Lieutenant Tippy Brooks was a U.S. Navy doctor who makes a one-time appearance in the Season 5 episode of M*A*S*H titled "38 Across". The part of Tippy Brooks was played by actor Oliver Clark who also played Captain Ben Pierce, another officer with the same name as Hawkeye, in "Mail Call Three" (Season 6).
About Tippy Brooks[]
Tippy Brooks is a friend of Hawkeye's who serves as a doctor on board the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Essex. Described as a "crossword freak" and one who "does the double crostic in ink", Hawkeye gets the idea of calling Tippy for help when he gets stuck on the last clue of his crossword puzzle.
Unfortunately, Tippy is in surgery when Radar patches Hawkeye's call through so Hawkeye leaves a message saying he needs Tippy's help "real bad".
A short while later, Radar tells Hawkeye that Tippy Brooks is on the way to the 4077th. It seems Tippy had thought there was an emergency at the 4077th and was coming to help. What's more, Admiral Cox was on board the Essex and has decided to come along to pitch in.
When Tippy arrives, he tells Hawkeye what a bad journey he had - his chopper had been forced down and then they had to take a cattle train which had to stop when the tracks were shelled. They then had to walk ten miles before being picked up by a jeep. So what's the emergency? Hawkeye has to break the news that it is all a misunderstanding. There is no emergency - Hawkeye just needs a 5-letter Yiddish word for bedbug! Tippy Brooks is horrified - he's not in the mood to help with the clue because he is afraid the Admiral will hang him by the yardarm.
Tippy goes with Hawkeye and B.J. to tell Potter about the problem and they decide to fake some complications in Post-Op for the Admiral's benefit but it doesn't work - he sees through it all. Fortunately, just as the Admiral is about to storm off, a large group of injured Korean villagers arrive, all suffering from severe burns. Tippy and the Admiral suddenly find themselves needed badly.