Blake Lynch took the adage “laughter is the best medicine” to the next level.
The trauma center nurse turned stand-up comedian is scheduled to perform his funny work Saturday at the River Center Performing Arts Theater in Rising Cane. He uses the stage name “Nurse Blake” and promises his 8pm show, the last stop on a 50-city tour, will be 90 minutes of laughs.
The title “Nurse Break: Shock Advice Tour” refers to when a defibrillator is used to shock a patient’s heart to return it to normal rhythm. “So it’s like being prepared for the unexpected,” says “Nurse Blake.”
Photo courtesy of Nurses Blake and Rowan Daly
“I almost peed my pants,” Lynch, 33, from Florida, said Thursday. “But nurses are used to putting up with no bathroom breaks during a 12-hour shift, so most nurses are perfectly fine with it.”
“Nurse Blake” makes fun of what she knows and focuses on the nursing profession. She estimates that 70% of her audience will be nurses, and the remaining 30% will be friends and family of nurses, doctors and health care professionals. Lynch has given the show a PG-18 rating.
“I think what’s so cool is the composition of my show and my age, because you can have a 20-year-old nursing student next to a 78-year-old retired nurse and just laugh at the same jokes. That’s so cool and special. I think it’s a thing,” said the 33-year-old from Orlando, Florida.
He has been a nurse for 10 years and explained that his comical acting skills came from being at the bedside of asthma patients.
Blake Lynch owns and operates NurseCon at Sea, a nursing conference held annually on cruise ships.
Photo provided
“I told her this joke and she laughed so hard that she had an asthma attack. That’s when I realized I was really funny,” Nurse Blake said. “So from then on, I started telling jokes to patients and their families.”
Lynch said that as a nurse, she is acutely aware of how difficult the medical field can be, and that sometimes you just need to laugh.
“So I became the nurse clown on the ward and read all the comments through online videos and the nurses watched my videos and made their day better,” he said. Ta. “So I continued to not only make videos, but actually put them out live.”
Lynch started the Facebook page while working at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. He has also worked at trauma centers in Florida, South Carolina, Texas and Seattle. A successful career as a comedian took Lynch’s nursing in a different direction.
As for why he doesn’t currently work at a medical center, he said, “People don’t hire me because I’m a big talker.” “I consider myself an advocate for nurses and patients. I can say what other nurses want to say, but they can’t because they work in a hospital. So I’m able to speak up for them like that.”
He is also the owner and manager of NurseCon at Sea, a nursing conference on cruise ships.
“Held every spring, it attracts over 3,000 nurses from all over the world. It’s definitely the perfect balance of education and fun, release and connection,” he explained.
The next meeting will be sailing from Miami to the Bahamas in April on a Royal Caribbean ship.
Additionally, Universal Resort’s first land-based conference, NurseCon Orlando, was held last week.
Lynch’s interactions with nurses through conferences and tour trips keep him and his jokes fresh, but some punchlines still stand the test of time.
“The jokes I could tell about nursing 10 years ago are just as relevant today,” he says. “I’ve brought in perspectives from a lot of different places. For the most part, nursing is the same everywhere. My jokes work whether I’m in Australia, Europe or Canada. So it’s important to note how similar our experiences are. It’s very interesting.”
Indeed, there are laughs everywhere “Nurse Blake” goes, whether on the road or under the sea, nursing or performing on stage.
First, though, is pre-show training.
“It puts me in the right mood and the right mindset and gives me the energy I need to keep moving forward and stay healthy,” he said. “It’s very easy to eat Doritos on the bus. But then you have to get off the bus.”
“Nurse Blake: Shock Advice Tour”
Saturday 8pm
Raising Cane’s River Center Performing Arts Theater, 396 St. Louis St.
$27+
ticketmaster.com or nurseseblake.com.