‘St. Denis Medical’ Team on How Great Jokes Beget More Great Jokes in NBC’s Smart, Layered Sitcom
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- David Alan Grier and Josh Lawson filmed a scene for 'St. Denis Medical' Season 2, Episode 4 on location at a budget hotel, where Lawson's Bruce climbs atop an entertainment center and falls onto a coffee table, sending a bowl of popcorn airborne.
- Elliot LaPlante, the production designer, said the entertainment center was built from scratch and welded together to support actors and doubles, with configurable drawers to allow Lawson to experiment with blocking.
- LaPlante also engineered a breakaway coffee table lined with thick neoprene and woodgrained by a craftsman so the break wouldn't be visible on camera but would cushion the faller.
- The popcorn bowl placed on the coffee table was a deliberate collaboration to give Lawson something soft and moveable to play with during the stunt, per LaPlante.
- Showrunner Eric Ledgin credited the on-set professionalism of Grier and Lawson for letting him write ambitious material without worrying about stunts getting out of hand.
- Director of photography Jay Hunter said 'St. Denis Medical' shoots 30-40% more script pages per day than an average comedy while producing 18 episodes per season in a short workday.
- IndieWire partnered with Universal Studio Group to host the panel as part of USG University, a series celebrating artisans across NBCUniversal's 2025-2026 television season.
Why it matters: The breakdown reveals that 'St. Denis Medical' delivers ambitious stunt work and dense page counts (30-40% above the average comedy, per its DP) without sacrificing the visual polish — production designer Elliot LaPlante custom-built and welded a load-bearing entertainment center and a neoprene-lined breakaway table specifically so the chaos looks effortless on screen.
