There are some truly great sitcoms on TV right now, and St. Denis Medical has got to be one of the best. Despite the show being set in a hospital, it consistently elicits loud bursts of laughter, and I knew immediately I’d be tuning in every week. With such a talented cast and quick, smart jokes, I have no idea how the actors keep a straight face. So we asked them what does make them break character during filming, and they had some excellent responses.
St. Denis Medical’s second season hit the 2025 TV schedule in early November with no sophomore slump in sight. In fact, Wendi McLendon-Covey, David Alan Grier and company delivered possibly the funniest episode yet in that double premiere. While I doubled over with laughter at Ron’s scream (then rewound it and laughed all over again), it was a different character who was name-dropped by Mekki Leeper, who plays registered nurse Matt. Leeper told CinemaBlend:
Chaplain Steve, like, there always are these scenes with him and Matt where they’re kind of going at each other, and when Steven’s close to my face — he always ends up doing bits where he, like, gets in my face — I cannot hold it together. I don’t know what it is. I think in general, really, I break the most when I’m working with him.
Well nobody’s going to argue how hard it would be to have Stephen Schneider in your face like that — “Like an angry whisper,” Kaliko Kauahi added.
Wendi McLendon-Covey, meanwhile, may be (mostly) holding things together at the hospital as Joyce, but even this comedy veteran has an Achilles heel when it comes to breaking on set. So what is it that makes her lose her composure?
Mekki saying anything.
That’s honestly high praise for the actor playing Matt, and it’s completely warranted. Matt’s naivety, stemming from an ultra-religious background, never gets old and plays so well off of Joyce’s enthusiasm and Bruce’s (Josh Lawson) cockiness.
Meanwhile, Kahyun Kim, aka travel nurse Serena, gave The Groundlings alum and Bridesmaids star her flowers as the one who can make her crack up during a scene, saying:
I think for me, it’s Wendi. The buttons that Wendi does are so amazing. It’s pretty mind-blowing.
Not everyone on the St. Denis Medical cast copped to breaking, though, as Allison Tolman and Kaliko Kauahi said they’re pretty good at staying straight-faced amidst the absurdity. In their words:
- Allison Tolman: I don’t break a lot. [To Kauahi] You’re not a big breaker.
- Kaliko Kauahi: No, no. I don’t want to be the one to, like, blow the take. So I hang on.
- Tolman: I will break if something funny is happening right off-camera, and I want everyone in the room to know about it, that’s when I’m like, ‘Guys, wait. I mean, y’all! Look around, quick!’
- Mekki Leeper: You will laugh at a take falling apart.
- Tolman: I will, yes. If it’s already in the ground, and I’m like, ‘What are we doing? Why are we rolling?’
Given how serious Kaliko Kauahi plays her character Val — who became an instant favorite for her deadpan delivery and her no-nonsense work style — maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that she’s so good at staving off the giggles.
I’m just glad I’m on the other side of the screen and don’t have to try to hold in my laughter, because I would be failing big time. Catch new episodes of St. Denis Medical at 8 p.m. ET Mondays on NBC and streaming the next day with a Peacock subscription.