Pharmacy is a Joke | Comedian Maurice Shaw, PharmD

Transcript Disclaimer: This transcript is generated using speech-to-text technology and is intended to capture the essence of the conversation. However, please note that it may contain multiple spelling errors and inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as an exact or comprehensive record of the discussion.

Mike Koelzer, Host: Well, hello, Maurice. I'm doing well. Thanks for joining us tonight. Oh, it's 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: my pleasure. Thanks for having me. 

Mike Koelzer, Host: Hey, Maurice, for those that haven't come across you online, uh, introduce yourself and tell the listeners why we're 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: talking tonight. My name is Maurice Shaw. I am a pharmacist, but I'm also a comedian.

I love to do stand-up comedy from all over the Midwest at major clubs, such as Amy's a laugh factory, Chicago. Um, I also worked for a company called funny business. I also have a YouTube channel that has, uh, over millions of views called RX comedy, where I talk about the professional departments. And what it's like.

I also try to do a little. I'm advocating on behalf of the profession as well in comedy and humor, to try to get the word out about the terrible working conditions in retail and just to just show other people what it's really like in the pharmacy. You know, there's a lot of pharmacy groups and forums where they talk about pharmacy issues, but everybody in the groups of homes, there are promises of pharmacy technicians.

So they understand it's kind of like speaking to the choir where I have a lot of people who follow me that aren't pharmacists or pharmacy technicians. And so they're always kind of shocked about my videos or, um, you know what I say on stage, even my neighbor came up to me the other day like, I came across your channel and I've even realized pharmacy was terrible.

Mike Koelzer, Host: So tell me about your first stand-up gig. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: Well, my first day of gig ever, it was a little bit different. It wasn't pharmacy oriented. You know what your typical comic does, drunk jokes and other jokes like that. And then one day I was getting ready for a show and the older comic male novice, he used to be a writer for the Chicago Tribune.

And, uh, he goes, I, those your notes, because I was looking at these note cards and I was like, and all those, aren't my notes for my set. I have a pharmacy exam tomorrow. And he's like, what? I was like, yeah. I was like, I'll be in pharmacy school. I have an exam tomorrow for dialysis. He was like, well, why don't you go up there and tell jokes about that.

Nobody cared about the other stuff that you talk about. Cause he seemed, 

Mike Koelzer, Host: he saw, he saw him. So he was, he was trying to give you some advice, 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: you know, for, so by, uh, he used to have a TV show on the Chicago television network. They actually just brought back, uh, you know, like I said, it was a writer for the Tribune.

So he's like, you know, you got to create your own. Um, lane, so to speak, in comedy. And so that's where I really started to just write jokes about pharmacy in my experience. And then I kind of just took off from there. How'd you finally get 

Mike Koelzer, Host: up there? 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: Well, people are my whole life that told me that I I'm finally, even my teachers, like he's a great student, but he's always trying to be a class clown and stuff like that.

And so I decided one day they have these open mics. They have them all over the country, you know, you just have to look for them, but you just go there. And I went there and did an open mic and, you know, it's really a supportive type of thing because all comics and all that, you're just trying. So even if your job's really not that funny, they laugh.

So it gives you this false sense of humor. That you're really funny. But then I started to do a few shows here and there and. Like I said, Mel, he told me to do the pharmacy stuff and I maybe had like four or five minutes of pharmacy material. And people were always saying to me, I liked your bit about the pharmacy, but they didn't like my other bits.

So I just slowly kept growing and growing. And, you know, comedy is all about experiences. So it's just, sometimes it takes a long time. It takes time because you have to keep working and different patient encounters. And finally, I had enough material where I had 30, 45 minutes and that's what a lot of the bigger comedy clubs started to take me to and let me perform.

So, so Maurice, 

Mike Koelzer, Host: You hear about the singers, you know, they're getting up and they're singing Billy Joel singing just the way you are for the 30 thousandth time. And so on. Tell me your feeling about the joy in standing up telling A joke that you've told multiple times. Is there a lot of joy in that still and why?

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: Um, yeah, it's a lot of joy. A lot of times people don't notice it, but my mom, she had been to a lot of shows and she's like, you told that joke before, but what people don't realize in comedy is there are sometimes. You always are tweaking a joke. Sometimes I've had jokes that didn't go as well as I thought.

And then one time I tweaked when I did the punch line or I set it up a little bit differently. So it's the same joke. So it's, you're always really tweaking your jokes to make them better. Uh, at least for me, I'm not Jerry Seinfeld yet. So every time I go up there, I know the joke will hit at least the punch line, but I try to tweak it a little bit.

So it's just, you know, you worked on something and when you go on stage one, it's kind of rewarding because people don't know what it's like when you're in front of 450 people and they're staring at you and you're on stage. So the lights are in your face and you just see all these spaces. And [00:05:00] especially when you first go up there, it's this type of quietness.

I swear you could hear every organ in your body just working and moving. And so when you tell a joke and you can see yourself. People's faces and how they react. And just after the show, people said, Hey, my dad's a pharmacist. Oh my God. He loves you so much. How many times people are taking pictures with say how much they loved, especially the people who are in the pharmacy pills.

There's a lot of pharmacy technicians that come to my show and just kind of their facial expressions. And they want it in the fact that people actually want to take pictures with me. It just kind of makes you want to keep doing it over and over and over. And plus, like I said, it gets out the message.

I've had people say, I'm going to treat my pharmacist better. It's easier to go to a convention and do pharmacy jokes because they get it without what the hard part for me was like. How can I make this funny? Where, cause I don't have a whole lot of time, you know, you're on stage 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 goes where I quickly probably fly.

Yeah. So you can't, you know, spend all your time trying to explain, um, pharmacies. I'm getting it to a point where everybody can understand it. That just makes it just amazing. And, the people they can relate to and see how pharmacy is a little bit stressful. And, you know, we do more than take pills from a big bottle, stick to it for a little while.

So that's what really keeps me going is that, you know, one, the people that work in the pharmacy loved the fact that I'm telling kind of their story for them telling everybody how stressful pharmacy is, who I am. We're scared to talk or say some people like I'm so scared to like your poles, but I love it.

I was like, what a world that we live in that you're scared to hit or like on something. 

Mike Koelzer, Host: It was interesting. You said that when, you know, a joke is gonna hit the pressure's gone and then you can work on the finesse of the little bit of timing. It's gotta be satisfying to know when it's gonna hit that.

You can then relax and, and work on the other finesse a little bit. And I liked your bit about the big bottle. I saw that today in one of your posts. You mentioned the different audiences. So how much of, what is, what, like, are you doing half of shows where you have no idea the profession and then the other half are like at pharmacy conventions or meetings or something, or what's the, what's the split on that?

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: It just kind of just depends on the ones like where I did the Virginia pharmacists association. Wanted me to kind of talk about things I was doing outside of pharmacy, put, incorporate humor. So that is, you know, everybody's a pharmacist, so it's just not all comedy. It's kind of like telling your story. And I throw a little bit of comedy in there, as I'm telling the story of a comedy club where I have no clue.

Like I had some, some one show where like 10 of the people were pharmacy people and four of them drove all the way from Michigan to see me. So sometimes there could be more pharmacy people if, you know, I posted it as a big enough club. People can come out, but most of the time it was just random, random.

People's 

Mike Koelzer, Host: sometimes you're doing your show, not just, like you said with Virginia, like telling a story, but sometimes you're doing your show in front of an actual pharmacy 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: group. Yeah. Yeah. Like sometimes I'm doing it in front of a pharmacy group. Most of the time though was just at a comedy club. But the great thing about that is that.

You know, everybody uses a pharmacy at some point in their lives. They always tell me, you know, I remember the one time I went to the pharmacy when they're younger, because they don't go that much with older girls. Every time I pick up my medicine, my pharmacist is running around. So it's like, you know, the pharmacy is something that connects everybody.

Cause at least at one point in time, you had to pick up the 

Mike Koelzer, Host: script. That's true. Everybody has ended. Yes. Yeah, that's cool. So you've been doing this for how 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: long now? I'd probably say between seven and 10 years, you know, I had to stop when I did my residency for a little bit. And there's times where, you know, if I have so many workers, all of that, I stopped doing it just because life got a little bit hectic.

You know, pharmacy, as far as I was in Chicago, I was always going to the open mics at the big comedy clubs. Amy's laugh factory. And that's like, where that, you know, the amateurs try to get onstage. And they were like, we pick your party, but you don't do it enough because they're a big one. Like you got to hit the stage every night.

But I was like, I'm a pharmacist. I can't just go to comedy clubs every night. So then I actually left in the morning to Springfield, Illinois. And then when I moved to Springfield, Illinois, Zumiez and the laugh factory were like, Hey, we want you to perform well now I live three hours away. Well, 

Mike Koelzer, Host: Why do they want you to do it every night?

Is this so you get really comfortable? 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: No, it's just kind of just how the comedy clubs are. It's just kind of, they just feel like you're a true comic when you're performing every night. You're not our true comic. If you're not working every night, that means you're not working hard enough. So what, you know, I tried to explain to them the pharmacy, I [00:10:00] can't just, I don't work at a t-shirt shop where I'm free every, every night, but that's just kind of just the culture of comedy.

Whoever does the most shows how comedy clubs look, they let those people kind of go on stage. It's 

Mike Koelzer, Host: kind of like your report card. It's like, Hey, I've worked the last 20 weekends. So they're like, oh, okay. People are hiring you. You must be good because people are bringing you back. All right. We'll trust it.

So looking at your LinkedIn, Maurice, I see your pharmacy work stopping in January of 2020. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: That was when I was, uh, let go by Walgreens in January. And after that, it took me a while to find another job. I actually got a job at a hospital, but then I ended up getting furloughed because of Corona and, you know, they were losing so much money to do the, because they weren't having those elective surgeries.

So then I finally, um, got hired by CVS. So I'd been working for CVS, probably three or four months. And now I have a pretty soon we'll work from home desk. Pharmacists stayed working for Medicaid because they saw my Z dog video. So quite a few people reached out to me about positions because of your video.

Yeah. And I didn't even realize how well I knew he was well-known because I've seen those parodies, but it was like people were reaching out to me, pharmacists from Australia and all these other countries that are reaching out to me. And they were just kind of interested in how pharmacy is in America, because they always say, that's, what's coming over there.

And Australia, once we were starting to do immunizations and they started doing immunizations and they couldn't even find the model, flu shots and prescriptions that we have to be here. And in America, you know, they, they got a lot of overlap. There'll be the, the lady said that in Australia there are probably like three or 400 scripts where they'll have like three pharmacists a day.

Sometimes I feel like I've done, you know, 700, 800 scripts. You know, only two pharmacies and you're only overlapping for hours, so wow. They say it's starting to change over there too, where they're starting to cut back. So are you able to 

Mike Koelzer, Host: share a little bit about that story with Walgreens? Cutting. You share a little bit about it. I was intrigued when I saw that.

In fact, I think it was on the Z dog show, maybe that he had mentioned that in his title on YouTube. So what happened there? 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: I've been working for Walgreens for seven years and I've been doing comedy the whole time. You know, that I had worked there. I have probably been doing it for 10 years. Even the district manager that hired me, she knew I did comedy cause she knew me from when I was in pharmacy school.

And even when we had corporate meetings, you know, if I did a presentation or something or I spoke, you know, they would introduce me as, oh, he's a pharmacist and he's also a comedian. So. Everybody knew I had people higher than district managers come to my show. You know, seeing the pool set, took pictures afterwards and loved it.

And it was kinda like that. Uh, especially with my YouTube channel. Like every time I did a transfer, it was always like, oh, you're the YouTube guy. Oh, you're the YouTube guy and 

Mike Koelzer, Host: stuff. So what happened then? Eight years later, then what happens, 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: uh, while I get a new district manager. And, um, he kind of comes to my store manager.

He ended up leaving shortly after we found a warrant, getting our bonuses. You know, when I first took over that store, I was in my prime, our fourth store that I've taken over. And, uh, when I took it over, everything was in the red, it was a hundred performing and a goal me and him set out was like, Hey, in a year and a half, let's get this store because it's such a high volume.

It's a big bonus for us. Yeah. I believe I, I credit that like 16,000 or something like that, but we hit all the metrics. So we were excited and then we just called them out like a week or two before, or they're not giving bonuses anymore. And so like, okay. So, you know, my store manager, he left, they brought on a new manager.

Then my district manager one day, uh, caused me to go to the office and he's like, Hey, your comedy is gross misconduct. And I was like, well, you know, everybody knew that I did comedy. I did comedy a week before the corporation actually sent me an email. It was for a position of working for a Walgreens in Deerfield, Illinois.

It was a corporate position. Uh, like manager or pharmacy or retail ops. So, you know, I was actually kind of excited cause I was like, Hey, I might get a position at headquarters actually three months before they tried to promote me. One was like a healthcare supervisor, but it was in Nebraska and I wasn't about to move on to Nebraska.

No one was in a special position. So I was actually kind of shocked when he called me and went like, oh, corporate is about, you know, a week ago was emailing me about this special position. And he just said, my comment was gross misconduct. And it was one of those things where like, you're kind of shocked. You don't know what to say, like almost.

Yeah. And I was like, wow. I, you know, I, I don't really think that it's for comedy, but it's one of those things where it's like, well, no matter what I say at this [00:15:00] moment, it seems like it wasn't going to change the outcome. So I really didn't even say anything I just said, okay, okay. You know, when he's telling me that it's gross misconduct and that I've got to turn in my keys and go take my license now, you know, for a while I couldn't get a.

Position because I had a couple of interviews, but they would look at my resume and they were like, wow. You know, the people that I spoke to said, you were an amazing pharmacist. And I looked at your resume, like, what were you bashing the company? Like what was going on? And so, you know, a lot of people said, you know, we'd love to hire you, but based off of what happened is really, you know, I'm a little hesitant 

Mike Koelzer, Host: explain anything like, oh, I told this joke about Walgreens, or I did this.

You're dumbfounded. You don't even know how to explain it. So you can't really defend yourself. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: You know, even when I visually got hired at CVS and I told the dishing manager there, I was like, everything that I have, all this has been on. You can look at it. This is where it is. And he's like, I don't see anything on that.

That's grounds for gross misconduct. So they ended up giving me a job. You know, it took a while. So that's why I started making videos to basically kind of fix my image and reputation, so to speak where I was saying, Hey, this is what I did in the community, because, you know, I was told that I wasn't the type of pharmacist he wanted managing his pharmacy.

So I was like, okay, well I did this and the community I did that. I created these scholarships. I've been doing comedy and then Z dog saw, and then we did that. And then they had like 500,000 views. Wow. And there's so many people who spoke on my behalf. It was crazy. I had like 45 different like Facebook posts of people who that work with, took all their time to just write these long poles.

And it was like, Hey, I'm so-and-so ahead of this university. I saw your Zibo thing or, oh, they had a Medicaid saw this video wants to talk to you or Hey, so-and-so at this company. So it was kind of weird. In retail, you do so much, especially as a pharmacy manager, you don't get credit for, and you almost feel like nobody really wants you.

And then to be in a position where it's like, people are reaching out to you to want to hire. Especially when so many pharmacists are struggling, looking for a job, it was kind of a, it was a little 

Mike Koelzer, Host: shocking. Maurice, why do you think they wanted to hire you? Is it because of something you said in the Z dog interview or was it just because they got a chance to know you?

And they said he sounds and looks like a good guy to have on our team because we've gotten to know him over this last. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: Well, I think a lot of people in pharmacy are trying to find other ways where pharmacists can show their worth and get paid because the current retail pharmacy business model is clearly not working.

And so with me doing the health initiative that we're working on with the black barbershop, uh, working with the hospital to do that, you 

Mike Koelzer, Host: talked about that in the interview. Right? And so that 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: really e-mailed the fact that I had, I did a residency, you know, depending on where, at some places that were like, uh, you know, institutions like, okay, well, you're working on health initiatives.

Uh, and I've talked about different ways of trying to get, you know, pharmacists different services we can provide to, to be able to bill for, and you did a residency. So, you know, he can help us with these new services and you can also take on students. And they just kind of saw where I brought it to the table.

You kind of, you know, retail, you kind of can do a lot, which you kind of handcuff. So to speak. So that's pretty much why a lot of people, and then even with a lot of positions are like, your name has come up before when we had positions in the past, which when this all happened, it kind of like, well, if his name keeps popping up, maybe we should at least interview them and talk tones.

Mike Koelzer, Host: All right. So what's the real reason that Walgreens got rid of this? I mean, your mind's gotta be saying there's something more to this 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: due to ongoing, like, um, communications between my representative and theirs. I can't speak any further on that, but I don't believe that I was fired for comedy and, um, packages I go on and leave it at that for, at the 

Mike Koelzer, Host: moment, the comedy was an excuse because they knew it all already.

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: They want to get rid of it, but they couldn't find me for performance. Cause like I said, I'm at all metrics. It couldn't stop me from being late. So I'm always early. I stayed up late. I mean, they were all, I mean, if you think of all the things, you know, There's a lot of pharmacists on my page or they email me say, Hey, uh, I think I was just required because I make $65 an hour.

And they just came up with this as an excuse of, well, there's a star's event from five months ago, or, you know, most people when they're far from retail, I feel like the reason that they were given was not the true reason why they were required. And so it was just one of those things that they hadn't really done.

Or I didn't [00:20:00] make so many mistakes or that probably would have been the first thing. Like, Hey, you make too many steaks. We acquire you. So they just went kind of like all the way down to like, okay, well I'll just say as the 

Mike Koelzer, Host: comedy, I know, like at least in Michigan and I, I think more places that you're at an at-will and employment and the employer or the employee can leave or fire you for whatever the reason.

However, I think it's usually in the best interest of the employer to say a reason because. If you don't say a reason, you leave it open for the former employee to say, well, you fired me for age discrimination, or you fired me for gender discrimination or race discrimination. So if they can come out and give you a reason, even though it's probably full of baloney, it probably lets the employee know, well, they came up with something and I can't really disprove it.

And 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: part of it too was was that even when my representation brought up, when you list things that are listed as girls from this condo, what I did was not gross misconduct and per company policy based off of what I did, what should have happened at least should have been a final written warning. There's no, just straight you're fired Matt for that type of behavior, you know, with becoming positive, you can, you can fail a drug test and still go

I gave other examples of where so-and-so was accused of inappropriate conduct towards a female employee. And they were just transferred from one store. You know, they weren't even buyers. They were just transferred. Okay. Don't work with that person. So you're telling me I can't get a warning. I'm just like, bye.

They'll take your license now. So 

Mike Koelzer, Host: When you say representation, did you try to fight this at all? 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: Oh, you 

Mike Koelzer, Host: are. So you're still trying to fight it and get to the bottom of things. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: Yeah. Reach out to me as like, Hey, I feel like on just the fire. They said that I did this, but I don't think so. And I was like, well, okay, well, did you slide it?

No. I was like, why not know that? Well, I don't know that in a way it gives you a good reason. I was like, well, everybody complains about these on just firing, but then nobody even wants to stand up for themselves. I was, 

Mike Koelzer, Host: they probably see this unjust firing. And then you say you didn't fight it. Why not?

Well, there might've been a couple of things I'm not telling you about 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: it. And it's just like, that's, I mean, you know, it could be like to what you're saying, they're leaving part of it out to make them seem like a complete victim or if they were unjustly fired, that's how companies get away with stuff because they know people will just move on.

Mike Koelzer, Host: They just 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: move on. And I was, I always told people I grew up with Chicago is one of those things where it was a rough area. Whereas like as a kid you would get picked up. And then you keep getting picked on too. You plot that and you know, and it's kinda like, that's kinda just the steel when they, when somebody does something like that, you just fight back or they're just going to keep doing it.

So it's, you know, that's just how I kinda took it, especially after you put it in seven years and you were so close to being promoted. And that was what I always said from the beginning. Like, you know, it was always my goal. That's why I always took on different stores because when they give you a different story, you know, the store sucks.

You gotta fix it and hire new people. And I only did that because I wanted to work in a corporation. And it was more of a kind of kick in the gut. When, you know, just a week before the corporation was talking to me about working, taking the position in Deerfield for a manager of retail ops. So would that have been a desktop?

Yeah, I'm assuming so. Because it was the Deerfield headquarters. So. 

Mike Koelzer, Host: When you talk about the rough area you grew up in and getting bullied or picked on, is that where any of your comedy came from to deal with any of that to maybe try to make a bully laugh instead of punch in the nose or something? 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: Yeah. That, that just kind of gives you like, that really just gives you like big scans, especially like working, um, retail, but usually what we're all really came from to be able to handle retail with like working in the rough areas.

Cause like now when I don't work in, like the welfare is in Chicago, people are like, oh, you dealt with that. That, Karen, I was like, well, when you work on the west side of Chicago, you work with. Antwan and may actually kill you. So dealing with the can is not so bad. It's like, okay. But you know, Karen's not gonna threaten to beat [00:25:00] you up.

So it's like one of those things where like, it just, you know, I just blow things off and it just kind of amazes my 

Mike Koelzer, Host: coworkers. You're like, tell me if they pull a gun or jump the counter. But besides that, they're just peeping up. I had a Karen last week and she actually goes to my church. She's always been a difficult customer, but she kind of quizzes me why I wasn't wearing a mask.

And I said, well, our frontline cash or district people are wearing them and so on. And I quoted some things from our governor's emergency declaration on why I didn't think I had to wear one invoice. She dropped the biggest F bomb on our way out of the store, you know? And it's like, it was crazy. And I even heard it through.

Quadruple air mask she had on, you know, so are you able to use this dismissal from your former employee in your show? I mean, 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: it, it kinda just depends on everything, everything shakes out, but you know, as of right now I can talk about it and do whatever I want and scare the party twice. So yeah, just, uh, to be able to talk about it, but it's kinda like one of those things, like, you know, my fans kinda already know the story, things like Z dog, YouTube channel.

I know almost everybody knows. So it's, you know, right. And Joe has been kind of hard because usually I can write a joke and then go to open mic and fix it, but I work on it or tweak it. But like now there's no comedy clubs, so it's, even if I have jokes about it, I can't like to work it out to see if it's hard because nothing's ever perfect.

The first time you 

Mike Koelzer, Host: write a joke down. Yeah. Maurice with your jokes. So let's say that you're doing. I don't know, let's say you're doing a 15 minute set. And I had heard at one point that about almost every seven seconds, you want to kind of get people chocolate a little bit. That's a hell of a lot of jokes, even for 15 minutes.

How often do you throw in new material? Like 5% new material, and then if it doesn't hit it's okay, because you've got 95% solid or how do you get that feedback? And I know you said right now, it's tough because you don't have the open mics to try it out on, but how much new stuff do you throw in? When you're not sure 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: of it.

It just kind of depends. If I'm at a new club, let's say like a comedy club and Tennessee's or, Hey, we want you to do 15 minutes. I will try out any new jokes. So that's like an audition for me. So I'll do a solid 15 where I know every joke hits. It was a club where I kept performing. Gotcha. I'll always try the new joke and then always do a joke that I know is going to hit right afterwards.

If it doesn't hit, then it's okay. And I, in the beginning, I'll do a little cool short, quick jokes. Um, boom, boom, boom. Just to get them laughing. And then I'll go onto some of my longer ones where they're not like every seven seconds, because now I have their attention where you start out with a long joke and you don't have their attention to that.

You know, that's when you get those hecklers. And 

Mike Koelzer, Host: So you'll hit with some, you'll hit maybe every seven seconds right away to get them laughing. And then you might go into a longer story joke or something. That's fascinating. It's quite a, it's an art, but it's quite a science to do. Write your stuff down.

Is that when, when you're thinking of a joke, you are writing it down? I know some comedians do and some don't. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: Yeah, right on the upper my phone. Like I remember one time I wrote these jokes. How about things that happened in the pharmacy one time, like a month ago, a prescription, I was like, this happens.

I wrote down, I wrote down and we got so busy because I'm only at the pharmacy, one tech I accidentally used was that bag. Lady brought it back, like words like dumb ass.

it's 

Mike Koelzer, Host: So funny. You mentioned that. Cause my dad, God rest his soul, but he would always take bags out and draw on them and stuff and then he'd throw them back in and would use them later. And today was probably like the first time. Five years that I drew a little insulin, something on a bag for someone, you know, and, and, uh, I hadn't done that in a long time.

So it was funny you brought up about the bag, but yeah, she comes back with like, what'd you, what'd your bread? This war? No, it wasn't you, it wasn't 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: you. It was because of the verbal, I just put them in my phone. Just try to remind myself things happen. Just so you don't forget 

Mike Koelzer, Host: at this time in your life, how many nights a month would you like to do comedy?

Probably 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: every other weekend traveling for it. Uh, I wouldn't mind problem four. It just kinda just depends like some comedy [00:30:00] clubs. Like I know there was a comedy club in Michigan. I was like, Hey, will you come to Michigan? Uh, and do a show, no hotel, a hundred bucks. I was like, oh, absolutely not. 

Mike Koelzer, Host: Meaning they're not going to put you up equal.

You 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: have to pay for the ads, go to work for two hours, but other places have been willing to pay for my travel and everything else. And so it kind of just depends on that, but now, you know what, the new job that I have, uh, coming up there I'll have the schedule where I can do whatever the weekend retail and make it hard.

Cause you worked every other weekend that you are doing, trying to show that you have no weekends off. So. 

Mike Koelzer, Host: It's funny when you mentioned that when you finally moved away, you know, three or four hours away, that's when they wanted you back. But I'm in this. Well, I wasn't in this service club, it was 30 men and women and every week we'd have a speaker.

And one of the guys was telling me that in a sister club that he was in before they joined ours, he said that. One week out of a month, they always invited somebody from more than a hundred miles away. So in other words, three out of the four weeks, it was Bob from down on the corner, you know, or, or Sally who runs the local, you know, Y WCA or something like that.

But once a month they always got someone from a hundred miles away. Cause if you're a hundred miles away, there must be something really special about you. So when you finally moved, you know, three hours away, then you were a star that came back from three hours 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: away, you know? Yeah. It's funny. Like the way the calm are you seeing words, it's kind of like, you have the like Chicago is not like new Yorker LA it's Chicago is kind of like, that's where you go to develop your talents and then you go to LA or 

Mike Koelzer, Host: New 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: York, and then that's how our people kind of take off from there.

But it's kind of like at the time that I left. Uh, a lot of people that knew they were performing regularly had even moved to New York to try to take their career to the next level or move to Las, or was kind of like what was still in Chicago, where I was kind of the best out there. So that's when they asked me, 

Mike Koelzer, Host: Well, Chicago was always like a second city and all that improv stuff and all that.

Right. And that's where people, you know, got their chops. Yeah. They got 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: circus. I took classes there. It was fine. Like comedy one-on-one the guy was like, wow, you shouldn't even want to own, you should be one or three, but you know, that's what, again, you know, that kind of opened up doors. If I could have kept doing it because they kind of make you go through like 1 0 1, 1 0 2, 1 0 3, then once you go higher, then they kind of try to help take your career off.

But it's like, again with the pharmacy work schedule, it's impossible to make a 4 45 when they, uh, comedy wall to class every Wednesday. So you think you're getting better? Uh, well, I'm probably getting worse as the pandemic, but I. If I always say I've got a lot of jokes that I'm pretty sure, you know, I was nice about having my fan page.

They got on stage time. I still can. I'll put a joke on there and I'll say like 483 people gave it a heart. So I was like, I know it's, it's a funny joke. And there's something there. Just guys got to tweak it. You know, you think 

Mike Koelzer, Host: in general that your skills get better and thus the audience gets a funnier show in general.

Would you keep getting better? And what would get better? Your ability to know a good joke. When you see one, when you think of one, cause you're probably a better comic at 10 years than you were at three years, right? What was different between three years and 10 years and then between. 10 years in, let's say seven years from now, and I'm not talking just like more jokes, but I imagine you're skilled better.

You've learned to hone something, 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: right? It's just like how you deliver a joke is probably what changed. Like there were certain jokes where I would tell it and I would get a punchline out of it, but I was leaving out a lot on a table. I, it could be the, you know, the crowd could be laughing louder. I could get more out of Joel.

I could make a joke that was 30 seconds long. And I really probably could make it into something that was three minutes. You know, like even some jokes I would, you know, it was one joke where I added an extra 15 seconds where it was like, I tell the joke and then the audience is laughing. And it's such a big question.

I was always rushing to the next job. So then all the time I just learned, I let the audience, you know, I have a drink over there and I go and grab the drink so they can keep laughing. So to them, you know, for me, it's like, I'm going to let them get the laptop because then I'm trying to overtalk my joke when they don't hear it because people are still laughing.

And then when they finally calmed down, I went, man, that was a good ass joke. And then I started laughing again. Then I go on. So, little things like that, it was just about the page. People like my page, because I kind of just tell this, you know, in my early years I was working certainly with being funny.

In my later [00:35:00] years, I was just more concerned with being interesting because even though people might not be laughing, they were like, I love what you were saying because I was just interested. You know, a lot of times I would measure if people like me by laughter, but it's not so much. Of course my shows have a lot of laughter, but sometimes people just listen to them.

My stories or about how long I've been working in pharmacy and the long days, like it just can't be invasive. And I think, you know, when you go to a comedy club, you can be entertained and not just be laughing, you know, you'd be interested in what I'm saying. So I try to incorporate both of those things.

And that's kind of how my cognition from, you know, year three to year seven to year 10, 

Mike Koelzer, Host: It's interesting that you brought up that because when I was trying to define my podcast or a mission for my podcast, I thought a lot about it. And the words I came up with were interesting and entertaining. And as.

Really my right, because I'm not a comic, I don't label myself as funny. That's for someone else to decide, I can say entertaining. And that's a wide range of what entertaining means for some people that might be laughing, for some people who might be reminiscing or whatever. And then I say it's, um, interesting.

And I chose that carefully because. The other things I didn't want to say is that I was educational or that I was going to improve your life beyond my show or whatever. It's like, I was, I was very tight in what I wanted to do. And then the way that I gauge who I want to talk to is just who would I want to pick up and drive up to Northern Michigan with what kind of conversation would we have in the car driving up there?

And I said, that's my goal. It's not to, it's not to do anything else about that. So it took a bit to get there, but long story short is if people think they're going to learn something from me, they got the wrong show.

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: My day is all, they want me to do more things like CE credit though. Gas is not my thing. I'm not the person who does the CE credit. And my job is to make people laugh. And you know, that. 

Mike Koelzer, Host: That's gotta be a hell of a feeling being up there. Because the quieter people are listening. They're really listening.

Cause like you said, the opposite of that is heckling. So they're really listening. And then to hit them with a, a joke, you know, it was 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: going to hit. Yeah. Especially, especially when you've seen comms go up there where one joke doesn't hit and I've seen them perform. But the fact that that one joke doesn't hit, it kind of throws off their whole routine and they get flustered and then they just walk off stage because we have all those people just staring at you.

You know, everybody, you know, there's a lot of people I talked to that are hilarious and you know, but it's, it's being able to. So tell a story, communicate that it's a three, 400 people, is what separates the average person from 

Mike Koelzer, Host: a car. Um, there are certain comics that you get them off stage, and they're not even going to crack a smile and they'll never make you smile.

There's other guys that are kind of funny all the time, Farley, you know, and David spade, I think is kind of funny in real life, but it goes across the gamut, but yeah, there's a big difference between cracking little jokes and getting up there. I'm being blinded by the light and under all the pressure to do that and to risk hitting a bad one, you know?

So you gotta be pretty confident now when you're up there, I mean, you know, a laugh is coming right. Do you have any times where for some reason it was like a chain reaction of not laughing. Have you done that? Where you've got up there and a joke that always hits before? For some reason it didn't hit that night.

It's a lot of, it 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: just depends on the audience too. That's what makes comedy sort of difficult? Like when I perform with the laugh actor, there's some comics. I know we'll do well, but there's some times like the opt-in from other places, like they'll do jokes in Chicago. Right. And they're talking about Trump kind of making fun of Christianity and stuff like that.

And people laugh and then we'll go do some shows in Michigan

where you don't talk about their Christianity and they still try to make jokes. And it's just like, and they keep going over there. And nothing else where I, where I live about pharmacy, it's a neutral, it's not, you know, pharmacy doesn't offend anybody. So I don't, it doesn't really matter what type of audience I have.

Luckily that most people will laugh and give it, you know, usually people who are older or are on medicine and people who worked in the pharmacy field laugh a little bit more, especially like, especially once they started to get 25. And I would say they'd probably laugh more. The younger crowd, they still laugh, but I don't think it really hits stone because they don't deal with the pharmacy as much or.

Especially like some of the 18 year olds, they probably don't even know what an insurance card is, [00:40:00] but I never have it where it's just that dull silence. So to me, it might not be as loud as a lab where I still get a laugh. Do you remember 

Mike Koelzer, Host: Johnny Carson, Johnny. He was the king of throwing out some that his writers wrote from those days where it bombed completely.

And he was the best at recovering from those, you know, I remember some nights he would pull the mic down and tap on it and say, is this on, you know, that kind of stuff. He was good at that. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: You gotta have that just set up. Like, I remember one time I told a joke and like the people, the left lab and people want to ride them.

So that's a of people on the left explaining it to everybody on the right, you know, kind 

Mike Koelzer, Host: of a few things set up for that. Right. You're ready for it. So Maurice, what would be really cool for you as a comment, I 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: guess, will be really cool for me. It was like, let's say NBC came out with a TV show called the pharmacy and I was like a writer on it.

You know, I told my experience when I got paid to write or even, you know, to, you know, that'd be the minimum, you know, I guess to be on the show would be pretty cool. But I'm one of those people, I guess it may sound kind of weird because I'm always on the stage and out of the channel, but I really don't like the limelight, you know, I kind of like to need more behind the scenes.

So like if there was something where I could write for a pharmacy show and kind of get the stuff on my YouTube channel and my jokes on the big screen to do that, because I feel like. He will try to do so much to get changed, but it's like, I don't think retail, pharmacy or pharmacy in general is going to change until like patients are speaking up or, you know, more and more people get heard because pharmacies are understand what if there was a TV show where you could talk about it.

It'd be more, it's easier to get the message out. And that's kind of, my goal is somehow there was a TV show come off to be able to give that out that way, because it seems like, you know, I watch all these YouTube channels where like, you know, this guy that was a pharmacist of became a Senator he's over there preaching about PBM reform.

And it seems like anybody who has. Listen to the basic knowledge that you buy a drug for this price, and you're getting reimbursed less than what you pay. That's just bad business, but nothing changes. Like I Google things like I'll refill being kind of an insurance. Right. And all articles will pop off in 20 14, 20 13.

I'm like, so these are new issues that I'm bringing to light. People have known about this for seven years. So that was kind of like where I'm at. I'm like, okay, well, what's a way to get changed because like, I, you know, I'm trying to bring awareness to things that are going on, but now the more I see.

These have been news topics and news stories. And it's like 20 14, 20 13, you know, every year is a new story, but it seems to be getting worse with actually every breaking story. So it's like, how else can you get the information out there to make a difference other than it's just like, you know, going that way, a TV show or movies that people are watching that you know who to feel, sorry for the main character that's a farm.

This is, and then more people would speak like, Hey, I am paying more for my prescription. Hey, I did get the wrong pills names because my pharmacist was understaffed. And so that would be my dream to be able to make a change in retail pharmacy, while doing what I love. 

Mike Koelzer, Host: There's some neat things now, you know, with the internet and well, of course, you'd rather be off the internet right now and live, but podcasts and YouTube videos and things like that.

And for the last 30 years, we've depended more on just news articles than short clips of people. Telling why they might be upset or something. But I think maybe some of these new longer versions with podcasts, funnier versions were shows, you know, hit to the point, things with YouTube, you know, maybe that'll shake things up a bit, hopefully.

All right. So you go to Hollywood and I'm going to give you three options. And I think I know the first one that you would strictly be a comic actor. I don't think that's your favorite one, but if you could write the jokes for the show or write the jokes beyond this show, which one would you prefer?

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: Um, if I'm not looking at pay, 

Mike Koelzer, Host: Let's say you're not looking at the pic. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: I probably would just like to write the jokes and people know you are. Anybody in the limelight, their life just goes to shambles. And it's just like, um, I remember one time there was a local pharmacy and they were like, Hey, can't, you know, every year we have a, uh, Cabo, a pharmacy, we have a, uh, a party once a year.

It'd be really cool if you do some comedy, uh, the technicians like you. So. So I go there and then I walk in and like one of the technicians, like, oh my God, it's the YouTube guys. He was like, shaky, you know, it was kinda awesome feeling. It was also kind of creepy too. Cause it was, it was like, just to see this person's reaction.

They're like, oh my God, you're real. And it's like, even now I get like hundreds of emails and [00:45:00] you know, one guy called me to go from Alabama. It was just like, he's so stressed out at work. And he wanted my advice. Like he doesn't know what he's going to do themselves. So he has his mom driving to and from work because he just feels so, so stressed out in the retail setting.

And he's like, it's just amazing that you're a real person. You actually answered the phone and stuff like that. So it's. You know what I'm saying? When you're in the wildlife, they speak a lot and it means a lot to people and you can't just blow people off. Not that I blow people off, but it's like, I'm always trying to answer emails, but eventually 

Mike Koelzer, Host: you'd have to at a certain level, I think it's a 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: a lot more work than what people thought.

And I only get a small taste of it. 

Mike Koelzer, Host: And you get satisfaction out of the joke 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: writing then. Yeah. Knowing that a job that I wrote hit me on national TV. I mean, other things will come from there too, but I wouldn't mind, you know, if I had a smaller wall and the bullet, the main character, that's always gotta be on TV and stuff like that is just not really my goal.

But I mean, if it happens, I'll take it, but 

Mike Koelzer, Host: I'm trying to get a feeling of comedy as a career. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: I think a career is hard because people. Really pay that well, unless you're like the big man comics. So you kind of have to, to make a living, you kind of have to be doing a headline engagement every weekend.

You can't take a weekend off, 

Mike Koelzer, Host: That's going to take a break almost to get the headline. And then you've got to do that every weekend. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: So was probably like, you know, depending on who you are, you're like a basic airline and you're probably getting like for a weekend, maybe like 2,500, you know? And so, uh, you know, probably can make them do a good job in common.

60 to a hundred thousand a year, but you literally have every weekend you're working and traveling. And so, um, you know, working really Monday through Wednesday, well, there's some clubs I've been to where you, the headliner, go to the Thursday show, the Friday show, the Saturday show. Usually there's no Sunday show.

So then all of a sudden may you're either going home or going to the next place. So I know there's been months where I would do so back to back to back and Ironman for like three weeks. I was like, this is how all, because I remember I was in the clue first of all. So I was there for a while. I'm just in a hotel for three days and I do, and then you go someplace else and they go to Michigan the next weekend.

And like one or two days, you're just sitting there and. It's kinda 

Mike Koelzer, Host: lonely. I remember when I started as a pharmacist, I told my dad because my dad was a pharmacist. And so I came to work with him and I, one time I got the idea, so I'm going to go visit all these doctor's offices, you know, and bring them stuff and kind of be a sales guy like that.

And I always consider the pharmacy like a trap for me. Like I gotta get outta here, you know, and do something. I'm stuck here with all the cash registers and all that stuff. I went out for about three hours and I was so lonely. I needed to come back just being on the road, like without the comfort. Now I call them comfort.

But back then I felt like I was kinda trapped in it. What you need to do is keep pumping, keep YouTube, keep that going. There's no such thing yet. Pure luck. I mean, luck happens. They say to people that work their ass off or something like that, but it sounds like you need to, you, you keep plugging and then to do that, full-time, you'd have to have that level jump up.

Somehow. Somehow you'd have to get a connection or something. Right. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: One, there would probably have to be, like I said, if you could be a writer on a TV show that would open up all the other comedy gates. So while you're writing, you could still write and do comedy. So like those days where you're off on a stage, you could be writing this and that to the shelves and that way you're, you know, you're writing it.

It was a friend of mine before Kobe. He was, we'll be doing a TV show in New York where they were paying him to be on a show like 5,000. Mega canceled, but I mean, right there you've made $20,000 a month.

So he was doing both for a show in New York. So it's like, it kind of just depends on the show. You know, he did that for 20,000 and another house with the times. It depends on your lifestyle and the way that pharmacy's doing and people are making less than wise. You might as well just be full time.

Mike Koelzer, Host: We're struggling at our pharmacy. Just like almost every pharmacy is. And part of me is on. And glad about that because someday, maybe it's so tough where I've got to take my last 10 years in the workforce and really be forced to do something, or at least not see the golden handcuffs as much. But yeah, you've got, I think a lot of cool things happening now with pharmacists because wages aren't there.

And so everything doesn't look so small compared to what things were starting to look almost compatible, you know, doing something else. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: Yeah. So I was telling people, [00:50:00] you know, like when I did that one video where a bunch of people, uh, I believe it was like Walgreens and like Rhode Island, Massachusetts, they were getting laid off and they were hiring a new grads at 41 50 an hour.

So somebody, you know, lived in the Boston area. I do recommend I do this. And I was like, well, somebody commented. They learned to become a diesel mechanic and make $42 an hour. And I had no student loan debt. Like I'm all. I mean, I guess it would just depend on your level of pharmacy. You could do something else and not have to see them all day.

Even at that rate, if we didn't have student loan debt below pharmacy, I would still say, but maybe not in a retail setting where you're working like 12 hours. Uh, day and, and, and no break. So it just kind of just depends on the market locally. Everything is just going down. So it's like Mars will try to do something else.

And a lot of pharmacies don't realize that their skillsets translate to other things. So they don't look outside the box because, uh, when I was looking for a job, I did things that weren't pharmacy related and people, I was surprised about the number of people who actually reached out to me. Like one was like being a project manager for like a big, uh, Pharmacy compliment.

And they want healthcare experience management experience, but you also needed a PMP certificate, which I did not have. So they were just wondering how, you know, is that something that I'd be willing to get for that pay like $200,000 a year? And I was like, you know, it made me think like, okay, like there's other things I can do.

Because these skill sets really translate to other fields. 

Mike Koelzer, Host: If you're forced to make some of those choices, like, like you were with those terrible things you did at Walgreens, you know, sometimes that's a blessing in disguise, I guess. Yeah. People 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: always say you should quit once you, that was hilarious. Do comedy full time.

And it's like, you know, once I lost my job, I was wanting to do comedy. Full-time like, you know, I'm going to do this whole time for like three to six months. See what happens live in COVID hit. So I guess it wasn't meant to be, but, uh, you know, that sort of situation where I was forced out and I was willing to take that risk, but it wasn't until that happened.

Mike Koelzer, Host: I wish I was more open to that because every time in life I've been forced to do something usually ends up better than it would have been if I would have been in the other situation. But I don't know, I still have a handful of kids at home. So maybe I'll be more risky when, you know, when it's me and my wife or something, you know, and I can handle some of that.

Do you have any advice for Reese, for someone just graduating now in the midst of COVID in the midst of decreased salaries and things like that? I was 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: say like most pharmacists, they just depend on pharmacy. You know, I have a Barbara academy and the school ended up having to close. We go to the COVID, but I think more pharmacists, if you can find another business or a hobby or passion that you can do, even if it means only working 32 hours a week, most places aren't doing 40 hours anyway, that way you're not so reliant on pharmacy as your primary.

So that's why pharmacists don't want to speak up as what I don't want to protest because all their money is solely from pharmacy, but more pharmacies will have entrepreneurs or other, um, sources of income that they want it to straight. It wouldn't be so bad where they had the caveman who didn't have money coming in.

So I always tell people, just, you know, find something else that you like and try to have more than just one. Um, source of income coming in besides pharmacy. Cause it's not what it used to be. What academy did you say? I had a barber academy. 

Mike Koelzer, Host: I thought you said that. What do you mean by 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: that? I helped open up and I partnered with other organizations where felons learn the, um, train of barbering for free in the fresh start. All live with a lot of times they, you know, they get relieved, but then you know that they have no credit.

They have a hard background to get a job. Whereas like if you're a barber, you can still make money kind of on your own without a supplement. And this will, a lot of people who get out of prison, want to cut hair, at least where I'm at. So, um, it was a pretty good program. A lot of people will say, you know, change their life around because when they get out.

A lot of times, a lot of them were going to jail for drug, drug offenses. So this way they can make an honest living, so to speak. And who's all the organizations that were assisting in paying for their tuition. So they didn't have to pay out of pocket. Were you a part of that somehow? Yeah, so I helped open it up.

Uh, I helped make the connections with the, uh, organizations in the community. And that's where the health initiative kind of started where our partner, our partner with SIU was like, Hey, people come in here, we'll check their blood pressure. And it was okay. We don't care. What type of health insurance they have.

We'll take them because a lot of people will say like, well, I had one [00:55:00] insurance, lost my job and I got, um, you know, state insurance. And then that doctor wouldn't take the state insurance. And then I got another doctor where I'd never found another doctor. So, uh, it was kind of something where people would come in.

You know, a lot of times people don't go to the doctor where it goes so well, they always get their haircut, you know, every two weeks a mom. So there was a health commission, the hospital, the school of medicine was eager to help out because they were going to have medical students come to maybe like physicals and stuff like that.

But the whole COVID thing hit. So we're just trying to figure out all the ways to make it different. But, um, that's how, where I was doing. 

Mike Koelzer, Host: Yeah. So your advice to people coming out of school would not only be being open to something, but would you actually say try to have another income coming in? 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: Yeah. So have another source of income because you, you, you, you never know.

They just may just say, Hey, okay, we can't offer you 32 anymore. You can only get 24 hours. Or, and then you're just kind of screwed because people are looking for other pharmacy things and it's like, okay, well it's too saturated. So you need to try to figure out something else. 

Mike Koelzer, Host: If you had to, it's easier to integrate.

And income from a small income doing whatever else than it is to say, now you got to start something, right. You might as well start it while you're working. You're 32 or 38 or hours or whatever as a pharmacist. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: Yeah. Cause there's some people who are just too far and you can't tell them to just not be a pharmacist.

So when they're starting off, I say, even if that means, you know, working 32, are you in 24 hours a week and you can, uh, you know, you can manage it. Like my day away, he ended up getting laid off and then he had to get a kidney transfer plan, and couldn't work. And, you know, I guess his little fixed income when he started his all Amazon business.

So it rules the Goodwill of the place and invites those old CDs, um, you know, it was all Walkmans, there'd be like a 35 second skip protection while those things are valuable. He sells those things like hotcakes or old, old, this mail or old cameras, things that I would just think that a job like he'll pay 50 cents for, but then they'll sell it on Amazon for 35.

And. My mom has a fit because the basement is just full of Starbucks, coffee emails.

Mike Koelzer, Host: It's like, shut up. That's your retirement

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: for those Starbucks for whatever reason. But you know, you gotta know what you're looking for with that. I mean, that's just an example and it's a helmet that you worked on your own, but even 

Mike Koelzer, Host: Something like that, even if you're bringing in, you know, let's say, let's say it makes, you know, a hundred bucks a month or something, at least you're, you're moving in a direction of not just pharmacy in soccer.

Huh? 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: That's good advice. Yeah, because I mean, I don't know if this is funny or sad, but I have a job interview at Walmart. The guy was like, why? You know, I have 70 apps, 78 applicants. I chose to interview eight people. I chose you because of your extensive management experience and your residency, but he's like all of the other 70, 60 of the people whose resumes that I have have been graduated for two years with no work.

Great. So they couldn't get a job. So it's like people, you know, one guy did a podcast with, in order to get a pharmacist job, he worked as a team. A year just driving 45 minutes every day to be a, and I pay it as a check until something opened up, you got to keep 

Mike Koelzer, Host: moving this podcast. I think I've always enjoyed the thought of it.

But most of it came from being a little frightened of where my pharmacy was going at home. I haven't monetized it, but I've probably done something even more valuable. I've talked to 70 some leaders like you, that I can open things up with. I get to know people, that kind of stuff. Good stuff. Well, Maurice, thanks so much for 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: being on the show.

Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure, like all these different podcasts. I didn't realize how big, um, and I'm actually, you know, to me is more interesting. Other than pharmacy, I look at just like Spotify and Joe Rogan and the business things of podcasts, and it's kind of interesting. Where everything is going.

I don't understand why pharmacists can't do this and get paid for this type of consultation. Like these video ones, almost just like somebody being in front of you. So I mean, obviously that who would need provider status, but I think, you know, with a lot of telemedicine in the future, Uh, hopefully, uh, there's podcasts and telemedicine, you know, you see more pharmacists doing [01:00:00] podcasts and maybe getting reimbursed for some 

Mike Koelzer, Host: of our services.

Yeah. If you can pull the positive out of things. One thing this COVID has certainly done is jump started the, um, the, the video to video, which never seemed to have caught on as much as I thought it would. I've told this story before, but when I was like seven years old, I went to Disney world and I was walking through one of the, I think, general tricks, like cities of tomorrow or something where they play those corny songs over and over and over again.

And I remember seeing like this robotic person, but talking on the screen to someone like we're doing now. And I remember telling myself that that right there is my definition of the future. When you can talk to someone on the phone and. Be looking at them face to face. Well, that's been around now for 10, 15 years and only really COVID has seemed to have really brought that out of it's a little bit of hibernation there.

So. All right, Maurice, I'll be watching for you. I want to see your name scrolling through on some credits while I'm sitting there watching the boob tube some night, 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: I was actually going to do like a, um, like a pharmacy family, I guess I'd have been Steve Harvey, like the main top five reasons why patients move to Norco.

Mike Koelzer, Host: They never lose their blood pressure medicine. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: No, it was funny. We, uh, I remember one time it was like a recall on. Xanax now one person has called me, they blood pressure, pill

causes cancer. 

Mike Koelzer, Host: And then it's only the Xanax that must have a magnet inside of it, because those seem to find the drain a lot more than any other medicine does. 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: And then we'll do a movie there bottles like powdered dust in there, like when 

Mike Koelzer, Host: I gave it to them. Yeah. My dad used to tell me, yeah, I heard it from Mrs.

Smith when we shorted her three, but she never told you last month when I put three extra ones in there, she never called, I think he fibbed a little bit, but all right, Maurice, you take care. Thank 

Maurice Shaw, PharmD: you. Bye-bye.