Dentist

Buress explores the singular awkwardness of the dentist visit—the only medical appointment where the professional openly judges your lifestyle choices while their hands are in your mouth.

The dentist asks "Have you been flossing?" and Buress knows the honest answer is no. Everyone knows the honest answer is no. The dentist knows the honest answer is no. Yet we all participate in this ritual of lying to a person who can see inside our mouths.

He describes the specific indignity of trying to maintain conversational dignity while someone scrapes tartar off your teeth and you're drooling on a paper bib. The power dynamic is total: you're horizontal, they're vertical, and they're going to tell you everything you're doing wrong.

It's a perfect example of Buress's ability to find comedy in universal experiences that other comedians overlook. Everyone goes to the dentist. Everyone lies about flossing. Nobody had articulated the specific awkwardness this precisely before Buress.