During the crazy year of 2020, Zach Braff and Donald Faison teamed up to create a Scrubs rewatch podcast. The goal is for Zach and Donald to rewatch the episode and offer some poignant analysis; however, they are frequently distracted by jokes about willies, ganja, and anuses. The often silly and rarely serious podcast offers a great escape during these strange times. Once again, Scrubs comes to the rescue during a transitional period of my life, and maybe it can for you, too.
During the summer between 7th and 8th grade, I switched schools. I went from a nerdy Catholic middle-school kid to a nerdy public middle school kid. I recall walking into the school dressed up with khaki pants and a polo (tucked in) for the first day of classes. In front of me was a swirl of chaos. Middle school and high school kids were running rampant. One kid broke off from the violence and stopped directly in front of me. The fully bearded middle schooler, clad in gym shorts and a cut-off shirt with the sides slit down, making him for all intents and purposes shirtless, looked me up and down and eloquently stated, "you dress like a bitch," before reentering the swarm of kids. (This bearded middle-schooler also once tried to challenge my dad to a fight. High-school was wild, but I digress.) My fear of fitting in at a new place was confirmed.
That day, I went home after my first day, tired of meeting new people and learning an entirely new routine. First of all, I had entered through the high school entrance and not the middle school entrance. I had to find my way to the middle-school hallway and then find my way to my specific classroom. Then, new people. So many new people. I've never particularly enjoyed meeting new people, and all eyes seem to be on the newbies.
So, I turned on the TV and flipped to Comedy Central. Some show called Scrubs was coming on. Season 1, Episode 1. I hoped it could offer a laugh or two. The episode begins with J.D. (Zach Braff) talking about his "First Day." I was drawn in. J.D. found himself in a new place with new challenges. While J.D. was becoming a doctor and I was simply a new student in a middle school, I felt that the character, in some way, represented me. If he could summon the courage to save a patient's life, perhaps I could summon the courage to keep trying in this new place. The awkward, nerdy, unsure of himself J.D. reminded me a lot of myself and my situation. I felt like I had something to turn to in my new situation.
We've all encountered this new situation during our lives. Most of us have encountered it multiple times. Starting a new chapter without an outline is terrifying, and that's why we turn to television, movies, or books. Sometimes, we need to see our situation conquered, sometimes we only need to see the fight go on. Somedays we need laughter and somedays we need poignancy. Somedays we need to see dreams crushed and somedays we need to see them fulfilled. Inspiration and joy are two of the most elusive feelings in the world, and Fake Doctors, Real Friends has provided many for me during this new time period.
Fast forward to 2020. We are all quarantining and denied our usual entertainment avenues. We can't go out for drinks or to the movies. All anyone seemingly wanted to talk about on the other podcasts I listened to is Covid-19. Sure. That's important. But I just wanted to escape from it. Even if for just a few hours. Fake Doctors, Real Friends allowed for that to happen. Now, occasionally, they discuss the virus and other related political things (which is their right), but you can skip over that stuff (I do). Listen for the inspirational white-board talks, the crazy, quirky stories guests share, and to join a group of people just like you in an entertaining hour of nostalgia and humor.
Much like Scrubs, Fake Doctors, Real Friends offers us an opportunity to escape and join together with something outside of our daily lives. That something varies from episode to episode, just like it did with Scrubs. Recently, a guest referenced Jimmy V's famous speech at the Espy's,
When people say to me how do you get through life or each day, it’s the same thing. To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.
At its best, that's what entertainment has to offer to us: to help us laugh, think, and cry. We could all use a bit more of that in our lives.
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