When Allison Tolman received the script for St. Denis Medical, she hadn’t planned on doing a network sitcom — but life had other plans.
“It just sort of seemed like too big a coincidence that it was a script about hospitals and caregivers and was a sitcom, which is sort of what kept my mom and I afloat during the time when [my dad] was in the hospital,” Tolman says. “It was just kismet.”
The Emmy-nominated actress spoke with Awards Focus about the emotional timing of the project, her love of mockumentary-style comedy, studying improv at The Second City Training Center, and how the cast of ‘St. Denis Medical’ bonded instantly — no chemistry reads required.’
Created by Eric Ledgin and Justin Spitzer, ‘St. Denis Medical’ is a mockumentary centered on a stretched-thin Oregon hospital, where dedicated staff balance patient care with everyday mayhem. The cast also includes Wendi McLendon-Covey, David Alan Grier, Josh Lawson, Kahyun Kim, Mekki Leeper and Kaliko Kauahi.
Season 1 of ‘St. Denis Medical’ is currently available to stream on Peacock. Season 2 is currently in production.
It’s so nice to meet you today. How are you doing?
Allison Tolman: I’m doing well. Yeah, I’m a little hairy. We go back to shooting on Friday, so just trying to do last-minute things.
What was it about the script for St. Denis Medical that drew you to the character?
Tolman: I’ve always really liked this style of comedy. I’ve always really liked mockumentaries and enjoyed watching them ever since I was a kid, watching Christopher Guest movies. Obviously, I always wanted to do it because I think it’s a great challenge for someone who’s got comedy training, but also some dramatic training—sort of marriage of the two of them because you have to be really grounded. Honestly, I didn’t really imagine myself doing a network sitcom. That certainly wasn’t in my plan, but plans are made to be broken.
The script came along and my father had been in the hospital for a while. It was sort of longest time that I spent in that world. At the time, I was in Texas with my family. My mom would come home at night and all she really had the bandwidth for was the sitcom in the evening. That’s all she could really watch.
We watched a lot of sitcoms and then my dad got better and he just came home from the hospital. I went back to California and the script came along. It just sort of seemed like too big a coincidence that it was a script about hospitals and caregivers and was a sitcom, which is sort of what kept my mom and I afloat during the time when he was in the hospital. It was just kismet. I loved the character. I loved the style, thought the jokes were funny. I met with the guys and I loved them, too. That was kind of it.
What do you typically look for in a character when you’re reading a screenplay?
Tolman: Oh, let’s see. Well, I think for me, in female characters, I really—even just reading characters that I’m not auditioning for—I like characters that are not based upon the men in the story. That it’s not this person’s entire personality is that they’re this person’s assistant or this person’s wife or girlfriend or whatever, so that’s really important to me.
Alex is sort of her own entity and her own person. She’s not just the wife or the girlfriend. And yeah, I think any actor looks for some complexity, the little ways into the psyche that Alex is really good at what she does, but she also lacks some self-awareness, and she’s also kind of a pain in the ass sometimes. That’s really fun stuff to play with, especially in the world of the comedy.
What did you bring to the character of Alex that wasn’t on the page?
Tolman: I think that the strongest addition that I’ve made to this already really well-crafted character is that when I translate the script to the actual scene work, I add a lot of pauses, ands, and ums in my vocal patterns, which I think is especially helpful when you’re doing a mockumentary that really needs to feel really grounded, really real, and unrehearsed. These characters need to feel like they’re actually saying these things on the fly.
The natural way that I tend to improvise and that I tend to make lines my own—I don’t usually stick letter perfect to a script. I really tend to say the words in a way that feels good in my mouth and feels like it makes sense in the rhythm of the way that I speak. I think that that’s been really beneficial for Alex and the way that she comes across on camera.
What’s it been like getting to work with Eric, Justin, and this cast?
Tolman: It’s awesome. Eric and Justin are legends in this arena with the succumbs that they’ve made. It makes you feel like you’re in really safe hands and quite frankly advise you a lot of good grace from the network and the viewers. They come to your show already knowing that they have some trust established with the creators, which is really helpful, I found. They’re creative, wonderful, and delightful to be around but they also have this clout that’s really helpful for us as creatives.
The cast is incredible. We always remarked that it’s insane that we never did chemistry reads. We just all met at the table read for the first time. None of us knew each other and we really did just get on like a house on fire. We really enjoy each other. The more you watch of the season, I think the more evidence to come of how much fun we’re having together.
How much fun was it to film the lip-sync episode?
Tolman: Oh, so much fun. I loved it. It felt like our own little musical episode. Of course, I kept thinking of the classic ‘Office’ episodes with their wonderful lip-sync that they do, and also, just all of the great lip-sync videos that just exist out there on the Internet. It was kind of fun to partake in our own little piece of that. It was a Xmas episode, which only made it more joyful, which was really—we shot it in June so that was a good day at work, for sure.
Having come up through Second City, is there an improv instructor that has had the most meaningful impact on your life?
Tolman: Wow, what a great question. I’m going to be honest and say, no, I don’t think so. My overall experience with Second City was solidified by my fellow students there. I went through the Conservatory program there, which means I had a different instructor every few months. If I had stayed on the Second City track and I had auditioned for teams and I had been on the track to try to be on the Mainstage, I’m sure I would have established those relationships with those instructors.
But I didn’t. I left the program and started doing my own thing. I didn’t really want to follow that path. I really wanted to be on their Mainstage. That would have been a dream, but the way that the school works and the system that you have to go through, I felt like I was a little bit too old for that.
I had a job, I had health insurance, and I didn’t want to leave those things to go on tour. I had done that in my 20s and I didn’t want to do it in my 30s.
When I think of Second City, I think of the friends that I made there and the performers that I met there, the people that I’m still in touch with, that I made comedy within the years after Second City as well.
Yeah. I was looking at your Wikipedia page and saw where you had moved here in 2009 and that was when I was living in Chicago during my first go-around. I was like, how have we not crossed paths with each other?
Tolman: (Laughs) Yeah, that’s funny. You’re there now?
Yeah, I moved here for improv and weirdly became a film critic along the way. I moved back in early 2016, because coming out as trans in a small religious community is just not a realistic option.
Tolman: Yeah, that doesn’t sound great. (Laughs). Yeah. Chicago is such a great place to land, though, I think, for any artist. I love Chicago. I would have stayed in Chicago if I could have. But after ‘Fargo,’ it seems like LA was the place to be, and that I needed to follow that train a little bit longer. But Chicago’s still my absolute favorite city.
What’s the biggest lesson that you learned during classes and has stayed with you throughout year career?
Tolman: I think the crux of any improv training and certainly the improv training that I received at Second City is—for me—teaching you to just be brave and just move, just do the thing. That has been the greatest acting lesson I think that I’ve ever received as well. The best acting training I’ve ever had has been of improv courses because it’s nothing but a gift for an actor to get out of your head and to be in your body and be in the moment. It makes you a better scene partner. It makes you more creative. It makes you better at improvising within the framework of a scene. It just makes it more real. When I think back on the improv training that I got at Second City, that is really the crux of it. The thing that I use every single day is the part of improv training that helps you just get out of your head and into the moment.
A lot of series are lucky to finish out their first season. How relieving was it to know that you have job security with the show being renewed for a second season?
Tolman: Oh boy, Danielle, I can’t even tell you. Especially right now in our industry and in Los Angeles. The town is so depressed. It’s having such a hard time from the strikes, from the fires. It’s really kind of difficult to express the level of relief that I had when the show was picked up for a second season.
Also, there’s this sort of survivor’s remorse where we’re the only people getting good news in a town at a really bad time. It’s very strange to be one of the only shows shooting here, to be kind of on our own personal little roller-coaster ride and to know that so many people in our industry are hurting right now. It’s really hard.
With NBC getting another day of sports, that’s less room for scripted or even unscripted programming being shot in LA or wherever.
Tolman: Yeah. It’s a scary time, I think, in the entertainment industry everywhere. There’s a lot of unknowns and there’s a lot of big moves happening that affect a lot of people. It’s really scary.
I watched you on ‘Fargo,’ which feels like forever ago.
Tolman: Yeah, it was a long time ago.
Of course, when I see Second City in someone’s background, I’m like, I’ve got to put in a request for an interview.
Tolman: I’m so glad you did. I know—it’s such a good company to be in. I always feel sheepish telling people I really only studied there. I never made it to the main stage. I never performed there. But it’s an honor that I’m really pleased to be able to claim because it’s earned its reputation.
Yeah, I’m the same way. When I moved here, I had never taken that acting class during college because I was between politics and comedy for a career during the entire time I was in college. I met with Aaron Sjöholm (of blessed memory) at The Second City Training Center and then met with Norm. I took Acting 1 and 2, and then Improv for Actors 1 and 2. In September 2009, I auditioned for the conservatory, didn’t get in, and that was also when my parents were giving me that ultimatum because I moved here in 2008 as the economy was crashing.
Tolman: (Laughs) Yeah, that ultimatum makes sense. I get that. I know I had Norm. I think it was just for a half a semester. I remember that I had to take a precursor class, maybe I had to take Improv for Actors or something before I could even audition for the conservatory. I was like, I have a BFA. I don’t understand. But I had to take a precursor class. I’m remembering that now, and I think it was with Norm. I had Gellman for a couple semesters, and I had Anne Libera. I think Norm was maybe my first teacher over there, my first one.
Yeah, I had Norm Holly for IFA 1 and then Tim O’Malley for IFA 2.
Tolman: Yeah, I like Tim. Yeah, Tim is great. I feel like I had Tim at some point in time too, but that’s too many semesters, so I don’t know. (Laughs) Maybe I just knew him from around?
Well, take care and have a good one.
Tolman: I will. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.