Pissing Out Cancer: Hank's stand-up comedy show about having cancer (2023)
story · status: told 6×, last update 2025 · last event: update (2025-12-12)
After chemotherapy Hank built a 70-minute stand-up show about having cancer, first in Missoula, then performed it in Southern California and Denver and recorded it as a special in early 2024. The special, Pissing Out Cancer, came out on Dropout in June 2024 and on Hank's YouTube channel in December 2025.
Told alongside: Hank's Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis and chemotherapy (2023) · Hank steps back from running DFTBA and Complexly after cancer treatment; new CEO LJ Joukovski, Julie acting CEO (2023)
About: stand-up comedy, cancer, Hank Green's stand-up comedy special on Dropout
| date | event | what | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-10-06 | told | Hank says he will fill the time: he had two bizarre but not terrible business ideas during chemotherapy and did cancer stand-up comedy before finishing radiation. | I Quit 00:06:21 |
| 2023-10-13 | told | Hank says he ended up writing a 70-minute stand-up show about cancer, for a couple of reasons. | Cancer Made me Do It. 00:00:12 |
| 2023-10-13 | update | Rather than announcing tour dates as such a video usually would, Hank doesn't think he is going to tour the show, for a couple of reasons. (hedged) | Cancer Made me Do It. 00:02:55 |
| 2023-12-22 | update | Hank says he is doing his cancer stand-up in Southern California, with more shows to be booked and announced when they go live. | Let's Talk About Death 00:03:57 |
| 2024-01-05 | update | Hank announces he will be in Southern California in a couple of weeks performing his one-man stand-up comedy show about cancer in Oxnard, Brea, San Diego and downtown Los Angeles. | I'm Scared of 2024...So Here's 3 Optimistic Thoughts 00:06:38 |
| 2024-01-12 | update | Hank will be in Los Angeles next week (week of 15 January 2024); all his shows have sold out and he can't wait to see those coming. | How to Detect AI Images (and why it doesn't matter) 00:05:05 |
| 2024-01-26 | update | Hank was relieved to get the special recorded because he needed the deadline to finish the show; two shows were recorded to be cut together, and he wrote the last words only as he said them on stage. | On YouTuber Retirement 00:01:05 |
| 2024-02-23 (happened 2024-03-18) | update | Hank will perform his show at Comedy Works South on March 18 for people in Denver, Colorado Springs and Boulder. | The Juiciest Hank in the World 00:05:21 |
| 2024-06-21 | retold | Finishing chemo, Hank worked on stand-up with friend Sarah Aswell, booked Missoula's Roxy, and grew from 10 to 30 minutes into the bones of a 60-minute special. | I Was So Sad that I Did Comedy 00:04:22 |
| 2024-06-21 | update | Hank announces his comedy special is out on Dropout today and viewers can watch it now. | I Was So Sad that I Did Comedy 00:06:37 |
| 2024-06-25 | update | John congratulates Hank on his comedy special: it is so good and John is so proud of him. | taking a break 00:00:00 |
| 2024-08-07 | update | Hank says one man who disliked his comedy special keeps saying so publicly; Hank knows who he is and weighs him more than those who liked it. | Dear Hank and John Livestream! 00:25:44 |
| 2024-11-03 | retold | In the last year Hank worked on a book about cancer biology and treatment, and wrote, toured, recorded and released a stand-up special, learning to be a comedian. | Hank's very messy post-cancer year of mistakes, meaning… 00:01:35 |
| 2025-01-24 | retold | Hank, a fan of Dropout, says he got to do his comedy special there and is in the next season of Smartypants. | Am I OK? 00:03:30 |
| 2025-11-28 | update | Hank will do new stand-up material at Grace Helbig's stand-up night Cancer is a Joke, raising money for WeGotThis.org. | Three Things! (Wait, no, actually four...) 00:02:52 |
| 2025-12-09 | retold | John calls Pissing Out Cancer Hank's hit stand-up comedy special, which debuted on Dropout.TV. | Hank Green, from A to Z 00:02:55 |
| 2025-12-12 (happened 2025-12-11) | update | With the year passed, Hank uploaded his special Pissing Out Cancer to Hank's channel yesterday. | The Economics of a YouTube White Noise Video 00:05:23 |
What is said about it
15 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).
- 2023-10-13 · Cancer Made me Do It. — Hank is in Buffalo, New York, to do previously scheduled stand-up comedy; it doesn't feel like a fun time to be funny, but he'll do it anyway. — 00:00:00
- 2023-10-13 · Cancer Made me Do It. — Hank: Only two forms of content worked for Hank during chemo: sitcoms with many laughs per minute where you don't care what happens (Seinfeld was perfect), and stand-up. — 00:00:31
- 2023-10-13 · Cancer Made me Do It. — Hank watched so much stand-up during chemo that he went deep and became a little snobby about comedy, naming comedians people haven't heard of. (playful) — 00:00:50
- 2023-10-13 · Cancer Made me Do It. — Hank thinks a successful comedian must be very, very funny and, equally important, have some serious issues of some kind. — 00:01:13
- 2023-10-13 · Cancer Made me Do It. — Hank: Broken enough and enamoured of the stand-up he watched, Hank decided he could and would do it, working hard with a coach and helpers. — 00:02:05
- 2023-10-13 · Cancer Made me Do It. — Hank thinks the show is pretty good: about 70 minutes of cohesive stand-up storytelling that audiences seem to enjoy, and he thinks he would sell a fair number of tickets. — 00:02:41
- 2023-10-13 · Cancer Made me Do It. — Hank built the show at a standing Monday engagement in his town for a couple of months, working up from about 15 minutes to more than 70, honestly too much. — 00:03:27
- 2023-10-13 · Cancer Made me Do It. — Hank says stand-up is a remarkable art form that people who think about art don't treat as art, but it obviously is. — 00:03:48
- 2023-10-13 · Cancer Made me Do It. — announcement: Hank is doing a two-stop tour while in upstate New York, where he was already going to do a thing at Rochester Institute of Technology. — 00:04:25
- 2024-01-05 · I'm Scared of 2024...So Here's 3 Optimistic Thoughts — Hank says these will likely be the only times he does the show again, maybe his last stand-up ever: he loves it but doesn't want to do it professionally. (hedged) — 00:06:38
- 2024-01-26 · On YouTuber Retirement — Hank notes that comedians who film a special tend never to do that show again after its release, because people have seen the jokes. — 00:00:50
- 2024-06-21 · I Was So Sad that I Did Comedy — ask: Hank asks viewers to sign up for Dropout: he makes no extra money from it, but it is the only way to watch the special, which they produced amazingly. — 00:07:03
- 2025-12-09 · Hank Green, from A to Z — John tells Hank that his becoming a stand-up comedian after chemotherapy is both the least likely and the most Hank thing he can imagine. — 00:02:55
- 2025-12-12 · The Economics of a YouTube White Noise Video — Hank thanks Dropout for agreeing to his contract term letting him release his special on YouTube after a year of Dropout exclusivity. — 00:05:23
- 2025-12-12 · The Economics of a YouTube White Noise Video — Hank mock-scolds himself for mentioning the special, since Zonderia is the story of the moment. (playful) — 00:05:23