'Roast Master' Comedian Jeff Ross’s Cancer Battle

Jeff Ross, 60, is an American stand-up comedian nicknamed the "Roastmaster General" for his insult comedy. He was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2024 despite experiencing no symptoms at the time. He has recovered since, but remains grateful for his timely diagnosis.

In an interview with People, Ross credited his friends for pushing him to get a check-up.

He shared the following: “I'd been working really hard for a long time, and I finally had a few weeks where I was like, 'Oh, I’d better go to the dentist, go to the shrink, and all that. And my pal Jordan had kept nagging our group text chain to get colonoscopies.”

While he knew he had to get a colonoscopy at 50, he’d kept putting it off. According to the American Cancer Society, most people should start regular screening from age 45 onwards.

Ross felt he had “waited almost a decade too long” by the time he’d found out. According to him, “If I hadn't had the colonoscopy, I would never have known. I never felt sick, I had no symptoms.”

Ross now continues to push for others to get screened in time. In the interview, he also shared that “the colonoscopy is nothing. People go, 'I don't want to do all the prep!' But just do it. It's easy.”

Ross underwent surgery to remove the tumor from his colon, followed by chemotherapy. While talking about it, he joked that dealing with expected hair loss from chemo wasn’t an issue: “Luckily, I'd already lost all my hair."

After his surgery, he shared a picture of what his doctors had removed with his friends, encouraging them to get colonoscopies as well.

In an interview with NPR’s Fresh Air in April 2026, he shared that he had finally had his chemo port removed. “It's really important for people to know that I'm doing okay — I'm doing better than okay.”

Since then, Ross has just released his new Netflix comedy special, Take a Banana for the Ride, in March 2026. In this one-man Broadway-style show, he takes a more heartfelt and personal look at his life. He reflects on losing his mother to cancer as a teen, as well as his father, who passed away due to an aneurysm five years later.

According to Ross, “Things have gotten a lot better. And my doctors were really great. Going into it was terrifying because I remembered my mom and what she'd gone through.”

Finally, he left words of comfort for those still going through their cancer journey: “To the people listening who are going through chemo: You can do it. You can do it.”