#805 - Steve Hofstetter

Steve Hofstetter (0:00)

Dude, dude, dude— I was thinking of he being on Tinder the whole time?

Joe Rogan (0:03)

We're live, we're live, you can't talk about Tinder, dude. Shut it off, don't swipe right.

Steve Hofstetter, ladies and gentlemen, how are you?

Steve Hofstetter (0:11)

That was at the same time, I'm good, I'm excited to be here.

Joe Rogan (0:15)

I'm excited to have you man, I love the video. There's a video, I've found out about Steve because it's a video of some ipshac studied it.

Why do they still exist? Do you people out there not know that when you come to a comedy show it's like going Let's go on to the movies.

You shouldn't try to change the content. Ego and alcohol. You're right, that's the answer. I asked a rhetorical question.

Steve Hofstetter (0:35)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (0:37)

And I got a definitive answer. It's a fucking great video though, because you handled it so well.

Steve Hofstetter (0:42)

Thank you.

Joe Rogan (0:42)

I don't even remember the subject. What was she heckling about?

Steve Hofstetter (0:46)

It was about, I was talking about how parents think they're special and they're not. And then she yelled out bullshit, and then walked into two minutes of material that I already had written about the subject.

If I had written what she was supposed to say, it wouldn't have been as good as what she actually said.

Joe Rogan (1:00)

Yeah, it was like a setup. And sometimes those things happen and people accuse people of doing plants. I've never heard of anybody actually doing a plant though, have you?

Steve Hofstetter (1:09)

Other than Andy Kaufman, no.

Like not even, not one time. But people, some times people look at the world and they go, well, this is too good, it can't be real. It's like, well, allow for some magic to happen sometimes.

Joe Rogan (1:22)

Little comedy magic, yeah, I mean, there's so many videos of hecklers you would think that they would learn. Like, is there ever a video of a heckler winning?

Steve Hofstetter (1:32)

I mean, there are definitely videos of people who are like, I own this heckler, and then you're like, nah, not, did you?

Did you? Looks kinda, no, not really.

Joe Rogan (1:40)

Sometimes, yeah.

Steve Hofstetter (1:40)

But that's not the heckler winning, that's the comedian losing. Right. There's a difference, you know? And there are, there are times, I think, when, you know, comedians, you know this, there are comedians who can't ad-lib, who are brilliant at material, but are just not ad-libbers.

Joe Rogan (1:56)

That's weird, isn't it? Like, the people that only wanna do, like, monologues, and if anything goes off the line, like, they ignore it, and they just keep going, and they hope that someone takes care of it.

Steve Hofstetter (2:07)

Well, I don't understand that. Like, that's part of, people sometimes will be like, why do you have so many heckler videos? It's like, because most of them start with me going, what'd you say? Because I don't, I don't let it go, because I don't wanna lose control of the crowd, I don't want other people to be like, oh well, he talked, I can talk.

And also, I just, I can't concentrate on this bit I've done a thousand times, if in the back of my head, I was like, wait, what's happening right now in the back of the room?

Joe Rogan (2:34)

Yeah, well sometimes people just start commenting, like they'll be right in front of you too, which is crazy, like in the front row going, no, that's not true, no, you can't say that, don't say that.

Steve Hofstetter (2:46)

Or they even go, yes, that's true. Like, even when they agree with you, it still sucks.

Joe Rogan (2:51)

But what about, mm, and they want to put their own spin on it, like it's a conversation, it's confusing.

Steve Hofstetter (2:56)

Sometimes, like, I try to tell people, I'm just like, look, comedy's evocative, you're gonna have a lot of thoughts, and that's okay, have the thoughts, hold on to those thoughts. Later, after the show, release the thoughts in the wild, but for now, it's okay to think of stuff.

Joe Rogan (3:11)

And even if you see me out in the lobby, and you got a question about some of the material, let's talk, that's the time to talk.

Steve Hofstetter (3:19)

Absolutely.

Joe Rogan (3:19)

Not while you're halfway into the setup.

Steve Hofstetter (3:23)

Yeah, it's such, I mean, part of why I say it's ego is because if there's hundreds of people at this show, and they're all quiet, and then one person thinks they're all doing it wrong, like they're just sitting there and be like, wait, no, all these people are wrong, we should be interacting, I need to show them.