Nurse Blake proves that laughter is the best medicine

By James Kent

By the time comedian Nurse Blake arrives in Rutland for his Nov. 21 performance at the Paramount Theatre, he’ll have performed nearly 180 shows of his “Shock Advised Comedy Tour.” The tour, which began in 2023 and has taken Nurse Blake around the country and to places as far away as Australia and New Zealand, has been so successful he added a second leg of his tour back in June to meet the demand.

Nurse Blake, whose full name is Blake Lynch, didn’t start out wanting to be a comedian and entertainer. As Blake puts it, “I went to nursing school to learn how to insert I.V.s, not to tell jokes.” Doing standup was the furthest thing from his mind. That changed in 2017 after a particularly stressful nursing shift. Blake found a creative outlet to deal with his stress and anxiety, which was creating videos for social media. These bits struck a chord, and 4 million social media subscribers later, Blake’s popularity within the nursing community and beyond. His annual “NurseCon at Sea” sells out every year. His live shows feature an hour and forty-five minutes of material, improv, and callbacks that make every performance fresh and engaging.

The COVID-19 pandemic arrived after Blake began dabbling with live performances, and as the world shut down, so did he. “That was a challenging time,” Blake acknowledged, and his first instinct was to go into a bubble and isolate. He found it difficult to be creative and funny. But the nursing community compelled him to get back out there and do shows. He kept hearing from them, saying, they “needed him.” That need to connect proved so strong that Nurse Blake returned to performing, which evolved into his current tour. Nurse Blake realizes the human need to laugh, saying, “If you don’t laugh, you’ll die.”

The secret to Nurse Blake’s success is relatability. “I’m just a regular guy sharing my story in a fun and relatable way,” Blake said. As for which profession, nursing or comedy, is the greater challenge? “What’s more difficult, trying to save a life or trying to make 1,000 drunk nurses laugh at a performance,” Blake said with a chuckle.

But it’s not all laughs for Blake. He is a passionate advocate for the nursing profession. His NurseCon app offers free continuing nursing education courses, and trying to get people interested in pursuing a career in nursing is one of his main missions, whether through his comedy or advocacy efforts. Although no longer in active practice, Nurse Blake maintains his nursing accreditation and shares a strong bond of solidarity with the nursing community. If an active nurses’ strike occurs near his performing venue, Nurse Blake said he tries to walk the picket line with them. It’s all part of the activism side of Blake that’s been there since 2013 when he started Banned4Life, which helped end the FDA’s lifetime ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood.

He is also the author of two children’s books, “I Want to Be a NURSE When I Grow Up” and “Nurse Blake’s Santa Sent to the E.R.” The inspiration for writing these books stems from Blake’s desire to promote nursing to children. “We need more nurses to inspire a new generation of nurses,” Blake said. “There were always books about becoming a doctor when I was growing up, but nothing about nursing.”

While the nursing community may know Nurse Blake, he insists non-medical professionals enjoy his show, too. And that all points back to his relatability. Blake said that even those who can’t relate to the nursing profession can relate to being a patient, and no one leaves his show without having a great time.

Tickets for Nurse Blake’s upcoming performance at The Paramount are selling quick, so if you are looking to laugh, get your ticket now before they’re all sold out.

For more on Nurse Blake, visit nurseblake.com. For tickets to Nurse Blake’s Nov. 21 performance at the Paramount Theatre in Rutland, go to paramountvt.org