Adam Sandler Interrupted This Jake Shane Interview

On a blistering hot day in Los Angeles, I find Jake Shane ordering an iced coffee at Farmshop in Brentwood County Mart. It’s a pivot from our previous plan since the coffee shop we wanted to meet up at hadn’t opened yet, but the change in scenery seems fortuitous. As soon as we sit down at a table to chat, we hear a familiar voice calling Jake’s name from a booth in the corner — it’s Adam Sandler.

The Happy Gilmore star attempts to get Shane’s attention, because both he and his 19-year-old daughter, Sadie Sandler, want to say hi. Shane politely responds with a smile, and even compliments Sandler on his Hawaiian shirt. (He tells us he’s worn it two days in a row; that’s our slapdash style king.) After paying his bill, Sandler strolls over to formally introduce himself to the 25-year-old podcast host. It feels like I’m witnessing Shane meet his biggest fan rather than the other way around.

Once the Saturday Night Live alum exits, Shane’s shoulders immediately drop. “Did I play that cool?” he asks. Yes, he played it very cool.

You’d think that being recognized and shaking hands with A-listers would be something Shane is used to by now. After all, the content creator, comedian, and Therapuss host has walked award show red carpets, had guests like Selena Gomez on his podcast, is besties with Sofia Richie Grainge, and even calls Tate McRae and Glen Powell his gym buddies. No matter the celeb status Shane reaches, though, he remains humble and still as nervous as ever meeting Hollywood elite. It’s his down-to-earth, best-friend persona that has attracted over 5 million followers across social media platforms.

Younger Jake was probably the same exact Jake that I am today. I wanted to be famous.

Even if you don’t know him by his full government name, most people are familiar with Shane’s comedic sketches online, where he’s played everything from a glass bottle about to be pushed down the stairs (5.7 million likes) to a founding father signing the Declaration of Independence after John Hancock (2.9 million likes).

It takes some serious creativity to find comedic spins for historical and reimagined scenarios like a disciple paying the bill at the last supper, but that artistry comes almost second nature for Shane, who says he discovered his great sense of humor in high school. “I always tried to get the most laughs from my friends,” he says. In his senior year, Shane, who assigned the superlatives for his class, was crowned “Most Likely to Call the Paparazzi on Himself.” Being an actor was always the dream. “Younger Jake was probably the same exact Jake that I am today. I wanted to be famous. I was online. I was watching TV,” he says.

After graduating from the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in public relations, Shane grew a following online by posting food reviews of octopus dishes on TikTok in 2022. Upon reaching 60,000 followers in February 2023, the comedian, who was born in California and raised in New York, wanted to showcase his acting skills. He was inspired by a Julia Fox post in which she asked her followers to “comment what you want me to act out and I'll act it out.” From there, Shane started his series with fan-requested skits, and as he puts it, “It took off.”

This year, Shane made his television debut, playing a Social Media Girlie for Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance on Season 4 of Hacks. “Working with Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder was like a dream come true,” he says, “It was a family you wanted to be part of.” Being on set, Shane got to test out his improvisational skills as well. (“There's so much more improv than people think.”)

Shane also worked with Megan Stalter in Hacks and her Netflix comedy series Too Much, where he played a fictional version of himself. “She is the biggest inspiration to me,” he says, and shares that Stalter is currently the person making him laugh the most. “Anything she does — her entire press tour for Too Much — if you don't get it, you don't get it. And it's not her job to explain it to you.”

Along with his TV roles, Shane went on tour this year with a live version of his podcast, Therapuss, and performed songs from his 2024 comedy album, Puss & Poems. The 13-track album, which Shane produced alongside Alexander 23, features celebs like McRae, Joe Jonas, Snooki, and Jack Schlossberg in improvised skits between singles like “Denim on Denim” and “JetBlue.”

Everything I do has to be funny. It has to be, or else what's the point?

Alexander 23 and Shane are working on a second comedy album they hope to release this holiday season. “I'm trying to make Christmas stuff,” he says. “We're going to do ‘I Saw the Grinch on Grindr’ and we did ‘Santa Can You Pay For Me I Forgot My Card.’”

While Shane takes his music more seriously, fans shouldn’t expect a traditional pop album from the comedian. “Everything I do has to be funny,” he says. “It has to be, or else what's the point? You're not watching me so you can get a cry in. You know what I mean? It would be very sweet if that were the case, but I don't think that's the case.”

Basically, Shane’s not planning on releasing his version of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department anytime soon, but he’s still getting inspiration from The Life of a Showgirl singer. As a longtime Swiftie, Shane’s dream guest for Therapuss has always been the 14-time Grammy-winning songwriter.

If Shane booked Swift, there’s no doubt he already knows exactly how the conversation will go. “We'd get the formalities out of the way, and then obviously she would be there to talk about Showgirl, so I would ask her if she was inspired by any of Robyn's music because that's the vibe I'm getting for this album,” he says. Other questions in the lineup would include: “What is the most fun you've ever had in the studio ever? What is an Easter egg that we've missed? The holes in the fence for Lover, what was the vibe with that? Please give us one of the Easter eggs we missed in the ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ music video. I just want to know one.”

Until then, Shane’s other dream guests include Ariana Grande, Jennifer Lawrence, Carly Rae Jepsen, and, of course, Adam Sandler.

Next, Shane will be hitting the big screen for the first time. In August, Deadline announced he was joining Lewis Pullman, Maya Hawke, Randall Park, Amita Rao, and Kate Berlant in the relationship comedy from writer-director Graham Parkes, which Shane tells me he already finished filming.

He landed the role after having drinks with Parkes and Pullman. “At the time, I was crashing out over this guy, so I was sitting there with Lewis and telling him and Graham,” he says. “I just put on this whole show for an hour about this one guy, and then five weeks later, I got a text that Graham was interested in me for this part in Wishful Thinking. And I was like, ‘From that dinner?’”

He accepted the role right away. “It was the greatest experience of my life. I've never been happier ever,” he says.

There’s no set release date for Wishful Thinking at the time of publication, but Shane teases that his character is “really good.” “I've never been in a movie before, so I don't know the logistics, but I know it's good and true to me,” he says. Being on set was his biggest “pinch me” moment so far in his career, and Shane is hoping his next comedic chapter includes even more movies and TV shows. “My career aspiration is something in the vein of Rachel Sennott in Bodies Bodies Bodies or Holmes in Overcompensating.” He’d even do something more dramatic, but says, “I feel like I have to show people I can do one thing before I do another.”

I point out that it seems like Shane may follow in Sandler’s path, going from a fresh-faced comedian to starring in films like Uncut Gems and Punch-Drunk Love. “I'm seriously not over meeting him,” he says. “I'm so excited to call every straight guy in my life, and tell them that that just happened.”