The New Surgeon is a One Minute Drama from The Red Skelton Hour episode, Love Is an Itch You Can’t Scratch. It’s a short sketch for four clowns.
Props:
- A stuffed bunny. Many other things are optional, such as a magician’s hat, a mouth coil, etc.
- A table to pass as a surgical table, with a sheet to cover the “patient”.
- Possibly a rubber knife to use as a scalpel
The Sketch:
The sketch begins in what’s supposed to be a hospital. One clown is on the table, covered by a sheet. Behind him is the new surgeon, with a nurse on one side and another doctor on the other. The other doctor comments to the nurse, how amazing it is that the new surgeon used to be a professional magician!
The new surgeon, in turn, comments on how next time, he’ll use instruments! He reaches in, and pulls out a bunny! Ta dah!! And the others applaud — even the patient!
This can be expanded greatly. For example, the new surgeon could pull out streamers, or a mouth coil …. “Oops! My mistake! That needs to be in there!” and he puts it back!
Likewise, lots of visual puns are possible. Rubber chicken (he’s chicken hearted), liver (who wants dinner?), etc.
And, the sketch could begin with the Three Stooges routine of applying anesthetic with a foam hammer, etc. Take the idea & run with it!
And, if you want to turn this into a Clown Ministry skit, you can have the surgeon pull out a “stone heart”, address the audience, and put in a “new” heart:
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26 (New King James Version)
