Wendi McLendon-Covey on the Mockumentary Style of St. Denis Medical

Wendi McLendon-Covey sat down to talk about her current mockumentary sitcome series St. Denis Medical and her character Joyce. After several seasons on The Goldbergs she was looking for something completely different that would challenge her in new ways. On the same day she found out The Goldbergs was ending, she received a script for St Denis Medical, and the rest is history. She was immediately enamored by the writing and Joyce being someone who constantly strives for perfection at work. She spoke about how Joyce has very little in her home life and as a result everything in the workplace means even more to her. Some of the details which reflect this include small instances such as how she doesn’t have real plants in her office because she would never be able to keep them alive.

She felt that part of what makes the show really shine and work so cohesively is the fact that it’s a group of characters who want to succeed and do well, even if they trip along the way to the finish line at times. For Joyce, one of the hardest things for her is accepting that she needs the people around her, but Wendi wanted to find the small ways in which she starts the learn the importance of relying on others.

Given the shows format as a mockumentary style sitcom it also added the opportunity to have Joyce talking directly to camera, breaking the fourth wall, and to see who she is in these instances. Overall she found the writing and the scripts really guided so much of the arc for her in finding how to play it across the season.

Watch the full conversation below:

Q&A on the series St. Denis Medical with actor Wendi McLendon-Covey. Moderated by Mara Webster, In Creative Company.

It follows an underfunded, understaffed hospital where the doctors and nurses try their best to treat patients while maintaining their own sanity.