The Checkup with Doctor Mike - The Worst Part Of Being A Nurse | Nurse Blake

Episode Date: August 4, 2024

I'll teach you how to become the media's go-to expert in your field. Enroll in The Professional's Media Academy now: https://www.professionalsmediaacademy.com/ Follow Nurse Blake YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nurseblake IG: https://www.instagram.com/nurse.blake/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nurseblake/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nurseblake 00:00 Intro 01:15 Starting Nurse/Nurse Con 10:13 Problems with Nursing 14:00 Going Viral 26:00 Bad Patients 34:06 Changes To Nursing 41:36 Old Nurses / Saving Nurses 46:53 Taking Vacation / Social Media 49:46 Trauma / Therapy 54:24 TikTok Nurses 59:55 Long-Term Goals 1:11:40 Hypocrisy of Healthcare Professionals 1:17:59 Book Deal Help us continue the fight against medical misinformation and change the world through charity by becoming a Doctor Mike Resident on Patreon where every month I donate 100% of the proceeds to the charity, organization, or cause of your choice! Residents get access to bonus content, an exclusive discord community, and many other perks for just $10 a month. Become a Resident today: https://www.patreon.com/doctormike Let’s connect: IG: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/instagram/DMinstagram Twitter: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/twitter/DMTwitter FB: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/facebook/DMFacebook TikTok: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/tiktok/DMTikTok Reddit: https://go.doctormikemedia.com/reddit/DMReddit Contact Email: [e-mail]

Have you ever been in the hospital or doctor's office and someone recognize you? Like, as a patient? Yeah. Okay. This happened to me the other day. How did that go? So, I had a rash. In the south.

Okay. Down south. So I go see a nurse practitioner in an SCI clinic. And she's down there for a minute. Like, down there for a minute. And then she's just like, oh, my God. I'm like, what? She's like, you're Nurse Blake.

You've probably seen Nurse Blake's hilarious yet insightful act on the internet on stage, or dare I say, at sea? Currently, he's one of the most popular creators online, and while his career started off with a huge focus on comedy, he has now transitioned to using his voice for nursing advocacy and education. He literally has no fear. He's gone after problematic hospital systems, toxic nurse managers, and even supported his colleagues during strikes. I want to ask him about his funniest stories while working in hospitals, how to fix our current health care system, His thoughts on the general field of nursing, and most interestingly, how in the world he got the idea to rent multi-million dollar cruise ships as a form of continuing medical education? Get ready to get schooled, entertained, and so much more by the coolest nurse in the game, Nurse Blake.

Nurse Blake. Hi. Hi. We are officially the first name medical professionals. Yeah, that's right. Dr. Mike, I like that. Was that your nickname growing up, or did you get that out? Like, nurse Blake?

No, no, no. It was after I graduated. Oh, really? Okay. The reason I bring it up is because when I was in high school, everyone had the joke that my father was a doctor. So they called me Dr. Mike. Okay. Yeah. But you didn't have nurse, Blake as it. No. Did you always know you would be a nurse? Yeah. Really? Yeah. What was that moment that clicked for you? Oh, no, it was like always like I had to go to nursing. I had to be in the medical field. Okay. Like nursing was my path.

So I didn't get to choose what I really wanted to do. But I knew I was going to love it. Like I love people. I love helping people. So it just made sense for me. So I didn't fight it or anything. Like I was super excited to get into it. I've been a nurse like 10 years now and I love it.

Was there ever a moment during your nursing education or maybe when you became a nurse that you had like a, oh shit moment of realizing it wasn't exactly what you expected or maybe better than you expected? I think better than I expected because I thought for the longest time that to be a nurse you had to work in a hospital and just going through nursing school and different nursing careers I've had

I'm like oh you don't have to be confined to like four walls of a hospital like nursing is way more broad you can't do so many different specialties and do so many cool things so I think it's even better than most people think yeah what have you noticed any downside

you don't have to clean shit if you don't want to clean shit you know what I mean like wipe ass you know what I mean okay got it is that like what it's known for I don't know. Like, get out of here. Most people don't say nursing clean shit. Yes, they do.

Oh, you just play butts all day? Like, that's like one of the most common misconceptions. Maybe at a frat party. No, no, no. You listen. You just take doctor's orders. You wipe ass all day. You got into nursing because you're not smart enough for med school.

I think maybe because I had a lot of friends that were studying their NCLEX when I was studying from my boards. That's not what I thought. That's all I hear. Really? Yeah. Has anyone ever said that to you directly and you got like full on offended? Yeah, like patients.

Oh, patients. Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, nursing. Oh, not smart enough for med school. Wow. Yeah. What did you say? I don't want to be a doctor.

I just don't want to be a doctor. Like two totally different things, you know what I mean? They'd be like telling flight attendants like, oh, not smart enough to be a pilot. It's like, no, I didn't want to be confined to the two-foot cockpit. You know what I mean? That's a very different response. I thought you would give. I thought you would ride away go for a swing and screw you.

We're not there yet. For the box. the swing. When is the arc of boxing coming into your world? Because all the influencers are boxing now. Oh, they are boxing now. Yeah. Yeah, not interested.

No, you're more peaceful. No, let's go on a vacation together. Let's take a trip. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, maybe we could take a vacation by the sea and go on one of your journeys. We're on a fifth cruise. Yeah, what is this? Like nurses have cruises, their own cruises?

Our own ships. So, yeah, so when I was in nursing school, at first, I was just so focused on, like, graduating and, like, passing the NCLEX, but I got involved in advocacy. I became president of the Florida Nursing Student Association. I, like, hosted my first conference, like, a thousand people came. It was pretty awesome. And I attended a lot of professional nursing conferences over the years, and they just suck. They're so boring. They're so stale. They're, like, stuck 50 years behind. They have an expo hall that you just walk around. Their sessions are so boring. Their educators just, you know, read the PowerPoints. It's worse than nursing school. And so I'm like, there's got to be something better. And I always knew back since nursing school that I wanted to revolutionize nursing conferences. I had no idea I was going to start my own. That was not the plan at all. And at sea?

I just called rural Caribbean. I was like, hey, can I like, how do I get a ship? Is that an official partner? Not an official partner. But they were our first. Yeah, we don't have official partners. We spread the love between cruise lines. So you buy your own ship?

Yeah. Dude, what a flex. For the week, yeah. You're like, oh, you have a yacht, nice. I have a cruise ship. Yeah, we got to buy the cruise ship for the week. So it's a charter. How much is a cruise ship cost?

A lot of money. A lot of people don't realize. How much is a cruise ship cost? A lot of money. But is that like $5,000 or like $5,000 or $500,000? It's millions of dollars. Millions of dollars. So a lot of people don't realize the amount of money it is to charter.

And then we bring on so many additional things. So although the cruise could be awesome by itself, we bring on 40 educators. We bring on drag queens from RuPaul's Drag Race. We bring on dancers and DJs. Bring on additional lighting for our parties. So there's actually a team of 100 people that I work with throughout the year. 13 or full-time out of our office in Orlando. And then 90 are contractors we were working with.

Wow, wow, wow. So how did this pivot all happen from being a nurse day in and day out to then moving and saying, I'm going to do social media. From social media now you're renting million-dollar cruise ships. Yeah, I never would have expected it, like ever. So I was working in the ICU in Houston. This is back in 2017. I graduated in 2014.

Same here I did. Oh, really? No way. Get out of here, dude. Oh, that's awesome. That's so cool. How old are you? 34.

Okay. I just started 33. What's your birthday? November. Tell me happy birthday. It's your birthday today? It was last week. Oh, happy belated.

Thank you so much. I'm a tourist. So that's so cool you graduate at the same time. Yeah, what the fuck are you? No, I don't know. I don't know anything about Zodiac-on, but I like saying it like that because then it makes people feel weird. I'm a Scorpio.

Oh. Oh, wait, when's your birthday again? November 12th. Sagittarius. My ex was Sagittarius. I almost hated you so much for a moment. But my moon is something else. Oh, yeah.

I don't know. I'm just making the sun. No, it is like the moon. Like the moon is something. So anyway, so I was working in the ICU. I was super burnt out. I remember I was driving home from work and I had the sense of like impending doom. I couldn't breathe.

They felt my heart racing out of my chest. I didn't know I was having a panic attack. So I thought I was dying. Wow. So I'm driving home in my scrubs. Um, it was dark out. And I remember, it was so embarrassing. I called 911. And I was like, you can't breathe. I'm dying. And they're like, no, you're talking. So you're breathing. Okay. And I'm like, fair, like fair. And so I pull over. The ambulance obviously comes. They

don't even touch me. They're just like, bro, you're just having a panic attack. But that was my first one. I had never experienced that before. It was horrible. And I realized like, I just need to break. I was spending so much pressure on myself to be like the perfect healthcare provider. And I started making videos, just like silly. Was that a panic attack due to like burnout overworking yourself? Or were you anxious about a specific situation that happened? Just burnout, built up over time. You know, I think ever since I was actually younger, just a lot of trauma kind of came up

around when I was in my, you know, mid-20s and stuff, mid to late 20s. I never thought would, it's things I've suppressed, you know, for the longest time. And then when you're when you're burnout at your job, you're working so many hours. And you know, you know, well, you're. you don't know because nurses work harder than doctors. I don't disagree with that. I'm just kidding. I'm actually a big advocate for doctors because you all work your ass off too.

Yeah. I mean, I don't think it's one or another. I think it's like different rules. I think if you truly enjoy spending time with patients, doctor is probably not the career for you. You can just spend less time with patients. Which I feel so bad for you guys because you guys are just stuck behind the computer charting, dictating on the phone.

It's a lot. We don't even have fun staff lounges like you guys. It's, get the fuck out of here. We don't have staff. There's no nurse break room, like nice staff loungers. Where? In my hospital? I used to go in there as a resident and hang out with you guys.

No, no, no, no. There's doctors lounges everywhere. We just have our unit break room, which is shit. Fancy doctor lounges, like if you're like. And then you get free food in there. Yes, yes. Okay, I've never had any of this. You get snacks.

We have one TV. Oh, I'm going to take you to a few hospitals. I'll show you some shit. How many hospitals have you worked at? Oh, God. A lot? Five? Oh, okay.

All over from like Florida, South Carolina, Texas, Seattle. I actually started in healthcare when I was 17 as a patient transporter. Oh, wow. So I got to push patients around the hospital. So you were like, not Jason Bourne, Jason Statham. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Kind of like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You guys actually have a similar look, similar vibe. Jason's. Statum? I don't know who that is, to be honest. You got to, I'm horrible with names. What other movies? Statham. Statham.

One of the main action movie. Oh, cool. Action movie guy. I'm down with that. Well, he's like really good looking guy. I was meant to be a compliment for a birthday present. I'm bad with names. I thought I was meeting Dr. Ross today. I didn't know. No. Yeah, please. That's a different doctor. Oh, yeah. You think I look like that? This guy's like, he's known as like, he's a badass. He's a heartthrock. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, not your type. I'm sorry.

No, no, no, no, no. I wonder how tall he is. I guess my type is like tall guys. Anyway. Okay. I don't think he's tall. So I guess he's off your radio. I'm here for Bet Rivers Online Casino and Sportsbook with poker icon Phil Helmew. Thanks to Bet Rivers, I'm also a slots icon. Great. And a same game, Parlay icon. Cool, cool.

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rest out, sprinkled with pumpkin spice. It's full of real flavors you'll keep coming back for. Made just for you at Starbucks. Td Bank knows that running a small business is a journey, from startup to growing and managing your business. That's why they have a dedicated small business advice hub on their website to provide tips and insights on business banking to entrepreneurs. No matter the stage of business you're in, visit td.com slash small business advice to find out more or to match with a TD small business banking account manager. So, yeah. So you're having the panic attack, built up stress, moral injury for medical practice.

Well, before we move on from that, what do you think drives the biggest part of burnout for us as medical professionals? Short staffing, number one. I mean, honestly, like, even at conferences, they talk about, oh, you need to be more resilient or you need to follow evidence-based practice while short staffing causes injuries. Like, what are you talking about? Yeah, so it's totally bullshit.

If they really care, they would focus on staffing. I think it's the biggest issue that affects, you know, healthcare workers and patients. So I think it's something that everyone could kind of get behind when it comes to. Do you think it's a budget issue or do you think it's a planning issue? That's a good question. They got the money. They got the money.

There's big-ass hospitals. They sponsor all these big events and sports teams all the time, millions of dollars to put their name on a stadium or on. on a theater. So they got the money for it. And if not, then they could work with these insurance companies. I mean, you talk about health care being a billion dollar industry, but we don't see it, right? I mean, that's pretty common across the board. All health care professionals' salaries have not skyrocketed over the years, but yet health care spending has skyrocketed. Yeah, for sure. So a lot of it has been an administrative burden on hospitals,

but also due to the fact that they can negotiate properly with insurance companies, they don't know how to get reimbursed for things. And then they go and spend, how weird. is that if you're a nurse, you work for a hospital system, you're trying to do your best, you're getting 15 patients so you have to take care of in a shift, which is so dangerous and terrible for an individual to do. And then you see your hospital just sponsored one of the leading sports teams. Yeah. You're like, where did that budget come from? It's so frustrating. It's so frustrating. And to just think it like hurts patients at the end of the day. And I think we get into health care to save people. And a lot of times, you know, we're not

able to provide the care that that patient needs and we take on that burden, right? And the hospitals put that burden on us. They like gaslight us. So you need to do better. You're not doing enough. Why didn't you do the yoga retreat that we offered last week? That's so, I hate that. Or the goody bags. The goody bag. For Nurses Week just happened. And I always ask my followers to send pictures of what they got. It's gotten better over the years. Because when I first started doing it, they were just like they would give out rocks. Like hospitals would give out rocks like in a bed and like pick out a rock. You rock, decorate your rock, and you're going to put it in a rock garden.

That's a joke. And swear to God. So this was in 2018 that happened, huge hospital system. But because all these hospitals find out that I'm posting about them, and what's so funny is I never scratch out their name. Like, I just put like a little thin line like I scratched out the hospital name. And I don't. So then they're like, oh, I need to, we need to make this better.

Like Blake's going to post about it. Good. You're keeping them honest. That's good. Hell yeah. That's why I don't, I honestly, I don't speak at hospitals anymore. That's actually how I started getting into doing my own thing. It's not that they're mad at me.

I'm mad at them. You got canceled by the hospitals. Sure. Great. Yeah. That's kind of like a badge of honor. Great. Yeah.

It's fine. Thank you so much. Have you ever gotten like heat from a hospital? Did you ever send you an email? No. No. No. No.

No. Thank goodness. No. No, I think that would have been good for you. You'd make a story. I don't want to get sued. Please. Please, please, please.

Now they're going to be like, oh, we heard that podcast. What do you mean? What do you mean? What do you mean? What do you mean? Okay. So understaffed hospitals and you feel like you're failing your patient when it's really not

your fault. Yeah. Terrible. You're bearing the brunt of that, driving home after a long shift, have this panic attack. Even the EMS workers are like, eh, you're good. Yeah. It's because of the hospitals. They're like, Jason State.

I'm like, you're fine, you know. See, he even pronounces his name better than I do. Okay. And then what happens there in that moment? You realize I need to. Yeah. Yeah, I needed to just, I need to figure it out. I didn't know what that meant.

And at that time, the male romper came out, like the male onesie. Remember the jumpsuit? No, what's the jumpsuit? Yeah, it's like a jumps. It's like a male onesie. No, that's like a blanket. Like it's a male onesie. Like it's a like a button down shirt, but it ties in with like little shorts and it all matches.

Oh, I haven't seen that. So that came out, that went viral. And I remember I like ran in my closet and I put together like scrubs. I created like a scrub onesie. So I got my scissors and like super glue and I like pinned it together. And I made my first video, which was a scrub romper, and it went viral. Like, everyone saw it. And I guess it was a slow newsday because, like, all the local news station shared it around the country.

I'm like, oh, shit. Like, people really like that. And it made me feel better just seeing nurses and healthcare workers comment from all over the world that it made them laugh. It was silly. Da, da, da, da, da. You felt a sense of community. I felt a sense of community that I didn't feel I had before, even though I was so active with my nurses' association, being involved with other. their nursing associations, you do feel alone.

I think a lot of times it's healthcare workers, it's easy to feel. For sure. Alone. Why do you think nurses have such dark senses of humor? Because we see it all. Because when I get interviewed, they're always like, oh, when did you get funny? I'm like, I'm a nurse. Like, healthcare workers, I think we're the funniest people ever.

I think nurses always have the best time. That's why I always gravitated. I actually would get in trouble in my residency for not sitting in my little cubby and hanging out with the nurse's station. Like, I would write my notes in the nurses station. That's nice you all get a cubby. well you get a cubby you get doctors lounges doctors and when i say cubby i mean like a a little thing i know i know so it wasn't that nice you guys always stealing our chairs

we are stealing chairs um but i always like the best jokes always came from us we're so funny but then like a lot of times people would get offended if someone heard them oh yeah so i say if you're a patient and you're bored as hell and you want some drama asked to be moved to the nurses station like next to the nurses station like you want that room yeah because you're going to be able to have a much better time you're going to get all the drama did you watch speaking of medical dramas the medical drama show nurses oh it's called nurses right yeah i think so it was awful that's why it was bad yeah if you were to remake it how would you make it it was a few years ago right i'd make it accurate? Like what? Make it funnier? Just even the first like the opening bit was like it was so

unrealistic. Like it was I watched it a few minutes and I'm like this is awful. Whoever made it has no idea what nurses do. Yeah. Of course I would make it more funny. Of course. And when I would say when I watch those medical dramas and I critique them and I'm like this isn't real people like well it's medical drama. It's meant to be dramatic. I'm like real life is so dramatic. You don't need to make it more. Just tell the real story like let the people pick up. Let them argue. Let this person say they hate this person. Let a patient say something meaning.

I mean, that's the reality of life. Yeah. It's weird that they force it. Okay, so you realize you needed to step out. You did the medical onesie. That went viral. What was the follow-up to the onesie? And then I kept making more videos.

I don't even remember. Like types of nurses. Yeah, I remember those going on. Stealing food in the doctor's lounge. You know, shit like that. You know what I mean? Like relatable. Relatable stuff.

Easy. all from like people are like how do you make up these videos they're all real like i'm making fun of everyone i've worked with you know everyone i went to school with and it's so funny because when i make a video about nursing students like my classmates from school will be like oh are you talking about brianna and i'm like no bitch i'm talking about you the question asker and of course you're asking me if it's brian it's you diana you know what i mean um yeah and those went viral i got more popular. Um, I started speaking at hospitals, because hospitals will invite me to speak to their staff. Because that was like resilience training for them. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And then they would

be like, but you need to say this. You need to like put our mission in there. And I'm like, that. So at first I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah. Of course I will say that. Then I get up there and do, you know, whatever I want. Um, but then I'm like, I'm, I'm, what I do, what I do for the nurse, like at the end of the day, no matter if it's videos or my tour or the conversation. Or the conference like it's always nurse focused and I will never like spend my energy trying to you know do anything please anyone hospitals or medical device companies or anything um so yeah then I started doing my own little shows I did like five of them in 2019 I like rented out little theaters and I sold tickets what did you do at the shows I just talked about my life so just like

it wasn't chatting with the audience yeah but I had a storyline and there was some humor in there I would do like little bits of my videos and stuff and it's funny to see how my tour and comedy has developed over time. But I put a lot into a lot of work into my shows and my content and what the vibe is. So it's been cool to just even see, go on stage and see how the shows have changed over the years. And you have such strong support from the nursing community. I mean, people show up by the boatloads. You're touring sometimes eight shows in a week.

Yeah. Really intense. Do you ever run into controversy if nurses saying mean things to you? Oh, he's not a real nurse. He's never been a nurse. Blah, blah, blah. He doesn't know what we go through. I'm like, okay.

Sure, whatever. You know, okay. I've learned to not give energy to people that I know don't like me. And it's okay. At first, I was very insecure. Like, I need everyone to like me. I need to say this. And I think over the years I've realized, or just even in nursing,

like you realize the importance of life and how short life is, you know, as a healthcare provider where if you don't like me, you don't like me, and that's fine. But if you don't like me and don't come to my. show then you're going to be the only one work in that unit because all the other nurses are going to be at my show so i say even if you don't like me come to the show because you don't want to be stuck at work short staff fair which is funny because whenever i do a show in a city managers will reach out and be like we need people to come like we will give an extra so you could be the cause of 600 dollar bonus no yeah they will be the cause of it because they don't know

how to stop their hospital well yeah because you're breaking the system it is they're problem. You're out here stealing the nurses. No, this is what I say. Listen, if you're an emergency when I'm doing a city in your town, don't go to the hospital, come to the theater. That's where all the healthcare workers are going to be. We'll take care of you there. That's like a wolf of Wall Street level sales. That's what I say. Yeah, yeah. It's so funny because even we had one person come to the show, it's 42 weeks pregnant. She was supposed to be induced. And instead she's like, she had her like labor bag with her. And she's like, you know what? If I was going to give birth. I'd rather give it here.

But right after the show, she's like, okay, I'm going to go have my baby. Yeah, are those shows like the safest shows? Because you have like, everyone there. Safe as cruise ship. Wow. I didn't even think about that. In fact, if I want to go on a cruise, I should just go on your cruise. It's like free medical care. Yeah. What's so funny is

a lot of times, you know, there's hospitals on cruise ships. Oh, there are. There's doctors and nurses. There's a jail. There's a hospital. There's a jail? Yeah. See, you know this because you buy them. There's a morgue? I know everything. There's a morgue? There's a morgue. Have you killed someone on tour yet?

No. That sounded questionable. Almost this woman, she ran up on stage and almost tried tackle me. Like hug tackle or like angry tackle? Like angry tackle, like, yeah. What'd you do? What'd you do?

I was just like, okay, bye. No, but what did you do that she made you show? Oh, I don't know. She just wanted to tell me how much God love me or something. Oh, so it was a positive tackle. Yeah, no, it was more like don't be gay kind of thing. Okay, kind of. Very angry.

Yeah, very angry. I was like, mom, why are you here? Mom, why? How'd you get in? Yeah. So, yeah, so there's hospitals on a cruise ship. What's so funny is on my cruise, no one goes to the hospital. So the nurses are so bored.

Like, because I get reports about, like, how many people either were injured, something happened if anyone did go to the hospital. Because a lot of people don't realize I'm running, like, the ship. Like, I am working with the captain and the teams. what time do we leave if there is an emergency what happens I'm the one that has a deck phone

that goes right to make those decisions so in addition to saying hi to everyone and organizing the education a lot of people don't realize it's a company you're literally running the ship and guiding the ship and steering the ship well there's the captain steering the ship but yeah like there was

one of the islands we were going to go to the weather was really bad so I had a backup plan if the weather was bad I had to buy a port dock in the Bahamas just in case is plan B and the weather was really bad so one of the options was and I made the call like what do we do where do we go so would you ever open up your own hospital uh no why I went open up my own hospital um because so much work it's so much you're running a ship it's so much work a hospital we can get an island you can call it nurse island so if I had a hospital I'd have

the coolest nurse managers like we would be fully staffed like the nurse would get a good lounge, like all the doctor's lounges, you know what I mean? Would you even have doctors? Probably not, honestly. You'd have them a remote for telling you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you ever been in the hospital or doctor's office and someone recognize you? Like as a patient?

Yeah. Okay, this happened to me the other day. How did that go? So, listen, so I was on tour. No, this is, let me tell you what happened. I had a rash. You say that. Down south.

In the south, down south. And I'm like, and you didn't self-diagnose? Oh, I freaked out. Like, I went to WebMD and I'm like, oh, my God, what do I have? And I typed in, like, my symptoms. I just text in your right. So I type in my symptoms. They're like, oh, my God, you have dick cancer.

And I'm like, oh, stage five. Typical for WebMD. Yeah, oh, 100%. Yeah, 100%. So I'm like, shit. So it's like, see a doctor. I'm like, God. So I go see a nurse practitioner.

I'm an SDI clinic, right? And she's down there for a minute, like, down there. for a minute and then she's just like oh my god i'm like what she's like you're nurse blake with while undressed yes well i hadn't you know my shirt on but well yeah you know you're nurse like oh yeah did she recognize you from the face or and that's a great question she's like jason satem you know what i mean she's like uh anyways i didn't have an sTI okay i had just wash my underwear with tied fragrance and I'm strictly like no fragrance so you had a little contact dermatitis situation yeah exactly okay and here I thought I had dick cancer you know well it's easy to

go down that rabbit hole oh for sure because dick cancer is something on a lot of people's minds these stage six yeah it's really bad I didn't know there was yeah it's really bad yeah it's really you know the more you know penis cancer the more you know or is it penile cancer probably you know penis can it's really it's dick cancer yeah you know because the richers out there deserve it. You got to the point where you said if you don't like me, I don't care. No, it's fine.

How do you get there? I think it's just a lot of just being yourself, right? Like I feel like especially when you start on social media or just life in general, you know, you start a new hospital, you're a new nurse, you kind of want everyone to like you. Of course, yeah. But then I learned the phrase like, if everyone's your friend, then really no one's your friend.

Right? So that was like, shit. damn and it's like it's fine there's i don't like everybody you know i don't like everybody so why would i expect anyone to like me um like anyone in this like media social media one of my cousins one of my cousins oh well i hope you have lots so they can't identify themselves any patients her name you hated wait what any patients that you've disliked of course yeah not like like you know there's patients that either will hit you or pee on you i've got pied on before so It was really fun.

I had to be so bad. I thought I was pissing myself. And then I realized, like, no, I'm not incontinent. Like, the patient's just peeing on me. Yeah, it's not dislike. It's like you're caring for people in really vulnerable moments, right? And subpatients just will give you a harder time than others. Some of it is understandable, but then some of it is inexcusable.

You shouldn't curse at a nurse, especially when... It's not your fault. Whatever is going to be. Right, yeah, it's not my fault. You know what I mean? I feel like abuse on health care workers is super high It should be a felony Is it not? Is it not? No

It should be It should be no because if you get hit on the job You tell your manager and they're just like oh Be better watch where the exit is Don't have your back towards a patient It's like what? Yeah that's gross Yeah oh the patient was having a bad day I'm like bitch I'm having a bad day can I hear you? Why is a bus driver protected by that felony rule?

Because I always see those plaques Yeah yeah why don't we have that for health care office? Or on flights flight. Flight tenants all the time So I honestly compare health care to the airline industry a lot, you know, when it comes to staffing, right? Full plane or empty plane, it's going in the air. It's got to have two pilots and the right number of flight attendants. Or guess what? It don't fly.

Even if there's just one passenger on the plane, it's per plane. And we also have the same checklists before procedures. So I compare that a lot. So especially when it comes to injuries and abuse, you know, if you hit a flight attendant, it's a felony or put on a list you can't fly again um and we'll be pretty messed up if they're not allowed to get medical care again i wouldn't do that but but you shouldn't you shouldn't hit us you know that's true and it's different if you're drunk you know incapacitated or whatever but if you're in your you know right state and you because that does happen with dementia yeah yeah i'm not

talking about that yeah yeah like i feel like nurses laugh at that like a little 98 year old lady that's a little confused she could hit me you know what i mean cute super cute super cute Super cute. What if that 98 year old lady used to be a bodybuilder and it's really strong? Then she would probably knock me the fuck out. She would knock me out. See, now you probably wish you can say that. And I'm a DNR, by the way.

Oh, you are? Oh, yeah. You think I want to be coded? Why not? No, absolutely not. Hold on. We have to get into this. Absolutely not.

Well, wait. At this age? Like, when you're 90. Not like, it's not like I have a thing on my refrigerator that says like I'm a DNR. Well, I'm saying based on your, um, like, your medical. power of attorney. Like I almost died today. I told you this morning. I went on a helicopter ride. I do it every time I'm in New York. I try to, especially when I'm with friends or family. I try to do something cool. See Hamilton, you know, go on a helicopter ride. Yeah, go on a cool podcast. So there's a flight company, helicopter company. It takes you in the air, takes you around the city, no doors. Which is very dangerous. We don't recommend. Right. Exactly. And there was actually a crash with this company. Someone was in the front seat. Something got the passenger, something got tangled. So I thought that they don't allow people in the front seat anymore.

Oh. Well, I was wrong because someone was in the front seat. And all we heard for 30 minutes was, hey, dude, you better not lean this way or we're going to have a bad date. Like, bro, I'm telling you, if you lean this way one more time, you're getting way too close to the controls and I'm back there. Because the pilot, we can hear what the pilot's saying, but we can't talk back to the pilot. And I'm like, can you see what's happening in the front?

No, because I'm facing this way and the pilot and the guy were behind me. So you're just hoping. And I was like, shit. And then I'm like, you know, if we do crash, like, I don't want to be resuscitated. Like, come. Well, why? Bro. Like, listen.

I can give you a damn good chest compressions. I'm tired. You need a break. So you're not really DNR. Like I said, it's not like all my ID, you know. But where is it? Is it anywhere? Am I, my tattoo.

My tattoo on my ass. Okay, let's say, God forbid, situation, you get sepsis. Your heart stops. You don't want. Fuck. My chest compressions? Honestly, no, that's so just even thinking about it. And after doing it, you know, on a lot of people.

Dr. Mike on your chest pushing two inches deep? Okay, four inches deep? That's very deep. Okay, four inches deep, good. That's good. You crack some ribs like that. Okay, only Dr. Mike can do it. Okay, fair.

Deal. But you get chest compressions. Would I get it? Yeah. No, I don't want that. Honestly, I don't. But why, are you like, have you had a bad incident with it? No.

But just thinking about it. you're just like, ugh, you know. Wow. Yeah. What are you, full code? Yeah. You want shit up your, you, every tube in your body, every hole in your body. At this age, we'll make a hole, we'll make a hole.

Yeah, I know. If we need it, I need it. I want to give me the hole. Okay. If you need a foxy seal, I'll nurse weight. Rib needs his father. See? He does.

Your dog is so cute. I do it for Rib and bear. Your dog is so cute. I don't have dogs. Oh, okay. So if you had a dog, you might change your, yeah, it might change your mind. Yeah. Okay.

Maybe. Because I've had those. discussions with patients about changing discussion. It's an important discussion. I just didn't expect you to have that. I even think at every age you should have this discussion. Yeah. I in fact have it sometimes when people are admitted for simple things or for procedures and they go

why are you talking to me? Is this dangerous or something? No, no, no, no, this is the time. This is the time. Like you just sprained your ankle. Let's talk about your code status just in case because you don't really know. Speaking of going to the hospitals and doing crazy shit, I took, I was in Austin for work and my family

was with me and we went tubing down the San Marcus River and my grandmother is that a lazy river or one of those rapids um so it's one of the rapids but it's not too crazy but it can get crazy and i've done it many times but i forgot how kind of crazy it gets and you went with your grandmother so listen my grandmother she's my favorite person she's nan everyone that follows me knows her she goes on the cruises like everyone has a drink with her she's crazy she goes all out on our theme nights we have the best theme nights by the way on the cruise and she's also been in the helicopter with no doors like she goes everywhere with So I'm like, let's go tubing.

She's like, I don't want to go fucking tubing. I'm like, no, come on. It'll be so much fun. Well, we're going down the rapids, and it's so shallow. Like, there's rocks. I'm like, I don't want her to, like, hit her ass or anything. So she puts her butt up, but then she tilted her head back. And we were.

Cracked her skull. No, Jesus. Mike, she's fine. She just got a little, just like a little close to the wall. She was fine. She was fine. But we did end up just for safety, making sure she got a CT scan and stuff. She's good.

She's good. You promise? I'm like, shit. That was your fault. I think it was your fault, actually. I wasn't even there. No, because the podcast was scheduled and you see. Oh, so you were rushing to get back.

Because I was rushing to get back. Sorry, Dan. But actually it was ready to get out of the water anyways, and we had another, like, hour and a half to go. Oh, okay. So it was a good way to get out. Yeah, there was like a hot dog stand and, like, the lady that was cooking the hot dogs. She was actually a nurse, by the way.

Oh, really? She took us back to her car. And my grandmother was fine. She was so funny. Besides when you got your genitals. examine when was the weirdest place you've got recognized oh besides that besides that yeah i don't think there's a weird place i feel like there's nurses everywhere that's what i'm saying every everywhere everywhere every time i go out like if i do go out there's always a nurse what's your

relationship with that do you i love it you love it never had a moment where you're like oh man no no no no no no no no no i love it so totally happy i love it yeah and i don't expect that people recognize me that they want to get a picture with me or that they want to say hi you know just like hey but if they want a picture like of course I get a picture like let me do my and I only do selfies by the way everyone knows I do a selfie okay so if someone's like oh I'll take your picture I'm like no give me the phone because I need to see what I look like you know um so fair you want to be in control I love it well as we took our picture today you're like I was like let me see more picture but look I didn't require a selfie you know oh so you let us do that I know I

trust in you guys I appreciate that yeah um speaking of the nursing field yeah right now we're going through like a lot of changes from like a legislative perspective what's going to happen with nurse unions what's going to happen yes go nurse unions yeah so what's your like magic wand situation where you could say I'm going to fix this safe staffing the number of patients per nurse number one issue number one issue and how do we fix that number one we need to retain our nurses that are there nurses are so burn out you know they're overworked and nurses are just leaving just leaving a lot of nurses are also going to travel nursing yeah it's for the money they make really good money

well especially a few years ago they made a lot of money and they still they're rich um if i had to do it again i would get into travel nursing because they're so much fun like they're so fun like if you're bored on your unit with all your co-workers just hope for a travel nurse and just go out with them because they're the ones they always want to go out and do stuff you know okay always go drinking always go out. Yeah, so I think safe staffing is number one. So retaining your nurses, retain the nurses, get better nursing instructors out there, get more nursing instructors out there and pay them well.

Because you can actually get paid more money in the hospital than teaching at these massive universities that make a lot of money that are still nonprofit. Yeah, nursing instructors don't get paid enough. Why is it that when I see some more experienced nurses taking on a new nurse, There's almost like this hazing ritual that happens. I love older nurses. I love season nurses. They're actually some of the funniest.

So when I do my show, a lot of people think just younger nurses come to my show, but it's a wide range. Like 20-year-old nursing student next to an 80-year-old retired nurse. And one older nurse, she actually like flashed the whole audience. Like she was in the balcony. I'm like, how long have you been nurse? She's like 54 years. I'm like, okay, Florence Seiding Gail. And she was just like, eh.

I'm like, oh, my God. but I did burla you know burla right her boobs were equal and round reactive to light oh but there's burla but there's burlas for boobs

yeah so anyway wait wait what is it burla said for boobs boobs equal round oh burla with a light yeah see wow that was good you got it I know it just kind of happen like in the moment

so for people that don't know so older nurses they love my shit it's a younger nurses in my show that are like can I laugh at this which is hilarious to me they feel like they have to be so professional but the ones that have seen it that have been there 30 years they know what's up yeah

they're never offended but wait you see it on answer the question why do they bully the younger nurses so I don't think it's just the older nurses bullying the younger nurses I think it goes so many different ways but there is a phrase it's called nurses eat they're young it's because we don't get breaks and we're hungry and that's why we should eat whatever we can I just don't know I think it's just the culture

of being overworked not having enough staff and then you can't complain to management because they're not around so it's just easy to kind of like kind of pick on each other which there's never an excuse for it there should be no bullying everyone should be working together as a team so even saying it and they're like come on guys like don't be mean like you got to come in and play mom fair you know and then why is it that nurses of every department have some sort of animosity with each other or like territory because they're I could see a nurse and I know exactly what specialty they're not 100% just by the personality.

Just interacting with them. Oh, yeah. Just by their personality. So can you be like one of these oracle-esque people when someone comes to you and they say, hey, I don't know where to go. And you say, I know. I know. Neo, I know.

See? And I'm like, you work in the OB, you work in L&D, you work in the ER. So what is it that tips you off to that? It's just, they're personality traits. So CVICU nurses. Give me the personality traits. I see you. What do we got?

I see you. They're just like, they're cool. right they're cool but they're smart so they're a little they're they're if you compare ICU nurse to ear nurse the ear nurse is going to be more like in your face laughing the ICU nurse is going to be just a little more laid back cool fun we love to go out with them because I used to be an ICU nurse um but the ear nurses are just a little more loud you know and then OB OB they're they're just so they're so chill they don't really give a fucking they come in groups so you know if there's like a group of 10 nurses

they're in L&D. And a lot of people that come to my show, they come in like party buses. So like whole units will come to the show. It's insane. Oh, yeah, it's insane. So that's how I know the L&D nurses. Okay.

And then what else? We got pediatrics. Pediatrics. They're always like really cute. They always have something fun on them. They always wear something fun. They're always like, they're like always laughing and giggling.

They, um, yeah, they talk in like kid language, right? Because they just deal with kids all day, you know. Wow. I want to do one of those videos that are popular on YouTube. It's like, guess who the bodybuilder is or something? And you have to guess which nurses. I'll do it. I do it all the time.

We're going to produce that. We're going to hire a bunch of different nurses. Some won't even be nurses. And you're going to have to guess who they are. And for every time you guessed a correct one, I'm going to give like $5,000 to charity of your choice. Deal. We're doing it.

Done. Sam. Lock it in. And then like correctional nurses, they're always like, you know, tattoos everywhere. Just like. Diesel. go to the gym. Yeah.

Is it true what they say about male nurses? Wait, what do they say about male nurses? I was going to let you feel that in. What do they say about male nurses, Dr. Mike? That's the question. What are they saying? I don't know. I was going to hope that you tell me.

So typically, like, you want a male nurse on you. You just want a male nurse on your unit, right? Because they're going to help lift all your patients for you. Not me. Because, like, I'm not lifting anybody. Jason. I'm not lifting anybody. You said you were a transporter.

I was. I was a transporter until I had a little accident. So I was transporting this cute little patient out. She's going to be discharged, right? So I'm 17 years old. I'm like so excited. I'm like talking to her. I'm like, oh, you get to go home.

So her son pulls up the car. I put her in the car. And I'm like, oh, have a good day. And as I went to go shut the door, she went to go reach for a seatbelt. So she slammed her fingers and then warm. So I'm like, okay. So I'm like, okay, welcome back to the hospital. Let's take it to the ER, sitting in to the ER.

So it's like not her lucky day. And you got fired? So, no, I didn't get fired. I didn't get fired, but I did get moved to a different department. So I worked in surgery for a little bit. Okay. Because that's safer. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right, exactly. Pack you. 100%. So I would clean up all the rooms and prep them and turn them over. Okay. What were we talking about? Male nurses? Strong?

Strong. Yeah, to carry some patients around? typically bald bald straight male nurses straight men are they're strong they're bald you know why bald is it from the stress it's again like these this like stereotypical like we very fit in boxes it's so funny i love it i make fun of it in my show i actually roast like every single specialty and department i even get two male nurses and stuff and yeah they're great that's so funny um well the guy that i was telling you i was studying for the end Clark's exam. He's a male nurse and he always would talk about the wild times.

Just a nurse. Well, yeah, but in this situation. Or a nurse. Your experience, who is the most fun nurse you ever worked with? I would say either the oldest nurse on the unit. Specifically, I want you to get someone in your mind. Oh, like a person? Probably Sandy. I work with Sandy back in Houston. At first, I'm like, she don't like me because she knew her shit. And I think you could see it as like nurses eating her young because she wasn't like, you know, having the most warm person. But over the time I got to know her and she got to know me, we were like best friends. So yeah, it's definitely the older nurse that has stuck around the longest time. They don't give a, you know, they talk back to management when the

younger ones are afraid to. And they're like, they're the one where if you're the patient, you want that. I would be a full code if Sandy was my nurse. Does that make sense? Yes, but it makes me sad that you wouldn't want me to do chest compressions. I said you can four inches deep. Did we not say four inches deep? That's not how you do it. That's too deep. Okay. But Sandy clearly knows how to do it.

Yeah, she's good. I trust her. Okay, so Sandy was your rock star. Yeah. Have you ever had a doctor mess up and you saved them? Ooh. Boy. Yes.

I'm trying to think of, there's just like little things when either the common things that we mess up. medication dosages it would be it probably medication doses luckily it would be caught in pharmacy right or if you see an order and you're like oh but look at those labs you know what I mean so a lot of times

we just people think nurses we just follow doctors orders but a lot of times you're checking we're catching all this stuff especially you working in the ICU oh my God how many things are being caught oh so much yeah yeah so many things a lot of people don't realize like just how

what nurses do and the critical thinking that goes into being a nurse or a health care provider, you know, in general. Even from like line management, like in the ICU. Yeah, you touch a wrong button. It's not going to be good. So, and that's why ICU nurses are always a lot more anal, a lot more, you know, they're very type. I would always get in trouble with ICU nurses when I would put like a central line in, I would leave like a little bit of a mess or I would spill something somewhere.

And I was like, oh, shit. You better clean that shit up. So I'm like scrubbing the floor. You don't want the nurse to be mad at you. No, especially as a resident. Yeah. Do you ever work with bad residents? No, just the ones that had like the God complex.

Oh, listen to me. It's like, okay, you've been here a day. You've been here one day. So that does happen. Oh, it does happen. Yeah. So you're catching a lot of like those mistakes or errors and stuff. But they get humbled really quickly because you'll have a nurse like Sandy that'll be like,

you know, check them, put them in their spot. Yeah. I feel like nurses literally a lot of the times are telling us what to do. yeah it goes you know yeah we're we're better i mean we're i mean like that's how i learned better even from like a procedural standpoint like having the nurse there was always better than having a physician honestly i wish nurses and you know nursing students and medical students actually collaborated more took some classes together there's no reason why we don't you know we're all there for the same reason and purpose yeah i don't know why that doesn't happen more

often. Yeah. Is it? So if I, you asked me if I would start a hospital and I was trying to think of what I would do. I would do a nursing school. Oh. Okay. Yep. Yep. I actually have a platform right now nurse con learning where nurses can get C&Es for free. We're revamping that right now. But I would love to do like nurse con university and have instructors just teach live courses for free all day. But wait, how can you do it for free? Yeah. So I invest a lot of money I make like on tour or doing like side projects and stuff back to projects like that. So that's kind of my way of... What's a side project that you're in?

Like, I did something for Indeed. Indeed, they're, you know, the big career company, right? They launched a new hub for nurses. And I only take on a project if it helps, again, the nurses. So I'm like, I'm not going to work for Indeed if they're catering to the hospitals. But their number one priority is a job seeker. It feels like you really have to have, like, teams.

Yeah, I'm like, who are you catering to? The job seeker or the employer? And they're like, oh, 100% the job seeker. So I was like, oh, I'll take. take on that project. And, you know, we get paid for things like that, you know. And so I'll take funds from there and put them into things like NurseCon learning or Nurse Con University. Do you think the reason or one of the big reasons why nurses feel so strongly about you is the fact that you never lost sense of this advocacy for them? I don't know. That's a good question.

I do what I do because I love it. I do what I do because I'm having fun. If at any time like people started to stop coming to the shows or the crews, you know, what's next? I really don't put a lot of pressure on myself. I think that's something that has really helped me, especially through my anxiety. I feel like as a nurse, we ought to be perfect. And after I had my panic attack, I kind of was like, I have to let that go. You know, I chose nursing because I love people, chose nursing to make people feel better. So I would bring comedy to the bedside. I would be a lot more fun. You know, talking to my patients, joking with them. Then I realize you're never going to be perfect in health care. Like we're always learning. And that made me have more fun. It's a practice.

it's a practice. And that made me have more fun. And I kind of do that to what I do now. Like, as long as I'm having fun, I'm going to keep doing it. Yeah. This episode is brought to by Tron Aries. For the first time, the captivating world of Tron breaks out of the grid. Aris, a highly advanced program, journeys into our world on a dangerous mission, marking humankind's first encounter with AI beings. Featuring an electrifying original soundtrack by 9-inch nails. Tron Aries is a must-see movie event, filmed for IMAX and made for the big screen.

Experience it only in theaters, October 10. Get tickets now. You mentioned anxiety multiple times. What's your mental health journey been like over the last few years? Yeah. Because social media can make it toxic. Yeah, I can. Like next week, I'm going off grid, a little place in Montana.

I'm going to put my phone off for five days, first time in seven years. Do you watch Yellowstone? I watched one episode on a flight. Okay, that's going to be you. Yeah, that's going to be me. That's going to be me. Yeah, so I'm super excited about that. So I know when I need a break.

Like, I feel when I'm looking at my phone too much. What do you look at when you look at your phone too much? I'm just mindless scrolling. Mindless scrolling. TikTok. And different ideas are trying to see like what's going on in the nursing world, right? So I always try to stay up to date with any of the news or stuff that's going on. I feel like I do the same.

And I feel like then it sucks the fun out of how people normally use social, media? They can just have fun and watch it. I'm not having fun. Yeah, we're just like working. Yeah, it's working. If I wasn't doing it, I probably wouldn't be on social media. Because I don't have like a personal page or anything. Like it's just before the pajama video, the onesie video. Not the pajama video. Go ahead. Onezy. I don't know. Pajamas are onesis. A romper. Yeah, yeah. A romper video. What social media? Wait, that's what you wear to bed. Your pajama is a onesie. I'm going to see this. I actually go. not full. I go boxers only. Actually, I do put on a t-shirt because I like to sleep cold.

I like to sleep really cold too. Yeah. 60, eight degrees. But that's normal. That's like the what you're supposed to do. Oh, really? Yeah. It's supposed to be dark and cold for ideal sleep. Okay. Good to know. Because naturally your body temperature drops throughout the night, so you want to be able to fall asleep quicker. Yeah. Sixty-eight degrees. Yeah. Shirt underwear. So we do the same thing. Good to know. So paj. So before the romper, were you on social media? not I wasn't like active active active but yeah I would post more for like family and friends kind of things I don't do that now because it's like different I'm only on my phone for work like if I could put my phone down I can so I when I'm home in Orlando I go biking every day I also

my brother has a farm where he it's a farm with animals and he also has a wedding venue there and we got highland cows so even though hairy cows yeah so even though I don't have pets like a dog I do have two highland cows and I love them so much and they have bangs so we actually have personalities oh yeah like right when i pull the car up they're like really yeah they like come up and so every day when i'm home i go biking because there's a mountain bike trail and i play with the cows brush them feed them treats wash them off what are you doing today brushing my count i do and that's like that's like my time to just like relax so you have your meditation time i have mental health my family right support system's crucial and like

Lexapro and well-be-train. And that's my support system. You're like, that's my family also. That's my support system, yeah. And any therapy for you? I was doing it a lot. I think a lot of my trauma. I went through gay conversion therapy when I was younger.

Obviously didn't work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Didn't work. So between what I was. Because that's not evident. Because I'm still getting, ah. And also that's a microphone. Yeah, that'll thank you so much.

Jason, relax. It's actually really nice, actually really nice. So from 15 to 18. and I always said like I'm fine like it didn't really affect me until you know I was in my late 20s it like started coming up so I was doing some EDMR therapy

with my therapist right before tour and she was like actually you're in a good spot right now so we're not going to explore any of that so I even know like when I can explore or do medication change or something that I need but when I'm on the road

like I'm doing like six seven shows a week So I always try to say in a good mindset. Does keeping as busy as you are almost act as a treatment for you? Yeah. I love to say busy. Like I love to say busy. When you're not busy, are you like super anxious? Because that's how I get.

A little bit. Or antsy maybe? But honestly with the cows and like mountain biking, it's great. You have a hack. You have a cow. Like I love it. Yeah. Okay.

I wish I get a cow. Yeah. Get a cow like Sproboatrine. Okay. We can't push. And a nan and get a nand. Oh, yeah. Tell me about Nan. Yeah.

I mean, I know she's 78. She's fine. She's great. Cracked her head, but doing well. She's fine. She's great. I love her so much. She lives in the villages, Florida, which is like the high STD rate and

STI rate in the country. Really? Because like, oh, these old people just like have sex together. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like they all, they're swingers. So they have like pineapples in their front yard, which means like, hey, the door is open. Like come up. They have like sex parties.

Is that what that means? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Pineapples? Or when people. People leave their tag out of their shirt. It's like, hey, you don't know this? I'm such a rookie. Oh, my God.

Wait, what is the tag over the shirt? That just means, like, you're a swinger. What if it means you put your shirt on, Messi? Well, then he better start checking your tag. You need to start checking your tags. Oh, everyone at home needs to check your tags. Okay. Wow, I didn't know that.

And then pineapples, obviously, Swinger. Obviously. Obviously. I've heard of the tie around the door or something. But I never heard of the pineapple. What does a pineapple represent? Spongebob? That's a good question.

I don't know. I'll ask my parents. And what does the tag represent? Wait, your parents. Wait, whoa. Hold on. Like a lot of it's happening. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

I'm from Florida. A lot of shit goes down in Florida. That's true. Well, you have the highest STI out there. I do. I had a shipper pole in my house growing up. For exercise? Right.

I'm asking. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Sure. What exercises did you do on it? You would have to not ask me. You would flag? Actually, I have pictures of me and my friends, like on my mom.

stripper pole just like hanging out your mom's stripper pole yeah yeah yeah specifically so you were borrowing it mm-hmm could you flag what's so funny they're pineapple stripper pole and i can't like dick you know what i mean like wait excuse me repeat the dick what about the dick right right so my parents could be swingers but i can't be gay yeah that sounds you know what i mean yeah it's like if you're gonna be non-judgmental you have to go all the way with it right right right right right yeah yeah mom what's the problem i like dick you like dick what did she say about that i don't know Oh, you have. Gay conversion therapy.

That was then. What about now? Has a lesson been learned? No, we really don't talk much. So I'm really close with my brother, his girls, and my grandmother, and a few cousins. Very specific. And has anyone ever tried to reach out to you and chat with you after the newfound fame? No, no, no, no.

Well, probably because you also talk about it. Oh, yeah. You should see my show. Yeah, I talk about everything in my show. I talk about everything in my show. Yeah, nothing's off limits. Okay. Do you feel like that's part of the healing process?

Oh, 100%. Yeah, I think we can make fun of anything and everything. You know what I mean? Like, nothing's off the table, especially when it comes to comedy and seeing the things that we have seen as healthcare workers. Yeah. And patients appreciate it too.

Like, I have a lot of patience that, people that were patients that come to my show and get a lot out of it and stuff. So has a being open on stage ever came back to you in a negative way where people would then, like, bully you or say mean things based on things you've said? No. Everyone's really nice. Nice. I have a really great audience. Like, I have a really, really great audience. I'm a lot more open in my show than I would be, like, online. So I definitely feel like I could be myself a lot more. So I definitely have created, like, a safe space when it comes to things like my show and stuff. Speaking of nursing professionals on social media, there was like a pushback towards the end of the pandemic of nurses dancing on TikTok. What's your take of that?

so I never filmed in a hospital like ever I would I when I was filming like little hospital scenes it was in my living room so I bought like a hospital curtain from Amazon I bought like a IV pole you know on eBay and a IV pump that was broken on eBay but it's so beeped like the IV was still occluded or the air still in line so fucking annoying so I never filmed in a hospital and I just think you know we we do as health care workers you know, have to portray essentially professionalism. So I always have like a clear line what my boundaries are and one of my things is to never film in a hospital.

However, I think that nurses, we always get shit on by the hospitals. Like, you can't be on social media talking about your nursing experience without HR knowing or them pulling you into the director's office saying, hey, you can't post on social media. They're a lot more lenient on doctors than they are nurses. You're also looking at me as if I filmed in the hospital. I didn't say that. I didn't say that.

No, but you are a doctor. In order to, like, I have two videos on my channel called, like, Day in the Life. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. In order to have filmed that very limited amount of footage, the amount of tape I had to go through. Oh, really? To just, and there's nothing in the, it's just like, I'm in a room. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, oh, this is what a doctor's day looks like.

This is what you do. This is where I write my notes. And I would see, and it's like, oh, man. I even had some nurses on my show or whatever on that, on that vlog. and I had a nurse in the chair doing an interview with and it was like to get it cleared and it's like oh well the nurse

said something negative about you know electronic health records and I'm like I say that all the time yeah it's so funny and even when it comes to like interviews and stuff just about health like nurses are never given the microphone ever mostly or not included in medical dramas

unless they're always shitty ones exactly nurses sucked oh my god nurses written by doctors and great yeah Thank you, or not even. Gray's Anatomy needs to be a DNR. They're on 19 seasons. God damn, they're tired.

Can we write a new one? Please. I'm down to do a show. It would be a good comic. I'm down to do a show. We would do like a scrub remake. It's coming back. Oh, it is.

It's coming back. You see them in commercials now? I guess they're bringing it back. Did you know that? There's a new comedy medical show. Oh, but there's no scrubs. It's coming back. And there's a new comedy medical show coming out to you.

Wow. A lot of, which is good. I love to see it. As long as it's done right. As long as it's not called nurses. You know what I mean? Because that was a bad show. It was so bad.

There was a nurse. I remember, I don't know who the nurse is, made like a video faking her reaction after a patient's like giving bad news or something. How did that land for you? Poor thing. Poor thing.

Like that's just, I mean, to get hate on social media and just sharing your experience of the emotions that a nurse goes through, you know obviously it's we're not doing that as it's actually happening right just a portrayal of an experience that we have so it seems like more non-health care workers who are involved in that reaction than health care workers but i always say never film in a hospital never film

in a hospital it just avoids that at all costs yeah because there were like COVID-19 naysayers who were like oh yeah you're busy right yeah and i was like how do i explain to them that they also have free time because right yeah yeah you're allowed to have free time it's It's okay. As a human. Do you like TikTok? I love TikTok. Are you sad that it's going to go away?

You think it's really going to go away? Well, it's either going to get sold or it's going to go away. I know. Well, it might go away. What do you like about it? I love the amount of people and voices that are on there. It's much easier to put content out when I was getting started on Facebook. Like, it was very rare to have a video go viral.

Yeah. But now, like, anyone could go viral on TikTok, so I love it. So there's a lot more nurses in the space, a lot more healthcare professionals. So a more wide range of voices out there, which I love to see. Okay. So you like the ability of new people to come on

and just get viral fame. I sometimes get concerned about that for two reasons. One is people are not always ready for what happens mentally. So that can be very harmful. And then second, it opens the door for bad actors. So like there's people coming up. and saying some wild things.

In fact, I just got into my own little medical beef, if you will, on social media. Oh, shit. A doctor, typically. A doctor said there's like four medications every guy should take. And I was like, what? And he named Viagra, metformin, detestoride, and fish oil.

And I was like, what if your hair's not thinning? What if you have no retell dysfunction? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What if you don't have diabetes? Yeah. And he still stood firm by it and then made like a video calling me a hater and a troll and all this stuff.

So I had to do like another reaction video. Yeah, yeah. So like, I hate that kind of beef. Yeah, it's annoying. I avoid it. I try not to call anybody out, you know. Have you ever? No.

No, you're like, I stayed left from the toxicity. I just do your thing. That energy will meet its energy, it deserves, you know. I'm too busy. I got other things I'm doing. You know what I mean? I'm way too busy. I'm too busy.

My energy's going elsewhere. Okay. With Amex Platinum, access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot track side. So being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Pre-sale tickets for future events

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for a limited time. So you have cruise ships. You're going to start a nursing school. Yeah. Politics. God, no, I don't think so. Why? No, that's too much. That's too much. That's too much pressure. You can. That's you can. You can. Me? I do mean videos. You fix it. Yeah, me too. Yeah, me too. You do? Like videos? It's just funny shit. No, no, but I'm saying that's what I I do. I make meme reaction videos. I can't... Oh, yeah, yeah. I think I was in one of your videos, reaction videos, so thank you so much. But why not politics? I'm going to copyright strike you. I'm going to copyright strike you. You already did. You sent me a season. I don't want to get into politics. It's so messy. It's so

messy. It is really messy. Yeah. I'm about having a fun, happy life. So where is Nurse Blake five years from now? That's a good question. You know, when I was in nursing school, I would, I never imagined I would be here. I didn't get into nursing school to do comedy. Like, it was never, ever. But you were the funny person on the block. Never. Ever. But it doesn't mean, like, I was like, oh, I want to be on stage one day. Well, you were Peter

Pan. Yeah, you know. That's a good fact. So I didn't work at Disney as Peter Pan. It was super fun. I was like, I was never on stage. I was Peter Pan also. For Disney. For a minute. For a minute. You weren't doing it as cosplay in your bedroom. For a minute.

For a minute. Yeah, I was working in the hospital and one of the nurses like oh i'm bell i'm a princess like you should try out for peter pan i was like are you kidding me i didn't tell anyone i was doing it and i drove there one day after work to audition and i got the job so but my head's so big like the wig was so tight i would get the worst headaches oh that's true that does happen yeah you see how big it is cross the so you see why you're staring at my head your head is big it's huge i have a little head so i have like an issue huge okay i wish i had a bigger head okay how tall are you six three okay my little head seven oh wow also little head also little head yeah see what happens

that's why we're not in hollywood yeah the bigger the star the bigger the head yeah true john travolta big head that's what i'm saying yeah peter pan musical peter pan uh motion picture no no no i never i never ever ever i think the point is what i'm trying to say you're not going into hollywood in the next five years no okay so where i don't know i would i would i would love to keep focusing on nurse con, nurse con at sea, nurse con learning and doing some online, you know, nursing school. Okay. So nursing education is where you want to be.

Well, that makes a lot of sense. By the way, I have a lot of excitement about Peter Pan. Oh, because the dog in Peter Pan is a Newfoundland. Aw. And that's what your dogs are. Nanny. Your dog is really cute. Is it Nanny?

You know so much about Disney movies. I didn't even know that much. I didn't even know that. Well, I got the dog because of Peter Pan. Okay. Not really. I'm supposed to say I was friends with Peter Pan. Otherwise, they ruined the magic.

You know? Because you were just, like, showing up as him. Yeah. It's because, like, you don't want kids to know you're a Peter Pan. So you're just to say, I'm friends with Peter Pan. Okay. Which I thought you were supposed to say, like, I'm friends with Tinkerbell. Because Friends of Tinkerbell is Peter Pan, but that would mean I was Tinkerbell.

Okay. So that was embarrassing when I would say that. I was like, oh, I'm friends with Tinkerbell. Yeah. Okay. So before we wrap up, I want to ask two things. I want to ask two things. I want to ask two things.

one if you had to give someone a hack to have a better hospital experience with their nursing staff what would it be have fun laugh tell a joke be funny so interact interact be present and interact nurses like that love it yeah okay they want you to a lot of nurse managers i love all the good ones out there you guys are amazing do you also hate nurse managers no i love why do i why am i feeling I love the good nurse manager. And it's not their fault. When you say the good ones, and you're saying good in a way

where it makes me feel like the amount of good is limited. True. Why? Because they're putting a really bad spot between the nurse and the hospital. So it's not their fault. I mean, a lot of them could be more present and do more to advocate for their nurses.

Okay. But again, I love all the good ones out there. But when I share my experiences, they're all real, right? So when I'm making fun of nurse managers, it's from the five that I've had. And I've had one really good ones. one, you know, for not so good present ones. Yeah. Once that you would never see. Never see. Never would come on night shift. Where would they be? Yeah. Where would they be? Where would they be?

Oh, yeah. That's a great. That's a great question. Where are you? Where are you? There are meetings. Well, these hospitals like put them through administrations and all this shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of that is so annoying and unnecessary. wait so what's the advice so be present present and you were saying something how did that laugh have fun and you say it but i love nurse managers but but be present nurse managers be present and what's i know the good ones versus the bad ones because whenever i come out with a nurse manager video the ones that are like oh my god i'm a nurse manager but i'm definitely not like that you're a good one and then the ones that are like you hate us

da da da i'm like okay you're the bad you're the bad one like you just called yourself out you know what I mean you just called yourself out that's so funny um what about message to us doctors what can we do better um talk to us give us give us all the tea be nicer to us be nicer to us no i think it's not running for politics it's about the truth i think it's about respect okay right i feel like a lot of nurses aren't respected by doctors and then it just creates this cycle of these unhealthy work environments when we're already all of us no matter what you do work in a shit environment, right? Whether you're EBS, housekeeping, or lab, or pharmacy, or, you know, doctor or nurse.

So I think it's all about just showing each other respect, not being mean, not raising your voice. I don't know how many times doctors will yell at nurses. Like, they're a parent, and you're just like, you will, and I'm, I got to the point where I'm like, okay, you're not going to talk to me like that. Like, say it again. Like, that's how I am. Wow.

Like, for a long time, I was just like, okay. And I'm just like, oh, say it. What? You okay, redo? Rewind. I'll forgive you. But yeah, refraid. Don't, you should, we should treat each other like we treat patients.

It's kind of how I see it. So spend less time together? Well, the doctors that spend on my one, because you're never in the room. Fair. No. But I think it's all about creating just a positive, positive working culture for us in an environment where it's kind of nearly impossible with the amount of work and stress that we have. but nursing and healthcare is a great career

it is where do you see the future of that going you think it's growing I think it's getting better in what regard I think a lot of unions are speaking up and a lot more nurses are more active they are showing their voice they're not as scared of pushback and there's strikes around the nation and the biggest numbers that they've seen and I go out have you ever gone on strike

yeah not me at my hospital but whenever there is a strike If I'm free, I go and strike with them, which I love. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I've been on the picket lines with them, you know, which is so, it's bad to see because it shouldn't happen. Right. But to see the support of coworkers coming together, it's like that's the environment we all kind of deserve to work in.

And nurses were on strike in New Jersey for like over 100 days, not getting paid. Really? Because no benefits. I didn't know about that happened. Yeah, no benefits, not getting paid. Wow. So people are like, nurses just want more money. It's like, no, it's mostly about.

safety and staffing. Why don't nurses get benefits? When they're on strike. You don't get paid or benefits. While on strike. Got it. Why do they go on strike? Staffing, mostly, safety. And what is the usual staffing like inpatient ICU, ER? What's like the usual? What's supposed to happen? Florida? So I mean, honestly, ICU is two to one. Yep. Right? Step down should be four to one. If it's a really a very busy step down, three to one. And then I say med shirt. should never ever get over be over six to one but in florida you got eight to one you got nine to one you got whatever and you'll apply to these units and they'll be like oh you know what's the ratios and the the managers are like oh you know it's like it's five to one but sometimes it could be like

six to one but if you're also on nights it's like could be seven to one or eight to one but then we have states that are doing it right california safe staffing ratios right pays really high safe staffing ratios so it can be done it can be done. And then behind staffing, I would say the cost of health care. I think what's really sad is when you save someone or you're giving them a treatment that you know is going to put them in a bad financial decision is that like moral ethical injury that we all face. You know, you're saving somebody, but then are you creating financial harm? Bankruptcy or whatever, you know, yeah. Yeah, that's really gross. Because even for us, like we run a small business here, we all get insurance from

the small business, for me to buy insurance for all the employees is I can get the same level of insurance that a hospital can or J.P. Morgan can or any company. And then if you're an individual trying to buy it for yourself, it's even worse. Wild. So I think one thing I'm really proud of being a business owner is that the nurses we work with, we pay. Any like, in what capacity do you work with nurses? So like educators, educators that come on the cruise ship, right? And they're full-time employees? Full time and part time. And then our educators are like contractors. So how many employees does your company have? 13. Oh wow. So you have a lot of people. Yep. Wow. And contractors, you know, we pay them too. A lot of times to speak at a conference, they don't pay you. You get a

discount off your registration. What? You get a discount off your registration. What kind of Ponzi stream is that? Yeah. That should be illegal. Awful. I know. It's like what? And they invite people to come speak that aren't even nurses that are just like these famous people that are just public speakers that they pay to be like you need to be less drama and it's like you're like no I'm getting yeah so that's why I honestly created nurse con yeah and nurse con at sea and that's not because it's a con exactly right conference just like the rest of it was a con right exactly all the other bullshit is no it's one of the coolest things I think what makes me most proud is seeing the the diversity at the conferences,

seeing everyone have fun. You go to a lot of conferences. You have the badges, right? And then you have all those like little tags. Tags. I'm this, I'm that. And then all your initials in the back of your name. Poster.

BLS, CPR, you know, RN. And we don't do that at NurseCon. Like everyone's, we're all in this together. So no one's pretentious. Do you have to be a nurse to go to NurseCon? You have to be in healthcare. But you can be a guest of someone in healthcare.

So you have to be in healthcare to get on the ship. but you can't bring a guest who's just a spouse. Why did you choose to do it that way? Because it's a conference. And we have no kids, which is great. It's a nursing conference. No kids.

It's 21 and up. It's so much fun. We actually broke the alcohol sales record on one of the ships. That's not healthy. As a charter. We're nurses. Exactly.

We're nurses. We need it. You need to live by example. We are hydrated. That's bullshit. No. Our nurses are hydrated on the ship. Do you?

Do you think medical professionals are the, like, biggest hypocrites when it comes to their own health? I think that's probably true. I mean, I think, I think what it is is, and I think it's just a personality type nurses, we're just hot messes. I mean, we're a mess. Like, if you're dating a nurse or married to a nurse, like, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that we're a mess. Really? I feel like that's, like, awesome. Honestly.

Well, it is not like we're fun. We're good in bed. Like, we have a great time. But also safety for a child. Are you kidding me? Yeah. If I have a sick family member. I ain't. They better be bleeding out. Oh, so you don't help? You better be bleeding out or lost the limb. And still, it's like, you know where the hospital? I'm off. Oh. I don't, I, oh, I got my badge on. Oh, I got my shirt. No, I'm off, bro. So people don't text you for medical advice. Or if they do, you ignore them. I get a lot of, like, people that send me, like, pictures online, like, what is this? You know, rash or something. What do you do for that? It's dick cancer, you know, stage six. But, like, my ex got, he wasn't in healthcare, but he would get the man flu all the time.

so annoying the complaints are real god it's like and honestly like working in critical care it's like if you're not really yeah you're not dying you're like I'm not what do you want me to do my dad was like that when I was growing up

because he's a doctor and he would be like oh I don't care you're fine go to school yeah go to school and I'm like but dad like you'll be fine and I guess you can say as nurses we don't really care for ourselves as good as we should well yeah if you're setting the sales record for alcohol

it's fun well I think it is is recognizing nurses as regular people, right? And I think that's what hospitals and nursing organizations don't do, like we have to always be perfect or put on this persona. And at the end of the day, it's so toxic. It's nurses and healthcare workers are running from those jobs, right?

And so at NurseCon, it's all about bringing fun and professionalism together in a place where you could feel safe and have a great time. I think you should use as your talking point that the hospital systems are so messed up, that you have the alcohol sales record for nurses. And that's what it's going to be. That's like that's why.

That's why. It's their fault. And they should actually sponsor it. That's what I'm saying. They should sponsor the alcohol. They should sponsor it. They should sponsor it. Yeah.

But it's fun. I mean, we do do a lot of education on the ship, which is also really cool to see. Our first cruise, we did like 20 C&E hours and then 30. And now we're like up to over 80. Wow. Which is great. So how long is that during a trip? How long is an average trip?

Either four nights or five nights. Okay. People love the five nights. And they do 80 hours and five nights? We offer 80 hours. Depends on, you know, what nurses want to come to. And we say you could come to as many classes as you want or not. Or as little as you want.

Or as little as you want. But it's a blast. If you get the chance to come, it is the coolest thing ever. Like, even the cruise lines are like, this is sick. You know, and we're a new company. You know, we're only on our fifth sailing, very young when it comes to chartered cruises. And they're super impressed by what we put on. Yeah.

Mostly out of Miami. We probably will add more sailings over the years. Last year we did two. We're actually doing our first land-based event because we want to start doing on land. So we have universal studios coming up in September. When are you going to do like some Mediterranean trip? That's going to be.

That's going to be the exclusive one. That will be coming up soon. Wow. We get the support. So I know. It would be like a little leadership. Nurse manager. Well, look, I think that's, yeah, you should do a nurse manager

where then you could really educate. I know. And then really have the impact on. That's why I love doing education. because I think that's where it all kind of starts from. Like, you do a lot of amazing things. No, I'm serious. It started with humor, but you've transformed it into an advocacy platform

where you give voices to people who oftentimes are overlooked or not heard. And to do that with humor, with insight, with morals is really rare. Thank you. It's very common in social media where someone becomes popular. And then they're hawking miracle supplements. They're fully going down to solely entertain. and route and you've chosen to do education so props thank you i love what i do yeah i hope that continues and only more success uh maybe i'll come on a trip if i ever take time off i don't get time

off you have to i'll get you time off i'll cover your i'll do your paid time off so you can it really i don't get paid time off we've had people that have come on every single one and we call them frequent flyers just like patients you should do doctor roasts you know i actually want to do that next year maybe i oh maybe i do roast you in my show yeah i talk a lot of shit about you my show. I'm just kidding. That would be fun. You're nice.

No, I was going to say, that would be funny if I go. You guys can do like a show where you roast me. Yeah. Oh, it would be like Netflix's joke. Jason Statham roast Dr. Mike. We can sell that. A hundred percent. Netflix.

Do you have any Netflix contacts? Yeah. Okay. What do you want to do? They never have any nurse stand-up. No nurse shit. They don't like us. They don't like us.

Okay. You guys aren't as funny. That's pretty true. We are funnier. Doctors aren't as funer. It depends what's specialty. I agree. Orthodox are the hottest.

Well, they're like sports. They're so, they're like, ooh. Neurodocs, neurosurgeons, they're mean. Are they mean? They're mean. My worst interactions that I've witnessed of doctors being rude to nurses, vascular surgeons to nurses. Okay.

I don't know why. Trauma surgeons, fun as shit. Yeah. Fun and shit. I mostly work adult trauma. Yeah, they go out. Yeah. Peds, I can't do pediatrics.

In what way? Like as a nurse. Oh, why? Like seeing your child sick. That's what I learned at Disney. I hate kids. Oh, you hate kids. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So no kids for you in the future. No kids for me in the future. But puppies, yeah. And Highland cows, yeah. Yeah, Highland cows with bangs. Yeah. I'm going to get you a Highland cow, like a little stuffed one. Please.

I would love that. I would love that. What's the names of your cows? Wednesday and Pumpkin. Wednesday. And they're sisters and they're adorable and I love them so much.

They're so cute. I can't wait to get home to them tomorrow. Will you send me a selfie? Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, with the cows. Yeah. I'm a mess.

Like when I'm on the farm, I'm on the farm. I got my boots. You're yellow stoning in Montana. I get it. Yeah. It's true. Okay.

Yeah. I'm coming next year. You are. Yeah. It's in April. It'll be sick. It'll be so much fun. It is the best trip

you'll ever be on. Okay. where do you want people to come and follow your journey yeah you can come see my show nurse blake dot com come on nurse count at sea or nurse connorlando buy some children's books yeah whatever whatever talk about your books it's fine promote the books people like it's whatever just follow me yeah but they want to know my shit i have a children's book i want to be a nurse when i grow up it's a great i actually i love that book it's a fun project to work on um he's actually a dad that came up to me. I did, um, I threw, there was another nursing conference going on. Okay. And I, like,

hijacked it. I did a nurse like party one night and like over a thousand people came. I love to do shit like that. Like, I love to shake shit up. You're a disruptor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I threw this nurse wake party and this dad came out. And, um, his son, he was taking pictures of me and my lesbian cousin, Mandy at the party, sitting them to his son at home. And his son actually came out to him over text message that night. Um, just because he's like, oh, my dad supports like, gay nurse like baby he'll support me and we get the same with the book you know the children's book um because a lot of times the kids will follow me online or and it's cute that their parents could you know read them that that children's book that's awesome yeah i want a copy of it sure you

can buy it on amazon okay thanks you buy it on amazon thanks i was hoping for an autograph version you can buy it you could buy that on amazon is that the only distributor uh no i have some copies you can buy it through me oh just kidding i'll give you free copy well but it's not not for you. It's for the dog. The dogs. I'll give you two. I was going to, like, read it to my patients. Oh, cute. Cute. I like that. It's so funny. I really would never be like a pediatric nurse,

but I have a kid's book. Yeah, that's what I mean. But it's because you're teaching the children to be a Yeah, and it's funny. It's funny. What do you want to be a nurse 50 years from now is telling, not Sandy, someone younger than Sandy, is telling someone about you.

Oh, about me? Yeah. And they were Like there was this legend. Yeah. He put on a onesie. Uh-huh. He changed the world forever. Yeah. Because I just, he gave us a voice.

He fought for us. It's kind of what I see my position as. Like, I'm very lucky I don't work for a hospital. I could kind of say what every other nurse wants to say without the fear of, you know, being fired or retaliated against. And I will always advocate for the bedside nurse. So I give nurse managers and directors shit and administration, but the one doing the hardest job is the one with the patient. So no matter what I do, I kind of always keep that in the

back of my mind. Okay. We have the name for our show. What? A voice for the nurses. Cute. I like, no, it's boring. That's boring. It's got to be like nurses gone wild.com. You know what I mean? I'm pretty sure that exists. Yeah, probably. It probably does. It probably does exist. Yeah. No, we'll do a fun show together. Okay. I'm excited. I did a live show too. It wasn't as good as good as this. But yeah. Oh, oh, yeah. That's right. And bought. Yeah, that's right. I saw your shit up. You were there?

I was, I saw it up. Like, I was doing it in Boston. And I think you were coming around. Got it. Yeah. But it's, my show's weird because, like, we didn't know what to do as a doctor.

Okay. So we did, like, a variety improv show where we played games with the audience. Oh, fun. That's awesome. Try to incorporate traditional improv games. Okay, cool. To be medical.

Nice. So it's more like, in that sense. It's very hard to tour. it's not easy it's not easy and I'm so lucky I'm able to do it and see nurses kind of come together yeah like I just love seeing it like I love to sit back and just see people having fun it's great that you have a demo that you know who's going to be there yeah because in my show I'll like I'll have seven-year-olds then I'll have a 75 year old right and they have nothing in common so when I'm on stage I'm like should I do this joke so the seven-year-old will laugh or like the husband

that comes that has no idea who I am so that's tricky it's hard to play please everyone. 18 and up comedy show. Mine's 18 up. Because some people want to bring their kids because they actually had a mom. She was going to, she reads The children's book.

A 42 week mom tried to come. I know. Even, yeah. Some like try to bring her baby. I said absolutely. No, but one, some kids try to come and it's 18 and up. Okay.

I got dirty mouth. You know, I used to work night shift. Jesus. Sorry. What happened? The mic hit my face. I would never. The mic hit.

my face. All right, good stuff. Huge thank you to Nurse Blake for traveling all the way to NYC for just our interview. I think the week before he had been in Australia or something, so I'm really grateful he came such a long way. And I hope you got something out of our conversation. If you did, please don't hesitate to give this interview five stars. And maybe leave a full-on review as it's the best way to help new listeners find the show.

And as always, stay happy and healthy. Thank you.