Wendi McLendon-Covey followed up her ten-season role on ‘The Goldbergs’ by joining the cast of the new NBC mockumentary comedy ‘St. Denis Medical.’ She now stars as Joyce, the hospital’s ambitious — and delightfully offbeat — executive director.
“I got the script for this four hours after ‘The Goldbergs’ was canceled,” McLendon told Awards Focus about receiving the pilot script in 2023. “I was having a very weepy day, this came in and my agent said, Well, you might want to take some time off or whatever, but this came in for you and you should probably just read it. I said, Okay, I’ll read it.”
In addition to her work on the series — including a show-stopping lip-sync scene in a holiday episode — the actress opens up about her background in improv. She reflects on two instructors who had the most meaningful impact on her career, along with the biggest lesson that’s stayed with her. McLendon-Covey also shares how she decides which films to take on during a show’s hiatus. One such project was ‘Blush,’ which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival under the title ‘Imaginary Order.’
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 David Alan Grier, Allison Tolman, 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.
Awards Focus: It’s so nice to meet you today. How are you doing?
Wendi McLendon-Covey: I’m doing okay. I’m doing okay. Where are you? Are you in L.A.?
AF: No, I am in Chicago, the Mecca for improv.
McLendon-Covey: (Laughs) Yes, you are. That is the Mecca, isn’t it? Yep.
AF: Yup. What was it about the script for ‘St. Denis Medical’ that drew you to the character?
McLendon-Covey: Well, I don’t know how much you know about this situation, Danielle. I got the script for this four hours after ‘The Goldbergs’ was canceled. I was having a very weepy day and this came in and my agent said, Well, you might want to take some time off or whatever, but this came in for you and you should probably just read it. I said, Okay, I’ll read it.
But while I was reading it, it struck me all the similarities that Joyce has to a couple of women that I worked for in the past when I was working normal jobs. She seemed like such an oddball that I found her irresistible and I was like, yeah, I think I could do something with this and it’s just a pilot, so why don’t I just do it? It’s not like I said yes right away, but I was considering it, and I wanted to talk to everybody.
I found out David Alan Grier was gonna do it, so I said, yes, I’ll do it. I’ll play a trash can to work with David! That’s what brought me in was Joyce’s—well, the fact that she’s an oddball and the fact that I understand what it means to have an occupation where you’re trying to make something happen that’s never gonna happen. In her case, it’s we’re gonna make this rural hospital a destination medical property. I’ve had to do similar impossible things in other jobs, so I thought, well, I think I could bring some truth to this.
AF: What do you typically look for in a character when you’re reading a screenplay?
McLendon-Covey: I look for some kind of vulnerability that makes it comical. I look for some sort of struggle that makes you want to get on board with that person. So, in other words, it’s not interesting to me to just play a character who facilitates nothing. They have to have some sort of inner strength or some kind of battle that they’re fighting. It’s going to make them unlikable sometimes, but that’s what I like, is walking that line between vulnerable and strong, or likable and unlikable. I think Joyce perfectly straddles that line of likable and unlikable.
AF: Was there anything in particular that you brought to the character of Joyce that wasn’t on the page?
McLendon-Covey: Yeah, I, I brought a physicality to Joyce that absolutely wasn’t there. But I do remember, again, working for these women, how they would try to jolly you into being less upset or try to, Hey, everybody, I’m just like you. I’m working just as hard as you. It’s very hokey, but people do it. I also bring like that false confidence that masks the fact that you are just about to explode like a volcano underneath, but you’re never going to admit that you’re wrong about anything.
AF: You had come off of a lengthy run as Beverly Goldberg in ‘The Goldbergs’ entering the double strikes of 2023. If I recall, the finale aired right as the Writers Strike was starting and then the SAG-AFTRA Strike started a few months after that. Were you looking to immediately get back to work after the show and strikes ended?
McLendon-Covey: We knew a strike was brewing, but we didn’t realize—and how could you realize—that it was going to go on for as long as it did.
We filmed this pilot right under the wire of the strikes. I thought, Well, look, it’s just a pilot at this stage, so I might as well do it. Most pilots don’t even get picked up, so let’s see what happens. We got picked up, again, right before the strikes, and then we were off for a year. If you watch the episodes between our pilot and episode two, we look like different people. (Laughs)
That was a little dicey, but in the end, it made me really happy that I did say yes to the pilot because I got time off, which I needed. Time off for not a great reason, but I still got it. I got to clean out some closets, and then I had a nice job to go to after the strikes.
It all worked out, but hey, you sure didn’t know that going in that’s what was gonna happen.
AF: What’s it been like getting to work with Eric, Justin, and this cast?
McLendon-Covey: It’s been such a pleasure. One reason is because Eric and Justin really like to go home at night. They love their families and want to be with them so we also get to go home at night, which is great.
I don’t think we’ve ever worked past 12 hours. We’ve never had a Fraturday, which means you go all Friday night into Saturday morning and it screws your whole weekend up. We’ve never done one of those.
It’s been so lovely, and I don’t want to say stress-free, but a lot of that stress that I had on The Goldbergs is not here, schedule-wise. But they’re lovely, they’re collaborative, they listen and they want you to have a good experience so that’s great.
AF: How much room is there for improv on a show of this nature?
McLendon-Covey: Well, there is room for it, and they do let us do it. I try to make sure that we have gotten it scripted first before I ask to try something.
There have been a couple of times when I just can’t help myself and I throw it out before asking, but that doesn’t happen very often.
Yeah, so there is room for improv and they leave it in a lot of times. But also, I have to say, the nature of this show, we do have a lot of technical stuff we’ve got to get out there. It becomes very obvious when it’s okay to improv and when you should just stick to the script and keep it moving.
AF: How much fun was it getting to film the lip-sync scene?
McLendon-Covey: (Laughs) That was so much fun. I actually got kind of teary eyed when we did it because our background, they really bring it in that episode. All our amazing background that we adore, who are family and you see them in every episode. They’re very, very important to to our show. But I mean, they danced, they sang. They were game for anything.
I got so choked up when I saw them do the run-through for the first time because it’s like, Oh my G-d, I don’t know what else we could ask of anybody. That was perfect. I love them. I love them.
But yes, that lip-syncing was very fun because I watch quite a few TikToks and I am surprised at how many of them take place in medical settings. (Laughs) You guys are having a slow day? What are you doing over there?
I love that episode because Joyce is very singularly focused on making this hospital go viral for some reason. It was a fun, fun holiday thing to do.
AF: How many takes did you need to get it right?
McLendon-Covey: Well, because it was done in a single shot, for the most part, it took a while. It took a while. But again, because it was so fun and every time we did it, I would discover something new happening around me. It made it go by fast and even though I was huffing and puffing, it was still so much fun. Definitely a surprise for a show like ours.
AF: Since you came up through The Groundlings, is there an improv instructor that has had the most meaningful impact on your life?
McLendon-Covey: Oh, gosh. Yeah, definitely. I would say there’s two that really kept me going.
One of them, Jennifer Joyce, was my instructor for Intermediate and she gave me such compliments at the end. I didn’t know if this woman liked me or not, but at our exit interview—before you change levels—she gave me such sweet compliments that it carried me through the next decade. I was like, if she thinks I’m good, then I must have something going on because she doesn’t have to give compliments at all.
Another instructor named Karen Maruyama, who was very tough on us, but it was out of love and she made us better improvisers and better actors so I kind of respect that. I know that right now—especially in acting schools and whatever—people don’t want to hear criticisms, but if you don’t get honest feedback, you’re not going to get better and it has to hurt a little bit. I am grateful for my instructors that didn’t pull any punches with me.
AF: Is there a lesson that’s stayed with you?
McLendon-Covey: Yes. That you have to listen. If you want to be good at anything, literally anything, you have to shut up and listen. Because you can’t strategize unless you know all the information. So let people talk and that is a good lesson for just about everything.
AF: I’m curious, having attended one of the world premiere screenings of ‘Blush’ at Sundance, back when it was titled ‘Imaginary Order,’ how do you decide—
McLendon-Covey: You saw that?
AF: Yeah. In fact, I believe you either retweeted or quote tweeted my review.
McLendon-Covey: Whoa! We were young then, Danielle. That was so long ago. Oh, I love that you saw that. Okay.
AF: Yeah. Pre-pandemic days.
McLendon-Covey: Yeah. The before times.
AF: I’m curious how do you decide on which projects to tackle during the hiatus?
McLendon-Covey: I just want to play characters I’ve never played before, and I want to tell good stories. So honestly, I haven’t gotten a good movie script in a long time. I’m not saying they’re not being written, I’m just saying they haven’t come my way. So yeah, that’s one thing is I don’t want to repeat myself with characters so I look for things that move me story-wise and that move me character-wise that I think I could bring something to.
Initially in ‘Imaginary Order,’ I was hired to play the sister character who goes off to get a boob job after her husband dies, comes back and her cat’s been killed. That was my original role.
The lead dropped out, things were shuffled around, and it came to me. I actually contacted the director because I had done movies back-to-back in Atlanta that year, and I was tired. I said, Hey, if you want to recast me, it’s totally fine. If you want to fire me, it’s totally fine. You have my blessing. She’s like, What? Why would you say such a thing? I was like, Because I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t know, Deb. But she had faith in me and the movie came out and I think I did okay.
But did I answer your question? I sort of went off on a tangent there.
AF: Yeah, I think so. A lot of series are lucky to finish out their first season. How relieving was it to know that you have job security with ‘St. Denis Medical’ being renewed for a second season?
McLendon-Covey: Oh, believe me, we all know how lucky we are. We all know how lucky we are. Times being what they are, it’s incredible that we got picked up at all, and it’s incredible that we got 18 episodes. So believe me, none of us are taking this for granted. We are all just gonna keep our heads down, keep working and be grateful every single day because all of us—we know people that have been out of work for a couple of years. It feels like it’s picking up again. I hope I’m right about that, but we’re very, very lucky. We know that.
AF: ‘Bridesmaids’ is one of my favorite comedies of all time. It’s hysterical–that one scene [at the bridal shop] never gets old.
McLendon-Covey: Oh, well, I love hearing that. I haven’t spoken to Paul [Feig] since—I feel like we did a podcast. We were both on a podcast during the shutdown or something like that. I just sort of follow him through the airwaves and I’m always excited when he comes out with something new. He’s a good guy.
AF: Yeah. He’s one of the nicest people I know in the industry.
McLendon-Covey: He really is. He really is. And he loves actors.
AF: Well, it was so nice getting a chance to talk with you this morning and I look forward to watching the second season.
McLendon-Covey: Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.