Stand-Up Comedian & Roastmaster Jeff Ross’ Doctor Used Humor To Deliver His Colon Cancer Diagnosis: ‘Good News Is You Lost Your Hair A Long Time Ago’

The former lawyer and Tae Kwon Do black belt told Kimmel, “My oncologist was like, ‘Jeff, the good news and bad news. The bad news is you’re going to need six months of chemo.

“‘The good news is you lost your hair a long time ago!'”

Ross, who credited a friend of his for recommending he get screened, further told Kimmel, “I was already in my 50s, and I’d never gotten a colonoscopy.

“I went in, I had no symptoms, and I had a tumor in my colon. You always think it’s never going to happen to you, and it happened to me.”

He then joked he was a “semicolon” as he had 7 inches of his colon removed following his diagnosis, through laparoscopic surgery last summer.

Ross further explained, making light of his situation, “You know, I had laparoscopic surgery so I have holes around here [referring to his chest and torso].

“Little holes. I’m like 50 Cent if instead of getting shot, he ate pastrami twice a week for 50 years.”

The roastmaster will be sharing more on his colon cancer journey during his new broadway show called, “Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride,” taking place at the Nederlander Theatre in New York City for eight weeks starting on August 5.

He told the The Associated Press this month, “[The new show] It’s very autobiographical, but it’s also not really about just me. It’s about all of us. When I talk about my uncle or my mom, I want you to see your uncle and your mom in the stories. That’s really important to me.

“It’s very joyful. It kind of takes the stigma out of loss and sickness and lets people know that they’re going to be OK no matter what happens.”

As for why he named his show “Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride,” he said, “My grandfather would always give me money for the bus and a banana, and he’d say, ‘Take a banana for the ride.’ I reluctantly took it, and more often than not, I’d be stuck in traffic, or I’d get low blood sugar, and that banana would be a lifesaver.

“But it was really his way of saying, ‘Be ready for anything’ and also, ‘I can’t go with you but I’m there with you in spirit.’ So it was an emotional thing, it was a practical thing. It’s something that I still do.”

As for why he wants to share his colon cancer diagnosis, he added, “I don’t want the show to be maudlin, but I think it’s important to address it. Norm [his fellow comedian who died of cancer in 2021] was very private and hid his sickness.

“I didn’t think that was fair to the audience and his friends, so I’m putting it out there. But I don’t want people to feel sorry for me. It’s going to be a very empowering and bold statement on how to get through tough times.”

In the wake of Norm MacDonald’s death, Ross wrote on The Free Press, “Norm was a risk taker. Now we have a better understanding why.

“Everyone has a gun to their head, but Norm’s was cocked and loaded — and none of us knew it. To think he was so sick with cancer for so long and didn’t tell even his closest friends makes me so sad. (He did tell one of our close friends recently that he’d also had cancer as a kid.) I can’t help but wonder if all this is, at least in part, what made him so fearless in his work.”

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Lastly, as for what really led Ross into the world of comedy, he said on The Rich Eisen Show last year that it was him being bullied in his youth.

“I realized I couldn’t beat this kid up, so I stood up and shook it off and started insulting him. And by taking the bully down with insults, I was able to neutralize him where he was no long a bully that bothered me, by humiliating him.

He continued, “I think the fun of that, and the excitement of being able to defend myself with words, with jokes, made made me sort of invincible.

“And I think that’s really how I became the roastmaster.”

Understanding Colon Cancer

Colorectal cancer happens when polyps are not removed and become cancerous. It can take up to 10 years for a colon polyp to become cancerous, according to SurvivorNet experts.

“We know that colon cancers can be prevented when polyps are found early,” Dr. Heather Yeo, a surgical oncologist who specializes in colorectal cancers at Weill Cornell Medicine, told SurvivorNet.

“Lowering the screening age helps somewhat with this, but access to care is a real problem,” Dr. Yeo added.

Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal cancer surgeon and Director of the Cedars-Sinai Colorectal Cancer Center, previously explained the colonoscopy procedure to SurvivorNet.

“When we see a polyp, we actually physically take the polyp out through the colonoscope,” he explained. “What does that mean? That means we basically put a wire through with a little bit of a flange at the end, and we pull the polyp out. Now, note there is no pain with that. Inside the colon, there are no pain fibers. So, there’s no pain.”

The advantage of a colonoscopy is that your doctor can remove any polyps found during the test. Many colon cancers can be caught on colonoscopy before they develop or when the polyps are small enough to be removed without surgery.

Looking for Polyps During Colonoscopy

The American Gastrointestinal Association lowered the recommended initial age for a colorectal screening from 50 to 45.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends guidelines that state colon cancer screenings should begin at 45 years old. This is in response to the increase we see in colon cancer diagnoses in younger adults.

However, many insurance companies still do not cover the cost of screenings for those under 50. In the past, the disease had predominantly been found in adults 50 years or older, but for those predisposed to getting it at a younger age, these new guidelines could help catch it earlier.

Colon Cancer: A Silent Killer

Dr. Heather Yeo, a colorectal surgeon and surgical oncologist at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian, previously told SurvivorNet, “Colon cancer is considered a silent and deadly killer.

RELATED: How Does a Colon Polyp Turn Into Cancer?

“What happens is people often don’t know that they have colon cancer. They don’t have any symptoms. That’s why we screen for colon cancer in the United States.”

The Rate of Colon Cancer is Increasing in Those Under 50

“You should be screened for colon cancer, even if you have no family history. Once you have your initial screening colonoscopy, if there are no polyps and you have no high-risk factors, usually once every 10 years is fine,” she advises.

“Colon cancer is a slowly progressing cancer. If you have any family history of colon cancer, you should be screened about 10 years before your family member had colon cancer. So if you have a family member that was 53, you should be screened at 43.”

Dr. Paul Oberstein Explains Common Colon Cancer Symptoms

What Increases Your Risk for Developing Colon Cancer?

For some people, certain risk factors can influence their risk of getting colon cancer. They include the following:

• Are older. About 90% of cases are in people aged 50 or older, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC). Yet it is possible to get this cancer earlier in life.
• Have inflammatory bowel disease.  Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis can, over time, cause cells in your intestines to turn cancerous.
• Have a family history of this cancer. Just under one-third of people who get colon cancer have family members with the disease.
• Have a gene mutation. About 5% of colorectal cancers are caused by an inherited genetic mutation that causes syndromes such as familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) or hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (Lynch syndrome).
• Don’t exercise very often. Staying active can lower your risk.
• Eat a diet that’s high in meat. Regularly eating red meats like burgers and steaks, and processed meats such as hot dogs and bacon might put you at higher risk.  Eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains instead might lower your risk.
• You are overweight or obese. Having too much weight increases your risk of both getting colon cancer and dying from it.
• Drink a lot of alcohol.  Limiting alcohol to one drink daily for women and two drinks daily for men could help lower your risk.
• Use tobacco. Long-term smokers are more likely to get this cancer than nonsmokers.

Which Treatments are Best for You?

It’s important to understand that your doctor has many ways to treat colon cancer, depending on what stage the cancer is, including:

• Surgery
• Radiation therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Targeted therapy
• Immunotherapy

Surgery

Surgery is the main treatment for most early-stage colon cancers, according to the doctors SurvivorNet spoke with. The surgeon will remove the part of the colon or rectum where there is cancer, along with a small area of healthy tissue around it. Taking out as much of the cancer as possible is important for improving your outcome.

The surgery may be performed through small incisions (laparoscopy), or through a larger incision. Some people may need to wear a special bag (ostomy) to collect wastes after surgery.

Radiation Therapy

This treatment aims high-energy x-rays at the cancer to destroy the abnormal cells. The radiation can come from a machine outside your body, or be placed directly inside your body. Sometimes people get radiation before surgery, to shrink the tumor and make it easier for the surgeon to remove. This is called neoadjuvant radiation.

Chemotherapy

This treatment uses strong medicine to stop cancer cells from dividing, no matter where they are in your body. You may get a combination of chemotherapy drugs as your first treatment. Chemotherapy has been very well studied for colorectal cancer, and it is known to improve survival.

The most common therapy is a combination of chemo drugs called FOLFOX:

• FOL = leucovorin calcium (folinic acid)
• F = fluorouracil
• OX = oxaliplatin

Your doctor may add medications like irinotecan (FOLFIRI) or cetuximab, depending on how well your tumor shrinks with treatment and other specifics about your particular cancer. For FOLFOX, the medications are given through the vein and require regular doctor visits.

To determine exactly which chemotherapy regimen you get, your doctor will consider your age and how well you might tolerate the side effects of chemotherapy. Gene mutations (for example, BRAF and KRAS) and the location of the primary colon tumor also factor into the decision.

You can also get chemotherapy before colon cancer surgery, which is called neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Getting chemo first helps to shrink the tumor, which can make both the surgery and recovery easier, according to SurvivorNet’s experts. Chemo is also a treatment for cancer that returns after therapy.

Targeted Therapy

This treatment targets substances like proteins or genes that the cancer needs to grow. This makes targeted therapy more precise than chemotherapy, and less likely to damage healthy cells. One example of targeted therapy is bevacizumab (Avastin), which stops the growth of new blood vessels that feed tumors. Another group of targeted therapies are called epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors, which block the cancer from growing.

Immunotherapy

This treatment makes your own immune system a more efficient cancer fighter. A group of drugs called checkpoint inhibitors, which includes pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and nivolumab (Opdivo), work by preventing cancer cells from hiding from your immune system. Checkpoint inhibitors may extend the amount of time before the cancer spreads.

Dr. Paul Oberstein, on which treatments doctors use to turn stage 4 colon cancer into a chronic but manageable disease

Humor & Positivity Through Challenges

It’s interesting to note, that according to the National Library of Medicine, research has shown that the amount of pain medication needed for patients is reduced after they watch funny movies.

And perhaps humor, like Jeff Ross prioritizes in life, could also help when someone is dealing with the pain that comes amid a health challenge, whether it’s cancer or another type of health battle.

The importance of positivity amid tough times has been seen through stand-up comedian Jesus Trejo in Long Beach, California.

Trejo became a caregiver for both of his parents after his mother was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor and his father was later faced with colon cancer. But instead of panicking and focusing on the devastating nature of the situation, the only child stepped up to care for his parents with love and laughter.

RELATED: ‘America’s Got Talent’ Star Alex Hooper Reveals Cancer Diagnosis: ‘I Will Treat This Like I Do Everything In My Life With Laughter’

In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Trejo opened up about how he put his career aside to care for his parents in their time of need while making time to smile along the way.

Stand-Up Comedian & Cancer Caregiver, Jesus Trejo Reminds Us That ‘Laughter is a Game-Changer’

“The only advice I have for anyone watching this is laugh, and laugh often, laugh at yourself. Don’t take yourself seriously. Things are already bad. Because once you do that, it’s a game-changer,” Trejo told SurvivorNet.

He also says the laughter itself might be brief, but “the effects of it just reverberate through your body, and can change an already bad situation into a better one.”

Focusing on hope, and maintaining a positive attitude amid a health battle can always be helpful.

Anecdotal evidence from SurvivorNet experts points to how a positive mindset can impact a cancer prognosis.

Dr. Zuri Murrell of Cedars-Sinai told SurvivorNet in an earlier interview, “My patients who thrive, even with stage 4 cancer, from the time that they, about a month after they’re diagnosed, I kind of am pretty good at seeing who is going to be OK. Now doesn’t that mean I’m good at saying that the cancer won’t grow.”

“But I’m pretty good at telling what kind of patient are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease. And those are patients who, they have gratitude in life.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Dana Chase, a Gynecologic Oncologist at UCLA Health, also says it’s important to try to focus on the good, stay positive, and do things that bring you joy to the degree you’re able to do so amid battling a disease like cancer.

“We know, actually from good studies, that emotional health, quality of life is associated with survival, meaning better quality of life is associated with better survival, better outcomes,” Dr. Chase said in an earlier interview.

Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.

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