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Jeff Ross Shares Heath Update & Why Norm Macdonald Inspired Him to Reveal Cancer Diagnosis

Originally posted on TV Insider | Last updated Jul 15, 2025 3:25 PM ET

Jeff Ross was inspired by the late Norm Macdonald to go public with his colon cancer diagnosis.

“I was very good friends with Norm Macdonald, and he didn’t tell people about his health issues, and we didn’t get to give him a proper sendoff,” Ross shared on the Tuesday, July 15, episode of the third hour of Today. “As I went through it with myself and chemo, it was really my family and friends that lifted me up and helped me get through it.”

Macdonald, who was best known for his comedy chops and five-season run on Saturday Night Live, died at age 61 of acute leukemia in September 2021. At the time, Ross paid tribute to him by sharing a throwback Instagram snap of the two of them sitting at a restaurant table with the late Bob Saget and Gilbert Gottfried. “I’m wrecked. I felt so lucky to sit at this table,” he captioned the pic. “Sadly they’ll [sic] be no more nights like this.”

His cancer journey is one of the many topics Ross discusses in his new Broadway one-man show, Take a Banana for the Ride, which hits the stage next month. “One of the things I talk about in the show is it’s not just the fight, it’s the army, it’s the people that help you through it,” he explained on Today. “So, I thought it was important. Plus, get a colonoscopy, folks. It saved my life.”

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last month, Ross said he discovered a tumor on his colon after being pushed by a friend to undergo a colonoscopy. “I had surgery last summer. I had seven inches of my colon removed,” he shared before joking, “Now I have a semicolon.”

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He also shared the funny story of how his doctor broke the cancer news to him. “My oncologist was like, ‘Jeff, 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,'” he told Kimmel.

On Today, Al Roker went on to ask Ross how he transitioned from being a stand-up comedian to becoming well-known for his celebrity roast specials.

“Self-defense,” he joked. “It was always inside of me. Growing up in Jersey, I had a lot of busting chops in my family, and that’s how we spoke to each other. It was always kind of inside of me, and it sort of came out one year at a Friars Club roast. And I realized, ‘Oh, wow! This is really fun. You get to say whatever you want,’ and it felt like the most punk rock version of comedy.”

Ross quipped that Tom Brady deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for taking several punches during Netflix’s The Roast of Tom Brady special last year. “There hadn’t been a roast in a while and we wanted to bring back that edgy humor, and people love it,” Ross, who scored a 2024 Emmy nomination for executive producing the special, said. “I feel like it’s kind of moved the needle on where comedy is right now.”

After Dreyer suggested that Roker be the subject of his next Roast, Ross revealed which other stars are on his roast bucket list. “I just went out to Milan and saw Bruce Springsteen‘s last show. Bruce Springsteen would be a dream roast. The Boss,” he stated. “Elon Musk, everybody’s telling me these days, should be a great roast. Right? Who else? Al would be a great host.”

Today, Weekdays, 7 a.m. ET, NBC

This article first appeared on TV Insider and was syndicated with permission.

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