Some men are uncomfortable working around women and babies all the time. Greg Williams, a neonatal intensive-care nurse at Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta, thrives on it.
Nursing is not only what he always wanted to do, but it's also a source of great material for his other job as a standup comedian.
"My dad was funny, and I've always been a clown at work," said Williams, RN, ADN. "We're around premature and very sick babies every day. It's so rewarding when we can get a baby home, but we see a lot of sad stories, and it is stressful.
"I like to try and keep things light and make people laugh when I can."
Greg Williams, a neonatal intensive-care nurse at Crawford Long Hospital, performs his standup comedy routine at Barraza Coffee Bar in Atlanta.
Williams grew up listening to his parents' comedy records and dreamed of trying standup comedy someday. The opportunity came when he took a course at the Funny Farm Comedy Club in Alpharetta about six months ago.
"After practicing and putting a routine together, my instructor, Big Kenny [Johnson], really encouraged me. He told me that I had it and should do something with it," Williams said.
To Williams, "having it" means having a talent for observation; the ability to see the humor in his everyday life, work and relationships; the poise to talk about those things on stage in front of an audience; and the timing to make his stories funny.
"Timing is everything," Williams said. "I watch comedians on TV and at clubs all the time and try to learn from them."
Many of his routines have to do with being a nurse. Williams plays on the stereotype that if you're a male nurse, you must be gay.
"I tell them I'm not gay and go out of my way to prove my manliness at work. I deepen my voice, I stick out my chest, and I lift weights between patients," Williams said.
Williams assures the audience that he has nothing against homosexuals; he just burps and farts when he gets his manicure, because he's manly, of course.
Williams began performing at open-mike events at clubs and bars around town, and for the last two months he has had a standing job at Barraza Coffee Bar in Atlanta. "My first paying gig," Williams said.
In his act, Williams also likes to talk about how working with 17 female nurses is different from his previous job — serving five years in the U.S. Army in Korea. He tells the audience that women watch and notice everything you do. They notice if you get a new uniform or new glasses.
They even notice how long you're in the bathroom. " 'Did you know you were gone 12 minutes?' " he says, mimicking a co-worker.
His wife, who is also a nurse, doesn't face the same scrutiny. "She blends in," he says.
Williams' co-workers think his act is funny and have come to see him at various clubs.
"They have been good to support me," he said. "Even some of the women I work with say, 'I don't know how you can work around women all the time,' but I love it, and I love my job. Doing comedy is a good outlet and comes from deep inside me. It helps me reconnect at work."
It's also a dream that Williams wants to continue to pursue, and he's glad to be in Atlanta, where there are so many opportunities to perform.
"It's the coolest thing to see a comedian perform live that you've seen on TV and then to perform on the same stage," he said. "Knock on wood, I haven't been booed yet. It would be a sad day if I couldn't make someone laugh."