HEADLINE: John C. McGinley discusses his role on the NBC sitcom "Scrubs"

ANCHORS: KATIE COURIC

BODY:
KATIE COURIC, co-host:

With more than 60 feature films to his name,--get your hand out of my shot--including last week's number one movie, "Identity," John C. McGinley can also add TV doctor to his resume. He's wrapping up his second season as the gruff but tender-hearted Dr. Perry Cox on the NBC's hit sitcom "Scrubs."

(Clip from "Scrubs")

COURIC: John C. McGinley, good morning. So nice to meet you.

Mr. JOHN C. McGINLEY ("Scrubs"): Good morning. Can I wish my mother a happy 21st birthday?

COURIC: Absolutely. It's her birthday today?

Mr. McGINLEY: Happy birthday, mom. I love you.

COURIC: Oh, that's very sweet. Well, tell me, things are going really well for you. "Scrubs" is a big hit.

Mr. McGINLEY: Yeah. We...

COURIC: Second season just completed, right? You just wrapped, as you say in the biz.

Mr. McGINLEY: Yeah, we finished--we just finished a couple of weeks ago. Then come to find out, Monday morning, "Identity," which is a thriller I'm in with Johnny Cusack and Ray Liotta, opened up number one. And so Monday morning, it was number one at the box office and we finished the season top 10 on TV. So I know that's all superfluous and superficial stuff, but you know what? It felt kind of good.

COURIC: That's OK. Enjoy it, why not, right?

Mr. McGINLEY: Pretty good.

COURIC: So let's talk about "Scrubs" first. Lame question but I'm going to ask it anyway. Why do you think it's such a hit? What is it about the show that makes it work so well?

Mr. McGINLEY: Because it aspires to be as subversive as "M*A*S*H," and we all know what it's like to be in a hospital, even if we only had a broken arm or a cut. So vicariously, everybody can get involved in just how insane it is to actually be in a hospital. And so...

COURIC: It's also very quirky, don't you think, and a little bit unconventional?

Mr. McGINLEY: Yeah, But also, I think, we're ad--in retrospect, if we go to the hospital and we--and we retell the story, and at some point or another, you always go, 'Boy, if we didn't laugh, we'd have dropped.' And that's where the show lives, right in there.

COURIC: Right in that sort of fine line...

Mr. McGINLEY: Uh-huh.

COURIC: ...between laughter and despair?

Mr. McGINLEY: Yeah, because it's a big deal--big deal going to the hospital.

COURIC: Tell me a little bit about your character. I know he's described often as gruff. But is--is that an appropriate adjective? Would you say obnoxious, what?

Mr. McGINLEY: I wanted to--I wanted to borrow from the archetype of Lou Grant in "Mary Tyler Moore," which is aiming pretty high. So it's the boss who--who's going to ride you hard, but then in the bottom of the ninth when you're really down, he can take you in the back room if you're Mary and maybe give you a hug, only if you don't tell anybody about it. And if you do, he'll deny it. And so I wanted to borrow from--from Ed Asner, and so I did.

COURIC: How are you enjoying doing a sitcom? As I mentioned, 60 feature films. Of course, you have a very familiar face to a lot of people, and a lot of people have seen your work on the big screen. And I'm just curious if you feel very comfortable in a sitcom, and would you like to stay there? I mean, which do you prefer?

Mr. McGINLEY: The big bonus is being able to be near my son Max, who was born with Down syndrome five years ago. And so the gypsy's bargain for actors, unfortunately, is to go up to Vancouver or to go down to Mexico for four or five months. And it stops making sense once you're lucky enough to have a child. And so I get to be near Maxey all the time.

COURIC: And I know you're--and I know you are a very, very devoted father and absolutely passionate about your son.

Mr. McGINLEY: Well, if you ever got a load of Max, he profoundly disrupts a room in a magical way when he comes in. He's just this--he's pure love and so I've got to be around him.

COURIC: And I know that you're involved in something called a Buddy Walk?

Mr. McGINLEY: Buddy Walk is a day of inclusion and empowerment that the National Down Syndrome Society does, usually in October, because that's Down Syndrome Awareness Month. And it's a day where a lot of times when you're born--when a family has a child with special needs, it just--it couldn't be more alienating and disorienting. And so it's a day that families get to come out and realize that they're not from Mars, and guess what, everything's going to be OK. And there's some vitamin protocols that maybe might help you. And you find out that iron's not necessarily good for kids with Down syndrome, they can't assimilate it. And it's a day of inclusion and love.

COURIC: How has having a Down syndrome child changed you as--as a person?

Mr. McGINLEY: I--I thought I was keenly aware of what love was, and then Max came along and redefined the whole thing.

COURIC: It must be very challenging, though, on a regular basis. And it must have taken a period of adjustment for you?

Mr. McGINLEY: Well, you blame yourself for just with everything. Surely, you take it on, and you say, 'woe is me,' and then you see this beautiful little miracle in the neonatal intensive care unit looking up at you, going like, 'Once you're over yourself, could you help me for a second?' And you start to give. And that's where the transition is. And then it's like love, love, love.

COURIC: I know that just getting back to "Scrubs" for a moment, because I know that tonight's episode is sort of a compilation...

Mr. McGINLEY: Right.

COURIC: ...of kind of your finest moments, I guess you could call it.

Mr. McGINLEY: Yes.

COURIC: Could you set up this clip for us that we have?

Mr. McGINLEY: For some reason, I started cross-gendering the kid who works for me and--in the context of the show, the intern. And almost like Johnny Cash in "A Boy Named Sue," just giving him tough love by calling him girls' names all the time.

COURIC: All right. Well, with that set-up, let's take a look.

Mr. McGINLEY: How gentle was that?

COURIC: Let's take a look.

(Clip from "Scrubs")

COURIC: Well, anyway, you've got a lot of fans here on the show. John C. McGinley, very nice to meet you.

Mr. McGINLEY: Nice to meet you.

COURIC: Good luck with everything and congratulations on all your success.

Mr. McGINLEY: Thank you. Good luck with "The Tonight Show."

COURIC: Don't bring that up. It starts to make schvitz, you know what I'm saying?

Mr. McGINLEY: Yes, I do. You could almost...(unintelligible).

COURIC: Yeah, a little bit.

You can catch the episode of--special episode of "Scrubs" tonight after "Will & Grace" at 9:45, 8:45 Central time, right here on NBC.

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