Ben Hoffman

Benjamin Isaac Hoffman (born December 13, 1974) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and musician.

Hoffman is well known by his country musician alter ego Wheeler Walker Jr., as whom he has released five studio albums.

Hoffman created and hosted The Ben Show, which premiered on Comedy Central on February 28, 2013.

The show was broadcast for one season.

He was a writer and correspondent for the Sports Show with Norm Macdonald, and has written for the MTV Video Music Awards, Archer, and The Late Late Show with James Corden.

He has appeared in acting roles on Arrested Development, New Girl and Drunk History and has produced content for and appeared on InfoMania.

Hoffman debuted an early version of the satirical country music artist Wheeler Walker Jr. character on a skit for The Ben Show in 2013 where he performed his song "Eatin' Pussy, Kickin' Ass".

His first album as Wheeler Walker Jr., Redneck Shit, debuted in 2016 at number nine on the Billboard Hot Country Albums chart and number one on the Billboard Top Comedy Albums chart, making it the first album in over a decade to debut in the top ten on both those charts simultaneously.

Despite no FM radio play, Hoffman found success with streaming and social media.

Reception to Hoffman's music has been mixed, largely due to the raunchiness of his lyrics and themes.

Some have called the Wheeler Walker Jr. character an "experiment in free speech" and "a platform to speak out against censorship and bias in the music industry".

Hoffman has been vocal about his use of the character as a means to express his displeasure with the modern state of the country music industry, particularly the rise of the bro-country subgenre.

Hoffman was born in Lexington, Kentucky.

He is the older brother of Scissor Sisters bassist Babydaddy (Scott Hoffman).

Hoffman is Jewish and attended Tulane University.

He graduated from the University of Kentucky.

He recorded and released his first album, Redneck Shit, on February 12, 2016, via Thirty Tigers and Pepper Hill Records.

The album was produced by Dave Cobb out of Nashville and originally premiered via stream on the pornographic website PornHub.

It debuted at number nine on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, number one on the Billboard Top Comedy Albums chart, and number 127 on the US Billboard 200.

It was the first album to debut in both the top ten of the comedy and country charts.

It sold 5,900 copies in its first week.

Rolling Stone called it "Unfathomably obscene and undeniably offensive, the debut album from Nashville never-was Wheeler Walker Jr. is also goddamn funny. But Redneck Shit is far from just an X-rated novelty record."

The Wheeler Walker Jr. persona has been compared to other artists such as Chinga Chavin, Andy Kaufman, and David Allan Coe.

The character's fictional biography outlines his history as an unsigned Nashville talent too crude for mainstream radio due to his desire to revamp the classic outlaw country style by playing songs that would have "gotten him yanked off the Grand Ol' Opry broadcast in a matter of seconds", although he finally found success with the rise of uncensored satellite radio and the internet.

On April 16, 2016, Hoffman appeared as the character on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast episode #786.

He has been a guest on a number of other podcasts including Your Mom's House with Tom Segura and Christina Pazsitzky, The Church of What's Happening Now with Joey Diaz, The official Podcast and Bertcast with Bert Kreischer.

Hoffman had previously performed alongside Morris and Jake Owen at a party following the 50th Annual Country Music Association Awards in 2016.

The duet was instead recorded with Nikki Lane, credited as "Kacey Walker".

Hoffman toured throughout the United States from 2016 through 2018.

He also appeared and performed live on The Howard Stern Wrap Up Show on May 25, 2017.

His second album, Ol' Wheeler, was released on June 2, 2017, and debuted at number 10 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, with 7,800 copies sold in its first week.

It also debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Comedy Albums chart where it remained for three consecutive weeks, and peaked at number five on the Billboard Country chart.

Prior to the album's release, crowd funding music site PledgeMusic removed the album's pre-sales and refunded fans due to obscenity complaints.

Upset, Hoffman claimed censorship and angry fans responded by trolling a page promoting the band 311.

The album was originally going to include a duet with Grammy Award-winning artist Maren Morris on the song "Fuckin' Around", but it was pulled by Sony Music Nashville.

During the summer of 2018, he toured with Kid Rock and Brantley Gilbert in the Red Blooded Rock n Roll Redneck Extravaganza Tour.

He also performed his song "Sit On My Face" alongside Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson at Hinterland Music Festival in 2018.

In 2020, Hoffman created the Netflix adult animated comedy series Hoops.

In addition to writing, he provided voice talent and was also an executive producer alongside Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Seth Cohen, and Jake Johnson.

The show was cancelled after the completion of one season.