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Bobby
This is an iHeart podcast.
Danae Hayes
Hey, this is Sarah. Look, I'm standing out front of a.m. p.m. Right now and, well, you're sweet and.
Maggie Freeling
All, but I found something more fulfilling, even kind of cheesy.
Danae Hayes
But I like it. Sure, you met some of my dietary needs, but they've just got it all. So farewell, oatmeal. So long, you strange soggy.
Bobby
Break up with bland breakfasts and taste AM PMs bacon, egg and cheese biscuit made with cage free eggs, smoked bacon and melty cheese on a buttery biscuit. Am P M. Too much Good stuff.
Johnny Knoxville
Johnny Knoxville here. Check out Crimeless Hillbilly Heist, my new true crime podcast from Smartless Media, Campside Media and big money players. It's the true story of the almost perfect crime and the nimrods who almost pulled it off. It was kind of like the perfect.
Bobby
Storm in a sewer. That was dumb.
Danae Hayes
Do not follow my example.
Johnny Knoxville
Listen to Crimeless Hillbilly Heist on the iHeartRadio Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
Maggie Freeling
The murder of an 18 year old girl in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved for years until a local housewife, a journalist, and a handful of girls came.
Danae Hayes
Forward with a story.
Bobby
America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns.
Maggie Freeling
Listen to Graves county on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And to binge the entire season ad free, subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.
Danae Hayes
I need to find six other people that are doing very well right now and I need to absolutely annihilate them. Tonight when I get home, I'm gonna see if I can't get a feud going with Luke Bryan.
Bobby
Welcome to episode 548 with Danae Hayes. She's out on tour the first time tour, which that goes all the way till the end of November. So you guys should go to a show if she comes around. If you hear this after that, I'm sure she's still out doing stuff, but I'm lucky enough to be friends with Danae a little bit before this started, or I don't think we could have gone to some of the place. I wouldn't have felt comfortable going to some of the places that we went if we weren't already friends. I can see that. Yeah, so especially like, she was put into like gay conversion therapy. She had told me that story before. Should we talk about it here? That's crazy, man. Like, to be that young. That's wild. Yeah. So I don't want to say too much of it because you can hear it. And also, I knew what kind of athlete she was from spending time with her, and I do give her the biggest athletic compliment I've ever given anyone in the history of this podcast. So, really, like Danae, you probably see her from doing crazy stuff. We talk about her first ever viral video. I think you probably will know her in a different way after this. If not. If you don't know her at all, go check it out. All right, here she is, episode 548, comedian. We won't say influencer. Not an influencer. Not an influencer. Content creator, Danae Hayes. Danae, good to see you.
Danae Hayes
Good to see you, Bobby.
Bobby
Well, my first question is, what do you write in that line that says job? Like, if you have to go for, I don't know, medical or anything.
Danae Hayes
Well, it's changed over the years. It was real estate agent.
Bobby
I saw that picture. I do want to come back to that. That's a really cool picture.
Danae Hayes
Yeah. Well, thank you.
Bobby
Yeah. What do you. What do you have to write now, though?
Danae Hayes
I guess comedian, comedian and content creator. It was content creator for a long time, which most people are like, what does that mean? And I'm like, influencer, which feels very cheesy, by the way.
Bobby
Feels like you're selling tummy tea.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, I hate. No, literally, I hate using the word influencer. But now I just get to say comedian, which also comes with the weird. You know, the weird stuff right after, which is like, tell me something funny. So I.
Bobby
Which is the least fun place to have to be to tell somebody something funny on command.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
Because unless you have a knock, knock joke, nothing you say is going to actually be funny. In that particular instance.
Danae Hayes
I got roofied after a show in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and spent $8,000 in a. Er in Hattiesburg. And the doctor, while I'm physically. I feel like I'm dying on the. On the bed, he walks in and he goes, I hear you're a comedian. And I'm like. He says, tell me something funny. And I was like, unbelievable. Like, Hattiesburg's also the last place you want to be on your deathbed at.
Bobby
I thought you were telling me a joke at first, because that's a good setup. I got roofied once in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. That was real.
Danae Hayes
No, that was legit. Yeah. It was the night Michael Chandler was fighting, and I went to a bar to watch his fight right after my show, and I took one drink from a fan who came to my show. And then I was violent. Like, I used this word to explain it because it's the only thing that makes sense. It was violent. I think I threw up 70 times in 48 hours.
Bobby
When did you know something was up?
Danae Hayes
When I started getting up about 30 minutes after consuming one drink. And I was shadow boxing the bartender. Like, no, no, no joke. I literally started shadow boxing the bartender. And my crew that was with me was like, something is going on with her. Like, this is not. She had one drink. And then immediately I said, guys, I don't feel right. I gotta go home. By the way, I love that we're starting the podcast on this. I was like, I have to go. I gotta go back to the hotel. And so they took me back to the hotel and then it just went downhill fast.
Bobby
The motivation to roofie someone that's with a crew is lost on me. Not that. Not that I understand the other motivation, but if I were gonna be a roofie person, Right. I would look for a vulnerable person by themself.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
You had people with you and you think it was the fan?
Danae Hayes
Well, I think what happened is not to speculate, but the person she was with, this other woman, I don't know what their relationship details were, but that girl did not like that. The other girl bought me a drink and she came over and said something really smart to me and I just brushed it off. And I was like, man, that was really weird energy. I didn't approach them, they approached me. So this is very odd that she's starting trying to start beef with me. So I just was like, I'm just going to consume this drink and then not, you know, try to talk to him anymore. And the doctor says he believes that she poured a significant amount of Visine eye drops in my drink. So.
Bobby
So not predatory as in somebody trying to take you home with them, but maybe just to hurt you.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, I think it was. I think it was that crazy. Yeah, dude. It was the first time I've ever experienced that kind of energy and I was so sick. And I think she just did it just because she was mad at the other girl for buying me a drink. Yeah. And I'm not kidding when I say I literally threw up 70 times in two days. Like, I thought I was. At one point I thought I was going to die because I was hallucinating in my hotel room by myself at 3 o' clock in the morning. And I just weirdly called my stepmom at 3 o' clock in the morning. I don't even remember doing this. And she was like, are you okay? And I was talking about just the weirdest stuff. And so she called an ambulance and they came and got me. Sorry. No, they did not come and get me. She called the ambulance and the nurse. And this is a true story. The nurse in her Honda Accord drove to my hotel because she was a big fan of me and picked me up in her Honda Accord as I was throwing up out the window.
Bobby
Wow.
Danae Hayes
So shout out. I cannot remember her name. I need to look it up. Shout out to the nurse in Hattiesburg that drives the white Honda Accord.
Bobby
It feels like you were collateral damage in a very unhealthy relationship.
Danae Hayes
Yes, I was 100% collateral damage in a lesbian psychotic relationship. 100. And I can say that, okay, it was psychotic behavior.
Bobby
Have you heard from either one of them since? Even on social media?
Danae Hayes
No.
Bobby
Dm? Bernard? Anything like that?
Danae Hayes
No, no, I think that. I think that girl is probably like. Because I told a story about it without pointing fingers at him. I just said I got really sick.
Bobby
Like a show story? Like a bit?
Danae Hayes
No, just. I was just saying, like, hey, you got to be careful of who take, you know, who you take drinks from. I was like, I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I threw up 70 times. And then I'm sure she probably saw that and was like, lysine does the trick.
Bobby
The picture that I saw of you, it was like, this many years ago or something like that, and it was you selling real estate. Yeah, that. That was such a cool picture. Like, that. It made me, like, I don't feel much. That made me feel a little. Yeah, so. So you started out, like, professionally trying to do real estate or were you successful at it?
Danae Hayes
Yeah, well, no, no, I was not. I was selling, like, maybe six or seven houses a year that were like, between 80 and $100,000 in my hometown in Alabama. So my commission was like $2,000 a sale. So then I was like, okay, wait, if I'm going to grow this business, I gotta find a way to actually pay my bills. So I started doing softball lessons and softball camps, and that was kind of just to make ends meet, but I did a little bit of everything. I did pharmaceutical sales, real estate, sports broadcasting, softball camps. I even worked in a pyramid scheme, Bobby.
Bobby
Which one?
Danae Hayes
Beachbody?
Bobby
Yeah, the videos. Yeah, like, that was a pyramid scheme.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, brother. Hip hop abs.
Bobby
I would see the commercials, and I. I think I probably dabbled in that a bit.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, I mean, they make great programs, but, you know, getting you like your grandmother, your aunt, your uncle, your cousins, all to sign up. Eventually they stop inviting you to the family get togethers. And because I was annoying about it.
Bobby
Your whole family had beach bodies. That's awesome.
Danae Hayes
Yes.
Bobby
Literally all abs that they were giving.
Danae Hayes
Well, they weren't doing the programs on paper. They were.
Bobby
How did that. Did you make any money doing that at all?
Danae Hayes
Yeah, yeah, you could. You could actually do really well as long as you were using social media. I mean, and that's, that's actually like, I'm. I'm. I'm embarrassed about it, you know, because of the whole pyramid scheme stuff. But it's what taught me how to use social media because I had to create reels and tick tocks in order to get people signed up.
Bobby
I think I did Beachbody for a minute.
Danae Hayes
You did hip hop abs with Shaun.
Bobby
T. Because Beachbody, the hip hop abs didn't take very long.
Danae Hayes
No. And yeah. And you didn't want to be seen doing it. And you could. This would be a great setup to. You could actually start hip hop ab classes in here. This would be perfect.
Bobby
You mean keep them going? We actually do them every Tuesday. Yeah.
Danae Hayes
Okay, well, invite me next time. I know them.
Bobby
We did Taebo in college.
Danae Hayes
I know him.
Bobby
You ever do Taibo?
Danae Hayes
I don't even know what Taabo is. Sounds like a nickname from somebody back home.
Bobby
Tae Bo. Tae Bo was like Billy Blanks. And it was a karate exercise class. It was much like Beachbody. Like, I was in the phase of just, I didn't have friends, so I would buy stuff and do workouts with people on screen.
Danae Hayes
Got it.
Bobby
So I did all those workouts with people that I thought were my friend. They were supplement to my friend groups.
Danae Hayes
I mean, listen, not to throw complete shade. There was honestly like the community with those types of things. Like, people are actually, you know, changing their lives and they're getting healthier and they're losing weight. It's just once you can life, you know, lift the veil of like how kind of crazy that structure of the payout and all that is, you know, you kind of lose what the intentions are behind it. But the programs themselves, like, shout out to Beachbody, they did a great job.
Bobby
Did you have a first video that went viral? They remember?
Danae Hayes
Yeah, my first one.
Bobby
Was your first video ever?
Danae Hayes
No, no, not my first one, no. But my very first viral video. I just randomly. I was only posting fitness stuff at this point. That's how I was making a living. And one day I prank phone called a taxidermist in 2021 from Alabama and asked him if he would stuff my dog. And I thought he would be like, no, ma', am, we can't do that. But instead he threw me for a loop. And he was like, yeah, absolutely, we do it all the time. And I was like, I haven't thought this far ahead. I was like, oh, okay, great. Well, how do I get him to you? And he was like, well, where is he right now? And I was like, well, he's in the. He's in the deep freezer. And this man was like, you've done everything right up to this point. And I was like, this is unbelievable. So I clipped it and I posted it on TikTok, and within like a week, it had like 21 million views. It was, wow, that's super viral, dude. It was absurd. And I woke up the next day. I think I had maybe like 50,000 TikTok followers. And I woke up the next day with 250,000. Like, it just literally changed my life. So I posted another one the next day of me prank phone calling a dairy queen and asked them if they. If I could bring a tupperware container in to fill it up with the hot syrup to put it on my husband. And it got like 12 million views. And then another one got 10, and then another one. And at the time, I was the only person on TikTok posting prank phone calls, so it worked to my advantage. But then other people started doing it, and so I was like, well, I don't want to just be known as the prank caller. So I started dabbling in like, sketches and characters and stuff like that.
Bobby
Did you make any money doing that on TikTok?
Danae Hayes
The Creator Fund is really weird. Obviously, on that video, I think I made a couple of thousand dollars. But the creator fund, I've noticed as your followers, And I hope TikTok doesn't see this and like, shadow ban me or something, but as your followers increase, your payout decreases. So, like you, when I was just starting, I was actually making more money on the creator fund than I am now because they kind of almost want to reward the newer creators.
Bobby
I felt, because I got in the creator fund for a while, but I felt like they were suppressing my videos where they would not hit as hard normally, because when I got out, it kind of proved that. Yeah, because I was. I wasn't doing anything any different, but like, the same type of video within. Once I got out of the creator fund and they have to pay anymore.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
They would pop more. And so I really wasn't using that as like a mainstream of income. So I just stayed out of the creator fund. But I found the same thing. Is that generally how people feel about that?
Danae Hayes
Yeah. A lot of my friends don't, don't do the creator fund for that reason. I've, I've toggled it on and toggled it off. I can't tell a difference on my stuff. But a lot of my friends who are, you know, influencers or comedians, they will not use it because they're like, the money I'm making is not worth it over the engagement and the views I'm going to get.
Bobby
You came up on my for you page. I follow you, but you came up on my for you page the other day and you were doing a joke about, I think it was your, your dad saying, don't shave your head.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, buzz cut my hair.
Bobby
And it's a good joke. And also. But I was like, oh wow, she's actually posting material. Because I was never good enough to post material. Meaning my material was good, but I didn't have enough of it.
Danae Hayes
Well, it's weird too because I'm still doing the same set. So it's the first time tour right now that I'm on and I only have nine more shows and then I'm done. So it's very weird. You have to like pick and choose, you know, you have to pick and choose which jokes you're willing to burn. Because if I pick one of my bigger jokes, I have to rewrite 20 minutes of my set because then they know the joke and I don't do a ton of crowd work. So crowd work's kind of the only way to be able to constantly circulate comedic stuff. But I don't do a whole lot of crowd work. I have a really hard time having a joke at the expense of other people. I hate making somebody leave my show feeling like I bullied them or I made them feel embarrassed or humiliated. And so I don't do a lot of crowd work. And if I do, it's more of me kind of like laughing with them instead of laughing at them. But yeah, it's. I'm now getting to the point where after these nine shows, I'll have filmed my whole set and I can start burning every single joke. So get ready, Bobby. Cause I think that's all my page is gonna be.
Bobby
That was my fear, was, I will. Because it's not like a song where a lot of our friends can play and put a song out and then they People want to hear the song again.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
They want to hear it every time they do a show. Once you hear a joke, you kind of. It's kind of dead.
Danae Hayes
It's done.
Bobby
And so I would be like, I'm not posting anything except, like, crowd interactions because I knew those. They were never going to happen again because it was all circumstantial to that night and those people. But yeah, I saw it and I was like, oh, wow, that's a good joke. And a little bit I was like, wow, I can't believe she posted a joke. Right, right. Ashley's still touring, right?
Danae Hayes
Yeah, because I still use it. I had two shows this weekend and I still used it. And I noticed that it still got the same type of laughter because I have to remind myself not every single person at my show has seen every single video I post. But yeah, dude, this weekend. I'd love to know your take on this. This weekend I had two women in the middle of my set get into a full blown physical altercation and one of them got arrested. And now I'm like, I want to post that, but do I need to blur their faces out or do they deserve it? I feel like I might need to put like an emoji over their face.
Bobby
I think it actually probably gets more traction if you do blur it. It makes it more like, naughty.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
I'm like, I shouldn't be watching this.
Danae Hayes
Right. And in my mind I'm like, what would Gavin Adcock do?
Bobby
You, you know, he'd yell at Beyonce.
Danae Hayes
I need to find six other people that are doing very well right now and I need to absolutely annihilate them.
Bobby
In what way?
Danae Hayes
Just every way, Bobby.
Bobby
Like online. Like, start a feud.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, start a feud. I'm going to start a feud tonight when I get home. I'm going to see if I can't get a feud going with Luke Bryan and see where that takes me. And then if Luke doesn't bite, I'll. I'll maybe go for like a gospel artist.
Bobby
O, that's a tough one.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
Mostly for what happens with that after you die.
Danae Hayes
That's true.
Bobby
More than what happens today.
Danae Hayes
That is true.
Bobby
That's a bad investment for the future.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, maybe not a go. Okay, we'll do maybe. I don't know, maybe I start one with Carrie Underwood or something. I don't know. Just to shake things up for her, you know?
Bobby
Why were the people fighting one of them.
Danae Hayes
I started into a joke about my coming out story when I was 24 and the lady on the second row was a gay woman. The lady on the third row was there with her husband. And she said, apparently, I don't know this to be true. But she said, why is she talking about lesbian stuff? And the woman on the second row turned around and said, because she is one. And the lady was like, well, I wish she'd stop. And my whole set is not, you know, gay this, gay that. But I do have, like, a good, solid 10 minutes of my coming out story living in Alabama, because that alone is hilarious. And they started getting into it, and I had to stop my show for about five minutes and, like, do, like, a therapy session, because I thought we were headed for a rally, you know? Like, I thought this was about to turn into a rally in Shreveport. And so I got them quieted down. And then you just see me walk off stage at the end of my set, and they get into, like, it looks like a wrestling gridlock where one lady's got her by the back of the head and the other woman's got her by the back of the head, and they're just giving each other hell. And then they finally, like, separate. The husband gets in between, and then the next video is a police officer putting handcuffs on the woman who made the lesbian comment.
Bobby
And you have it.
Danae Hayes
Oh, yeah, I've got it on.
Bobby
I'd for sure. I'd blow their faces out, for sure, but I'd put it up.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
I was doing a show in Massachusetts once, and somebody yelled, I will shoot you. And so every Massachusetts. Yeah, yeah, it was in, like, outside of Springfield, Massachusetts. And so everybody starts to yell, oh, my God. It. Obviously it's dark out there, so I can't see what's happening. Also, I didn't say anything that made them want to shoot me, but I'm like, oh, God. So the lights flip up. The cops are out, people. They're escorting people out of the theater. But I was told this is in, like, my first year of ever touring. Like, you have to hit 50 minutes or 50. Whatever's in the contract.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
So I just sat down on the stage because I was like, I'm not gonna not get paid. So I sat down on the stage to make sure I did not leave for 55 minutes. I didn't understand the rules. I could go back and then come back. And so. But they. They ended up arresting somebody. It was like somebody kept talking, like. Like talking. Like, if it's a comedy show, like, the worst thing that we can have doing spoken word, heck, it can be a poetry show. Is Somebody talking, because it's going to interrupt our rhythm and our cadence 100%. And it doesn't help us when you, like, talk with us?
Danae Hayes
No, not at all. In fact, it throws everything off. It also just doesn't make for a fun environment for everybody else, you know, like, that's sitting around them because they're constantly having to listen to them. And when I first started, I didn't know how to handle that, so I just let it go and go and go. And now I'll give them a warning in a very nice way, like, hey, baby, can we. Can we quiet down just a little bit? And then. But it's hard to follow the rules when you're drunk. You know, being drunk and following the rules don't go together. So after I've given them a warning, then I have a code word with my security team. And once I say that code word in the set, because it keeps me from having to look like a bad guy. Once I say that code word, they go over and they don't grab them, but they say, can. Can you come outside with us? And then.
Bobby
Yeah, it sucks to have to do that because they're there. They're. They're there because they're like your person, right? And it sucks to have to go like, hey, you gotta shut up, right? Because you're ruining it for everyone. And that's what that fight was about that night. It was specifically about somebody talking and even, like, talking back to me a little bit during the set, right? But it was ruining their time. And they're like, you gotta stop. And that turns into. And one yells, I'll shoot you. And so everybody scrambled and left. And I. Obviously, I never got the room back, but everybody came back in, and we went along and finished the show, but I never got the room back. That. That obliterated any sort of continuity of the night.
Danae Hayes
Oh, yeah. I had a woman lay down. The closest I got to a situation like that is I had a woman lay down for 25 minutes. She had army crawled from her seat to the handicap ramp and grabbed the rail. And she was like, I ain't leaving. I'm her cousin. And I was like, oh, my God, do I have a cousin in Arizona? I was like, oh, my God, I hope not.
Bobby
You thought for a minute it could have been.
Danae Hayes
No, I literally did. I was like, I'm racking my brain of which crazy cousin is at my show right now. So I had to get off stage, go down there, and, like, reason with her like an FBI agent and be like, hey, if you'll get up, I'll take you to dinner tonight. And that was the only thing that got her up on her feet. And then they escorted her out of the venue. She punches a police officer in the face, in the. Like, in the nose. They arrest her, and then her wife comes to the meet and greet later. And I was just like. That was when I started to realize my brand is a lot rowdier than I ever thought. It was like. Like the. It's got kind of like a. It's like a. Like a show for the good old boys and the gays. And it's like, you really don't know if the NRA sponsoring it or if Glad sponsoring it. Like, it's just very.
Bobby
You need to separate them. Like, at a wedding, too. Yeah, it's a little bit of both. So this side, you're here. I wait. You do your meet and greets after the show?
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
Yeah, that could be problematic, too.
Danae Hayes
And it is.
Bobby
They're drunk, then they're drunk, and.
Danae Hayes
And because of my most popular song, they gift at every meet and greet. I get gifted exact. A dildo every meet and greet. And they want me to sign it, and they want me to take pictures with it. And it's usually always their husbands taking the pictures, and so they're a lot rowdy. Like, I always thought that. I don't know. I don't really know what I thought my brand was, but this year has really showed that it is much rowdier than I anticipated. Like, I went to rock the south this summer in Coleman, and I had to do three Coors light shotguns with three different men, and a man pinched off a Copenhagen thing out of his. Of his pocket and put it in my lip for a picture. And that was when I was like, man, like, I might need to dial it down a little bit.
Bobby
I think it's a mixture of your warmth, and people feel like they know you. They like you. They're close to you, even if they're not. So there's this automatic. There's no barrier.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
Because they feel like they know. And that is. That's a huge compliment. But also, as you can see, it gets to a point where it starts to feel a bit dangerous.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, a little bit.
Bobby
For me, it was when people were kissing me.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
I had to stop and be like, I can't.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
Like, I love that people feel like they know me.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
But when they're, like, grabbing me and, like, kissing me on the face and stuff, I'm like, I don't like that, man. Thank you for enjoying what I do.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
But no, no touching like that, right?
Danae Hayes
Yeah, no, I, I feel that I, I signed a girl's piece of paper and then the next day she sent me a video of, of a tattoo of my signature on her right butt cheek. And I was just like.
Bobby
On her butt cheek.
Danae Hayes
I was like, I, I was just like, oh. Like, yeah. So it just. Yeah, it's been jarring because, like, I think because of what you do and what I do, you're people are always consuming your voice and they're always seeing your face and same with me on social media. So it does create a very intimate relationship for them, which I love. I want to feel very connected to my fans. But when stuff like, you know, like the kissing stuff happens, you're like, oh, man. Like, man, they, they're a little too comfortable with that.
Bobby
And you're right. If you say something, you're the bad guy. So you got to have somebody that's there with you.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
That makes sure that doesn't happen.
Danae Hayes
Right?
Bobby
Yeah, that, that kissing stuff, what's going to gross me out. And that's when I had to go, hey, I, I'm so honored. But no, no lips on any part of my body.
Danae Hayes
You know, when I was single for, for this past year, nobody ever wanted to kiss me. Which now my feelings are a little hurt, Bobby, because I never had any free kisses after my shows. So.
Bobby
You should do your meet greets before, though.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, I should. Because.
Bobby
Because then at the end of the show, you're done.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
And there's such relief. You don't need my advice. I change because I used to do that. But I just liked at the end of the show to be done, get my crap. If I want to go eat with my people, if I want to go find a fly home, I'm so.
Danae Hayes
I'm so weird about pre show anything. I won't let family, friends, or anybody come into the green room before the show because my energy is just so different. I think it might, it might throw me off in the odd chance that one of them says something that is weird or condescending right before I go out on stage. So I like to kind of keep all of the, the energy for after the show once I've already performed just because I'm so weird. Like even my dad, he'll be like, can we come back and see you in the green room? And I'm like, I'll see you after, dad.
Bobby
Pre show.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, pre show.
Bobby
Let's take a Quick pause for a message from our sponsor.
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Bobby
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Narrator
In the new podcast Hell in Heaven, two young Americans move to the Costa Rican jungle to start over. But one will end up dead, the other tried for murder not once. People went wild, not twice, stunned, but three times. John and Ann Bender are rich and attractive, and they're devoted to each other. They create a nature reserve and build a spectacular circular home high on the top of a hill. But little by little, their dream starts to crumble and our couple retreat from reality.
Bobby
They lose it. They actually lose it.
Danae Hayes
They sort of went nuts.
Narrator
Until one night, everything spins out of control. Listen to Hell in Heaven on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Bobby
And we're back on the Bobbycast. Where did you grow up in Alabama?
Danae Hayes
I grew up in a little town called Morris. It's like 30, 20, 30 minutes north of Birmingham. About 1100 people.
Bobby
Were you a lesbian there, baby?
Danae Hayes
I've been a lesbian for a long time.
Bobby
No, not what I mean, were you a lesbian where you were living in and people knew it?
Danae Hayes
No, no. I didn't come out until I was 24. But it was hard, Bobby, because I was, you know, I was dressing like Morgan Wallen, but trying to get a boyfriend. And that's really hard to do in Alabama, you know, But I was, I've known I was gay since I was like 8 years old. I didn't know what the word gay meant, you know, And I would, I would like see Rosie o' donnell on TV as a kid and be like, I can kind of see something there that reminds me of me, but not really. But like, we didn't use the word gay growing up in Alabama ever. And then I told my parents when I'd come home from second grade, I was like, hey, I don't really know what's going on with me, but I've noticed all the boys in my class like the girls and all the girls like the boys, but I like the girls. And so a couple of weeks after that conversation, I was taken to what's called conversion therapy, which I think, I don't know, it might be illegal now, but so I just strayed away from that topic completely after that conversation. I was like, I don't want to do anything that would bring shame to my family or embarrassment to me, so I'm going to stay completely away from that. And then once I graduated from college, I was like, man, there's no, like, there's no going back. Like, I'm as gay as a football bat. So I just was like, I'm going to tell my mom and dad.
Bobby
What is conversion therapy like in Alabama? I mean, at all. But I mean, in Alabama it feels like it's extra conversy.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, it does, right? I don't really know if my conversion therapist was a legit therapist. He always sat in a recliner with his feet up when I walked in. And he always was eating a sandwich out of a Ziploc bag that his wife had sent him. And he was always just working on getting that white bread mayonnaise like unstuck from the roof of his mouth, you know. But he would always say, because I remember this, because he said it every single time. It was one on one therapy with me and this guy. And he would always look at me and he would say, denae, it is not a sin to think about robbing the bank, but it is a sin to rob it. And as an 8 year old or 9, 10, however old I was in second grade, I can remember being so confused because I was like, what did my parents tell him? I don't want to be a bank robber.
Bobby
Weird. Use analogies with an 8 or 9 year old.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, I was like, what is he talking about? I don't want to rob a bank. I like girls, you know, and so it was just a lot of, like, using, like, things like that to bring shame onto the idea of, like, acting out on it, if you will. I didn't go to him for a terribly long time, but I went to him long enough to where the things he said. I was at such an impressionable young age that, like, those things really. I mean, I'm 32 now, and I can still quote that thing that he said because he said it every single day.
Bobby
Did your parents feel like you were being converted in conversion therapy?
Danae Hayes
You know, I don't. I don't know if at that age they were too concerned about that. I think at that age they were just very protective of me. And I have a lot of empathy for my parents. I know there's a lot of people that want me to be so mad at them and, you know, speak ill of that time in my life. And this might be controversial or it might be like a hot take, but it was 1990 or 2000 ish and 1100 people in my small town. And they were truly, in their minds, I can understand even if they went about it in the wrong way, because I would do it differently if I had a kid. But in their minds, they had never been confronted with anything like that. And I think in their minds, they knew that if I was different than everybody in my class because there was not a single gay person, I think they were just like, we don't want to see our child who has such a big heart and wears her heart on her sleeve and truly has a love for life. Like, I'm such a happy person by nature. And I was that way as a kid. And I think they were just trying to protect me from being bullied or ostracized because my dad has told me a million times, he's like, yes. Did we go about it the wrong way? Absolutely. But I wanted you to be able to make that decision when you were emotionally equipped to deal with some of the hate and judgment that was going to come with it. Even though I don't think that hate and judgment was warranted, I would be stupid to think and delusional to think that it wouldn't happen. So I was trying to protect you in a way, but I went about it in a way that I shouldn't have.
Bobby
Do you and your dad still have a close relationship?
Danae Hayes
Oh, yeah. My dad's my best friend. My dad is absolutely just the greatest thing on earth as Far as I'm concerned.
Bobby
So I assume he's more accepting than.
Danae Hayes
Oh, yeah. If I told my dad I wanted him to hang a gay pride flag, he'd be like, oh, shit. But I'll do it. If that's what you need from me, I'll do it.
Bobby
When did that turn happen?
Danae Hayes
That happened about the time I. I'd come out about 24. So, you know, the first thing my dad said to me when I came out is he looked at me stone cold. And I thought he was about to be mean. He just looked at me and he said, well, baby, at least you can't get pregnant. And then he was like, good luck telling you, mama. You know? So he brought humor to it because that's helped me and him connect. And then ever since then, he's never made a sing a single comment that I felt was hurtful. So my dad's a great. My dad is a great example of just loving your child unconditionally.
Bobby
I think you're the best athlete that I know. And I know some good athletes. I know professional athletes. I do an NFL show with a former NFL quarterback. I still think you're the best athlete.
Danae Hayes
Bobby, that is so kind of you. That is the greatest compliment I can be given because I devoted so much of my life to that. So thank you for saying that.
Bobby
It's crazy. Like, we play golf. It's the last time I've actually played golf was the time I played with you. Some would say I quit because I got beat by you. Some would say I quit.
Danae Hayes
I quit because I won.
Bobby
I guess, like I. I new people that knew you. And we had talked on social media before and I didn't have to worry about DMing you and my wife seeing it because you're gay.
Danae Hayes
She was right.
Bobby
Who cares?
Danae Hayes
The best part.
Bobby
Yeah. And so I saw you playing, like, on a Tuesday afternoon, and so I just messaged you and I was like, hey, I don't have friends that can play midday afternoons either. My job's weird. So I do have like one o'. Clock. I can play golf sometimes on a weekday. And I was like, let's play. And we tried a couple times and you were gone. Or I was gone. And finally we got. We went and played and. And I've played with good female golfers. And I. This is going to offend somebody. I just don't know who. But you didn't even play from the women's tees. And I will, because I. There's like a part of me when I do play With. With women golfers, I always forget to stop at the red team.
Danae Hayes
Right, Right.
Bobby
Because most of the time, we don't play with women, and so we don't stop. We all play at the blues.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
Or the whites or. No, I never played tips. And so then we just always forget. And I'm always like, God dang it, I should have stopped at the red tees. And I thought, I'm going to play with Danae. I don't have to stop all the time at the red tees. No. Not only did I not have to stop at the red tees, you not play there. Like, you beat me, like, from the same tees. It was.
Danae Hayes
Why?
Bobby
And it wasn't just. And again, this. I hope this isn't, like, Roofy creepy, but, like, you move like such an athlete.
Danae Hayes
Thank you.
Bobby
Like, your body, your physiology is that of an athlete, where I'm just like, man, you're. And then I learned that you are also a Division 1 softball player and all, but, yeah, I think the best athlete I know.
Danae Hayes
That is very kind of you. Thank you. I. I just. Yeah. I would say athletics has always come extremely easy for me. I can move my body, like, how I want to move it, whether it's wakeboarding or golfing or softball, I just have a lot of control over my body. But it was never the thing I was the most passionate about, which is funny that. That's when people ask me, why did you get started in comedy in your 30s? And I'm like, well, the arts were not celebrated where I grew up. If you wanted to be celebrated and you wanted to be cool, you played. You played sports. So. But golf is something I've gotten into now that softball's over with, and I am so ultra competitive that it's. I'll go out and play with myself, and I just want to. I just want to beat my score yesterday. So I appreciate you saying that, because I really do love golf.
Bobby
She didn't beat me bad, by the way. I think. No, it was, like, 17 holes.
Danae Hayes
I was about to say, if somebody. If somebody's listening to this, they're like, oh, I'm gonna go play with Danae, and she's going to be a scratch golfer. Absolutely not.
Bobby
If you played from the red tees.
Danae Hayes
Probably when I was playing. So I don't play from the red tees because I only play with guys. And, like, that same thing every time I forget to tee off there or they pass it. So I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to play with them. And that way I can have better conversations with them because I'm not getting out at an awkward spot.
Bobby
Because a lot of the talk is on the tee box.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
Or the green.
Danae Hayes
Yeah. When I. When I was playing from the reds consistently and taking lessons, which is. That helped a bunch, but I was shooting in the 80s, like the. The low 80s pretty frequently. And then I stopped completely playing for like three years. And it's, you know, it's like riding a bicycle sometimes when it comes to driving, and then other times it's like the first time you've picked up a driver, it feels like. So it take. I have to be playing consistently to. To feel really good.
Bobby
I gotta imagine you were a really good high school softball player.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, in high school. In high school I was a shit Bobby. I ain't gonna lie. I. I think I. I hold the. I did hold the state record for most RBIs in a season. I think I had 77. And I was the only player from Alabama to be chosen to play in the. Ever to be played in the Under Armour All American Game. I think I had close to like 70. I want to say close to 70 career home runs.
Bobby
That's crazy.
Danae Hayes
But I was much bigger back then, too, which was. You didn't see a short stop at 170 pounds. I weigh like 128 now, but I was 100, like 65, 70 pounds consistently. And I could. I could just move really good laterally. And then when I got to Alabama, I was much better on defense than I was at the plate, which was so frustrating for me because again, I was known for being a power hitter. I was three. Four hole hitter. And then I got to Alabama and just completely had a mental breakdown at the plate for three out of the four years. But I held my own on defense. I think I had like. I think I had four ESPN top 10 plays on defense. So that's.
Bobby
That's crazy.
Danae Hayes
That's my. That's my claim to fame. When people look at my stats at Alabama, it doesn't tell the full story because I would like for them to pencil in four ESPN top 10 plays. That'd be really nice because then they see a 270 hitter at the plate and I'm like, ugh.
Bobby
Where did you play position? Yeah.
Danae Hayes
Shortstop. Well, my freshman year when we won the Natty, I was at second base. Hated it because it's like a foreign language. Going from shortstop to second. And then sophomore, junior, senior, I played short.
Bobby
You won national championship.
Danae Hayes
That's right. Yeah. Against Oklahoma.
Bobby
That's crazy.
Danae Hayes
Don't tell Patty. Don't rub it in Patty's face.
Bobby
I remember, um, I told dj, My brother in law, Patty's son, Gasso, I was like, yeah, play golf. And he was like, man, she was scrappy ball player. Like, he remembered you.
Danae Hayes
Okay. Also, because I. I wonder sometimes. I. I never had. I never had a. Like a big ego. I was very, like, when I played. I just. I wonder now, I'm like, I wonder if Patty. Patty remembers me.
Bobby
She remembers everybody.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
Yeah. I mean, she's that kind of coach.
Danae Hayes
Okay, good. Well, that makes me feel better.
Bobby
Every detail, every person, good or bad. Like, she.
Danae Hayes
I remember this one play, and I'll have to show you after, and I can send it to you. But I remember this one play. Ball was popped up in foul territory right behind the third base bag. I'm running over, just waving people off because it's an easy can of corn for the third baseman. She trips on the bag, and I look down out of the corner of my eye and I see her on the ground. And I'm like, oh, my God, I got to catch this ball. So I dart to go catch it. And as I'm about to catch it, Patty stands in the coaching box because she doesn't have to move. And she stands there and makes me catch this ball around her body. And after I caught it, I just remember her thinking, like, I could see her face and she was just like, how did she do that? And I wanted to be like, why didn't you move Patty?
Bobby
Like, dang, man, that is. I mean that. To have that many, even one ESPN top 10 play, even to be a Division 1 athlete, like, there's so many things. That's why I think. I think you're the best pure athlete that I know, and I didn't expect it.
Danae Hayes
Well, that'll be the biggest compliment I have received in 2025. So thank you.
Bobby
I also think you're very brave. And not even in, like, the typical things that people would be like, oh, you're so brave with, you know, coming out or being from the South. I just think you're brave to start doing comedy.
Danae Hayes
Thank you.
Bobby
Because without a comedy background, and I say this as somebody without a comedy background that just jumped in. It's. It's really hard.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
And you're way better than I was.
Danae Hayes
Well, that's very kind of you, but it's. You hit the nail on the head. It's. I was just talking to somebody about this yesterday. I don't know why I thought I could do this the way that I did it. But the first time I ever did stand up comedy was an hour headlining show, which I don't know now, or knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have signed up for that. But there is, you know, ignorance is bliss, and ignorance sometimes can give you delusion. And so I think not knowing how hard it was gonna be, or not knowing, like, the ebbs and flows of comedy, I was like, yeah, I'll do it. How hard can it be? You know? And I was just telling my girlfriend this last night. I was like, the secret ingredient for me and for anybody else that I've found to admire is you have to have a state of delusion in whatever you're doing. You. You have to be delusional. And I. I am 100 delusional.
Bobby
I just said a whole podcast about that. Like, the. The truly successful people that I know, the one thing they have in Common is delusion 100 that they think they can do it. Because without that, without the delusion of doing something that you've never done, like, you don't even try unless you're a little crazy.
Danae Hayes
Well, and I, when we played golf, we got to spend, like, four or five hours together, and I really got to know you that day. And. And I remember calling my dad after our round, and he was like, how did it go with Bobby? I was like, dad, he is so fascinating because he isn't afraid to try things. And I was like, I know this might sound cheesy because I'm bringing up, like, a dancing competition, and it may seem low stakes to the other things that you do in life, but I was fascinated that you were willing to sign up for that competition and win it, by the way, because that is. You're putting yourself out there every single night on live television doing something you've never done before, and you started it with zero confidence. And. But that. I was just really inspired after that round of golf with you because I was just like, he lives a life that I admire, that I want to do, and I want to be more like that. And I was like, wonder what that is that he has? And I was really thinking on that because I really study people. Like, I really. I'm always wanting to, like, level my life up. And I think the same thing I just said about that state of delusion and bravery is the same thing you've carried throughout your, you know, your whole career, is you really are not afraid to put yourself out there. You're not afraid for people to be like, why did he get that gig? And then you go out there and you show them why you got the gig. Like, I've just been very.
Bobby
What job are you talking about specifically?
Danae Hayes
The American Idol thing, to me, I thought was just like, I would have been scared shitless to take that, because even though you're so well versed in music, that, to me, was just a completely different thing than other things that you've done. And you're also having to stand side by side with Ryan Seacrest, who's been doing that for decades. And that could have been very intimidating, and I'm sure it was, but you knocked it out of the park. And then I saw your recent podcast about the leverage you had after you initially signed a particular contract per episode, after they saw what you could do and how awesome you did it, you were able to leverage that into a business opportunity. And I just. I'm very. And I'm not, you know, I'm not trying to, like, boost your ego right now, but I'm very fascinated with how you've done things in this business. And it's been something that I'm trying to kind of take a feather from your cap and.
Bobby
Thanks. That's nice. I can't wait for you to do Dancing with the Stars.
Danae Hayes
I would love that. Although I really. I really hope they don't make me wear heels, but I know I will. That would be the hardest thing for me, is not the dancing. It'd be learning how to walk in heels.
Bobby
That's the one thing that's funny. I did see you signed with a new agent.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, well, I've been with them now for two years. They were a little slow on the press release.
Bobby
That's the slowest press release I've ever seen.
Danae Hayes
I think they were waiting to see if I was going to get canceled. They were like, we're going to try and give her two years of not being canceled. If she can make it for two years, then we'll announce it, we'll put her name on it.
Bobby
It was Danae had signed. Was it CA? Yeah, I remember that because that's. I was with CA for, like, 10 years and loved them. And it was like, for, you know, other opportunities, which, you know, when I look at your career, it's like, not. I'm surprised that you want to do that stuff. It's like, of course. Like, what can you not do?
Danae Hayes
Thank you.
Bobby
Because there's nothing really that. The hardest thing is getting up on stage of everything that I've ever Done. The hardest thing is getting up on stage, blank, blank canvas, and just. You just. It's just. You go ahead and entertain for 50, 55 minutes.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
That's. If you can do that. I'm convinced you can do anything, especially when it comes to the creative world. Like, if you can do medium standup comedy.
Danae Hayes
I agree.
Bobby
You can do anything.
Danae Hayes
I agree. Because there's. There's a lot of people that I'll be in the room with that I'm like, I think they're funnier than I am. Why aren't they doing standup? And then I start again. I go back to that analyzing thing, and it's a. They're really funny when there's things to interact with. But you're right with standup, there's nobody out there interacting with you unless you're doing crowd work. You literally are having to create something out of thin air with nobody talking to you. And, yeah, it's challenging, but I'm addicted to it.
Bobby
Yeah. Especially that feeling of when you try a joke for the first time and it hits. That's the greatest feeling. Because how I would do my set was. I know that everybody out there is excited for the night. And the first 12 minutes are free. They're there. It doesn't matter what I say. Right. They're there. They're gonna laugh at everything. For the first about 12 minutes. There's going to be a point where now they have paid their money for their ticket, and so they expect to be entertained. Not just on the premise that we're all here together.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
And I kind of. I could kind of feel where that was. And so that's where I would try my first. Okay, let's see if this works.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
And when I would get that non reaction, that's when I knew it was on.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
I have to earn everything from here. That was kind of the most exciting part of the night. Now, sometimes it didn't feel great, but it was always when it didn't work, because it didn't always work. Most of the times it didn't work at first if it was something new, but it was always the most exciting because I had to earn it from that point on. So when it did hit, God, it felt it was awesome. And then if it didn't hit, I had stuff I could go to. I go right back to the. To the. For sure home runs.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
Because I didn't want to put out two turds in a row.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
So I'd go right back to the home runs. But, man, when you try something new and there's like a half second of hesitation where you're waiting to see if they laugh and they do. It's, it's like a sprinkle of joy in my stomach that I remember like, oh my God, that works. And it will always work.
Danae Hayes
Yes. Yeah, it's, it's this dopamine.
Bobby
Yes, for sure.
Danae Hayes
Where. And that's that, that's that addicting feeling. And I mean, I try stuff out like, and I know you do this too. Like if, if we're in like a, like a group setting and I know I have a show the next day and I want to try something new, I'll try it out that night as long as it makes sense to put it into the room. And if they get a, a laugh out of it, then that builds a little confidence. And then I'm like, oh, I'm for sure telling this one tomorrow. Cuz I know if I word it just like I did that and I, you know, segue into it like that, I, I can get a laugh from it.
Bobby
The Bobby Cast we'll be right back.
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Narrator
In the new podcast Hell in Heaven, two young Americans move to the Costa Rican jungle to start over. But one will end up dead, the other tried for murder. Not once.
Danae Hayes
People went wild, failed.
Narrator
Not twice, stunned, but three times. John and Anne Bender are rich and attractive and they're devoted to each other. They create a nature reserve and build a spectacular circular home high on the top of a hill. But little by little, their dream starts to crumble and our couple retreat from reality.
Bobby
They lose it. They actually lose it.
Narrator
They sort of went nuts until one night, everything spins out of control. Listen to Hell in Heaven on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Bobby
All I know is what I've been told and that to have truth is a whole lie.
Maggie Freeling
For almost a decade, the murder of an 18 year old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved until a local homemaker, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.
Bobby
I'm telling you, we know Quincy killed her.
Maggie Freeling
We know a story that law enforcement used to convict six people and that got the citizen investigator on national tv.
Johnny Knoxville
Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran.
Maggie Freeling
My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist producer, and I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find.
Bobby
I did not know her and I did not kill her or rape or.
Danae Hayes
Burn or any of that other stuff.
Bobby
That y' all said.
Danae Hayes
They literally made me say that I took a match and struck and threw it on her. They made me say that I poured gas on her.
Maggie Freeling
From Lava for good. This is Graves County, a show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame.
Bobby
America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people and small towns.
Maggie Freeling
Listen to Graves county in the Bone Valley feed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to binge the entire season ad free, subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.
Bobby
This is the Bobbycast I would again because I wasn't great at just writing non stop material. Well, mostly because I had other jobs too, right? So I couldn't just focus on material. I wouldn't want to be recording my show. So I did no phones because it was mostly because of my insecurity. I didn't want something up that wasn't good because I wasn't good enough to have up stuff that wasn't good. And do you have any issue with phones at your shows?
Danae Hayes
Yeah, I mean, we make an announcement. I don't want to do those yonder bags where people have to do it because I know, I hate that whenever I have to go to a show like that, but we make an announcement from the jump, they still do it. And unfortunately, several months ago, one of my biggest jokes that I had written like it was one of those jokes where like the entire set is written around that joke and she posted it on TikTok and it got several hundred thousand views within the first day. And luckily, I was able to. To message her. And I said, hey, can you please take this down? Like, I appreciate the support, and it means so much to me, but I have to tell this same joke for 20 more shows, and I don't want to have to rework that. So she took it down immediately. The very next weekend, I go out again. It only had 200,000 views, but that's still 200,000 people. And I go out. I'm starting to set the joke up. I have a brief pause before I say the punchline, and then somebody yells the punchline. And I was like, oh, my gosh. So I had to re. Rewrite that. That entire bit. And now if somebody has their phone up, I'll just be like, hey, baby, can we turn that phone down? Because I got to tell this joke 20 more times, you know? And then everybody puts their phone down.
Bobby
There was a moment that we would say at the end, we'll let everybody get their phone. Because everybody just wants to also document the experience.
Danae Hayes
Right?
Bobby
Like, I'm here at the show, and we'd be like, okay, in the last five minutes, I'm gonna let everybody pull their phones out, and you can do whatever you want. But, yeah, I just didn't want my mid material. Cause that's what it was. Very mid getting out. Cause it's all I had.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
And so I think that's a. That's really hard for a comic now because you can't do those jokes over and over again, right. Unless it's like a really famous, famous joke, like the hot pocket joke, like a Gaffigan, where people demand that joke.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
You really can't do it.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
Have you. Whenever you're done, are you just trash. Are you putting the whole thing out and then gonna have to rewrite a new hour?
Danae Hayes
Yeah, I'm definitely gonna have to re. Rewrite for next year, but I don't think I'm gonna package it as a special. Instead, the formula that works for me is social clips. So I'll just dice up each. Each joke into a. Into a social clip. But this past weekend, I had somebody film. I sing two songs, two original songs in my set. And the sound guy, bless his heart, I don't think this was intentional at all. But he muted I sing to backtracks, so you get lost in the sauce if you can't hear those backtracks. And he muted my wedges completely, both the tracks and my voice. And I'm trying to Stay one beat ahead of the house music that I can hear. And he did it for both songs. And there was like 15 cameras up. And the whole time I'm singing, I'm like, this is where they post it and everything goes to hell. Like, I'm having that internal dialogue. So as soon as I finished the song, I was like, I am so sorry about that, guys. That's what happens when you can't hear yourself sing. Just to let them know, I promise I'm not that bad.
Bobby
You know what? Probably they didn't even notice.
Danae Hayes
Maybe not. Yeah.
Bobby
Like, I've noticed the times where I felt like it was a bad show. It doesn't have to be that. It could be a bad anything that nobody else really thought that nearly to the level that I did because I'm inside of it.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
And I think that has been the one thing throughout my career that I think that that has made me. Because I, again, I was very delusional at the start. There were no arts where I came from, a small town in Arkansas. You didn't. There weren't arts.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
You again, were an athlete. And I was only an okay athlete. So I didn't get that. Luckily, I was smart and. But that wasn't celebrated. It just kind of got me out of there.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
But I would notice that when I would fail or I would bomb or I would miss or I'd have a show that didn't work out, that nobody cared.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
And so there was freedom in that.
Danae Hayes
Absolutely. And at the beginning, I struggled with that. Cause I'm like, I did not deliver that joke or that 20 minute bit the way that I usually do. And then I'm having that internal dialogue and then a friend of mine comes to the green room and says, oh, my God, that joke you did tonight about X, Y and Z, which is the one I was struggling with. Dude, freaking funny. And I'm like, okay, I gotta have. I gotta have a little bit longer of a leash for myself and know that everything's good.
Bobby
Who are your friends? Like your. Your known friends? Do you have country music friends?
Danae Hayes
I have, yes, I have friends in country music. But I would say, like, a lot of my friends, like My Ride or Dies are not musical artists.
Bobby
But who are your famous friends?
Danae Hayes
My famous friends, I would say Ella Langley, Laney Wilson Briley and Marcus King. Ashley Cook, because she has to be my friend because I'm dating her sister now. Every time I've been around Jelly and Bunny, they're. They. They act like they've known me for 20 years, and I've probably only met them seven or eight times.
Bobby
But who's your oldest famous friend?
Danae Hayes
My oldest famous friend. That.
Bobby
They probably weren't even famous when you became friends with them.
Danae Hayes
Laney. Yeah. Laney. Laney. I don't know if you. You could have probably asked a 100 people in this town, hey, do you know Lanie Wilson? And maybe 15 of them would have been like, I've heard that name. I met her on a bar at Winners and Losers several years ago, and she had her hair on top of her head in a. In a messy bun, no makeup on. And I walked up to her, and I was like, hey, I'm Denae. She's like, I'm Lainey Wilson. And I was like, I feel like I've heard your name. She's like, yeah, you probably have. I've written some songs. And then all of a sudden, her boyfriend comes around the corner. And I go, devlin. And he goes, danae. And I was like, what are you doing here? He's like, ask my girlfriend, Laney. And I was like, oh, I just met her. Come to find out, me and Devlin went to the same high school together in nowhere, Alabama. And so, yeah, Lane and Laney. I'm telling you, I was just talking about this. Laney is literally the sweetest human being of anybody I know. Like, I don't. I don't think she knows. Like, when she's in a social interaction, I don't think she knows that people are literally ooing and awing over being in the same room as her, because she just feels so down to earth. And as the same girl, I know today is the same girl I met at Winners and Losers.
Bobby
How did you get to know Ella Langley?
Danae Hayes
Ella and I met at the People's Choice Awards, and we just hit it off. We're just two peas in a pod. She's, you know, also from Alabama and got a funny sense of humor. And so she turned around. She was sitting in the pew in front of me. She turned around and she was like, I know you. And I was like, I know you. And she's like, you know what we need to do? We need to get together and do some dumb shit. And I said, hell, yeah, we do. And so me and Herb just been really good friends ever since then and filmed some dumb shit together for sure. And, yeah, she's. She's a good egg. She's. I say it on camera, too. Ella's crazy. She knows she is. And I'm crazy. And I know I am. And that's why we're good friends.
Bobby
Why did you move here?
Danae Hayes
I moved here because property taxes were too high in Austin.
Bobby
Thought that.
Danae Hayes
Yeah. And I wanted to be closer to my dad. My dad's two and a half hours away.
Bobby
Were you living in Austin?
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
So was I. Yeah. Not at the same time. I mean, we both came from there. Property taxes were too high?
Danae Hayes
Yeah, 2.99%. I was paying $1,200 a month on a $400,000 house. So if I even had that house completely paid off, which I didn't, I was still paying a mortgage on a house.
Bobby
You know, property tax is always just a weird thing in general. Like you continue to pay on something you already own, especially when you get old. Like, there should be a cutoff because it sucks that old people still have to pay taxes if they're retired and they don't have money coming in.
Danae Hayes
Well, my grandmother gets that in Alabama. I don't know if it's just Alabama.
Bobby
So what is it?
Danae Hayes
So she's completely property tax free. However, her property tax a year is, I think, $600. So I don't know if they're doing that in Austin or not. But yeah, it. It was just too expensive to live there. Which sounds funny because now I live in Nashville, and it's pretty darn expensive, too, but in better ways.
Bobby
Why? But why now? You could have moved anywhere. You could have moved to la. You could have moved to New York. You could have moved.
Danae Hayes
I lived out in California for two years and I'm just so Southern. I can talk to anybody. And I crave that. When the waitress sits your coffee down, I'm annoying. I won't. I want to hear about her grandkids. Like, I just. I get a lot of fulfillment from small talk and human connectivity. And so I had a hard time with that out in California. Austin was a very friendly place, but I also really wanted to be closer to my dad. So it was nice that I could live in a really cool urban city with a lot of things happening, even though I wasn't doing anything in the entertainment business, but also scoot down and see him if I needed to.
Bobby
It's got a few minutes left, but do you. It's still weird to me that I make a lot of money doing something that's like, with my brain.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
Because nobody did stuff with the brain where I come from. You worked at the mill. You worked. Is that still weird for you?
Danae Hayes
Oh, yeah, yeah. Because my dad, he's a blue collar construction guy. He doesn't make money if it rains. You know, he makes money by having a shovel in his hand. And if he, if his body's not aching when he crawls on the bed that night, that's a bad sign because he didn't put any money in the bank. And so for me, it's very weird to know that I'm being able to make money without busting my butt out in 90 degree weather in Alabama. So I'm very self aware of that. And I'm like over the moon that I have the opportunity to do something I love that happens to not be ball busting and allows ball busting in a different way, but not physically.
Bobby
Yeah, that's good. In a different way.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
It's hard to explain the different way, though. I don't feel like I can complain about my job to people that grew up like I did.
Danae Hayes
Yeah.
Bobby
Because I think the complaint is so different. And I've done both, so I understand the complaints to both. And so, yeah, unless it's somebody that I know can understand, like the mental grind, it's like, not even worth it because I would be like, shut up. Why are you whining? You're whining because your little brain hurts because you can't think of something funny.
Danae Hayes
I know, I know.
Bobby
It's such a weak. I would, I would just be like, bobby, shut up. Why are you. You don't you come up with jokes or things to talk about. That's not real.
Danae Hayes
I know. And I find myself when I'm. When I am having a hard day, like an anxious day, and I'm talking to my dad about it, I'm like, I. I don't really want to be talking to him about this right now because his hard day looks a lot different than mine. They're both hard, but in their different ways. And so I try to have self awareness of, of that.
Bobby
What's your most recent, like, pinch me moment? We were like, wow, this is so cool, man.
Danae Hayes
I would say the Grand Ole Opry debut was pretty, pretty on up there. I had a custom suit made that was red in honor of one of my favorite southern comics, Jerry Clower, because he always performed there in a red suit. And I was like, this is really crazy. I've seen a million clips of Jerry Clower in a red suit at the Grand Ole Opry. And when they called my name out and my dad was on the front row, I was like, holy cow, how the hell did we end up here?
Bobby
What's crazy about you saying that the first time I ever played the Opry, I told a Jerry Clower joke on purpose. Like I said it. I said, my grandma, who I used to watch the Opry with, was such a Jerry Clower fan. It's why I even know what the Opry is, right? And so I told comics don't cover jokes. But I said. And I said that. I said, but I'm going to tell a Jerry Clower joke because the only reason I'm here is because of my grandma. But that Jerry Clower was also like a part of what you saw the Grand Ole Opry to be because of your dad. That's pretty wild. Cause that's what I knew the Grand Ole Opry from was Jerry Clower and then all the music associated with it as well. But it was always comedy and whoo. Like Jerry Marcel. Yeah. Up on stage.
Danae Hayes
Yep.
Bobby
Yeah, that's funny.
Danae Hayes
Yeah, that, that. And so I'm watching my dad watch me with this sparkle in his eyes of like, holy cow. I literally played her so many Jerry Clower tapes and now I've influenced her enough to love that style of comedy that now she's getting to do that. That was having my dad front row, which, by the way, was not a comp ticket. They were gonna. The comp tickets, you know, are several rows back. My dad was so tickled pink, he bought an $800 Scout ticket for the Grand Ole Opry. I was like, dad, you didn't have to do that.
Johnny Knoxville
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Narrator
In the new podcast, Hell in Heaven. Two young Americans move to the Costa Rican jungle to start over. But one will end up dead, the other tried for murder not once people went wild. Not twice, stunned, but three times. John and Ann Bender are rich and attractive and they're devoted to each other. They create a nature reserve and build a spectacular circular home high on the top of a hill. But little by little, their dreams starts to crumble and our couple retreat from reality.
Bobby
They lose it. They actually lose it.
Danae Hayes
They sort of went nuts.
Narrator
Until one night, everything spins out of control. Listen to Hell in Heaven on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Bobby
All I know is what I've been told and that to have truth is a whole lie.
Maggie Freeling
For almost a decade, the murder of an 18 year old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved until a local homemaker, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.
Bobby
I'm telling you, we know Quincy killed her. We know.
Maggie Freeling
A story that law enforcement used to convict six people and that got the citizen investigator on national tv.
Johnny Knoxville
Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran.
Maggie Freeling
My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist producer. And I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find.
Bobby
I did not know her and I did not kill her or rape or.
Danae Hayes
Burn or any of that other stuff.
Bobby
That y' all said.
Danae Hayes
They literally made me say that I took a match and struck and threw it on her. They made me say that I poured gas on her.
Maggie Freeling
From Lava. For good. This is Graves County, a show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame.
Bobby
America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people and small towns.
Maggie Freeling
Listen to Graves county in the Bone Valley feed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.
Bobby
And we're back on the Bobbycast. Final question. Yeah, your YouTube channel. You have to make content constantly.
Danae Hayes
YouTube is the thing I hate the most. So I've kind of taken a break from YouTube. I do mostly short form now. As you know, long form is an animal. It's an animal.
Bobby
So in every way, make like that. Conceiving the idea, shooting it, editing it. Editing is just as hard getting the timing right as it is actually doing it.
Danae Hayes
Yep.
Bobby
Yeah. Because I was watching some of your Videos, not in the last couple weeks, but like when you were like combining all the foods and it just, it's a hard. It's a hustle.
Danae Hayes
It is such a hustle. And I've also found that I just don't consume a lot of YouTube. I consume a lot of short form and I think my brain just knows how that looks. And I felt like I was trying to like find a needle in a haystack on YouTube and I was trying to force myself to watch YouTube, but. But I never could get through a full video because I don't consume it. So I was like, you know what, let's just stick to what we know. Maybe if my agent's watching this because he really wants me to get on YouTube, maybe I'll circle the wagons back. But for now, I just love short form so much.
Bobby
Do you want to act?
Danae Hayes
Yes. Yep. No, that's. That is literally. I would give up everything. Like literally everything. I'd give up my entire bank account. I'd give up every social media platform I have. I would give up stand up comedy if it led me to comedic TV and film roles. Because that is literally the thing I have dreamed about the most. Don't get me wrong, I love standup comedy. I'm addicted to it. Like I need it. But I've dreamed about being a comedic actor like Lucille Ball, Martin Lawrence, Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams playing characters in the same movie you're playing yourself. Like that has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl.
Bobby
How are you trying to get there?
Danae Hayes
Well, I have a self tape tonight.
Bobby
You do?
Danae Hayes
Yeah. So a lot of self taping and a lot of writing. I'm writing like a mad woman right now for TV and film because there's a lot of connections I've built over the last several years in writers in LA that initially have reached out to me for writing and not acting. But I'm finding a way to put myself in those groups.
Bobby
Yeah, I mean, all the ways are hard, but the easiest way to be involved in something is to create it yourself.
Danae Hayes
Exactly. Yeah. So I'm. That's what I'm doing. I'm like, if nobody's going to call, I'll. I'll create something where they have to call.
Bobby
Before you came in, we were talking about the tour. But just a reminder and we'll put it in the notes the first time tour till after Thanksgiving, then. Then you're done.
Danae Hayes
Yep.
Bobby
Then the clips come out.
Danae Hayes
And the clips come out.
Bobby
Follow Danae and go to Danae Hayes. Dot Com. This has been awesome, Bobby.
Danae Hayes
Thank you so much.
Bobby
Yeah, it's, it's. I. I've spent time with you as a human being, but it's sometimes, whenever people are just funny online, sometimes you don't get to know them as a human because you're just gonna like. You want views, I want views. And if I'm sitting here just talking about something people aren't interested in or that they don't come to me for, they're not gonna watch it.
Danae Hayes
Right.
Bobby
So I like to sit with people who are just known as being like, super funny or. And just talking. And this has been super cool for me.
Danae Hayes
Thank you, Bobby. Me too. This has been a highlight of my month.
Bobby
No, life.
Danae Hayes
Life. Yeah, my life.
Bobby
I think that'll go.
Danae Hayes
I was gonna say. Yeah. Sorry, not. No, not month.
Bobby
Yeah, no, life. Yeah, for sure. And many more lives. There she is. Danae Hayes.
Johnny Knoxville
Thanks for listening to a BobbyKast production. Hello, America's sweetheart. Johnny Knoxville here. I want to tell you about my new true crime podcast, Crimeless Hillbilly Heist from Smartless Media, Campside Media and big money players. It's a wild tale about a gang of high functioning nitwits who somehow pulled off America's third largest cash heist.
Danae Hayes
Kind of like Robin Hood, except for the part where he steals from the rich and gives to the poor.
Bobby
I'm not that generous.
Johnny Knoxville
It's a damn near inspiring true story for anyone out there who's ever shot for the moon, then just totally muffed up the landing.
Bobby
They stole $17 million and had not bought a ticket to help him escape. So we're sitting like, oh God, what do we do?
Danae Hayes
What do we do?
Bobby
That was dumb.
Danae Hayes
People, do not follow my example.
Johnny Knoxville
Listen to Crimeless Hillbilly Heist on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Maggie Freeling
The murder of an 18 year old girl in Graves County, Kentucky, went unsolved for years until a local housewife, a journalist, and a handful of girls came forward with a story.
Bobby
America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns.
Maggie Freeling
Listen to Graves county on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.
Danae Hayes
In early 1988, federal agents raced to track down the gang they suspect of importing millions of dollars worth of heroin.
Sponsor/Ad Voice
Into New York from Asia.
Bobby
Had 30 agents ready to go with shotguns and rifles. And you name it.
Danae Hayes
Five, six white people pushed me in the car. I'm going, what the hell?
Bobby
Basically, your stay at home moms were picking up these large amounts of heroin.
Danae Hayes
All you gotta do is receive the package. Don't have to open it, just accept it. She was very upset, crying.
Bobby
Once I saw the gun, I tried to take his hand and I saw.
Danae Hayes
The flash of light. Listen to the Chinatown sting on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.
Date: October 24, 2025
Host: Bobby Bones (Premiere Networks)
Guest: Danae Hays
Episode 548 features Danae Hays, a multidimensional creator who rose to prominence through viral videos, comedy, and an impressive athletic background. This candid conversation explores her career evolution from real estate and Beachbody to comedy, her viral moments, dramatic fan interactions, family, LGBTQ+ experiences in the rural South, and her aspirations for TV and film.
Getting Roofied by a Fan (04:15–07:36)
Arrest at Her Show (16:29–19:21)
Rowdy Meet & Greets
First Viral Video (2021):
“[I] prank phone called a taxidermist in Alabama...and…within a week, it had like 21 million views.” — Danae Hays (12:03)
TikTok Creator Fund (13:14–14:34)
Material & Online Comedy
Growing Up in Rural Alabama (29:22–35:32)
Parental Perspective:
Starting Standup Without Open Mics
Delusion as the Key to Success
Preparation & Performance
The conversation is honest, humorous, self-deprecating, warm, and often raw—reflecting both Danae’s authenticity and Bobby’s supportive curiosity. Both share insights about small-town upbringings, the struggles and joys of breaking into entertainment, and the sometimes surreal nature of internet and live fame.
This episode offers a deep dive into the unconventional and inspiring journey of Danae Hays—from rural Alabama and college athlete stardom to comedic virality and dreams of Hollywood. With infectious humor and unflinching candor, Danae discusses wild touring stories, the dangerous side of fan interactions, handling internet fame, the weirdness of material burn, and the importance of delusion and bravery in chasing creative dreams. Her reflections on family, authenticity, and connecting with audiences are both moving and riotously funny, making this episode a must-listen for fans of comedy, athlete-turned-creators, and those forging their own path in entertainment.