Is Theo Von on Steroids? The Evidence Compiled

Theo Von is an American YouTuber, comedian, podcaster, actor, and television personality. He also used to be a pretty serious bodybuilder and power-lifter. But is Theo Von on steroids?

If you follow Theo Von, you probably know him best for his comedy. He has a popular YouTube channel with over 660,000 subscribers, and describes himself in his YouTube bio as a “Comedian, life survivor, recovering white person, and muppet.”

He has also spent some pretty serious time on the television screen. He hosted the popular Yahoo online TV show Primetime in No Time. He also hosted a show called Deal With It on TBS.

But a lot of people don’t know that Theo Von used to be jacked.

In this post, you’re going to learn the truth about Theo Von and his alleged steroid use.

Did he use them? Was he natural?

Let’s get into it.

Theo Von: His Background

According to a feature on The Press-Enterprise, Theo Von grew up as a small kid in a tough neighborhood outside of New Orleans.

Even back then, comedy came naturally to Theo. He once said in an interview that “Humor is a free currency not everyone can have… Growing up poor, it was the one thing I could control. I couldn’t control money, but I could control if I was funny.”

He often said that being funny was a defense mechanism for him as a kid.

As a 23-year-old, he moved to LA with no real plan in place. He started going to a comedy club down the street, and performed at open mic nights. He said that comedy came easy to him, even if he was having a bad day. He did so well at the comedy club that he ended up getting a gig on the reality show Last Comic Standing in 2006.

Nowadays, when he is not on stage, Theo Von spends his time building one of the fastest-growing comedy podcasts in the game. It’s called This Past Weekend.

He also grows a YouTube channel, and has been working on a show called “Man Up,” for Comedy Central.

But if you watch any of his content, you’ll notice that people keep referring to him as being ripped when he was younger.

In fact, in one of his YouTube videos, he jokes about being ‘so ripped’ as a younger man that he couldn’t even reach his own ears with cotton swabs!

This may have been a joke, but the fact that he was in super-great shape is true.

But how did he get there? And most importantly, is Theo Von on steroids?

Let’s take a deeper look and see if we can uncover the honest truth.

The History of Athletes and Steroid Use

Every since athletes have been competing against each other, they’ve been looking for a competitive edge.

But nothing has ever had quite as big of an impact on athletics as anabolic steroids.

In 1935, the male hormone testosterone was first synthesized in Germany. In fact, it is reported that during WW 2, German soldiers were given synthesized testosterone to increase their performance and aggressiveness on the battlefield.

In the 1940s, testosterone also began to see wide use in competitive sports. But at this point, the dangers associated with it were not completely clear. In the 1952 Olympics, Russian weightlifting and wrestling teams dominated the sports, mostly due to their synthetic testosterone use.

Then, by 1958, anabolic steroids hit the market for the first time. Not long after, the detrimental side effects of steroid use became more pronounced.

The Dangers of Steroid Use

Men and women face different dangers with anabolic steroid use.

For men, the dangers include:

• Breast development
• Shrinking testicles
• Enlargement of the prostate gland
• Infertility

For women, the dangers include:

• Deepening of the voice
• Enlargement of the clitoris
• An increase in body hair
• Baldness
• Absent or infrequent periods

And both men and women face a number of other potential side effects, including:

• Acne
• Increased LDL levels (bad cholesterol)
• Decreased HDL levels (good cholesterol)
• High blood pressure
• Heart problems
• Circulation problems
• Liver problems
• Psychiatric disorders
• Aggressive behaviors, rage, violence, etc.

With all of this being said, it’s important to understand that the dangers associated with steroid use are definitely real and documented.

Some people think that you can bypass the dangers by using a certain type of cycle, but this is also untrue. Athletes who have taken these drugs understand perhaps better than anyone else just how destructive they can be.

But that still doesn’t stop some people from taking them. The drive to compete and break through to new levels of performance is strong for athletes. And some are even willing to risk their long-term health for the gains and performance-boost needed to break through and win.

The Evidence: Theo Von on Steroids

With all of this being said, there are two factors that make researching Theo Von both challenging and easy.

First off, pictures of Theo Von while he was jacked and ripped are in short supply online. Unlike other bodybuilders, his pictures are not everywhere. His social media isn’t full of them. And since he doesn’t seem to lift anymore, his focus doesn’t seem to be on that period of his life as much.

This makes it challenging to look back and see if he may have been on something during his bodybuilding transformation.

But on another note, this research was extremely easy.

I’m not a pro bodybuilder, and I’ve never taken steroids. So the best I can do is to perform as much in-depth research as possible, in the hopes that I will discover something about the athlete that really gives me an edge in figuring out whether or not they’ve taken steroids.

And in Theo Von’s case, this was actually really easy.

He’s gone on record several times confirming that he has, indeed, taken steroids.

Let’s break down the biggest pieces of evidence and go over them.

First Piece of Evidence – His Interview With Brendan Schaub

Theo Von went on The Fighter and The Kid Clips YouTube channel. And in this interview, he spoke quite frankly about his past steroid use.

 

Here’s an excerpt from the conversation.

Brendan Schaub: Do you work out in general?

Theo Von: I used to. I used to be into like power-lifting and everything, dude. I used to be jacked back in the day. I was an animal, dude.

Brendan Schaub: Were you on them steroids?

Theo Von: I was on steroids for a while when I was young, dude. Testosterone, something.

Brendan Schaub: You decided to run a stack just to get jacked?

Theo Von: Yeah, it was like a southern stack, it was like testosterone and like Crisco or something.

Obviously, being a comedian, you have to take everything that Theo Von says with a grain of salt. He may be joking, he may be serious, or he may be mixing a little bit of truth in with the comedy to get laughs… because that’s just what he does, and it’s part of what makes him so funny and interesting.

And to be honest, the clip above seemed more like a joke to me than real.

I was legitimately thinking to myself “ok, maybe that was ALL a joke. Maybe he was never actually on steroids, and he was just joking about it with Brendan.”

So I continued my research, and found this.

Second Piece of Evidence – His Joe Rogan Interview

Which unfortunately is no longer available on YouTube.

I kept digging and ended up finding another clip. It was from an interview where he was telling Joe Rogan about his steroid use.

Here’s the excerpt from that part of the conversation.

Theo Von: Dude, we used to shoot up steroids on the side of the interstate while I was growing up.

Joe Rogan: Shoot on the side of the road? Why wouldn’t you go home?

Theo Von: It was more of an outdoor thing, I felt like. You know, I didn’t want to bring that sh*t in the house, brother.

To me, this seemed pretty legit. It seemed like a real story to me.

But there was still one more clip to look into.

Third Piece of Evidence – Another Interview With Brendan Schaub

In this interview, Brendan and Theo go a bit further into the conversation about steroids.

Here’s an excerpt that I found particularly interesting.

Brendan: You did em, [steroids] right?

Theo: Yeah, I did em, bro.

Brendan: Were you jacked?

Theo: Uh, yeah I was pretty jacked.

(a bit later in the conversation, after some jokes…)

Brendan: Were you just putting needless in your a$$, or were you taking pills? You were just doing the d*mn things, huh?

(a few more jokes)

Theo: I was on some bootleg stuff, I think. I think I was on something that had been made locally at one point. Something I was on had like a cinnamon base to it, I remember, because, dude, my hands smelled like pancakes the whole time I was on it.

The Verdict: Is Theo Von on Steroids?

Obviously, it has been at least a little while since Theo Von has been really ripped.

But here’s the real question. Is Theo Von on steroids?

And our official verdict?

Theo Von USED to be on steroids. He doesn’t seem to use them anymore, but he was definitely on them at one point.

Yes, he is a comedian, and some of the banter about his steroid use seems to be comedic in nature. And I’m not sure that all of it should be believed. In fact, it almost seems like he is hesitant to admit what he was really on. That, or he was truly on some homemade stuff and didn’t know exactly what he was doing.

But to mention it three or more times in separate interviews… there has to be a measure of truth to it.

Props to Theo Von for coming clean and being willing to admit to such things out in the open.

A lot of bodybuilders would never do that, so I give him respect for that.

At the end of the day, he’s still a great comedian and I love his stuff.

Was Theo Von on steroids? The answer is most certainly a ‘yes,’ if his own stories about the subject are to be believed.