Comedian Dies After Her Cancer Returns: Kathleen McGee Was 43

Edmonton-born stand-up comedian Kathleen McGee has died. The Canada’s Top Comic finalist passed away over the weekend, just days after announcing that she entered hospice care amid a years-long battle with cancer. She was 43.

“We’re heartbroken to share that our friend Kathleen McGee passed away this weekend. She was such a bright light in our lives, always there with a smile and a joke when we needed it,” the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival announced McGee’s passing in a social media tribute. “Kathleen made a lasting impact on everyone she met, and her warmth and laughter will be deeply missed. Sending all our love and strength to her family and friends. Rest easy, Kathleen. You’ll always be in our hearts.”

McGee first announced her colorectal cancer diagnosis in 2022, writing on Instagram that she had a tumor “the size of a small apple” removed from her colon and was set to undergo three months of chemotherapy. She urged her followers to “please pay attention to your body and get screened when you should. Early detection is everything.” After undergoing her final round of chemotherapy in April 2023, McGee was declared cancer free. However, less than a year later, her cancer returned.

“Yesterday morning I found out that my cancer came back and it came back like a total a–hole,” she told her followers in June 2023. “It has now spread to my liver and abdomen and they can’t go in and cut this one out. It’s stage 4 which is not a good stage.”

In an Oct. 29 update on a GoFundMe page created to help cover her medical and living and medical expenses, McGee and her husband Adam announced, “It appears we have turned a page to our newest chapter. Yesterday at 6pm we checked into hospice/continuing care.”

“Although the idea of hospice can be daunting, we are elated to have the additional support and care as we navigate towards the end of this trail, and the comfort deserved at the end of this tale,” the statement continued. “We never know how long we have, and still now we don’t, so we will continue sharing our love, laughter and stories until we are through.”

McGee was a Canadian stand-up comedian who got her start in Edmonton in 2005. Throughout her career, she won the annual Funniest Person With a Day Job competition in 2008, was a finalist in the SiriusXM competition Canada’s Top Comic in 2017, and was a 2019 Canadian Comedy Award nominee. She appeared on Just for Laughs and CBC’s The Debaters, per CTV News, and also co-hosted The Dead Baby Bear Podcast.