Full-time nurse, Nurse John found an unexpected escape through skits and comedy during the pandemic. What started as a way to cope with the stress of working in healthcare quickly turned into a thriving TikTok career. While balancing both careers, he now inspires others to find humour in tough situations.

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You started your career through TikTok during the pandemic, and you were also a full-time nurse at that time, how did you balance both of that?

TikTok was never something that I planned on pursuing. I didn’t plan to be a content creator. Whenever I was having a hard time at work, I would just open TikTok and it helped me to take my mind away from work whenever I get my break. My priority was always nursing, that is what I went to school for and TikTok was an accidental career that was destined for me to be doing. I just find TikTok so fun, and when I’m able to make videos and make people happy, it makes me happy. And honestly, I would finish a 12 hour shift from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and I get home from an hour drive and film myself in my bathroom because it makes me feel good being able to make other people laugh. The balance is really coming from the gratifying comments that I get from people and having people message me privately and saying things like, “Hey John, I’m going through a lot in my life right now and those videos that you’ve been posting have been very helpful.” That makes me feel full and helps me find a light at the end of a very dark tunnel in my life.

When you were a full-time nurse, did you use your comedy and TikTok to help you escape the hardships of the job?

One thing I want people to understand and come across as a content creator that time is to show people what we really go through behind the curtains of the hospital because people have a very basic knowledge of what nurses do and they don’t really know the suffering that we go through on a daily basis inside the hospital. Showing them all the crazy stuff that happens in the hospital or the things that I’ve experienced, I don’t use it to degrade people or punch down on a sensitive situation, but I use it to shed a light on the situation and show people that you’re not the only one that’s going through it. It’s an unavoidable situation so, at least you can laugh instead of cry every single time at a shitty shift.

Did you initially expect your target audience to be solely healthcare workers? I know you’ve since broadened to include mostly customer service workers, and as someone who doesn’t work in healthcare, I still relate a lot to your videos. Were you anticipating this wider audience, or were you mainly focused on healthcare professionals?

That was a shock to me too! When I started branching out more than just TikTok with my tour, my podcast, my merch, I realized that it’s not just healthcare workers. I’m also catering to the customer service environment that a lot of people relate to, and I did not plan on that. I’m actually so happy because then when I go to my shows and people tell me that they are an architect or engineer or accountant or Starbucks and they watch my videos because they can still relate to it. Even if you aren’t a nurse, the things that you go through dealing with customers are similar to patients. The experiences in customer service are so universal. So even though sometimes, or a lot of times my content is very focused on healthcare, people still relate to it because somebody will experience it somewhere at some point in their life if they work in customer service.

What did your family and your friends think of doing comedy and totally shifting to a different career?

I mean, you also came from a Filipino family! So my mom’s first reaction was “you’re not even that funny. Stick to nursing, do the nursing part. You went to school for so long to be a nurse, and now you’re doing all these things.” But now she’s so supportive and goes to my shows. She’s the first person to post everything that’s happening in my life. She would repost every single thing that is going on in my life. And my friends and the rest of my family are just super supportive. When I played my comedy show in Montreal, I invited every single one of them and some of them were shocked because they’re like, “oh my God, we’ve never seen you on stage! You were never the type to go on stage and perform!” It makes me happy that the people that I love and care about are supportive of the things that I’m doing now and will continue doing.

Seeing a fellow Filipino on a big stage has been so inspiring to see. Is there a part of your culture that you’re particularly proud of, and how do you reflect that pride in your comedy or your approach to patient care?

My biggest supporter is our own  people. I see them everywhere no matter where I go. It could be the smallest city in the United States or Canada and there will always be Filipino people. The proudest part of me with this whole career that I have right now is that I’m an immigrant. I grew up in the Philippines for 17 years of my life. I’m a nurse and everything is just so ironic. If my life was a movie, you expect a Filipino to become a nurse. It makes me proud because I get to see Filipino people who are the most hardworking people and I’ll be biased because I’m just so proud to get them out there and show them that even though there are a lot of use that are nurses and we love doing it but it’s okay that it’s sometimes not something we dream of doing. It was probably forced on us from our family members, but guess what? We’re killing it and I’m the proudest of it. I love it so much.

Is there a particular moment in your career as a comedian when you thought, “I’m doing this. I’ve made it”?

Every single time I get on stage, I still get the impostor syndrome. Like I was raised by this immigrant mom who is a single mom that went to Canada for a good life and now I’m on stage performing for thousands of people and seeing all these people travel from different states or provinces just to come see me. It’s still insane to me, and I’m like, “oh my God, I did make it, like I made it.” I never planned on making it, but I guess fate and destiny was just there and they were waiting for the right time and this was the perfect time. Just being here in Vancouver, British Columbia, performing one of the biggest stages here, 3rd on the lineup for Just For Laughs is still insane because I’m aside Jerry Seinfeld and other comedians who have been in the game for so long and I’ve been only doing this for 8 or 9 months. I’ve never dreamed of being a stand-up comedian, but now that I’m doing it, I’m like, “OK, it’s happening, it is real.”

Do you have any advice for healthcare workers who are looking to transition into a completely different field, whether it’s comedy or something else?

I always tell people that nursing is not the only job that you can do. If you’re a nurse and you’re feeling burnt out or you’re feeling hopeless about this job because the healthcare system is just not getting any better, find yourself something to do that makes you happy. It doesn’t have to be like a job that earns the same thing as nursing, but a job that makes you happy and go for it every single day feeling like it’s not work. And that’s how it feels for me being on stage performing is that I don’t feel like I’m working. I feel like I’m just making people laugh. I still feel like a nurse because now I’m nursing those who’re nursing others so they can keep nursing. The people who need it the most.

Besides nursing and being a comedian, you also have a skincare brand “Fili Skin.” What made you want to pivot into that direction?

When I was going through nursing, during the pandemic and had to wear a mask, my already sensitive skin was damaged and I didn’t care for my skin and that’s not really a priority for nurses. Our biggest priority is making sure that you keep these people alive and I think that’s the reason why I burned out in my career in nursing is the fact that I didn’t put enough care for myself, and I realized through therapy and going through burnout, is that I need to put myself first before anyone else. Before I can pour love to someone else, I have to do that for myself first. Skincare helped me take care of myself and made me feel good. Especially having a routine and habit of cleaning my face in the morning and night makes me feel so good. So I decided that skincare was something I wanted to pivot to because I want all the healthcare workers and customer service workers to use my under eye cream to help them feel the sense of self-love and do things for themselves.

Was there a comedian or a public figure that inspired you to fulfill this comedian journey?

I’ve been watching a lot of stand-up comedians. One of the few people that I really like is Jo Koy, he’s also Filipino. I also like Wanda Sykes and Dave Chappelle. Dave Chappelle is married to a Filipino woman! There are so many Filipino connections in this industry not and it inspires me to keep doing what I’m doing because we need more representation.

Being able to be that one comedian Filipino immigrant nurse to represent other immigrants around the states and everywhere else in the world makes me feel like I deserve to be here to represent every single one of them.

What’s next for you in comedy? Do you have any new projects or shows in the works?

I don’t think I can share them right now, but my biggest thing right now is that I launched “Fili Skin” and that’s just something I’m really proud of. And my comedy tour, we just released the second leg and we’re actually in the 1st 20% of the tour, because the first one was so successful and it was sold out. I’m so happy and I just want every single person who comes to my show to enjoy and feel good in a room full of people who relate to the same exact thing as them.

@nurse.johnn