On Saturday, Jan. 11, Fantasy Springs Resort Casino will host Nurse Blake’s “Shock Advised!” show.
Nurse Blake, aka Blake Lynch, is a former Level 1 trauma center nurse whose comedy has earned him 1.9 million followers on Facebook, 1 million followers on Instagram, 1.1 million followers on TikTok and 205,000 subscribers on YouTube. The material for his performances is taken from real experiences on the job; he has also worked as a surgical assistant and a clinical ICU tech, with his introduction to hospital work coming in patient transport when he was 17 years old.
His stories and skits resonate, especially with other health-care professionals.
“He says everything we are thinking and uses laughter to get us through the dark times,” said Miki Lee, a nurse in Indio. “He has worked in the trenches and knows the real story—you can’t make this stuff up. He touches all of us.”
Lynch’s comedy career stems from a dark period in his life. In 2017, while Lynch was employed as a critical care nurse at Houston’s Texas Medical Center, he endured a panic attack.
“I felt like I was dying,” Lynch said during an interview with the Independent. “I couldn’t breathe, and (it felt like) my heart was coming out of my chest. I felt like the world was ending, and that’s when I realized burnout is a thing. It is real, and that even though I thought it would never happen to me, it did.”
As he recovered at home, he started dancing around his pool in his scrubs; his then-husband filmed him, and put it on Facebook. The videos soon went viral—much to his surprise.
“I was lively and had a big personality,” Lynch said. “I watched some standups while growing up, but I never thought, ‘Oh my God, I want to have my own show and be onstage doing standup.’ It kind of happened gradually over time.”
While Lynch is still a licensed nurse, he began focusing on his comedy career full-time in 2019. Much of his humor comes from real interactions on the job.
“The patients wouldn’t know I’m referring to them,” he said. “Being a licensed nurse, we have to stay HIPAA-compliant, so I just talk about general broad experiences rather than specific stories; not once would a patient ever say, ‘Oh my god, that was me.’ I am more specific when I tell stories about other nurses and nursing students or when I poke at my family members. Some nursing students come back and say, ‘Are you talking about me?’ And I say, ‘Yes, absolutely.’”
Lynch is more than a comedian; he’s an activist, bringing awareness to the plight of nurses.
“The turnover rate is high; between two to five years, a big percentage of new nurses leave the field, because staffing is bad,” he said. “There are not enough people going into nursing school, because they treat current nurses so poorly that no one wants to end up staying in the profession.”
A 2023 survey by AMN Healthcare found that 94 percent of nurses said there was a nursing shortage in their area, with half saying the shortage was “severe.” The crisis may be getting worse, with up to 900,000 nurses intending to leave the workplace by 2027, in large part due to burnout.
Lynch is also open about his experiences as a teenager, when he was forced into gay conversion therapy. While some states and local governments have banned the harmful practice, it’s still legal in much of the U.S.
”It’s unfortunate that it’s still a thing and that teenagers and young adults go through it,” Lynch said. “It has a lasting effect on teenagers, and as an adult, it’s very much a part of my story. These are things that you’re going to get in my show, plus other traumatic experiences growing up.”
While these topics are decidedly dark, Lynch said comedy has helped him—and many others—deal with trauma.
“I’m able to talk about what I went through in a funny way, and obviously to bring some light and awareness on conversion therapy,” Lynch said. … “As a comedian, we love to laugh. We love dark humor, but a lot of times, we laugh to hide things that are going on in our lives. Now I’m able to laugh and talk about it in my show.”
Lynch said his audiences—especially health-care professionals—give him strength.
“Seeing them have a good time gives me the fuel and energy to do many shows, to keep traveling,” Lynch said.
His final message? “Be kind to your nurses,” he said. “We got into this profession to care for others, and unfortunately, a lot of hospitals are short-staffed, so you might not get to see your nurse as much as you think. We are out there struggling, too, and we are doing the best we can for you with the limited resources we have—so please be kind to your nurse.”
Nurse Blake will perform at 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 11, at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, 84245 Indio Springs Parkway, in Indio. Tickets start at $52.50. For tickets or more information, click here.
