Stand-up comic Heather McMahan recently nabbed a major publicity coup: she was a guest on Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast, Spotify’s second-most popular podcast after “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
The Atlantan was promoting her second comedy special “Breadwinner” on Hulu, which was shot over two nights at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta last November. McMahan talked to Cooper and her dedicated fan base — dubbed the “Daddy Gang” — about sex, tall UGG boots and Kate Upton
A week later, Cooper’s guest was Democratic presidential candidate and vice president Kamala Harris. They talked reproductive rights, student loans and Harris’ economic plans.
“I think it has lit a fire in me to run for office,” McMahan joked in a Zoom call with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Oct. 9 from her Atlanta home.
McMahan, 37, said friends sent her screenshots of the “Call Her Daddy” homepage with her episode right by the Harris one.
“If you had told baby Heather that I’d be on the same podcast as the current vice president and possible future president, I would have said, ‘You’re out of your mind!’” McMahan said. (Then again, baby Heather would have been confused by the term “podcast.”)
The comedy special revolves around her relationship with her husband Jeff Daniels (not the actor), who is in finance and real estate. They first met 15 years ago in a gay bar in New York City. “He had a gay friend who told him that this hot blonde was coming by,” she said. “The minute he saw me, he knew what he wanted.”
For years, they had a long-distance relationship, with Daniels fully supporting McMahan’s efforts to break into comedy.
McMahan gradually built a largely female millennial fan base via Instagram and countless stage shows in which she talked about everything from PMS to trips to Trader Joe’s. Her own podcast, “Absolutely Not,” gave her another platform to grow an audience, and she has been able to land appearances on “Celebrity Jeopardy,” “The Today Show” and “Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen,” as well as her first hourlong special on Netflix in 2023.
Her second special, which premiered Friday on Hulu, focuses on how her career now financially eclipses her husband’s, making her the effective breadwinner.
“The exact moment I became a breadwinner,” McMahan said on the special, “I became a golf widow.” She noted that golf could eat up nine hours a day: “If your hobby takes nine hours, that is no longer a hobby.”
McMahan said Daniels doesn’t mind being the butt of her jokes. In fact, she doesn’t even clear her wisecracks with him first.
“Jeff has a thick skin and he’s my biggest fan,” she said. “I write my material, then I wait for him to see it on stage. I walk off stage and say, ‘Did I go too far?’ He says, ‘You could go harder!’”
Despite her brash persona, McMahan said she is often the quietest person in the room when she’s at a dinner party with her closest friends.
“My friends are so ridiculously funny and absolutely savage,” she said. “You have to bring your best material with my friends. I like to sit back and let everyone stir the pot while I drink a martini.”
She said she has been able to effectively merge her friends from childhood, the University of Mississippi and comedy together into one cohesive pot. “The ones I watch are those elementary school friends,” she said. “They’re the ones who could blackmail you. They’re the ones with incriminating photos of me from fourth grade with hot fudge on my face!”
Besides stories about her over-the-top Italian wedding and absurdly long 30-day honeymoon, she makes quips about college football, reflecting her Southern roots. Was she worried this might go over the heads of many of her fans?
“I toured this material in Australia and people still knew what I was talking about,” she said. “I didn’t have to break it down. SEC football is quite universal.”
She also makes some rather explicit jokes about former University of Alabama head coach and University of Georgia tormentor Nick Saban.
“I talk to his daughter, Kristen, all the time,” McMahan said. “I’ve warned her, and she’s seen the show live. I have nothing but love for Coach Saban and his wife, Miss Terry. The reason the jokes even came to mind is because I know Miss Terry is running the show there. And I love seeing him post-coaching on ‘ESPN GameDay’ letting his hair down. You can tell he has a great sense of humor.”
IF YOU WATCH
“Heather McMahan: Breadwinner,” available on Hulu
