The emergency room is a place that no one wants to find themselves in, yet it has become a gag-filled location for some all-time great comedies. From M*A*S*H to Scrubs and every operating table in between, the irreverent medical dramedy has become a mainstay of the television comedy world.
Scrubs, which you can now binge every episode of on Stan, is a perfect example of why they succeed.
Set in the fictional Sacred Heart Hospital, Scrubs has been praised for its fast-paced slapstick and often surreal forays into the bizarre – mainly due to the over-active imagination of its protagonist, the newly minted Dr. John “J.D.” Dorian, played by Zach Braff.
Scrubs shows how a disparate bunch of trainee doctors and surgeons unwind and keep it light, no matter how tough their average day interning at the hospital is. And the pressures of saving lives means they unwind big time, so the show wrings out the emotions while cranking up the gag rate. The characters laugh in the face of death, and the audience can’t help but join them.
Greatly aided by Braff’s supporting cast including Roseanne star Sarah Chalke as fellow intern Elliot Reid, and Donald Faison (Clueless) as J.D.’s best friend Chris Turk. Ken Jenkins, Scrubs MVP John C. McGinley, and Judy Reyes make up the doctors and nurse who have the tough task of reining in the cocky newbies.
There’s plenty of precedent for the medical comedy, and there have been imitators since. The Good Place star Ted Danson followed Cheers with Becker, a sitcom about a gruff doctor who hated his patients; the recent, ill-fated Dr. Ken starred real-life doctor turned comedian Ken Jeong, who plays a doctor with a questionable bedside manner.
Even House, starring Hugh Laurie threw in a snarky gag or two in between saving lives.
But before all those, M*A*S*H was the show that took the sitcom formula and gave it a political conscience. Set during the Korean War in the 50s, M*A*S*H follows a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Uijeongbu, South Korea.
With a stellar cast led by Alan Alda as wise-cracking pacifist Hawkeye Pierce, the show was dripping with pathos as the medics tried to put on a brave face while they picked up the pieces, quite literally, of man’s brutality against man.
A sitcom but also a stealthy anti-war diatribe, taking its stance from Robert Altman’s film M.A.S.H., the show stood out amongst other TV shows of the time.
Through the upheaval surrounding the Vietnam War, the world – and especially the Americans – needed a laugh, but also needed to be reminded of the horrors of war. Critical of US war policy, Hawkeye, BJ and Trapper stuck it to the man, martinis in hand.
This anti-authoritarian attitude, albeit in a more flippant tone, paved the way for Scrubs’ interns as they… erm, scrubbed up.
And they proved that when we can laugh at ourselves when we are at our most vulnerable, and at the reality of death and grief, it helps the medicine go down a little easier.