By Peter Lindblad
If looks could kill, comedian Steve Hofstetter wouldn’t harm a fly. With his red hair, glasses and amiable grin, the native New Yorker seems like the boy next door.
When it comes to going after hecklers, though, Hoffstetter is ruthless. In fact, Youtube.com is chock full of videos of him onstage taking on all comers, like a bare-knuckled brawler who just loves to fight.
One writer, Allmusic.com’s Bret Love, once said, “Hofstetter effectively rebels against the mainstream by positioning him as the antithesis of the world’s most popular comedian. What could be more punk rock than that?”
Love was reviewing Hofstetter’s comedy album Cure for the Cable Guy, with its controversial cover. It shows a doll, ostensibly representing Larry the Cable Guy in redneck garb, strung up by a coax cable. Not surprisingly, Hofstetter loved Love’s quote.
“Oh, absolutely, and it’s funny because there’s very little about me that’s punk rock,” said the bespectacled Hofstetter. “I’m a fan of the music. I’m a fan of the message … the review that called me that, that’s one of my favorite things that’s ever been said about my comedy, because I’m certainly not personally punk rock, but I’m pretty proud to be referred to that in terms of how I comport myself.”
Sardonic, witty, and utterly fearless, Hofstetter may not appear tough, but he is an attack dog who smiles and laughs as he is absolutely eviscerating clueless agitators in the audience. It seems people like watching.
Hofstetter is performing Sept. 1 at the Skyline Comedy Club in Appleton, Wisconsin, and the show is selling out fast. In previous years, his stay in Wisconsin has included performances in Milwaukee, Madison, and Stevens Point.
The audience interaction portion of the show is fairly limited. Mostly, Hofstetter simply tells jokes that are rife with sharp political satire and social commentary, with a lot of dark humor thrown in for good measure. There are times, however, when he’ll end shows with a Q&A session.
“But the heckler stuff just happens when it happens, and it’s 5 percent of the time. Most of what I do is material, just like any other comic,” said Hofstetter.
Unlike some of his colleagues, Hofstetter has embraced technology, co-founding the Nowhere Comedy Club. He explains the concept.
“[It’s] digital shows. We’ve done over 500,” said Hofstetter. “We’ve had Mike Birbiglia and Bill Burr and Nikki Glaser – some special guests drop in on other people’s shows. [They] include everyone from Jon Hamm to Jack Black to Jimmy Kimmel. It’s been really crazy, [and] a lot of our success has been because we allow the audience in.”
Some of the methods of delivering stand-up comedy online aren’t set up to allow that. Hofstetter wouldn’t have it any other way.
“So, there are a lot of digital solutions that are afraid of the audience and if I’m not afraid of the audience in person, why would you be on the computer? What’s the difference?” asked Hofstetter.
Such outlets are becoming necessary as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, and even though venues are opening up, Hofstetter isn’t about to abandon digital shows even when he’s on the road. And the staging of his live act could eventually take on a whole new life as well.
“One of things we’ve learned this year, there are so many people who can never come to a live comedy club, whether it’s because they live too far away … we had someone in a hospital bed, somebody who’s agoraphobic,” said Hofstetter. “We’re also looking into bringing some of the stuff we learned digitally as far as interaction and use of screens and stuff like that into the live shows as well – six months or so, still a work in progress. I think we’re going to develop some sort of hybrid model that I think is going to really open up what a live show can be.”
For Hofstetter, it’s a little strange getting back to touring and doing live performances.
“I would say it’s like riding a bike, except I don’t know how to do that,” he joked. “Last week I did a couple of shows, no headlining shows yet … I counted. It was 398 days between shows, which narrowly beats my record of 14. So, it’s been a year.”
In the interim, Hofstetter has been writing furiously. He said he finished the first draft of a book he’s working on, and he’s been performing five to seven digital shows per week. He said that has kept him sane.
It’s fair to say that Hofstetter is an online sensation. He has more than 150 million views on YouTube, along with 600,000 subscribers. On Facebook, Hofstetter has racked up 500 million views, with 500,000 followers.
On TV, Hofstetter has been on Showtime’s “White Boyz in the Hood,” VH1’s “The Countdown,” ABC’s”Barbara Walters Special,” Sundance’s “On the Road in America” and CBS’ “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” among other shows. He’s also the former host and executive producer of Fox’s “Laughs,” having also been in movies such as Lifetime’s “Psycho Yoga Instructor” and Hallmark’s “Love Always, Santa,” as well as Adam Carolla’s “Road Hard.” There have also been radio shows.
An author as well, Hoffstetter penned the coming-of-age book, “Ginger Kid,” which was a top five pick on Amazon. It started with Facebook posts, and he was encouraged to turn the material into a Young Adult book. Its series of personal essays address family turmoil, social awkwardness and “the revenge of bullied nerds,” according to his website.
“So, we reworked the premise, and I’m so glad we did because I think it’s such a better book than it would have been,” said Hofstetter. “I think just the process of doing that allowed me to learn a lot about myself.”
Never shying away from hard work, the industrious Hofstetter has been able to combine his love of sports and humor as a columnist, writing for such outlets as the New York Times, NHL.com and SportsIllustrated.com. Mostly, though, he tries not to bring up sports onstage, except to make little references here and there.
“The reason I don’t do a lot of sports jokes in my act is because sports fans will not get each other’s jokes,” said Hofstetter, whose first TV appearance came on Stephen A. Smith’s “Quite Frankly” show on ESPN. “Like, there’s going to be someone who knows every last thing about the Green Bay Packers, but if you do a joke about the Brewers, he’ll have no idea what you’re talking about.”
An avowed fan of baseball’s New York Mets and hockey’s New York Rangers, Hofstetter tries not to take sports too seriously.
“My main credo when it comes to sports is, if it’s not fun for you, get out,” said Hofstetter. “Why are you doing this? So, when people get really upset and it damages their life … I’m a Mets fan, I’m a Rangers fan. Like, if I needed them to win to be happy, I’d be a very sad man. You’ve got to have fun whether they are winning or losing.”
Still, Hofstetter is fully aware that sports fans can get carried away.
“I did a joke about Tim Tebow’s Pro-Life commercial, and I got more flak from making fun of Tim Tebow than from the Pro-Life side of the abortion debate,” said Hofstetter. “There were more (Florida) Gator fans upset with me than Pro-Life people.”
Trouble seems to find Hofstetter, but he doesn’t seem to mind. His upbringing gave him a thick skin. It was good training for stand-up comedy.
“Oh, I’m the youngest of four,” laughed Hofstetter. “What prepared me was the ‘kill or be killed’ environment emotionally. My sister and brother are very funny, you had to keep up.”
His parents, on the other hand, weren’t very funny, although his dad, now deceased, understood humor, according to Hofstetter.
“A lot of times people who know what funny is can’t necessarily recreate it on a regular basis … he had a good sense of humor,” said Hofstetter. “Funny isn’t my mother’s thing, and that’s fine. It’s not everybody’s thing.”
Nevertheless, she is definitely in his corner.
“They were both fiercely proud of what I do for a living, and my mom still is,” said Hofstetter, who added they would both attend his shows. “My mother will often tell me she doesn’t get everything, but she likes the act. The cool part of it is she’s not my demo, and I know that, but I was very fortunate to have very supportive parents, which is not something every comic has.”
Nor do they all have his ability to be reflective. In talking about the uproar over his Cure for the Cable Guy album, and the bad blood it created, Hofstetter said, “I don’t think I handled it the best way I could have handled it, and I think that … I get asked about that a lot, ‘Would you do anything differently?’ And I think the biggest thing I would do differently is go into it knowing that a lot of people are going to disagree with me, including people I don’t accept.”
On the other hand, Hofstetter finds some of Larry the Cable Guy’s jokes homophobic and racist, and isn’t afraid to call him out on it, although he’s been told by people who know him that “ … he’s a compassionate, kind person.” Hofstetter wonders if Larry the Cable Guy has become the character he started out lampooning.
Once a favorite on the college circuit, Hofstetter was the original writer for collegehumor.com. Now in his 40s, Hofstetter doesn’t get around to universities as much. Some comedians, including Jerry Seinfeld, have argued that political correctness on college campuses has gone overboard, making them unnecessarily hostile places for comedians.
Hofstetter thinks it’s a myth.
“I love Seinfeld,” said Hofstetter. “He’s one of my heroes, but I think that’s just out of touch. The difference now is you can no longer do a joke based on a false premise. Like, those don’t work anymore.”
Hofstetter talked about the joke Seinfeld told that didn’t go over well with a college audience and got him into hot water.
“I believe the quote was ‘like a gay French king,’” said Hofstetter. “What he meant was like an effeminate man. That is what he meant. But he used old out-of-touch stereotypes … Seinfeld is one of the best writers in the world, and the idea that it was them being oversensitive … no it was lazy writing. He’s a better writer than that.”
As far as Hofstetter is concerned, so-called “cancel culture” doesn’t really exist. It’s just that society changes. What was once acceptable isn’t anymore.
Hofstetter himself has grown as a comedian, as evidenced by his seven comedy albums, including Pick Your Battles, his fifth. That one soared to No. 1 on iTunes comedy charts. Dark Side of the Room, his third LP, became the first pay-what-you-want comedy album, and is available for downloading on his website.
With apologies to Steve Martin, Hofstetter admits the comedy on them hasn’t always been pretty.
“Especially early on in your career, the fact that you recorded something, within a few weeks you’re embarrassed by it,” said Hofstetter. “It’s like, some of them I like better than others. I’m particularly proud of Secret Optimist, which I think is the most real … it’s the evolution of a comic.”
Modesty aside, they are hilarious, and if nothing else, they do have some instructional value.
“I think it’s interesting for anybody who’s a fan to see the development of it, and I think it’s interesting to anybody who wants to be a comic to see how you start out isn’t necessarily where you end up,” said Hofstetter.
It’s been quite a journey for Hofstetter.