Playing Doctor with Rob Corddry

On his hilarious new web series, Childrens' Hospital, Daily Show alum Rob Corddry proves that laughter makes for some strange medicine. Now get him a cancer joke, stat.

Two years ago, intrepid Daily Show correspondent Rob Corddry walked away from Jon Stewart’s indomitable news team in order to star in The Winner, a mid-season comedy he once lovingly described as “a fucked-up Wonder Years.” A winner it was not: FOX cancelled the show after six episodes. Since then, Corddry has made the occasional cameo (Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm), and, in a perverse bit of casting, played former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer in Oliver Stone’s W.

Now Corddry is ready to star on the small screen again—the very small screen. His new web series, Childrens' Hospital—which he wrote, produced, and stars in—debuted yesterday on TheWB.com. An at-times grotesque parody of Grey’s Anatomy and ER, Childrens' Hospital also features such comedy stalwarts as Megan Mullally, Erinn Hayes, Ed Helms, and Nick Kroll. Will the ten-part series generate a cult-following à la Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog or simply make a bunch of nineteen-year-old boys laugh over beers? The Daily Beast took his temperature.

Your fellow Daily Show alums—Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, and Ed Helms—have all been very successful since moving on. How much more pressure does that make you feel about Childrens' Hospital’s debut?

I definitely don’t think I feel extra pressure having been on The Daily Show. I would feel pressure regardless of where I’m coming from. I think in terms of Carell and Colbert and Ed—we’ve all been lucky enough to at least be honing what it is we were meant to do. And Carell is perfect in his role on The Office, and all the roles he plays. And Colbert should be doing nothing but what he is doing right now. And I think Helms and I are honing in on what it is we should be doing. Doing Childrens' Hospital I learned how to write in my voice and find the kind of comedy I like to do. It’s a little weird, kind of on the surreal side, and yet, no winking. I can’t really describe it. But this is what I feel like I should be doing, so I’m thinking how could I do more of it?

Why do an online series, why not prime time?

The Internet is definitely cooler in terms of street cred. People who won’t normally be seen get their stuff seen. It’s starting to evolve—people who normally tell stories and write for television and film now write for the web and consider it a viable genre, especially for comedy. We could get away with a lot more. You can swear or poke fun or joke about things like September 11. It allows you to be more creative.

I think the best place to frame comedy is in the least funny things ever. The September 11 joke in Childrens' Hospital about how these two guys broke up over arguing about a date. One guy thinks 9/11 happened in January and the other guy thinks it happened in September. It’s the most petty argument in the face of the most non-petty thing that’s ever happened to us.

Also, I don’t think the networks or studios have a handle on what’s happening with television right now. So I am definitely kind of afraid to dip my toes in those waters.

In a somewhat ironic twist, you recently played Ari Fleischer in Oliver Stone’s W. How did it feel, playing someone you spent so much time making fun of on The Daily Show?

It was probably the worst casting in the history of film. Anybody who knows who I am, when they saw me on the screen, kind of reacted like “Huh?” and weren’t really sure what to make of it.