Wendi McLendon-Covey. Photo:
ben cope
“Boys don’t know what this is,” says the actress, who stars in the new NBC sitcom
Wendi McLendon-Covey had a hilarious experience while filming her new TV show St. Denis Medical.
The actress, 55, who stars in the new NBC sitcom, tells us that she and the cast could not stop laughing while they filmed a scene where McLendon-Covey’s character, Joyce, has to get a mammogram.
“You know how you get when you’re not supposed to laugh, and then you do laugh and you can’t stop?” McLendon-Covey says. “It was my character [who] just could not keep her top on. She was just so free and feeling so amazing about getting this mammogram on camera.”
“And mammograms aren’t fun,” the actress adds. “It actually feels like your boobs are in a guillotine. And my character, she’s got one boob stuck in the machine and the other one she’s trying to hit the pedal to lift up the machine. It was chaotic and stupid and I couldn’t stop laughing.”
St. Denis Medical, a workplace mockumentary co-created by Eric Ledgin and Justin Spitzer, follows the staff of the fictional Oregon hospital, St. Denis Medical. McLendon-Covey says that the mammogram scene was particularly educational for certain members of the cast and crew.
Wendi McLendon-Covey as Joyce in ‘St. Denis Medical’.
Ron Batzdorff/NBC
“Boys don’t know what this is,” McLendon-Covey says. “I mean, you show them the machine and they’re like, ‘What?’”
Last time I couldn’t stop laughing
On St. Denis, we were filming something where my character gets a mammogram, and we just got the church giggles. It was very eye-opening for all the males in the cast.
Last gift I gave
We threw an 80th birthday party for my dad. He didn’t know who was invited, so my husband [producer Greg Covey] and I flew out relatives he hadn’t seen in 25 years. It was the best gift ever.
Last time I felt like a kid
Last Christmas, because I love to decorate. We really went bananas and overdid it. I am a lights person. They always make me happy.
Last vice
In Paris for the Olympics, I had champagne with lots of desserts. There were macarons as far as the eye could see.
Last thing I learned about myself
I have to go to sleep with the TV on. A comfort show, like The Golden Girls or Cheers or Seinfeld. Those characters feel like old friends. Just Bea Arthur’s dulcet tone.
St. Denis Medical airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on NBC.
