Rafinha Bastos

Rafael Bastos Hocsman (born December 5, 1976), better known as Rafinha Bastos or simply Rafi Bastos, is a Brazilian comedian, actor, journalist and television personality. He was born to a Jewish family in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and his ancestors immigrated from Russia. He received a scholarship in 1999 to play basketball at Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska, and later played basketball in Brazil for SOGIPA, from Porto Alegre, in 2000, helping the team win the title of the State Basketball Championship in Rio Grande do Sul.

Bastos was a former host of CQC, a popular TV show in Brazil, and since May 2010 also hosted another TV show, A Liga, broadcast by Band TV channel. In 2010, together with comedian Danilo Gentili and producer Italo Gusso, he opened a comedy club in Sao Paulo called Comedians Comedy Club, which closed down in 2020. In 2011 he became famous worldwide after The New York Times named him the world's most influential person on Twitter. In CQC's September 19, 2011 live broadcast, he made an allegedly dark humor joke about singer Wanessa, which caused controversy and severe criticism; following the next broadcast on September 26, he was suspended from the show, and on October 13 Wanessa and her husband Marcus Buaiz sued Bastos for R$100,000 claiming personal injury.

Bastos expanded his work internationally by moving to the United States to perform stand-up comedy in English. His global reach grew significantly with the release of his comedy special, Ultimato, on Netflix in 2018. In 2016 it was announced that he would be a host on the Netflix reality show Ultimate Beastmaster. He currently works in stand-up comedy and regularly posts to YouTube.