I was expecting you in my office 20 minutes ago.

Really?

That's odd, because I had no intention  of being in your office 20 minutes ago.

The audition for House is nothing  like other audition stories.

And they were impatient to get on with it.

So, they were only — they'd  only let me do it once.

Not only due to the nature it was shot in.

Actually, we're going to go  to get drunk, to be honest.

Or the reception of the casting directors.

Yeah, he looks really handsome  with the scruff in the hair.

But because Hugh Laurie,

now synonymous with Dr. House —

hi, Dr. House.

Hello, girl whose name I don't remember —

was one of the very last  considerations for the role.

As an actor, I have been a disastrous auditioner.

I think I've only ever got two  roles out of a thousand auditions.

We read a lot of people,

and we've offered it to a number of people.

Gary Sinise,

who'd wound up doing CSI: New York.

Patrick Dempsey, I think we offered to.

We'd had a few English guys audition,

and Bryan Singer finally had said,

"No more English actors,

because the TV schedule is just crazy  for the accent to get around that."

Not only is Laurie British,

but he faced another problem  with the show's creator.

I'd watched a lot of his comedies,

and I thought they were brilliant,

and I was a massive fan.

And when I was told he was going  to audition for this part, I went,

"Oh, I hope I get to meet him,

but he's completely wrong for this part."

Excellent.

I — I can see it now.

The nun and the hump.

Jeez, I have an idea.

Me, an inspiration.

It's easy to see Laurie as wrong for the part,

although you can see traces  of House if you really look.

Yes, I imagine it probably is very serious.

But giving her address to a policeman, on  the other hand, probably isn't so serious.

Or is it perhaps the law's  changed since I last looked?

When Hugh was faxed the audition script,

he barely knew what he was auditioning for.

They — they only trusted me with three pages.

I was making a film in Namibia,  in southern Africa, at the time.

And I got the — and also faxes are  rather, um, complicated things down there.

So three pages was all I got.

Hugh did not know it was the lead of the show.

It wasn't called House — it was an untitled pilot.

He thought Wilson was more the lead of the show,

and that the House character, being somebody  who was so unlikable, was the sidekick.

It actually asked me to read for both characters.

I read the character description of Wilson,

which was a handsome man with  a — with a boyish, open face,

something to that effect.

So I thought, well, I'm not going to  put a lot of work into that character,

but the character of House I  was very, very intrigued by.

When it came time to film the audition tape,

Laurie approached it in the  opposite way that most actors do.

I read it in a rather peculiar way.

He said to his wife, who was in  the car with it sort of running,

"I got to quickly run inside, into the hotel,

and put myself on tape for this American pilot."

And she said,

"Well, you — you need to comb your hair.

You're not shaving.

You know, I don't know how you're  going to get the job that way."

And he said,

"I'm just going to go wing it.

It's 5:00.

I'm going home."

The only reason why I don't fire you is because  you're still worth something in this hospital.

Excellent.

We have a point of agreement.

You're not going to fire me.

I made this tape with the  help of some other actors.

And at the end — we — I did this tape,

and I said we were going to go — actually,  we're going to go get drunk, to be honest,

and they were impatient to get on with it.

So they were only — they'd only let me do it once,

and I did it as — as they  were packing up the camera,

and we were going to go to a bar.

I said, "What did you — what  did you think of the accent?"

And Jacob said, "What accent?"

And I said, "The American accent."

He said, "Oh, you were doing American?"

So I — from that point on — I never really  — I didn't expect to hear from them again.

Given Singer's no-British-actor rule,

Laurie had no shot.

We watched the tape and we  said, "He's pretty good."

And, yeah, he looks really handsome  with the scruff in the hair.

Yet somehow the casting  directors got him to see it.

So we gave it to Bryan — all of us —

without saying that he was a British actor.

He literally got out from behind his desk,

and went around his desk,

and went right up to the television,

as close as he could get,

'cause he was sort of mesmerized.

You think we have nothing to talk about?

No, I just can't think of  anything I'd be interested in.

Bryan just went, "This is the kind of guy we need.

This — this all-American guy."

I think he actually said that.

It was very, very clear when  the right person read the role.

Yeah, who cares what judges think?

So, yeah, we sort of knew right away.

While they had their lead,

getting the show green-lit was never guaranteed.

We knew the networks were  looking for a medical show.

It was sold as a "what-done-it."

It's not a who-done-it, it's a what-done-it.

Just want a little tiny slice of this guy's brain.

It's just enough to tell  me what's killing Foreman.

And the problem is, we don't  really watch who-done-its.

And we definitely don't watch what-done-its.

We care about why they did it.

And germs don't have motives.

The answer to me was, I don't  make it about the germs.

I make it about the people who are sick,

and about the people who are solving it.

You're basing this whole diagnosis on the  idea that I was slipping him illegal drugs.

I mean, "everybody lies"  was the slogan of the show.

David had this perception  — he wanted it — basically,  

what do doctors really think of their patients?

What does a doctor say when he leaves the room?

I hurt my hip playing hockey,

and I made an appointment with the doctors.

By the time I went in, my hip was completely fine.

And I knew — I knew, as soon  as they were outside that door,

they were complaining about this idiot with  the healthy hip wasting the doctor's time.

And I just thought it would be  interesting to have a character  

who didn't wait till he left  the room to call people idiots.

You're being an idiot.

The more I started thinking about it,

the more I started relating  that to this character.

And so the name came from that.

Shore had turned a run-of-the-mill  medical procedural into an abrasive,  

character-driven social commentary.

House was me getting up on a soapbox every week,

and spouting my views of the  universe through this character.

A few hundred parents like you  decide they'd rather let their  

kid die than cough up 40 bucks for a vaccination.

And believe me, prices will drop really fast.

I've always been a huge Sherlock Holmes fan.

He was never solving the cases  because he cared about his clients.

I haven't even been on a date, right?

Since it's physically impossible to have  sex without someone buying you dinner.

But the character of House would never have  worked without a Watson to his Sherlock.

Wilson — James, boy-wonder oncologist.

You know him.

You know, in some cultures it's considered  almost rude for one friend to spy on another.

Contrary to Laurie's first impression,

Wilson was the straight-man  sidekick to the eccentric House.

And that was exactly what the boyish  Robert Sean Leonard liked about him.

It's fun to be the guy — not the guy,

but the guy the guy counts on.

It's kind of — I like that role.

It's a good role.

It's a fun role.

When he came in to audition,

Leonard reunited with director Bryan Singer,

who he had met years ago through  his Dead Poets Society co-star.

I'm going to act.

Yes.

Yes, I'm going to be an actor.

Years before House, Singer made a short  film with his neighbor, Ethan Hawke.

When Leonard saw a cut, he  wrote Singer a check for $1,000.

The gesture meant a lot to Singer,

who said that literally the  moment he came across my desk,

I said, "He's going to be  Wilson, and that's just that."

But Singer wasn't the only deciding factor.

And Leonard himself didn't think  Fox was too nuts about him.

On top of that, the character of Wilson  proved to be more complex than he seemed.

I actually choose to be with him,

as opposed to everyone else —  the show has to be with him.

Shore put it bluntly.

I think there's something  clearly wrong with Wilson.

There has to be something about this guy  that would make him be friends with House.

You did?

Yes, I did.

But only because you didn't trust me.

The best friend.

The network wanted Leonard to play the  character as a kinder, nicer foil to House.

Singer left to give him the note,

but Shore thought it was a bad idea.

Officer, if you want to give me  a ticket, I totally understand.

Singer agreed that it was a terrible note,

but he had a simple solution.

We'll have him read it that way.

We'll get him the part,

and then we'll do it our way later.

I was the guy who bailed him out.

That's how we met.

I was in jail.

Leonard got the part,

and he played it the way Shore really wanted.

I've been more passionate with  my great-aunt Mabel up high.

Lisa Edelstein played a sex  worker on The West Wing.

Um, can I ask you something?

Lisa Edelstein's stint on the political  drama had an impact on Singer,

who, from the get-go, wanted to cast the hottest  hook in Washington, D.C. as House's boss.

But once again, the network  had a different opinion.

Ally McBeal, I played a transgendered woman.

That makes you nervous.

This was the role that stuck with  the president of Fox Entertainment,

who said she looked like a man.

Singer insisted, and the network relented,

giving Edelstein the mostly sophisticated  role of the show's dean of medicine.

Your point, beyond just trying  to make Chase wet himself,

seems to be that the hospital  faces liability here.

Wow, thanks for clearing that up.

I was in England at the time,

and, uh, I got this fax through.

Mine was six pages.

And, uh, it was for — I think he  was like a 35-year-old radiologist.

You're not my doctor, are you, Dr. House?

Thankfully, no — I'm Dr. Chase.

I was like 24,

and I was like, you know what?

I rang up my agent.

I was like, you know, I'm really sick of going  in for stuff that I'm just not right for.

But, like Laurie, Spencer  was drawn in by the pages,

and gave his audition tape his best shot.

A couple of weeks later, they  said they — they loved the tape,

but they didn't want to fly me out.

So, being the, uh, what do you call it —  like enigmatic young person that I am —

I decided to take a gamble,

and I bought the ticket and flew out,

and, uh, rang them up and said,

"All right, I'm here. Bring me in."

Dr. Chase, how are you?

When I first came to the States,

I stayed in the hostel and stayed there,

and got a — a bus, you know, to auditions.

Jesse's role — he was supposed  to be this, you know, rich kid.

I hired Chase 'cause his dad made a phone call.

Chase's father was a doctor.

My father is a doctor in real life.

We read everyone.

Everyone — but until it wasn't the right person.

It was my idea.

Jesse actually tried to have an  English accent in the pilot episode,

but Hugh — Hugh stamped that  out after one read-through.

One read-through.

Never forget Hugh's face at the read-through.

And I don't know if I was  murdering that accent as well,

or he didn't want to hear it  'cause he was doing American.

It was — it was one or the other.

According to Hugh, his biggest challenge  in doing the role was the accent.

So we — we talked about going Australian,

which hasn't really been done on American TV,

and we thought it would be a good idea.

She thinks she rode him to death.

I told a 22-year-old man, "Don't die of sex."

I hope you got some specifics  on exactly what was going on.

It's a girl who thinks it could kill you.

It's worth knowing about.

I almost didn't go to the audition.

Who's going to hire me to play  a 32-year-old immunologist?

I was 24 years old,

and it was like pouring rain,

and I didn't know if I had  time to prepare properly,

and I didn't want to go in and  do a bad job for Bryan Singer.

And yet Morrison's biggest competition  for the role was actually herself.

After being given little to  no input on Leonard's casting,

the network demanded to see more  options for the role of Cameron.

I guess Bryan — that night, they  had said, "He's like that's her."

They're like, "Bryan, you have to  see everybody else. You can't."

Singer recalled that he sent them  reference tapes from three girls.

One I don't remember,

and there were two others.

One was a blonde girl, and  the other was a brunette.

And both were Jennifer Morrison.

When I walked in the room, I had dark hair,

'cause I was doing Mr. and Mrs. Smith at the time.

The tape that they sent — I had blonde hair.

Singer insisted that he didn't know he'd  sent Fox two auditions from the same actress.

He said, "All right, you guys are right.

There's one other actress I like.

There's this blonde girl.

I'll test her against Jennifer."

Fox replied, "Bryan, we  didn't appreciate your joke."

Singer shamelessly explained himself.

"Well, she must be perfect for it."

If we want this not to get  in the way of our friendship,

I think we both have to apologize.

And we're not friends, we're colleagues.

Omar Epps met Bryan Singer in New York.

He was the second person to meet on the role.

And it took the entire process of reading  other people and figuring things out

to finally get him to test that last day.

That's about your ego.

But we always kept Omar in.

You wouldn't let it go.

You were like, it's described this  way — as this character with a past.

I can't just break into someone's house.

Isn't that how you got into the Feler's home?

Singer insisted that the character  of Foreman be formidable,

because everyone else House can abuse.

Oh, how do I abuse you?

How do you not?

Epps already had a strong résumé,

including a stint as a doctor on ER.

Two days is all I asked for.

Son of a [ __ ]

But, more importantly, he just had a presence.

According to Singer, Omar Epps is  the kind of cool that House can't be.

Foreman rounded out the ensemble,

but the question remained —

would they be enough for viewers to  tolerate such an unlikable protagonist?

He didn't try to be liked,

and the show didn't try to be liked.

We weren't doing great.

Our numbers weren't great.

Our viewership wasn't great.

You have a cane.

Nobody even likes you.

But it was better than anything else on Fox.

House spent the first half of season  1 on the brink of cancellation.

And then the show started  airing after American Idol.

They called us up thrilled,

because we had retained 43%  of the American Idol audience,

which was apparently very good.

And then the next week it was like 45%,

and then 48%,

and then, by the end of the year, we were  retaining 90% of the American Idol audience.

By season 3, House had earned  its highest ratings yet.

To Shore, that made it the perfect  time to turn the show upside down.

The ratings were still going up,

but we wanted to do the right thing.

We didn't want to get a phone  call from the network saying,

"Shake things up, shake things up."

We wanted to make changes in  the show on our own timetable.

For 3 years, House has solved the most difficult  medical mysteries with the help of his team.

Now you're fired,

instead of missed by two weeks' notice.

My resignation letter.

It just felt like a very real  thing to happen to this doctor.

It almost felt unreal that they  would just keep staying with him,

and putting up with — with the crap.

Dr. Greg House is hiring.

By the end of 6 weeks,

one of you will be gone,

as will 28 more of you.

We knew we were sort of boxing  ourselves into a corner.

Having all of House's team quit.

House just doing job interviews sounded  entertaining for about the first 45 seconds.

True to the character,

House turned it into a high-stakes mind game,

auditioning 40 doctors Survivor-style,

and eliminating them episode by episode.

Thank you all for coming to Tribal Council.

House is not the type of guy who would  interview 42 people and hire three.

He would hire 42 and fire 39.

Even the actors were kept in the  dark about who'd actually survive.

We just decided the only way to deal with  it was through having a sense of humor.

So we just laughed through the first 12 episodes.

We all voted.

The whole staff ranked them one through five,

and then we tallied them up,

and we averaged them out,

and the averages were all the same.

They were all the same.

It was really hard.

It was — we was just like, I don't know,

life imitating art, or, you know,

it became literally Survivor for us  to decide who we were going to keep,

because it was just — they were all good.

I think we were fortunate in that —

you know, if you stuck 40, and  then decreased that number,

actors in a room, in any other situation,

you'd probably have people who  didn't necessarily get along.

We all got along shockingly well.

If any of the actors got a call that  David and Katie were on the phone,

they knew they were sunk.

So then we started visiting actors,

and so then they would just see us,

and they would just sort of try  and run in the opposite direction.

Nine episodes later,

after a harrowing experience  both on-screen and off,

House had his new team,

and the next actor to leave the  show was for an exceptional reason.

He actually took time from acting and went  to work for Barack Obama at the White House.

Kutner.

It's 4, minute 13.

I applied after having worked on the Obama  campaign for about a year and a half.

Uh, by putting my résumé online, on this website,

I told my — my manager,

and he was like, "Okay, what's —  you're going to take a sabbatical  

and work at the White House if they call you?"

I said, "Yeah, this way I know  I'll be qualified if they call."

Of course, nobody called.

Uh, months go by.

I got invited to speak at the Lincoln  Memorial as part of the inaugural concert.

Mrs. Obama comes over and she says,  very casually, "Hope you stay involved."

And Dan, my manager, goes, "Well, you  know he applied for a job, right?"

And she goes, "Uh, what do you mean?

Would you — would you apply for a job?"

I fired you.

They didn't.

Yeah. Yeah.

He applied for a job and  nobody even called him back.

She called the president over and said,

"Uh, tell him what you just told me."

And that — that led to, basically, you know,

they said, "Well, let's look into it,

if there's actually something  you are qualified to do."

It turned out that the three things  I was working on — on the campaign —

outreach to young people,  outreach to Asian-Americans,  

and work with the arts community —

they were literally looking to fill  one job in the public engagement office

to deal with all those.

Penn couldn't announce  anything until it was official,

at which time Kutner had to be  abruptly written off the show.

Oh, god.

But the way he was written out was one  of the show's most shocking plot points.

You didn't say anything to any of you.

After Edelstein refused to take a  requested pay cut after season 7,

she would also have her very final scene.

And without Cuddy, House was, in every  sense, limping towards its conclusion.

So, after the difficult negotiations  between season 7 and season 8,

I thought I made it clear — I did make it clear —

that if I don't know for sure that  there's a season 9 by the fall,

there's not going to be a season 9.

Ultimately, House would end with season 8.

I wasn't going to do a happy ending.

I also didn't want to do just a miserable ending.

By golly, I hope it's satisfying,

because that would be an awful shame,

to come this far and then fumble it at the last —

you know, trip over your shoelaces —

just with within sight of the finishing line.

For a guy who barely turned in  a one-take audition on a whim,

it was a bittersweet ending.

I think this story is more about  taking your shot at a beginning.

I'm Adam.

This is ScreenPuff.

If you liked this, check out this next video.

And, as always, thank you for watching.