For some reason (probably because vet medicine is more akin to other kinds of medicine than it is to being a lawyer, for example) I know a lot of human docs. Orthopods, neurosurgeons, plastic surgeons, dermatologists, urologists, neonatologists, radiologists, internists, pediatricians, gynecologists and the like. Whether they’re friends, family, acquaintances or just clients, they tend to be solid, decent folk. But when I want fun, I turn to my friendly neighborhood anesthesiologists.

Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed anesthesia so much in vet school. (No, not the drugs!—I’m referring to the medical discipline, of course.) The anesthesiologists who trained us in clinics were a riot. Go to a cocktail party with one and he’d likely turn his gaze to the black-aproned bartender and address the assembled circle of partygoers: “What’s your diagnosis?” (meaning, of course, that there was some perverse pathology to be discerned in the poor sap’s trembling hands and sallow eye sockets). Short of that, he’d belt out a tuneless Beatles rendition in the most impossibly inappropriate moment (á la Across the Universe, which, by the way, is a fantastically fun movie).

In case you’re wondering, anesthesiologists of the veterinary sort are even more entertaining than the human variety. Perhaps it’s because they can more easily get away with expounding on the pharmacokinetics of “magic mushrooms” than other docs. Maybe that’s because there are so few of them (relative to other vet specialties) that their job security gives them more license to hazard this kind of frequent misbehavior. (Not that this explains similar antics among the human anesthesiologists I know.)

Whatever the case, anesthesiologists are more fun than a barrel-full of monkeys high on Ketamine. Hmmm…maybe that’s because…

Now, back to the point of this post: In case you’re wondering what it is that anesthesiologists really do, I thought I would pass along a wildly entertaining YouTube experience you all deserve to enjoy (and pass along to your friendly neighborhood gas passers).