MONDO EXTRAS

GL: Yeah, "The Artist Formerly Known As Gimp" was a good one. She played a big role in Episode 3 and she's definitely present a lot in Eeason 3. We really enjoy writing for her.

SM: This is great news.

GL: Are there any House/Brenda shippers out there?

SM: Yeah, I think I'm one, actually.

GL: Yeah?

SM: Yeah, I think that could work in a weird way. It could be a fun couple of episodes -- maybe have them hook up once and then hate each other and snap at each other in hilarious ways.

GL: All right, I'm gonna run that by the group.

SM: Yes, excellent. Do you have any dream diseases that you're just waiting to find a way to work in?

GL: I don't want to tell you the one I'm working on now because I wouldn't want to spoil it, for one, and also because it's sort of in a very massive state of development and it's really hard to talk about when you don't quite have your mind fully around it. But it's kind of terrifying as a writer because [it's not] like, "Yeah, I got ten diseases I just can't wait to write about!" You don't really have that in you. On other shows, you might have stories you really want to tell, but I don't think I have a whole line of medical mysteries burning a hole inside of me that I can't wait to get out on paper. But then, on the backside of that equation, it's one of the most gratifying things when you're able to pull one of these stories together because it is such an incredible challenge.

SM: Do you have a favorite disease we've seen so far? I know the girl with testicular cancer was a good one of yours...

GL: Yeah, I was quite fond of that episode. That's the one you look for that's hard to find, but when Russ said to me, in one sentence, "I want to do an episode where a woman has testicular cancer," it's like, "So done. I get it. I think the whole episode sounds fantastic, let's do it." And that's kind of what we're out there searching for, reading some obscure medical journals hoping for another disease that's been covered in one sentence that makes perfect sense and you can sort of see the whole episode. They're a bit harder to come by, especially now -- I think we're writing almost up to Episode 60, so it gets harder and harder.

SM: Yeah, you sort of have to combine the diseases sometimes, where you've got them working against each other to conceal symptoms and make them hard to diagnose. I mean, eventually you've got to run out of single diseases that are hard to diagnose, right?