July 8, 2025 • 12 mins
No insects were injured in comedian Steve Hofstetter’s new comedy special, “Kill the Butterflies.” Instead, Hofstetter combines stand-up comedy with documentary interviews exploring comedians’ experiences with anxiety and mental health. He discusses his own mental health journey, along with more … Continue reading
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
the thing with this one that's gonna becoming out is it is gonna be different
than any comedy special you've ever seen.
It is part documentary, partspecial, where I interviewed over
a dozen comedians about their ownjourney with anxiety and how they
deal with mental health it is thatinterspersed into the standup routine.
From a secret location in room100 of 540 Jack Gibbs Boulevard.
(00:27):
This is craft.
I'm your host, Doug Dangler.
Comedian Steve Hofstetter willappear at the Columbus Funny
Bone on Tuesday, July 15th.
Hofstetter, has over a billionviews on YouTube, Facebook, and
Instagram, and his book Ginger Kid,was a top five pick on Amazon and
debuted number one in its category.
He's written for Sports Illustrated, theNHL Maxim and New York Times among others.
(00:52):
Welcome back to Columbusand Craft Steve Hofstetter.
\Well, thank you so much for having me.
I always have a specialaffinity for Columbus.
smaller reason because the funny boneis where I recorded one of my specials.
Bigger reason my wife's from there.
Oh, okay.
from Columbus, proper orfrom an area around Columbus
Around Columbus.
Okay.
Pickerington.
(01:12):
Oh, yes.
I grew up in New York Cityand I always get very annoyed.
When people are likeoh, I'm from New York.
What part Connecticut?
I always get annoyed when people do that,but I specifically do that with 'em.
Oh, my wife's from Columbus.
'cause she basically is
Yeah.
Well I've lived, within two 70and outside two 70 for the last
30 years, so I know what you mean.
it's sometimes not worth tellingpeople, So tell me about this show
(01:33):
that you're gonna present on July 15th.
What is gonna happen?
So, I'm excited about it.
Most of the content is gonna be forthe special that I just recorded,
that I haven't released yet.
which is called Kill the Butterflies.
despite what some comments on social mediathink, I'm not murdering butterflies.
It's a metaphor.
Metaphors are good.
a lot of it's about anxiety, my own,journey with that and mental health
(01:56):
and trying to de-stigmatize thatjust looking at that in a funny way.
you've got a large and devoted followingon YouTube, which was where I think
you'll be dropping the special.
Yes.
tell me about how you've seenthat channel evolve in the time
that you've been posting on it.
Because it's gonethrough a ton of changes.
while you've been anactive participant there.
(02:17):
if my YouTube boom was about two yearsearlier, I would be a very rich person.
But unfortunately, my boom came alittle bit after the YouTube payday.
but I still have almosta million subscribers.
the really cool thing isthat gives me freedom.
It allows me to playwhere I want, when I want.
and it's not just YouTube.
I have almost a million on Facebook.
350,000 on Instagram, et cetera.
(02:38):
Reaching people directly.
I no longer need some guy in asuit to tell people that they
think I'm funny because People canjust decide that for themselves.
It's great.
Okay.
so when you go to YouTube andthink, okay, I'm gonna put my new
special here, that also cascadesover into all the rest, I assume.
(02:59):
Yes.
the thing with this one that's gonna becoming out is it is gonna be different
than any comedy special you've ever seen.
It is part documentary, part special,where I interviewed over a dozen
comedians about their own journeywith anxiety and how they deal with.
Mental health it is that interspersedinto the standup routine.
you basically get a behind the scenesof , why do people think that this part
(03:22):
of this special could be important?
Mm-hmm.
And so it's a way to both watch comedyand a documentary at the same time.
Okay, cool.
It reminds me a little bit, yourdescription, of John Mullany
presenting about, Robin Williams.
And he had this thing, I think itwas Rob, when it was, where he said,
not all comics are self-destructive.
(03:43):
and this is something hewanted to get away from.
Did you find that to also sort of be thecase when you were talking to people about
their, anxiety and being a performer?
I interviewed comedians that I am, friendsor friendly with, and I tend to be.
friends with the peoplewho aren't the broken toys.
as someone who never had asignificant drug problem, I don't
(04:04):
gravitate toward those that do.
so it might be a little skewed, alittle self-selecting in that sense.
I do think that sense ofhumor is a defense mechanism.
You have to go through somethingto be funny that something can
be, rock bottom being bullied orfeeling like you don't fit in.
whatever that something is, that'swhere a sense of humor comes from.
Speaking of, medical stuff, you've gota recent post on YouTube, that, went up
(04:29):
after an audience member collapsed from amedical condition and was revived by EMTs.
Tell me about going through thatand the aftermath of it because it
looked like it was really, impactful.
Yes, it was extremelyharrowing at the time.
It was almost 12 minutes, from the timethat I saw something wrong to the time
(04:53):
that we were able to get back to theshow And that is a very long time to
sit there in virtual silence where youjust hope things are gonna be okay.
I was really proud and I said it in theclip that I've always said the thing I'm
proudest of in my career is who my fansare, the type of people that they are.
And that was absolutely ondisplay while that was happening.
(05:13):
a couple people rushed to help immediatelyonce we identified that there were
some medical personnel in the audience,we found a couple doctors and a nurse
and we were just like, go to it.
And everybody else justkind of kept to themselves.
There weren't people trying tointerject themselves into this.
I said from stage, I was like, ifyou are not directly involved in
helping right now, please stay seated.
And everybody did.
And it was a theater of 550 peoplepeople were just waiting, hoping, and
(05:38):
once the professionals did their job,thankfully I have friends in Denver
and some of them were at the show andso that's who I asked to call 9 1 1.
that way I had a conduit that I trustedon the phone and, had my dog with me.
that helped too because the othercomics who were on the show, I, went
to the side of the stage and I waslike, get, get Daubert right now.
Like, get him outta the green room becausewe are going to take the stage after this.
(06:02):
we need something to distracteveryone from what just happened.
Mm-hmm.
So, it helped a lot thatI have an adorable dog.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Is it a chihuahua?
he's a min pin mixed with, Idon't know what else He's part
Doberman, part shrink Ray.
He just looks like we took him to adog park and there was a real doberman
there and it was like, oh, here'sDaubert and here's Super Daubert.
Mm-hmm.
he looks like a teen.
Little Noman.
(06:22):
Yeah.
You know, that's funny.
when you said that, it occurs to me,I've met a variety of, comics with dogs
and, sometimes they would be bringingthem to interviews and things like that.
One of them chewed on a set whenI was doing tv and I was like, I
don't think that's a great idea.
No, you gotta make sure if you're gonnabring your dog with you, that they will
be well-behaved enough to be there.
(06:43):
Yeah.
So, I guess you need a, carryalong, size like Dalbert as
opposed to, your German Shepherds
Well, yeah.
Just for the travel aspect of it.
You know, just for takingup room in the van.
the idea that he can justcuddle up next to me in the
seat instead of needing his own.
I think that's very important.
So you also have a, well-knownreputation for, exchanging with hecklers.
(07:07):
Besides the medical emergency and thehecklers, what has been some of your
most unexpected moments, some of yourmost memorable moments on stage that,
you talk about with, other comics?
What kinds of things really stand outin your career that you did not expect?
someone proposed at a show.
they ran it by me first, thankfully.
Otherwise that would come a little.
(07:28):
But it wasn't to
you?
No, no.
Not to me.
that's happened also, but not seriously.
someone reached out and, said that heand his girlfriend were big fans and he
wanted to propose to her at the show, andI was like, yeah, let's make it happen.
Mm-hmm.
one of the moments was, I was in Casper,Wyoming on four 20, I mean, I'm sober.
I've been sober over 20 years now, andI had never done anything until recently
(07:51):
when I started taking edibles for anxiety.
just to help me sleep.
And so I had some with me and, I knowthat this is on record in Wyoming.
It's not legal, but here we go.
So I said to the crowd, thesetup was terrible for a show.
It was a bar that said they had aseparate area for the show, and the
separate area was literally fencedoff by a piece of caution tape.
(08:13):
there were just loud peopleat the end of the bar.
And it sucked because here are allthese, ticket buyers who paid to come
see a show and they can barely hear it.
I always go up first in my shows.
I go up, I welcome everybody setthe table for the openers.
And then I come backfrom my man set later.
So I went up first and Isaid, Hey, it's four 20.
This is a weird environment for a show.
(08:34):
I've never done a show in any alteredstate, even when I was drinking.
Would you like to see that?
And the crowd went crazy.
And I was like, okay, well, we'll try.
So I came back, for my set andI was doing my set like normal.
Everything was fine.
And one guy got really upset at onejoke I was doing a joke about how AI
isn't gonna replace us anytime soon.
And it's basically a joke aboutlike, technology isn't great.
(08:57):
Mm-hmm.
Like the first day an Alexa wakesup, she's gonna have a bad day
'cause she's gonna have to learnwhat it's like to talk to Alexa.
And he got so mad at that andI don't know if he lost his job
to a robot or whatever it was.
But this guy was very upset and itwas hilarious because I couldn't be
mad because I was baked outta my mindand I was just laughing and giggling
(09:19):
and I was like, of all the shows.
That you pick to do this?
I'm unarmed and it was very fun.
the comics who I tour with are buddies ofmine and, we've toured a million different
places they got a real kick out ofseeing unarmed Steve deal with a heckler.
Maybe, one of the few jobswhere you can do that.
yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, there are a lot of jobswhere people do anyway, especially
like when weed was first legalizedin Denver, like in Colorado, you
(09:44):
couldn't get a sandwich there.
I walked into a Jimmy John's and Iwas like, Hey, can I get a sandwich?
And the guy just goes, ohman, I should get a sandwich.
You have that power, sir.
Yeah.
Well, it's legal now in Ohio.
And I've been able to getsandwiches most places I've gone.
So we're more responsiblehere than Colorado.
Well, also it's been legal in Ohio'sborder states for quite some time, so
(10:07):
I think people got used to it there'salways this Ohio, Michigan rivalry.
when it was legal in Michigan and notin Ohio, there were so many people in
Ohio be like, look, we hate Michigan.
But also you wanna, shouldwe take a run up there?
For a week or so?
A week?
for 15 minutes.
Yeah.
Immediately run back.
so you've been a comic,for a number of years.
(10:29):
How do you keep it fresh for yourself?
What, are the techniques that keepyou looking forward to going to work?
I mean, you find new stuffyou wanna talk about.
there are comedians who will dothe same act for 20 years and I
don't understand how they do it.
And they're like, well,you know, it kills.
And it's like, yeah, it does.
But I also would never want tobe one of those one hit wonders
performing the same song at acounty fair for the rest of my life.
(10:50):
Mm-hmm.
we are at our core, supposedto be artists, so be an artist
and continue to create art.
And that's is, it's as simple as that.
I did an hour on losing my father,and that was one of the most
difficult things I've ever written.
It took me seven years to write thathour because I had to wait long enough
that I could still connect to thematerial, but I wasn't in the middle of
(11:11):
grieving while I was talking about it.
to me, talking about something likethat was important talking about
this anxiety journey is importantand the next hour I'm writing is
about potentially starting a family.
that's important.
so you just find thestuff you connect with.
Steve Hofstetter, thank you verymuch for talking to me today.
I really appreciate it and lookingforward to you being at the Columbus
(11:31):
Funny Bone on Tuesday, July 15th.
People can go to Steve Hofsteder,that's H-O-F-S-T-E-T-T-E r.com for, all
the information thank you very much.
Thank you.
The Bone is one of my favorite clubsin the world, and if people wanna
see whether or not my wife's familythinks I'm funny, come to the show.
(11:52):
Well, no, that is a risk.
I hope people will take you up onthat and, have them in a certain area.
Seeing wife's family, andjust see what happens.
Yeah.
See if they
laugh, see if they laugh, see what stokes
they
like if they don't.
All of this has really been a bad idea.
Alright.
Thanks much.
Thank
you.
For more information from myguests, visit www crafttheshow.
(12:16):
com.
This is Doug Dangler.
Until next time be creative.
the thing with this one that's gonna becoming out is it is gonna be different
than any comedy special you've ever seen.
It is part documentary, partspecial, where I interviewed over
a dozen comedians about their ownjourney with anxiety and how they
deal with mental health it is thatinterspersed into the standup routine.
From a secret location in room100 of 540 Jack Gibbs Boulevard.
(00:27):
This is craft.
I'm your host, Doug Dangler.
Comedian Steve Hofstetter willappear at the Columbus Funny
Bone on Tuesday, July 15th.
Hofstetter, has over a billionviews on YouTube, Facebook, and
Instagram, and his book Ginger Kid,was a top five pick on Amazon and
debuted number one in its category.
He's written for Sports Illustrated, theNHL Maxim and New York Times among others.
(00:52):
Welcome back to Columbusand Craft Steve Hofstetter.
\Well, thank you so much for having me.
I always have a specialaffinity for Columbus.
smaller reason because the funny boneis where I recorded one of my specials.
Bigger reason my wife's from there.
Oh, okay.
from Columbus, proper orfrom an area around Columbus
Around Columbus.
Okay.
Pickerington.
(01:12):
Oh, yes.
I grew up in New York Cityand I always get very annoyed.
When people are likeoh, I'm from New York.
What part Connecticut?
I always get annoyed when people do that,but I specifically do that with 'em.
Oh, my wife's from Columbus.
'cause she basically is
Yeah.
Well I've lived, within two 70and outside two 70 for the last
30 years, so I know what you mean.
it's sometimes not worth tellingpeople, So tell me about this show
(01:33):
that you're gonna present on July 15th.
What is gonna happen?
So, I'm excited about it.
Most of the content is gonna be forthe special that I just recorded,
that I haven't released yet.
which is called Kill the Butterflies.
despite what some comments on social mediathink, I'm not murdering butterflies.
It's a metaphor.
Metaphors are good.
a lot of it's about anxiety, my own,journey with that and mental health
(01:56):
and trying to de-stigmatize thatjust looking at that in a funny way.
you've got a large and devoted followingon YouTube, which was where I think
you'll be dropping the special.
Yes.
tell me about how you've seenthat channel evolve in the time
that you've been posting on it.
Because it's gonethrough a ton of changes.
while you've been anactive participant there.
(02:17):
if my YouTube boom was about two yearsearlier, I would be a very rich person.
But unfortunately, my boom came alittle bit after the YouTube payday.
but I still have almosta million subscribers.
the really cool thing isthat gives me freedom.
It allows me to playwhere I want, when I want.
and it's not just YouTube.
I have almost a million on Facebook.
350,000 on Instagram, et cetera.
(02:38):
Reaching people directly.
I no longer need some guy in asuit to tell people that they
think I'm funny because People canjust decide that for themselves.
It's great.
Okay.
so when you go to YouTube andthink, okay, I'm gonna put my new
special here, that also cascadesover into all the rest, I assume.
(02:59):
Yes.
the thing with this one that's gonna becoming out is it is gonna be different
than any comedy special you've ever seen.
It is part documentary, part special,where I interviewed over a dozen
comedians about their own journeywith anxiety and how they deal with.
Mental health it is that interspersedinto the standup routine.
you basically get a behind the scenesof , why do people think that this part
(03:22):
of this special could be important?
Mm-hmm.
And so it's a way to both watch comedyand a documentary at the same time.
Okay, cool.
It reminds me a little bit, yourdescription, of John Mullany
presenting about, Robin Williams.
And he had this thing, I think itwas Rob, when it was, where he said,
not all comics are self-destructive.
(03:43):
and this is something hewanted to get away from.
Did you find that to also sort of be thecase when you were talking to people about
their, anxiety and being a performer?
I interviewed comedians that I am, friendsor friendly with, and I tend to be.
friends with the peoplewho aren't the broken toys.
as someone who never had asignificant drug problem, I don't
(04:04):
gravitate toward those that do.
so it might be a little skewed, alittle self-selecting in that sense.
I do think that sense ofhumor is a defense mechanism.
You have to go through somethingto be funny that something can
be, rock bottom being bullied orfeeling like you don't fit in.
whatever that something is, that'swhere a sense of humor comes from.
Speaking of, medical stuff, you've gota recent post on YouTube, that, went up
(04:29):
after an audience member collapsed from amedical condition and was revived by EMTs.
Tell me about going through thatand the aftermath of it because it
looked like it was really, impactful.
Yes, it was extremelyharrowing at the time.
It was almost 12 minutes, from the timethat I saw something wrong to the time
(04:53):
that we were able to get back to theshow And that is a very long time to
sit there in virtual silence where youjust hope things are gonna be okay.
I was really proud and I said it in theclip that I've always said the thing I'm
proudest of in my career is who my fansare, the type of people that they are.
And that was absolutely ondisplay while that was happening.
(05:13):
a couple people rushed to help immediatelyonce we identified that there were
some medical personnel in the audience,we found a couple doctors and a nurse
and we were just like, go to it.
And everybody else justkind of kept to themselves.
There weren't people trying tointerject themselves into this.
I said from stage, I was like, ifyou are not directly involved in
helping right now, please stay seated.
And everybody did.
And it was a theater of 550 peoplepeople were just waiting, hoping, and
(05:38):
once the professionals did their job,thankfully I have friends in Denver
and some of them were at the show andso that's who I asked to call 9 1 1.
that way I had a conduit that I trustedon the phone and, had my dog with me.
that helped too because the othercomics who were on the show, I, went
to the side of the stage and I waslike, get, get Daubert right now.
Like, get him outta the green room becausewe are going to take the stage after this.
(06:02):
we need something to distracteveryone from what just happened.
Mm-hmm.
So, it helped a lot thatI have an adorable dog.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Is it a chihuahua?
he's a min pin mixed with, Idon't know what else He's part
Doberman, part shrink Ray.
He just looks like we took him to adog park and there was a real doberman
there and it was like, oh, here'sDaubert and here's Super Daubert.
Mm-hmm.
he looks like a teen.
Little Noman.
(06:22):
Yeah.
You know, that's funny.
when you said that, it occurs to me,I've met a variety of, comics with dogs
and, sometimes they would be bringingthem to interviews and things like that.
One of them chewed on a set whenI was doing tv and I was like, I
don't think that's a great idea.
No, you gotta make sure if you're gonnabring your dog with you, that they will
be well-behaved enough to be there.
(06:43):
Yeah.
So, I guess you need a, carryalong, size like Dalbert as
opposed to, your German Shepherds
Well, yeah.
Just for the travel aspect of it.
You know, just for takingup room in the van.
the idea that he can justcuddle up next to me in the
seat instead of needing his own.
I think that's very important.
So you also have a, well-knownreputation for, exchanging with hecklers.
(07:07):
Besides the medical emergency and thehecklers, what has been some of your
most unexpected moments, some of yourmost memorable moments on stage that,
you talk about with, other comics?
What kinds of things really stand outin your career that you did not expect?
someone proposed at a show.
they ran it by me first, thankfully.
Otherwise that would come a little.
(07:28):
But it wasn't to
you?
No, no.
Not to me.
that's happened also, but not seriously.
someone reached out and, said that heand his girlfriend were big fans and he
wanted to propose to her at the show, andI was like, yeah, let's make it happen.
Mm-hmm.
one of the moments was, I was in Casper,Wyoming on four 20, I mean, I'm sober.
I've been sober over 20 years now, andI had never done anything until recently
(07:51):
when I started taking edibles for anxiety.
just to help me sleep.
And so I had some with me and, I knowthat this is on record in Wyoming.
It's not legal, but here we go.
So I said to the crowd, thesetup was terrible for a show.
It was a bar that said they had aseparate area for the show, and the
separate area was literally fencedoff by a piece of caution tape.
(08:13):
there were just loud peopleat the end of the bar.
And it sucked because here are allthese, ticket buyers who paid to come
see a show and they can barely hear it.
I always go up first in my shows.
I go up, I welcome everybody setthe table for the openers.
And then I come backfrom my man set later.
So I went up first and Isaid, Hey, it's four 20.
This is a weird environment for a show.
(08:34):
I've never done a show in any alteredstate, even when I was drinking.
Would you like to see that?
And the crowd went crazy.
And I was like, okay, well, we'll try.
So I came back, for my set andI was doing my set like normal.
Everything was fine.
And one guy got really upset at onejoke I was doing a joke about how AI
isn't gonna replace us anytime soon.
And it's basically a joke aboutlike, technology isn't great.
(08:57):
Mm-hmm.
Like the first day an Alexa wakesup, she's gonna have a bad day
'cause she's gonna have to learnwhat it's like to talk to Alexa.
And he got so mad at that andI don't know if he lost his job
to a robot or whatever it was.
But this guy was very upset and itwas hilarious because I couldn't be
mad because I was baked outta my mindand I was just laughing and giggling
(09:19):
and I was like, of all the shows.
That you pick to do this?
I'm unarmed and it was very fun.
the comics who I tour with are buddies ofmine and, we've toured a million different
places they got a real kick out ofseeing unarmed Steve deal with a heckler.
Maybe, one of the few jobswhere you can do that.
yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, there are a lot of jobswhere people do anyway, especially
like when weed was first legalizedin Denver, like in Colorado, you
(09:44):
couldn't get a sandwich there.
I walked into a Jimmy John's and Iwas like, Hey, can I get a sandwich?
And the guy just goes, ohman, I should get a sandwich.
You have that power, sir.
Yeah.
Well, it's legal now in Ohio.
And I've been able to getsandwiches most places I've gone.
So we're more responsiblehere than Colorado.
Well, also it's been legal in Ohio'sborder states for quite some time, so
(10:07):
I think people got used to it there'salways this Ohio, Michigan rivalry.
when it was legal in Michigan and notin Ohio, there were so many people in
Ohio be like, look, we hate Michigan.
But also you wanna, shouldwe take a run up there?
For a week or so?
A week?
for 15 minutes.
Yeah.
Immediately run back.
so you've been a comic,for a number of years.
(10:29):
How do you keep it fresh for yourself?
What, are the techniques that keepyou looking forward to going to work?
I mean, you find new stuffyou wanna talk about.
there are comedians who will dothe same act for 20 years and I
don't understand how they do it.
And they're like, well,you know, it kills.
And it's like, yeah, it does.
But I also would never want tobe one of those one hit wonders
performing the same song at acounty fair for the rest of my life.
(10:50):
Mm-hmm.
we are at our core, supposedto be artists, so be an artist
and continue to create art.
And that's is, it's as simple as that.
I did an hour on losing my father,and that was one of the most
difficult things I've ever written.
It took me seven years to write thathour because I had to wait long enough
that I could still connect to thematerial, but I wasn't in the middle of
(11:11):
grieving while I was talking about it.
to me, talking about something likethat was important talking about
this anxiety journey is importantand the next hour I'm writing is
about potentially starting a family.
that's important.
so you just find thestuff you connect with.
Steve Hofstetter, thank you verymuch for talking to me today.
I really appreciate it and lookingforward to you being at the Columbus
(11:31):
Funny Bone on Tuesday, July 15th.
People can go to Steve Hofsteder,that's H-O-F-S-T-E-T-T-E r.com for, all
the information thank you very much.
Thank you.
The Bone is one of my favorite clubsin the world, and if people wanna
see whether or not my wife's familythinks I'm funny, come to the show.
(11:52):
Well, no, that is a risk.
I hope people will take you up onthat and, have them in a certain area.
Seeing wife's family, andjust see what happens.
Yeah.
See if they
laugh, see if they laugh, see what stokes
they
like if they don't.
All of this has really been a bad idea.
Alright.
Thanks much.
Thank
you.
For more information from myguests, visit www crafttheshow.
(12:16):
com.
This is Doug Dangler.
Until next time be creative.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!