A Practical Joke - Before Surgery!

 


All my life I’ve been a practical joker. If you’ve read my blogs, you know  I have written about several of my favorites. In my opinion, there’s never a bad time for a practical joke.  My buddy Richard says that when he dies, he’s going to have one of those “I Voted” stickers put on his lapel before his viewing. When I told my wife about his plan, she said, “You mean somebody else will put it on his lapel.” Well, duh.   Oh Lord help me. That’s another blog for another time. 


Back to the story.  I was having surgery this week for a torn meniscus and I thought to myself, what better time to play a little practical joke on my surgeon?  Dr. Rogers seemed to be cool - I knew he had a sense of humor, so why not?  In a way, it was self serving. The way I look at it, a happy surgeon is a good surgeon. I certainly don’t want to be cut on by someone who just had a knock down, drag out fight with his wife.  


So I made up a little sign and put it in the bag I took to the hospital. After the nurse got me prepped and ready for surgery, I pulled the card out, taped it to my knee, and covered it with my gown and blanket. 


My timing was perfect. I had just put the tape up and laid back on the gurney, when the doctor walked in to mark my knee. 


“How are you doing today?”, he asked.  


“I think the more appropriate question is how are you doing today?”, I replied.  


He smiled, took out his marker, and began pulling  up the gown to mark my leg. I glanced at my wife and saw her shaking her head. That’s when the doctor saw the sign, which said, 


“This is our final attempt to contact you concerning your extended car warranty.”


He burst out laughing. 


I smiled and said, “I just wanted to make sure you marked the correct knee.”


We laughed again, and he said, “I’m going to make sure the anesthesiologist gives you enough juice to keep you in line.”  


“It could’ve been worse”, I replied. “A friend of mine used that same sign before he had his colonoscopy.” 


He shook his head and left the room smiling.  A happy surgeon - mission  accomplished. 


In a few  hours, we were on our way home and I was laughing and laughing about the little joke I had just pulled off. That is, until my wife said, “You know, your physical therapy starts the day after tomorrow. Dr. Rogers may have the last laugh.”  


What a kill-joy. 


Joe Hobby is a comedian from  Alabama who wrote for Jay Leno for many years. 

Find more of Joe’s stories on his blog: https://mylifeasahobby.blogspot.com/?m=1. Also, follow him on Facebook at: Joe Hobby Comedian- Writer





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God & The Rolling Stones

Image
  “'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. '” —  Jeremiah 29:11 .  It’s not often that I put a plan together that works. Normally, anything I come up with will almost certainly go awry, and that’s certainly how one of my latest schemes  began.  Amazingly, shortly after this plan of mine began to unravel, it turned 180 degrees and became one of the best things I’ve ever done. So, as a believer, I feel like that the Almighty had His hand in this - even if it was a Rolling Stones concert.  I still maintain that it was a good idea. The minute Stones concert tickets went on sale, I bought two pair - for us and another couple. Then greed took over my soul and I decided to speculate and buy four more tickets to sell at a ridiculous profit. If I played my cards right, I might have made enough money to buy a Maserati, or even a shopping basket full of groceries....
Read more

Joe Willie, Finebaum, And Me

Image
  When my cell phone rang, the name on the screen flashed Paul Finebaum. This wasn't an unusual occurrence because I had been writing jokes for Paul to use at his many speaking engagements.   We also occasionally ate lunch together.   No death threats please - I like Paul. While I don’t always care for his schtick, I know he’s not like his radio persona.  For example, once during a conversation, I told him how much I liked Pat Conroy, the great southern author. A few weeks later, Paul called me and said, “I’ve got Conroy on the show tomorrow. Why don’t you come up and meet him?  You can talk to him during the commercial breaks.”  An act of kindness I’ve never forgotten.   I digress. Unusual call or not, my curiosity was piqued. I picked up my cell, and after some chit-chat, Finebaum told me why he phoned.  “You know about that charity roast of me coming up in a couple of weeks?”  Of course I knew. The airwaves had been hawking it for ov...
Read more

Back In The Saddle Again

Image
I never officially retired from comedy.     I kind of faded into the sunset.  I suppose I could trace the time back to when Jay Leno quit the Tonite Show.  He tried to help me get together with Jimmy Fallon, but it just didn’t work out. And when I stopped writing jokes every day for Jay,  maybe the sense of urgency to “think funny” stopped.      But I firmly believe that the cumulative effect of my son’s drug addiction, coupled with him being shot, arrested, and spending 7 years in a federal prison, caused something to die in me.  It was comedy. What used to be a burning desire to write and perform shrunk to a pilot light. It didn’t seem to matter anymore. I have told close friends that dealing with all the problems my son had raped me of my spirit.  It was collateral damage from his drug use. Addiction sucks.   So, aside from the occasional smart alec remark on social media, I left comedy alone.  Oh, I would occasionally find ...
Read more