ORLANDO, Fla. – When you think of comedic standup shows, you don’t usually think about one based on a career in nursing, but Blake Lynch has found a way to establish a new category in comedy.
Lynch graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2014 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). During his time in college, he served as president of the Florida Nursing Student Association.
He also held a part-time job at Disney World, playing Peter Pan. It was during that time, he learned more about improv and really enjoyed giving people special moments.
Before officially launching into comedy, Lynch worked in trauma centers around the country.
“I think nurses are some of the funniest people out there. We’ve seen it all -- life, death, crazy stories, wild stories -- so we have to use humor to get through that. I think it was a natural transition,” Lynch said.
He started to create funny videos on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram as a way to cope with the stress of the job. Not only did the videos help him, but it also connected him with nurses, nursing students and healthcare workers around the world.
“I got to a point in my career when I was tired and burned out, and I started making videos. Nurses around the world kind of related to them in a way, so it made me feel less alone,” Lynch explained.
After leaving the nursing field, Lynch has been very busy. In 2022, his PTO Comedy Tour started as a 14-show run and grew to 55 shows due to demand.
Now he’s on an extended version of his Shocked Advised Comedy Tour, which started last year with 100 shows that included stops in the U.S., New Zealand and Australia. This year, he added 45 more shows.
Not only that, but in the past few years, Lynch has established NurseCon at Sea conference series. It’s one of the largest nursing conferences in the country, with over 3,000 participants.
For the first time, the conference will be on land in Orlando from Sept. 22-26 at Loews Sapphire Falls.
The event includes live shows, themed evenings, nursing education courses and more.
Lynch will also be bringing his Shocked Advised Comedy Tour back to Central Florida on Dec. 3 in Melbourne at the King Center. Click here to purchase tickets.
Watch our conversation with Nurse Blake in the video player at the top of the story.