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  • The Janitor does interact with other characters in Series 1, though. I don't know where this myth comes from :)
    • It comes from one of the commentary's on season 1.
    • Commentary on season 1 says that originally they thought they'd make the janitor only a figment of JD's imagination, but they later scrapped that idea. This is why for the first episode or two, the janitor only interacts with JD. Obviously, as time progresses, he interacts much more with the other characters.
    • It's not a myth.
    • I checked when I was watching Season 1 recently and the only time that someone other than JD interacts with the Janitor is Ben in the second half of My Occurrence but this is later revealed to be a fantasy.
    • In My Sacrificial Clam (1.21) after JD "rejects" his offer of baseball tickets, the Janitor asks if anyone wants to go to a ball game with him. The (chubby) guy behind him raises his hand, and the Janitor says "Not you," so the guy puts his hand back down and turns away.

I watched Season 1 and checked out for this and didn't notice him interacting with anyone except during fantasies. --SignorSimon (talk/contribs/email) 10:31, September 29, 2009 (UTC)

  • Watch it again. In My Bad he's noticed by Elliot. And that's for the first time he's noticed by someone other than JD. There's also a scene in My Old Lady when Janitor mimes "I'm going to kill you" to JD while he's talking to Dr. Kelso but when Kelso raises his eyes he looks at Janitor like there's no one there. --StanMarsh 11:32, September 29, 2009 (UTC)
  • In the episode "My Bed Banter & Beyond" the janitor is shown to be interacting with Laverne, blocking her way with a vacuum cleaner, where she is clearly shown to look at him with a look of disgruntlement. This scene isn't shown to be part of one of J.D's fantasies (none of the sound effects which usually signify one of these are played and there being no real transition from the previous scene to it) and is a clear interaction with another member of the cast, an oversight?

Tom?[]

In Season five, Episode 11 "My Buddy's Booty" one of the janitors buddies either says 'nice one Tom' (possibly his real name is Tom) or 'nice you tell him' Someone who has a scrubs DVD with subtitles please check this? The scene on youtube

  • I don't think that the creators have even given him a name, or ever will. I don't think Scrubs is anything like Lost where we have to freeze-frame or slow it down to find clues. --Ohmyn0 17:11, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

"Mr Jan Itor: His Real Name, And Is Y He Became A Janitor

    • I dont have Scrubs on DVD - but is his name-plate really unreadable?!?!?
      • It's pretty hard to check, but the featurette 'Who Is This Man' on Season Four says that it reads as 'Janitor'. Pretty clever, kind of 'In your face!'.

Answer to both comments[]

Just to clear this up, officially, The Janitor wasn't/isn't called "Tom", and he doesn't interact with other characters. --Captain Price 20:28, 27 August 2008 (UTC)


In season 8 the janitor is called "Tommy" after telling JD that his name is glenn mattews. (My finale) Also JD did stick the penny in the door. It fell out of his pocket and rolled under the door. The janitor saw him. (My finale)

Janitor's True Identity and Profession[]

What do you think the Janitor's real name is? What about his profession?

  • I'm going to hide my thoughts, so highlight if you are curious: I think the Janitor's real name is Neil Flynn, same as the actor who portrays Janitor. His profession will be an actor, and he has been researching a role in the hospital for the past 8+ years. --Ohmyn0 talk) 02:24, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
  • I think that the real name of the Janitor is something like Dohn Jorian. (highlight)Blopa 20:45, 15 March 2009 (UTC)
  • I reckon that it will almost certainly be something to do with his actor, Neil Flynn. It may just be "Neil Flynn" or one of the roles he has previously played before. And knowing how improvised Neil is when acting in Scrubs, and the freedom that Bill Lawrence gives the cast, it will probably be a name chosen by him. --Jake (Captain Price) 14:22, 8 April 2009 (UTC)
  • I am VERY certain that it is "Shawn" or something that starts with "SH" because that's what the "priest" at his wedding said before the Todd cut him off by giving his bud a high-five. anonymous

I've got a feeling his name will be John Dorian. You can quote me, Sam Reid, on that.

Janitor's name is Glenn Matthews, according to "My Finale". This can be assumed as true because, not only has Bill Lawrence said that his name would be revealed in this episode, but also that it would be the same name as the janitor from Clone High. The janitor in question was named Glenn.

though there was some doubt Orderly:hey timmy. Janitor:How ya doing

yeah, i don't see how you can believe janitor when he tells j.d. his name is Glenn Matthews. he lies all the time. plus he has told many different people many different names over the course of the show. plus, he is adamantly against change in this episode, so why would he suddenly change and tell j.d. his actual name? just my thoughts. --Jonhobson 15:49, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

At that point there really was no reason for Janitor to lie to J.D. anymore since J.D. apologized for the penny incident. The orderly calling him Tommy was just a joke tossed in there, Glenn Matthews makes more sense because it doesn't contradict what Bill Lawrence has said about Clone High.Kite22

Of course that's not his real name, who really wants to know his real name? It's better that its kept a secret, there isn't a name that could live up to the expectations of the last eight years. --SignorSimon (talk/contribs/email) 10:33, September 29, 2009 (UTC)
  • I'm taking this from the main article, but I originally posted it. "In an interview dated 8/20/2009, Bill Lawrence states that we still do not know Janitor's real name. (source)" Ultimately it could never live up to 8 years of mystery, so the writers created a way to leave it open to interpretation. If you want it to be Glenn Matthews in your perception, fine. Scrubs Wiki will leave it as "Janitor". --Ohmyn0 (talk) 22:43, September 29, 2009 (UTC)
    • No-ones ever going to call him Glenn Matthews even if we were positive it was his real name. Remlap1986 22:54, September 29, 2009 (UTC)

"Hey Tommy"?[]

At the final episode of the eighth season, when Janitor reveals his name to J.D, right after J.D leaves, an orderly passes by and greets the Janitor with "Hey Tony", not "Hey Tommy". It doesn't even sound like Tommy. Even though it's a minor detail, it should be changed.

It is Tommy, its Tommy on the subtitles on DVD and Blu-ray and even what's heard and sound is Tommy. --Remlap1986 15:05, September 30, 2010 (UTC)

  • It's also Tommy in the original episode Script (I have an original one, with an original signature by Bill Lawrence that I won in a contest at ABC's old Scrubs website), so that's an additional proof. --chrisis123 15:36, September 30, 2010 (UTC)

The Janitor is NOT named Glen Mathews — JFelder (talk) 00:40, November 5, 2013 (UTC)

Locking this article, pagename is Janitor[]

Yes, his character's canonical name is Glenn Matthews, but we're going to leave the wiki article titled Janitor because that's the article that 99.9% of fans know him as, so that's what they'll be searching Google for. — -- Trevor (Ohmyn0) 17:02, November 22, 2019 (UTC)

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