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Comedian Carrot Top has been hospitalized and is recovering, his representative said Saturday.
“Mr. Thompson is recovering in the hospital and is receiving the care and support he needs,” his representative Jami Schlicher said in a statement using his real name, Scott Thompson. “His family and those closest to him are deeply grateful for the concern, prayers and respectfully ask for privacy.”
The representative did not disclose why the performer was hospitalized or provide further details about his condition.
Carrot Top, 61, is known for prop comedy, multicolor outfits and his large and unruly mane of red hair.
A pop culture phenomenon, he was a regular feature of ’90s television and has had a residency at the Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas since 2005.
Born in Florida, and raised in Cocoa Beach, Carrot Top appeared on “Star Search” in 1991, and even though he lost, he still impressed. Three years later, he won the American Comedy Award for funniest male stand-up comic.
In 1995, Jay Leno introduced Carrot Top on the “Tonight Show” as “the comedian taking America by storm.”
He came out in a dress that converted to pants, and had two trunks of props — including a pasta strainer to be worn dangling from a belt to dissuade sniffing dogs, and three baseball bats “for replacement players so they’ll get a hit.”
Carrot Top’s reception in film and television was mixed. In 1999 he got a “Razzie” award for his role in the box office bomb “Chairman of the Board,” which came out the previous year.
He also played himself in “Pauly Shore Is Dead,” which came out in 2003, and appeared occasionally in television shows, including in an episode of “Hacks” in 2024.
Carrot Top was a voice actor of himself in episodes of “Family Guy” and “Robot Chicken,” and acted as a driver in “Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens” and as Blartie in an episode of “Glee.”
He was also a frequent guest on the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon, which raised money for muscular dystrophy, and Lewis called him “marvelous.”
Phil Helsel is a reporter for NBC News.
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