know. Look at your chair has plastic on it. Well, I have to explain. I used to do this podcast with Donald Faiz on my co-star. We rewatched 180 episodes of Scrubs and we would talk about, we would watch. Oh, okay. And then we'd talk about them and we had a nice fun time and then we stopped doing it. And so this room that used to look nice just became a storage room. So that's why there's shit all over the place. This was your podcast room. Yeah. Yeah. This was my room. Look how nice yours looks, David Spade. I looked up on Google. It says people also Googling Zach Googled Donald Faiz on and then literally no one else. Was that really the answer? Yeah, because you're in everything with them. Yeah. We are comedy partners. We do everything together. Podcasts, T-Mobile. Right. The Scrubs Reboot. The show, yeah. We just, we found each other literally 20 years ago at the table read for Scrubs and we just had great chemistry. We just crack each other up. People really responded to it and we've been doing it. He's an upbeat dude too. He's a great guy. He's, we're so different but at the same time we have the exact same sense of humor. That matters. It's good. It's good. I like everything I'm hearing so far. Dana, I don't think I've ever, like David I've met before. We had a dinner at Howard Stern's house once before which was really fun. Well, that's his whole podcast. We got invited into the castle. Yeah. But I don't think, but Dana, I don't think we've ever met and I'm such a massive fan of yours and it's an honor to meet you. Same right back at you. Right back at you. I was looking up when you started doing The Church Lady because I truly, I got to host SNL once and it was a dream come true. We know all about that. I saw it. I want to talk about it because I obviously I wanted to share my story. I'm such a fan of the show my whole life but I remember being a little kid and I wasn't supposed to be up that late and I was staying over at my friend's house and we were secretly staying up and we saw, I saw The Church Lady and I honestly thought, I'm not just a little kid, I thought, I'm not just blowing smoke. I thought it was the funniest fucking thing I'd ever seen in my life. For a 10 year old it was about at that level. No, but I'm saying, yeah, it was silly of course but you know, they always... You think it was a lady? No, I knew what it was doing and we were Jewish so we didn't know. I didn't have an experience with watching church shows. Right, right, right. But I just found the, I just thought what you were doing with that. I just know, you know, people always say, you know, the first SNL cast you're exposed to is one of your favorites, you know? Yeah, definitely. I'm sure you guys are with that. More and Michaels. Yeah, and you were that era, 86, 87, 88, that was the, that was my first exposure to it and I just thought, oh my god, this is the funniest shit I've ever seen. And looking like the most fun thing you can do. They've got costumes on and they're doing characters and people laughing. It was definitely inspirational for me because you know, at that age I didn't know I would go into comedy, but I was like, this is a job? These people are being paid to do this? I know, that is the truth. It's a fever dream even now in a way that I got on that show. I auditioned three times, I bombed every time. Really? The church lady was a piece of my stand up, but in those days I was doing an hour, hour 10 and I do three or four minutes of that, but I had no idea. I'd never worn the dress, but, and I always say this, in the early days of that I had Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks come on several times. There was a lot of religious scandals that year and so it was 86. So anyway, but thank you. That's I'm the dress and the wig, everything about it had to be right. And then it all came together. I had to ask, just as a fan of it, how did, did it get on the first time you wrote it? It was my first show. It was your very first show. Very first show. My first sketch. Lauren Michael's ex-wife was there, which I didn't know it was his ex-wife and she was Rosie Schuster and she would call Lauren dear and I didn't know it was her ex, but she was assigned to me, a stand up comedian, you know, and then I thought, well, let's do church lady. And she was actually, we said, we'll do a talk show. And I remember she goes, how about we call it church chat? I go perfect, you know, so, but I had no idea it would kill. It was the last thing in the show. I've told this story before, but after, you know, for the dress show, the practice show, it was the final sketch. Really, it's not going to happen, you know, whatever, you know, I, I'm, Phil Hartman went to bat for it. So then it killed and then moved up. It was a complete fever dream. And then there was like merch. Yes. You were, we don't do that here. You know, right now they have, you know, Cone had oven mitts and the, the store, you know, now they've had merchandising, you know, but merchandise back then. No, no. Kevin Neal and I were offered a Nike commercial. Just do it was going to be Hans and Franz. Do it. It's the same era, right? Hans and Franz. Cause that was 88, 88, 89. And then we were told really it's not what we do here. Cut to 10 years later, they have Bud Light commercials inside the sketch. It's all about. Instagram. I love, and I want to ask you about this. I love the, when I see young comedians and they referred to himself as a brand, they're doing commercials. They're, they're opening up banks. I love the businessman artist because I think in the end of day it's money is freedom. Whoops. Hot take. Well, I went from like, you shouldn't do this. It's a sell out to cool. It's like overnight they go, there's no sellouts anymore. It's like, Oh, okay. So just anything. So what is your comment on that? Cause you, yeah, comment. You've had the big one of the biggest campaigns I've ever seen the team mobile. It's been pretty huge. I got to say the unique thing about the T-Mobile thing is we participate in, in, in making them, not just, we don't just show up on shoot day. We, the big ones, the Super Bowl ones, we, we shot like spec versions of them in my backyard and we would sort of workshop them. We would make like, we would make them on an iPhone in my backyard and perfect. And, and as sort of show them and say, are you like this one? Do you like this one? Yeah. We would, there's a guy named Brian Klugman who's sort of the Don Draper of the, of all the campaign and he's the one who comes up with the idea, but then we kind of riff on it. We, we, because we're shooting on iPhones, it doesn't matter. We just do it and then we cut it together. We add the graphics. If we don't have a big star like we did when we did the spec one of Mamoa in post, we put this big face of Mamoa, like a bobble head size and then move the mouth like South Park style. And, and so then we think they have a total proof of concept before they ever buy it. Well, that's God, that's just music to my head. That's the greatest thing I've heard in a long time on this podcast. Just the idea of taking those people out of it, maybe smart, nice people, you two guys already have the chemistry, you know how to work together and you make it like I always tell people ask me, I go make stuff with an iPhone. I tell them that don't, don't go in and pitch, make a lot of shit that and do it until you know it's great. Show it to your friends. How can people compete with, we're doing it with the stars of the commercial. We're sitting there. We've shot 11 versions of the punchlines to see which ones work best in the cut. And then we've have, you know, if you can use your imagination at all, you can get that that's Mamoa or that's Travolta or whatever. And then we, and then they watch it. And now they're used to watching, they're used to not having anything. They're used to looking at storyboards and going, I guess the story. Pitching bullshit. And you say, we would like this celebrity might be funny for this. Then they go, we can go get him. Yeah. We will, we'll sometimes say, we wrote this with Travolta in mind, obviously. And then, and then they'll try and get them. And sometimes they can't get them. And then we just swap out the head for a different celebrity. And you get Webster. That is so great. And that's why they pop. That's why they pop. Because yeah, I mean, obviously the writing is good and the chemistry is good, but also we participate. It isn't like, hey, say this dumb line that you don't think is fun. That would never 99 percent. Of course, I had a friend who's doing one and she sent me the spot and she goes, we're shooting tomorrow. Can you help me? And I looked at it and I was like, I don't know where to begin to help you. This is bad. Blow it up. Hard to change shit. It's hard. I did one for Hans and Franz for a Super Bowl with Kevin Nealon. And we had a lot of stuff left over from the script. So we sort of suggested some things. And at one point we were water skiing and Aaron Rogers. And I was like, I'm going to do this. This is a kayak paddling really hard. We wanted him on a speedboat, but it's great to just use stuff. And then when they go for it, it's a really good feeling. Exactly. The only one is they want their stuff in. They're messaging. But as long as we get that in in a way that's funny, this particular company, I can't speak for others, is so collaborative and cool. And do they pay you for doing these commercials or just for the exposure? I was like, you know how it works. I like that you took that seriously. You go, actually, I think we do get paid. Sorry. To be honest, as I mean, to be blunt as a comedic actor, you would do it for free because the exposure on the Super Bowl is true. Well, that's true. There's one shit out there. You know, I did one, Zach. I was almost in your family. We did a team, I think it was Team Mobile with Brent Gellman. I told you this day. Brent got the game. We shot it in February 2020 and it was airing for the final four. And I think it was 90 seconds, which was even longer. It was fully written out. It was really fun. Brent Gellman's course bananas. And we had a really good, we thought it was pretty funny. And then it was COVID. And then they go, okay, hang on. People aren't doing comedy right now. It's too sad in the world. We're like, okay. And then the final four was canceled. And then anyway, long story short, it got whittled down to a 15 second Instagram ad about nine months later because they just said, and then it took place in an unemployment office. And then that was the latest thing we couldn't air. Like, whoa, wait, we forgot. Everyone's unemployed right now. Like, and I'm like, no one's even thinking. I don't know. So it was just tough because, but I really liked it. We had a great director. We had a great time. Team Mobile was great. It just COVID. I mean, there were some downsides to COVID if you look back. Yeah. There were some negatives. The world shut down. I don't know. Yeah, that was one. So. Zach, where would you like to go in this interview? Cause I have a lot of questions. Zach, I had a threesome with a friend of yours. Go on. That's a good one, right? That's a good start. What are we trying to trend now? No, no, Sarah chalk. I don't know if you know her from the show. You didn't have threesome with Sarah chalk. There's no way. We did. And the wrong missy. Whoa. That was a pretty film. It was, oh, it played a, my brain was scanning. I know. Isn't that great? You're like, who, who. And then you said, Sarah chalk, the least likely answer. I know. Like on planet earth. It sort of stopped when the cameras stopped rolling and I was sort of going, Oh, oh, is everyone just pretending here? And they were like, yeah. And I go, you tell me where you got to go. I'd love to do. I'll set the stage a little bit. Researching you. And I have a jack of all, I mean, you do a lot. You do theater. You've directed Harrison Ford and shrinking. You directed Ted Lasso and got a lot of award nominations for that. So you're my plane. You're a director. And then you're doing the half hour show and you're directing those. And then you're doing garden state. You're doing movies. You're in, you're in London with a play you wrote. I mean, it's, I, how do, well, how are we supposed to make sense of that? I just, I'm very driven, I guess. And I've always, I've always believed early on that you can't just sit and wait for your number to come up. You have to be so proactive in this field, you know? True. Yeah. I'm always, I'm always shocked by people that are just sitting there waiting for, for their, for their lottery number to be picked, you know? So I've such a tough business. That's right. So hard. And so, and I see actors that come in and, and how hard it is to get picked. And so I just, from a very young age, I was, I was acting a bit as a kid and I saw how hard it was. And I was just like, I'm going to do all the things I'm going to write. I'm going to produce. I'm going to direct. When I'm lucky enough to be cast, I'm going to, I'm not going to go to my trailer and, and, and do nothing. I'm going to sit on set and ask the director questions. I'm going to ask the fucking grips questions. I wanted to like learn, you know? Well, that's great. So what was the first thing that, sorry, you go, I guess I'm going to, I'm in show business. This is what I'm going to do. Well, the first thing he landed, we got a pilot at 14 years old. Do you remember Bruce Paltrow? He created St. Elsewhere. Yeah. That was Renna's father and she was 17, I believe. And she was cast as in the show as like a, uh, the pretty senior in the high school and I was the nerdy. Is leukemia. No, she was just a babe. I thought it was a doctor. We got three. So we got leukemia. These are two bangers. Oh no, to St. Elsewhere was his, his, his, the show that made him famous. And then he created this pilot of about a high school. It was the same year. 902 and O came out and where they were the Beverly Hills show. We were like a rough, you know, New Jersey, uh, yeah. And that was my first thing. And I, and I didn't know that pilots didn't get picked up. I was 14 years old. I got a gift basket that said, welcome to the CBS family. And I was like, I'm in the CBS family. What are you talking about? I didn't get picked up. What does that mean? Then you were orphaned. So how do you get into show business at 14? Are you Christy? Thanks. We got a Mickey Rooney here or something. No, I'm going to, uh, I love my dad did community. Theater. My dad would take us into the city to see plays and they saw that I really liked it. And so they found this theater camp, uh, in New York called, it's called stage door manner. And, um, if you're serious about acting and you're a kid, it's, it's a great summer camp. And up there, I had gotten scouted. Uh, someone saw me and said, Hey, I'd love to represent you and send you some on audition. Oh, there you go. That's how it happened. Can I just, for a lot of movies at the time, like big and parenthood. And, um, and, um, and, um, Oliver Stone's movie, uh, um, uh, a couple of Oliver Stone movies. And, uh, so yeah. And then I, and then I didn't get any of that. And then this was the first thing I got. Is it second when you audition and then you, you, sometimes I wouldn't hear and then the movie would actually come out and I go, Oh, I, I guess I should have given up on that one. But I thought I was probably doing callbacks. And then I saw, I think dead poet society was the first, one of my first, first auditions. And I'm like, Oh, these assholes got it. I was pretty cool about it. Yeah. It was hard, you know, because my family didn't really understand. They'd be like, what do you mean you had an audition for it? Why didn't you get it? And I was like, Oh, they would just be, you know, they, they would just be bummed. No, they said, what did you do wrong? Oh yeah. I, my, my dad couldn't hide his disappointment. He would be like, Oh, really? I love it. He would try, but he'd be like, what's going wrong? Like, why aren't you getting? Should you be doing this? Should you? No, they believed in me, but they were like, how do we, how do we increase? It's such an uphill battle. It's so tough to talk them into believing in you when you're like, when like, I have an Arizona, there's like no one doing stand-up. They're like, what's going on? I'm like, I think this might be the best pick for me. It seems like such a moonshot. Like I had a girlfriend at maybe 19 or something. And I was like, let's go to San Francisco and watch comedy. Or maybe I was going to do a set at a little tiny club. And she, she kind of very serious to go, are you really trying to do this? And I met other parents. Well, it's great you're doing stand-up, but this will help you with whatever you really end up doing. Right. You know, it's just seems so. There's like, Lake Bell was the thing that was bugging my brain because she's, she's exactly like you directing, creating projects proactive. I don't know if you know her, but she was on recently and that was just bugging me. Who else is just like Zach? Yeah, I, I advise, you know, when people, when younger folks ask me advice, I always say that. I say, you can't just sit there and hope your number comes up now more than ever. It's crazy. Like that's, Well, you can also point to Garden State. You can say like, this was, I'm sure you get asked about this too much. Was it Garden State or which was the one where you did the crowd sourcing? Oh, that was Wish I Was Here, which is a film I put a lot of love into, but didn't do nearly as well as Garden State. Garden State was the first movie I made. I had written, I had written the screenplay and then when I got scrubs, I thought, oh gosh, this is, that was that hustler brain of mine. I was like, oh my God, this, even if this show doesn't work, it's going to help me get my movie made. And so I sort of use the momentum of getting scrubs to at least get my script higher in the pile, you know, because I was the new guy on the show. And all about heat. It's all about like, yeah, someone can get your part a week later. They just, their TikTok blew up and they're like, we're going to get that person instead. Like, it's so fleeting. I see that. And you, and Garden State was a bit, was that Natalie Portman? That was Natalie Portman and Peter Sarr's Garden, Ian Holm. Yeah, it was a big deal for me. Love Natalie Portman. So how exciting for you to be able to work with someone who's such a monster, professional, great actress. She's extraordinary. And, you know, when you make casting lists for anyone casting something, you often put like, well, I can't see very well. What I do is you make, you put sort of an archetype and then you put a line and then you put under the line people that you think are like them. And I had written, and I had written Natalie Portman, Peter Sarr's Garden, Ian Holm. And, and I got them all. I got them all. And my producer at the time said, just so you know, that will never happen again in your career. And it never did. It's so hard. I mean, but they like those sort of gritty small. If you can get someone to already made it, you can get someone that's like, give me something off the beaten path Natalie Portman sounds like, particularly big cast, particularly they want something, you know, big actors, if they're going to be no money, doing it for nothing in, in, in, in, in 25 days, they're looking for something that's different than what they've done and that will challenge them. I mean, I feel that way as an actor. I just did. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I went to did an indie for 19 days in Atlanta and it was something no one would ever normally cast me as. And I was like, well, that I'm drawn to, I'll go do that for no money for 19 days. Yeah. Nice. Those get some attention somewhere somehow. If nothing else, at least you get to flex some different muscle. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's great. Before we get to the scrubs, part two or reboot or whatever you want to call it. Revival. Revival. It's good. Okay. Just tell us your SNL story for a second and then let's go to that. I gotta go to SNL because it always been a dream of mine. I, I, I'm, I'm truly a lifelong watcher and, um, I just always been on my bucket list and I got the call. I think it was 2005. I had a movie coming out called The Last Kiss and scrubs was on the air and I, my stock, you know, you only get the SL invite if your stock is pretty darn high. Great barometer. And NBC, the scrubs at that point was on NBC, right? Yes. Yes. Helps helps a little bit. It's part of our tribe. We're in the family. He seems to be, he's, has got a light touch on the show and I think it'll do well here. And that's in front of you. He's talking to a pitcher of you and you're in the office with him. Oh, sorry. I didn't see you, Zach. So go ahead. So you're blown away. You get the call. I get the call that I'm going to host the finale of the season, which was called Maroon Five was the musical guests. They were also, they were also super on fire. Yep. And, um, I couldn't believe it. I, I, um, I showed up. I was very nervous, very nervous because I didn't know how to be. I didn't know how this all worked. I even though they don't tell you, they don't tell you. No one tells you anything. How fucking scary. I know we hear that a lot. You know, and then I showed up and there was that meeting in Lauren's office where everyone goes around and they meeting and says an idea. And I really, I was sitting in a chair, but a lot of them were on the floor. Yeah. He got the King touch chair. Like, I know what is, go ahead. And then trigger ideas. I was like, I thought, I didn't know that these were just like everyone is sort of supposed to say something. Fake ideas. And they were just like, they were all over the place. I was like, what? I didn't even, but, but then someone told me later that like you have to say something and no one's really thought about anything yet. And also you do not want to mention ideas so you can catch them by surprise at the read through on Wednesday. Oh, no. Strategy. You don't want to sit. Yeah. Big laugh at Monday meeting, bomb and read through. Oh, I didn't know that. Everyone already knows the joke. Zach is dressed as a donut on a sidewalk and you know, hitchhiking with a tomato, Christian wig, you know, like all that stuff. It sounds like a funny idea. And then you go, where was that one? Does Lauren ever go, does Lauren ever go like, where was your Monday morning idea? That was good or no? Not really. He knows we're all playing a game. Keeping our powder dry. You could mention, you know, maybe we'll do a massive head wound, Harry, but you don't say what it is, you know. There's all the games, but it's hard. Did anyone stand out for you like you were there? Because I looked that. Yeah. Who was your cast? That cast was arguably all, maybe the best cast. Let's just say it's in the conversation. Oh, yeah. Who were the people? Forte, Kristen, Fred Armisen, Sudeikis. Maya was still there. Maya, Kenan, Amy Poehler. Yeah. That's some home run hitters. Darrell Hammond was still there or no? Adam, Andy Sandberg. Andy's, yeah. So yeah, it's like a murderers' row. It's a murderers' row. And then there's Zach. It's going to be your fault if it's bad. Right. So who, how did you feel the day of the show? I got it before we get there. I got to say I was really nervous because then there's the two. Is it the Tuesday night you write all night long? Yeah. Well, I didn't know what to do because I didn't know, you know, I'm not a, I don't know what to do. Did you have the whole day off, by the way? They don't even start anything until like any afternoon. Why don't they tell the host what's going on? They didn't tell me anything. The only thing I knew, by the way, this is a funny story, is that I had done Conan to promote it. And mandatory. And I leaned over to Conan. I think it was during a commercial break or something. Yeah. And I said, do you have any advice at all for me? Because this is my, been my dream come true. I don't want to fuck it up. I'll take any advice he got. And he said, the only thing I can say is you're going to not believe that they're going to put a show on on Saturday night by the time. He goes, by the time you get to Friday, you're going to still be shocked at how little is ready. Disarray. And it feels like a morgue on the Sunday age. He said, just go with the flow. He goes, every Saturday night, the show goes on. He goes, don't panic, just go with the flow. And that actually really helped me because a Friday morning, my monologue hadn't even been written. And I was like, wait, what? Most people cry on Friday. Honestly, hosts cry. They go, what's wrong? The host is sort of having a breakdown. And you go, oh, that's about that time because they're looking around going, all it says in my itinerary is like Tuesday report at 6 p.m. for dinner at Orso. And you go, what about the show? I'm going to Orso's. I mean, why am I going to Orso's? Marcy Klein had said that she had to go in. I don't know if she was still there. Was she there at the time? Marcy was really helpful to me because she helped calm me down. There were hosts that were curled up in a ball crying like 10 minutes before air. You know, she had to love you. I definitely felt the beginnings of a panic attack coming about when there was no monologue on Friday and I knew that I was singing. I knew it was going to be a song. Oh, that's horrible. But you're very light and carefree and I'm sure Lauren is like, he's got this. But even I'm sort of like that too. But down deep, I really want to know what the fuck is going on. I really want to be ready to be light and carefree and know it. But you can't plan ahead and not even memorize, but just get a feel for it. You have 13 characters you got to do. It's so complicated. So a little by little, the monologue came out and it was a song and it was very funny. It was a spoof of New York state of mind, but it was New Jersey state of mind. Okay. And that was which was really funny. I got to sing. I like to sing. So I got to sing New Jersey state of mind and it was fun. And then one thing I really remember and I don't know if I assume he does this for every host, but the last thing that happened before I left my dressing room to be walked behind the door was Lauren came to my dressing room and he said, and I was like, oh my God, is this part of the ritual? What's happening? And it was the only time I'd been alone with him the whole week. And he said, you're going to, I can't do the impression like you, but he said, you're going to want to talk very fast. A monologue, you're going to be nervous. So take your time and really just don't, don't speed through it. And I was like, okay. And he was kind of smiled and nodded his head. It's kind of true though. You get, you get amped up. He was great advice because I, I, I, that was the last thing that was said to me. And I, and I, it helped me slow down and not come out there and speed through it. Yeah. Lauren models. I told him his last time I was hanging out with him. I said, you've, you've downloaded the show. You're like an AI because in his subconscious is like 5,000 sketches and 5,000 hosts. You know, so it's like, oh, this one's going to try to be speedy. I could tell Monday I'm going to go in right before the show and tell him to breathe and slow down. Pull the range. So, so you come out, you don't, you're not in the cold opening. You come out for the monologue. Did it, did it score the way you hoped it did? Oh yeah. It went great. I got, I mean, I was singing. I mean, to me, just singing on a stage with a band in a bar would be fun. Well, could you sing one line of that song for us? Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood. All right, you can sing. I'm inside to Miami Beach, oh, to Hollywood. Yeah. Well, for me, even doing that in a bar with my friends would be fun. I'd never, sure who gets to sing with a fucking amazing band. So I really, I loved it. And then I felt like once I got that down, yeah, you want it as a theater actor, I feel, I feel like the most nervous thing I have in my brain is going up and forgetting my lines. So once I was into the sketch world and my lines are everywhere, I felt like, oh, I can do this. Yes. Because the hardest thing about a movie is like, you have to memorize and then when you get out there and it's just there, you just don't want to be a crutch, but it's almost impossible to go, I'm going to drink up that cue card and just say it right here because there's no room for error. If you fuck up, you almost just kind of read it because you go, I can't screw up their line now. If I say the wrong end word, they don't say their line. The thing I didn't know and also again, I don't think I was briefed on this until like Saturday was that they're going to live cut lines for time. Yeah. So you get, if you don't look at the call, there were like lines that were in the scene and they were like, just you know, we're about to go. Three of your lines are cut. Look at the cards. And so then you look at the cards and they're crossed out like things that were cutting for time live. That was insane. Yeah. The only, there was one host we had who really understood this and it was William Shatner. So William Shatner is so relaxed and so loose the whole week and on the air show. And he thought it was just such a silly exercise with no real rehearsal and lines live. He goes, why would you take it serious? You know, I won't do it. But and that is the way to go with it. But you must have, the crowd loved you in the monologue. So that you must have rode that. Yeah. For the rest of the show. I felt really high on the adrenaline of that. And then I just felt, and then my scene, I was doing scenes with Kristen Wiig and all the, you know, these legends and my, Yeah, brilliant people. Yeah. And so I just knew like, I'm in, I'm in good hands and Fred, I had to skip with Fred Armisen. This is the funniest thing. And it was great. He's great. Oh, I love him. It was a sketch about how like an uncomfortable, you go into a meeting in a studio and a person at the desk doesn't have anything to do but ask you if you want some water. Which if you've never, if you've listened to this and you've never been into a meeting in Hollywood, that's kind of what happens. There's a person sitting in a desk and you're sitting awkwardly on a couch waiting and they're like, would you like some water? And you're like, no, I'm good. Thank you. And then they're like, are you sure you don't want water? And room tamper cold, sparkling. And little by little it becomes clear that the assistant is obsessed with me and Fred went crazy and it culminates with him kissing me. And perfect like forcibly. And in the rehearsal, he just did, we just did like a fake open mouth kiss. And then live, he jammed his tongue in my mouth. No way. Where's the intimacy core? That is a trick that they all learn is save something for air. Save it for the crowd. The crowd goes crazy. Oh, the crowd loved it. And to this day. If you had to pick one sketch to remember from that years later, is that your one that kind of jumps out at you? Oh gosh, I don't know. There were so many. I think that one was really good. I did remember the thing Maya would do with the like the Jersey women talking about the. Sweater weather. Oh yeah. I was on that. You're gorgeous. Yeah, gorgeous. I'm looking at him. He's so cute. Oh, look at him. Look at him. He's so cute. Yeah, they're great in that. Yeah. Yeah, that one was fun. I haven't thought about it in a second, but it was all very surreal. So the crowd. The crowd goes by in like one minute. After Fred Armerson put his tongue in your mouth, you did that. There's a roar, right? Because it's a surprise. And the roar in the eight age on something like that. So that must have helped you also lift it. I didn't want to be over. It goes by so fast. And then you're like, do I get to do it next week? They're like, no, never again. Also, you're like, now I know how to do it. Let's do it again one more time and we'll nail it. I'm going to make a prediction when the new scrubs is out. And whatever. I think Zach Braff, he was a pro. I think it's about time. I hope so. It would be my dream to go back and do it one more time. They were so complimentary. I mean, Marcy was like, I remember she was saying to me, you could have been a cast member, which even if it was bullshit, made my fucking year. So they don't say that to everybody. They don't say that to every host. No. Oh my god. You could have been a cast member. What can't you do? No, I don't know if that's true, but even her saying it made me feel really, really good. No, it's nice to hear. Because it's pretty close to being true because you fit the bill. You could be a Sudeikus in there, you know, just throw you in. Well, do you do accents and characters or impressions? Not so much. I mean, if I auditioned, I wouldn't really know how to audition with impressions. But do you throw your voice? You could play a New York guy or whatever, all those kinds of things. I can do that kind of thing. I can sketch comedy voices. Yeah, but I can't do impersonations like you can do. Up next, it's Brett Flair and his new band. Oh my god, I'm back again. On that vacation, oh, everybody's been gonna bring new games. Gonna show you now new game party. Fine. New dropping hits every week. Find the new slots. 18 plus be gambler. Wait at all. That's right. At EDF, we don't just encourage you to use less electricity. We actually reward you for it. That's why when you use less during peak times on weekdays, we give you free electricity on Sundays. How you use it is up to you. EDF, change is in our power. But it is the most fun thing when it's working that I've ever done in show business. You're killing on SNL and you got a whole of a great sketcher with great people around you. It's air and it's really working. It's finally really popping and this is going out live. It's like it's a pretty. Yeah. It was one of the highlights of my life, to be honest. It was so fun and my whole family was there. It was very, very surreal. Bring your whole family. You get two tickets. And it's still there. You get two tickets. Can't stop doing Lauren. You guys go these days and just watch the show? I was there last fall doing Biden. And I did a church chat. So I revisited it and it's trippy. You have to kind of get back in the saddle. Of course, I was part of a foursome. It was Gaffigan and Andy Samberg and Maya. And we were just sort of the four candidates or whatever. So, but it was fun. I mean, the cast and everything is cool. Chloe Feynman. I went back. 50th. Just to play Hunter Biden with Dana for one thing. Oh, you were the church lady. He wasn't even Biden. They wanted me to do a church chat and David came on as Hunter Biden. And that was fun. And then we did a 50th anniversary was fun. The 50th anniversary. Yeah, that was fun. And that's where you see everybody. And you go there and you walk in and it's more fun. Doing the show isn't even as fun as just being there because you're like, I'm back here and every person was a host or a cast member. That must be so crazy. So crazy. Alden or a music guest. Is everyone doing bits around each other or is everyone acting? Kind of just bullshitting. And then everyone's just naturally funny on their feet and sitting in the audience. There's like eight people in the crowd. I remember we were just saying the other day like sat in the crowd. Then Paul McCartney came up and sat like four in front of me. He's just watching just nothing. And then Kevin Costner standing in the corner. He's not even a host or anything. He's just, hey, what's going on over here? Well, everywhere you look is a famous person. You could look up, down, left, and left. Star-juiced. Yeah. It's like a little bit. And you see people from your era of cast, but of course, you know the other ones. It's the only place where I'd feel at home enough to walk up to almost anyone that was on the show in the past and say hi to them. And it's usually pretty easy camaraderie. There's a spree decor for anyone who we know what you did. You were in the slats and the makeup and the wig's not fitting. Yeah, you're part of it. And the writers are hovering around and going, your exit is earlier. I don't know if she's still there, but the woman who runs the host around all over the place, she was incredible. Who would have been yours? They run you from sketch to sketch. Yeah, because she tells you don't go anywhere. Just wait until I pull you somewhere because you have no idea where you're going. And then they get you. Right. You're just at the end of a sketch standing there with a camera face. Everyone sprints away and you're like, someone rip my Velcro suit off. Cast for the Monkey Man. Cast for the Monkey Man. Cast for the Monkey Man. 90 seconds. Cast for the Monkey Man. 90 seconds. Places. Cast for the Monkey Man. You know, Zach, Maya, Amy, Daryl. Yes. Lauren cameo. For those listening, they start with the host. It's a blasting intercom. Cast for Gap Girls. David, Chris, Dana. Wow, brah. It's so fun. So fucking fun. All right, let's get to this show. Yes. We're doing an old fashioned revival of Scrubs. We got the whole team back together. And it's been very, really, really surprising because we thought we always talked for years. We would do something maybe like a little mini series or a movie. Now it's back actually in prime time on ABC Wednesdays at 8 o'clock. And then it'll be on Hulu the next day. And they really believe in it. So they're giving it a big push. I read two reviews. Very, very, very positive. You know, I'm used to so much snark. And it's like, they were kind of like, oh, this is Zach. He picks it up right where they left off. And the timing of you and Donald, because you've done all your friends. So go ahead. They've been very kind. And really the thing was, how do you get back to it without doing nostalgia all the time? You know, we wanted to create the vibe of the show, but we didn't want to make a thing that was like, remember this and remember this and remember this and remember that. So how do you make the show current in 2026, but all but have the same tone, which was a mix of comedy, drama and fantasy. Right. Which is tricky to nail, you know, the same vibe. But we, I think we have. And you have Bill Lawrence, right? And so were you, they obviously you're the linchpin or, you know, the star. Great showrunner for the audience. It's a cast, but did he talk with you early on a little bit about tone and what we're going to try to do? Yeah, we said like, you know, Scrubs was on for basically eight and a half years. And throughout the course of it, it got broader and broader and broader until things that would have been in a fantasy sequence and early on ended up kind of in the real world of the show. I mean, some crazy trippy things. And some people love that stuff. It was more stoner comedy-esque, but we really wanted to reground it and say, let's, let's, let's bring this back to reality. We can, let's have our comedy set in a realistic, you know, urban hospital that doesn't have a lot of money. It's about community. It's about a group of friends who, in order to get through this insane life of trying to save lives and losing people. And they are there for each other. They are friends. They, they, you know, the theme song is I can't do this all on my own. It's about community. And then, and then within that, you have drama and you have comedy. And then JD, my character has these insane, funny fantasy sequences. And so that was what Bill and I talked about was like, now you're the teachers basically, because I'm 50. And, and, and when I started the show was 25. And you look 40. Thank you. It's the 38. You look 30. I didn't have this great beard. I might look 36, but, but, um, you know, it's funny. There's the kids, there's two kids that are playing our interns in the show that were born the year it came out. They were born in. Oh boy. Oh, oh, passage of time. So fast forward. Oh, the, um, so right now in the ether, I was going to ask you, I was saying Dennis, Dennis, Dinny, what is it? D N I S. How do you pronounce that? Dennis or Dinny, I assume Dennis. Dinny medical. That's on. And that's obviously, I haven't seen it, but it's probably influenced by scrubs. Maybe or just sort of happen circumstance. I think it's literally the, because it's a mockumentary. So I think it's literally someone's more like the office. What if you did the office and scrubs combined basically. Okay. And then the pit, which is very different than what you guys are doing. So it's amazing, but it's drama and it's real time and it's shot again like a documentary. Do you have a lot of deaths on the new scrubs? There is deaths. That's something we don't shy away from because again, like I said, it's a dramedy. It's a, it's a mix of, of comedy and drama. We don't want to sugarcoat what happens in a hospital. You know, that's, I like a fun hospital. Well, you're going to laugh a lot, but we don't shy away from, No, I know. I guess stuff does happen in a hospital, but scrubs doesn't, is never a downer. It's a great thing to know. It's like that it's moments, but it's overall warming. I think if you look at Ted Lasso as a comp, just because it's, it's Bill's show that sort of broke so huge, it was, it was a, it was such a hug, you know, it was, it's funny and I'm enjoying it, but it also feels very heartwarming. And I think that that's his, you know, I direct shrinking and I direct his new, he has a new show called Rooster with Steve Carell. I direct that as well. And so that's sort of his, his uvra is you're going to laugh, but also your eyes probably will well before the end of the show. Obviously all in the family, obviously, Mash, I'm just thinking of N. Seedance to this, this, that is a great, yeah. Yeah. Mash is a perfect comp. I, Bill, Bill would say it was sort of when he wrote it, it was Mash all, under years, a little bit of Ally McBeal because they were the first people to do these weird fantasy stuff, you know. Yeah. Wow. How satisfying to be, to be back. I don't know, is any show had a 16 year break and come back? I don't know, recently, Roseanne, I don't know how long they were off, but they've had a lot of stuff coming back. Yeah, that's true. They've had a lot of stuff coming back. That was sort of a different, you've got exactly, you've got all your people, which is the hardest probably part to do. Right. We got all our people, we're all friends, we all love each other. Two of the original writers are on the show. It's really, it's really, this is another funny thing. We used to shoot in an abandoned hospital and they knocked it down and made condos out of it in the years since. So we rebuilt. So you shoot in condos now? No, we rebuilt the entire hospital on stage. Oh, okay. So it's an actual soundstage. And you have our friend, Vanessa Baer. Oh my God, is she funny? You know, Vanessa is so funny. I turned to my friend and I said, you know, family matters wasn't originally about Erkel, you know, or family matters. It's about a family. And I said, Vanessa Baer is going to fucking Erkel me because every single thing she says is funny. You're Ron Howard and she's the Fonz or something? I don't know. I'm thinking of other. Yeah. That's another example. No, Michael J. Fox. Michael J. Fox with family ties. Yeah. Family ties stole it. And also Sarah Chakoo, I was joking earlier, very funny, great to work with, super fun. I had a great time with her and it was only two months, but it just looks like a good squad and that people already like, already proven people remember. It's not that long ago, so it's not like a whole different. It's not really like it. And by the way, would you guys get, let's see if you guessed right, how many single camera comedies are on broadcast TV? So how many? Not get it comes from the audience. For the audience who doesn't get that non sitcom, sitcom being in front of a live audience. How many single cameras? It seems it's shot like a movie. So say, just say three major networks doing half hour shows. I'll give you four, four broadcast networks. Four, I'm going to say, I'm going to say it's a surprising amount on the upside. Oh, on the high side? Go for it. I say six. 24. Because it sounded fun to say. He's trying to outdo your fucking real answer. I'm trying to make my story good. Thank you. You're a good host, Dana, because you're trying to help my... I think it's 50. No, it's three. Oh, it is three. Three. Like that was my second choice. I was going to say sitcom was three. No, my point is it's all moved to streaming. So there are only three. I'm not going to say this on broadcast TV anymore. Do those work on streaming or not? They do. Yeah. I mean, look at Laszlo's extreme example, but shrinking is doing extraordinarily well. I think your buddy, Maya Rudolph's show did really well. Loot. Oh, Loot. Yeah. I can't keep track of them all, but that's where they're being made. Right. And what is the cost between the two? The single camera versus the three camera stage with the audience? Well, much more expensive because a sitcom is very cheap to make. You're not bringing in the crew. Very contained. Well, you're on one stage and you don't bring in the crew until the last two days because you rehearse it without any crew. You have a lot of your sets already. You kind of rotate a few extra new ones per week. Yeah. And then you're... No weather delays. Yeah. And then you really film it one night. And then we shoot 13 hours a day for five days. Are you going to direct any of these? Oh my God. I directed the pilot. Yeah. I directed the pilot. I'm sorry. I didn't hear that. Okay. How did you find your performance in the editing bay? That would be good. When you watched Zach? It was good. I was so nervous, to be honest, because it was a lot of pressure. So when I cut it together and it worked so well, I was so relieved because... Does anyone say it's a little Zach heavy? I mean, are you going to hold that shot that long, Zach? As your friend, Bill Lawrence, I'm just asking questions. He plays nice in this story. You know, it's funny. You do find yourself sometimes when you're editing going, I like that the editor chose to end the act on me, but I have to be honest, it's better to end on John C. McGinley. So I'm going to do that. Oh, good job. Oh, okay. So the conflict of inch. I don't know what to do. He just doesn't want to get fired. He's like, we started and ended on you, sir. You're like, okay. All right. Well, Zach. Yes. I was just going to say thank you for taking time with us because it's always fun. And yeah, we're... Ever since our dinner, we didn't get to chat much. I know I haven't seen you. We had a fun dinner. We got invited into the castle. Not a lot of people have been invited to... Oh, cool. Saw inside the inner workings. We saw inside the inner workings. And that was cool. But yeah, thank you guys for having me and I really appreciate it. It's good to see you, bud. Scrubs, it's out. And I'll just give my, the specifics. It's Wednesdays at 8 on ABC and then Hulu the next day. Wednesday is 8 on ABC and Hulu the next day. Scrubs, the all-time famous... Revival. ... show, an all-time great show and now it's back. And Zach Braff, I'm going to give you with lighting 32. Thank you. I appreciate that. I'll give him with just this random lighting 35 and a half. Thank you guys. I appreciate it. With bad lighting and a tight raking shot, I'm going to give you 57. I hate those fucking bad angles. I wish I could see you. Hey guys, if you're loving this podcast, which you are, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. Give us a review, five-star rating, and maybe even share an episode that you've loved with a friend. If you're watching this episode on YouTube, please subscribe. We're on video now. FLY ON THE WALL is presented by Audicy and the executive produced by Danny Carvey and David Spade, Heather Santoro and Greg Holtzman. Mattie Sprung-Kaiser and Leah Reese-Dennis of Audicy. Our senior producer is Greg Holtzman, and the show is produced and edited by Phil Sweetek, booking by Cultivated Entertainment. Special thanks to Patrick Fogarty, Evan Cox, Mora Curran, Melissa Wester, Hillary Shuff, Eric Donnelly, Colin Gaynor, Sean Cherry, Kurt Courtney, and Lauren Vieira. Reach out with us any questions to be asked and answered on the show. We can email us at flyonthewall at audicy.com. That's a-u-d-a-c-y dot com.