Buzzworthy entertainer Heather Shaw opens up about her recent road warrior status, upcoming nuptials, and a certain comedic doppelgänger.
Enjoying a steadily rising popularity since bursting onto our phone and computer screens via social media, the hilari-ously animated humorist may look like she stole another comic’s famous face, but is quickly making a distinct name for her-self. Merging witty one-liners with a genuine disposition, Shaw unravels how she has always been innately amusing.
“I was only a kid in New York, and got to spend my adolescent teen years in Florida. It was probably around eighth grade when I moved down south, so I don’t know if any one particular place influenced my comedy more than the other because they’re both sort of crazy, trashy and fun. There are a lot of interesting characters representing both locations, so there was more than enough to observe and make fun of, which definitely helped. I always wanted to be a comedic actor, so I knew I had that in me, then as a teenager I discovered stand-up, and thought, oh – that looks exactly like what I want to do. After I figured that out, it was just getting the courage to get on stage, which took a lot longer than I thought it would. When I first got into stand-up, I really liked Margaret Cho – her special, I’m the One That I Want, was unreal. Kathy Griffin, Maria Bamford, Patton Oswalt, and really anything on Comedy Central Presents, where I saw Jessica Kirson, who is amazing… early on those were my big inspirations. Right now I really like Jordan Jensen and Tim Dillon. I know Tim can be a bit polarizing for people, but I think he’s very smart. I’ve never worked with him… also he scares me a little so I don’t know if I’d want to – but I really do respect him.
I’m on tour currently, but getting booked for the first time ever was wild. It was a small room in a club in Rochester (New York), and all I could think about was how crazy it was that I got to headline… and in my hometown. It was really scary because I had never done a full hour on stage. I would normally do twenty to twenty-five minutes at most, so to piece together an hour was a little intimidating, but it was great. My family has been really encouraging too. We’re a huge joke family, nothing is taken too seriously around here. I can joke around about anything with my parents, and that’s because we don’t respect each other probably, but there’s never, I’m your mother, don’t say that. My siblings are also very funny – my sister is probably the funniest person I know. They all come to my shows, and they’re very supportive.”
To keep occupied during the pandemic, Shaw decided to film herself performing Jim Carrey impressions while claiming to be the star’s long-lost daughter. Releasing snippets on TikTok, the videos instantly went viral, ultimately amassing Shaw nearly a million followers on Instagram alone.
“I was always a ham as a kid, and growing up on Jim Carrey movies, like a lot of us did, I realized I could make his face. I didn’t have to practice it, and when Ace Ventura came out, my babysitters and everybody else would have me do it for them. I never shied away from it, but it wasn’t a pivotal thing I was doing around people. Then that kind of went away, but when I started stand-up, I would hear it a lot after my shows. It was, ‘You know who you look like,’ on repeat, but I never incorporated it into my sets. The whole long-lost daughter thing took off immediately. I thought I was making a joke and everyone would know I clearly wasn’t his daughter, but eventually I had to say I was just kidding because I didn’t want to get sued. I don’t know if people were upset, but there are still many out there that think I’m a clone made in a lab. Some people are convinced in the conspiracy theory that I’m at least some sort of relative of his. There’s even a whole Instagram comparing our ears, and that’s the least thing we have in common.”
Ultimately, stand-up comics must travel as part of their job if they want to achieve a high level of success and recognizability, and Shaw is more than happy to join that league. How-ever, one of the more harrowing issues when artists take on a multi-city circuit, is trying to find healthy food after they’re done per-forming – when most restaurants have closed. Shaw enhances that difficulty by embracing a vegan lifestyle.
“If it’s after a show, especially if I’m in small town, I have to go to Taco Bell. I don’t eat fast food – except that late at night, but they have a black bean crunch wrap that has no dairy on it, and you can just take it to the dome. Becom-ing a vegan was gradual… in my mid-twenties, I went from only eating fish to being a vegetar-ian, then made the final switch. A lot of people do it for the animals, but I don’t even think they would care to be honest. I just do it because it grosses me out. The industry seems grimy to me, and I’m not a foodie so it’s easy. I’ve always wanted to tour though, and I love traveling – it’s the only way I’m going to see all of this country, places like Omaha (Nebraska). I have a little dog that I bring with me, and we go discover things together which adds to the fun – as long as the flights are direct. I hate con-necting flights, they’re the worst. I get to spend some time with my fiancé when I come home and then I go back on the road… so it’s not like I’m gone for months at a time.”
Before stepping into the spotlight each night, you can find Shaw doing one of two things to prepare.
“I drink coffee, black coffee – and then I talk to the comics in the show to get intel about the city I’m in, because I like to open the show with topical, local stuff. I don’t have any thought about, oh I gotta get in my head and think about my jokes. If I get an audience member that won’t quit yelling out… most of the time they’ll stop, but first I’ll try to be cute with them, and if that doesn’t work I’ll just roast them. I don’t love kicking people out, but if someone’s going to be insane, they should just go outside and be insane. I honestly noticed that more liberal cities are much more likely to be offended on the behalf of a certain group… but I like the purple states, red and blue, because I make fun of everybody. I want everyone to feel like I’m taking shots equally.”
Broadcasting a weekly podcast called Heather Shaw is Kidding, the comic is reaching an even wider audience through the ubiquitous access of digital media.
“I roast the news – pop culture mostly, sometimes politics, anything that’s happening currently in the world… it’s basically longer version videos of the short clips I’m posting online. I do have a Patreon, and every week I release a bonus episode of the podcast where I’m saying things I won’t say on the regular one.
It’s also funny stories from touring and me talking about what’s going on in my life, which there’s plenty, including my wedding. I actually met my fiancé on Instagram. She DM’d me, and at the time she was going to the University of Kentucky (College of Law), so her bio said UK Law, and I figured she was in Europe. I thought sure, I’ll talk to a nice British lady, and then it turned out she had a different accent, but it worked out. We live in Louisville for now, but next year I’ll be splitting my time between here and New York City. But first, I’m getting married on New Year’s Eve here in Louisville’s going to be such a fun party, I can’t wait.
Most professionals have an idea of what they would do if their current career went awry, but for Shaw, there wasn’t really ever a contingency plan.
“Before comedy I was dreaming about doing comedy and working stupid corporate jobs where everyone talks in corporate speak… that was something that really pushed me into stand-up fast. I’m working on an hour special for early next year and writing a new stand-up hour, which I’ll start touring soon. I’d also love to get into acting – not really sure if I’d prefer TV, movies, or adult film – we’ll see what happens. I wouldn’t be against doing a Jim Car-rey movie if it made sense… I certainly haven’t pestered the guy. A lot of people are telling me to reach out, but if he’s heard of me then he’s heard of me. I don’t think he cares, and that’s totally okay, I never expected him to. I stay pretty busy – I don’t really prefer a ton of downtime anyway – but I do like to be at home with my fiancé watching football on Sundays and volunteering at my local shelter. They have a really cool program where you get to take the dogs out and play with them for a little while. But I’m not going out trying new restaurants, I really like to just relax and watch Housewives.”
The sense of what constitutes a joke is the ultimate subjective opinion, but Shaw sincerely hopes her audience can simply sit back and benefit from her humor.
“A lot of time people will say their face and stomach hurts after my show, not stomach pains from diarrhea, but from laughing so much… that’s what I like to hear. I just want people to let loose, kind of forget what’s going on in the world and be able to enjoy themselves.”
**Visit heathershawcomedy.com for all upcoming tour dates, locations and tickets.
