Not that Nimesh Patel: The curious case of the surgeon-comedian mixup

Nimesh Patel, MD, joined Michigan Medicine as faculty in the section of vascular surgery in February. As is tradition, the Department of Surgery welcomed him with an Instagram post before his arrival. The post saw the usual likes and engagement when it was posted in January and then went dormant.

A funny thing happened six weeks later. 

During a Grand Rounds talk (coincidentally given by vascular surgeon James Black III, MD, from John Hopkins Medicine) notifications for the old post started popping. A few stray likes. Then dozens. Then comments.

@findingnimesh this u???

So glad @findingnimesh is living his dream

Not our Nimesh Patel: The comedian Nimesh Patel, who has a huge Instagram following, has written for Saturday Night Live and has a Netflix special coming out soon.

Patel the comedian embraced the mixup and shared the post to his Instagram story. The Department of Surgery communications team watched the likes flow in, as if an artery had just been cleared, and updated the photo caption to welcome the comedy fans – who suddenly were getting an education in thoracic endovascular aortic repair for thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm, research into GLP-1 drugs, Match Day and more.

We caught up with both Nimesh Patels to learn more about them, and the curious case of “I’m not that Nimesh Patel.” 

Nimesh Patel, MD

Q: Were you aware of the comedian Nimesh Patel before the Instagram mixup? 

Yes. People frequently send me links to his videos. Super funny guy. I don't have any social media so the mix up was unknown to me until people started calling and texting.

Q: Have you ever considered a career in comedy? Ever dabbled in improv?

No. That's a special talent and I would probably throw up if I had to get on stage.

Q: You grew up in Canton and are back in your old stomping grounds. What excited you about joining the faculty at Michigan Medicine?

The Michigan Vascular Surgery Department is a leader in the field, clinically and academically. It is a privilege to join this group. I am excited to work with them, learn from them, and together help patients with vascular disease throughout the region.

Q: What drew you to your specialty? Why vascular surgery?

I love vascular surgery because it is technically challenging, requires knowledge of the entire body, and can be either elective or emergent. We employ open, endovascular (minimally invasive), and hybrid techniques to help our patients. The field is ever changing with rapid innovation, and Michigan is usually at the forefront of this. These elements make for a career that is always engaging and allows us to help patients in a variety of ways. 

Q: What is your favorite procedure to do and why?

I enjoy lower extremity bypass surgery because of the many ways we can try to improve blood flow so patients can maintain their mobility and independence. That creativity and decision making is interesting to me and allows us to make the best decision for the patient, not only in thinking about today, but also how things will look in the future.  

Q: What is so special about working with the patient population you treat?

A lot of vascular disease is progressive. Once we see and operate on a patient, we tend to follow them for the rest of their life. That longitudinal care builds a strong patient-physician relationship that is very fulfilling. 

Q: Do you ever use humor to connect with your patients?

I try, but the jokes may not always land. For me, it's a numbers game. I could probably use some help from the other Nimesh. 

Q: Any words of wisdom for the comedian Nimesh Patel?

It's great to see someone of Indian descent in a space we haven't historically been in. I hope you continue your meteoric rise, so that maybe one day, people will be able to pronounce our name correctly. 

Nimesh Patel, comedian

Q: Were you aware of the vascular surgeon Nimesh Patel before the instagram mixup? How did you find him? 

Fans always message me “Nimesh Patel is doing things” and I happened to see this one, found it funny and shared it. It’s a bit that I’ve done before because there’s a famous cardiologist named Nimesh Patel in Texas who’s a TV personality. In my special, I talk about how I was pre-med at NYU and wanted to be a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon. That was a goal of mine in school and it obviously didn’t work out. When I saw that Nimesh Patel achieved some semblance of that dream I just thought it was funny to put it out there. 

Q: How seriously did you consider a career in medicine? And were your parents disappointed in you for not pursuing medicine? One of the comments on the Instagram post joked about that.

Of course they were disappointed. I joke about it in the special. I dropped pre-med my junior year. Orgo [organic chemistry] is the feeder course for most people and it successfully weeded me out of the pre-med program. Not that I failed or anything, but I failed relative to what other students were getting. I got a C or C-plus and that was enough for me to be like, “You know what? My heart’s not in this.”

Q: (OUR Nimesh said of you: It's great to see someone of Indian descent in a space we haven't historically been in. I hope you continue your meteoric rise, so that maybe one day, people will be able to pronounce our name correctly.)

Laughs: It’s the only goal. 

(He clarified that the technically correct pronunciation is “NEE-MAYSH,” but that he pronounces it “NEE-MESH” because it’s easier for others to pronounce.)

Q: You were the first Indian-American writer on SNL and that cultural background informs a lot of your comedy. How have you seen representation of different cultures in comedy evolving? What’s been your personal experience with it?  

You know we're not traditionally in this space. We're all just trying to catch up in the entertainment world to all those peers in medicine and engineering and software, and hopefully make just as many inroads. When I started there wasn't a lot of representation because my generation, or at least our parents, were not informed as to what opportunities lay ahead in the entertainment space. With medicine and engineering it’s a very clear path: You do this. You follow this. You're going to become this. 

With comedy or entertainment in general, it's not a clear path. It's probably the most entrepreneurial thing you could do outside of starting a business in the sense that you have to make your own way. You’ve got to create your product, market your product. You are the product. When I started, it was Russell Peters and Aziz Ansari. And then Mindy [Kaling] started making a lot of headway on her own for writing, and she got on “The Office” and all that. There are a lot of people doing a lot of cool stuff both in front of the camera and behind the camera. “Deli Boys” on Hulu is going to be an incredible show from the representation perspective. The long and short of it is, it's been a great rise for a lot of us. And I’m hoping that the wave continues, and that this rising tide lifts all boats.

Courtesy of Nimesh Patel's Facebook page.

Q: You wrote for “Saturday Night Live” for a season and had some exposure to the hospital setting. What’s more intense, you think: The SNL writer room or an OR?

I've been in an OR a few times. I would say the SNL writers room has kind of the same vibes. Everyone's got a job they’re doing. Everyone's got their instruments. There's random music playing. My cousin's an ER physician, and he's probably the most intense person I know, and I know that environment is a lot more different than anything we could ever encounter. 

Q: Should doctors use more humor in their line of work?

Yes, one hundred percent. My cousins who are physicians – and a lot of them are – I would say are 10 out of 10 when it comes to bedside manner, because they get to the point but they know how to diffuse the situation or make light of something when the time comes and they know comedic timing. 

The doctors that I've had have fortunately always been funny. I don't know if that's because they know I'm a comedian, and they're trying, or because the stars aligned so that I've always had just funny physicians. I think every doctor should take a comedy class, for sure. 

Q: Any words of wisdom or career advice for Nimesh Patel the surgeon?

I have no idea what vascular surgery entails, but the doctor cousins that I have all use comedy or need to laugh a lot because of the stuff that they encounter. Even if you're not a funny person, you could go out and find comedy. I think that's the most important thing for anyone.

Q: You have a Netflix special, “Instant Karma,” airing April 1. What can we expect? Any vascular surgery bits?

I would say it's a very irreverent Indian-heavy introduction to who I am. I very much enjoyed making it, I enjoyed performing it, I enjoyed editing it, which is hard to say, because very few people enjoy the edit process. I hope it's by design both an escapist special, but also very prescient at the same time. The special, is a very decidedly Indian special and it starts with some asserting who we are and why we're here. There's a shout out to cardiology at the very top, so look out for that.

I'll be announcing a tour fairly soon and Ann Arbor will be on the list. Michigan always shows a lot of love. 

Q: Any final thoughts?

I apologize in advance to all the Nimesh Patels who have worked so hard to become physicians and PhDs and all that. I didn't do any of that and I'm the number one Google result if you Google “Nimesh Patel”. I'll try to carry the torch well and represent us in the future.