BURN BOSS

OUR FIRST VIDEO EPISODE!

You can’t “walk it off” after a serious burn, and you also can’t underestimate the quiet courage it takes to rebuild after one. We sit down with Nashville burn and critical care surgeon Dr. Tommy to get clear, practical answers on burn treatment, burn first aid, and what actually happens inside a burn center when the injury is easily preventable. 

Tara Brown joins us with sharp humor and real heart, tying healing to something bigger than medicine: owning your voice and showing up as yourself. She shares the story behind her TedX theme, "The Laughter Assignment," and the "purple lipstick" lesson that hits anyone who has held back because of other people's opinions.  We talk about learning to get comfortable in your own skin, why it takes time, and how comedy becomes a way to serve rooms full of strangers who need a break.  If you're navigating a career pivot, creative risk, or just trying to live more honestly, Tara Brown's approach is both funny and practical.

We break down burn degrees in plain English, from a first-degree sunburn to deep partial-thickness and third-degree burns that may require skin graft surgery. Dr. Tommy explains why cool water matters, when aloe vera is only a moisturizer, why antibacterial ointment helps replace the skin’s barrier, and how blisters can become a problem if you ignore infection risk. We also dig into skin graft options, why surgeons often harvest from the lateral thigh, how contractures affect function, and why scars and pigmentation changes can hit identity as hard as the injury itself. 

Then we look forward: AI in healthcare, camera-based burn depth assessment, and Teleburn telemedicine could help triage patients faster and cut down on expensive transfers when only 127 US burn centers cover huge regions. We close with prevention that can save real suffering: ramen noodle scald burns in kids, brush fires and gasoline, and motorcycle “second skin” gear to prevent friction burns. If you care about smart healthcare, real stories, and laughs that don’t dodge the truth, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review.

THANKS TO OUR GUESTS:

Dr Tommy: LinkedIn: tommytranmd IG @tommytranmd,  www.tommytranmd.com

Dr Tommy jumps out of plane for patient:

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/i-will-jump-for-you-burn-survivor-gets-his-doctor-to-go-skydiving

Tara Brown: IG/TT @tarabrowncomedy, X @TaraBrownComedy, FB/YT Tara Brown Comedy, www.tarabrowncomedy.com

Tara’s TEDx The Laughter Assignment:

https://youtu.be/Fjy2eQF7kcs?si=L5usforWt12v0V8B

Subscribe wherever you listen, share this with a friend and leave a review so more people can find honest conversations about burn surgery and a little comedy along the way.  These conversations help us talk about the hard stuff and learn from each other.

This episode was produced by Angie Debelak with post-production editing by Ben Hill Sound.

Thanks for listening to Dr Ben and Friends.  Laughter is the best medicine...unless you're treating bowel or bladder incontinence.  See you next time!

Team Dr Ben

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Transcript

Welcome And Meet The Hosts

Dr Ben 0:09

Knock knock howdy folks. Dr. Ben here. Hello from Nashville. Welcome to the Dr. Ben and Friends podcast. The podcast dedicated to putting the med in comedy. We're shining a big bright light today on heroes of healthcare and comedy. We're so glad you're here. I'm your host, Dr. Ben, friendly orthopedic surgeon and stand-up comedian. I replace joints for a living and also try to replace frowns with smiles and laughs on my podcast and my shows. Today, co-hosting with me is the inspiring and award-winning stand-up comedian, Miss Tara Brown. Hello, Dr. Ben. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. And a real life healthcare hero rock star, Dr. Tommy. He's an incredibly talented, board-certified surgeon, and he specializes in critical care and burn surgery. Hey, how are you? Thank you for having me. Awesome. Thanks so much for being here. He practices here in Nashville. I think his parking spot is in the trauma bay at the hospital. The burn unit, actually. Oh, yes. We're excited to learn more about what Dr. Tommy does. So that's right. You're on the Dr. Ben and Friends podcast, which prescribes 100% comedy and zero copay. No copay, no deductible. I like that medical.

Tara Brown 1:31

I was gonna say those copay's a getcha, so that's good.

Dr Ben 1:34

All right, y'all. Grab your scrubs and your sense of humor. We're ready to dive in. Let's get the good stuff here. A special thanks to our sponsor, the Needles Group, in beautiful Marco Island, Florida. As a doctor, I know a great needle when I see one, and these realtors are the best in the business. Buying or selling, let the Needles Group inject some serious value into your property game, theneedlesgroup.com.

Reinventing Life At 45

Dr Ben 2:01

You know, listener, Dr. Tommy. Miss Tara Brown is a very talented comic, corporate entertainer, and MC. She's known for her clean, family-friendly humor. She's earned spots on a dry bar comedy, stand-up Nashville, several cruise lines. Yes. A Globetrotter here. She's a Brooklyn native who boldly reinvented herself at age 45 by pursuing comedy, leaving corporate behind. And she's definitely an inspiration to me. Oh, thank you, Dr. Ben. Yes. She's a nationally touring favorite with uh very inspirational talks, sharing stages with Theo Von, John Crist. She has a TEDx talk coming up, so be on the lookout for that. And uh welcome, Tara Brown. Thank you, Dr.

Tara Brown 2:47

Ben. Wow, it's just like it's fun when you hear your bio being read, but it feels like your funeral.

Dr Ben 2:54

This isn't a eulogy!

Tara Brown 2:55

But you know what? It it's it's been fun. And uh, like you said, I I love that you uh mentioned that I reinvented myself at 45 years old because I'm a I'm a big fan of kind of making people realize that it's never too late to start something. So I started doing stand-up at 45 years old. So I'm a big, you know, there's an expression that says, a new broom sweeps clean, but an old broom knows the corners. Ah, I like it. I like it. I'm out here representing for the old brooms. Yes, like we exactly.

Dr Ben 3:25

And I started even later than you, so you're giving me hope and inspiration.

Tara Brown 3:29

There you go. And I'm I'm grateful that um within a short period of time, I'm 50, I'll be 57 in a few weeks. Um, and that's another thing that gets people that weirds people out when I tell them about my age because people don't like to talk about the age, but I'm proud of it. So I'm I'm a proud woman of a certain age. But you know, the things you you read about me, when I look back, it's amazing that I've been able to achieve so much in a 12 years' time. So I'm I'm super grateful, very grateful. We're excited for the TEDx talk. Um, can you give me a little preview?

Dr Ben 4:00

What is that about?

Tara Brown 4:01

Yes, my TEDx talk is um so fun. It's called The Laughter Assignment, What Purple Lipstick Taught Me About Owning My Voice. So it's a combination of two things. Uh, when I was leaving, I used to live in Charlotte, North Carolina. I'm originally, as you said, from Brooklyn, New York. I lived in Charlotte, North Carolina for 20 years. And I attend this phenomenal church, the Park Church, which I'm still a member of. And the last Sunday I was leaving Charlotte, I went to church, and my pastor called me to the altar to pray for me. And he said five words I will never forget. I'm sending you on assignment. So I'd never thought about comedy as an assignment. And so I really took that to heart and realized that this thing I do is an assignment. So I dubbed this the laughter assignment. So part the other part of that is uh I love purple, and I bought this purple lipstick that I love so much. And I was having dinner with a friend and told her I was gonna get some new headshots. And she said, I sure hope you're not gonna wear that purple lipstick you like to wear so much. So it hurt my feelings a bit. But then I started realizing that, you know, in life we all have a version of a purple lipstick, something we want to do, but we're afraid of what other people say. So I encourage people to embrace your inner purple lipstick and live your life authentically you. So that's what the talk will be around. Okay. Yes. We're excited for that. Yes.

Dr Tommy 5:21

I see that you're wearing uh purple nail polish.

Tara Brown 5:24

Purple. I'm I'm true to purple. What's so funny? So the funniest thing about a TED talk, you're preparing for it. So mine is gonna happen. Uh it will air, it probably will be out by the time this podcast comes out, but I'm gonna be taping it soon. And the funniest thing is you're preparing for it, you're memorizing it. So I every day I'm doing this talk just so I can get familiar with it. So yesterday I went to visit my hair stylist and I said, I need to run the talk by you. So I ran a talk by her. So I told her what I was gonna wear, and she goes, Don't wear so much purple that you're gonna look like Barney. I said, Okay. But I it was funny. So um, yes, so yes, I'm very true to purple. I screamed you wore my purple lipstick today, but I gave you purple nails.

Dr Tommy 6:09

What has purple um changed? How has purple changed and how does it, what does it mean to you now?

Tara Brown 6:17

It means for me to be bold. Like it's okay to be different and to be bold and to be authentic and true to yourself. Because I think a lot of times we want to fit in places that are not good fits for us. One of the things I had to learn as a person who started stand up later in life, I don't fit in with a lot of things. And that's okay. Um, I don't

Purple Lipstick And Owning Your Voice

Tara Brown 6:40

want to be around a bunch of 20-something year olds hanging out at the bar. I go to bed after comedy shows, you know what I mean? So I think what it means for me is live your life that feels authentic to you and be okay with that. And here's the thing: it takes a while to get there. Even as you're older, listen, we all deal with insecurities, we all deal with feelings of, you know, wanting to fit in or wanting to be a part. But when you can get to that place where you're like, this is me, and that's okay. It's a beautiful thing. It really is a very comfortable on your own skin. Yeah. Yeah, comfortable on your own skin. And I'm not saying I've achieved it, like I've reached peak level um comfortability. You know, every day is something different, but I'm more comfortable now. And Dr. Ben, I'm sure you can attest to this. When you get to be a certain age, you start thinking, I don't really care about that other stuff I used to care about before. It doesn't matter. And so I that's why I'm I'm very passionate, especially with people who are of a certain age, just encouraging people like, don't let people put you in a box and define who you are. You define that. It's so powerful.

Dr Ben 7:51

I thank you. I think purple's very like royal and regal. Yes, regal. Yes. Queen.

Tara Brown 7:56

Announces your presence, like, I'm here. Let's go.

What A Burn Surgeon Does

Dr Ben 8:00

All right. And today we have Dr. Tommy, who's a burn surgeon. Uh Ms. Tara, what do you what do you think uh Dr. Tommy to do? Tommy, I mean, what is a burn surgeon?

Tara Brown 8:13

I I'm so curious about that. And it's funny because I just feel like um we we like I like when I get like a little uh if I've turned the water on too hot and I like hurt my hand, I'm like, that's not anything that Dr. Tommy would be caring about care about, right? Like you just are doing it on such a higher level, like a burn boss. Like that's what was I like it. I like it. So the burn boss. So Dr. Burn Boss. I'm always curious about that because I would imagine for you, you see people at a time when they are just, I can't even imagine the despair of what happens when a person by the time a person needs to see you. So yeah.

Dr Tommy 8:53

So I take care of burn survivors um at all ages um and uh from all um aspects. So from the moment that they injure themselves all the way to um patients who've uh gone years um past their uh initial injuries with scars. Wow. So um imagine you have um a scald burn, you know, just from um uh a faucet. Uh that can you know will heal itself most likely.

Tara Brown 9:27

So what allowed you, I mean, what made you want to get into this line of work? Because it's so incredibly fascinating. It's such a specialized uh brand of medicine. How did how did you become the Dr. Burnboss?

Dr Tommy 9:42

Sure. I think that's a a really interesting question. When I was a second-year uh resident in general surgery, I was in the ICU in the midst of COVID, and um everything shut down. I spent uh an extra year in the ICU, and that was also the year that uh our um our burn program started at the University of Arizona. And so I go wildcats, right? Go wildcats. So I took care of burn patients, and this was when um it's the program was in its infancy. So I got to spend a lot of time with them, um 12 extra weeks actually. And so I got to, you know, take care of patient A, patient B, patient C, and got them through the initial resuscitation, got them through their skin graphs, and then follow them up afterwards. And then after my third year, my fourth year, my fifth year, I came back as the chief and I would see them again, not as the um not as the um ICU resident, but as the chief on trauma and on plastics on another rotation, and then I would be doing their scar releases. And so these patients I formed really strong bonds with and relationships with and it got me thinking that this was something that I really wanted to do. And when it came time for me to decide well, what do I want to do with my life? And I never heard about burn surgery before because the field itself is really small. It was only about 300 people strong.

Tara Brown 11:43

Oh, wow.

Dr Tommy, Tara Brown 11:43

Um in the whole, in the country? In the country. There's only about 300 burn surgeons. The average age for a burn surgeon is about 50. We all we all exist in a small group text. It's that right, it's that small. Yes. So I applied to all of the burn fellowships. It's it's only there's only 11 burn fellowships. Wow, wow. Uh-huh. And so I got accepted to the Arizona Um Burn Center Fellowship um an hour and a half away from my uh residency. And during that year, I took care of about um 6,000 odd patients. They admit, or they take care of about 6,000 patients, they admit 1,400 patients. It was the busiest single center um burn center in the US. It was a defining moment in my um medical training uh career. I saw patients from uh one day old whose uh were who that were burnt by um uh by a uh a really hot diaper. Is that right? Wow. To a 98-year-old that fell and um had uh uh like an avulsion injury. Uh what type of injury? An avulsion injury. So like when you when you fall, your your skin is so paper thin that it evulses off.

Tara Brown 13:08

Okay.

Dr Tommy 13:08

And so all of those are considered burns.

Tara Brown 13:11

And Dr. Tommy, can I interject for some? I would imagine for the 98-year-old, that has to be very delicate because it's some you can only do with so much, is that correct?

Dr Tommy, Tara Brown 13:20

Exactly. Right. And so each person has its own risks and challenges. Right. And you develop these um these goals for these patients. So what can you do for them? Uh what are the um what's in your toolbox? So you um you think about it and then you work with the patients. So a a 20-year-old who wants to comb her hair, who wants to get back to, you know, um going to volleyball practice, you be a little bit more aggressive. Or uh a six-year-old or 90-year-old who only wants to um sit you are less aggressive with. Right. And so you work with these patients, you become their friend, you become you're essentially their doctor for a year or two years, and um you're be you essentially become their advocate. And so that was the type of doctor that I wanted to be. And so I became a burn surgeon.

Tara Brown 14:24

You know, I uh before we we started, I was uh talking to you and Dr. Ben, is I have such a tremendous amount of respect for healthcare professionals, and I believe the doctor-patient relationship is so important, and you have to have such uh trust with your doctor to get better health outcomes. I think that's always been my experience. I'm sure you've had

The Skydive Promise For A Patient

Tara Brown 14:45

many of these moments, but what is one of your most rewarding moments you've had as Dr. Burn boss?

Dr Tommy 14:51

Yeah. Um so this was um not the not the craziest story uh or the the worst burn that I've had, but it's uh it's a story that's been shared before. Um and so there's no HIPAA in this, and so I'll I'll gladly share it. Um there is a patient who's uh was a fentanyl uh survivor, and um he subsequently had his house burned down a couple years later. And when he came to me, um I took care of him. And knowing me, I'm a very you know joking person. I like to joke.

Tara Brown 15:36

Uh-oh, Dr. Ben, you might have an opener. Uh-oh.

Dr Tommy 15:38

All right. Got some competition. So I I come in and I look at his feet and I'm like, hey man, you're not gonna be able to walk. And he said, I know I'm not gonna be able to make my you know my skydiving jump. And he's like, What do you mean you're not gonna be able to make your skydiving jump? I'll jump for you. And he took that literally. And so I I said, Okay, if you can't make your skydiving jump, I'll jump for you. I'll go skydiving for you. Wow. And I just kind of walked out of the room because I I've never skydived, but if he can't skydive, I'll skydive for him. It turns out he was a recovering addict.

Tara Brown 16:25

Okay.

Dr Tommy, Tara Brown 16:25

He organized year after year after year for recovering addicts. And this was his fourth year. His his group was called Recovering Warriors, What Is Is No More. I love that. Two weeks later, I was jumping for him out of a plane. Wow. Yeah. How about that? So the hospital picked it up, the the news picked it up, it was broadcasted across Nashville, and now um he's walking from Nashville to Florida in um in an attempt to raise awareness for fentanyl survivors. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

Dr Ben 17:10

How scary was that? I bet if I did it, I'd there'd probably be a hot diaper involved. I'm just saying, I do not like heights. There would be a hot diaper involved.

Dr Tommy 17:21

It wasn't scary. Okay. Um, I think it was very freeing. Uh, what was the most scary was me um uh was the landing because I didn't want to break my my hips and go to Dr. Ben. I get a hip replacement.

Dr Ben 17:38

Uh it's not the fall, it's the landing.

Dr Tommy 17:40

It's the landing. Wow. But the the fall was very freeing. It was just two minutes of just pure bliss. The sun was in your the sun was in your face. Um my my my my thighs were flapping in the breeze. It was it's so freeing.

Dr Ben 17:56

What do you hear? Just the wind? Just air?

Dr Tommy 17:58

It was it was overwhelmingly very loud. Oh wow. Yeah. But you know, in in the moment, I couldn't hear anything. How amazing. I was I was feeling my own heartbeat.

Tara Brown 18:07

My background, my uh professional background is in PR. So as you're telling the story, I'm like, please tell me the news got it. And then when you said you do the news covered, I was like, yes. Yeah. That's awesome.

Dr Ben 18:17

What altitude was it? Out of curious. Do you know how high? I don't know. I was just curious.

Tara Brown 18:22

Would you ever do it again? Yeah, we're doing it again in October.

Dr Tommy, Tara Brown 18:25

I love it. I love it. Yeah. That was awesome. Did you want to join? No, I don't think they have the harness tight enough. Trust it. If you do it, I'll be there. Uh no, sir. I can tell you right now, unequivocally, I would watch you do it and I would cheer you on. Okay. Not my milieu. Let's say I'm with you, Tara.

Dr Ben 18:47

Keep our boots on the ground.

Tara Brown 18:48

Exactly.

Dr Ben 18:49

So, listener, uh, just by way of background, so Dr. Tommy did four years of undergrad

Burn Degrees And What To Do

Dr Ben 18:55

to get a bachelor's degree, four years of medical school to get a medical degree, five years of surgery residency to become a uh general surgeon, then the extra training called a fellowship in burns. So I just kind of for uh the listener and for ignorant orthopedic surgeons, can we talk briefly about uh burns and degrees of burns and treatment? And uh I just want to mention um people always tell me I need thicker skin because I'm easily offended. So I don't know if like skin grafting would help me be less offended. But uh what are degrees of burns? So I get burned all the time at the comedy club, but that's usually a roast. Exactly. But solid burn, they'll say, and I'm can I add one more thing to that?

Tara Brown 19:37

And is aloe really good for like surface level burns? Because I've heard that and I have aloe in the bathroom.

Dr Tommy 19:42

Good question. Okay, sure. I can I can answer all that for you. So there's if you if you kind of um simplistically uh categorize burns, there's um four stages of burns. If you think of the first stage of burn, it's a sunburn. Okay. If you go outside for too long and your skin gets red and you kind of put pressure on it and you let go and it blanches, that's a sunburn. Okay. Those will heal um without any scarring in about seven days. All right. On the opposite spectrum is a third-degree burn. And that's when there's fat exposed. In the middle, and those need a skin graft, because the only way that a skin heals is with um from the uh from the edges or from hair follicles. In the middle is called a partial thickness, and that's a second degree burn. That is a gradation. So the dermis is made from kind of two layers. There's a an upper papillary layer where you have kind of finger-like projections, and then a lower reticular layer, and reticular kind of means like a little mesh, and that has all of your blood vessels. So if it's very superficial, then what you'll see is the top layer of your skin has peeled off. Okay. So you'll you'll see that it is red, it's very weepy, that will most likely heal on its own. And all you need to do is make sure that you keep it clean and you keep it moisturized.

Tara Brown 21:38

Can I ask a question rather than go ahead? When so one time I was I was heating up some tea, and as I was pouring that scalding hot water out, I mistook my finger for the cup. And it like, you know how you see something happening and it's like, is this really happening? So I and then it did exactly what you said. It was exposed, it was, you know. Radish and and it did eventually heal on its own. Yes. When that happens, your inclination, at least mom was a time, to want to put water on it. That's not what you do, right? Yes, you actually do. You do. Yes. Okay, is it cold water?

Dr Tommy 22:15

Is it hot water? Sure. Let's let's get to that in one second. So so we're we're trying to describe partial thickness. So it's a gradation, right? So at the at the superficial portion of it, it's red, it's weepy. Right. The deeper you go, it involves the reticular dermis where all the blood vessels are. And so when you get deep and you cauterize that reticular dermis, then the skin or the wound bed no longer has that blood supply. And so what happens to that wound? It becomes white because there's no longer blood supply and it becomes leathery. And so it has a le it has less of a chance to recover by itself. Does that make sense?

Tara Brown 23:09

Yes, it does.

Dr Tommy 23:11

And so if you have a first degree burn where the epidermis is intact, it will heal 100%. If you have a superficial partial thickness burn where the reticular dermis and essentially all of the papillary dermis is intact and only the epidermis has lifted off, it will heal by itself. And all you need is antibacterial ointment. You need a shower every day, put antibacterial ointment on it, and in about two weeks it will heal. If it's a deeper partial thickness burn, there is a chance that it won't heal, or if fat is involved, there is a definite chance it won't heal. And so I said there's four grades of burns. So what's the fourth grade? The fourth grade is when other structures are involved. Tendon, the bone. So when those structures are involved, then more things need to be done, like a flap or some sort of things that you um you can't do yourself. So like a surgeon has to get involved, right? So that's why it's very important that you go to a burn center to get um to get evaluated, especially if it's over a joint, if it's more than 10%, if it's um if if it's uh an electrical burn. Um and so there's all of these criteria that uh that uh when you go to an ED, they kind of uh are are are are made by the ABA to refer you to uh a burn center. So then the the next the next point is well, what do you do to manage it, right? You want to put cool water on it. Not not hot water, not cold water, but cool water on it. And then do you pop the blisters? I pop the blisters. You do, I do, I pop the blisters. So why do you pop the blister?

Tara Brown 25:21

I am such a wimp. I would be like, pop by yourself, please.

Dr Tommy 25:24

So so why do you pop the blisters? You pop the blisters because underneath the blisters is sterile initially, right? But over time it loses its sterility. Bacteria can get underneath it, right? And you'd rather put antibacterial ointment on top directly on the wound. Right.

Tara Brown 25:49

You've mentioned antibacterial ointment a couple of times. Does aloe qualify in that category? Because I got a big tube of aloe, and I really hate to throw it away at my replace it with something different. I like to know.

Dr Tommy 26:00

I only use moisturizer if it is in first degree burn.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben, Dr Tommy 26:04

And that's what aloe is considered a moisturizer, like the sunburn. Yeah, like a sunburn.

Dr Tommy 26:10

If it, if your if the top layer of your skin has fallen off or has been ripped off, you want to use antibacterial ointment. And why is that? Because you want to replace the function of the skin. So the skin does two things. The first thing that it does is it keeps things in. The next thing that it does is it keeps things out. So it keeps moisture in. Right. That's why the skin gets oozy. That's why you lose fluid. Right. You don't notice it because there's only a little bit of a surface area. Or if it's or if the surface area is greater than 20%, then you have massive fluid losses and you you have to be in the or you have to be in the ICU. If and then the second function is that it keeps or acutes bacteria out. And so you want to replace that function with topical antibiotic ointment.

Tara Brown 27:07

I would imagine too, if you have underlying conditions, that would have an effect too on how quickly your skin would heal or recover. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. Yep.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben, Dr Tommy 27:16

Now I'm oversimplifying things, but I love your word oversimplifying us, which is good for orthopedic surgeons and comedians.

Dr Tommy 27:26

And so when you have a burn, what you want to do is make sure that you are um eating a lot of good protein.

Tara Brown 27:35

Interesting. Okay, listener.

Dr Tommy 27:37

Okay. Eat a lot of good protein, make sure that your sugars are under control, and that will help you heal much faster. I love that. And make sure that your wound bed is clean.

Tara Brown 27:47

Okay. I love this. This is so awesome.

Dr Tommy 27:51

And so we've taken it from the initial injury, we've cleaned the wound, we've made sure that every single day we've cleaned it out, we've um we've wrapped it, or uh we've uh we've showered every day, we've wrapped it in about two weeks it should heal. And that's like uh the um the first degree burns and the superficial partial thickness burns. Everything else, those need to be looked at by a burn surgeon.

Tara Brown 28:20

This might may seem like a silly question, and I apologize in advance if it is. Does every hospital have a burn unit, or do you need to go like if if you know that like you just need to go straight, like do not pass go, do not collect $200? I I know I have to go to a burn unit. Should you go to um a specialized center, or does every single hospital have a burn unit?

Dr Tommy 28:46

So there are, I don't remember the exact number, but um no, there are only um I'm gonna get this number wrong. Let's let's let's fact check me. Um but in Tennessee, there's only three burn units. So there's one in Memphis and there's two in Nashville.

Tara Brown 29:08

Okay.

Dr Tommy 29:08

Um in Georgia, I know that there's only two burn centers, and they're both in Atlanta. And so we cover such a large area.

Tara Brown 29:22

Yeah.

Dr Tommy 29:23

Um and so in my burn center, patients in southern Kentucky will get flown in.

Tara Brown 29:30

That's what I was wondering.

Dr Tommy, Tara Brown 29:31

Exactly. Patients in um in like the boonies will get flown in, driven in by ambulance. That makes sense. And so it is a very a large area that we cover.

Dr Ben 29:45

So they should probably go to their nearest emergency room to be evaluated, and then they'd be transferred to a current center if deemed necessary.

Fake Ad- Common Sense Healthcare We Wish Existed

Dr Ben 29:56

All right, knock knock howdy folks. Thank you, team. It's time now for common sense healthcare ads. This episode of the Dr. Ben and Friends podcast is brought to you by Allergy Annihilator Aerosol. Allergy Annihilator Aerosol. Spray away allergies like a superhero. One puff and pollen runs for cover. Side effects may include temporary invisibility to bees and addiction to capes. Use promo code DRBENCOMEDY at checkout for 25% off your allergy annihilator aerosol. I was curious how you um pop blisters. Is it like popping a balloon?

Dr Tommy 30:38

I just get I just get a piece of gauze and I just and I just slide my finger across. Okay. Yeah.

Tara Brown 30:46

We go all the way to your burn center fighting.

Dr Tommy 30:48

There are 127 burn centers in the US.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben 30:52

If I get a blister, I'm gonna go and say, um, I'm looking for Dr. Tommy. I was like, Dr. Tommy needs to pop this. I can't pop. The burn father, the burn boss, blister buster.

Skin Grafts Tattoo Transfers Identity

Tara Brown, Dr Ben 31:05

Blister Buster. That's fascinating, Dr. Tommy.

Dr Ben 31:09

Yeah. I'm curious about the skin graphs. People hear about skin graphs, but how does that done? What different kinds are there? There's full thickness skin graphs. How do you do that? How do you graph skin?

Dr Tommy 31:20

So it's essentially copy and paste. Okay. Wow. Yeah. So remember um back in the Zanga days when you see like a really nice um template that you like or a really nice theme that you like. And so you open up the source code and you try to copy the theme, and then you go into your own theme and then you paste it, that's exactly what it is. Interesting. And so if a if a wound bed is too deep to heal by itself, what you want to do, or what I do, is I excise it down to healthy wound and I place on cadaver skin or skin that uh people who've passed away and donated their bodies. We um um we prepare their skin and we utilize it to help prepare the patient's wound bed. In about a week or so, we look at the patient's wound and we see if that wound bed is healthy, is vascularized, and if it is, we'll use skin from their own thighs and we'll take it at about eight one thousandths of an inch. So that's what's called a split thickness skin graft because it goes in it goes in in between or um through the dermis. That is then grafted onto their wound, and then we either glue it or staple it. Okay, and then in two weeks, both the donor and the wound heals.

Tara Brown 32:53

Interesting.

Dr Tommy 32:54

In areas that are um functional, like um like the finger, then what we'll do is we'll take a full thickness graft. We'll take uh skin from the groin or skin from the anacubita fossa and the elbow, and we'll uh utilize that to help with grafting, and that'll help uh prevent um contracture.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben, Dr Tommy 33:23

Do you ever take skin from the tucus? For lack of a better word. It's not a term, it's not a medical term. What's what's the what's the what's the medical term for the tucas? Uh gluteal region. Gluteus maximus.

Dr Tommy 33:36

We we do, but uh very rarely is that ever the the first uh the first place. Really?

Tara Brown 33:43

I would think it is because you can't really see it. And it would seem like it's really fleshy. I don't know.

Dr Ben 33:50

Abundant supply of tissue.

Tara Brown 33:52

Okay.

Dr Tommy, Tara Brown 33:52

So the the first place that I usually go is the lateral thigh. Okay. The reason why is rarely do people uh put pressure on it. Oh so imagine if you you know stand, there's there's no pressure on it. Imagine if you sit, there's no pressure on it. Imagine if you lay down, there's no pressure on it. And then imagine if you sleep, there's you know three positions that you can sleep on without putting any pressure on it. Now imagine if you put it on your, if you take skin from your butt, now you now you can't sit. Or if you sit, you're you're you're sitting on your yeah, you're sitting on one cheek. Yeah, or if you sleep, now you can only sleep on sleep on your sides, or you have to sleep on your belly. So it's not very comfortable.

Tara Brown 34:43

See why everybody has the thing they're good at. See, I wouldn't see that's why I wouldn't be good at this, Dr. Tommy. Because I'm going right for the I'd go right for the tuckus. See, that would be wrong.

Dr Tommy 34:52

Now, if you prefer the tuckus, I'm happy to take it from the tuckus. No, no, no. It's it's a control C, control V, you know? I copy and I paste, so I'm happy to copy from the Tucas and paste it anywhere you want.

Tara Brown 35:03

If you think tuckus is bad, I trust you, Dr.

Dr Tommy 35:05

Tommy. One of the one of the most interesting things I've ever done is there was a gentleman with a very large burn, and the only other place that we could have taken skin was over his um over his uh tattoo. And so I actually copied a tattoo and placed it over an area that didn't have a tattoo.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben 35:25

Oh wow. Yeah. So he appreciated that too, right? Yeah. Tattoo transfer.

Dr Tommy 35:31

Yeah, it was a it was a tattoo transfer. And then there was another gentleman who got burnt over a tattoo, and I removed that tattoo because he burnt underneath the tattoo.

Tara Brown 35:41

Yeah, what I from what I hear, tattoo removal is painful. So you it's like you got a twofer there.

Dr Tommy 35:46

Yeah.

Tara Brown 35:47

Yeah.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben, Dr Tommy 35:47

I'll I'll ask you a I'll ask you an interesting question. Do you think that we are the same underneath our skin? I do. We are exactly the same underneath our skin. Oh yeah. I 100% think that. Yeah. If you if you look at us, you, me, races, nationalities, all races, all nationalities, you can't tell us apart at all. That's that's the interesting thing.

Tara Brown 36:13

Makes a lot of this stuff right now kind of crazy, doesn't it? Yeah.

Dr Tommy 36:16

It's actually very crazy.

Tara Brown 36:18

Yeah.

Dr Tommy 36:18

Yeah.

Tara Brown 36:19

Yeah.

Dr Tommy 36:19

There was um there was one there was one patient. Um, and I I'll I'll I'll never forget this this gentleman. He was uh an electrician. Um and he had an electrical burn. He was working on, he was a lineman. He was working and uh it sparked. It was an electrical injury, it was a fire injury. It sparked and it blew up in his face. And so he had burn all over his face. And so when it was partial thickness, and so it was going to heal, but it melted all of his um the top layer of his skin off. Oh wow. The thing was that he was he had um he was black, and so um it it it it melted all of the all of his identity off.

Dr Tommy, Tara Brown 37:09

Is that right? So his it made him look as if he had like vitiligo or exactly okay.

Dr Tommy 37:16

And so we we used spray skin on his face, um, but it still had some splotchiness. And so although we healed him, everything looked good, very minimal scarring. The thing that worried him the most was not uh it was not the scarring or anything. The thing that worried him the most was the fact that he didn't he he didn't get his skin color back. That's that's the most interesting part about burn surgery. Yeah, was that I realized that the skin is someone's identity.

Dr Tommy, Tara Brown 37:52

Yes, 100%. I will say this though, and I wonder this. I know that, especially with black folks, that we tend to get like keloids and that sort of thing. And I think that could be very different than other races. Is that correct? Yes. Okay, yeah. Yeah. Everyone has everyone has challenges. What I've realized is that um uh Asians and uh and black people have very thick dermises. Is that right? Okay. White people tend to have very thin dermises. Yes. Um, and as they age, they tend to have uh a lot of skin tears. Black people tend to have hypertrophic scars. And um we have to be very careful when we're placing stitches or staples because um when we take them out, even at two weeks, they'll have track track marks wherever the we um uh we place those staples.

Tara Brown 38:53

Well, you know, they say black don't crack.

Dr Tommy, Tara Brown 38:55

So that is true. So we tend to do well, we tend to age well. That is very true. Yeah.

Dr Ben 39:00

If I ever need any skin grafting to the face or scalp, don't use my tuckus. I don't want to become a butthead.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben 39:06

I've been called a butthead before, but I can't believe I used the word tukus.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben, Dr Tommy 39:10

I have I have I have so many stories, but I actually have used someone's butt to graft their face before. And so butthead, butt face. I have I have, yeah, there is a patient that I've uh that their family has called them butthead or butt face, and it would be very apt. Yes, appropriate.

Tara Brown 39:28

I love this. And I just found it fascinating. Like you put me in a cast for six weeks, and this thing heals. The body is so incredibly fascinating that way. Fearfully and wonderfully made. Yeah. So I I applaud and I don't want this to get missed. And especially since you were doing the podcast, and a lot of times I know the inclination is to put a spotlight on your guests, which I'm grateful for. But I don't want this to be missed. That thank you both for what you do to get people healthy and back on track, because I'm sure you're seeing people at their most vulnerable and scariest times, and you're helping to get people, you literally back on your feet. You know, figuratively, figuratively and literally. So thank you both for the work you do.

Dr Ben 40:08

Yeah, and similar to your ankle injury this morning, I tripped on a box of Kleenex and I thought I broke my ankle, but it was only a soft tissue injury. Soft tissue injury.

Tara Brown 40:19

So with the hot hat.

Fake Ad- Common Sense Healthcare We Wish Exited

Tara Brown 40:26

So now that I'm fresh off surgery, I think it is time for me to read our next ad, which is brought to you by the Miracle Migraine Meltaways. Tired of headaches ruining your day? Try one of these and watch your pain vanish faster than your New Year's resolutions. Which they all, we all know they last until January 2nd. Side effects may include spontaneous breakdancing and we urge you to yodel. Do you know how to yodel, Dr. Tommy? You don't? Okay. I'm telling you, you take miracle migraine melt aways, you're gonna yodel, my friend. Ask your doctor if you're allergic to fun. If you are, then you can't take miracle migraine melt aways. The rest of us, we can.

Dr Ben 41:10

We're not allergic to fun.

Tara Brown 41:12

We're not allergic to fun. We put the fun in funny.

Dr Ben 41:14

Now, can you break dance or yodel?

Tara Brown 41:17

Um, no. My breakdancing days left me 30 years ago. If I ever had them.

AI Teleburn And The Cost Problem

Dr Ben 41:27

All right. Dr. Tommy, I'm curious to um hear like what role technology has played in your field and where you think technology, technological advances will uh help us and any role for artificial intelligence and burn treatment and care.

Dr Tommy 41:43

That's actually a really good question. My um my chief talk in 2022 was uh artificial intelligence and burn surgery. There's a lot of um technology in the burn space, and um there's a lot of artificial intelligence in the burn space. There's multiple companies right now trying to use um cameras um with uh different wavelengths to try to one um accurately determine the depth of burns without excising it. Um they're they're on the NASDAQ, um, they're trying to get FDA approval. So that's one space. Uh so with with that um space that can then kind of connect to Teleburn. So if you can imagine there's only 127 burn centers in the US, and so it's a cost opportunity or or opportunity cost to to helicopter the patient from one place to another, right? To helicopter the patient from, you know, um, or drive the patient from um Alaska to Washington or from southern Kentucky to Nashville, and then how is the patient gonna get back? Four hours, right? That's a lot of money. And who's gonna pay that ninety thousand dollar helicopter ride? I once sat down with a patient and asked, How did you get here? And she said, I had the best helicopter ride ever, and they couldn't drive me, so they just sat me in the passenger seat of the helicopter, and I came here and I said, Are you serious? She said, Yeah, it was like a 45 minute helicopter ride. They sat me in the passenger seat. I don't think they they had a they had an ambulance for me. Oh wow, I said, How much does it cost? And I I chat GPT did because $137,000. Wow. Who's gonna pay it?

Dr Tommy, Tara Brown 43:57

Aren't there companies like Life Flight and is That is it Life Flight? Is that a charitable thing? I'm not really familiar with that. I'm not sure. Okay.

Dr Tommy 44:06

But the thing is, but the thing is that who's gonna pay for all this?

Tara Brown 44:10

Right.

Dr Tommy 44:10

And so it's a huge opportunity cost. And so once we can accurately figure out how deep these are, and then it goes to how can we get burn surgeons to all of these all of these patients. And so it goes from I don't need to see you overnight to I can see you the next morning. I mean, these patients still need to go to a burn surgeon, but it becomes an emergency to an urgency.

Tara Brown 44:45

You make a good point. If you have from what you describe, let's say on a third degree level burn, is time of the essence for someone to get to you, or will it always be what it is? You know what I mean? Like you're just like the if they get to you quicker, is there something you can do to make it less horrible, if that makes sense, or once it's at third degree, it will always be at third degree?

Dr Tommy 45:13

Sure. That's a good question. So there's uh there's uh a burn has three different zones. Um specifically for a flame burn. There's a zone of necrosis, which is kind of the middle portion. It's a it's a zone where if the tissue is dead, it's not gonna come back no matter what you do to it. Okay. And on the other hand, it's a zone of hyperemia. So it's a zone that will always tissue that will always come back if if you give it some time.

Tara Brown 45:49

Okay.

Dr Tommy 45:49

Okay. And then in the middle, we call it the zone of stasis. Right. So depending on on what you do to it, it will come back or it may not come back. Okay. So the role of a burn surgeon is to evaluate that wound and say, okay, this patient needs this, this patient may uh need that, and change the zone of stasis to the zone of hyperemia and allow it to not die. That's the whole point of the first 24 to 48 hours.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben 46:33

So fast. So there is time sensitivity.

Tara Brown 46:35

Yes.

Dr Ben 46:36

Plus you're potentially losing a lot of moisture, so they need that replenished. Yeah. Depending on how much surface area and so it is time sensitive.

Dr Tommy 46:46

Yeah. And so it's always nice to have a burn surgeon look at it within, you know, the first the first several uh hours.

Tara Brown 46:58

Okay.

Dr Tommy 46:59

And so what Teleburn does, I may be giving this you know, this consult away, but what having a burn surgeon does even faster is I see it, I tell you what to do, you get it started, right? And then when you when it arrives to me, it's the the the process is already in motion. Whereas if you're getting it sent to me, how fast does an ambulance ride take however fast the ambulance goes? How fast does a helicopter ride take however fast a helicopter goes? So you're losing hours. And sometimes that communication is never there, right? You you have this app where you're like, hey, you know, you have a you have a 50% burn, you're reading it, and then all of a sudden it comes, but the burn is only 15% because the people who are you know recording, okay, this may be 50%, it's not really 50% burn. And so having an app, having a camera that can you know score it really nicely is is invaluable. And the technology is already there. You have a phone, right? Right. You have a phone that has LiDAR, right? This phone actually can can do a lot. It's just that the tech that the the the software is is not up to date.

Tara Brown 48:34

Got it.

Dr Tommy 48:36

Because you can actually build custom orthotics with this phone already.

Tara Brown 48:40

Is that right? Okay.

Dr Tommy 48:41

You can. Wow. Yes. Because it makes money. Yeah. It's just the the burn technology is not there because it it's the the um the the world is so small in burns. Yeah.

Tara Brown 48:58

Wow. What an education.

Burn Prevention At Home And Outdoors

Dr Ben 49:01

Doctor, tell me, any um like public service announcement or uh for the listener as far as uh um for burns in general, some safety tips or what to do if they burn themselves or avoiding burns.

Dr Tommy 49:15

The number one thing is prevention. At home, make sure that your stoves, your dishes, and your pots and pans are out of reach of your children. The number one thing I see for burns for children is ramen noodles.

Tara Brown 49:36

Oh interesting.

Dr Tommy 49:38

If if I could be sponsored by ramen noodles, I would be a rich man.

Tara Brown 49:45

Wow. Wow.

Dr Tommy 49:46

It's always it's always chicken ramen that come in for a minute.

Tara Brown 49:51

But okay.

Dr Tommy 49:53

I I like I like non uh nongshim uh ramen. Yeah, it's it's always it's always ramen noodles.

Tara Brown 50:03

So like someone's like knocking a pot off the stove. Exactly. Wow.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben, Dr Tommy 50:07

Kid reaching up, kids kids reach up, grab the hot bowl, and it splashes down their chest. It's the classic, classic pediatric burn. And it's always once a week. Wow.

Tara Brown 50:22

That's crazy.

Dr Tommy 50:23

Push the put push the pots or pans back.

Dr Ben 50:26

A back burner.

Dr Tommy 50:27

Exactly. And I know that you don't have a third or fourth arm, but with just that, you can prevent one burn a week from coming to me. I'm not asking for more work, I'm just asking for prevention. The second thing that I always find is the brush fire. Tennessee, especially after the storm, has so much downed trees. Yes. And so what I find is that you know teenage guys or old men will put these trees in a pile, douse gasoline on them, and light it up. But but the thing is they they wear these really baggy pants and they don't realize that it evapor that the gasoline evaporates, or they get a little bit of that gasoline on their pants. Wow. And then it burns them, and it it just catches them on fire, and the before they know it, they have you know 20, 30% burns on their legs. Wow.

Dr Tommy, Tara Brown 51:39

Does stop, drop, and roll help in that situation? Is that still a thing? It does.

Dr Tommy 51:43

Okay, but the but you you want to make sure that you don't use an accelerant.

Tara Brown 51:48

Okay.

Dr Tommy 51:49

You want to make sure that you you burn small controlled piles, and you want to make sure that you have something to put out the fire if possible. So those are the three biggest things. Prevention, prevention, prevention.

Tara Brown 52:05

Going back to the home, do you recommend um I've seen people have um fire extinguishers in the home. I would imagine that would be a good thing to have, right?

Dr Tommy 52:16

I have two fire extinguishers in my house. I have a CO2 detector in my house. I'm not asking for you to not to not do to not do things. I'm asking you to be prepared and to be vigilant.

Tara Brown 52:29

As they say, out of prevention beats a pound to cure. Exactly. Yes. That's what I was thinking of. Now I want ramen noodles. Yeah.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben, Dr Tommy 52:37

Be careful. Yeah. I don't know. Be careful. Yeah, we can go, we can go to get some ramen after this. And then the last thing that I'll say is motorcycles.

Tara Brown 52:48

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2 52:48

So all the motorcycle riders out there. If you ride a motorcycle, please, please, please have a second skin on. I'm not asking you to not ride motorcycles, but please have a second skin. I see all of the people who come to me who uh ride motorcycles, and they have so many uh so much uh friction burns on, and it's more than 40% of their bodies. And every time that I ask them, did you have a second skin? They say no.

Tara Brown 53:24

Can you flesh out what a second skin to you means?

Dr Tommy 53:26

Sure.

Tara Brown 53:27

Yeah.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben, Dr Tommy 53:27

It means um like a like a suit or a jacket, you know, something that will leather leather, yeah, something that will absorb the fall. So then not just riding. Exactly.

Dr Tommy 53:41

Okay, exactly. You need to ride for the fall, and and that is the most important thing for motorcycles because people can't see you.

Tara Brown 53:51

Right.

Dr Tommy 53:51

And it's important to ride for the fall.

Tara Brown 53:54

That's great.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben 53:55

Ride for the fall. I like that. Great advice. Yeah, it's really great advice. All right, listener.

Comedy Grind Balance And Closing

Dr Ben 54:00

You heard it from Dr. Tommy. Now, Dr. Tommy, uh, do you have any questions for comedians or uh comedy? Any uh yes.

Dr Tommy 54:08

Oh, Dr.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben 54:09

Tommy Tommy's like I'm behind behind the scenes of comedy that Tara could answer.

Dr Tommy, Tara Brown 54:14

Oh, god, no, and Dr. Ben. Okay. So I have um one question for for each. You found your your spark at 45. Yes. Right.

Tara Brown 54:24

Okay.

Dr Tommy 54:24

I wanted to ask you what what allows you or what drives you to to wake up every day to continue on making comedy, doing long shifts on um on these uh on these long stretches by yourself in um uh on the cruises. They, you know, they it it can't be a you know um lonely lonely place, you know, on on like uh um the bunker one or bunker two on all by yourself. Yes.

Tara Brown 55:06

Thank you. That's a really good question. You know, I'm I'm glad you said that it can be lonely because I think a lot of times, especially on social media, you see people's highlight reels, right? Like this was great, I was great, they had a parade for me after the show. Like you see all of the good stuff, but people don't see the stuff that goes behind it, right? The, you know, the traveling, especially if you're a road comic, you're on the road all the time and everything's like great. And all the shows won't be great. Like one day, one time I had a show and I was like, this is fantastic. I did the same exact material at another show, I was like crickets. So it's just like the ability to have both short-term and long-term memory with comedy, is very important because otherwise it'll drive you crazy. What gets me going about it, other than the fact that it pays my bills, because I'm a full-time comedian, is the fact that I take it very seriously that when I'm in a room with people, I don't know what they walked in with. There are people who are dealing with so much stuff that you will never know about. And they just need an evening to laugh. They need a moment of levity, and I get to provide that for them. And so I take that very seriously. But I want you to have a good time. I don't want you to think about that thing you came in with. The compliment I love the most. I love being told I'm funny, because what comedian doesn't love being told that, right? But the compliment that gets me in all the fields and will always make me feel great is when people say, I related to that. You're so relatable. One time a woman told me after the show, she said, Girl, you need to get depends to sponsor you because I just almost went through my depends last week. I was like, that's going in the EPK, you know. But so that feeling of connection with people who needed just to laugh or needed to just have a break, or just needed to get someone to say, I see you, and you're not crazy, because I go through that same thing too. That fuels me and that makes me feel good. The other thing with comedians is we see the world differently than everyone else. Like you'll be on a flight, and I'm like, oh my gosh, this just happened to me. How can I make that funny? And so um I do this thing that I do when I travel called airplane and airport chronicles, where I kind of just like people watch and kind of write up some stuff and I'll put it on social media. And depending on the reaction it gets, I said, okay, people laughed at that. I can make a joke out of that. So like I'm working on something now. Um, because when I put it up on Facebook, people responded. I said, okay, so I have something here. So your mind works a little bit differently than everyone else. But at the end of the day, you know, I took the long way to answer your question. It's that feeling of connection and feeling of wanting people to just have a lighter moment and just know it's gonna be okay. I don't know what you walked in here with, but for these next 90 minutes or so that we're together, we're gonna laugh. We're gonna have a good time. Love it. What do you think, Dr. Ben?

Dr Ben 58:11

I I agree. Yeah. That's and you have to kind of put everything that's going on in your life aside, and you're here to give them what they they came here for.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben 58:21

And that's I'm sorry to cut across, but you just reminded me of something. I will never forget this. When I was in Charlotte at the comedy zone, I was about to go on stage. They were getting ready to call my name, and I got a text from my cousin that said they had just declared my aunt brain dead. Oh, and literally 30 seconds after I found out I had to go on stage and make people laugh. So you're right, I had to push my stuff down and then deal with that when I got off stage. Well, good question. Follow the brain dead thing. I don't know if you can, but I How do I follow that? Exactly.

Dr Tommy 58:56

Wow.

Tara Brown 58:56

Yeah.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben 58:58

Good question. Yeah, thanks. Yeah.

Tara Brown 58:59

You got a question for Dr. Ben.

Dr Tommy 59:01

Yeah. So I know that your your your journey to comedy has been winding. And you were uh an orthopedic surgeon and then you found comedy. Um and now you're both. You know, you're you're doing one thing and then you're doing another, and then you're also a dad. How do you keep that balanced? Oh, good question.

Dr Ben 59:31

Good question. Because very all three are very time consuming. And so um and for right now I'm identifying more as a surgeon than a comedian because I um feel like people uh are more receptive to a surgeon trying comedy than they would be a comedian trying surgery. But I I'm uh uh finding uh that it's uh it can be challenging because all three roles are time consuming and uh I have a very understanding family that uh realize that all three are uh very time consuming. But you just have to uh prioritize uh family and uh God, family, country are my priorities and uh um work and uh uh surgery and comedy are important to me, but not the most important things. So it's just uh trying to find that work life balance can be a little tricky, especially um comedy can be as time consuming as you want it to be. So you just have to be cautious and not you could be at uh open mic every night if you wanted, working on material late at night, and so I um tend not to do that. Um and then you could be uh booking shows many nights and many weekends, and so you just have to kinda say, well, family's a priority to me, and so I'm not gonna be out every night after a long day of work and never be home. So you just really have to tailor your schedule. And so I I'm glad I don't know if I found comedy. I think comedy found me, but uh we seem to be getting along okay so far. But it is a very long and winding road, and you just have to um I'm grateful for everything that's happened so far. And so it's been a been a fun journey. But uh yeah, it all started with just some dad jokes at the hospital and then um performing at medical staff meetings where the doctors get together and then open mic and then shows at clubs, so we'll see where it goes. That's awesome.

Tara Brown 1:01:38

And comedy is very time consuming, and you know, there's so many people. I was just messaging with someone uh yesterday, a comic who I realized I hadn't seen a what you know post about shows in a while, and I checked in with them and I said, Hey, how's it going? And they told me I had to take a step back, and and that happens more often than you think. So this is a grind. It's a lot of work, and I think uh one uh uh a line that bugs me when I hear people say things like, oh, so-and-so is doing comedy. That means I can do it. I'm like, you think you can, you know, but it it it's a it's a lot of work, it takes a lot of time. Um, you're constantly learning. Uh and everyone knows, and you every with every, and I'm sure you know this, you you've experienced this, Dr. Ben. You learn something about yourself at every performance. So you're never finished learning with this thing. I don't care how long you how long you've been doing it, it's always a learning process.

Dr Ben 1:02:38

And uh folks like Tara and other professionals make it look easy. But I encourage listeners, if they think they're funny and it looks easy, to try an open mic and try to stand in front of people for four minutes with the microphone and uh tell jokes and make them laugh. And uh I think you'll have a new appreciation for uh how easy it actually isn't.

Tara Brown 1:02:59

Exactly. How quote unquote easy it is, right?

Dr Ben 1:03:02

Easy, yeah.

Tara Brown 1:03:03

And then there are different conditions, like just a lot of different things. You you may, you know, sometimes you'll have a friendly audience, sometimes you'll have people who have been drinking too much and want to heckle you, and just there's so many variables to this thing. I remember when I first started out, I did my background in PR. So every time I would travel for my job, I would always find an open mic to in the city I was going in and going to be in. And I was in Atlanta once, and I remember getting on an open mic in Atlanta, and the guy running it said something to me that I never forgot. He said, You know, people will want to put you on shows for different reasons. Maybe they needed a woman on the show, maybe they needed a black woman. It's not necessarily you were always the funniest, they just needed different things, and I found that to be true. So I think the other thing I'm a big fan of with this is humility because this thing will break your heart in a million pieces. You know, you can be having the greatest show and you want to walk out like, ah, Lee, kumbaye. And then the next thing you know, the next thing you can bomb and everybody bombs, and you could just feel like the worst person in the world. So you gotta, you know, the highs are great, um, but don't get too big headed when you get the highs because the lows will happen. And so the same way you can't just beat yourself up when the lows happen, just manage the highs and just, you know, have a good balance with it all.

Dr Ben 1:04:27

But Dr. Tommy said blacks and Asians have thick skin.

Tara Brown 1:04:30

We do have thick skin, but it still hurts. Still hurts. I was on a ship once, and in some of the ships, they pair you with another comic, and I just couldn't connect with the crowd. I couldn't, and they just weren't into me. The other guy was killing it. It was to the point I didn't even want to be seen. Like I didn't want to go eat. Like, I was like, those three almonds I ate at three o'clock, they'll hold me till tomorrow. You know what I mean? Like, I so, but then I had to remember I'm good at this. You know, I know what I'm doing. It's okay. This show does not define me. I have another show. You know what I mean? So it's about perspective and just again, not getting too high with the highs, but definitely not getting too low with the lows. But just and keeping at it. Because one of the things that's so true about comedy is they say, how do you get better? Stage time, stage time, stage time. So the more you're on stages, the more you get better. When I first started doing comedy, I told all my jokes like this because I was so scared and I just wanted to get up there and I didn't want people to look at me and I was talking so fast about something happening. I'm a New Yorker and we talk like this. That I was talking a million miles a minute. The other thing I used to do when I first started, all weight jokes, because it was the easy button for me. You know what I mean? And it was like, I'm gonna say it before you say it. And I would never forget two things happened for me when I kept telling all the weight jokes. I told one weight joke too many, and the lady in the audience looked at me like she pitied me, and I was like, I wasn't going for that. And another time my mom was in the audience, and afterwards she very sweetly said to me, She goes, I don't like that you sue so many weight jokes. And it just broke my heart to hear her say that. And then I realized I'm like, I'm funny, I don't need that crutch. You know what I mean? But it was, it was a what is it, it was uh defense mechanism for me. And then when I stopped doing that, it got better. The other piece of it is you find your voice. When you first start doing comedy, you don't know who you are. You know, you just throwing a bunch of stuff at the wall to see if it sticks. But there's a point, and for me, and I feel like it happens when you start doing comedy at around the five-year mark, some people say the 10-year mark, where you find who you are and you find your voice. For me, the voice I found was being a woman of a certain age. Because when I started telling jokes about being this age, that's when I resonated with people. And they're like, oh my gosh, I get that. I can relate to that, you know, or workplace humor. You know, same thing with you with medical. So when you find your voice, that's when you're like, okay, this is making sense. It's clicking.

Tara Brown, Dr Ben 1:06:55

I like it. I think it's interesting that uh in some fantasy football leagues, the person that loses a league has to get a tattoo or something like that. Is that right? And some of them, whoever loses a league has to do stand-up comedy. This is true. So that's the punishment. That's how terrifying it is, listeners. In some fantasy football leagues, the loser has to do stand-up comedy. That's how terrifying it is to a lot of people. All right. Well, we're post up here, folks. Surgery's complete. Dr. Ben and Friends from the heart of Nashville, we love celebrating healthcare heroes and comic pros. Remember, we can be serious in surgery, but some of us are seriously funny. So if you love celebrating comics and healthcare heroes, join the Dr. Ben and Friends team and hit that subscribe button. YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Amazon, wherever you get your podcasts. Your word of mouth is our best support. Tell a friend, tell a doctor, a nurse. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear your favorite joke. And then uh, Dr. Tara Brown, where can our listener find you?

Tara Brown 1:07:58

I am available on all socials at TaraBrown Comedy. I also do a newsletter, and if you want to sign up for that, I'm at TaraBrown Comedy.com. I would love to have you.

Dr Ben 1:08:10

Alright, thank you. Make sure to give her a follow, please. And Dr.

Dr Tommy 1:08:14

Tommy, I'm available on all socials at Tommy Tran MD. Thank you.

Dr Ben 1:08:20

Tommy Tran MD, alright.

Speaker 3 1:08:23

Dr. Ben