This is the most fabulously funny article about Hugh Laurie that I’ve read in a long while. It’s written as a tongue-in-cheek confession of the author’s enormous Hugh-crush. (There are so many of us who can identify!)


Here’s a short excerpt of the article in Salon:

Mostly what appeals is his hilarious self-deprecation. Despite the fact that his former Cambridge classmate and girlfriend, Emma Thompson, once described Laurie as “one of those rare people who manages to be lugubriously sexy, like a well-hung eel,” he doesn’t agree. He told Britain’s Now magazine: “I recently did a shower scene and it was one of the most traumatic events of my life. It struck me as a misuse of resources because the producers have gone to the trouble of hiring young, beautiful people with smooth skin and high bottoms and they go and pick the old guy with buns of yogurt.” I like this. If you’re going to self-lacerate, at least be kind of fun about it.

I’m in favor of any form of distraction that doesn’t result in liver damage, a broken marriage, consumer debt or excessive weight gain, so I heartily enjoy the rush of that exquisitely modern guiltless pleasure known as the Google stalk. Through the magic of the Web, I’ve learned this about Laurie: He’s a Gemini! With many planets in Leo! His late father was a doctor, and he thinks New Age medicine is stupid! He picked Ian Dury’s “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick” as one of his desert-island discs in the 1990s! At this point, I could take a medal in Laurie trivia. Speaking of medals … did you know that Laurie’s father won a gold medal in rowing in the 1948 London Olympics and Laurie himself rowed at Cambridge? .

Over the past decade, the proliferation of the hospital-based TV show has been astounding. What began with ER and Chicago Hope back in the 90s has developed into its own genre, much like what Survivor did for the development of reality
shows in which women get naked for cookies and peanut butter.But unlike reality shows, hospital-based shows occasionally require mental acuity, and at times,
consciousness, thus explaining why reality shows continue to dominate the ratings.

The hospital show, despite what some may think, comes in several different flavors. ER, for example, which apparently plans on giving The Simpsons a run for the longevity past-staleness award, centers on victims being admitted for a
variety of suspenseful and exotic reasons; relationships supplement the story.

Grey's Anatomy is quite the reverse, choosing to throw a patient into the mix anytime the show requires that two doctors of the opposite gender find a way to bump in to one another so that they can bump in to one another in the on-call
room in the next episode.

Scrubs breaks the mold by focusing on laughs rather than hook-ups. Soon to be wrapping up its 6th season (both ER and Grey's will also be back), the comedy that stole the brilliant writers of the original Family Guy episodes during its
sabbatical continues to entertain with both originality andclever, laugh-trackless humor.

But there is another show that doesn't quite fit in with any of its cohorts, and that is Fox's House, MD. Anyone even slightly aware of the show's premise understands that House is so brilliant in terms of diagnosing illnesses that he is able to remain employed despite a complete lack of bedside manner.

There are no dumb questions with House, only dumb people, who need to be reminded that their question was also dumb: House provides that. Although the pattern of the show is becoming predictable, with the viewer able to gauge whether or not
House's theory on an illness is correct based on how much time is left in the episode, House's rude and clever wit, on top of the side stories, keep the show highly entertaining and a must-see. The viewer needs absolutely no medical background to enjoy the show, but they must, however, be able to handle an
insensitive or politically incorrect remark, because they're kind of House's thing. Well, that and Vicodin.

But even without the mystery and suspense, or the racially insensitive jokes that make the show great, House's ability to read people is reminiscent of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day when he knew everything about everyone and no one knew
how.
Although he hates clinic duty and has a tendency to avoid it by sneaking off into a comatose patient's room to watch TV, when present he is usually able to figure out a patient's problem almost immediately. Whether it's a man with
athlete's foot in his nose because he used his toe-nail clippers to trim his nose hairs, a patient with diarrhea fromthe sorbitol present in nicotine gum, or a genius who can't get his contact lens out because, as House points out, he
isn't wearing one, House only needs a few minutes and he's already solved the mystery.

Because he's so good at what he does, House is able to get away with having absolutely no bedside manner whatsoever. He bypasses the formalities that have resulted from years of frivolous lawsuits and common courtesy and gets to the
point. In fact, House might be the only doctor who can deliver great news and still manage to irritate the patient.

Those in the medical community, however, tend to be annoyed by the show, pointing out that medicine isn't nearly that glamorous (although 22 rare cases a year doesn't seem like it would be that much of a stretch). But then again, even
Scrubs did an episode making fun of House, MD, re-iterating that medicine is typically filled with the same monotony every day (i.e., fat people and smokers).

Hopefully, the upcoming seasons will figure out ways to keep the

DR. Lisa Cuddy:

Lisa Cuddy, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. She is portrayed by Lisa Edelstein.

Cuddy is the Dean of Medicine and hospital administrator at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Her field of specialty is endocrinology. She often has to handle House's outlandish requests, and is usually left to deal with the consequences of his erratic behavior. Cuddy also has to force House to complete his required weekly duty at the out-patient clinic. Her position often requires her to make extremely difficult moral and ethical decisions regarding patient care (particularly in situations where House insists that highly dangerous and often illegal procedures are a patient's only chance of survival).

There is a degree of sexual tension inherent in Cuddy's relationship with House. House frequently and blatantly ogles her breasts and bottom, commenting on their appearance and/or firmness.


Dr. James Evan Wilson:

Dr. James Evan Wilson, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. He is played by Robert Sean Leonard.

Wilson is the head of the Department of Oncology at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Conventionally, he is the only true friend of Dr. Gregory House, and frequently provides House with consultations and aid.


Dr. Eric Foreman:

Dr. Eric Foreman, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. He is portrayed by Omar Epps.

A neurologist, Foreman was a member of Dr. Gregory House's handpicked team of specialists at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital's Diagnostic Medicine Department. He was hired by House three days prior to the series' pilot episode (as revealed in a deleted scene of the pilot).

Foreman attended Columbia University as an undergraduate before matriculating to Johns Hopkins Medical School.

Little is known about Foreman's past, although it has been suggested that his family was not very well-off and his parents are currently living on a pension (cf. "Histories"). It is also suggested that his mother has a degenerative brain disease. Foreman was also a former juvenile delinquent who once burglarized houses and stole cars; this is said to have played a major factor in House's decision to hire him in the first place

DR. Allison Cameron:

Allison Cameron, M.D., is a fictional character on the FOX medical drama House. She is portrayed by Jennifer Morrison.

An immunologist, Cameron was a member of Dr. Gregory House's team of handpicked specialists at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital's Department of Diagnostic Medicine. She was hired six months prior to the pilot episode.[1] House explicitly informed her that he hired her based on her looks because he believed that a pretty girl who went into medicine shows greater dedication compared to an ordinary-looking student because the former could have easily used her looks to get an easier job.


Dr. Robert Chase :

Dr. Robert Chase is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. He is portrayed by Jesse Spencer.

Robert Chase was the longest-serving member of House's staff, despite being a young doctor – reportedly 26 years old at the start of the show ("Cursed"), although he says he is 30 in the episode "Autopsy". His tenure on House's staff is is hinted at in the episode "All In", where he describes details of previous work with House to Dr. Eric Foreman, citing himself as speaking to the doctor that was around before Dr. Allison Cameron.