LEXINGTON, Ky. — Blake Lynch, aka Nurse Blake, is a registered nurse-turned-comedian, who is known for his health care comedy. He posts his best jokes on the internet and also takes them on a tour around the country.
His nursing career brought him all over the U.S., working in Level 1 trauma centers for a decade. While nursing isn’t always easy, Nurse Blake said he’s found humor in the hard moments and joy in giving others a laugh.
His newest tour “But Did You Die?” hits the road this fall and is packed with all-new content.
Spectrum News 1 caught up with Nurse Blake ahead of his 2025 tour.
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(Nurse Blake)
Spectrum News 1: What got you into comedy?
Blake Lynch: I’m still a licensed, registered nurse. I just don’t work in the hospital anymore. I started making fun, entertaining videos back in 2017. I was three or four years into my nursing career working in the ICU. Started to get a little burnt out and depressed and anxious. I just came out with a video on Facebook — this is pre-Instagram, pre-TikTok — and it went viral. There were nurses all over that were watching my content and laughing and relating to it. So not only did it make me feel good just making the video and putting it out into the world, but also having other nurses relate to it and being able to get a laugh.
Then, I just started to create more and more content, which is all real stories and experiences I’ve had. And as the online community grew, nurses were like, “We want to hang out. We want to meet you.” And I think it’s so cool to be able to bring nurses together for a night that they deserve.
Spectrum News 1: Can you talk a little bit more about why nurses deserve a night out or a good laugh?
Lynch: Because they don’t get breaks. They don’t get breaks. They don’t get lunches. They work 12 hours. They don’t even have the chance to pee. So if they have a night where they can either put in their PTO or call out of work to come to the show with a bunch of their co-workers, the more power to ‘em.
(Nurse Blake)
Spectrum News 1: What can people expect when they come see your show?
Lynch: It’s a mix of standup, stories and just fun chaos. I poke fun at myself. I poke fun at my classmates when I was in nursing school, nurses I’ve worked with, patients I’ve had and I interact with the audience a lot. It’s super interactive and super engaging.
You don’t need to be a nurse or in health care to get it or understand. I actually always like to pick on the non-health care worker in the audience, and I kind of use them as an example throughout the show.
Spectrum News 1: How do you strike that balance of nursing audience versus non-nursing audience?
Lynch: I just kind of walk them through. Most of my audience members have some sort of role or job in health care. But then you also get the people, if they don’t work in health care, they understand it, right? Because we’ve all been to the doctor. Some of us have had ER visits. So you’ve been a patient; so you kind of get the other side of it.
Nurses always date a cop or a firefighter. There’s always a bunch of first responders there with their nurses. So I just pick on Tom with a mustache, firefighter in the front row, and whenever I talk about something that the general public may not understand, I’m going to refer back Tom and the mustache and walk through it and learn together.
Spectrum News 1: What are you most proud of with this tour?
Lynch: Talking about issues that affect nurses like abuse on nurses and health care workers … Being able to bring this up and talk about it in my show and shine a light on something serious that nurses struggle with on a daily basis is something I’m proud of, because even more than comedy, I love advocacy. So whenever I can intertwine comedy and advocacy and laughs and something educational — it’s really, really hard to do, and it’s hard to keep audiences engaged through that — but the show is built with that in mind. How do you talk about nurses being abused on the job? Hit, slapped, kicked by patients? How do you, in a comedy show, bring that up? It’s not easy.
Spectrum News 1: Where does your title for this tour come from?
Lynch: I checked myself into rehab last year. It was like mental health therapy, but it was like inpatient. So, I was there for 30 days. I think whether you’re a nurse or whether you’re a patient or just the general public, we think we always have it worse. “This is the worst day ever.” But it’s like, “But did you die?”
You’ll have a patient [who says], “You didn’t answer my call light in time. I want a ginger ale.” And it’s like, “Ma’am. I was giving CPR to the patient next to you trying to save their life. You want a ginger ale, but did you die?” engaged through that — but the show is built with that in mind. How do you talk about nurses being abused on the job? Hit, slapped, kicked by patients. How do you, in a comedy show, bring that up? It’s not easy. That’s something I really like to do and am proud of myself for doing.
Ticket information for Nurse Blake’s Lexington show at the Lexington Opera House on Oct. 7 is available online.
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