Someone posted this on Alt.tv.erFrom: TV Guide - Insider
January 15, 2000
Erik Palladino didn't think he had a shot when he auditioned for the role of Dr. Dave Malucci, the obnoxious second-year resident, on NBC's ER. The character's name was Dave Norquist originally. "I'm Italian-Armenian
and Norquist didn't sound like an ethnic name to me," says the 31-year-old actor, who nailed his audition, forcing a change in ethnicity for the part. Palladino loves Dr. Dave, even though the character isn't very
popular. "I thought he was interesting because he's so cocky and abrasive. He doesn't care about being liked," says the Yonkers, New York, native, whose résumé includes an eight-month stint as an MTV VJ and a role on the low-rated UPN comedy DiResta. Real doctors have told him that Malucci, who referred to a comatose patient as a "veggie burger" in one episode, is very true to life. So has Palladino picked up any pointers? "If I had a needle and a string, I could stitch someone up. I could do CPR," he says. "And I
could yell out a lot of medical terms and make them sound convincing."