Ben Hoffman

Benjamin Isaac Hoffman (born December 13, 1974), better known by his stage name and alter ego Wheeler Walker, Jr., is an American comedian, actor, writer, and musician. As the Wheeler Walker, Jr. character, Hoffman has released three albums of satirical country music rife with profanity and sexually-explicit lyrics. His first album, Redneck Shit, debuted at number nine on the Billboard Hot Country Albums chart, number one on the Billboard Top Comedy Albums chart, number 127 on the Billboard 200, and was the first album in over a decade to debut in the top 10 on both charts simultaneously.

Hoffman is originally from Lexington, Kentucky. He is the older brother of Scissor Sisters bassist Babydaddy (Scott Hoffman). Hoffman is Jewish and attended Tulane University.

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.

In 2018, Hoffman created the Netflix adult animation 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.

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".

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 10 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. Despite the persona's satirical nature, some have called the character an "experiment in free speech" and "a platform to speak out against censorship and bias in the music industry".

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, and Bertcast with Bert Kreischer. 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. 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.

Hoffman toured throughout the United States from 2016 through 2018. During the summer of 2018, Hoffman 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. Hoffman, outfitted as Wheeler, presented an award to Childers at the Americana Music Honors & Awards that same year. Hoffman concluded his tour on December 8, 2018 with a final concert at The Rave in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

His third album, WWIII, was released on November 30, 2018. He released first greatest hits compilation entitled Fuck You Bitch: All Time Greatest Hits on May 1, 2020. It features material from his three studio albums along with two new tracks, "Drunk as Fuck" and "Go Big or Go Home".

Studio albums

Television

Acting roles

Music videos

On January 19, 2019, in response to viewing a video of an incident at the January 2019 Lincoln Memorial confrontation in Washington, D.C., involving, among others, a white student approached by a Native American during the March for Life, Hoffman posted to his Wheeler Walker Jr. Twitter account: "If you know this little shit, punch him in the nuts and send me the video of it and I'll send you all my albums on vinyl, autographed", followed by a close-up picture of the face of an involved teenager. A few days prior, he made a series of critical and "profanity-laced tweets" about Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Thomas Rhett, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Brett Young and other country musicians.