Janitor

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Janitor (Alter-Egos)



	Portrayed by	Neil Flynn
	First seen	My First Day
	Occupation	Janitor
	Employer	Sacred Heart Hospital
	Ailment	Benign tumor (My Interpretation)
	Relationship	Married to "Lady" Williams

“I do what I do the way I do it and that's pretty much it.”— Janitor (Our Meeting in the Broom Closet)

The Janitor is the unnamed custodian and handyman at Sacred Heart Hospital.

About

Janitor takes a great pleasure in making J.D.'s life as difficult as possible. Janitor has worked at Sacred Heart for 15 years, and has revealed that he is 45 years old. He is a wonderful liar and story teller, and can get nearly anyone to believe anything he says, even if they know of his tendency towards dissembling. He fools people into believing a variety of crazy stories, some of which turn out to be true. According to himself, he was once a world-class 100-meter hurdler which he proved. (My Bright Idea) He claims to have been working at the hospital for a "long time" and looks destraught and upset when Dr. Maddox fires him, but he ultimately scams the hospital into giving him his job back. (My Jerks) (My Happy Place) Janitor admittedly hated everybody. (My ABC's)

Very little about Janitor's family is known, because there are so many different stories about his family, any of which could be true. He once joked that he is J.D.'s father. He has a father who other hospital staff members have seen; however, he later claims that his father died before he was born. (My Words of Wisdom) When J.D protests, saying he had met his father, the janitor replies, "You met a man." Janitor claims that he grew up believing his mother was his sister and his father was his brother; he calls them "sister-mom" and "brother-dad". (My Own American Girl) He says that his mother once snapped her index finger because his dad was late to church and that when she dented the car his dad threw himself down the stairs (My Point of No Return). He has a stepmother who is Inuit. He has claimed to have a deaf sister and a brother who is a stripper. He also claims that he has a stepbrother named Cleet, who was older than his parents, who hit a mid-life crisis and fought with his father constantly and slept with his mother. He claimed he was married to a woman with only a pointer finger on one hand and thumb/pinky on the other. He complains that J.D. made him miss his son's (named Timmy) school play by making him work (My First Step), but later, he says that he does not have any children, and doesn't want any until medicine was advanced enough to make a child with gills, with whom he would go treasure hunting. In one of J.D.'s fantasies, he appeared in his son's school room on Career Day, presenting himself as Dr. Ján Ïtor.

Relationships

Janitor frequently torments all of the employees at the hospital, especially J.D. The two exceptions are Carla whom he appears to fear, and Elliot who he has a crush on. However, after the passing of Laverne, he went to the bar along with other staff members and bought a round of drinks for everyone.

J.D.

Ever since The Janitor thought that J.D. put a penny in the door, The Janitor has devoted half his life to annoying him, and playing pranks on him. He torments J.D. daily, and when J.D. says anything to him, Janitor takes it as an insult about him being nothing but a janitor. J.D. is Janitor's largest victim, and is picked on by The Janitor nearly every day.

Elliot

To the annoyance of J.D., Janitor is very nice to Elliot and often helps her out when she is in trouble. Elliot appreciates this and calls him "sweet". Also, Janitor calls her "Blonde Doctor" as he doesn't actually know her name. He learned her name once while on a date but has since continued to refer to her as "Blonde Doctor". He has proposed to her, but she didn't notice. (My Unicorn)

Turk

Janitor doesn't speak to Turk much, but when he does, he's often acting towards Turk as he does with J.D., annoying him but he doesn't do this much.

Carla & Other Nurses

Although Janitor rarely speaks to Carla or any other nurses, he can often be found around the reception area with all the nurses, suggesting that he likes being in that area and with them. He does occasionally talk with Carla, however, and like with Elliot, he often helps her out. He also finds Carla very scary, and rarely confronts her because of her rants that she may attack him with, although he once tried to blackmail her into giving him her baby so he could sell it.

Lady

Janitor is currently married to Lady, a lady whose name is actually Lady. He wears sweaters, brings her flowers, and lies about his peculiarities to Lady. He tries to reveal who he is slowly so she does not freak out. They finally get married when they make a vacation on the Bahamas, and she makes him happy because she accepts him for who he really is. (My Soul on Fire, Part 2)

Cleaning Staff

In the custodial society of Sacred Heart, he is seen as a leader and the other custodians seem to obey his every command. He also often works with other hospital employees to annoy J.D., such as Troy.

Dr. Maddox

Dr. Maddox doesn't appreciate Janitor's pranks and begins to question who he is. She asks him what his name is, and she gets a very smug response and Janitor doesn't take her seriously and gives her no respect. She then checks his name tag for his name, and when she finds it says "The Janitor" she fires him on the spot. (My Jerks) When Dr. Cox is looking for ways to get Maddox fired, Janitor enlists to help. After she is gone, he gets his old job back simply by showing up. (My Saving Grace) (My Happy Place)

Janitor Story

Full article: Janitor story

Janitor often does things that don't quite line up with the normal flow of Sacred Heart. He has appeared in nearly every episode of Scrubs and has many strange subplots dedicated or driven by him.

Personality Profile

Likes

Taxidermy (especially squirrels)
"Blonde Doctor"
Floors (he thinks of them as his children and has given them names)
Sharks
Vanning (My Best Laid Plans)
Hibbleton (My Ocardial Infarction)
His old mop
Lady
The adrenaline rush from lying to someone's face (His Story III)
Honey Bunny sandwiches (My Soul on Fire, Part 2)

Dislikes

J.D.
Working
Scooter pie
Whales
Banana Hammocks
Being called stupid
Not having his own office (My New Role)
Wednesdays
Audry Hepburn (My Soul on Fire, Part 2)
Being called "Jumpsuit" (His uniform is not a jumpsuit, it's a shirt and pants.)

Nicknames

Captain Belly Stink-Water
Chewie (Dr. Cox) (My New Role)
Mr. Cleanup Man (Dr. Rotinaj) (My Urologist)
Frankenstein (Dr. Cox) (My Lips Are Sealed)
Freakshow (Dr. Kelso) (My Mirror Image)
Honey Bunny (Lady) (My Soul on Fire, Part 2)
Jolly Green (J.D.) (My Drug Buddy)
Jump-Suit
The King (Jimmy) (My Happy Place)
Lurch
Mongo (Dr. Cox) (My Own Personal Hell)
Moppenstein (Sunny) (Their Story II)
Night School (Carla) (My Malpractical Decision)
Rusty (Dr. Cox) (My Saving Grace)
Sasquatch
Shrek
Sir Plunge-a-lot (My Hero)
Mr. Smart-Guy
Soft Scrub (Carla) (My Unicorn)
Stretch
Supercuts (Dr. Cox) (My Best Laid Plans)
The following "terrible things" (My Manhood)
- Backstabber
- Josh (acronym for Janitor Of Sacred Heart)
- Zebra-poacher
Weirdo (Jordan) (My Chief Concern)

Alter-Egos

Alter-egos
- Ephraim (Stuttering alter ego)
- Klaus (German alter ego)
- Nigel (British alter ego)
- Roscoe (Fake Brother)
Unnamed character afraid to go back to prison (Janitor) (My Saving Grace)
Dr. Ján Ïtor
Dr. Elliot Reid (My Female Trouble)
Rotinaj
- Dr. Rotinaj
Glen Matthews (possibly his real name) (My Finale)
Tommy (My Finale)

Trivia

It is revealed in the DVD commentary that if Scrubs wasn't renewed for a second season (something the creators were almost sure would happen), it would've been revealed in the Season One finale - My Last Day - that The Janitor was a figment of J.D.'s imagination. Note that in Season One, the Janitor never interacted with any characters other than J.D.
The Janitor changed the address in his files to 0001 Cemetery Drive because the character Lurch in the Addams Family lived there and Dr. Kelso calls him "Lurch."
Claims to have the ability to sense when squirrels are afraid and when people don't mind talking to him in "His Story III"
The Janitor has many strange hobbies and skills, and one of the biggest is taxidermy. This is especially true when it comes to squirrels, as he is shown to have a gigantic squirrel army at one point in the series, although he says later in the episode he traded them all for a stuffed dog, Stephen. He apparently lost his taxidermy license after killing all the squirrels that were in the vicinity of the hospital.
He can speak sign language, Spanish, and Korean.
The Janitor has a key to everything in the Hospital, and mainly uses his keys to break into personnel files, having already seen Dr. Kelso's, Dr. Cox's, Jordan's, as well as having seen J.D.'s paycheck.
Much like Dr. Cox, the Janitor also refers to staff members by nicknames. The Janitor's nicknames for people are often descriptive phrases, such as Blonde Doctor (Elliot), Incredibly Handsome Guy (Keith), Irritable Townswoman of Color (Dr. Cox's fantasy representation of Nurse Shirley in "My Princess"), or Supposedly Straight Surgeon (Todd).
In the episode My Identity Crisis, J.D. has to learn everyone in the hospitals name as a bet to The Janitor, which he thinks he does. But then Janitor puts a picture of himself up and J.D. says, "No one knows your name".
The Janitor is also revealed to start his day with a bath on top of Sacred Heart. He is also able to distribute four-story atomic wedgies, which he does to Todd.
Janitor has a knack for carrying out his off-the-wall ideas, such as the newspaper entitled the Janitorial, and getting everyone to call J.D., the "co-chief resident" in Season Four.
He claims not to believe in the moon, and suspects it is simply the other side of the sun.
The Janitor has mentioned that he went to Harvard in the episode My Brother, Where Art Thou? while also saying he went to Yale in My Déjà vu, My Déjà vu.
Janitor did not appear in the episodes My Lucky Day, My Last Words (the days after he was fired) and My Absence, among others.
When the Janitor was a baby, his mother would sometimes leave his crib in the driveway and on one incident, a marble fountain fell on him. (This coincidentally also happened to Ted)
Dr. Rotinaj (although there is an actual Dr. Rotinaj working in the hospital) is listed as "sometimes allowed" into Dr. Cox's Chief of Medicine Office.
The Janitor claims to not be in "the line of peons" that fear Dr. Cox, and has pranked him on a few occasions, but in My Choosiest Choice of All it seems as though he fears him.
He claims to have a brother who is a stripper. (My Rite of Passage)

Real Name

Many fans speculated that the janitor's name is, in fact, Neil Flynn, as he admits to playing the role of a cop in The Fugitive, a part played by Neil Flynn in real life.
In My Conventional Wisdom he tells a coffee bar worker how he got his name. After he finished the worker says "You don't look Asian". The viewers don't hear the name and the story so it might be another alter ego.
In My Buddy's Booty a man congratulating the Janitor for making a joke appears to say "Nice one Tom," yet he actually says "Nice, you tell 'em."
The Janitor's name is due to be revealed in the last episode of the last season of Scrubs. Neil Flynn himself does not get to make up the name, but he does get to choose which name he would prefer his character to have when one is given to him by a writer.
It is suspected that the Janitor's name is Josh or some other J name.
The aforementioned penny in the door is suspected to be another fabrication made up by the Janitor; a quick enough eye will catch that the year said penny was minted (which he wears around his neck) is listed as 2006, postdating the incident by roughly six years.
In My Finale, Janitor reveals that his name is "Glenn Matthews" (My Finale was previously believed to be the series finale). It is unknown if this is another lie, because an orderly calls him "Tommy" seconds later.
In an interview dated 8/20/2009, Bill Lawrence states that we still do not know Janitor's real name. (source)