River Butcher

River Butcher (formerly Rhea Harriett Butcher; born August 12, 1982) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, producer, and podcast host. He is best known for personal, observational comedy focused on his vegetarianism, feminism, love of baseball, and experiences as a queer person.

Early life Butcher was raised in the Kenmore neighborhood of Akron, Ohio, an only child whose parents divorced when Butcher was one month old. They 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. This exhibit, which was a series of prints on muslin showing the body's organs, was inspired by their own appendectomy. They 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 2021, he appeared on Comedy Central Stand Up Presenting... A Different Kind of Dude.

In 2023, they released his stand-up special, Someone's Boyfriend on YouTube.

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, for the animated series Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, 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. In August 2018, Butcher and Esposito announced their separation to "live individual lives". Their split was covered in a Vanity Fair article.

Butcher is a trans man and uses he and they pronouns. In November 2021, Butcher announced that he had changed their name to River.

Notable appearances Title Medium Role Year Put Your Hands Together Podcast Host 2013–2019 Wham Bam Pow Podcast Host 2013–2015 She Said Web Video Series Host 2015 Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ Television Jamie 2016 Conan Television Self 2016–2018 Adam Ruins Everything Television Self