Fortunately for the team behind NBC's St. Denis Medical, it has quickly become one of the best sitcoms on network television. The show is highlighted by fantastic writing, an interesting concept, and a truly star-studded cast that features the comedy icon David Alan Grier, who once perfectly explained what makes the show so fantastic.
While all of those factors in St. Denis Medical's success quickly became obvious for viewers, there is yet another reason why every comedy fan should be watching the sitcom. St. Denis Medical showcases many compelling characters with fascinating and hilarious personality quirks. One of the show's supporting characters is a perfect example of that because, even though they can be underrated, they are perfectly positioned on the show.
St. Denis Medical's Keith is a perfectly written character for the show
Aside from St. Denis Medical's main cast, the character who has appeared in the most episodes of the medical comedy is Nurse Keith. Portrayed to perfection by Dave Theune, Keith regularly pops up on the show and says or does something hilarious. The key to Keith's success as a character is how earnestly he approaches everything. Thanks to how Keith almost always seems to take things at face value, and he doesn't seem to register any judgment that is being sent his way, he also serves as a ray of sunshine on the show.
While Theune's portrayal of Keith and the fact that he fully commits to the role are key factors in what makes him great, how the show's writers handle the character is another reason why he is comedy gold. While it may seem obvious that the character is given fantastic comedic moments, that isn't what I mean in this case.
When a sitcom character is reliably funny, it can be extremely tempting for the show's writers to constantly turn to them to get laughs. While that makes sense, it can often result in overexposure and diminishing returns. However, St. Denis Medical's writers have very smartly kept Keith as a spice that they use to pepper the show with solid laughs. While it would be great to occasionally give the character more of a spotlight, using Keith as a comedy clean-up hitter is the smart way to go.
At this point, I only have one complaint about how the team behind St. Denis Medical has used Keith. During the first season, there were several episodes that didn't feature Keith at all. I'm very happy to say that has changed for season 2, as Keith has been featured in every episode so far, which is a trend I fully support continuing.
Now that he is part of every episode, I would like the actor who portrays Keith to get his due credit by him being added to the show's main cast. I think that the way the show uses Val in a supporting role, even though Kaliko Kauahi is part of the main cast, proves that a background character can be portrayed by one of the sitcom's stars.