Photo by Unitas Photography via Steve Hofstetter
Steve Hofstetter
Steve Hofstetter
The audiences at Steve Hofstetter shows aren't the only people hearing him.
“Whenever you’re doing stand-up,” the comedian observes, “you’re talking to more than the people in the room; you’re also talking to whoever they may quote you to.”
With that in mind, Hofstetter’s 8 p.m. show on Saturday, Aug. 3 has potential to reach far beyond the confine of Vivarium, the venue hosting an evening of his socio-political and personally reflective ruminations. And, perhaps unlike some comics sharing his leftward perspective, he’s OK with ticketholders not standing on every plank of the platform he may share from stage.
“No one agrees with me on everything,” Hofstetter admits. “People are too nuanced in their opinions.” But who can blame him for enjoying it when others share his viewpoints? “I love when I get an audience that leans towards my general views, but I can give them something new they hadn’t thought about before. But when I am preaching to the choir, I am giving them ammo for when they talk to their friends or relatives who don’t agree with them.”
Hofstetter’s two latest specials, Me, Myself & ID and The Recipe, combine to position Hofstetter as an opinionated partisan with a tender heart. Whether he’s waxing eloquent on issues in the news or sharing deep biographical detail, the throughline of his humor seems to be Hofstetter’s own better understanding of himself. To that end, the material he will being to Vivarium should be his most transparent yet.
“My current set is largely about mental health,” Hofstetter reveals. “The heart of it is my journey with anxiety, with more self-deprecation than usual. I’ve had people come up to me after and say something like ‘I knew I was dealing with something, but now I know what it is’ and ‘Thank you for helping my husband finally get what I’m going through.’” Sharing his struggle has lightened Hofstetter’s workload in a way, too. “Weirdly, it’s the most fun I’ve had on stage in a while.”
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Hoffstetter’s profession also demands from him a mental discipline the likes of which he believes is rare among people generally.
“Creating and writing comedy helps me organize my thoughts,” Hofstetter shares. When I’m writing a new bit about what I think or how I feel, I ask myself ‘why?’ to get the punchline, but that’s not a question we ask ourselves often enough in life.” The answers he provides for himself and his crowds, however, aren't always apt to be given in family-friendly language.
Hofstetter can play without profanity, as he does on his uproarious performance for Provo's Dry Bar Comedy venue and social media accounts, But, “When I’m uncensored, I’m at my best. But I am able to edit when I need to. I grew up with a sailor’s mouth in a house that didn’t allow cursing. So, to my friends, I was filthy, but my mom never knew. I didn’t curse in front of her until I graduated high school.” A propensity for profanity was no hindrance from being nominated for what may be an unusual recognition for a comedian.
On the possibility of placing a Nobel Prize on his mantle recently, Hofstetter confides, “Any professor in several disciplines can nominate someone for a Nobel Prize. Part of my nomination was a joke making fun of Trump bragging about his. But, also, I did a lot of philanthropic work during the pandemic for the comedy community. So, a professor at FSU took notice of it and thought it would be both funny and impactful to nominate me. I knew I’d never even make the short list, but it is a fun thing to have on a resume.”
It’s doubtful Hofstetter would ever apologize for denying a Nobel trophy to any other deserving nominee because he was up for one. It’s a certainty that he won't be offering any mea culpas for his thoughtful, outspoken humor . After all, it's his motto: Comedy without apology.
Of that declaration on his website Hofstetter proclaims, “Apologizing when you don’t mean it is worthless, and that’s what most public apologies are. I work hard to say what I believe in on stage. I’m happy to grow and learn and change, but I won’t apologize for what I believed in, I’ll just be a better person going forward. I don’t apologize for my comedy because I am honest about who I am, and it is each audience member’s decision to come see me or not.”
From a few tears ago, Hoffstetter tells of prank he played on a particularly obnoxious woman with whom he had been scheduled to share the same airplane flight...
