There are two things I’ve always wanted to do in life: be a doctor and tell jokes.

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Who Is Dr. Glaucomflecken?

And Is That His Real Name?

Sadly, no. My name is actually Will Flanary, and I’m a practicing ophthalmologist and creator of medical comedy on social media. Turns out, those are two things you can do at the same time.

I’ve always had a passion for humor, going back to the time I was kicked out of my 6th grade English class (taught by my own mother, no less) for being the class clown. That turned into performing stand up comedy at sparsely attended open mic nights in my hometown of Houston, TX, and carried with me all the way through medical school at Dartmouth in New Hampshire. It was then that I realized you could make jokes about medicine, which was pretty huge for me.

What I never realized was that comedy would become a lifeline. My childhood passion would end up getting me through not only the pressure of med school and residency, but through multiple health crises.

How did all this start?

I started posting on Twitter (RIP) as a resident, fresh off my second occurrence of testicular cancer. That account became my place to tell painfully specific ophthalmology jokes, and vent about being betrayed by my genitals. And to my surprise, a lot of people liked what I had to say.

My audience grew, and I kept posting through the pandemic and my wife Kristin saving me from a sudden cardiac arrest. I started making often-satirical sketch comedy videos about life as a doctor, issues in the US healthcare system – and yes, still the painfully specific ophthalmology jokes. This is also how I’ve ended up with a lot of med students quoting my characters back to me.

More importantly, I’ve gotten to connect with millions of people, and turn what started as a hobby into an educational media business and a real platform for advocacy. Kristin and I speak at keynotes for accredited institutions worldwide, and we’ve taken our very own multimedia storytelling show, Wife & Death, on tour across the US. And it’s all driven by our mission: to use humor – the same thing that’s gotten us both through the hardest parts of our lives – to promote humanity in healthcare.

Meet the Characters

We transform medical complexity into digestible comedy. Our mission bridges the gap between serious healthcare and human connection. Every joke tells a story that matters.