If you download The Dark Side of the Room from his website Steve Hofstetter suggests you pay what you think his stand-up comedy CD is worth.There is a link at the bottom of this review.
You should give a few bucks more than that because you’ll be listening to it more often than not. This is really good stuff. This comedian is funny and original. He is also quite smart and a bit disorganized.
Hofstetter starts off strong with some really original material. He may just be the only comic out there with a good 6 minutes on daylight savings time or Indiana, never mind both. His drug routine is also quite original. I enjoyed how he went from gateway drug to basement couch and that he calls back on it, twice, later on.
Also good on The Dark Side of the Room is his hybrid car bit though I wish he had expanded it a bit (usually a good sign, really). This comic is also the only one I have heard, so far, to slip in a Trojan horse reference. His bit on the Statue of Liberty is also solid, original stuff.
That Hofstetter is a Darwinist is a plus in my books. His airport security material is also original stuff, not an easy thing to do. By comparison, his flying with a kicking kid bit as well as a couple of others feel a bit incomplete, too off the cuff, or not focused enough.
The only weak point on The Dark Side of the Room is Your Possible Pasts. Hofstetter rather clumsily defends his use of fuck. It is a waste of time as the fucking morons who object to swear words will never be convinced the fuck otherwise. Anyway, the audience at the Comedy Caravan in Kentucky doesn’t seem to mind.
The only really offensive moment on this stand-up comedy CD is when Hofstetter claims Canada just got its second television camera. That is just ignorant. So is his claim all a Canadian weatherman says is, “It’s fucking cold!”
The show and CD end rather abruptly, as if Hofstetter was surprised getting the red light. Something a little more elegant would have been appropriate for such a smart, solid release.
The track list, all Pink Floyd tunes, is weird at first but you’ll realize it actually makes sense. Either this stand-up comic is a big Floyd fan or he has way too much time on his hands (a Styx reference, by the way).
Steve Hoftstetter Dark Side of the Room is from Next Round Entertainment
The Dark Side of the Room
Steve Hofstetter
stand-up comedy CD
Next Round Entertainment 2008
50 minutes
Related Posts
- 7160 minutes of riffing with the audience. Brilliant comedy download.