From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Scottish footballer, see Bob Kelso (footballer)

Dr. Robert Kelso
First appearance	"My First Day"
Created by	Bill Lawrence
Portrayed by	Ken Jenkins
Information
Gender	Male
Age	65 (as of season 7)
Occupation	Doctor of internal medicine
Title	Chief of Medicine
Family	Spouse: Enid Kelso Sons: Harrison Kelso, Thong Tri Kelso Nephew: Francis (Pool Cleaner)

Dr. Robert "Bob" Kelso, M.D. (most commonly referred to as Bob Kelso, Bobbo or Kelso) is a fictional character played by Ken Jenkins in the American sitcom Scrubs.

Contents 1 Profile 2 Personal background 3 Peculiarities 4 Kelso's compassion 5 References

Bob Kelso is the truculent chief of medicine for the hospital. It was revealed in "My Growing Pains" that Kelso was born in 1942. He graduated twelfth in his class at Stanford University in 1968, although he had claimed to have graduated first in the class of 1972, until his lie was exposed by a patient using her Internet capable cellphone^[1].

He always puts the long term interests of the hospital above the interests of any individual patient. In "My Jiggly Ball", Kelso kicks a poor patient out of a drug trial to make room for a rich patient. The poor patient dies, but the rich patient makes a donation to the hospital that allows them to fund free pre-natal care for poor single mothers.^[2] Dr. Cox objects to Kelso's cold decisions (saying that Kelso is "the most evil human being on the planet, and may in fact be Satan himself"^[3]).

When Elliot Reid disagrees with Dr. Kelso on a medical decision, Kelso allows her to proceed with her preferred method of treatment. When it fails and the patient dies, Kelso tacitly praises her for making a bold decision, and refers to her as a colleague — although he is quick to add "I hate my colleagues". ^[4]

He is married, but he often speaks ill of his wife, Enid. He gleefully cheats on her. He prefers women from Southeast Asia ("for the food"^[5]). He does, secretly, care about his wife, as evidenced by the love songs he wrote for her in "My Tuscaloosa Heart".^[6] He reveals in "My Hard Labor" that Enid kicked him out of his home after finding out about one of his affairs.^[7]

Dr. Kelso drives a Cadillac he calls Bessie, which he is extremely fond of; he cries when he sees the damage another car does to it in "My New Old Friend". Dr. Kelso also drives a 2007 Mercedes-Benz convertible.

He was revealed in "My Growing Pains" to be 65 which is the hospital's retirement age. The board is actively searching for a replacement.

Kelso was born in 1942 (making him 65 as of 2007). Kelso has said his father, Dr. Kelsonovich, moved to Monroeville, Pennsylvania and that he played baseball as a star shortstop in Altoona, about two hours away on Route 22 East. He can play the guitar and wrote numerous blues songs in college^[6]. His father was also a doctor, who endeared himself to his poorer patients by accepting gifts such as food and clothing in lieu of actual payment; he was apparently less generous to his own family, however, having left them on Kelso's own bike (an event to which Kelso attributes his irrational hatred of bikes).^[8] At the end of "My Growing Pains", it's revealed during Kelso's birthday celebration that he must retire within the next few months, as it is policy for administrators to step down when they reach the age of 65.

Kelso was in the Navy during the Vietnam War, and he claims that his fingernails were pulled out in that conflict. In "My Quarantine", he claims to have only one testicle^[9] In "His Story IV" and "My Deja Vu My Deja Vu", he reveals that he has a tattoo of the word "Johnny" on his buttocks ("...he's an old sailor buddy, and if you went through what we did, you'd understand")^[5]. He had a squad leader named Roger Dorsey, who died in his arms. His wife worked in his hospital as a nurse during his early career; as a young doctor, he slapped the bottom of an attractive nurse walking by, declaring, "Foxy Enid!"^[10]. Although she is never shown, it can be inferred, through Kelso's comments, that she is morbidly obese, paralyzed from the waist down. blind and is confined to a wheelchair. In "My Common Enemy", Kelso secretly gives her antidepressants to kill her sex drive^[11]. He has two children: a son, Harrison, a gay heavy metal fan, and a secret love child, Trong Tri Kelso, the product of his relationship with a Vietnamese woman. The existence of his love child embarrasses him, but he still pays for the boy's college education.^[12] Kelso's wife and sons are unseen characters who are often referred to but never seen by the audience, although Enid is briefly seen from behind reclining in her wheelchair and Harrison is shown in a flashback when he was a child, and was also shown briefly and distantly in a photograph. He also had a dog, Baxter, whom he adored^[13]. Baxter dies in "My Chopped Liver". In "My No Good Reason", Elliot gives Kelso a bulldog named Boomer that used to belong to a now-deceased patient.^[14] He also owns a boat named "Doctor Feel Good" which he bought when he had his midlife crisis.

Kelso is a strong advocate of nepotism. Dr. Cox refuses no opportunity to insult Kelso and even punched Kelso in the face in "My Dream Job"^[15]. Cox has often been the perpetrator behind pranks on his boss, though he doesn't always escape retribution. However, in more recent episodes, the animosity between the two of them appears to have softened somewhat^[16].

Despite his age, he has an apparently insatiable sexual appetite. Most episodes feature at least one reference to his exploits or tastes in this regard. He has almost no shame about his adultery and lecherousness, and seems to enjoy making people feel uncomfortable by talking about his behavior. He even had a "happy ending" in a massage parlour while colleague Christopher Turk is forced to watch (due to a crick in his neck). In My Jiggly Ball Kelso visits a free clinic to get treatment for a STD. Dr. Reid (who is working at the clinic) leverages Kelso's fear of discovery by his wife to regain her job at Sacred Heart.

"My Case Study" reveals that Kelso has a tradition involving his wedding anniversary: the day of his anniversary, he is blissfully happy due to the night of lovemaking with his wife, and becomes uncharacteristically generous. This is therefore the only good day any staff can approach him and ask him for something, e.g. new equipment. He later says a word too many, causing Turk to realize that the lovemaking never actually takes place, since Kelso's wife is at "fat camp". Kelso reveals that it is actually a ruse so that employees only ask him for favors one day a year^[17].

He is determined to let everyone in Sacred Heart know who is boss; to reinforce his superiority, he picks out one individual every semester and drives them to their breaking point^[15]. Sacred Heart's lawyer, Ted Buckland, is also a frequent target of Kelso's malice; Kelso is fond of bossing the milquetoast Ted around and depriving him of any kind of joy or comfort during the work day.

Kelso has had a musical called "Dr. Dad" written about him by his son, Harrison , who later "shacked up" with the actor who played Kelso in the musical^[18]. However, it was later revealed that the musical was just a front for a Meth dealing operation.

Kelso is a master of Ms. Pac-Man and uses the game as a stress reliever, and has a high score of 40,000,000 (although in actuality the highest score possible in Ms. Pac-Man is 3,333,360). In one episode, Turk cuts off the power cord to the Ms. PacMan arcade in retribution for Kelso parking on the basketball court. Kelso confronts Turk, stating that to get that score he "ignored patients so much that people died". Kelso also "competes" with Turk for a spot on the bench to eat their lunch in a peaceful area in "My Nickname" (he is impressed with Turk's efforts). He has also assured himself that Turk's name is Turk Turkleton after getting drunk at Turk and Carla's wedding and has called him "Turkleton" since. Later, when Turk reminds him of his real name, Kelso says that he prefers Turkleton. (Turky Turkelton is a reference to a character in Stephen King's book Misery.)

One of his personal quotes is "What has two thumbs and doesn't give a crap? [gives a double thumbs-up at himself] Bob Kelso." Kelso has used this quote or some variation of it at least three times in the history of the series. This is part of another personality quirk, as stated by series creator Bill Lawrence in the DVD commentaries: Dr. Kelso loves to say his own name (or as noted by Dr. Cox, just to hear it)^[2].

Kelso seems to pine for the old days of being a doctor, having not personally dealt with patients since he was promoted to Chief of Medicine. In "My Boss's Free Haircut", he confesses to Dr. Cox that he misses the days when doctors were respected and rewarded for their service to humanity^[1].

"My Transition" reveals that Kelso has "oddly youthful" legs - he shaves them during spring so he can show them off in the hospital, and is able to jump eight feet above his head thanks to his well-defined calf muscles. In Vietnam, he was able to jump into helicopters when they hovered at said height above the ground for pickup.^[19]

Kelso has a habit of making jokes or references that no-one understands or that require inside information to understand.

He is fond of spending the hospital budget on himself, for example, in "My Kingdom", he spends hospital money on a golf trip to Hawaii rather than buying a new computer for the hospital^[20], and in "My Hypocritical Oath", when he admits having used hospital funds to buy a T.V. instead of an MRI machine.

Kelso has a well-hidden compassion for his patients, his coworkers, and even his employees. He looks after his gardener and their family ("Now who's up for Dairy Queen!?"), he gives Carla a lift to the hospital, and demonstrates a close, friendly relationship with people outside of his work^[21]. While he often jokes about it, he is accepting of his gay son's lifestyle and really does love him. While trying with Dr. Cox to crush Dr. Molly Clock's spirit in "My Common Enemy", he feels remorse when she appears to break down due to their efforts. This is what Molly was trying to prove all along; that neither Cox or Kelso are the completely heartless men they try to appear to be^[11]. Cox has noted in the past that deep down Kelso does hate to be thought of as the most hated person in the hospital. ^[20].

"My Scrubs" reveals that Kelso has always known about how patients with no health insurance have been receiving treatment, but keeps quiet to keep the system running and to benefit a friend with a foot injury.^[22]. In "My Best Moment", he gives a man without insurance a free stay at the hospital. He finds the man's eight-year old child to be particularly affable and can't bring himself to doom the boy's father to certain death right before Christmas, considering it to be his finest moment in medicine^[23].

In "His Story IV", the admission of Private Brian Dancer, who was wounded in Iraq, sparks political debate with the staff of Sacred Heart, enough that even Dancer's health is jeaprodized. In order to unite the hospital once more, Kelso removes the employee discount at the hosptial's coffee shop (with the exception of himself).^[5] In "My Jiggly Ball", Kelso chooses to treat a rich patient at the expense of a poor one (both having identical symptoms). The rich man donates money enough for a pre-natal care program; however this decision is shown to affect Kelso to the point where he visibly pretends a cheery attitude in the face of other staffers.

Kelso has also shown certain respect for nurse Laverne Roberts; In "My Long Goodbye", he calls her "one of the good ones" and kisses her while she is comatose. It has also been hinted at that he had slept with Nurse Roberts at some point before he married Enid.^[24].

In recent seasons, Kelso plays "Macaroni" with J.D. (flicking macaroni noodles at Dr. Beardface) and is quite good at it. Kelso also helps Turk play a prank on Dr. Cox in "My Turf War". However, Kelso becomes very hostile towards Reid when she gets a job in private practice. This changes in "My No Good Reason" when she thanks him and gives him a bulldog to replace Baxter.

v • d • e Scrubs
Main characters	J.D. (Zach Braff) · Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke) · Christopher Turk (Donald Faison) · Carla Espinosa (Judy Reyes) · Perry Cox (John C. McGinley) · Bob Kelso (Ken Jenkins) · Janitor (Neil Flynn)
Other characters	Jordan Sullivan (Christa Miller) · The Todd (Robert Maschio) · Ted Buckland (Sam Lloyd) · Keith Dudemeister (Travis Schuldt) · Doug Murphy (Johnny Kastl) · Laverne Roberts/Nurse Shirley (Aloma Wright) · Kim Briggs (Elizabeth Banks) · Minor characters
Setting	Sacred Heart Hospital
Music	"Superman" by Lazlo Bane · The Blanks · Colin Hay · Keren DeBerg · Joshua Radin
Crew	Bill Lawrence · Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan · Mike Schwartz · Michael Spiller · Adam Bernstein
Notable episodes	Episode list · "My First Day" · "My Old Lady" · "My Screw Up" · "My Way Home" · "My Lunch" · "My Musical"