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0:00
- Have you ever been in a hospital or a doctor's office and someone recognize you? Like as a patient? - Yeah. - Okay. This happened to me the other day. - [Mike] And how did that go? - (laughing) So I had a rash. - Hmm. - In the south. - [Mike] Okay. - Down south. So I go see a nurse practitioner in the SCI clinic and she's down there for a minute. - A minute? - [Blake] Like down there for a minute. - Hmm hmm. - And then she's just like, "Oh my God." I'm like, "What?"
0:22
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.
0:52
I wanted to ask him about his funniest stories while working in hospitals, how to fix our current healthcare system, his thoughts on the general field of nursing, and most interestingly, how in the world he got the idea to rent multimillion 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.
1:16
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- - What? Blake? - Get that after? - [Mike] Nurse Blake? - No, no, no. It was after I graduated. - Oh really? Okay. - [Blake] Yeah, yeah, yeah. - The reason I bring it up is 'cause when I was in high school, everyone had the joke that my father was a doctor so they called me Dr. Mike. - Doctor. Okay. - Yeah.
1:38
But you didn't have Nurse Blake as a nickname? - No. No, no, no. - [Mike] Did you always know you would be a nurse? - Yeah. - Really? - [Blake] 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. - [Mike] Okay. - Like nursing was my path. So I didn't get to choose what I really wanted to do. But I knew I was gonna love it. Like I love people, I love helping people. So it just made sense for me.
1:57
So I didn't fight it or anything. - Hmm hmm. - 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 already 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. - [Mike] Okay. - Because I thought for the longest time that to be a nurse you had to work in a hospital.
2:20
- Hmm hmm. - 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. - Sure. - Like nursing is way more broad. You can get into so many different specialties and do so many cool things. - [Mike] Yeah. - So I think it's even better than most people think. - Yeah, have you noticed any downsides- - You don't clean shit if you don't want to clean shit, you know what I mean? - Okay.
2:40
- 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 outta here! - Most people don't say nurses clean shit. - Yes they do. "Oh, you just wipe 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 'cause you're not smart enough for med school. - I think maybe 'cause I had a lot of friends
3:02
that were studying their NCLEX. - [Blake] Okay. - When I was studying for my boards, that's not what I thought of the profession. - No. That's all I hear. - [Mike] Really? - Yeah. - Has anyone ever said that to you directly and you got like full-on offended in nursing? - Yeah. Like patients. - [Mike] Oh, patients said that to you? - Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. "Oh, nursing. Oh, not smart enough for med school?" - Wow. - [Blake] Yeah. - What did you say? - I don't want to be a doctor. (both laughing)
3:23
I just don't wanna be a doctor. - Okay. - Like two totally different things. You know what I mean? That'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 a two-foot cockpit, you know what I mean? - That's a very different. - [Blake] Yeah. - Response than what I thought you would give. I thought you would right away go for a swing and screw you. - [Blake] We're not there yet. - For the boxing? - For the swing.
3:43
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. - When is the arc of boxing coming into your world? 'Cause all the influencers are boxing now. - Oh, they are boxing now. - [Mike] Yeah. - Yeah. Not interested. - No, you 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. - [Blake] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - And go on one of your journeys. - We're on our fifth cruise. - Yeah, what is this like nurses have cruises? (Blake laughing)
4:08
Their own cruises? - Our own ship. 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. And it was pretty awesome. And I attended a lot of professional nursing conferences over the years. And they just suck. They're so boring. - Yeah. - They're so stale.
4:33
- They're like stuck 50 years behind. - They're 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 gotta be something better. And I always knew back since nursing school that I wanted to revolutionize nursing conferences. I had no idea I was gonna start my own. That was not the plan at all. - And at sea? - I just called Royal Caribbean.
4:55
I was like, "Hey, can I like, how do I get a ship?" - Is that an official partner? - Not an official partner. - [Mike] Oh, okay. - But they were our first. Yeah, we don't have official partners. We spread the love between cruises. - So you buy your own ship? - Yeah. - Dude, what a flex. - Yeah, for the week. Yeah, for the week. - You're like, "Oh, you have a yacht. Nice. "I have a cruise ship." - Yeah, we gotta buy the cruise ship for the week. So it's a charter, so we have the whole-
5:13
- How much does a cruise ship cost? - A lot of money. A lot of people don't realize. - [Mike] No. Come on, how much is a cruise ship cost? - A lot of money. - But is that like $5 or like $5,000 or $500,000? - It's millions of dollars, actually. - [Mike] Millions of dollars? - Yeah. - Holy, shit. - 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.
5:35
We bring on drag queens from RuPaul's "Drag Race." We bring on dancers and DJs. We bring on additional lighting for our parties. So there's actually a team of a hundred people that I work with throughout the year. 13 are full-time out of our office in Orlando. And then 90 are contractors. - Wow. Wow, wow, wow. - [Blake] We're working with at the time. - So how did this pivot all happen from being a nurse day-in and day-out to then moving and saying, "I'm gonna do social media."
6:01
And from social media, now you're renting million dollar cruise ships. - Yeah, I never would've expected it. - [Mike] Yeah. - Like ever. So I was working in the ICU in Houston. This is back in 2017. I graduated in 2014. - Same year I did. - [Blake] Oh really? - Hmm hmm. - [Blake] No way. - Yeah. - Get outta here, dude. Oh, that's awesome. That's so cool. How old are you? - 34. - Okay. I just started 33. When's your birthday? - November. - Tell me Happy birthday. - It's your birthday today?
6:28
- It was last week! - Oh, happy belated. - Thank you so much. - Wow. - I'm a Taurus. So that's so cool you graduated at the same time. - Oh, you're a Taurus? - Yeah, what the (beep) are you? - No, I don't know. I don't know anything about Zodiac signs, but I like is saying you like that. - What is he? - 'Cause then it makes people feel weird. I'm a Scorpio. - Oh. Oh wait, when's your birthday again? - November 12th. - No, Sagittarius. My ex was a Sagittarius.
6:49
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 an impulse- - 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 this sense of like impending doom. Like I couldn't breathe. I felt my heart racing outta my chest. I didn't know I was having a panic attack. So I thought I was dying. - Wow. - Right.
7:10
So I'm driving home in my scrubs. It was dark out and I remember, it was so embarrassing. I called 911 and I was like, "I can't breathe. I'm dying." And they're like, "No, you're talking." (laughing) "So you're breathing." - Okay. - And I'm like, "Okay, fair, like fair, fair." - Good reassurance. - 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.
7:34
I had never experienced that before. It was horrible. And I realized like, I just need a break. I was putting so much pressure on myself to be like the perfect healthcare provider and I started making videos just like silly, stupid videos. - Was that a panic attack due to like burnout, overworking yourself? - Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Or were you anxious about a specific situation that happened? - No, just burnout built up over time. You know, I think ever since I was actually younger,
7:56
just a lot of trauma kind of came up around when I was in my, you know, mid-twenties and stuff, mid-to-late twenties. I never thought would, it's things I've suppressed, you know, for the longest time. - Got it. - And then when you're burnout at your job, you're working so many hours and you know, well, you don't know 'cause nurses work harder than doctors. I'm just kidding. - I don't disagree with that. - (laughing) I'm just kidding. I'm actually a big advocate for doctors. - [Mike] Really?
8:21
- Because y'all work your off too. - Okay. - [Blake] Yeah. - I mean I don't think it's one or another. I think it just, it's like different rules. I think if you truly enjoy spending time with patients, doctor is probably not the career for you because you just spend less time with patients. - Right, which I feel so bad for you guys 'cause you guys are just stuck behind the computer charting. - [Mike] Right. - Dictating on the phone. - [Mike] Yeah. - It's a lot. It's a lot.
8:40
- We don't even have fun staff lounges like you guys do. - Get the (silence) outta here! We don't have staff. There's no nurse break room, like nice staff lounges. - Yeah, there is. - [Blake] Where? - In my hospital. I used to go in there as a resident, and hang out with you guys. - No! No, no, there's doctor's lounges everywhere. We just have our unit break room. - Maybe they have like their fancy doctor lounges. Like if you're like- - And then you get free food in there, yes, yes.
9:02
You got TVs. - I never had any of this. We had one TV. - You get snacks. You get drinks. Oh, I'm gonna take you to a few hospitals. (Mike laughs) I'll show you. I'll show you some shit. - How many hospitals have you worked at? - Oh God. - A lot. - Five? - Oh, okay. So you- - All over from like Florida, South Carolina, Texas Seattle actually started in healthcare when I was 17 as a patient transporter. - Oh, wow. - [Blake] So I got to push patients around the hospital.
9:23
- So you were like, not Jason Bourne, Jason Statham. But the medical version- - Yeah, yeah, kinda like that. Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. - You guys actually have a similar look, similar vibe. - Jason? - Statham? - I don't know who that is to be honest. - What? - You gotta, I'm horrible with names. - What other movie? - [Sam] Statham. - Statham. - [Sam] He's one of the main action movie guys. - [Blake] Oh, cool. Action movie guy. I'm down with that. - Well he's like really good looking guy.
9:44
- [Blake] Okay. - It was meant to be a compliment for your birthday present. - I'm bad with names. I thought I was meeting Dr. Oz today. - [Mike] I'll show you a picture of him. - I didn't know. - No, 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. - [Mike] He's a heart throb. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sure. Yeah.
10:01
Yeah. - Okay, not your type. I'm sorry. - No, no, no, no, no, no. (laughing) 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 radar in that regard. - So yeah. - [Mike] So you're having the panic attack? - Yep. - [Mike] Built up stress. Moral injury from medical practice. - Yep. - Well, before we move on from that, what do you think drives the biggest part of burnout for us as medical professionals?
10:25
- Short staffing number one. - [Mike] Mm. - 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," like- - Negates all of that. - [Blake] Causes injuries. - Exactly. - It's 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.
10:45
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 a theater. So they got the money for it. And if not, then they could work with these insurance companies. - Yeah.
11:13
- I mean you talk about healthcare being a billion dollar industry, but we don't see it. - [Mike] Yeah. - Right? - I mean that's pretty common across the board. All healthcare professionals salaries have not skyrocketed over the years. - [Blake] No, no, no. - But yet healthcare spending has skyrocketed. - Yeah, for sure. - So a lot of it has been an administrative burden on hospitals. - [Blake] Yep. - But also due to the fact that they can't negotiate properly with insurance companies.
11:33
They don't know how to get reimbursed for things. And then they go and spend, how weird is it if you're a nurse, you work for a hospital system, you're trying to do your best, you're getting 15 patients that you have to take care of in a shift, which is so dangerous and terrible for an individual to do. - Yeah. - And then you see your hospital just sponsored like one of the leading sports teams. - Yeah, it's so frustrating. - [Mike] You're like, where did that budget come from?
11:55
- 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 healthcare 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. - Hmm hmm. - Right? And the hospitals put that burden on us. They like gaslight us. - [Mike] Yeah. - "You need to do better. You're not doing enough." - Yeah, "Why didn't you do the yoga retreat that we offered last week?"
12:17
- Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so, I hate that. - Or the goodie bags. - The goodie bags. Nurses week just happened. - [Mike] Yep. - And I always ask my followers to send em pictures of what they got. And it's gotten better over the years. - Really? - 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 bin. Like pick out a rock. - A rock? - You rock, decorate your rock and you're gonna put it in a rock garden.
12:39
- That's a joke. - 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, we need to make this better. Like Blake's gonna post about it." - Oh, good. You're keeping them honest. That's good. - Hell yeah. That's why I don't, I honestly,
13:03
I don't speak at hospitals anymore. That's actually how I started- - Oh, they're mad at you. - Getting into doing my own. - [Mike] Thing. - It's not that they're mad at me, I'm mad at them. - You got canceled by the hospitals. - Sure. Great. (laughing) - Yeah, that's kind of like a badge of honor. - [Blake] Great. Yeah, it's fine. And thank you so much, yeah. - Have you ever gotten like heat from a hospital? Did they ever send you an email? - No.
13:22
- [Mike] Like any cease and desist from using our name? - No. No, no, no. - No? - [Blake] No, thank goodness. - Oh. No, I think that would've been good for you. You'd make it a story. You'd be, "Hey!" - (laughing) I don't wanna get sued. Please please please please. - Now they're gonna be like, "Oh, we heard that podcast." - What do you mean? What you mean? What do you mean? What do you mean? Yeah. - Okay, so understaffed hospitals and you feel like you're failing your patient
13:42
when it's really not your fault. - [Blake] 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. - [Mike] It's 'cause of the hospitals. - They're like, "Jason Statham. Like, you're fine." (Mike laughs) 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-
14:03
- 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 just a jumpsuit. It's like a male onesie. - [Mike] Like a snuggie? - No, that's like a blanket. - Oh. - 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.
14:23
- 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 like got my (silence) 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. - [Mike] Okay. - And I guess it was a slow news day 'cause like all the local news stations shared it around the country. And I'm like, "Oh, shit. Like people really like that."
14:45
And it made me feel better just seeing nurses and healthcare workers comment. - Hmm hmm. - From all over the world, that it made them laugh. It was silly, dah dah, dah dah. 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 nursing associations. You do feel alone. I think a lot of times as healthcare workers, it's easy to feel. - For sure. - [Blake] Alone.
15:09
- 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." (Mike laughs) - [Blake] Like healthcare workers. - That's why! - I think we're the funniest people ever? - I think nurses always have the best time. That's why I always gravitated, Actually, we'd get in trouble in my residency for not sitting in my little cubby and hang out at the nurses station.
15:29
- Yeah, with the nurses. - Like I would write my notes in the nurses' station. - That's nice y'all get a cubby. - Well. - You get a cubby, you get doctors' lounges. - [Mike] Not in the hospital. - Doctor's lounge. - And when I say cubby, I mean like a- - [Blake] A little tiny thing. - A little thing to separate for HIPAA, yeah, - I know! I know. - [Mike] So it wasn't that nice. - You guys are always stealing our chairs. - We are stealing chairs. - [Blake] Hmm hmm. I know.
15:49
- But like, the best jokes always came from nurses. - 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. - [Mike] Yeah. - Ask to be moved to the nurses station, like next to the nurses station. Like you want that room. - Yeah. - Because you're gonna be able to have a much better time. You're gonna get all the drama.
16:12
- Did you watch, speaking of medical dramas, the medical drama show "Nurses?" - Oh, uh. - [Mike] It was called "Nurses," right? Yeah. - I think so. It was awful. - That's why. Yeah. - [Blake] It was bad. Yeah. - If you were to remake it, how would you make it? - It was a few years ago, right? - [Mike] Yeah. Yeah. - I'd make it accurate. - Like what? Make it funnier? - Just even the first, like the opening bit was like, it was so unrealistic. - [Mike] Yeah. - Like I watched it a few minutes
16:36
and I'm like, "This is awful." Whoever made it has no idea what nurses do. - [Mike] Yeah. - And 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 are 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. - Exactly. No, I know what you mean. - Just tell the real story. Like let the people bicker.
16:56
Let 'em argue. Let this person say they hate this person. Let a patient say something mean, like. (Blake laughs) I mean that's the reality of like, life. - Honestly. Yeah. - It's weird that they force it. Okay, so you realized you needed to step out. You did the medical onesie. That went viral. - [Blake] Yep. - 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 viral.
17:20
- Stealing food in a doctor's lounge. You know, shit like that. You know what I mean? - Like relatable. - [Blake] Relatable stuff. - Nursing humor. - 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 'cause when I make a video about nursing students, like my classmates from school will be like, "Oh, are you talking about, you know,
17:40
are you talking about Brianna?" And I'm like, "No, bitch, I'm talking about you." - You. Oh! - The question asker. And of course, you're asking me if it's Brianna. - Yep. - It's (silence) you, Diane. You know what I mean? - That's so funny. - Yeah, and those went viral. I got more popular. I started speaking at hospitals 'cause hospitals will invite me to speak to their staff. - Because that was like resilience training for them. - Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then they would be like,
18:03
"But you need to say this, you need to like put our mission in there." And I'm, "(silence) 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. - [Mike] Whatever you want. - Whatever I want. But then I'm like, 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 conference, like it's always nurse-focused and I will never like spend my energy trying to, you know,
18:29
do anything for hospitals- - [Mike] Please anyone else. - Or medical device companies or anything. 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 on- - What did you do on the shows? - I just talked about my life. - So just like 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
18:53
and comedy has developed over time. But I put a lot of work into my shows. - Of course. - 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. - So and you have such strong support from the nursing community. - [Blake] The best. - 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
19:18
if nurses are 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
19:46
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 gonna be the only one working that unit because all the other nurses are gonna be at my show. (Mike laughing) 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-staffed. - [Mike] Fair. - Which is funny 'cause whenever I do a show in a city (laughing),
20:07
managers will reach out and be like, we need people to come. Like we will give an extra. - Wow. So you could be the cause of someone dying? - A hundred bonus. No. - [Mike] Yeah. - They will be the cause of it 'cause they don't know how to (silence) staff their hospital. - Well yeah, because you're breaking the system. - (laughing) It is their problem. - You're out here. - [Blake] It is their problem. - Stealing the nurses. - No, this is what I say. Listen, if you're an emergency,
20:29
when I'm doing a city in your town, don't go to the hospital, come to the theater. (Mike laughs) That's where all the healthcare workers are gonna be. We'll take care of you there's. - That's like a wolf wolf Wall Street level of sales pitch. - Yeah, that's what what they say. Yeah, yeah, it's so funny 'cause even, we had one person come to the show, she's 42 weeks pregnant. - 42 weeks pregnant? - She was supposed to be induced. - [Mike] Okay. - And instead she's like,
20:49
she had her like labor bag with her and she's like, "You know what, if I was gonna give birth, I would rather give it here." But right after the show she's like, "Okay, I'm gonna go have my baby." - Yeah, are those shows like the safest shows? - Ah huh. - Because you have like- - Safest show. - Everyone there? - [Blake] Safest cruise ship. - Wow. - [Blake] Yeah. - I didn't even think about that. - [Blake] I know. - In fact, if I want to go on a cruise, I should just go on your cruise.
21:07
It's like free medical care. - Yeah, super safe, yeah. But what's so funny is a lot of times, you know, there's hospitals on cruise ships. - Oh there are? - Like, there's doctors and nurses. There's a jail, there's a hospital, - There's a jail? - [Blake] Yeah. - See you know this 'cause you buy them. - There's a morgue. I know everything. - [Mike] There's a morgue? - There's a morgue. - Have you killed someone on tour yet? - (laughing) No. No. - That sounded questionable.
21:28
- There was this woman who she ran up on stage and almost tried to tackle me. - Like hug tackle or like angry tackle? - Like angry tackle. Like, yeah. - [Mike] What'd you do? What'd you do? - I was just like, okay, bye. - No, but what did you do that she wanted to tackle you? - Oh, I don't know. She just wouldn't tell me how much God loved me or something. - Oh, so it was a positive tackle? - Yeah. No, it was more like, "Don't be gay," kind of thing. - Oh, okay, got it. Very angry, okay.
21:51
- Yeah. Very angry. I was like, "Mom, why are you here?" (Mike laughing) Mom, how'd you get in? Yeah. So yeah, so there's hospitals on the cruise ship. What's so funny is on my cruise, no one goes to the hospital. So the nurses are so bored. Like, 'cause 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.
22:22
"What time do we leave? You know, if there is an emergency, what happens?" Like 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, it's a lot of people don't realize it's a company. - You're literally running the ship? - Yeah. - And guiding the ship. And steering the ship. - Well there's the captain's steering the ship. But yeah, like there was one of the islands
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we were gonna 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 as 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 um... - Would you ever open up your own hospital? - No. - [Mike] Why? - I wouldn't open up my own hospital because it's so much work. It's so much work. - You're running a ship. - It's so much work. A hospital?
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- 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 nurses would get a good lounge, like all the doctors' lounges. You know what I mean? - Would you even have doctors? - Probably not. Honestly. No, probably not. - You'd have them remote for telemedicine? - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you ever been in the hospital or doctor's office and someone recognize you? Like as a patient? - Uh, yeah.
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- Okay, this happened to me the other day. - [Mike] And how did that go? - So listen, so I was on tour. Well this is, lemme tell you what happened. I had a rash. - Hmm. You say... - Down south. In the south. - Okay. - Down south. And I'm like- - And you didn't self diagnose? - Oh, I freaked out. Like it went to WebMD. And I'm like, "Oh my God, what do I have?" And I like typed in like my symptoms. - Now that you have my number, you can just text me your rash. - So I type in my symptoms.
24:05
They're like, "Oh my god, you have dick cancer." And I'm like, "No, that's stage five. - But that's typical for WebMD, right? - Yeah, a 100%. - They always of the worst. - Yeah, a hundred percent. So I'm like, shit, so it's like, see a doctor. I'm like, God. So I go see a nurse practitioner in the SCI clinic, right? And she's down there for a minute. - 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."
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- With, while undressed? - Yes, well I had, you know, my shirt on, but eh, you know? You're Nurse Blake. - Ah. - [Blake] Yeah. - Did she recognize you from the face or? - And that's a great question. She's like, "Jason Statham?" you know what I mean? She's like, "Jason Statham?" Anyways, I didn't have an STI. - [Mike] Okay. - I had just washed my underwear with Tide fragrance and I'm strictly like no fragrance. - Oh, so you had a little contact dermatitis situation. - Yeah, exactly. - Okay.
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- And here I thought I had dick cancer, you know. - Well, it's easy to go down that rabbit hole. - [Blake] Oh, for sure. - Because dick cancer is something on a lot of people's minds these days. - Stage six, yeah. It's really bad. - I didn't know there was stage six. - [Blake] Yeah, it's really bad. Yeah. - But the more you know about. - Yeah, the know the more. - [Mike] Penis cancer. - The more you know. - Or is it penile cancer? Probably penile. - Penis cancer, it's really, it's dick cancer.
25:13
- [Mike] Yeah. - You know? - Because the rich our there deserve it.
25:20
You got to the point where you said, if you don't like me, I don't care. - No, it's fine. - [Mike] 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. - [Mike] Of course. Yeah. - But then I learned the phrase like, "If everyone's your friend, then really no one's your friend." - Ooh. - Right?
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So that was like, shit, damn. And it's like, it's fine. I don't like everybody, you know? I don't like everybody. So why would I expect everyone to like me? - Who do you dislike? - Um, like. - Anyone in this like social media community. - Like one of my cousins. One of my cousins. - Oh, well I hope you have lots so they can't identify themselves. - Yeah, I know. - [Mike] Any patients you've had that you hated? - Her name is Britney. - Wait, what? - Any patients that you've disliked?
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- Of course. - Yeah. - Not like, you know, there's patients that either will hit you or pee on you. I've got peed on before so it was really fun. I had a pee 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. - [Mike] Oh, no. - Yeah, it's dislike. It's like you're, you're caring for people in really vulnerable moments, right. And some patients just will give you a harder time than others. - Sure.
26:32
- 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's going on. - Right, yeah, it's not my fault. You know what I mean? I feel like abuse on healthcare workers is super high. It should be a felony across the board. - Is it not? - No. - [Mike] 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."
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Like, "Don't have your back towards a patient." - Yeah. - It's like what? - [Mike] Yeah, that's gross. - Yeah, "Oh, the patient was having a bad day." Like, "Bitch, I'm having a bad day. Can I hit you?" - Why is a bus driver protected by that felony rule? Because I always see those plaques. - [Blake] Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Why don't we have that for healthcare? - Or on flights? Flight attendants. - [Mike] Oh yeah, flight attendants, yeah. - All the time. Yeah, so I honestly compare healthcare
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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 gotta 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. - Yep, yep, so I compare that a lot. So especially when it comes to injuries and abuse. You know, if you hit a flight attendant,
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you know it's a felony or put on a list, you can't fly again and- - It'd be pretty messed up if they're not allowed to get medical care again. - Oh, I wouldn't do that. - [Mike] Oh, okay. - But you shouldn't hit us. You know what I mean? - No, that's true. - And it's different if you're drunk, you know, incapacitated or whatever. But if you're in your right state and you- - Because that does happen with dementia, AMS and stuff. - Yeah, I am not talking about that. - [Mike] Yeah. - Yeah.
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- In fact, 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. - What if that 98-year-old lady used to be a bodybuilder and is really strong? - Then she would probably knock me the (silence) out. (Mike laughs) She would knock me out. - See, now you probably wish you didn't say that. - Yeah, and I'm a DNR by the way. - Oh, you are? - Oh, yeah. You think I wanna be coded? - Why not?
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- No, absolutely not. - Whoa, whoa, hold on. We have to get into. - Absolutely not. - Well, wait. - Absolutely. - At this age? Or when you're 90. - 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 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.
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See Hamilton, you know, go on a helicopter ride. - On a podcast. - Yeah, go on a cool podcast. So there's a flight company, helicopter company, 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. - Yep. - 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.
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- Well I was wrong 'cause 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 gonna have a bad day." "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, 'cause the pilot, we could hear what the pilot's saying, but we can't talk back to the pilot. And I'm like, get me the (silence) outta here. - Could you see what's happening in the front?
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- Well, no, 'cause 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 wanna be resuscitated. Like come on. - Well, why? - [Blake] Bro? Like, listen. - I can give you damn good chest compressions. - I am tired. I need a break. - So you're not really DNR? - Like I said, it's not like on my ID, you know? - [Blake] But where is it? Is it anywhere?
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- In my mind, my tattoo. My tattoo on my ass. - No, but okay, let's say, God forbid. - [Blake] Yeah. - Situation. You get sepsis, your heart stops. You don't want- - [Blake] Bro. - 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. Yeah, okay. - You crack some ribs like that.
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- Okay, only Dr. Mike can do it. - [Mike] Okay. Fair. - Deal. - But you'd get chest compressions? - Would I get it? - [Mike] Yeah. - No, I don't want that. I honestly, I don't. - But why? 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 want every tube in your body? Every hole in your body? - At this age? Yeah. - We'll make a hole. We'll make a hole.
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- Yeah, I know. - [Blake] If we need it. - I need it. You wanna get, give me the hole. - Okay. If you need a Flexi-Seal, Nurse Blake will put it in. - Rib needs his father. - See? He does. Your dog is so cute by the way. - 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? - Yeah, I might change my mind, yeah, maybe. - Because I've had those discussions with patients about- - [Blake] It's a good discussion.
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- 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 pre-procedures and they go, "Why are you talking to me?" "Is this dangerous?" I'm like, "No, no, no. This is the time." - This is the time. Like you just sprained your ankle. Let's talk about your code status. - Yeah. - Just in case 'cause you don't really know.
31:31
Speaking of going to the hospitals and doing crazy shit, I was in Austin for work and my family was with me and we went tubing down the San Marco River and my grandmother. - Is that a lazy river or one of those rapids? - So it's one of the rapids, but it's not too crazy. - Okay. - 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.
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She's Nan. Everyone that follows me knows her. She goes on the cruises, like everyone has a drink with her. - [Mike] Wow. - 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 me. - [Mike] Okay. - So I'm like, "Let's go tubing." She's like, "I don't wanna go (silence) tubing." I'm like, "No, come on, it'll be so much fun." Well, we're going down the rapids
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and it's so shallow like there's rocks. And I'm like, (silence), 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- - [Mike] Cracked her skull. - No, Jesus, Mike! She's fine. - I'm thinking worse- - She just got a little, just like a little- - Whiplash? - 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. - Oh, wow. - She's good. She's good.
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- [Mike] You promise? - I'm like, "Shit!" - That was your fault.
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- 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. - [Mike] Sorry, Nan. - But I actually was ready to get outta the water anyways and we had another like hour and a half to go, so. - Oh, okay. So it was a good way to get outta that. - Yeah, there was like a hotdog stand and like the lady that was cooking the hot dogs,
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like she was actually a nurse by the way. - Oh really? - She took us back to her car. And my grandmother was fine. She's so funny. - Besides when you got your genitals examined, when was the weirdest place you've got recognized? - Oh, besides that? Besides that? - [Mike] Yeah. - I don't think there's a weird place. - No? - I feel like there's nurses everywhere. - [Mike] That's what I'm saying. - There's a nurse in, everywhere. - [Mike] Everywhere. - Every time I go out,
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like if I do go out, there's always a nurse. - What's your relationship with that? Do you- - [Blake] I love it! - You love it? Never had a moment where you're like, "Oh man, I wish I had something." - No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I love it. - So totally happy with the (indistinct). - I love it. Yeah. And I don't expect that if people recognize me that they wanna get a picture with me or that they wanna say hi, you know, just like, hey. But if they want a picture, like of course,
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I'll get a picture like, lemme do my hair. 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, gimme the phone 'cause I need to see what I look like," you know, so? - Fair, you want to be in control. - [Blake] I love it, yeah. - Well, as we took our picture today, you're like, you wanna take the picture. - I was like, "Lemme see my picture." But look, I didn't require a selfie, you know?
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- Oh, so you let us do that. - See? I know. I had trust you in you guys. - [Mike] Wow, I didn't even think about that. - I had trust. - [Mike] Yeah. I appreciate that. - Yeah. - Speaking of the nursing field. - [Blake] Yeah. - Right now we're going through like a lot of changes from like a legislative perspective. What's gonna happen with nurse unions? What's gonna happen with- - Yes! Go, nurse unions. - Yeah. So what's your like magic wand situation where you could say, "I'm gonna fix this."
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- Safe staffing. - [Mike] 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 burned out. You know, they're overworked and nurses are just leaving. - Hmm hmm. - [Blake] Just leaving, right. - A lot of nurses are also going to travel nursing. - Yeah, for the money. They make really good money. Well, especially a few years ago, they made a lot of money.
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And they still, they're rich. If I had to do it again, I would get into travel nursing. - Really? - Because they're so much fun. Like they're so fun. - [Blake] Yeah. - Like if you're bored on your unit with all your coworkers, just hope for a travel nurse and just go out with them because they're the ones, they always wanna go out and do stuff, you know? - [Mike] Okay. - And always go drinking. Always go out.
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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 could actually get paid more money in the hospital than teaching at these massive universities. - Really? - 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,
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there's almost like this hazing ritual that happens? - I love older nurses! I love seasoned 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. - Okay. - Like 20-year-old nursing student, next to 80-year-old retired nurse. - [Mike] Okay. - 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 a nurse?"
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She's like, "54 years." I'm like, "Okay, Florence Nightingale." And she was just like, ah. I'm like, "Oh my God." But I did Berla. You know Berla, right? Her boobs were equal and round, reactive to like. - [Mike] Oh, Perla? - But there's Berla's for boobs. - Oh!
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- Yeah. So anyway. - Wait, wait, what is it Berla stands for? Boobs. - Boobs equal round, reactive to light. - [Mike] Oh, berla with a B-E-R? - Yeah, see, you got it, you got it. - Wow. That was good. - [Blake] You got it. - I didn't know. - I know, it just kind of happened like in the moment. - Okay, so for people that don't know. - So older nurses, they love my shit. It's the younger nurses in my show that are like, "Can I laugh at this?" (Mike laughs) Which is hilarious to me.
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They feel like they have to be so professional. But the ones that have seen it, that have been there 30 (silence) years, they... - [Mike] They know what's up? - Yeah. They're never offended. - But wait, you still didn't 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 their young. - Hmm. - It's because we don't get breaks
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and we're (silence) hungry. And that's why we eat whatever we can. - That sounds reasonable. - I just don't know. I think it's just the culture of being overworked, not having enough staff and then, and you can't complain to management 'cause 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 then like, "Come on guys.
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Like don't be mean." Like, you gotta come in and play mom. - [Mike] 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 on. - No! - [Blake] A hundred percent, 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? - [Blake] Yeah.
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- When someone comes to you and they say, "Hey, I don't know where to go." And you say, "I know." - I know. Yeah. - I know. Neo. I know. - See? And I'm like, you work in the OB, you work in L&D. - [Mike] Really? - You work in the ER. - So what is it that tips you off to that? - It's just, their personality traits. So CVI IC nurses. - Gimme the personality traits. ICU what do we got? - ICU? They're just like, they're cool, right? They're cool, but they're smart. So they're a little,
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if you compare an ICU nurse to ER nurse, the ER nurse is gonna be more like in your face, laughing. The ICU nurse is gonna be just a little more laid back. Cool. Fun. Love to go out with them 'cause I used to be an ICU nurse. - [Mike] Okay. - But the ER nurses are just a little more loud, you know. - And then OB? - Ob, they're (laughing), they're just so, they're so chill. They don't really give a (silence). And they come in groups. So you know, if there's like a group of 10 nurses.
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- Hmm. They roll deep? - They're in L&D. - [Mike] Okay. - And a lot of people that come to my show, they come in like party buses. - Okay. (laughing) - [Blake] So like whole units will come to the show. - Wow. You have party buses? - 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're so cute. - They always have something fun on them. - They always wear something fun.
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They're always like (laughing), they're like always laughing and giggling. Yeah, they talk in like kid language, right, 'cause they just deal with kids all day, you know. - Wow. So I wanna 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 nurse. - I'll do it! I do it all the time. - [Mike] We're gonna produce that. - So fun. Yeah. - We're gonna hire a bunch of different nurses. Some won't even be nurses.
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And you're gonna have to guess who they are. (Blake laughing) And for every time you guess a correct one, I'm gonna give like $5,000 to charity of your choice. - Deal. Deal. - [Mike] We're doing it. - Done. Write that down, Sam. And then like, correctional nurses, they're always like, you know, tattoos everywhere. Just like. (Mike speaks faintly) - [Mike] Diesel, going to the gym. - Yeah. Yeah. - Is it true what they say about male nurses? - Wait, wait, what do they say about male nurses?
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- I was gonna let you fill me in. - What do they say about male nurses, Dr. Mike? - [Mike] That's the question. - What are they saying? - I don't know. (Blake laughing) I was gonna hope that you tell me. - So typically like you want a male nurse on your, you just want a male nurse on your unit, right? Because they're gonna help lift all your patients for you. Not me. (Mike laughs) Because like- - [Mike] Why? Are you not lifting? - I'm not lifting anybody. - Jason, are you not lifting?
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- I'm not lifting anybody, like. - [Mike] You said you were a transporter. - I was. I was a transporter until I had a little accident. - Oh. - So I was transporting this cute little patient out.
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She's gonna 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 go home," da da da da. 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 her seatbelt. - Oh. - So she slammed her finger in the door. So I'm like- - You broke it. - So I'm like, okay, "Welcome back to the hospital." - Hand surgery. - Let's get you to the ER. Singing to the er.
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So it's like not her lucky day. So yeah. - And you got fired? - So, no, I didn't get fired. - Uh. - I didn't get fired. But I did get moved to a different department. - [Mike] Oh, wow. - So I worked in surgery for a little bit. - Okay. - [Blake] Because that's safer. - Yeah. Shorter movements. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, exactly. - [Mike] Probably, PACU. - A hundred percent. So I would clean up all the rooms and prep them and turn them over. - Okay. - [Blake] What were we talking about?
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- Male nurses. - [Blake] Male nurses. - Strong. - Strong. - [Mike] Yeah. To carry some patient around. - Bald, typically. - Bald? - Bald. Straight male nurses! Straight male. They're strong, they're bald, they're (playfully exclaiming), you know? - Okay. Why bald? Is it from the stress? - It's again like this like stereotypical like- - Wow. - Where 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.
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I even get into male nurses and stuff. And yeah, they're great. - That's so funny. Well, the guy that I was telling you I was studying for the NCLEX exam, he's a male nurse and he always- - Or just a nurse. - Wild times. - They're just a nurse, just a nurse. - Well, yeah, but in this situation. - [Blake] Or a murse. - Or a murse. Your experience, who was the most fun nurse you ever worked with? - I would say either the oldest nurse on the unit.
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- Specifically, I want you to get someone in your mind. - Oh, like a person? - [Mike] Hmm hmm. - Probably Sandy. I work with Sandy back in Houston. - Okay. - 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 'cause she wasn't like, you know, 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
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that has stuck around the longest time. They don't give a (silence). 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. - [Mike] You want that nurse. - I would be a full code if Sandy was my nurse. - Wow. - [Blake] 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? - But that's not how you do it.
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That's too deep. - Okay. Whatever. - But Sandy clearly knows how to do it. - [Blake] Yeah, she's good. I trust her. - Okay, so Sandy was your rockstar. - [Blake] Yeah. - Have you ever had a doctor mess up and you saved them? - Oh! Boy, yes.
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I'm trying to think of, there's just like little things when either that's like. - What are the common things that we mess up? Medication dosages, probably is number one. - It would be probably medication dosage. Luckily, it would get caught in pharmacy. - [Mike] Mm. - 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 doctor's orders. But a lot of times- - Oh no, you're checking us.
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- We're catching all this stuff. - Especially you working in the ICU. - [Blake] Yeah. - Oh my God. How many things are being caught? - Oh, so much. - [Mike] 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 healthcare provider, you know, in general. - Even from like line management, like in the ICU. - Yeah, you touch a wrong button. It's not gonna be good, so.
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And that's why ICU nurses are always a lot more anal, a lot more, you know, they're very type A. - 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. - Yeah, you better clean that shit up. - [Mike] 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. - [Mike] No! - For sure.
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- Especially as a resident. - [Blake] Yeah. - Do you ever work with bad residents? - No. Just the ones that had like the God complex. - [Mike] Oh. - "Oh, listen to me." It's like, "Okay, you've been here a day." (Mike laughs) 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. - [Mike] Got it. - But they get humbled really quickly 'cause you'll have a nurse like Sandy that'll be like,
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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 go, you know. Yeah. We're better. (laughs) I mean we're just better. - I mean, that's how I learned. - Just 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- - [Mike] Collaborated. - Collaborated more.
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- [Mike] Yeah. - 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. - [Blake] Yeah. - Is it? - So 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. - Ooh! Okay. - Yep. Yep, I actually have a platform right now in NurseCon Learning where nurses can get CNE for free. We're revamping that right now.
45:03
But I would love to do like NurseCon 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 involved in? - Like I did something for Indeed. Indeed. They're, you know, the big career company, right. - [Mike] Yeah, of course.
45:28
- 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 gonna work for Indeed if they're catering to the hospitals. (Mike laughs) But their number one priority is the job seeker! - Wow, it feels like you really have to have like teams here? - Yeah, I'm like, "Who are you catering to? The job seeker or the employer." And they're like, "Oh, a hundred percent the job seeker." So I was like, "Oh, I'll take on that project."
45:49
And you know, we get paid for things like that. - Of course. - You know, and so I'll take funds from there and put them into things like NurseCon Learning. - [Mike] Wow, that's really cool. - Or NurseCon 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 'cause I love it. I do what I do 'cause I'm having fun.
46:14
If at any time like people stopped coming to the shows or the cruise, 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 had 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 'cause I love people, I chose nursing to make people feel better. So I would bring comedy to the bedside.
46:35
I would be a lot more fun! You know, talking to my patients, joking with them. - [Mike] Yeah. - Then I realized you're never gonna be perfect in healthcare. - Of course. - [Blake] Like we're always learning. - Yeah, it's a practice. - And that made me have it more fun. It's a practice. - Yeah, yeah. - 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 gonna keep doing it. - Yeah, you mentioned anxiety multiple times.
46:55
What's your mental health journey been like over the last few years? - Yeah. - Because social media can make it toxic. - [Blake] Yeah, it can. - At least from my own experience. - Yeah, like next week, I'm going off grid, a little place in Montana. I'm gonna put my phone off for five days. First time in seven years. - Do you watch "Yellowstone?" - I watched one episode on a flight. - [Mike] Okay, that's gonna be you. - Yeah, that's gonna be me. That's gonna be me.
47:18
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. And that's helpful. - [Mike] What are you looking at when you look at your phone too much? - I'm just. - Mindless scrolling? - [Blake] Mindless scrolling. - TikTok? - Getting different ideas or 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
47:37
and I feel like then it sucks the fun out of how people normally use social media. They can just have fun and watching. - I'm not having fun. - [Mike] Yeah, we're just like working. - Working, yeah. It's working. - That kind of sucks. - If I wasn't doing that, I probably wouldn't be on social media because I don't have like a personal page or anything. - [Mike] Mm. - Like it's just. - Before the pajama video, the onesie video. - Not the pajama video. Go ahead. - Onesie. I don't know.
48:01
Pajamas are onesie. - A onesie, a romper. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Romper video. What social media- - Do you wear, wait. That's what you wear to bed? Your pajama is a onesie? - Ah. - I'm gonna see this. - I actually go not full. I go boxers. - Okay. - [Mike] Only. - Okay. - Actually I do put on a T-shirt because I like to sleep cold. - I like to sleep really cold, too. - [Mike] Yeah. - 68 degrees. - But that's normal. That's like the way you're supposed to do. - Oh really?
48:23
- Yeah, it's supposed to be dark and cold for ideal sleep. - Oh, okay. Good to know. - Because naturally your body temperature drops throughout the night. So you want be able to fall asleep quicker. - Yeah. 68 degrees. - [Mike] Yeah. - Shirt, underwear. - That's a good temperature. Alright, so we do the same thing. - Good to know. So pajama onesie. - So before the romper. - [Blake] Yeah. - Were you on social media? - Not, I wasn't like active, active, active. - [Mike] Got it. - But yeah,
48:45
I would post more for like family and friends kind of things. Okay. - I don't do that now 'cause it's like. - [Mike] Different world. - I'm only on my phone for work. Like if I could put my phone down, I can. So when I'm home in Orlando, I go biking every day. - Hmm. - 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. - Oh, those harry cows? Furry cows? - Yeah, so even though I don't have pets like a dog,
49:08
I do have two highland cows. - What? - [Mike] And I love them so much. - They're so fun. - And they have bangs, so we actually. - Do they have personalities? - Oh yeah, like right when I pull the car up, they're like. - [Mike] Really? - Yeah. They like come up. And so every day when I'm home, I go biking 'cause there's a mountain bike trail and I play with the cows. Brush them, feed them treats, wash 'em off. - "What are you doing today?" "Brushing my cows."
49:31
- I do and that's that's like my time to just like relax. - So you have your meditation time to help with the mental health stuff? - I have my family, right. - [Mike] Support system's crucial. - And Lexapro and Wellbutrin. (Mike laughs) And that's my support system. - (laughing) 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,
49:55
I went through gay conversion therapy when I was younger. Obviously, didn't work. - Oh, from family? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Okay. - Didn't work, so between when I was. - Because that's not evidence-based. - Because I'm still gay (exclaims). And, also that, - That's a microphone. - Yeah. Oh, thank you so much... - Jason, relax. - It's actually really nice. Actually, really nice. So from 15 to 18,
50:12
and I always said like, "I'm fine." Like it didn't really affect me until, you know, I was in my late twenties, it like started coming up. So I was doing some EDMR therapy with my therapist. - Yep. - Right before tour. And she was like, actually you're in a good spot right now, so we're not gonna explore any of that. - Sure. - So I even know like when I can. - [Mike] Got it. That's really good. - Explore or do a good medication change or something that I need. - Yeah. - But when I'm on the road,
50:38
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 stay busy. Like I love to stay busy. - Hmm hmm. When you're not busy, are you like super anxious? Because that's how I get. - Uh, a little bit, but. - [Mike] Or antsy maybe? - But honestly with the cows and like mountain biking, it's great. - With the cows. You have a hack, you have a cow. - I love it. Like I love it.
51:03
Yeah. - Okay, I wish I'd get a cow. - Yeah, get a cow, Lexapro and Wellbutrin, yeah. - (laughing) Okay, we can't push. - And a Nan, get a Nan. - Oh yeah, tell me about Nan. - Yeah, she's 78. - [Mike] I mean, I know she's super fun. - She's fine, she's great. - Cracked her head, but doing well. - Hmm, she's fine. She's great. I love her so much. She lives in- - What's her life experience? - She lives in the Villages, Florida, which is like the high STD rate and STI rate in the country.
51:25
- Really, you investigated that? - Because like all these people just like have sex together. Yeah 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 on." They have like sex parties. - Is that what that means? - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - [Mike] Pineapples? - Or when people like leave their tag out of their shirt, it's like, "Hey." You don't know this? - I'm such a rookie.
51:45
- Oh my God. - Wait, what does the tag over the shirt mean? - That just means you're like your a swinger. - What if it means you put your shirt on messy? - Well then you better start checking your tag. You need to start checking your tags. - Oh! Everyone at home needs to check your tags. - You need to start checking your tags. - [Mike] Okay. Wow. I didn't know that. - And then pineapple's obviously swinger. - Obviously. - [Blake] Obviously. Obviously.
52:05
- I've heard of the tie around door or something. - Obviously. - 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! Dr. Mike, whoa! - What is happening? - Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm from Florida. A lot of shit goes down in Florida. - That's true. Well you have the highest STI there. - Yeah, I do.
52:26
I had a stripper pole in my house growing up. - For exercise? - Right. - [Mike] I'm asking. - Yeah. - Oh yeah. - Okay. Sure. - What exercises did you do on it? - You would have to not ask me. - [Mike] You would flag? - Actually I have pictures of me and my friends, like on my mom's stripper pole, just like hanging out. - Your mom's stripper pole? - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Okay, specifically. So you were borrowing it? - Hmm hmm. - Hmm hmm, could you flag? - What's so funny,
52:48
they're (silence) pineapple, stripper pole and I can't like dick, you know what I mean? Like, excuse me? - Wait, wait. Repeat the dick. What about the dick? - Right, right, right. So my parents could be swingers. - [Mike] Yeah. - But I can't be gay? - Yeah, that sounds weird. - You know what I mean? - Yeah, it's like if you're gonna be nonjudgmental, you have to go all the way with it. - Right, right, right, right, right, right. - [Mike] Yeah. - Hmm. - Yeah, mom, what's the problem?
53:06
I like dick, you like say dick, what's the problem? - Yeah, what did she say about that? - I don't know. Gay conversion therapy. - That was then, what about now? Has the lesson been learned? - No, we really don't talk much. So I am really close with my brother, his girls and my grandmother and a few cousins. - Very specific. - [Blake] Yeah. - And has anyone ever tried to reach out to you and chat with you after the newfound fame? - No, no, no, no, no, no, no. - [Mike] No? - No.
53:28
- Well probably 'cause 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. - Oh! - Yeah, nothing's off limits. - Okay, do you feel like that's part of the healing process? - Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah. I think we could 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.
53:51
- And patients appreciate it too. Like I have a lot of patients that, people that were patients that come to my show and get a lot out of it and stuff, so. - Has 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 said? - No, everyone's really 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.
54:15
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. - [Blake] Oh yeah. - Of nurses dancing on TikTok. What's your take of that? - So I never filmed in a hospital, like ever. I would, when I was filming like little hospital scenes, it was in my living room.
54:42
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 still beeped. Like the IV was still occluded or the air still in line. (Mike laughs) So annoying. So I never filmed in a hospital and I just think, you know, we do as healthcare workers, you know, have to portray essential 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.
55:13
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. - Hmm hmm. - 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.
55:35
- In order to like, I have two videos on my channel called like "Day In the Life." - Okay, yeah, yeah. - In order to have filmed that very limited amount of footage, the amount of tape I had to go through. - [Blake] 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. Then I would see and it's like. - [Blake] Yeah. - Oh, man.
55:56
I even had some nurses on my show
56:00
or whatever on the 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. - Wow. Wow. - And I'm like, - That's just... - I say that all the time. - Right, 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 never- - Allowed, yeah. Or not included in medical dramas
56:25
unless it's only shitty ones. - Right, thank you. Exactly. - [Mike] Yeah. - "Nurses" sucked. Oh my god. "Nurses" written by doctors. - And great, yeah, thank you. Or not even written by doctors. - "Grey's Anatomy" needs to be a DNR. They're on 19 seasons. - Yeah. - [Blake] God damn, they're tired. - Can we write a new one? - Please, I'm down to do a show. - It would be a good comedy. - [Blake] I'm down to do a show. - We would do like a "Scrub" remake. - It's coming back. - [Mike] Oh it is?
56:48
- It's coming back. - Shit. - You see them in commercials now, I guess they're bringing it back. - Oh, did you know that? - [Sam] Yeah, there's a new comedy medical show. - Oh, but it's not "Scrubs." - But "Scrubs" is coming back and there's a new comedy medical show coming out too. - Wow. - There a lot of, which is good. I love to see it. - Yeah. - As long as it's done right. - As long as it's not called "Nurses." - As long as it's done right, you know what I mean?
57:05
- Because that was a bad show. - Yeah. That was so, it was so bad.
57:10
- There was a nurse, I remember. I don't even know who the nurse is, made like a video faking her reaction after a patient's like giving bad news or something. - Yeah. Poor thing. - How did that land for you? - Poor thing. Poor thing. (laughs) Like that's just, I mean to be get hate on social media. And just sharing your experience of the emotions that a nurse goes through, you know, obviously we're not doing that as it's actually happening. - [Mike] Yeah. - Right, just a portrayal
57:36
of an experience that we have. - [Mike] Yeah. - So it seems like more non-healthcare workers were involved in that reaction. - Sure, than healthcare workers. - Than healthcare workers. But I always say never film in a hospital. Never film in a hospital. - Mm. - [Blake] It just avoids that at all costs. - Yeah, 'cause there were like COVID-19 naysayers who were like, "Oh yeah, you're busy?" - Yeah, right, yeah. - And I was like, how do I explain to them that they also have free time because-
57:58
- [Blake] Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. - 'Cause you're allowed to have free time. - Have free time. It's okay. - [Mike] As a human. - Yeah. - Do you like TikTok? - I love TikTok. - Are you sad that it's gonna go away? - You think it's really gonna go away? - Well, it's either gonna get sold or it's gonna go away. - I don't, well, it might go away. - [Mike] What do you like about it? - I love- - [Mike] I don't like it so. - The amount of people and voices that are on there. - Okay.
58:22
- 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. - [Mike] 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 go, the viral of fame. - [Blake] Yeah, for sure.
58:43
- I sometimes get concerned about that. - [Blake] Okay. - For two reasons. - [Blake] Yeah. Yeah. - One is people are not always ready for what happens mentally. - True, yeah. - So that can be very harmful. And then second,
58:55
it opens the door for bad actors. - Yeah, I see what you mean. - So like, there's people coming on and saying some wild things. In fact, I just got into my own little medical beef, if you will, on social media. - [Blake] No, shit. - A doctor, typically. A doctor. - Uh huh, yeah. - Said there's like four medications every guy should take. And I was like, what? - What? Okay. - And he named Viagra, Metformin, dutasteride and fish oil. And I was like, "What if your hair's not thinning?" - Right?
59:24
- [Mike] What if you have no erectile dysfunction? - Right, yeah, right, right, right, yeah, yeah, yeah. - What if you don't have diabetes? - [Blake] 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. - [Blake] Oh, shit. - So I had to do like another reaction video. - Yeah, yeah. - So like I hate that kind of beef stuff. - Yeah, it's annoying. I avoid it. I try not to call anybody out, you know? - Yeah, have you ever? - [Blake] No.
59:42
- No, you're like I stay away from the toxicity. - No, 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? - That's what I'm saying, you're running cruise ships. - I'm way too busy. I'm too busy. My energy's going elsewhere. - Okay, so you have cruise ships, you're gonna start a nursing school. - [Blake] Yeah. - Politics? - Ah, god. No, I don't think so. - Why? - No, that's too much.
1:00:04
- [Mike] You could change so much. - That's too much pressure. - You can fix the staffing. - [Blake] You can, you can. - Me? I do meme videos. - You fix it. You fix it. Yeah, me too. (Mike laughs) Yeah, me too. - You do? - Like videos, just funny shit? - No, no, but I'm saying that's what I do. I make meme reaction videos. I can't be in politics. - Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I think I was in one of your videos, reaction videos so thank you so much. - Yeah, yeah, but why not politics?
1:00:27
- I'm gonna copyright strike you. - You already did. (Blake laughs) You sent me a cease and desist. - I don't wanna get into poli- It's so messy. It's so messy. - [Mike] It is really messy. - Yeah. I'm about having a fun, happy life.
1:00:40
- So where's Nurse Blake five years from now? - That's a good question. You know, when I was in nursing school, 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, I wanna be on stage one day," you know? - Well you were Peter Pan. - You know, that's a good fact. - Yeah. - So I did work at Disney as Peter Pan.
1:01:03
It was super fun. I wore the tights. - I love that you're, "I was never on stage. I was Peter Pan also." - I was Peter Pan for a minute. - [Blake] For Disney! - For a minute, for a minute. - [Blake] For Disney. - For a minute. - You weren't doing it as cosplaying 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?"
1:01:23
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 (silence) 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? (Mike speaks faintly) - You see? Why are you staring at my head? - Your head is big. - It's humongous. - I have a little head so I have a like an issue with that. - It's huge. Okay.
1:01:43
- I wish I had a bigger head. - Okay. How tall are you? - 6'3". - Okay. My ex was 6'7". - [Mike] But little head. Oh, whoa. - Also little head. - Also little head? - [Blake] Yeah. - See what happens? That's why we're not in Hollywood. - Yeah, 'cause of the little- - The bigger the star, the bigger the head. - Yeah. True. - John Travolta, big head. - Well mine's really (silence) big. - [Blake] That's what I'm saying. - Yeah. - Peter Pan, musical. Peter Pan, motion picture.
1:02:05
- (laughing) no. - [Blake] No? - I never, I never, ever, ever, I think the point is what I'm trying to say. - Okay, so you're not going into Hollywood in the next five years? - No. - [Mike] Okay. So where's the the next- - I don't know. I would love to keep focusing on NurseCon, NurseCon at Sea, NurseCon Learning and doing some online, you know, nursing school. - Okay. - That's kind of where I am. - So nursing education? - Yeah. - Is where you wanna be. Well that makes a lot of sense.
1:02:26
By the way, I have a lot of excitement about Peter Pan. - Oh! Because? - Because the dog in Peter Pan is a Newfoundland. - Aw. - Which both my dogs are. - And that's what your dogs are. - [Mike] Nanny. - Your dog is really cute. - Is it Nanny? - You know so much about Disney movies. - [Mike] I actually know nothing. - I didn't even know that much. I didn't even know that. - Well I got the dog because of Peter Pan. - Okay. - [Mike] Not really. - I'm supposed to say I was friends with Peter Pan.
1:02:47
Otherwise they ruin in the magic. - Hmm. - You know? - Because you were just like showing up as him. - Yeah, it's 'cause like you don't want kids to know you're Peter Pan. So you're supposed to say I have friends, I'm friends with Peter Pan. - [Mike] Okay. - Which I thought you were supposed to say like, "I'm friends with Tinkerbell." - Hmm hmm. - Because friends with Tinkerbell is Peter Pan. But that would mean I was Tinkerbell. - [Mike] Okay. - So that was embarrassing when I would say that.
1:03:06
I was like, "Oh, I'm friends with Tinkerbell." (both laughing) Yeah. - Okay, so before we wrap up, I wanna- - No! - [Mike] I wanna ask two things. - Why are we wrapping up? - [Mike] I wanna ask two things. - Let me get my water. - One. - Yeah. - 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. - [Mike] Nurses like that. - Love it. Yeah.
1:03:31
- [Mike] Okay. - They want you to. A lot of (laughs), nurse managers, I love all the good ones out there. You guys are amazing. - Do you also hate nurse managers? - No, I love a good nurse managers. - Why am I feeling that? - 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. - [Mike] Why? - Because they're put in a really bad spot
1:03:53
between the nurse and the hospital. - So it's not their fault? - I mean they could, a lot of them could be more present and do more to advocate for their nurses. - [Mike] 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 one. You know, four not-so-good present ones. - So 20%, okay. - Yeah. Ones that you would never see, never see!
1:04:18
Never would come on night shift. - Where would they be? - Yeah. Where would they be? Where would they be? - I have not, I don't know. - Oh, yeah. That's a great, that's a great question. Where are you? Where are you? They're in meetings. They say they're meetings. Well these hospitals like put- - They force them into trainings and mandatory things. - All this shit, yeah, yeah, yeah. - A lot of that is so annoying and unnecessary. Wait, so what's the advice? So be present. - [Blake] Be present.
1:04:43
- And you were saying something, how did that get nurse- - Laugh, have fun and. - You said, but I love nurse managers but. - But be present, to nurse managers, be present. And I know the good ones versus the bad ones 'cause 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 da da. I'm like, okay. - [Mike] You're the bad one.
1:05:06
- You're the bad one. Like, you just called yourself out. You know what I mean? You just called yourself out. - [Mike] That's so funny. - Yeah. - What about message to us doctors? What can we do better?
1:05:20
- Talk to us? Be nicer to us. - Give us all the tea. - [Blake] Be nicer to us. Be nicer to us. - Give the tea. This is some politically correct bullshit. - No, I think it's about- - You're not running for politics. You can tell the truth. - I think it's about respect. - [Mike] 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,
1:05:38
no matter what you do, work in a shit environment, right, whether you're EVS, 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 our parent and you're just like, you'll... And I got to the point where I'm like, "Okay, you're not gonna talk to me like that. Like say it again." Like that's how I am. - Wow.
1:06:06
- Like for a long time I was just like, "Okay." - I got a little scared for a second. - And I'm just like, "Oh, say it. What? Okay. Redo. Rewind, I'll forgive you but yeah, rephrase." We should treat each other like we treat patients is kind of how I see it. - So spend less time together? - Well the doctors spend (faintly talking) 'cause you're never in the room. - Fair. - No. But I think it's all about creating just positive working culture for us
1:06:31
in an environment where it's kind of nearly impossible with the amount of work and stress that we have. - Yeah. - But nursing and healthcare is a great career. - It is. - [Blake] It's a lot. - Where do you see the future of that going? Do you think it's growing? - I think it's getting better. - Hmm hmm. In what regard? - [Blake] I think a lot of unions. - Oh. - Are speaking up and a lot more nurses are more active. They are showing their voice. They're not as scared of pushback.
1:06:54
And there's strikes around the nation in 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's a strike, if I'm free, I go and strike with them. - Really? - Which I love. Yeah, yeah, yeah. - [Mike] Okay. - So I've been on the picket lines with them, you know, which is so, it's bad to see 'cause it shouldn't happen. - [Mike] Right. - But to see the support. - [Mike] The comradery. - Of coworkers coming together,
1:07:17
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 a hundred days, not getting paid. - Really, 'cause I'm in New Jersey. - [Blake] No benefits. - I didn't know that happened. - Yeah, no benefits, not getting paid. - [Mike] 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.
1:07:40
- Oh, while on strike. - [Blake] While on strike. - Got it. Why do they go on strike? - Staffing mostly, safety. - Damn, that's crazy. - [Blake] Yep. - And what is the usual staffing like, inpatient, ICU, ER, what's like the usual? - In Florida? - What's supposed to happen? - In Florida? So, I mean, honestly ICU is two to one. - [Mike] 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-surg
1:08:05
should never ever 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 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.
1:08:30
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 healthcare. I think what's really sad is when you save someone or you're giving them a treatment that you know is gonna put them in a bad financial decision, is that like moral ethical injury that we all face? - [Mike] Yeah. - You know. You're saving somebody, but then... - [Mike] Are you creating financial harm? - Bankruptcy or whatever, you know? - Yeah. - [Blake] Yeah.
1:08:59
- That's really gross. Because even for us, like we run a small business here, we all get insurance from the small business. - [Mike] Right. - For me to buy insurance for all the employees is I can't get the same level of insurance that a hospital can. - [Blake] I know. - Or JP Morgan can or. - I know. - Any company. And then if you're an individual trying to buy it for yourself, it's even worse! - It's wild. So I think one thing I'm really proud of being a business owner is that the nurses
1:09:26
we work with, we pay, any, like. - In what capacity do you work with nurses? - So like educators. - [Mike] 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 contractors. - So how many employees does your company have? - 13. - Oh wow. So you have a lot of people. - [Blake] Yep. - Wow. - And contractors, you know, we pay them too. A lot of times to speak at a conference, they don't pay you.
1:09:50
You get a discount off your registration. - What! - You get a discount off of your registration. - [Mike] What kind (indistinct) stream is that? - Yeah. - That should be illegal. - Awful. I know. It's like what? - [Mike] 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," dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. And it's like so. - And you're like, no, I'm getting...
1:10:13
- [Blake] Yeah, so that's why I honestly. - Celebrities to come entertain. - Created NurseCon. - [Mike] Yeah. - And NurseCon at Sea. - And that's not because it's a con. - Exactly. Right, conference, just like VidCon. - Just like the rest of it was a con. (laughing) - 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 diversity at the conferences, seeing everyone have fun.
1:10:37
You go to a lot of conferences, you have the badges, right? And then you have all those like little- - Tags, speaker, presenter. - Tags and this and that. And then all your initials and the back of your name. - [Mike] Poster. - BLS, CPR, you know, RN, and we don't do that. At NurseCon, like everyone's, we're all in this together. - Yeah. - [Blake] So no one's pretentious. - Do you have to be a nurse to go to NurseCon? - You have to be in healthcare,
1:10:58
but you can be a guest of someone in healthcare. - Ooh. - So you have to be in healthcare to get on the ship. But you can bring a guest who's just a spouse. - Why did you choose to do it that way? - Because it's a conference. - Uh. - 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 as a charter. - That's not healthy. - As a charter. We're nurses.
1:11:22
- Exactly. - [Blake] 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. Hydrated! - 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 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.
1:11:50
I'm so sorry that we're 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. - Fun, but also safety for a child for you. - Oh, are you kidding me? - [Mike] Yeah. - If I have a sick family member, they better be bleeding out. - Oh, so you don't help? - You better be bleeding out or lost a limb. And still it's like, you know where the hospital. I'm off. - Oh, so. - Oh, I got my badge on?
1:12:12
Oh, I got my, no, I'm off, bro. - So people don't text you for medical advice? - No. - [Mike] 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. (Mike laughing) But like my ex, God, he wasn't in healthcare but he would get the man flu all the time. It's like (groaning), so annoying. - The complaints are real.
1:12:35
God, it's like, and honestly like working in critical care, it's like if you're not really, really sick. - Yeah, if you're not dying, you're like, "You're fine." - What do you want me to do? - My dad was like that when I was growing up. 'Cause 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." "You'll be fine." - Yeah, and I guess you could say as nurses we don't really care for ourselves as good as we should.
1:12:56
- 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, you know,
1:13:22
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. - (laughing) And that's what it's gonna be. That's why! That's why. - That's why, it's your fault! - It's their fault and they should actually sponsor it. - [Mike] That's what I'm saying, they should sponsor the alcohol. - They should sponsor it, they should sponsor it.
1:13:41
- Because the more they drink. - Yeah. But it's fun. I mean we do a lot of education on the ship, which is also really cool to see. Our first cruise we did like 20 CNE hours and then 30 and now we're like up to over 80. - Wow. - [Blake] Which is great. A lot for nurse practitioners. - So how long is that during a trip? How long is an average trip? - Either four nights or five nights. - [Mike] Okay. - People love the five nights. Like nurses love- - And they do 80 hours in five nights?
1:14:05
- We offer 80 hours. Depends on, you know, what nurses wanna come to. - [Mike] What courses you go to. - And we say you can come to as many classes as you want or not. - Sure, 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. (Mike laughs) 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.
1:14:27
And they're super impressed. - And they're in the Caribbean? - Yep, mostly outta Miami. - [Mike] Outta Miami. - But we probably will add more sailings over the years. Last year we did two. We're actually doing our first land based event 'cause we wanna start doing on land. So we have Universal Studios coming up in September. - Oh! When are you gonna do like some Mediterranean trip? That's gonna be fun. - That will be fun. Coming soon. - That's gonna be the exclusive one.
1:14:46
- That will be coming up soon. - [Mike] Wow. - Yeah. - We get the spoilers. - So I know, it'd be like a little leadership nurse manager. - Well look I think that, yeah you should do a nurse manager. - [Blake] A nurse manager trip. - Where then you could really educate. - I know! That's what I'm saying. - [Mike] And then have the impact on this. - That's why I love doing education 'cause I think that's where it all kind of starts from. - Hmm hmm.
1:15:04
Like you do a lot of amazing things. - Thanks, you too. - [Mike] No, I'm serious, like. - Thanks. - It started with humor, but. - [Blake] Yeah. - 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. - Yeah.
1:15:28
- They're fully going down the solely entertainment route. And you've chosen to do education so props. - Thank you! I love what I do. - [Mike] Yeah. I hope that continues. - Yeah, thanks, man. - And it'll be more success. Maybe I'll come on a trip. - [Blake] You have to. - If I ever take time off. I don't get time off. - You have to. I'll get you time off. (Mike laughing) I'll cover your, I'll do your paid time off so you can. It really is. - I don't get paid time off.
1:15:47
- We've had people that have come on every single one and we call them frequent flyers, just like patients that keep coming back. - You should do doctor roasts. - You know, I actually wanna do that next year. Maybe, oh I do roast roast you in my show. - Yeah? - I talk a lot of shit about you on my show. I'm just kidding. No. - [Mike] That'll be fun. - You're nice. - No, I was gonna say, that would be funny if I go, you guys can do like a show where you roast me. - Yeah, oh (silence) yeah.
1:16:08
Oh, it would be like "Netflix is a Joke." - [Mike] Yeah. - Jason Statham roasts Dr. Mike. - We can sell that. - [Blake] A hundred percent. - Netflix wants us. - Do you have any Netflix contacts? - Yeah. - [Blake] Okay. - What do do you wanna do? - They never have any nurse stand up. No nurse shit. They don't like us. - I mean, they don't have doctors stand up. - They don't like us. Okay. You guys aren't as funny. - That's pretty true. - We're funny. We are funnier. Doctors aren't as funny.
1:16:30
- Um, it depends what specialty. - Agree. Orthodox are the hottest.
1:16:37
- Well, they're like sporty. - They're so, they're like, ooh. Neurodocs neurosurgeons.
1:16:44
Hmm, they're mean. - Hmm. Are they mean? - [Blake] They're mean. - My worst interactions that I've witnessed of doctors being rude to nurses, vascular surgeons to nurses. - Oh, okay. - [Blake] I don't know why. - Trauma surgeons, fun as shit. - Yeah. Yeah. - [Blake] Fun as shit. And mostly work. - They go out. - Adult trauma. - [Mike] Yeah. They go out. - Yeah. - [Mike] They go out. - Peds, I can't do pediatrics. - In what way? - As a nurse. - [Mike] Oh. Why? - Like in Pediatrics.
1:17:10
- [Mike] Like seeing a child sick makes you? - That's what I learned at Disney, is I hate kids. - Oh, you hate kids? - Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. - [Mike] 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 gonna 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 Pumpkin.
1:17:32
- And they're sisters and they're adorable and I love them so much. - [Mike] Wow. - They're so cute. I can't wait to get home to them tomorrow. - Will you send me a selfie with the cows? - 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 Yellowstoning in Montana. I get it. - Yeah, it's true. - [Mike] Okay. - Yeah. - I'm coming next year. - You are? - [Mike] Yeah. - It's in April. - [Mike] We're doing a thing.
1:17:54
- It'll be sick. It'll be so much fun. It is the best trip you'll ever be on. - Okay, well where do you want people to come and follow your journey? - Yeah, you can come see my show, NurseBlake.com. Come on NurseCon at Sea Or NurseCon Orlando. - Buy some children's books? - Yeah, whatever. Whatever. - Talk about your books. - [Blake] It's fine, no. - Promote the books! - People love. Like it's whatever. Just follow me. - Yeah, but they wanna know. - [Blake] And you'll see all my shit.
1:18:16
- They're excited. - I have a children's book. "I Wanna 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. It was actually a dad that came up to me. I did, there was another nursing conference going on. - [Mike] Okay. - And I like hijacked it. I did a Nurse Blake 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. - [Blake] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Okay.
1:18:39
- So I threw this Nurse Blake party and this dad came out and his son,
1:18:44
he was taking pictures of me and my lesbian cousin, Mandy, at the party sending them to his son at home. And his son actually came out to him over text message that night just 'cause he's like, "Oh, my dad supports like this gay nurse, like maybe he'll support me." And we get the same with the book. You know, the children's book 'cause a lot of times the kids will follow me online or, and it's cute that their parents could, you know, read them that children's book.
1:19:06
- That's awesome. - [Blake] Good stuff. Yeah. - I want a copy of it. - Sure, you could buy it on Amazon. - Okay. Thanks. - [Blake] You can buy it on Amazon. - Thanks, I was hoping for an autograph version. - You can buy it. You could buy that on Amazon. (laughing) - Is that the only distributor? - No, I have some copies. You could buy it through me. - [Mike] Oh. - Just kidding. I'll give you a free copy. - Wow. - But it's not for you. It's for the dog. - Okay. - The dogs. I'll give you two.
1:19:28
- I was gonna 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 kids book. - Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. - [Blake] You know what I mean? - But it's 'cause you're teaching the children to be- - Yeah, and it's funny. It's funny. - What do you wanna be, like a nurse 50 years from now is telling,
1:19:48
not Sandy, someone younger than Sandy, is telling someone about you. - [Blake] Oh, about me? - Yeah. - And they were like, there was this legend. - Yeah. - He put on a onesie.
1:20:00
- Ah huh. - [Mike] He changed the world forever. - Yeah. - Because?
1:20:06
- He gave us a voice, he fought for. It's kind of what I see my position as. Like I'm very lucky I don't work for a hospital. I can 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 so.
1:20:31
- Okay, we have the name for our show. - What? - A voice for the nurses. - Cute, I like, no, it's boring. - [Mike] No? - That's boring. It's gotta be like NursesGoneWild.com. (Mike laughs) You know what I mean? - I'm pretty sure that exists. - Yeah, it probably, it probably does. It probably does exist, yeah. No, we'll do a fun show together. - [Mike] Okay. I'll excited. - It'll fun. - I did a live show too. Wasn't as good as yours. - [Blake] Really? - But yeah, yeah.
1:20:53
- Oh! Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right, in Boston. Yeah, that's right. I saw your shit up. - You were there? - At the theater, I was. I saw it up. - [Mike] Ah. - Like I was doing it in Boston. I think you were coming around for it. - Got it, got it. - [Blake] Yeah. - But my show's weird because like, we didn't know what to do as a doctor. - [Blake] Okay. - So we did like a variety improv show where we play games with the audience. - Oh, fun. That's awesome.
1:21:15
- Try to incorporate traditional improv games. - [Blake] Okay. Cool. - To be medical. - Nice. - [Mike] So it's more like, in that sense. - It's very hard to tour. - Very hard. - 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. - [Mike] 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 gonna be there. - [Blake] Yeah. - Because in my show I like,
1:21:38
I'll have seven-year-olds, then I'll have a 75-year-old. - Right. - And they have nothing in common. - In common. - So when I'm on stage I'm like, should I do this joke so the 7-year-old will laugh or like the husband that comes that has no idea who I am. - Oh, that's tricky. That's tricky. - [Mike] It's hard to please everyone, - Bro! 18 and up comedy show. Mine's 18 and up because some people wanna bring their kids 'cause they, I actually had a mom, she was gonna, she reads the childrens book.
1:22:05
- Well, you had a 42-week mom try to come to your- - I know! Even, yeah. And some lady tried to bring her babies. I said absolutely, absolutely. No, but some kids try to come and it's 18 and up. - [Mike] Okay. - Yeah, I got dirty mouth. - [Mike] Okay. - You know, I used to work night shift. - Hmm. - Jesus. Sorry. - [Mike] What happened? - I don't know. The mic hit my face. - I would never. - The mic hit my face. The mic. (laughing) - All right, good stuff. (pensive music) Click here to see me
1:22:31
and Nurse Bianca Antisera play "Medical, Would you Rather?" It gets pretty wild. And as always, stay happy and healthy.
1:22:39
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