Ike Barinholtz was worried about what would happen with his character on “The Mindy Project” after he broke his neck.
“It was a little touch and go,” he told reporters at TCA on Thursday.
Barinholtz, who plays Nurse Morgan Tookers, broke his neck a few weeks ago while performing a fall stunt on his upcoming film “The Pact.” According to People, Barinholtz had two fractured cervical vertebrae in his neck, is now prescribed to wear a brace by doctors.
“Luckily, I’ve had great doctors who have really helped me with my recovery,” he told People. “I do as they tell me.”
In his appearance at TCA, Barinholtz was rocking the white neck brace, seemingly unaffected by the injury. The show was also seemingly unaffected, as Mindy Kaling helped to write it into the show.
“I had an emotional phone call [with Kaling],” he said. “I said, ‘listen, I hurt myself. I don’t know what I can do,’ and she was instantly like ‘we’re going to write it into the show. We’re going to take care of you. If you can’t do stuff, tell us.’”
“I kind of started crying,” he added.
The solution was simple and in line with his character. Tooker fell out of a bunk bed.
“We both started laughing so hard,” Barinholtz said. “I thought that was a fun pitch for the character.”
“We were lucky that you got the funniest injury possible,” executive producer and showrunner Matt Warburton added.
Barinholtz was on the top of his comedy game at the panel, cracking jokes and jumping in to tout his (not real) connections to Oprah Winfrey and how he’s still the Elliot Gould of the series.
“I’m Jewish, tall, insufferable sometimes…” Barinholtz said.
Said Barinholtz, when a reporter asked Kaling about working with Winfrey and Ava Duvernay on “A Wrinkle in Time”:
“She’s worked with them, but I’m closer friends with them and I don’t want to jeopardize my friendship with them,” he said. “I put in too much time with ‘Ope.’”
In another section of the panel, a reporter asked Kaling when she feels like Wonder Woman. Barinholtz compared himself to David Thewlis.