Torsten Sträter (59) has spoken openly about his tumor illness and reports that he is feeling significantly better now. In the 1LIVE comedy talk show "Sträter & Lobrecht", the Dortmund-based cabaret artist answered questions from the audience together with Felix Lobrecht (37).
Regarding his health condition, Sträter said: "Well, I'm on the road to recovery and I've never felt better, which is strange when you think about it. ... right?" The complete conversation is available in the ARD Mediathek and on the 1LIVE YouTube channel. The radio station also published a clip on Instagram.
Torsten Sträter "got lucky"
Sträter met the seriousness of the past months with his typical dry humor. Lobrecht addressed the "tumor elephant" in the room right at the beginning of the recording, to which Sträter replied that it had been "certainly the most amusing six months of my life".
The cabaret artist briefly summed up the course of his illness: "Had a tumor, went into treatment, got lucky because great doctors - all from Cologne again, of course, naturally. And then they said, yes, this and that and chemo and trallala, it will be treated." So chemotherapy and the corresponding treatment followed.
Doctors diagnose Sträter with diabetes
Sträter also addressed his visible weight loss in the talk. This had nothing to do with him becoming "frail". Parallel to the cancer diagnosis, doctors had also diagnosed him with diabetes. "I couldn't believe it, even though Haribo calls me once a week: 'When should we ship? When should we ship?'", he joked about his previous sugar consumption.
Since giving it up, he had lost "a disproportionate amount of weight". Now his doctors even considered him "a bit thin". Another doctor, on the other hand, was pleased with the development, as it meant he no longer had diabetes. "That's very, very cool and I measure it every day and I'm happy about it", said Sträter.
Felix Lobrecht: "The man is doing wonderfully"
Felix Lobrecht commented on Sträter's health condition with the words: "So a round of applause for Sträter: He has defeated cancer for now." After the applause, he added: "We can sit here in good spirits. We don't need to look at you with pity. The man is doing wonderfully." Sträter confirmed this with the words: "I'm really, really doing well."
Sträter also explained why he had made the diagnosis public at all: "So that my small community of friends who had already bought tickets wouldn't think I was staying away from the stage because of heartburn or something", he explained in reference to his canceled tour dates at the beginning of the year. He wanted to communicate "that they discovered a tumor that is now being massively treated", but he wanted to spare himself further details, after all, he's not a tumor expert.
He had to cancel his tour dates
Sträter had made his illness public in mid-April on his homepage. Already in January, he had to cancel his tour "Mach mal das große Licht an" for the following months. Because he had spoken openly about his depression in the past, many fans initially suspected another relapse.
In an interview with the news agency spot on news in May, he was already looking ahead and described his condition with one word: "content". At the same time, a reunion with the comedian, who had won the very first German edition in 2021, aired with the new season of "LOL: Last One Laughing" on Prime Video.
