TV doctors Mindy Kaling, Zach Braff, and Mekhi Phifer unite to present at 2024 Emmys

The 2024 Emmys paged some of television's greatest doctors to present on Sunday.

Prior to presenting the award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series at the event, The Mindy Project's Mindy Kaling, Scrubs' Zach Braff, and E.R.'s Mekhi Phifer all took to the stage to reflect on what inspired them to play physicians onscreen.

"I was so honored to play a doctor on E.R. and, in developing my character, I was inspired not just by the actors on the series, but by actual physicians I've known," Phifer said. Kaling added, "I was inspired to portray a doctor on The Mindy Project by the example of my own mother, an OBGYN. What about you, Zach?"

Braff's reasons were a bit more... based on survival. "I was waiting tables and serving the universally gracious people of Beverly Hills," he said. "I would get foot-long hot dogs from 7-Eleven and eat six inches for lunch and six inches for dinner. I was inspired to not live like that anymore."

To which Kaling teasingly replied, "And I can see that in every scene you're in."

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Kaling had a memorable turn as OBGYN Mindy Kahiri for six seasons on her Emmy-nominated series The Mindy Project, while Phifer played the effortlessly cool Dr. Gregory Pratt on ER from 2002 until his character's tragic death during the show's season 15 premiere in 2008. Braff, of course, starred as the well-meaning daydreamer J.D. on the sitcom Scrubs alongside Donald Faison, Sarah Chalke, John C. McGinley, and more from 2001 until 2010.

The award went to Slow Horses writer Will Smith, who accepted it before notifying the crowd, "First of all, despite my name, I come in peace." The comment, which drew laughs, was a reference to Will Smith infamously slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars.

Check out the full list of Emmy winners.