“If you would’ve told me two years ago I’d be on my 70th show, I’d say no way,” she said. “They [audience] already know what to expect out of me from social media. Social media is the heartbeat of my business. Had I not started out on social, I’d not be where I am today.”
Her first standup show was in February 2024 at the Comedy Zone in Greenville, South Carolina, and she said it was basically trial by fire. Hays ended up performing at eight sold-out shows, and after her first time on stage she was hooked.
“I just knew that this is everything I wanted to do,” she said. “I’m just addicted to it now.”
Her First Time Tour continues to add dates all over the country. She has traveled from coast to coast, recently performing in Columbus where she said the people were just amazing. She enjoys performing for all types of crowds, specifically the crowd she had in Sacramento, Calif.
“The energy in that room .. I wanted to bottle it up and put in my back pocket,” she said. “I feel like out West, they don’t hear a Southern accent much, so they are laughing at you and not with you, but I don’t care. In the South they can relate to every situation and scenario. My dad told me funny is funny no matter where you are.”
Hays is based in Nashville, but she was born and raised in Alabama. While she does do traditional stand-up comedy, she also brings her guitar to parody some country music songs. She also has a range of silly Southern characters that she will also bring out on stage. One of her most famous characters is Sharon Jean.
“She’s a very conventional abrasive country woman who is based on someone from my family,” she said. “But I won’t ever tell that family member that it’s her.”
Hays’ main social media platform is TikTok where she has 3.1 million followers. Her next most popular platform is Instagram with 800,000 followers. Hays said that anyone who comes to the show can expect a one-woman variety show that is reminiscent of her social media content.
“It’s not just me standing there with a microphone,” she said. “It’s a super-size version of the content they see. I want to keep people excited about what’s next.”
Hays is also interested in acting, and played a role in “Mother Nature and The Doomsday Prepper,” which is currently being shopped around to various streaming services. She’s acted in other movies and shows alongside actors like Diane Keaton and Kathy Bates.
“It was so cool,” she said. “Acting is like the Mecca for me. I got to play a character like Sharon Jean. It was fun to play something familiar and at ease. And being on set was pretty cool.”
Hays said in the future she wants to continue learning guitar and would like to do a sitcom in the future where she plays herself as well as a character. She will continue performing standup as well, but possibly changing up the format of her show to be more of a well-rounded comedy act of her characters and jokes.
MORE DETAILS
The Victoria Theatre is located at 138 N. Main St. To purchase tickets for the show, call 937-228-3630 or visit www.daytonlive.org.
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