Mekki Leeper is learning a lot about what kind of first impression he gives off. He stars in NBC’s new mockumentary sitcom “St. Denis Medical,” the latest from “The Office” and “Superstore” producer Justin Spitzer. The show is set in an underfunded Oregon hospital; Leeper plays Matt, a nurse fresh from Montana who is new to the hospital, and new to much of the Western world after a rather sheltered upbringing.
“He’s got a lot to learn about being a nurse and maybe more to learn about being a person,” Leeper says of Matt. “I find that these parts come my way and it’s taught me a lot about what my face looks like to people. I look like I’ve never experienced anything ever, and then I’m very scared. And that was interesting to learn from casting.”
Leeper, who is 30, is hoping that “St. Denis Medical” is the latest step in the footsteps of career idols like Donald Glover. The comedian moved to L.A. seven years ago after booking a writing gig for the White House Correspondents Dinner while still in college at Temple University. “St. Denis Medical” comes on the heels of “Jury Duty,” for which he was first hired as a writer before being cast as an actor as well; he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for his work on the show. He also appeared in “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” and is at work on a new comedy hour.
“Jury Duty” had yet to come out when one of the show’s EPs, Ruben Fleischer, told the “St. Denis” team they should consider Leeper for the role of Matt.
“It was just very, very lucky that they had a mutual producer and that Ruben was very generous and gave me a shot,” he says.
Mekki Leeper
All Leeper had to hear about “St. Denis Medical” was that it was a new workplace comedy from Spitzer, and he was sold.
“He’s so funny and so trusted. I feel like it’s very hard to buy the trust of networks and streamers, and you have to be really good and really smart like Justin,” Leeper says. “I love ‘The Office,’ I love ‘Parks and Rec,’ and I think for a sitcom, it’s so rare to have the characters really figured out in the first season, and to have what the shape of the show is and the vibe of the show figured out in the first season,” he adds. “It’s credit to Justin Spitzer and to Eric Ledgin. They’re locked into how to make a sitcom that scratches every itch, that has heart, that’s really funny.”
Leeper loves playing a character that is the butt of the joke, likening Matt to Andy Dwyer on “Parks and Rec” and Kenneth Parcell on “30 Rock.”
“I think from a comedic standpoint, it’s really fun to be the silly comedic character who’s a ridiculous joke among other very funny characters,” he says. “He gets to say some of the stupidest things in the show, and that makes me really excited. It’s fun to say the dumbest things. It’s fun to fall down and run into stuff and crash into stuff. Being Matt is one of the great gifts of my life.”
Growing up in Amish country near Gettysburg, Pa., Leeper would listen to old cassette tapes of radio shows pre-television, of people like Lucille Ball and Jack Benny. As he was growing up, mockumentary shows like “The Office” and “Parks and Rec” were dominant on TV, and he credits them with shaping his style of comedy.
“My middle-of-nowhere-kid-on-the-internet-brain was like, ‘the coolest thing in the world is that you make a funny video with your friends,’” he says. “And I have not changed my opinion. But I think that I’ve weirdly had one of the most fortunate experiences in getting to do a lot of traditional Hollywood stuff because people have been really generous with me.”
Specifically, he’s having a very “2000s” experience “that not many people get to do anymore” — i.e., get a major writing job while in college, book late-night talk shows and star on a sitcom. With several credits — and an Emmy nomination — now under his belt, he’s returning to sharpening his stand-up skills, now taking a more personal approach.
“When I started stand-up, I was 20. So early in stand-up, you write whatever feels like jokes to you, but later it gets a little easier to be honest about yourself, and then you can use that for comedy. It’s hard to write jokes about yourself when you’re still at the part of life where you’re too insecure,” he says. “It’s the most personal stuff that I’ve written, and that’s really fun to do.”
