History Main / PlayingDoctor

* Subverted in ''OzyAndMillie'' as it's used to parody health insurance. They wonder why they're so concerned about playing doctor and conclude it's out of worry it'd make them cynical. Keep in mind that Ozy is normally a HalfDressedCartoonAnimal anyhow.

** Done similarly in an ''OzyAndMillie'' webcomic.

* On ''{{Mash}}'', Hawkeye would regularly use "want to play doctor?" as a pick-up line on the nurses.

[[folder:Comics]]

Not to be confused with "playing [[DoctorWho The Doctor]]", PlayingHouse, [[ActorAllusion Playing]] [[HouseMD "House"]], or ImNotADoctorButIPlayOneOnTV.

* When Megumi from ''Boku No Futatsu No Tsubasa'' was little, she tried to play doctor with her cousin Hiromi and ended up giving her a seriously wrong impression. [[spoiler:Megumi is a hermaphrodite.]]
* In the series [[Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!!]], the main male character Takanashi did this a lot with his childhood friend Iroha when they were children, mainly an excuse to see her naked. Because of this, she now regularly stalks him under the belief they are a couple.

--> '''Doctor:''' It's psychosomatic. You need a lobotomy. I'll get a hacksaw.

--> Brother says hes tellin, bout you playin' doctor with that girl
--> Just don't tell Ill give you, anything you want in this whole wide world

* In the series {{Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!!}}, the main male character Takanashi did this a lot with his childhood friend Iroha when they were children, mainly an excuse to see her naked. Because of this, she now regularly stalks him under the belief they are a couple.

[[folder:Music]]
* Stevie Wonder's song "I Wish":
--> Brother says hes tellin, bout you playin' doctor with that girl
--> Just don't tell Ill give you, anything you want in this whole wide world
[[/folder]]

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PlayingDoctor_1167.jpg]]

Not to be confused with "playing [[DoctorWho The Doctor]]", PlayingHouse, [[ActorAllusion Playing]] [[HouseMD "House"]], or [=~I'm Not a Doctor but I Play One on TV~=].

* ''{{Calvin and Hobbes}}'' has Calvin playing doctor with his neighbor Susie Derkins. Of course, this being Calvin and Hobbes, it is [[ArtShift presented in the style of]] ''Rex Morgan MD'', and Susie storms off due to the excessive treatments Calvin suggests from the symptom of "My foot hurts, doctor."

* Happened in a movie called ''{{Anatomy of Hell}}''. You actually saw the genitalia of the little girl playing doctor, Carolina Lopes.

* In the PhilipKDick novel ''Eye In the Sky'', a little boy is disappointed when he finally convinces the neighbor girl to show him hers -- and there's nothing there. Which turns out to be the same thing he's got down there! They're in a FisherKingdom run by someone who finds genitalia icky.

* Referenced in ''{{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}}'', of course. As children, Willow and Xander played doctor in the same way as the ''FoxTrot'' example, and Willow doesn't know that there's another way to play it, leading to a bit of confusion when she references those games.

* In ''{{The Very World of Milton Jones}}'', he takes it extremely seriously, ordering various things of his "nurse" (oh yeah, they're technically playing "doctors and nurses", behind the bike sheds, natch); his final line is:

* Subverted in ''{{Ozy and Millie}}'' as it's used to parody health insurance. They wonder why they're so concerned about playing doctor and conclude it's out of worry it'd make them cynical. Keep in mind that Ozy is normally a HalfDressedCartoonAnimal anyhow.

* A rather surprising example came from ''{{King of the Hill}}'' between [[ToyShip Bobby and Connie.]] The two of them, after a large misunderstanding about Connie thinking Bobby doesn't like her because she hasn't developed yet, decide to take off their shirts in front of each other and see each other's bodies. While Bobby gets his shirt off, Connie is interrupted by her father entering the room. Being that Kahn doesn't like Bobby already, and hates the idea of Connie being exposed to what he assumes to be rednecks, he's pretty pissed off. This example is very strange because the two of them are clearly at that age when they're starting to notice the opposite sex, and experience sexual urges, and are at least partly playing the game ''because'' of those urges, and yet the entire affair carries a clear feeling of innocence.

[[quoteright:345:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Le_Petit_Spirou_3_3353.gif]]

-->-- '''RobotChicken''', ''The Munnery''

* There is one example in ''[[SpinoffBabies Young]] [[SpirouAndFantasio Spirou]]''... only it turned out both of them were cheating.
** Also, the cover for Tome 3, as pictured above.

* On ''[=~M*A*S*H~=]'', Hawkeye would regularly use "want to play doctor?" as a pick-up line on the nurses.

* Subverted in ''{{Ozy and Millie}}'' as it's used to parody health insurance. They wonder why they're so concerned about playing doctor and conclude it's out of worry it'd make them cynical.
** Keep in mind that Ozy is normally a HalfDressedCartoonAnimal anyhow.
* A {{Does This Remind You of Anything}} example from ''GhastlysGhastlyComic'': [[http://www.ghastlycomic.com/d/20030302.html "Paging Dr. Tang"]] WARNING: While this particular link is "safe for work", the general content of the webcomic is ''not''.

* ''{{Calvin and Hobbes}}'' has Calvin playing doctor with his neighbor Susie Derkins. Of course, this being Calvin and Hobbes, it is presented in the style of ''Rex Morgan MD'', and Susie storms off due to the excessive treatments Calvin suggests from the symptom of "My foot hurts, doctor."

-->'''Boy''': Wanna play doctor?
-->'''Girl''': I don't have insurance...

* When Megumi from ''Boku No Futatsu No Tsubasa'' was little she tried to play doctor with her cousin Hiromi and ended up giving her a seriously wrong impression [[spoiler: Megumi is a hermaphrodite.]]

* There is one example in ''Young {{Spirou}}''... only it turned out both of them were cheating.

-->'''Jason''': Please sit down. I'll be with you in six hours.
* ''{{Calvin and Hobbes}}'' has Calvin playing doctor with his neighbor Susie Derkins. Of course, this being Calvin and Hobbes, it is presented in the style of ''[=RexMorganMD=]'', and Susie storms off due to the excessive treatments Calvin suggests from the symptom of "My foot hurts, doctor."

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
* A straighter example of "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" is from the movie''TheIceStorm'', starring a young Christina Ricci. (It's consistently the most popular clip on Hulu.)

* In ''{{Teeth}}'', the horror-comedy about the girl with the VaginaDentata, the step-brother has a scar on his finger, and it is revealed that this is from "playing doctor" with his step-sister in the pool as children.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* On ''[[{{MASH}} M*A*S*H]]'', Hawkeye would regularly use "want to play doctor?" as a pick-up line on the nurses.

-->'''Bluebottle''' (''plaintively''): I don't like this game! Let's play another game. Let's play Doctors and Nurses.

* Happened in a movie called ''{{Anatomy of Hell}}'' OrSoIHeard on a page of ThisWiki labeled NauseaFuel. Apparently you actually saw the genitalia of the little girl playing doctor, Carolina Lopes.

* {{Subverted}} on ''FullHouse'': the kid yelled "don't open the door, Daddy" because she and a male friend were playing [[spoiler:eye]] doctor, and [[spoiler:the eye chart was on the back of the door]]. OrSoIHeard.

* Saw a very dark take on the concept once by a French comic guy, one kid asks the other to play doctor, he replies "Sure, I got a surgeon's costume for Halloween." Next panel has the parents congratulating themselves on getting the kid such an intellectually-stimulating toy (the surgeon outfit), while [[DeadBabyComedy a large pool of blood leaks out from behind a closed door]].

* In ''{{The Very World of Milton Jones}}'', he takes it extremely seriously, ordering various things of his "nurse" (oh yeah, they're technically playing "doctors and nurses", behind the bike sheds, natch); his final line is

''(reaches the door and opens it; before them is Kyle on his back on a low table covered by a blanket; Rebecca, in scrubs, stands on a chair cutting away at Kyle's hat; both look at her parents)''

* ''{{Calvin and Hobbes}}'' has Calvin playing doctor with his neighbor Susie Derkins. Of course, this being Calvin and Hobbes, it is presented in the style of ''RexMorganMD'', and Susie storms off due to the excessive treatments Calvin suggests from the symptom of "My foot hurts, doctor."