River Butcher
River Butcher | |
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![]() River Butcher | |
Born | Akron, Ohio, U.S. | August 12, 1982
Medium | Stand-up, television, radio, internet |
Alma mater | University of Akron |
Years active | 2012–present |
Spouse | |
Notable works and roles | Take My Wife |
River Buddy Butcher[1] (formerly Rhea Harriett Butcher, born 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.[2]
Early life
[edit]Butcher was raised in the Kenmore neighborhood of Akron, Ohio,[3][4] an only child whose parents divorced when Butcher was one month old.[5] He attended Our Lady of the Elms High School[6] and graduated from Archbishop Hoban High School in 2001.[7]
While attending the University of Akron, Butcher worked at a skateboard shop named Summer Squall[8] and an indoor skating facility called Joe's Skate Park,[9] and helped design a skatepark that opened in Akron in 2001.[9] He graduated from the University of Akron with a degree in printmaking in 2005.[7][5] Butcher attended graduate school at University of Notre Dame.[7]
In 2006, Butcher had an exhibit at a printmaker’s show called "Prints at an Exposition".[10] This exhibit, which was a series of prints on muslin showing the body's organs, was inspired by his own appendectomy.[10]
Comedy career
[edit]Early years
[edit]Butcher began his 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.[11][12] He made his late-night debut on Conan in June 2016.[13][14]
2014–present
[edit]In the fall of 2014, Butcher appeared alongside Cameron Esposito in a series of videos for BuzzFeed Motion Pictures titled "Ask a Lesbian".[15][16] Butcher and Esposito also co-hosted the web series "She Said" for Amy Poehler's Smart Girls Network.[17] The two wrote and starred together again in Take My Wife, on the comedy streaming service Seeso.[18][19] 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.[20][21][22]
His first comedy album Butcher was released in August 2016 by the independent record label Kill Rock Stars.[23][24] The set was performed at Mississippi Studios in Portland, Oregon.[25] It debuted at number one on iTunes.[5]
In 2016, he 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.[26]
In 2021, he appeared on Comedy Central Stand Up Presenting called A Different Kind of Dude.[27]
As stated in an interview, Butcher said his strongest comedy influences are Rosie O'Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres, Brett Butler, Elayne Boosler, Maria Bamford, and Paul F. Tompkins.[28]
Voice acting
[edit]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
[edit]Butcher met fellow comedian Cameron Esposito at an open mic hosted by Esposito.[29] The two soon started collaborating and then began to date.[29] On December 12, 2015, Butcher and Esposito married onstage at The Hideout in Esposito's hometown of Chicago, Illinois.[30][31] In August 2018, Butcher and Esposito announced their separation to "live individual lives."[32] Their split was covered in a Vanity Fair article.[31] In September 2019, Esposito wrote an article for the New York Times discussing the couple's pending divorce.[33]
Butcher is a trans man and uses he and they pronouns.[1][34] In November 2021, Butcher announced that he had changed his name to River.[1]
Butcher endorsed Kenneth Mejia and Eunisses Hernandez during the 2022 Los Angeles elections.[35][36]
Notable appearances
[edit]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[13] | Television | Guest | 2016 |
Take My Wife[37] | Television | Self | 2016–2018 |
Adam Ruins Everything | Television | Self | 2016 |
The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail | Television | Guest | 2016 |
HarmonQuest | Television | Guest | 2016 |
Queery | Podcast | Guest | 2018 |
Good Mythical Morning | YouTube | Guest | 2018 |
Three Swings | Podcast | Host | 2018–present |
Good Trouble | Television | Lindsay Brady | 2019–2021 |
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts | Television | Voice of Asher | 2020 |
Friendsgiving | Film | Denim | 2020 |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c
- Butcher, River [@rivbutcher] (November 23, 2021). "good morning everybody! I'm grateful to let everyone know that my name is River Butcher. [...]" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- Instagram post
- ^ Flaherty, Bridget (August 17, 2006). "Rhea Butcher lays down all that she is and more on "Butcher"". The Laugh Button. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
- ^ Rabinowitz, Amanda (August 26, 2016). "Comedian Rhea Butcher Keeps Akron at the Heart of Her Success". WKSU. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
- ^ Rabinowitz, Amanda (August 26, 2016). "Comedian Rhea Butcher Keeps Akron at the Heart of Her Success" WKSU. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- ^ a b c Bigley II, James (November 16, 2016). "Comedian Rhea Butcher is the Real Deal". Cleveland Magazine. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- ^ O'Connor, Bill (May 3, 1995). "Youths Horrified by Nazi Camps: Study of Holocaust Fills Students with Wonder at Evil of WWII Slaughter". Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio). p. D1.
- ^ a b c Heldenfels, Rich (October 12, 2014). "Akron Native to Perform at Musica: Rhea Butcher Returning Home with Stand-up Act". Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio). p. B1.
- ^ Wallace, Julie (September 11, 2000). "Falls to Be Popular with Skateboarders". Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio). p. B1.
- ^ a b Wallace, Julie (September 14, 2001). "Park for Skaters Ready to Roll Out Mayor, Councilman to Unveil Akron Site Tomorrow". Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio). p. D1.
- ^ a b Shinn, Dorothy (February 5, 2006). "Stellar Printmakers Put Stamp on Exhibit: Summit Artspace Has Local Artists Showcasing Fresh Approaches to Art". Akron Beacon Journal":(Akron, Ohio). p. E4.
- ^ "Profile: Rhea Butcher". KCRW. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
- ^ Jung, E. Alex (August 16, 2016). "Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher on Take My Wife, 'The Show Where Lesbians Don’t Die'". Vulture. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- ^ a b "Rhea Butcher Stand-Up". Conan. June 30, 2016. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
- ^ "Late Night". The Times Herald-Record (Middletown, New York). June 30, 2016. p. 22.
- ^ Habersburger, Keith (October 31, 2014). "Questions You Wish You Could Ask a Lesbian". BuzzFeed.
- ^ Star, Erika (February 20, 2013). "Lez Stand Out: Rhea Butcher and Cameron Esposito". AfterEllen.
- ^ "Amy Poehler's Made A New Web Series For Women". BuzzFeed. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
- ^ Poniewozik, James (May 24, 2017). "Have You Heard the One About the Angsty Comic? Yes, Too Often". The New York Times. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- ^ Yohannes, Alamin (August 29, 2016). "Cameron Esposito, Rhea Butcher Talk Comedy, Diversity and 'Take My Wife'". NBC News. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- ^ "Put Your Hands Together with Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher Archived June 27, 2018, at the Wayback Machine". UCB Theatre.
- ^ Rapa, Patrick (December 6, 2016). "L.A. standup comic Cameron Esposito diversifies her portfolio". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
- ^ Esposito, Cameron (June 26, 2019). "After 6.5 great yrs, @pyhtshow will end July 30. It's been my baseline in LA — thank u to everyone who ran it, performed on it & came to laugh.pic.twitter.com/15encdzcWe". @cameronesposito. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
- ^ "Rhea Butcher 'Butcher' Out Now on CD & MP3 Archived October 14, 2016, at the Wayback Machine". Kill Rock Stars. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
- ^ Heldenfels, Rich (August 21, 2016). "New Album, Show for Comedian Rhea Butcher: Akron Native Returns to Area for Local Appearance, CD Signing". Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio). p. E1.
- ^ Watts, Rebecca (January 13, 2016). "Rhea Butcher Is Killing It". The Portland Mercury. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
- ^ Lee, Rachel (April 25, 2018). "Interview with comedian Rhea Butcher". Got a Girl Crush.
- ^ River Butcher: A Different Kind of Dude - Full Special, January 27, 2022, retrieved February 2, 2022
- ^ Shapiro, Gregg (2016). "Rhea Butcher: Butcher than all of you: An interview with lesbian comedian Rhea Butcher Archived August 30, 2018, at the Wayback Machine". Chicago Pride.
- ^ a b Mason, Amelia (November 2, 2017). "Comedy Wives Cameron Esposito And Rhea Butcher Are Scripting Their Own Story". WBUR.
- ^ Wellen, Brianna (August 17, 2016). "Two wives are better than one on Take My Wife". The Chicago Reader. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
- ^ a b Harwood, Erika (August 8, 2018). "Comedians Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher Announce Their Split". Vanity Fair.
- ^ Butcher, Rhea (August 8, 2018). "@rheabutcher". Twitter. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
- ^ Esposito, Cameron (September 13, 2019). "New Hope, New Pain, Same Old Divorce". The New York Times.
- ^ "Gender Reveal: River Butcher on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
- ^ @rivbutcher (April 29, 2022). "Hey Los Angeles I am so so so stoked to vote for @EunissesH for cd1" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Endorsements". Mejia for Controller. Retrieved April 21, 2022.
- ^ Bacle, Ariana (July 19, 2016). "Cameron Esposito promises 'no lesbians die' in new show 'Take My Wife'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
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