Wendi McLendon-Covey is Glad She Was ‘On Call’ For ST. DENIS MEDICAL

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Veteran actress Wendi McLendon-Covey was asked if she ever considered simply having a well-deserved rest, rather than joining the cast of the new series ST. DENIS MEDICAL right on the heels of her previous long-running sitcom THE GOLDBERGS. “That never occurred to me,” she said. “When the momentum is there, you gotta keep going. I like working. I want to work until I’m in my early hundreds.” So, about 75 years from now? “Yes, best friend!” McLendon-Covey agreed excitedly. “Yes, bestie! I’m buying you a present. Pick out a colour of pony. It will be delivered. Done.” While the delivery of the pony is pending, the premiere of ST. DENIS MEDICAL takes place this Tuesday, Nov. 12, with back-to-back new episodes at 8 p.m. ET and 8:30 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca, and the CTV app. It’s a workplace comedy set at an underfunded and understaffed Oregon Hospital, with an ensemble cast that includes McLendon-Covey, Allison Tolman, and David Alan Grier, among others. Having played overbearing mom Beverly Goldberg for 10 seasons on THE GOLDBERGS, McLendon-Covey has taken on a different kind of character in ST. DENIS MEDICAL, although it’s someone who is no less intense. McLendon-Covey plays Joyce, the executive director – and a former oncologist – at St. Denis Medical Centre, who is determined to push the facility to unprecedented levels of success and notoriety, whatever that means. “Joyce thinks she has a robust personal life, but that couldn’t be further from the truth,” McLendon-Covey explained. “She is a sweetheart, although don’t touch her. She does not want a hug from you, unless you have been coated in antibacterial gel. She’s always chasing money, because she’s the hospital administrator. They always need donations. She’s always trying to cut costs, while also getting what she thinks is important into the hospital. You know, she’ll spend this much money on a grove of Japanese maples, but they’re still using Windows ’95. It’s that type of balancing act, where she’s got some really dumb ideas, but they come from a good place. She’s trying to make this a medical destination.” So she envisions a hospital that’s so wonderful, people will get sick on purpose just to go there? “Yes, just to go!” McLendon-Covey said. “For tourism. She thinks people from other countries will come there just for the birthing suites. No, they won’t! But you know, everybody’s doing their best in the age of WebMD.” Be it Beverly on THE GOLDBERGS, Joyce on ST. DENIS MEDICAL, or even going back further to Deputy Clementine Johnson on RENO 911!, McLendon-Covey is very convincing playing “all in” comedic characters. It’s kind of her specialty. “Thank you very much for saying that,” she said. “I think that might come from having worked a lot of normal jobs, so you understand that mindset of, ‘my management has given me a goal, and I had better reach it, or I don’t get a bonus, or I’m going to have to deal with a whole bunch of customer feedback that I don’t want.’ When there’s a goal, and your paycheque depends on it, and your survival depends on it, that’s a big motivation. And it makes you maybe do things that you don’t want to do. I mean, Joyce was an oncologist for a while. She went to medical school, she did her residency, she could scrub up and help out if need be. But now she’s in a position where she thought she could make a difference, and she’s just hitting her head against the wall all the time.” Wendi McLendon-Covey is certainly not hitting her head against any walls, comically speaking. She has been making people laugh for a long time, and the laughs surely will continue with ST. DENIS MEDICAL. “We had such a great thing on THE GOLDBERGS, where it really was the most supportive family that you could have, but I’m really glad that I said yes to ST. DENIS MEDICAL,” McLendon-Covey said. “Not only because everyone has been so lovely as human beings, but they’re also so damn funny that it keeps you on your toes. It reinvigorates you. And it makes you feel like, ‘yes! Everyone who told me I couldn’t do this can suck it! I am making money in comedy. I am making a living. I’m adulting in comedy.’ ” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv