River Butcher
River Butcher (born Rhea Harriett Butcher; August 12, 1982) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, producer, and podcast host. Butcher is best known for personal, observational comedy focused on his vegetarianism, feminism, love of baseball, and experiences as a queer person. Originally from Akron, Ohio, Butcher now resides in Los Angeles, California. Early life. Butcher was raised in the Kenmore neighborhood of Akron, Ohio, an only child whose parents divorced when Butcher was one month old. He attended Our Lady of the Elms High School and graduated from Archbishop Hoban High School in 2001. While attending  the University of Akron, Butcher worked at a skateboard shop named Summer Squall and an indoor skating facility called Joe's Skate Park, and helped design a skatepark that opened in Akron in 2001. They graduated from the University of Akron with a degree in printmaking in 2005. Butcher attended graduate school at University of Notre Dame. In 2006, Butcher had an exhibit at a printmaker’s show called "Prints at an Exposition". This exhibit, which was a series of prints on muslin showing the body's organs, was inspired by his own appendectomy. Comedy career. Early years. Butcher began  their comedy career performing improv in Chicago at The Second City and has since performed stand-up at clubs including Zanies, the Jukebox, and Flappers, as well as Chicago Underground Comedy, The Hideout, The Lincoln Lodge, UCB, Cole's, and Meltdown. He made his late night debut on "Conan" in June 2016. 2014–present. In the fall of 2014, Butcher appeared alongside Cameron Esposito in a series of videos for BuzzFeed Motion Pictures titled "Ask a Lesbian". Butcher and Esposito also co-hosted the web series "She Said" for Amy Poehler's Smart Girls Network. The two wrote and starred  together again in "Take My Wife," on the comedy streaming service Seeso. Butcher also co-hosted the stand-up comedy podcast "Put Your Hands Together" with Cameron Esposito, which was recorded weekly in front of a live audience at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los Angeles until it ended in July 2019. His first comedy album "Butcher" was released in August 2016 by the independent record label Kill Rock Stars. The set was performed at Mississippi Studios in Portland, Oregon. It debuted at number one on iTunes. In 2016, they appeared in 8 episodes of the first season of  Adam Ruins Everything. He returned in 2017 for one additional appearance. In 2018, he started hosting a baseball-focused podcast called "Three Swings". In 2021, he appeared on Comedy Central Stand Up Presenting called "A Different Kind of Dude""." As stated in an interview, Butcher said their strongest comedy influences are Rosie O'Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres, Brett Butler, Elayne Boosler, Maria Bamford, and Paul F. Tompkins. Voice acting. Butcher provided the voice for Asher, a fictional nonbinary character in Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts in three episodes of season two released in 2020. Personal life. Butcher met fellow comedian Cameron  Esposito at an open mic hosted by Esposito. The two soon started collaborating and then began to date. On December 12, 2015, Butcher married Esposito onstage at The Hideout in Esposito's hometown of Chicago, Illinois. In September 2019, Esposito wrote an article for the "New York Times" discussing the couple's pending divorce. Butcher is a trans man and uses he/him and they/them pronouns. In November 2021, Butcher announced that he had changed his name to River. Butcher is dating musician, Maryleigh Roohan. He is also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and endorsed Kenneth  Mejia and Eunisses Hernandez during the 2022 Los Angeles elections.