Podcaster Theo Von carried out a set for U.S. troops in Qatar on Thursday the place he joked about snorting medicine off a mixed-race child and the sexuality of males within the U.S. Navy, and in contrast the Qatari hosts’ apparel to Klansman robes. His look preceded President Donald Trump’s go to to the Al-Udeid Air Base.
The comic’s remarks drew laughter and a few groans from the service members in attendance and in addition some questions on why he was there.
“Dad, you’ve got to do an interview with a guy named Theo Von,” Trump mentioned in his personal remarks Thursday, recalling his son Barron’s urging to do Von’s podcast final 12 months. “I said, ‘Who the hell is Theo Von?’”
Right here’s what it is advisable to find out about Von.
Who’s Theo Von?
Theo Von, born Theodor Capitani von Kurnatowski III, is a 45-year-old slapstick comedian and podcaster who did an prolonged one-on-one podcast interview with Trump through the presidential marketing campaign through which they mentioned dependancy and the opioid disaster.
Born and largely raised in what he describes because the “stray animal belt” of Louisiana, and legally emancipated at 14, Von’s first style of the highlight was on MTV actuality exhibits, together with the “Road Rules: Maximum Velocity Tour” and “The Challenge.” He additionally competed in “Last Comic Standing,” and gained the Comedy Central present “Reality Bites Back” over comedians like Amy Schumer and Tiffany Haddish. He has hosted the hidden digicam present “Deal With It” and has had numerous performing roles, together with in “Inside Amy Schumer” and the Chris Pratt film “The Tomorrow War.”
Why is he well-known?
Issues actually took off for Von when the self-described “white trash” creator discovered podcasting. In 2016, he began a longform video podcast known as “This Past Weekend,” which, as of 2024 per Spotify’s year-end charts, was the fourth-biggest podcast on the streamer globally, with practically 54,000 month-to-month listeners. A frequent visitor on one other widespread podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Von speaks candidly about dependancy and restoration and has over 7.6 million followers on TikTok. He has comedy specials on Netflix and is at present touring across the U.S. and Canada.
Von, typically described as “the next Joe Rogan,” is a part of the so-called manosphere, a rising on-line group of hypermasculine influencers and comedians who rebuff “cancel culture” and supply crudeness instead
Von was additionally one of many founders of “King and The Sting,” a podcast that ran from 2018 to 2022, and featured Brendan Schaub and comic Chris D’Elia, who has denied sexual misconduct allegations.
Why is he in Qatar?
That was the query of the day on social media, however Von has loads of expertise performing for the troops. He is been a part of 5 USO excursions.
The place does he sit politically?
Von appears loath to pin himself all the way down to a sure aspect, and he tries to steadiness his visitors accordingly, though it’s tempting to make assumptions based mostly on affiliation.
Over the weekend, he was photographed having dinner with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner in Miami. The pair attended his “Return of the Rat” present alongside Trump media adviser Alex Bruesewitz.
New York Occasions pop music critic Jon Caramanica watched over 60 hours of Von’s podcast and noticed numerous standup units in an try to reply the query: “Is Theo Von podcasting from the right or the left?”
“That depends from where you’re looking,” Caramanica wrote.
Who goes on his podcast?
It looks like all people makes some extent to talk with Von lately, together with politicians, Oscar-nominated actors, titans of enterprise, athletes, comedians, documentarians and investigative journalists.
Latest visitors have included Mark Zuckerberg, Ben Affleck, Morgan Wallen, Chelsea Handler, widespread left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and David Spade. Final 12 months, he hosted Rogan, Timothée Chalamet, JD Vance (when he was campaigning for vice chairman), Sen. Bernie Sanders and Ed Sheeran. He informed Tom Inexperienced that he tried to host Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as effectively.
