Jake Shane Made a Name for Himself on TikTok Where He Received Millions of Views, but His 'End Goal' Was Something Else Entirely (Exclusive)
- - Jake Shane Made a Name for Himself on TikTok Where He Received Millions of Views, but His 'End Goal' Was Something Else Entirely (Exclusive)
Luke ChinmanNovember 14, 2025 at 2:30 AM
0
Robby Klein/Getty
Jake Shane -
Jake Shane is bringing his life story to the silver screen in a new Hulu series, he announced earlier this month
The viral content creator sits down with PEOPLE to discuss his latest venture and his meteoric ascent in Hollywood
“It didn’t really feel real until I read it and everyone was congratulating me, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is real,’ ” says Shane
As Jake Shane thinks back to the day it was announced that he was bringing his life story to the silver screen in a new Hulu series, his smile widens.
“I was just on cloud nine the whole day,” the viral content creator tells PEOPLE over Zoom to promote his new collaboration with Therabreath. “I literally thought, ‘This put my birthday to shame.’ ” (Shane turned 26 years old days before the news went live.)
Shane’s latest venture — a 30-minute comedy series, in which he will star as himself — caps off an incredible ascent for the internet personality, who first went viral in early 2023 for his hilarious skits reimagining historical moments with a Gen-Z flair.
Over the last three years, his star has grown incredibly bright: His combined Instagram and TikTok following has surpassed 5 million, he’s the host of the wildly successful podcast Therapuss (recent A-list guests include Glen Powell, Hilary Duff and Selena Gomez) and he’s in circles with plenty of other Hollywood talent — he’s the “guncle” to Sofia Richie Grainge’s baby daughter and hits the gym with Tate McRae.
“I never thought any of this would be possible,” Shane tells PEOPLE. “I don’t think I ever even knew what I wanted to do.”
Shane grew up in the suburbs of New York City, passionate about acting and theater, taking classes at Manhattan’s Gotham Comedy Club but too fearful of the stage to pursue acting as a career. In 2020, then a college student at the University of Southern California, he found himself quarantining with his parents in N.Y.C., believing his Hollywood aspirations were too far-fetched to ever actualize. Things are a little bit different now.
River Callaway/WWD via Getty
Jake Shane
“I think the Hulu show is something I honestly could’ve never dreamed of,” Shane says. “Like, really. It didn’t really feel real until I read it and everyone was congratulating me, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is real.’ ”
And everyone — his friends, family and followers alike — were thrilled by the news.
“I was not expecting the response to be what it was. I hoped people would care, but I felt such an outpouring of love,” he says. “It was super, super awesome to see, and it made me want to put my head down and work.”
Shane acknowledges that the series is in pre-production, so there are not too many details he can confirm just yet. (“I’m so new to this,” he quips with his signature humor. “I’m like, ‘I don’t know what I’m allowed to say or not.’ ”)
What he can confirm, however, is that he’s reuniting with Hacks writer Genevieve Aniello after Shane’s three-episode arc on the hit HBO series’ fourth season earlier this year.
Frazer Harrison/Getty
Jake Shane
“The team is amazing,” Shane says of his show, which will be executive produced by Alec Berg (Barry and Silicon Valley) and Paul Briganti (Saturday Night Live and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend). “I could not be happier with how it ended up.”
Thinking back to his Hacks stint, Shane credits the opportunity for introducing him to the world of TV — since, he notes, “It’s very different than shooting a TikTok on your phone.”
— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“I think it taught me how to behave on set because everyone on that set leads with such a good example of creating such a good environment,” he says. “They showed me, if I were to ever have a set, what I would want that to look like. I would want it to look exactly like the Hacks set.”
As for the show itself, Shane — who has been open about his struggles with OCD — said his journey with mental health will almost certainly play a key role in his story: “I don’t think there’s any portrayal of me in any sense of the word without portraying what I go through inside my head.”
Shane, like every other person his age, has also been watching and loving the recent slate of young adult comedies (think FX’s Adults, Prime Video’s Overcompensating, HBO’s I Love LA), and a likening of his forthcoming series to the aforementioned shows doesn’t surprise him, even though he’s humbled to be mentioned in the same sentence as them.
“I’m very honored to be in the mix of conversation with those shows, because I love those shows,” he says. “Hopefully, my show can be up to par.”
And like Adults and Overcompensating, which made waves for their splashy cameos when they aired earlier this year, Shane would “obviously love” to tap as many of his famous friends as possible for his own series.
Amy Sussman/Getty
Jake Shane
“Any of my friends that would be open to it, I’d be happy to have them,” he says. “I’d be honored, actually.”
Shane doesn’t want to get ahead of himself, but when asked if his recent foray into acting — he also shot his first movie, comedy Wishful Thinking starring Lewis Pullman and Maya Hawke, over the summer — is indicative of his longer-term career plans, he doesn’t miss a beat.
“That’s the dream,” he says of acting. “I know that’s what I want. That’s my end goal.”
Though he thinks he’s “best at comedy,” he continues that, genre-wise, he’s “open to anything.” (Mulling over a theoretical role in a horror flick: “I do live my life in distress, so that would make sense.")
“I always say I’d do anything offered to me,” says Shane, quite humbly for a newly minted TV creator. “I would be so lucky if I could start being selective.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
