SANTA CRUZ — Aaron Foster is a comedian who does not avoid tough topics. His standup touches on clinical depression, abuse, suicide, and other difficult issues. These are subjects he knows well from personal experience. Foster has turned these experiences into his comedy tour called “Mostly Jokes.” He will perform the show at the Santa Cruz Actors’ Theatre on Wednesday.
Foster says the show feels like therapy. It helps him talk about mental health challenges he has faced all his life. He shares stories about his chronic depression and growing up in a family with an abusive father who had bipolar disorder. He also talks about his brother, who had schizophrenia and died by suicide in 2007.
Because the topics are heavy, Foster warns that the show might not be for everyone. Still, audiences have responded positively.
“This isn’t typical comedy, but people who like it really like it,” he said.
Foster has loved standup since the 1980s. He watched every episode of “An Evening at the Improv” on the A&E Network. He admires comedians like Marc Maron, Maria Bamford, Mike Birbiglia, Taylor Tomlinson, and Gary Gulman. These comics openly discuss mental health, which Foster finds relatable and funny. They inspired him to do the same.
When Foster moved to Los Angeles in 2005, he wanted to be an actor. He worked mostly in short and independent films. He also hosted the HGTV show “Freestyle,” where interior decorators gave homes makeovers for free. Foster found the experience exciting but said it was “the worst contract in the history of entertainment.” The show was filmed in Minneapolis, but he lived in LA, so he had to travel back and forth every other week for nearly a year.
Foster was less interested in design than in meeting homeowners. “They were usually people who had never been on camera before and were nervous. I tried to make them feel comfortable so it would show on camera,” he said.
Foster began doing standup in 2009 but later opened a restaurant in the LA area in early 2020. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he posted daily videos about running a restaurant during that time. After selling the restaurant, he returned to writing and performing comedy.
“I didn’t plan to create a full show. I just started doing standup again. The more I wrote, the more it all fit together,” he said.
The show also helped Foster address issues he had avoided for most of his adult life. His therapist encouraged him to write about his brother’s death. She was surprised by how humor helped him approach these topics.
“It’s a way to talk about these things and reduce stigma. Most people know someone who has faced something similar,” Foster said.
Besides family matters, Foster jokes about his acting career, the mistakes he made, and how he has grown.
“Mostly Jokes” premiered in June 2024 at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. It won Best Solo Show at the Tucson Fringe Festival. Foster says audiences have been positive but admits the material can be challenging.
“It’s been hard to figure out how to make it funny and to show people it’s okay to laugh. It’s been therapy for me,” he said.
Foster also laughs at some unusual promotions, like a venue in Arkansas that called him a “Former HGTV host who now does standup to make you laugh.” He said that did not go well with the audience.
“People weren’t comfortable with some topics I discussed,” he said.
Despite the serious subjects, Foster hopes people will laugh and talk more about these issues.
“I talk about things many people experience. If we could take them less seriously or at least discuss them more, that would be the goal,” he said.
