PITTSBURG, Kan. — Dr. Elias Tawil, a former urologist, is enjoying retirement and indulging in one of his favorite activities: making people laugh.
“I always believe that laughter uplifts you,” he said.
Tawil recently compiled 100 of his best jokes into a book and put it on Amazon for others to enjoy. The jokes are family friendly and cover a variety of topics, but shy away from sensitive issues.
As a known jokester, many Pittsburg Noon Rotary members thought Tawil was kidding when he announced he wrote a joke book.
“Dr. Tawil is very quick witted. He loves to tell jokes, and he is a master at picking on everybody with his jokes,” Crawford County Treasurer and Rotary member Joe Grisolano said. “He’s a very funny guy!”
Tawil said he has read joke books in the past, and for every 10 to 15 he read there would be one good joke. For his book, he wanted to include only his best jokes.
One piece of advice Tawil stresses, especially in the preface of the book, is that a joke is only as funny as the person who tells it.
“The joke is funny by itself, but also it's funnier by whoever tells the joke,” he said. “Like if a stand-up comedian is funny, then they're gonna make the joke funny. Even if the joke is not too funny, try to play it like an actor.”
Throughout the years, Tawil has emceed many fundraisers and banquets with his stand-up comedy. One of his favorite memories was winning first place in a cruise talent show. His stage name was E.T. Urologist, and no one really believed he was a doctor, he said.
“They came to my wife and sister-in-law asking if I was really a urologist,” he said. “One guy said, ‘If you are as good urologist as you are at stand-up comedy, you’ve got it made.”
For 40 years, Tawil treated patients and performed surgeries in the Pittsburg community. Tawil also worked as the emergency room director for four years. In addition to his practice, Tawil also opened Mag-Lab, the first freestanding lab in Pittsburg. He named it after his wife, Magda, who also ran the facility.
Originally from Egypt, Tawil came to the United States in 1979. He completed his general residency in Connecticut and his urology residency in St. Louis, Mo. In 1984, he moved to Pittsburg to be closer to his sisters.
Throughout his career he has organized five international medical conventions and pioneered the Pediatric Cancer Project at the Cairo Cancer Institute. Tawil is also a consultant for The Children Cancer Project. Tawil said the there was a 60 percent mortality rate of children dying mostly from infection. The project revamped the lab and intensive care unit for children. Now the mortality rate is 8 percent, he said.
Tawil usually visits Egypt once a year, and although his roots are in there, Tawil said he calls Pittsburg home.
“When I’m there and I say, ‘It’s time to go home,’ everybody tells me, ‘This is home.’ But if it was home, I wouldn’t have left,” he said. “When people say, ‘But you're born in Egypt.’ I say, ‘True, but I was made in the U.S.’ I came from Egypt, but I belong in the U.S.”
Tawil retired in 2023 and is enjoying spending time with his children and grandchildren.
A second joke book is already in the works, but this time it will feature adult humor. The books are meant as a fun project, he said, and he is not writing them for financial gain.
“What I care about is making people happy and laugh,” he said.
“The Best 100 Jokes I Have Ever Heard or Seen” is available for free on Kindle or ordered through Amazon.
This reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/Localnews
