It’s a learn-on-the-job, fail-on-your-feet kind of situation. There’s no specific training/education for being a comic (see above). Did you have to get additional training/education to do it? Or have you always been funny? But you’re in no danger of killing anyone.Īll that to say, I’ve been performing comedy for the same amount of time I’ve been nurse-25 years. Maybe at the worst clubs, someone will throw a beer at you. If you bomb on stage, the worst thing is that you won’t get laughs. In addition, worrying about making a medication error puts stage fears into perspective. But progressing through nursing school, and seeing how my skills improved despite feeling quite hopeless in the beginning, gave me the courage to make a fool of myself on stage. A patient calls out, “hey, nurse” and you think, “oh please, please, please don’t be talking to me.” You go home covered in four different body fluids from four other people. You know, at the beginning of clinical rotations, you feel so lost? (that’s not just me, right)?) You must call your instructor because you don’t know how to get the side rails down. And I didn’t have the confidence it took until my mid-20s, and I have nursing school to thank for that. There’s no substitute for that stage time.

However, the way to be good at being a comedian is by being bad at as a comedian in front of people. You could have worse first crowds! I’ve had tougher audiences since then! After I watched the Steve Martin special, I was late for chores every night because I would be telling jokes to the cows in the pastures on either side of the road all the way home. I grew up in rural Wisconsin and had a mile walk from where the bus dropped me off at my house. I’ve wanted to be a comedian since I knew it was a thing a person could be, which was when my dad let me stay up an hour past my bedtime to watch a Steve Martin special. How did you get interested in being a comedian? What drew you to it? How long have you been doing it? Dunham also does some per diem home health.ĭunham chatted with Daily Nurse about how she got into her comedian side gig. Dunham has been performing comedy as a nurse for 25 years.ĭunham is the author of How to Survive and Maybe Even Love Nursing School(FA Davis), the best-selling puberty guides The Boy’s Body Book and The Girl’s Body Book (Cidermill Press), and a collection of hilarious tragicomic essays, Freak of Nurture (Topside Press). Just ask Kelli Dunham RN BSN, Community School Director of NYC Public Schools. Laughter is the best medicine, especially when being a stand-up comedian is a nursing side gig that helps nurses deal with the profession’s stress.

Early steve martin stand up