'The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy' Cast and Crew

Maya Rudolph, showrunner, writer and executive producer Cirocco Dunlap, and Natasha Lyonne talk Prime Video's 'The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy.'

(L to R) Maya Rudolph, showrunner, writer and executive producer Cirocco Dunlap, and Natasha Lyonne talk Prime Video’s ‘The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy.’

Premiering February 23rd on Prime Video is the new animated series ‘’The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy,’ which stars Natasha Lyonne (‘Poker Face’), Kieran Culkin (‘Succession’), Stephanie Hsu (‘Joy Ride’), Keke Palmer (‘Nope), and Maya Rudolph (‘Inherent Vice’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Maya Rudolph, Natasha Lyonne and showrunner, writer and executive producer Cirocco Dunlap about ‘The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy,’ creating the show, and Rudolph and Lyonne’s characters.

(L to R) Stephanie Hsu (Dr. Sleech) and Kieran Culkin (Dr. Plowp) in ‘The Second Best Hospital in The Galaxy.’ Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC.

Moviefone: To begin with, Cirocco, can you talk about coming up with the idea for this series and creating the show?

Cirocco Dunlap: Yeah, I love sci-fi, and I watch a lot of sci-fi. I was thinking about classic movies like ‘Groundhog Day,’ ‘Alien,’ and thinking about those main characters and how they’ve got real horrible ailments, an alien in your stomach, or stuck in a time loop. I was thinking, “Wouldn’t it be fun if they had somewhere to go, someone to treat them for those illnesses?” I thought, “These main characters in classic sci-fi films could become tertiary patients in our world.”

(L to R) Maya Rudolph (Dr. Vlam) and Stephanie Hsu (Dr. Sleech) in ‘The Second Best Hospital in The Galaxy.’ Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC.

MF: Maya, can you describe your character, Dr. Vlam, and creating the voice?

Maya Rudolph: Dr. Vlam is a robot intern who’s lived over 20,000 years and is devoted to her present craft, which is being a doctor and takes an enormous amount of pride in it. But that doesn’t stop her from talking about her past where she’s lived as a warrior king, and mother of 500. She’s done a lot. So, she likes to let everybody know she’s been around for a long time and its sort of a mix of a lot of pride and at the same time, happy to be there to serve her doctors, to serve Sleech and Klak. She just wants to do a really good job because she looks up to them so, so much.

(L to R) Stephanie Hsu (Dr. Sleech), Keke Palmer (Dr. Klak), and Natasha Lyonne (Nurse Tup) in ‘The Second Best Hospital in The Galaxy.’ Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video. Copyright: © Amazon Content Services LLC.

MF: Finally, Natasha, same question. How would you describe your character, Nurse Tup, and creating her voice?

Natasha Lyonne: Nurse Tup is a nihilistic optimist. She loathes small talk, which I personally adore, and she really loves the hospital. So, she must buffer between Sleech and Klak from blowing up the joint in all their creative genius. So, she has pointy ears and in a surprising twist, a big mop of hair, six legs and a tail. So, I pretty much did a come as you are. I thought, “That is what I look like.” But Cirocco really worked with me so much on our first session to kind of really dial in exactly the vibe of who she was. Then also the other character, Zaylarx. I love that character. Zalyarx gets into trouble with Vlam and they have a good, rowdy time. Troublemakers. So yeah, good times.

What is the Plot of ‘The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy’?

The series follows Dr. Sleech (Stephanie Hsu) and Dr. Klak (Keke Palmer), aliens, best friends, and intergalactically renowned surgeons, as they tackle anxiety-eating parasites, illegal time loops, and deep-space STIs. In Season One, doctors Sleech and Klak take on a highly dangerous and potentially groundbreaking case and, in doing so, put existence itself in jeopardy. Although considering their dismal personal lives, oblivion might be an improvement.