Steven Ira Hofstetter (born September 11, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian and podcast host. , his

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel has accumulated over 709,000 subscribers and 195,000,000 views. Hofstetter starred in the

FS1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by the Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed (TV network), Speed on August 1 ...

special ''Finding Babe Ruth'', has been a panelist on ''MLB Now'' on

MLB Network The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox C ...

, and was the host and executive producer of ''Laughs'' on Fox television stations. Hofstetter has made a number of television appearances, including

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's ''Quite Frankly'', Showtime's ''White Boyz in the Hood'', VH1's ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

'', ABC's ''

Barbara Walters Special Barbara Jill Walters (born September 25, 1929) is an American broadcast journalist and television personality. Known for her interviewing ability and popularity with viewers, Walters appeared as a host of numerous television programs, including ...

'' and CBS's ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airing from January 3, 2005, to December 19, ...

''.

Early life and education

Hofstetter grew up in the New York City borough of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, living at various times in Briarwood, Forest Hills and

Rego Park Rego Park is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. Rego Park is bordered to the north by Elmhurst and Corona, to the east and south by Forest Hills, and to the west by Middle Village. Rego Park's boundaries include Queens ...

. He graduated from

Hunter College High School Hunter College High School is a secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY). Hunter is publicly funded, and there i ...

in 1997 and received his B.A. from Columbia University's

School of General Studies The School of General Studies, Columbia University (GS) is a liberal arts college and one of the undergraduate colleges of Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights, New York City. GS is known primarily ...

in 2002. There, Hofstetter wrote for the ''

Columbia Spectator The ''Columbia Daily Spectator'' (known colloquially as the ''Spec'') is the student newspaper of Columbia University. Founded in 1877, it is the oldest continuously operating college news daily in the nation after ''The Harvard Crimson'', and has ...

'' and served as President of the

Sigma Phi Epsilon Sigma Phi Epsilon (), commonly known as SigEp, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College (now the University of Richmond), and its national headquarte ...

fraternity.

Career

Hofstetter gained a reputation by posting videos of interactions with audience members on YouTube, which garnered so many views that

Fox Television The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations and ...

offered him a series called ''Laughs'', a half-hour showcase for standup comedians, which debuted in August 2014.Fox Television Stations Sets Summer Test Runs for Three Series
''Variety'' Shortly after its premiere,

SAG/AFTRA The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA, stylized as SAG·AFTRA ) is an American labor union representing approximately 160,000 film and television actors, journalists, radio personalities, recor ...

issued a "Do Not Work" notice to its members due to Fox's choice to make the show a non-union production. This touched off a controversy about whether or not all television shows should be union productions. Hofstetter was the Senior Comedy Correspondent for FOX Sports' ''Just a Bit Outside''.

Hofstetter vs. The Cable Guy

In March 2006, Hofstetter and

Razor & Tie Razor & Tie was an American entertainment company that consisted of a record label and a music publishing company. It was established in 1990 by Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld. Based in New York City (with additional offices in Los Angeles an ...

announced the April 4 release of ''Cure for the Cable Guy'', a 45-minute CD/DVD that featured a cover with a

Larry the Cable Guy Daniel Lawrence Whitney (born February 17, 1963), known professionally by his persona Larry the Cable Guy, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, country music artist, and former radio personality. He was one of the members of the ...

Doll hanging by a coax cable. The disc earned ''Stuff Magazine'''s "Album cover of the month". Later that week, Larry the Cable Guy's new film debuted and was universally panned. Several movie reviewers discussed Hofstetter's album, including the ''Orlando Sentinel''s Roger Moore. Moore's review was picked up by dozens of papers across the country, including the ''Chicago Tribune'', ''Denver Post'', and ''Columbus Dispatch''. Hofstetter did radio interviews about the album, including one with Philadelphia's

Kidd Chris Christopher Derek Foley, commonly known as KiddChris. (AKA Foley / Cobra / The Chris) (born 1974) is an American radio host. He has hosted radio shows in several cities since 1998. The radio show originated in his hometown of Syracuse, New York. ...

show, where Hofstetter spoke with Larry the Cable Guy's alter ego, Dan Whitney. Whitney ended the interview with his catch phrase, "Git-R-Done." The album's cover was compared to the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

' "Pink Floyd Sucks" T-shirts.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Bret Love wrote, "Hofstetter effectively rebels against the mainstream by positioning himself as the antithesis of the world's most popular comedian. What could be more punk rock than that?" In July, an article in the ''

New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * ''The New ...

'' quoted Whitney as saying Hofstetter had been hurtful, and Whitney's manager criticizing Hofstetter for "trying to make a buck". In response, Hofstetter posted a video on

explaining his stance on the Cable Guy and his comedy.

Pay-What-You-Want

In December 2007, Hofstetter announced his new album, ''Dark Side of the Room''. Customers can download it directly from his website with "Pay-What-You-Want" à la

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

's 2007 album ''

In Rainbows ''In Rainbows'' is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was self-released on 10 October 2007 as a pay-what-you-want download, followed by a physical release internationally through XL Recordings and in North America ...

''. He has also tried a new model of comedic touring: The Your Tour, where tickets are sold prior to a show that has yet to be announced. Once the city and the date are announced, if at least 50 people in the city have purchased tickets, Hofstetter will perform. If not enough people buy tickets, all purchases are refunded.

Books

*''Student Body Shots: A Sarcastic Look at the Best 4–6 Years of Your Life'' *''Student Body Shots – Another Round: More Sarcasm On The Best Four To Six Years Of Your Life'' *''National Lampoon's Balls! An In Your Face Look at Sports'' (2007, National Lampoon) *''Ginger Kid: Mostly True Tales from a Former Nerd'' *''Follow Your Dream (Unless Your Dream Is Stupid)'' (2022)

Album and special releases

*''Tastes Like Bliss'' (2004, unofficial release) *''Cure for the Cable Guy'' (2006,

) *''The Dark Side of the Room'' (2008, Next Round) *''Steve Hofstetter's Day Off'' (2009, Next Round) *''Pick Your Battles'' (2011, Next Round) *''Ginger Kid'' (2015, Next Round) *''Secret Optimist'' (2017)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofstetter, Steve 1979 births American stand-up comedians People from Forest Hills, Queens Living people Hunter College High School alumni Columbia University School of General Studies alumni Comedians from New York City Jewish American comedians 21st-century American comedians People from Rego Park, Queens People from Briarwood, Queens 21st-century American Jews