Comedian Bert Kreischer is known for his distinctly large beer belly, which is often displayed during his shirtless standup performances. Those days may be over, however, as a bare-chested Kreischer, 51, took to social media this week to reveal an astonishing change in his body.
“Me at 275 vs. me at 230,” Kreischer wrote on his social media page, along with photos of himself before and after he lost 45 pounds. Beyond the obvious weight loss, it is also clear that the Bert the Conqueror star has also been hitting the gym on a regular basis.
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“One night I took my shirt off to remind myself it should be fun,” Kreischer told Gold Derby about the reason behind his shirtless performances. “You could feel the energy in the room loosen up and my energy loosen up. I started smiling. That set went beautifully. So I still have that. Not to sound too hippy dippy, but it ties in with gratitude. Every time I walk on stage, especially now in arenas, there’s a moment where I walk up the stairs and they are playing ‘Fortunate Son’ and I believe I am the fortunate son. I want to have fun. I want to drink if I want to drink. I want to smoke weed if I want to smoke weed. But ultimately, I perform best sober until the last 15 minutes of the show.”
While Kreischer had previously appeared in shows on FX and the Travel Channel, he rose to viral fame in 2016 due to a story about when, as a college student, he assisted the Russian mafia in robbing a train. During his extended college years, Rolling Stone featured him in 1997 as “the top partyer at the Number One Party School in the country.”
It is estimated that the YouTube video has been viewed over 54 million times since its release and influenced Kreischer’s new big-screen comedy, The Machine, which is based on his nickname.
As for the length of Kreischer’s fitness and weight loss journey, it’s unclear if he has been on it for some time, but back in May, when the movie was released, Kreischer told Men’s Journal that he did all his own stunts for the film, and kept up with a rigorous fitness regimen.
“I did, probably, I would say 95 percent of my own stunts,” Kreischer said at the time. “The only stunts I wasn’t allowed to do was go down the full flight of stairs.” “I worked out really hard. Every morning I ran four miles and would lift weights,” he added. “Had I not done that, I would’ve been a mess.”