Brooklyn comedian Esteban Romero pretends to be homeless

Esteban Romero isn’t a tramp — he just plays one on TikTok.

The 52-year-old Brooklyn native has become a viral sensation for his street antics on the app – one video has been viewed 1.5 million times – and he admitted to The Post this week that he’s been a comedian for almost 20 years, appearing in lives in a basement flat in Buschwick.

He was filmed allegedly pooping in a bogus subway cleaner’s bucket last year and was stopped by a person dressed as Spiderman from robbing a fruit seller in a subway station. Straphangers are regularly caught covering their mouths in shock.

A video posted on Twitter Last week, in front of nearly 9 million viewers, he revealed what he believed to be the impregnation of a beautiful woman who gave him food and a bed. Several viewers called out on the video’s authenticity, but many others responded in disbelief to the video with the same question: “WHAT?”

“If you look at me, you would think I’m a mentally ill person who could collapse at any moment,” said Romero, who wore only his signature ripped sweatpants and camouflage clogs.

Romero, who immigrated to the United States from Panama in 1984, caught comedy fever in 2003 after his cousin convinced him to tell a few jokes at a show at the now-closed Boston Comedy Club in Greenwich Village.

“It was like, ‘Hey guys, I’m a failure. I’m 40 years old and I live with my mom,” Romero said of his debut material.

He honed his routines by performing at stand-up nights in bars and working for stage time at comedy clubs. But just before the pandemic hit, he got involved with comedian Dannyduces, who convinced him to adopt a homeless person he’d been experimenting with for years in his stand-up and YouTube skits.

Since then, Romero has worked with an extensive crew of comedians, writers and directors, has led millions of people in New York and beyond to believe he is a real tramp.

Part of the reason he’s so compelling is that he really slept on Gotham’s streets and bathed in the Port Authority.

“I was a bum, I was homeless,” he said. He explained that he squatted in a building in Canarsie, Brooklyn from 2013 to 2019 before sleeping on the subway and crashing at friends’ homes for a few months.

Now he’s trying to help the city’s homeless in whatever way he can.

“I try to give them information about where to get food and clothes,” he said. “Financially, I try to keep myself from being with them 24 hours a day, but whenever I can I give them whatever cash or food I have.”