The hit NBC drama, "E.R.," has been off the air since 2009 after 15 seasons. Many have thought a reunion with one of the show's biggest stars, George Clooney, would never be possible. But leave it to “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to bring one of the biggest movie stars back to his TV roots.
The segment was introduced by Guillermo Rodriguez, Kimmel's Mexican-American security guard turned sidekick, as a momentous first time ever reunion of the cast of the long-running, award-winning show, "E.R."
But the reunion was not as it turned out to be, as Clooney discovered as he performed the skit.
Although Kimmel was supposed to play a patient who was unconscious, he had to break character to explain that they could not exactly book any of Clooney's former cast mates.
Julianna Margulies was busy filming a new season of “The Good Wife,” Noah Wyle had Taco Tuesdays with his family, Eriq La Salle had jury duty, and even Sherry Stringfield couldn't make it because she couldn't get an Uber.
So instead, Kimmel introduced a new but familiar TV doctor face to E.R's County General Hospital: Hugh Laurie.
Of course, Laurie is not an alum of "E.R." but is the Emmy award nominated star of his own TV medical drama, “House.” But he played along in the skit in character – even walking with a cane and a limp and speaking with an American accent just like his genius doctor character who could diagnose even the most mysterious of illnesses.
Both Clooney and Laurie couldn't help but giggle at times when they improvised some of the jokes in the skit. But the real laughs came towards the end of the skit when Laurie told Clooney that the only way to save “Little Jimmy” would be to perform an emergency procedure just like they learned in TV medical school: the “Rapper's Delight.”
Hardly missing a beat, Clooney starts the first lines of the 1979 Sugarhill Gang classic.
Clooney appeared on the Feb. 2 episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" in order to promote his latest project, another Coen Brothers collaboration, "Hail, Caesar!"
UPDATE: a previous version of this article described Laurie as an Emmy award winner. He was nominated for the award but shockingly, never won.
