Liz OhanesianMedical drama spoof Childrens Hospital began its third season last night on Adult Swim. To commemorate the event, Rob Corddry, who plays healing clown Dr. Blake Downs (or, more precisely, who plays actor Cutter Spindell playing Dr. Blake Downs) took to Twitter. Corddry tweeted commentary and answered fan questions during both the Eastern and Pacific midnight broadcasts of the episode. He pointed out cameos from House's Lisa Edelstein and The Mighty Boosh's Rich Fulcher, answered questions about his favorite Built to Spill album and pointed out references to the 1998 German film Run Lola Run.
Last night's episode, “Run, Dr. Lola Sprat, Run,” was possibly the strangest episode of Corddry's comedy that we seen yet. A hospital with no doctors on Saturday, a clown caught in a Tron world and a kid trapped in quick sand were just a few of the wild antics from the premiere.
For a show that balks at continuity, though, Childrens Hospital provided a treat for regular viewers. The premiere featured opening credits, introducing people to Cutter Spindell as Dr. Blake Downs and Lady Jane Bentick-Smith as Chief (Megan Mullally) in a fashion fit for a major network drama. It's also a direct reference to the episode “End of the Middle,” which revolves around a news special surrounding the “final episode” of the series.
“That is a direct reference to the characters that play,” says Corddry, who we spoke with by phone prior to the premiere.
It also was just intended for the first episode of the season, Corddry told us.
As Childrens Hospital fans know well, the show's major point of reference is Grey's Anatomy. Last night's episode was no exception. The story revolved around a boy who was trapped in quicksand after trying to impress two girls.
When we spoke with Corddry, he said that the storyline was inspired by an episode of Grey's Anatomy where a boy was trapped in “cement that was quickly hardening.”
He came up with the idea to spoof that episode (actually a two-parter called “Freedom”) last season. Initially, though, the concept was intended to involve flagpoles.
“Grey's Anatomy did a flagpole show,” Corddry later learned.
But Corddry wasn't one to let a jab at the long-running medical melodrama slide on his self-proclaimed “delicious gobstopper of a comedy.”
There is, however, one nod to the ABC show that you won't see on Childrens Hospital. That's a musical episode.
“I don't know why people do that,” says Corddry. “I really don't.”
Corddry adds, there are people “begging me to do a musical episode.”
“Ken Marino can't stop singing,” he adds, referencing his co-star, who plays Dr. Glenn Richie.
His answer to the requests is a resounding, “Never.”
Corddry isn't even into karaoke. He said he's done it once or twice. He might be tempted to do it again, if there's a karaoke bar with the Barbara Streisand/Barry Gibb duets “Guilty” and “What Kind of Fool.”
“So I could play both parts,” he adds.
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