The Hospital – three “doctors” looking under the sheet at a beautiful patient.
The Hospital is a one minute drama, or quick blackout sketch, courtesy of The Red Skelton Hour episode, “A New York Stripper is not Always a Steak“.
Cast: 4 clowns – one patient on a gurney, three supposed doctors
Props: The hospital gurney (really just a table for the clown to lie on), a large sheet to cover the patient, white coats and painters caps, and three paint brushes for the “doctors” to use at the end of the sketch.
The Skit
The Hospital begins with the patient, lying down on the gurney, covered with a large sheet. Behind her stand three men in white coats, whom the audience assumes are doctors. One at a time, they lift the sheet to look at the patient. One cute bit from the original is where Red Skelton goes back for a second look.
Finally the patient cries out, “Please do something! I’m in misery!” At this the three men in white put on their painters caps, announce “We can’t do anything – we’re the painters” and turn around to start painting the back wall as the curtain closes.
Notes
Clearly, a short sketch. They’re called “one minute dramas” for a reason. If you want to expand it a little, you could have the “doctors” pull bizarre things out from under the sheet (rubber chicken, rubber ducky which they then “squeak”, a mouth coil, etc.). Another idea would be to play with the sheet itself, similar to using the Playchute parachute.