Finebaum interview with Danae Hays

Intro with uh the the women's softball season up and running we thought we would get a women's softball guest D Hayes played softball uh for Alabama winning a championship playing on some great teams but as you can tell that's not going to be the subject she's also uh uh I I I'll try to speed it up D because I don't want to keep you waiting but uh you you're you're a comic you've released a couple of uh comedy country songs I don't I don't even know how to describe you but I can't wait to say hello to you good afternoon how's it going Paul thank you so much for having me I really do appreciate it so I I don't have to pretend to be stupid because it's part of my natural act but uh are you do you realize what you're getting into on the Paul fine bomb show no but man let me tell you my dad and I we have spent hours in the car together driving to and from softball practice listening to your show so I think I told you between in commercial break Katherine was always my favorite caller so my dad is pumped that I'm on the show today he's he's listening so shout out to my dad but uh you you've been a household favorite of ours Paul well I'm I'm going to throw a curve we're just going to talk softball about your career we were showing some video of some of your biggest moments and you had plenty uh let's go back 10 12 years uh I mean that had to be a rush uh playing uh at Alabama for Coach Murphy and and really one of at the time arguably the best softball program in America yeah you know that was uh that was a dream of mine since I was a little girl college softball is really the Pinnacle um if you're GNA play softball you know that's like the highest of highs and I growing up in moris Alabama only about an hour away from Tuscaloosa the University of Alabama was it that's I had my sight set you know in Alabama for a long time um weirdly enough actually signed my national letter of intent my senior year to play at Auburn and then uh some things happened and and uh I went and committed to the University of Alabama in August and then won a national championship six months later so it all worked out I'm afraid to Getting into the entertainment business ask what happened after your softball career because to get where you are today uh but but take us through a little bit how how did you get into the entertainment business yeah it it really all started with Tik Tok during the pandemic I posted a prank phone call and that prank phone call I think it got like 25 million views um and so I was like well shoot I'm just going to start posting funny videos I've always made funny videos especially as a kid so once my Tik Tok following really grew um I was able to just build a really strong team around me of people that uh that believed in me and then uh yeah then we got a standup tour kicked off and I just got back from being on the road I think we did nine shows in 10 days and um we're getting ready to announce a bunch more but yeah it it really all started from Tik Tok and uh it's it's weird to say that cuz I had no intentions of going this direction I was uh I was I was an online fitness coach at the time and so just people supporting me on on social media has just allowed me to Blossom and uh follow my dreams of going into the entertainment sector so it's been a wild ride D I've had I've had Asians uh Preparing for standup contact me about comedy tours and I and I I've always like said there's no way I I'm not I mean it's different to sit here and and talk about sports but to stand up in front of a crowd I mean how do you how did you prepare for that once it started taking off and and and where do you go for the material that it's funny you say that because that was one of my biggest you know worries of like I I know I I know I can be funny in this setting of making Tik Tok videos and and creating an online presence but how am I going to translate that to the stage you know and uh I think the biggest thing that I had to remind myself is that I'm a southern Storyteller you know I'm not your one two punch type of comic where you know I have real short bursts of of funny jokes mine are are just long Southern stories that have funny moments from the beginning to the middle to the end and so um I I've just really leaned into that that's who I've always been my dad is one of the funniest people I know and the way that he tells jokes and his humor unravels is always through storytelling so I said you know what I'm just going to be what I am and I'm going to be a southern Storyteller and then we got into the country comedy space of writing songs which is a completely different beast in it self um so during my my standup set we we put songs throughout it so I'll tell a funny story and then I'll sing a song that uh correlates to that and marries that story uh really well and your second On the Screen country uh single is we have on the screen is all it takes uh the first one we don't have on the screen because we're owned by Disney um it's lot of a lot of Inu Windows we'll just say that a lot of play on words you know um I will say I may have gotten a a phone call from my grandmother after I relas the the name of the song come on Road Hard today is Road hard I mean I I I know I've listened to the song I know what it it's saying but uh it's about hey it's about a boat Paul it's about a boat so I mean do you so I'm I'm I'm really curious about the songwriting part of it because how is that more for your act or is that are you really serious about being a an artist in that genre yeah so I think I I think there's two buckets we're trying to F when I'm songwriting here in Nashville um with these brilliant minded artists here the first bucket is to you know write songs that make sense for the actual Live Comedy Show and then the second bucket is to curate and come out with some awesome songs that are wrapped up in a comedic bow top you know so um am I trying to be the next Carrie Underwood or Miranda Lambert no but uh I definitely want this song to be rich I want all the songs that I'm putting out to you know sound really good I want you to be able to bop to them in your car on your boat and Vibe with them but I they're all going to have a comedic uh undertone to them so we're working on a fulllength country comedy album um and some of the songs that we've put in the actual standup set may make their way to the the country Comedy album as well but I won't be able to release those until I'm done touring because I don't want to don't want to burn those jokes you know no no Comedy I I get it uh so let me talk about the comedy part of it because uh I i' I love interviewing we had Nate barachi on a couple years ago when we were in Nashville I didn't know who he was and somebody said about you realize that guy you had on on Saturday Night Live I go oh okay I didn't think it was that funny um but but um I I I've always talked to comedians uh we had Foxworthy on a couple years ago which was just almost impossible to interview somebody that funny but and they always talk about the the opening has to has to kill and I've never completely understood it so is that true and and how how nerve-wracking is it as you walk out there knowing you have to be funny from the beginning yeah I just I have to remind myself um energy is so real you know when you walk into room and it's stale you know you got to be able to change that energy or if the energy is really good and you walk out on stage and it's just so vibrant you know you got to be able to take it up even a notch from there um one thing that I think a lot of comics do is they take the city that they're going to and they find something that that particular audience can relate to maybe it's a particular joke wrapped around a certain um Town that's near that City or you know a stereotype about that City and uh if you can make them laugh in those first you know 20 seconds and relate to them um then I think you're off to a good start but it's challenging you know there uh I don't want to use the word strategy but there is a lot of forethought going into that first 60 seconds because you you want that energy to to be good and uh and you want them to to be vibing with you but I think the safest bet is to uh poke fun at them a little bit with something that feels like home to them I mean I've Bad crowd never done comedy other than in in kitchens at uh at parties and there I've always thought I was the funniest person in the world but um the one thing I do know when you go into a room to speak or whatever it is uh you know pretty quickly do you not whether this a I mean if you go to a comedy club or or some type of you you you expect to want to laugh but but I've been places where they do not want to laugh uh and I'm sure you have too and what do you do do when you have a bad crowd and you have to get them going you know I did uh I did an event not long ago it was about 300 people and it was just an industry event for just music Executives that was it so they were a very much a you know arms crossed impress me crowd you know um with that I think the the only thing you can do is continue to just stay true how you like to deliver jokes um fortunately that's only been that's only happened once where it just feels like a very stale um claustrophobic situation well um I I I would think too D Doctors the I only have the personal experience right after I got married my wife is a physician and she wanted me to speak to a group of doctors and I've always felt the smarter uh and and the the higher the the group is the less they are going to laugh I mean I want a group of drunks in moris Alabama uh who just who just came off the the shift yeah I mean those to me those people want to have fun where the doctors now I was I was going to include lawyers but they're not a respected uh classification of of people but you know accountants doctors Engineers rocket scientists radio Executives well they they're the worst I I'll tell you I'll tell you this not many doctors and lawyers are probably coming to a 800 PM Comedy Club you know the ones that are the ones that are probably uh they're a little looser you know but if yeah if a uh if a doctor's office called me and said hey let's do we want you to do a private show let's do waiting rooms yeah like I don't know if this is my crowd no by the way don't uh after that Music crowd I said never again because uh I mean there are certain groups that and you know them uh television Executives uh but what were the so so were the uh was the M because the music crowd does not look very loose either uh I mean but they're they're important aren't they how do you how do you how do you get how do you get from joke one to to saying goodbye well to be honest with you Paul I kind of took a a different approach during that crowd I um I I poked at them a little bit you know sometimes the best way is you got to be able to laugh at yourself you know so I think taking that angle but yeah that was a tough crowd I mean I I'm getting into the music scene so to to do this show in front of 300 music Executives uh you know the air was pretty tight in there but I think the best way is to uh to make them laugh at the themselves but so far the crowds that I've had um for my comedy tour they've been amazing amazing um a lot of Southern a lot of Southern crowds we've hit up North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee Birmingham um so it's fun to see the different energies in each City we just played the stardome and it's by far my favorite venue we' we've played Alabama so far how uh much is your home state a part of your act say why you say you know you know I grew up in Alabama that should get you a a laugh most places shouldn't it it definitely does and there's a lot of jokes to be made um I play a lot of characters a lot of Southern characters I have one that's called Sharon Jean um my family member doesn't know that Sharon Jean is based off of her I'm not going to tell her that but uh I'm sure she watch yeah hopefully she's not but yeah Alabama is as intertwined with my comedy um as my family is it's just a part of who I am and uh I'm proud to I'm proud to be from Alabama the amount of stories I have just from just from growing up in this region of the country um is what allows me to do what I do I think if I would have grown up somewhere like New York or California I don't know if I'd be quite as funny where uh I hate Future to sound like uh an adult here but I'll try to be uh where does all this go from here I mean you're already uh you know pretty hot on the on the comedic tour you've got you've got singles out where do you hope to take it you know I uh I'd like to eventually get to a a worldwide tour um I have a a pretty big audience over in the UK and Australia so I'd love to be able to take my little uh Alabama self um across the pond and um I just got back from shooting my first movie down in Florida so I got a taste of acting that's been a a big dream of mine since I was a little girl and I'd love to eventually be able to play comedic roles in movies like um you know the Kate McKinnon or uh the Adam Sandlers of the world I'd love to be able to translate my char characters that I've created on social media and have those in a movie you know like um Eddie Murphy did with the Nutty Professor how he was able to play both so just uh if I was looking down the pipeline that's probably the the big trajectory of where i' I'd like to go n Hayes the ays tour has that been done yet I guess not um but this is too much fun uh I can't thank you enough for for coming on and uh hopefully disappear does not completely torpedo your your Comedy Tour hey Paul you know maybe one of these days we'll have you open up for me I would love to a quick story it was actually in Alabama uh we were at uh a couple years ago we were at Greg burns house the athletic director uh and Laura rutage and I was I we were doing the the SEC Nation show and we started going back and forth um at in the kitchen and started drawing a crowd and and I I must say when we when we left we drove back together we both looked at each other and said to we are the funniest two people on the face of the Earth and when when does the tour begin that was uh that was five years ago we're still waiting for the first date hey I tell you what I'll get i'll get my agent to contact you Paul thank you great to see you this has been so much fun we wish you all the best and hope to talk to you again very soon thank you so much Paul I appreciate you all you bet former softball star at Alabama turn comedian turn country singer we'll take a short break we're back after this