The Good Humor Man

Known as much for his writing as for his standup, Steve Hofstetter is more articulate than your typical comic. At one point, he was even a weekly humor columnist for Sports Illustrated. “I started doing stand-up to pass the time,” he says. “I’m in the small percentage of people who started doing what they love accidentally.” But now he performs comedy at some 100 colleges a year. A dorky guy who maintains he looks a bit like actor Michael Rapaport with glasses, Hofstetter tours “perpetually.” He performs tonight at 8 at Anatomy Nightclub, a club he fell in love with after performing there last year when a gig at the Winchester fell through. “I really like rock venues or music venues because only my fans are coming out and not just people who want to see some comedy,” he says of his decision to perform again at Anatomy. “They’re cool about letting you perform as long as they’re getting patrons in the door. Last year’s show was one of the most fun shows I had all year.” For the current string of dates, he says he has 30 minutes of canned material but he plans to riff a bit and then interact with the crowd. And if you’ve seen the videos on his website, you know the man can handle a heckler. “The toughest heckler is the person who isn’t embarrassed,” he says. “How do you shame someone who has no shame?” Tickets are $20. (Niesel)