BY KAREN BOSSICK

Aaron Foster grew up with a bipolar father and a schizophrenic brother. He turned to comedy to make sense of it all and to survive.

In his show he tackles his own metal health, or lack thereof; his success as an actor in Hollywood, or lack thereof, and his ongoing mid-life crises—no lack thereof. His jokes are short, sweet, crisp and mostly clean.

And he will present them in an 80-minute show titled “Mostly Jokes” at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, July 17-18, at The Spot, 220 Lewis St. in Ketchum.

The 80-minute show was named “Best Solo Show” at the 2025 Tucson Fringe Festival,” where it was praised for “subversively funny, laugh out loud gallows humor.” “You will fall in love with a man who would rather you not,” said one reviewer.

“It's stand up that I've been working out in clubs the last couple of years, but it's also a highly personal show about my, and my family's, mental health. Or lack thereof,” said Foster, the former host of HGTV’s FreeStyle. “I touch on topics like my own depression and anxiety, my bipolar father, my schizophrenic brother and, as much as the family doesn't like me to talk about it, my vegan uncle.”

Foster has performed his stand-up comedy at The Comedy Store, The IMPROV and other venues, in addition to running his own sold-out theater shows in Reno, Nev.

“This show is a comedy about mental health, mid-life and of course, Paul Rudd because, well, he knows. It does get a bit dark here and there, but it is mostly jokes, so it's a good thing I called it that,” he said. “Also, because it's become so popular lately, I like to let audiences know that I don't do crowd work so they can feel safe to sit in the front row and I promise no one is going to ask them what they do for work.”

Tickets are $25, available at https://aaronfoster.myshopify.com/products/ketchum-id-the-spot-theater-mostly-jokes.