Even before the COVID-19, nurses were overworked and underpaid. In fact, 92% of nurses report moderate, high, or very high levels of work-related stress.

Research from the journal Nursing Research and Practice also showed that among the top coping mechanisms for nurses are spending time with friends and listening to music.

Maybe that’s why 5 male registered nurse anesthetists have found their second calling in making music together.

And they don’t just find classic songs to sing together – they parody them, with a medical twist.

One of their most popular performances is a cover of Neil Sedaka’s “Breaking Up is Hard to Do.” Their version? “WAKING Up is Hard to Do.”

They’ve also turned Ricky Martin’s hit, “Livin’ La Vida Loca” into “Givin’ The Anesthesia.”

They call themselves The Laryngospasms, but their fans refer to them simply as “The Spasms.”

The goofy group goes back to 1990 when Gary Cozine was a student at Minneapolis’s School of Anesthesia.

He was at karaoke with some friends and performed a riff on the Sedaka song and it was a hit. Then someone suggested he change the words to make the song a parody.

When The Spasms finally updated their music video of “Waking Up is Hard to Do” on YouTube, it went viral in 2008. It now has over 15.7 million views!

Members of the group have come and gone by a core group of male nurses has remained. The original viral video is that classic lineup.

The video starts with the men in their scrubs popping up from behind a blue sheet.

Then, when the sheet drops that the real action begins!

And while it’s all mean to make us laugh, these guys really can sing!

And it helps that they’re right – waking up IS hard to do.

Now, while most of their gear is your standard hospital fare, we’re not sure where they got those microphones.

Then again, we do have roughly 30 years of research showing that music can be beneficial in reducing stress and pain in patients in the operating room – maybe we should add some!

Plenty of people who have had less-than-ideal experiences in the hospital volunteered to come in if they could have these guys as their singing anesthesiologists.

A member of The Spasms said anyone passing through their home states of Minnesota or Connecticut was welcome to look them up!

It should come as no surprise that having a sense of humor helps make medical encounters a lot less scary.

It seems unlikely that The Spasms are still performing since their website is no longer active and it’s been a few years since they’ve posted a new video, which is a shame.

They even used to travel around the US and Canada to perform at medical conventions!

If you aren’t one of the millions of people who watched their videos on YouTube, you may remember them from their audition for NBC’s reality talent competition America’s Got Talent in 2010.

At the time, The Spasms were shocked by their success and member Doug Meuwissen told The Oakdale Patch:

“I’m always amazed at the reaction we get from people,” adding that people often ask for his autograph after a show. “I guess if you give someone a microphone, that person can become a rock star.”

Check out the video below to see the epic performance.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Sources: Becker’s Hospital Review, The Oakdale Patch, Gary Cozine via YouTube