Latest / We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits / 467. The Founder‘s Journey: Transforming Comedy with Innovation + Community - Steve Hofstetter

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467. The Founder‘s Journey: Transforming Comedy with Innovation + Community - Steve Hofstetter · We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hey, I'm John.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: And I'm Becky.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: And this is the we Are For Good podcast.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: So welcome to the Good Community.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropists, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: So let's get started, becky, what's happening?
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Oh, my imposter syndrome is raging hard.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: We have our first Nobel Peace Prize nominee on the podcast today, and it is not what you think and you buckle up because we are about to laugh.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: It's probably also our first ever stand up comedian in the house, so I'm expecting for him to come after us, where a few things were probably so do-cute.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Oh, that'd be great.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Let's do it.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: I can't wait for this moment.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I mean it's a huge honor for us today to introduce you which you probably already know him, he's probably already in your YouTube queue to Steve Hofstetter.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: He's this incredible stand up comedian, he's a podcast host, but today we're going to talk about this really interesting intersection because he's the chairman and founder of Steel City AF and, for those not tracking that, as Steel City Arts Foundation, it has this beautiful, real story behind it.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: I can't wait to unpack this philanthropy.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: But I got to give a shout out first to our friend, jeff Hare, who is just this incredible PR advisor.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: We've met as a friend out in LA and he's always like loves living in the intersection of philanthropy and entertainment and introduced us to Steve's story and we're like, oh my gosh, he's so our people of taking what you know, taking your lived experience, taking your passion and pouring it into making the world a better place.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: And so, while you're going to know Steve, because he's been doing stand up comedy for almost 20 years, he's been in four movies, he has two top 20 comedy albums.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: He has 215 million views on YouTube, which I can't even wrap my head around.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I think we're passing a thousand on our own.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: So it's really exciting to hear about your success there.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: But this I mean we want to unpack the founding of just this Steel City AF, which the mission is artists, make the world a better place.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Our mission is to make the world a better place for artists and, as your fellow Bachelor of Fine Arts major over here, thank you for creating that world.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Steve, it is a delight to have you in our podcast.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the we Are For Good podcast.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: Well, thanks for thanks for having me.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: And also, I'm not going to like comedians aren't just mean to people Like I'm not going to go after you guys, unless you say something stupid, then it's on the table, but just for existing, you know.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: No, I appreciate you having me on.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: This is going to be a really fun hour with you, so I mean, hey, would you catch us up?
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about your story.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Obviously we want to talk about your impact at Steel City Arts, but, like, tell us a little bit about the winding path of how you end up starting this really progressive, interesting, nonprofit.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I appreciate asking, although I guess the podcast would be a little boring if you didn't ask.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: Very confusing, but it started.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: So it started.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: I think it was about eight years ago I started something much smaller called the Martin Foundation.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: Martin Hofstetter was my father and he always.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: He was a very charitable guy but he didn't have money and the way that worked is that he was charitable with his time.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: He would always volunteer for things.
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: He was very active in his synagogue, like if someone needed you know oh well, we're putting on this fundraiser and we need a bunch of soda and he would be like all right, cool, and he would go and drive and get the soda and like so he was always involved somehow and he also really loved stand up.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: It was something he raised me on Old albums of comics like George Carlin and Dick Gregory, and it was just something that he was really proud of me for doing that as a career.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: And I had had this vision of wouldn't it be nice to have a charity for comedians?
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: And I started looking into it and I realized that there were hundreds of charities by comedians.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: Great things, everything from the enormous things like comic relief to smaller things like laugh for sight, but wonderful organizations, but there was not at the time.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: There was not a single charity for comedians, just comedians performing at charity events all the time, running their own charities, et cetera.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: But no one ever looked inward.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: And you know we are a profession of people who tend to die young due to both unhealthy lifestyles and just the how mentally taxing this business is.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: And so I wanted to create something and when my dad passed I kind of had this moment of like what am I waiting around for this?
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: You know, life isn't forever.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: I should do something.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: And so I created the Martin Foundation, which originally was just a scholarship fund for comedians.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: I funded it with, you know, a couple donations here and there, but mainly I was just selling shirts at my shows and originally it was 2000 bucks and the first winner, brett Druck.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: It's actually how I met him and I've been touring with him ever since he was able with the money you know he was at the time he was working as a clerk at Trader Joe's and with the money he was able to buy a reliable car, quit his job and hit the road full time.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: And you know, it was only two grand at the time and it slowly built up and just before the pandemic the prize had gotten up to 10 grand.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: And then, when the pandemic hit, and part of part of it I know I'm talking a lot right now, but it's a long story so part of what the qualifications were to win it was that you couldn't be a professional comedian yet.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: This was supposed to be the bridge to get you there.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: And then, when the pandemic hit, I realized, oh, now there are no professional comedians, now none of us can work.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: And so we you know I changed it from one $10,000 grant to several $1,000 grants given to.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: You know, originally without, the pandemic was going to be a month, so the idea was like, hey, here, this was, this will get you across and doing digital shows, ended up raising a bunch of money and gave out 30 of those, and from there I had always wanted to repurpose an old church.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: It was just this.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: I saw one in Edinburgh when I did the fringe festival and it was so cool and I was like I would like to do something with a building that looks that nice.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: You know, so many churches have just great bones and aren't used anymore.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: And so during the pandemic, I realized that again, what am I waiting around?
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: For you know, life is finite and there's only so much you can do, and stop talking about what you want to do someday and actually do it.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: And then I found the building in Pittsburgh and pulled the trigger, and here we are.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, let's, let's kick this back, Okay, because we love story here and you never have to apologize for going too long on an impactful story, because we're here for that.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: And I just think about the great catalyst for change and what you've been able to do started with Martin being kind, starting with Martin who raised his hand and gave what he could.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: And you know, we're sitting in this epicenter of a moment where we just feel like everybody can be a philanthropist.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: And if you're looking at philanthropy in a way of how you can give monetarily, I think that's such a narrow view of what philanthropy is, because it's the love of mankind.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: And so, giving of your time, sharing your story, opening your network, those are the very beginnings and the seeds of what we want to say that makes this world so rich and so great.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: So it's just, I'm sitting here just thinking about your dad and how he raised you with love and to look for the little guy and to look out for the little guy, and that the fact that you're taking your craft and pouring into other little guys is just the freakin coolest ever.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: And so, yeah, as someone who was also raised on George Carlin God love him and God rest his soul, you know, had.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: It's such a funny way of connecting with humans.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: It's so great that you are connecting with emerging comedians in this way, so take us there Like, talk to us about what your foundation is doing.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Talk about the impact.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: What's exciting you right now?
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: Well, first of all, thanks for all that.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: And you know, and to speak on the idea of everyone could be a philanthropist, all the time we have people apologizing, saying like, oh, I wish I could do something for the foundation, but you know, I just don't have any resources right now.
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: You know, I just lost my job, etc.
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, yeah, absolutely, do you have a share button on Facebook?
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: Because that does something.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: So there's so much you can do.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: Do you have someone in your life you can just tell about what we're doing, because that helps too.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: So, you know, follow some of these comedians on Instagram, whatever it is.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: Every little bit helps in terms of what the foundation actually does.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: So there's the building itself.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: You know the building is located in Pittsburgh and within it we have everything from the podcast studio that I'm currently in right now.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: Those are not mail slots behind me.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: That is acoustic treatment.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, often people are like, wow, you guys get a lot of mail.
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: It's like no, no, no, they are different depths in order to make the acoustics in here perfect, but it is.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: You know, we have a green screen, we have a broadcast studio where people can do Zoom shows, we have a gym, and when I say we have a gym, I don't mean like when a hotel calls seven dumbbells in a broken treadmill a gym.
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: I mean like we have actually, you know, a dozen circuit training machines because, again, you know, comedians don't always emphasize on health, and so we have a lot of.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: You know, we also have guest suites where comedians passing through can stay, or if one of our members is producing a show, they can bring in a headliner from somewhere else and not have to worry about that extra 200 bucks for a hotel.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: So we have all that.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: But we also have equipment that our members can use, everything from sound to cameras to lighting and, most importantly, we have mentorship.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: So all of our members get paired with a working headliner.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: We call it the Council of Headliners because we want to be weird in any possible way and it, you know, they get paired with someone who's already been doing this for a while so that they can have advice.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: And aside from just those pairings, there's also when someone has a resource that they can use for someone else, we do it.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: One of my favorite stories is we have a member named Asher O'Brien and he is a.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: He's a trans man who is a screenwriter and I was talking to him about what he wants to do in this business and he said that you know, one of the people he really looks up to is Lily Wachowski from the Wachowski Sisters, who did the Matrix, and I had one time done this short online political event with Lily and I was like, okay, well, let me see if I can maybe connect you, which is not what he was asking for.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: He was just telling me what he was interested in and I shot Lillia a message and right away she was like here's my email address, have him contact me.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: And now he gets to talk to Lillie Wachowski about screenwriting.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: And that's the kind of thing that we want to do for people.
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: You know we want to.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: This business is filled with predatory bookers, this business is filled with wrong turns, and we want this generation of comics to be able to learn from other people's mistakes and not have to make their own.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: And my philosophy behind the whole thing is, you know, comedy is a solo art form, but there's no reason it can't be a team sport.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: And oh, I almost forgot.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: Another thing that we have is semi-permanent housing, where people come from other places aside from Pittsburgh, and there's a three bedroom house and so three comics at a time will live there for six to 12 months at a time and be able to concentrate on their art instead of concentrating on trying to afford rent.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: I mean the fact that they're like writing material, flipping pancakes in community.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, okay, we wanted to have you on the show because one of our values is community is everything and we believe that and I'm just like hearing you describe what you've created and that is exactly it.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: You saw that opening and you saw your own journey of what it would look like to have these mentors around you and these peers around you.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: So thank you for building that.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: But I know part of selecting Pittsburgh specifically and kind of how y'all show up as neighbors is part of that story of community too.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: You kind of explained to us how it looks from an organizational perspective, how to be a good neighbor and what that looks like in your community.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: Sure Well, in terms of selecting Pittsburgh, you know, one of the things I always liked about Pittsburgh was that it's you know, it's gritty and underrated, which are two words I would use to describe most stand up comedians.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: Love it.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: It is such a gorgeous city.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: It is such a physically gorgeous city that is marketed so terribly.
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: I feel like most people who have never been to Pittsburgh.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: They picture this just this wasteland where everybody's covered in soot and all the pictures are in black and white.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: Like Pittsburgh is gorgeous.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: It's just rivers everywhere, mountains everywhere, bridges everywhere.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: It's just such a stunning place.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: But more so, it's centrally located.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: It's within a short drive of 18 other cities that have a full time comedy club or more.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: It is within a two and a half hour flight of two thirds of the population of the US and Canada.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: To be based here as a comedian makes a lot of sense, just from a travel perspective and an affordability perspective.
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: It is.
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: I think it is the most real estate wise.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: It is the most affordable major city in the country.
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: Anytime there's a list of like almost affordable cities, they're like well, toledo, ohio, and I'm like you're using the word city a little liberally there.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: Pittsburgh is a place that is big enough to have three major sports teams, but also the real estate here.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: Like you can get a starter home here for $150,000.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: Whereas like you can't get a parking spot in New York for that.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: So it makes it easier for comedians to simply live and exist and have the time to work on their art instead of just scrambling to make ends meet.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: And aside from that, the scene has room to grow.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: During the pandemic, two of the most important venues for stand up in the Pittsburgh area closed Ham Bones, which was like really big in the indie scene, and then the Rex, which was a 400 seat theater.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: Both went under during the pandemic, and so there was just a lot of room for, hey, we need to do something about this, and so it just made sense.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: You know what's striking me about your story so much, steve, that has such alignment with what we try to teach people about.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: You know, building community and telling your story and making connections that lead people to want to activate in some way is you saw your community for exactly who they are.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: You have this unique lens because you've lived it.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: But you sat there and you listen and you said what are the pain points?
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: You know how can this be entirely human and helpful?
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: And it's unorthodox and that's what I think is so great about it in terms of like a traditional nonprofit, and the way that you see people where they are gives a level of comfort.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Because I would agree with you if I would have thought about stand up.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I would have thought it being a very isolating and lonely sort of sector, and you have turned that completely on its head and you've allowed people to come together and I can imagine the belief and the gratitude that comes out of it.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, we call them grateful patients or alums, you know, in the philanthropy world, but you have your own and it's just such a wonderful thing to see how they rise.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: And I just want to talk to you about your dreams.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: What's your long term vision here?
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: You know what?
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Where do you see Steel City Arts Foundation going?
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: What would be the ultimate for you?
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, for a moment, you scared me because you're like I want to talk to you about your dreams.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: I'm like, no, I don't want to share those with anybody, not at night.
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: The vision for it.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: A lot of people have asked have you thought about expanding this into other cities?
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: And no, what I've thought about is other people doing this.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: What I've thought about is people getting together in Detroit or in Cleveland or in Omaha or anywhere else and going, hey, we could treat each other better and we can do this Now.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: Can they necessarily, you know, buy a building and a bunch of equipment?
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: I don't know, but they can start by putting together a group of people who are interested in working together.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: Some people in this world are joiners and some people aren't.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: There are some people who understand that very often the whole is greater than some of its parts.
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: And there are some people who think I'm not going to help anyone else because no one else helped me, and that's an unfortunate view.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: And for those who believe in the first part, you can do something like this anywhere and in any field.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: You can create a collective in any field.
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: You'll need some mentorship.
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: You know you'll need access to some things like that.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: It's not just about resources when it comes to, you know, financial or connections, but you know you need a vision.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: Whatever that vision is For me, the ultimate success for this, the thing I want to see and we've already had some pretty cool successes.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: One of the current grantees that lives at the Three-Outer house it's called the Martin House is Learn More Jonasy.
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: He is a comic from a village, chimani-mani, in Zimbabwe, and he was getting big in Africa but he wanted to expand I mean, it's a much bigger market here and so we were able to help him come over, help him get his visa and be able to actually work.
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: And now not only did he just perform at the Apollo, but he just won the Boston Comedy Festival, which is huge Way to go, yeah, and it's wonderful.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: And he actually had to.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: While he was still getting the ability to work here legally, he had to turn down a television show because he just legally couldn't do it yet, but now he has his papers and we're hoping he's able to get that chance again next season.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: And it's just, it's wonderful to see stuff like that.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: That's the short-term successes.
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: The long-term success is 10 years from now, when you know, when Learn More is a household name and he is performing at the Cellar in New York or at the Laugh Factory in LA or wherever it is.
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: I want one of the new members of Steel City, to walk in that room, see him introduce themselves and him say come over, sit down with me, let's talk.
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: That to me is success.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's what this is all about.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, this conversation is so like heart-filling for me, because that's how we see the world too is just this idea of abundance and, honestly, we're never going to solve any of these bigger social problems until we start breaking down the walls.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: And you all are doing that in real time with comedians and kind of flowing out from there.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: So you talked about his story.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: What does that impact look like in a tangible sense when someone comes in?
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: What are they?
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: What's kind of the wrap around for them and how do you see them?
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Leave this space specifically.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: Well, that's a tough question, because every comedian's path is different, and some comedians are all about the stage and the craft, and some comedians love doing stand-up, but they're also hosting radio shows, or they are producing digital content, or you know, or they're writing screenplays or whatever it is.
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: So one of the things that we really try hard to do is not steer someone in a direction just because that's the direction that we took.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: You know, I can tell someone how to do digital content because that's what I do, but that's not necessarily what they want to do.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: So part of the success for each person is figuring out what their path is and helping them along it.
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: But the thing that I can try to teach everyone is that there's always something bigger.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: When I was in college, I joined a fraternity, and I think that experience was responsible for a lot of this, because I understood.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: And a lot of material probably too.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: Well, no, it's not that.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: I think that the view of fraternities that a lot of people have from Animal House, like that, wasn't a documentary.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: You know, like there's a great deal of brotherhood.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: I learned to do community service for the first time.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: I never helped anyone before that because I didn't really understand the impact it could have when you do so in a group.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: And so one of the big things was you know, I'm getting involved and I'm learning a lot more.
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: And some of the older guys sent me down and I had been in the chapter for less than a year and some of the older guys sent me down.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: Elections were coming up and they asked me if I was thinking of running for anything and I kind of puffed off my chest all proud, and I was like, yeah, I'm running for vice president.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: And one of the guys said have you considered anything bigger?
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: And at the time I didn't realize they were showing me that like they believed in me enough that I should run for president.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: But at the time I said there isn't anything bigger, because to me it wasn't possible.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: To me I was like I don't deserve that.
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: That was that's for someone else.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: I'm smaller than that and that changed my life so much because ever since then, anything I do, I think to myself have you considered anything bigger?
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: And a lot of the comics that come in here you know they might think, oh, I want to be, I want to be the go-to act in Pittsburgh, and I'm trying to teach them that, like, what about the rest of the world?
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: There's so much more and if you want to stay here, that's totally cool and it's great.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: It's a wonderful city, but you deserve to tour, you deserve to perform everywhere you want to, and not just be the king of the open mic circuit.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: You deserve to be more.
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: So have you considered anything bigger?
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: And to me, teaching that is that's the path I want people to learn.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: Aside from that, their path is up to them.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: You know, I think a lot of people think of founders as a certain type and you have a formula that you go through and you build your nonprofit.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: You leaned entirely on your intuition, on what you're good at, on what your community wanted and needed, and that is why I believe your foundation is so vibrant and why your community is so compelling and it's personal to you and I love that.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: You're sharing what you learn along the way and you're rooting each other on in your own individual journeys and that is really what we're trying to do with all of our missions.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: Right and so great job for not taking the old Dusty 1960s playbook of how to build a foundation and just organically making it work for you and your community.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: That's fantastic.
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: Well, I appreciate that.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: I mean part of it is that I haven't read that playbook and I have no idea what I'm doing.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: And so this is truly a labor of love, and you know I've learned a lot.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: I've been a comic for 20 years and I've also been on the producer side of things.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: You know I EP to television show, I own four comedy clubs.
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: I've done the business side of things as well, and so that does give me perspective on it.
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: But I'm wrong all the time.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: And I think the key with this foundation is listening to suggestion.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: One of the things that we have is we have a wall that is a green screen, and the reason for that is because people shoot web content all the time.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: Having a green screen helps, and originally we had set up a green screen A it was too small, and B when we had to move things around.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: Then you've got to set up each time and you go from filming a five minute clip and that suddenly takes an hour, and so one of the members suggested hey, why don't we paint a wall?
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: And I was like great idea, let's do it.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: Next day we went out, we got some green screen paint.
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: We painted a wall In the studio that I'm in right now.
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: This was designed as a podcast studio where there are four stations for people to sit, because it's very rare.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: The podcast has more than that and there is a separate desk with a computer and a monitor for a producer to sit.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: Well, that's because I am at the point in my career where I have a bit of privilege and that when I do stuff I have a producer.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: Not everybody does.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: So someone suggested, someone was like well, you know, we can't see the monitor from here If we're just sitting at the table doing this ourselves.
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: So then we put up a big screen that they can connect to so that they can do it themselves.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: And so listening to what you got wrong, I think, is as important as knowing the right thing to do.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Like, and when you start like pairing those two together, of like what's the next bigger thing you could dream to and just having the humility to be open for that to kind of take shape, I feel like that's where the magic's kind of come into life for you.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Can we talk about your nomination of the Nobel Prize?
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, I love what the with the person who nominated you.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: It's the most beautiful rewritten piece about it.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: But it just speaks to the joy and the peace and the feeling scene and the ending isolation that was happening in the pandemic.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: But I want to give you space to talk about that experience and just the platform that it kind of gave you to, because you definitely took that moment and really ran with it.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: Sure, um, well, I appreciate all that and it's the way it all kind of happened, was, um?
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: First of all, I canceled my tour early.
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: Um, I was one of the first to accept what was happening and go all right, we're taking a couple of weeks off Now.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: At the time, I canceled two weeks of the tour and then I canceled a month more.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: But, uh, because of that, I was searching earlier than most other people for what now?
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: Um, I, you know I was about, uh, I was looking for a.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: You know a, you know a, you know I would say I was about a week ahead of a lot of the other comedians.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: Then, um, because I've had experience in the digital world and this is going to be a weird reference, but I don't know if you've ever seen the movie blood sport- Of course.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Of course we're very on brand.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: I've never heard of it.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Becky's seen it.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: It was delightfully terrible.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: But again something with my dad where we used to watch, you know, old action movies and it was fun.
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: And so, um, in that movie, the culmination of it I'm sorry spoiler alert, but the culmination of it is all of the stuff he's learning from his training comes into play in that final fight.
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: It's, you know, kind of the precursor to slumdog millionaire in that way.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: And so I, you know, I I was very lucky to be situated in a place where I had an online following.
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: I had experience with digital shows, I'd been producing VR shows for four years, and so, when the pandemic hit, I was no stranger to the tech, I was no stranger to how to make it work, et cetera.
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: Um, and a lot of people, a lot of comedians and various artists, were asking themselves the wrong question when they started doing digital shows.
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: They were asking themselves how do we get out to the biggest audience possible?
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: And my question was how do we get out to the best audience possible?
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: And so, uh, I created this uh online, I guess chat show with a couple of friends, and you know that this started as one of my friends had this idea that he wanted to do a variety show and one wanted to do an online comedy club and I was like, hey, no, no, no, let's pull this together and create something that would appeal to an audience, but we're not trying to get to everyone, we're trying to get to our audience.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: And then, once we started doing that and we started doing that before most people even canceled their tour.
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: And so once we started doing that, then myself and one of the other comedians created an online comedy club, and the reason it worked is because we limited how many people could attend a performance.
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: We hired people to, you know, police the crowd.
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: The same way that you have bouncers in real life, why not have them online Like?
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: why not have someone whose job it is to whether it is kick out you know the quote unquote bad actors, or also to just teach someone how to mute themselves while they're doing dishes.
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: You know, why not have like take all the stuff that works in real life and put it in digital and then figure out what doesn't work in real life and do a better version of it?
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: So by the time you know we were doing, I think the first ticketed show that we did was April 6th.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: So that was fast, yeah, yeah.
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: We put together the tech, we put together the promotion and I did three shows that day, keeping time zones in mind.
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: That's another thing.
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: That, because I was traveling internationally, I understood that like, hey, if you do a show at 8pm in New York, you're that's for not many people, you know you're losing Europe, you're losing Australia, and not only that, but LA is still working.
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: So figuring out different shows for different demos, depending on where they lived, et cetera.
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: You know, it all kind of culminated in this digital community and also trying to push the narrative of like, hey, be nice to each other and everyone's going through something, everyone's just doing their best.
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: And so we started cultivating this community of fans and for the first time, you know, I probably knew eight of my fans by name before then, because you know, if someone comes to every single show you have in a certain city, you might get to know them after a while, but digitally you see them on screen and you see their name and they interact in the chat.
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: And they started forming groups around this where they were doing Facebook groups, where they were hanging out with each other and they were doing FaceTime with each other in addition to the show.
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: And because of that, we ended up being able to raise a great deal of money on.
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: The comedy club itself produced over a million and a half dollars worth of work for stand-up comedians that couldn't work in person.
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: The show, like the digital chat show, ended up creating fifty thousand dollars worth of work for comedians doing short sets.
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: They were getting paid more To do five minutes on a digital show.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: Then they were to do a twenty minutes set at any of the clubs in New York or LA.
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: And well, it's because it was, you know, it's micro tipping, it's, you know, one person gives them three bucks and one person gives them twenty and what you know it's set to and all that's up and so, and it was cheaper for people then getting tickets to a comedy club and getting a babysitter and paying for parking and all this other stuff, and so you know I'm having to order stale chicken fingers.
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: And it ended up creating this basically philanthropy community where they would support us and each other, and because of that, I guess that's why one of the fans, who is a professor and thus can nominate for the Nobel Prize, decided to nominate me.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: What a fascinating case study, steve.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: I feel like you figured this out before most of the philanthropic community figured this out, because, truly, if there's an application here for nonprofits, I think I feel like we've seen this happen with your fundraising events.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: You know something different.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: There's a different dynamic.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: When you have Five hundred people in a room eating their rubber chicken.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: You know hearing the gala story that they hear every single year.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: But it's different If you can even give a hybrid approach to that and allow people at home in their pajamas who, to your point, didn't want to pay for parking, didn't want to get a babysitter, all these things.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: They're still engaging.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: But guess what?
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: When you're in the room, you can't.
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: You can't talk, you can't interface, it's impolite.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: But when you're digital, you talk the entire time somebody's talking.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: So if you're listening to this as a nonprofit and we keep talking about the power of building digital community and that your fans are not in your rabbit, fans are not necessarily writing your physical location or your hometown.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: They could be anywhere.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: What a beautiful model that Steel City Arts Foundation has created in this.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: I just think it's fabulous.
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: Why I appreciate that and you know, for the, for the nonprofits.
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: I also want to remind them that it's great to get a huge grant.
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: If you can get a huge grant, that's awesome.
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: But as someone who came from the digital world and you know, I make my money off of ads on videos and I make my money off of tickets at shows.
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: So I make my money Fifteen dollars to one penny at a time.
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: The reason I make money off of ads is because it's not one penny, it's fifteen thousand one pennies on a video.
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: The reason I make money at shows is because it's not, you know, fifteen bucks or you know now, thankfully, twenty five, but it's you know, it's that times one hundred or two hundred or a thousand.
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: And a lot of nonprofits discount the idea of micro fundraising and that's something that we do all the time.
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: The way to get in our donor club is to donate forty two dollars.
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: That gives you as much access as someone who gave us five grand, because we want everybody to feel like they're part of it.
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: And if they can't afford that, well, we have a Patreon that allows them to give three bucks or whatever it is, because it all adds up and that's something I think a lot of nonprofits look past because they're busy going for the way and they don't realize that most of the ocean is made up of fish.
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: Steve, thanks for not reading that 60s Dusty playbook.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: He needs to write the new modern one, don't you think?
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I think that's why I really love having this kind of conversation because the majority of your life's work has not been a nonprofit world.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: But, man, if there's not a hundred takeaways from this of how we need to rethink things and how we just need to shift our focus, even these smaller things, toward humanity at the end of the day, to just make us more accessible and more connected.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: So I'm here for this, and I know your story is so informed by philanthropy.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: I got to watch a video of you even talking about your father and just his imprint on your life, and I want to ask you to take us back to a moment of philanthropy and your story.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: That stuck with you.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: We do this every day on the podcast.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: That never gets old, so I can't wait to hear what you have to say.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: I want to go back to what I was talking about.
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: About my fraternity.
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: So there was something.
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: So I went to Columbia undergrad and there was a program started when I was an undergrad called Columbia Community Outreach and the idea is that various different groups of Columbia sign up and it could be a group of friends or it could be one of the teams or it could be a social club whatever it is Sign up for various philanthropy projects around the community.
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: And when it started it was a major and I remember the first year that I did it my fraternity went together and the guy who started it was was one of my brothers and so we were very much supporting it.
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: And we went out in the first time and we went to this park for a beautification project and it was a lot of fun.
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: And it was a lot of fun and I remember one of the first years that I did it and I remember that I did it and we went to this park for a beautification project and transformed it.
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: We didn't know what we were doing, but there were enough people who were in charge to be like OK, here's the paint, here's how you paint a metal fence, here's how you strip down the paint that shouldn't be there and then repaint, etc and doing it correctly, and it was great.
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: And then, as time went on, by the time I was a senior, it went from let's go help the community to let's spend two-thirds of the day congratulating ourselves for helping the community, and then let's do a project that makes it appear to help the community.
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: The project we did my senior year and this was not assigned by my fraternity this is when the university kind of took this over as a hey.
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: We're getting a ton of great press about this and we it was so stupid we spent a day moving one pile of dirt to another place that If they had used the park equipment would have taken them 20 minutes, and Instead you've got 40 guys spending an entire day doing it, when they should have just done it with the equipment that was sitting there not being used, and they were doing it to make themselves feel better.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: They were using us To make it appear that they were doing something for the community, and so the reason that stands out to me is two things.
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: One, it was one person's idea to create something that transformed the culture of a university, and Then it was a couple of rich people in suits idea to pat themselves on the back for someone else's work and then destroy the work, and Both things happen in the nonprofit world and I would much rather be a part of that first thing than that second.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: Steve Gets it, and I think about through the lens of that story, steve, what a missed opportunity it was for all of those 40 boys who could have done something Really impactful, felt changed by it, been affected by it and wanted to chase that high Over and over by giving in different ways.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: And so I I agree with you watered down, you know performative philanthropy has, has no space in this world because our problems are too big, you know, and there's too much pain and hurt and and we got to get together and I just think that this community that you have built in the unique way that you have, I mean, I just, I mean, john, I'm sitting here thinking I can't wait for the day that Steve Hofstetter is getting 250 $500 a ticket, you know, for his stand-up and doing the Apollo, because all of us know that the more that Steve succeeds, the more Steel City Arts Foundation is gonna succeed the more.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: The comedy circuit is gonna Succeed, and I think it takes an idea like you're, steve, to change the health of a sector, to change the mindset of People and to, like, bring out the best in people really is what you've done here.
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: So bravo to you.
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: I just think about your dad and how freakin proud he must be of what you've been able to catalyze.
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: So we end all of our conversations with a one good thing and so wonder what a one good thing would be that you might offer to our community.
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: It could be a piece of advice, a life hack, a quote.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: You live by.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: What's your one good thing, steve?
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: so the the reason, the reason our donor club is the $42 thing, is because my dad's favorite baseball player was Jackie Robinson, number 42.
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: He was also born in 1942.
• 39:23
  Speaker 3: My dad was not Robinson and so there's a lot of that, that kind of runs through the foundation.
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: There are a lot of references to Jackie Robinson as well as the New Yorker Leagues, and there's a quote from him that appears on.
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: You know, every year we make this big piece of art for donors and, and there's a quote that's on it every year and that's a life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: And that's a quote from Robinson and ever since I read that, when I think I was 13, that stuck with me and that is what we're trying to do here.
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: It's you know it's about.
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: It's about legacy and I'm doing my best to increase the importance of my father's life by letting it impact other people.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: Man, brother, you're doing it and I just this conversation just filled my heart over here and I just want more people to find and connect with what you're doing and your point, model it and replicate it in cities For whatever their passion or whatever their you know experience has been.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: So you point people.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: How can people find you personally, but also still city AF?
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: How can people connect with the work that you're doing there, where y'all show up online?
• 40:35
  Speaker 3: Sure, you know, my, my personal social media is always at, you know, at Steve Hofstetter, and Google will correct you on the spelling, don't worry about that.
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: And then, you know, steel city is at steel city AF, on pretty much everything at steel city AF.
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: Calm, you know, while there, you can learn more about our members, you can learn more about our mentors.
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: You can, you know, read about the foundation and you can donate if you'd like.
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: Please donate and, and I would say, if we take a lesson from this, you don't just have to donate like share something on your social media, come like you know a YouTube channel, like give them some views, give a shout out.
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: I just think there are so many ways we could be a light to others.
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: Steve, you've started that ripple.
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: I mean let's start casting more stones into it.
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: So, thank you for this incredible story.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: We absolutely love the way that you are making good accessible and making it just feel good in your corner of the world.
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: We're just rooting for you.
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: Keep going, steve.
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: Thank you, and can I also just say what a cool idea for a podcast, because so many of the interviews I've had to do over the years, both as a comic and now as someone of the foundation, you know I'm fighting against the controversy that people want and and you folks are just like no, there's a good thing, people like smiling, so let's make them smile, and that's.
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: I wish there were more of that.
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: Come back Steve.
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: I've laid a place out at my Thanksgiving table for you with my family.
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: That is how much I've enjoyed.
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: This conversation.
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: You're extraordinary.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: Thank you for your time.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: Good to meet you.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for being here.
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: Friends, and you probably hear it in our voices, but we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more for your mission than ever before.
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: We'd love for you to come join our good community.
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: It's free and you can think of it as the after party to each podcast episode.
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: Sign up today at we are for good Dot-com.
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: Backslash hello and one more thing if you love what you heard today, would you mind leaving us a podcast rating in review?
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: It means the world to us and your support helps more people find this community.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much, friends.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: Can't wait to our next conversation, you.