Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Main / PuttingTheMedicInComedic

Go To

1The world of medicine isn't really the best place to have a giggle at, mostly because it's a profession full of {{serious business}} in which the fate of a patient's well-being is in the hands of surgeons and doctors, but sometimes, it's okay to laugh at something that seems terrifying so that there's not much to worry about. Maybe that really tall, [[HospitalHottie attractive and intimidating nurse]] that's taking your temperature has a sense of humour!
2
3This is simply a comedy about the medical profession, whether it's about the staff in a hospital or a doctor's office or the antics of the patients. It's not always doom and gloom after having your appendix removed -- your bedside neighbor could be misdiagnosed with anaesthetics that makes them act a little loopy, or DoctorJerk has suddenly gained a softer side for a dare, or you have front-row entertainment to the ongoing drama between your doctor and their failed attempts of flirting with another member of staff.
4----
5!!Examples
6
7[[foldercontrol]]
8
9[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
10* ''Anime/DokkiriDoctor'' is a comedy manga-turned-anime about Dr Nishikikoji, who works in a school. He has misadventures with the {{school nurse}} and some of the students, and he tries to help everyone out the best way he can, leading to hijinks.
11[[/folder]]
12
13[[folder:Film]]
14* The ''Film/CarryOn'' film series had four comedies based around hospitals (''Film/CarryOnNurse'', ''Film/CarryOnDoctor'', ''Film/CarryOnAgainDoctor'' and ''Film/CarryOnMatron''), featuring hijinks such as [[Creator/BernardBresslaw a man]] in drag as a nurse, [[Creator/CharlesHawtrey a man]] suffering from prenatal depression, [[Creator/FrankieHowerd someone]] getting injected in the bottom, and gangsters being chased by pregnant women.
15* ''Film/YoungDoctorsInLove'' was a 1982 comedy movie directed by Creator/GarryMarshall. The comedy was similar in tone to ''Film/{{Airplane}}''.
16* Invoked by Doctor Hunter ''Film/PatchAdams'' as a way to lift the patients' spirits and help them during such a hard time. Including said things as walking into the room of the LittlestCancerPatient with a fake Pinocchio nose and lie his ass off. A hefty amount of the film's drama is the clash between the other doctors thinking that [[DudeNotFunny dealing with patients is a business in which comedy is incredibly tasteless]], but Adams pointing out that they instead are acting [[StrawVulcan so stoic that it's inhumane]].
17* ''Film/{{MASH}}'' is a comedy about the antics of a medical unit during the Korean War, and spawned a successful [[Series/{{MASH}} television series]].
18* All the films in the ''Film/DoctorSeries'' revolve around medical students and doctors getting into all sorts of trouble, such as [[Film/DoctorInTheHouse1954 car chases]], [[Film/DoctorAtSea drunken rampages]], [[Film/DoctorAtLarge dealing with difficult patients]], [[Film/DoctorInLove love triangles]], [[Film/DoctorInDistress1963 stalking]], [[Film/DoctorInClover wild parties]], and [[Film/DoctorInTrouble stowing away on cruise ships]].
19* ''Film/TwiceRoundTheDaffodils'' is more of a {{Dramedy}} than the usual Creator/PeterRogersAndGeraldThomas affair, but still finds some comedy in the tuberculosis sanatorium setting, such as Henry and George sneaking into the ward kitchen to do some late-night cooking.
20[[/folder]]
21
22[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
23* ''Series/GarthMarenghisDarkplace'' is a downplayed example: all of the characters are doctors who work at a hospital, [[WeirdnessMagnet but the place is constantly invaded by monsters and weird phenomena]] and they rarely do anything medical on-screen as a result (when they ''do'', they do it pretty awfully, for the sake of the StylisticSuck).
24* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' is a comedy-drama set in a hospital full of cutaway scenes and exaggerated character stereotypes.
25* Similarly, ''Series/GreenWing'' was often seen as a British version of ''Scrubs''.
26* ''Series/OnlyWhenILaugh'' was a late-'70s/early '80s BritCom about a bunch of {{lazy bum}}s who all tried to get themselves a hospital bed in order to avoid work.
27* ''Series/DoctorInTheHouse'' was a series of sitcoms about medical students and doctors in a hospital in London and/or other locations, such as the series ''Doctor at Sea'' (set on a cruise ship) and ''Doctor Down Under'' (guess where?). It was initially adapted as a film series from the 1950s comic novels by Richard Gordon of the same name, but for the television adaptation, then semi-known writers such as Creator/GrahamChapman, Creator/JohnCleese, [[Series/TheGoodies Graeme Garden, and Bill Oddie]] took over writing fresh scripts with new scenarios for renamed or composite versions of Gordon's characters.
28* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' was a comedy about a U.S. Army Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War. It featured a cast of oddball likable characters working to save lives in a sometimes grim situation. Adapted from Robert Altman's 1970 motion picture.
29* ''Series/{{Becker}}'', about an inner-city doctor who [[DrJerk treats his patients and friends like crap]].
30* ''Series/ChildrensHospital'' starred a variation of doctors in a children's hospital in Brazil -- some arrogant, some flirty.
31* ''Series/SurgicalSpirit'', a 1980s BritCom television series about an Italian surgeon who is struggling to be understood by her patients.
32* ''Series/DocMartin'' is about a former surgeon who had to give up his specialty after developing a phobia of blood, becomes a GP [[note]]General Practitioner - The US equivalent is a "family doctor" or Primary Care Physician[[/note]] in the sleepy coastal village where he's a fish out of water and his curmudgeonly personality, poor bedside manner and lack of social skills cause friction with the locals, but his superior diagnostic abilities gain him grudging respect (essentially a comedy version of ''Series/{{House}}'').
33* ''Series/LetTheBloodRunFree'', a truly surreal Australian comedy series set in a hospital.
34* ''Series/DoctorDoctor'', a sitcom about a group of doctors in private practice, starring Creator/MattFrewer as the main (and most wacky) doctor.
35* ''Series/HouseCalls'' is a sitcom from the 1970s about a British doctor in an American hospital dealing with her strange colleagues.
36* The 1998 French series ''H'' with Creator/JamelDebbouze was a hospital comedy prone to surreal humor.
37* The "Veterinarian's Hospital" sketches on ''Series/TheMuppetShow''.
38** ''Series/MuppetsTonight'' has "E-I-E-I-O-R" sketches.
39[[/folder]]
40
41[[folder:Video Games]]
42* ''VideoGame/{{Octodad}}'': In the short "Medical Mess" of ''Dadliest Catch'', Tommy and Stacy are telling a story about Octodad working as a nurse, helping patients, and even assisting with a surgery. Part of the humor comes from the fact that the kids have very little medical knowledge, and so they like to make up diseases, such as "unicornitis".
43* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': TheMedic is a German MadDoctor whose antics are frequently played for BlackComedy. E.g in ''Meet the Medic'' video, he tells an anecdote to the Heavy in which a doctor somehow made his patient lose his skeleton and that the doctor is never heard from again... And then he admits that's how he lost his medical license.
44* ''VideoGame/TwoPointHospital'': A hospital management game loaded with BlackComedy courtesy of the funny illnesses and their treatments, as well as the AnnouncerChatter from the receptionist.
45[[/folder]]
46
47[[folder:Web Comics]]
48* ''Webcomic/{{Sparklecare}}'' takes place at a CrapsaccharineWorld hospital where demented doctors treat patients for horrifying diseases. As you can guess, it's filled with BlackComedy.
49[[/folder]]
50
51[[folder:Western Animation]]
52* Some individual instances:
53** Daffy Duck seeks Dr. Jerkyl to treat his hiccups in "The Impatient Patient" (1942). Jerkyl turns into the "Chloe" to whom Daffy is delivering a telegram.
54** ''WesternAnimation/HeckleAndJeckle'' turn into surgeons giving Chesty the Bulldog the once-over in "Magpie Madness" (1947) as they try to spring Dimwit from an asylum.
55** WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}} takes Lydia to a Neitherworld hospital to treat her injured foot ("Generally Hysterical Hospital") where she's misdiagnosed and assigned to have her body removed from her soul. Guess who her surgeon is.
56** WesternAnimation/BugsBunny gives the Tasmanian Devil the once-over at a jungle hospital in 1964's "Dr. Devil And Mr. Hare."
57** WesternAnimation/PorkyPig is a patient in "Patient Porky" after overindulging in birthday cake, then he's a doctor in "Calling Dr. Porky" treating a drunk who is tormented by little pink elephants. He's also an involuntary patient to Daffy in "The Daffy Doc."
58[[/folder]]

Top