River Butcher

Rhea Butcher is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, producer, and podcast host. Butcher is best known for personal, observational comedy focused on their vegetarianism, feminism, love of baseball, and experiences as a butch lesbian. Originally from Akron, Ohio, they now reside 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. 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. 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, they had an art 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 Butcher's own appendectomy.

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. They made a late night debut on Conan in June 2016.

2014–present
In the fall of 2014, they 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.

Their 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. They returned in 2017 for one additional appearance.

In 2018, they started hosting a baseball-focused podcast called Three Swings.

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 nonbinary character in Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts in three episodes of season two released in 2020 as well as voice acting the nonbinary character Sweet in the animated show Danger & Eggs.

Quotes
"Thank you for your support of my haircut. I know it’s a good haircut, not only because you appreciate it, but because when I went through the airport the other day, I got an equal number of ‘ma’ams’ and ‘sirs.’ Right down the middle. Perfect. It’s working."

Links

 * Website
 * Twitter
 * Instagram