Tapping a New Vein of Humor with Nurses in Motion

As an ice-breaker bit, I sometimes bring participants up on stage and hand out cards with punchlines for them to read. At the Nurses In Motion gig I did last week, it was a few reluctant nurses who helped me pull off a more tailored version of the Jeff Foxworthy bit. So in this case, the set-up was obviously: "You might be a nurse if ... "

Here are two examples:

You might be a nurse if ... At home, you have a random collection of badges, lanyards, and miscellaneous medical supplies and are unsure why you don’t throw them away.

You might be a nurse if ... No matter how awful or bad something smells, you’ve smelled something so much worse.

After the show a guy nurse comes up. “I think you’ve left one out ... " “I’m sure I did. Whaddya got?”

He smiles, “The love of finding a good vein … the arm kind." I ask him to elaborate and he says, “I’m always getting busted by my wife at grocery stores, telling me to stop staring at people's arms. And I'm like: I’m sorry, honey but that vein is a thing of beauty ... I could tap that with a crazy straw it’s so ready."

I guess it’s true about beauty being in the eye of the beholder ...

Can’t wait to see all the nurses at the next stop in Little Rock in April.

And thanks to Jim the nurse for the new line!