Comedian Jeff Ross reveals how Doctor jokes delivered his cancer diagnosis

Jeff Ross Can appreciate a joke, even in the most difficult situations.

The 59-year-old comedian, known as the “rust master” for his performances in celebrity steak over the years, even found some humor in a joke that his doctor delivered when he was diagnosed with colon cancer.

During a Wednesday 18 June, appearance on Jimmy Kimmel live!Ross reflected on his diagnosis and had seven inches of his colon removed via laparoscopic surgery in the summer of 2024.

He remembered the moment he learned about the diagnosis and said that his doctor shared it with a wild joke.

“My oncologist was like,” Jeff, the good news and bad news. The bad news is that you will need six months of chemo. The good news is that you lost your hair a long time ago, “” he shared.

Ross explained that he was diagnosed after having his first colonoscopy at the call to a friend.

“I was already in the 50s, and I had never received a colonoscopy,” he admitted. “I went in, I had no symptoms and I had a tumor in my colon. You always think it will never happen to you, and it happened to me.”

He made fun to lose some of his colon and said, “Now I have a semicolon.”

His surgery and remaining scars also gave some material for a joke: “You know, I had laparoscopic surgery so I have holes here (sink his upper body and chest). Little hole. I am like 50 cents if he instead of being shot, to pastrami twice a week for 50 years.”

Ross deals with his cancer diagnosis and treatment in his one -man show Jeff Ross: Take a banana for the ridewhich is on the way to Broadway for the summer.

Spoken to Minnesota Star Tribune In March 2025, he said he “still tried to find out” when it comes to incorporating the experience into the law.

“I don’t want the show to be Maudlin, but I think it’s important to deal with it,” he said. “Norm (MacDonald, his close friend who died in 2021) was very private and hid his illness. I didn’t think it was fair to the audience and his friends, so I post it. But I don’t want people to feel sorry for me. It will be a very powerful and bold statement on how to go through tough times.”

The comedian’s brush with cancer is not the only medical emergency that he contacted on a joke.

In April 2025, Ross revealed that he spent the night on an acute after developing a serious allergic reaction to something he ate.

“It was my first allergic reaction ever,” he wrote on Instagram at that time. “I guess it’s pretty remarkable considering that I’m constantly pushing for what food is in front of me in my face.”

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Spoken to Jimmy KimmelRoss joked about his dramatically swollen appearance triggered by the reaction, “it looks like I was hit in the face with some nunchucks.”

Since they have “no idea” what he caused the reaction, he added that he will have to carry an epip “for the rest of my life until it happens again.”

“I’m like a toddler with a peanut allergy,” he teased.

Jeff Ross: Take a banana for the ride Opens on Broadway on August 5 at the Nederlander Theater. Ticket information is here.