Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Shaver.
Hi Matt, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, as the oldest of three children. I attended college at The Ohio State University and, after graduation, worked for several small startup companies in the Cleveland area.
Ever since I was a kid, I knew I loved making people laugh. When I was eight, I used to record homemade comedy tapes with my cousin using an old Playskool Tape Recorder and share them with my family. When I got to middle school, I began making comedy sketches on my YouTube channel, the same channel I still use today, roping in as many friends as I could. I was voted my high school’s class clown and loved entertaining my classmates and teachers.
My entertainment “career” died down a bit until 2017, when I started taking improv classes and performing stand-up comedy around Cleveland. In 2020, I moved to Chicago with plans to study and perform at my two favorite improv theaters – the iO and Second City. These plans were quickly upended by COVID, and I found myself trapped in a studio apartment with no creative outlet. That’s when I downloaded TikTok and began posting videos there. I stayed in Chicago until July 2021, when I quit my job and moved back to Cleveland to focus on comedy full-time. In February of 2023, I packed up my car and moved to Los Angeles.
For the past three years, I have focused most of my time and effort on making short-form comedy sketches for TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram Reels. These videos tend to be an absurd take on popular culture, media, and the news. My two biggest videos to date are sketches where I pretend to be a former Twitter employee who was fired by an Elon Musk meme and the CMO of McDonald’s who’s gruesomely killed after trying the new Grimace Shake. I’ve been lucky enough to have had some success with my online comedy, and am very grateful to everyone who follows me.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s definitely been anything but smooth, but I’ve been very fortunate and lucky as well. My biggest regret is that I didn’t continue to create YouTube videos when I was in high school in college. I just didn’t see a path where I could build a career as a “content creator” and I wish I had that foresight. I also have had zero connections to the entertainment industry. Growing up in Cleveland, I knew no one who worked in show business and had very few role models from Ohio who were doing what I wanted to. Beyond that, COVID completely destroyed all of the comedy plans I had made in Chicago and forced me to adapt. At the same time – if it wasn’t for COVID, I probably wouldn’t have the online presence that I do today. So overall, there have been no major devastating life events, and I have a loving and supporting group of friends and family, so I really have nothing to complain about!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in making absurd & funny short-form comedy sketches about media, pop culture, and the news. Most of my videos are 30 seconds to a minute long and take a satirical view of whatever’s happening in the cultural zeitgeist. Satire is my specialty.
I am most known for two videos. When Elon Musk bought Twitter, I pretended to be a Twitter engineer who was fired by the company with a meme – a picture of Elon Musk laughing that read “Time To Leave The Nest”. This video got 20 million views, and I received dozens of job offers from people who actually thought I was a Twitter engineer (thank you all!)
This past Summer during the viral Grimace Shake campaign, I pretended to be the CMO of McDonald’s trying the milkshake for the first time. I wound up dead, with a bag of purple liquid over my head, in the trunk of a car. This video also received 20 million views (and I got a lot of angry McDonald’s customers telling me that their local ice cream machines were broken.)
A video I am most proud of is I sketch I have on YouTube titled They Replaced Me. I love this sketch because, in addition to being funny, I made it with some of the funniest online comedians I know. These people are the reason I moved to Los Angeles, and the fact that I’ve been able to meet them and make videos with them has been incredible. I feel so lucky.
Lastly, I believe what sets me apart is my quickness and adaptability. I may not be the funniest creator online, but I know I’m one of the most organized and hardest working, and that allows me to create comedy about things the same day that they’re trending. A lot of my success has stemmed from satirizing media and new stories as they’re happening. That’s why I love short-form content, it’s extremely timely, and I think I’m very in tune with what’s going on in the world.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Work Ethic. In the world of short-form content, quantity is just as important as quality. To become a successful short-form creator, you need to produce a lot of content – not only so people see it, but so you can figure out what people respond well to. I have a very strong work ethic, a very organized schedule, and to-do lists for almost every aspect of my life. Sure, I can’t have great ideas every day, but I can organize my days in a way so that creative ideas happen more often, and when they do, I’m ready to seize them and turn them into something funny. I haven’t quit (yet!) and have no plans to.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mattxshaver.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattxshaver/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattlikestolaugh
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattshaver/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattxshaver
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=cachow7575
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattxshaver
