We recently connected with Shaine O. Laine and have shared our conversation below.
Shaine O. , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about how you identified some of your key partners/vendors and how you made those relationships work?
There is only one official comedy club in Charlotte, NC. If local comedians aren’t in that circle of performing there then we have to outsource to breweries, bars, restaurants. One producer had comedy shows at a barber shop, and I even produce shows in what used to be a church! I expect a smite will come down at the best comedic moment at some point, but until then we will keep doing comedy wherever people are willing to laugh.
It’s also important to find a support group of people with similar aspirations. “If you want to go far, then you can’t go alone,” so finding key partners is about finding other comedians or producers who love the craft and the work ethic. Being able to support and cheer for someone doing their thing and not getting jealous or fearful of your losing your own thing is how a network of professionals can be built. Be your biggest supporter, but also be that to your colleagues.
I focus on finding stages for voices that have typically gone unheard. Most people know of comedy being a man’s game, so many minority acts go unnoticed or even don’t get an opportunity at all. AQRONYM Entertainment specializes in promoting queer talent though we also make it a priority to work with female and PoC entertainers.
What I know now is the struggle of being both the artist and the business owner because those are two different hats. My creative side runs wild with opportunity and imagination, yet my business mind has to reign things in when considering how to make the audience experience better. I feel that’s why a lot of venues take in the challenge of hosting a comedy night. You never know what you’re going to get when someone gets behind a mic and is supposed to tell jokes to a diverse crowd. Not everyone is going to like everything, but now after doing this for a few years, I feel I am better with tailoring experiences to individual people.
Shaine O. , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Shaine Laine, and I am a stand-up comedian based out of Charlotte, NC. I pursued the entertainment industry after being let go from my first job out of college. As I sat on my couch, Saturday Night Live was playing and whomever the celebrity host was did not bring it. They were awful! I cannot remember who it was, but I do remember saying, “I can do better.” I have pursued comedy since that day in 2016. Granted, I got my butt kicked the very first time I hit an open mic. Comedy wasn’t as easy as it seemed, and I felt that I should have personally written a letter to that SNL host. I didn’t perform again until 2018. Five minutes of a bad set humbled me to embarrassment and took two years off my drive.
When I finally got back on stage, I was dealing with a lot of personal things. I had to move back in with my mom, and at that time of being twenty-four, I thought my life was over. No one wants to move back in with their parentals, especially after having a taste of freedom through college. Yet I didn’t do anything with my college opportunity. The ‘real world’ sent my butt packing, so having to move back home had me feeling like I was in high school second edition. I had to get my act together.
I hit the comedy scene in Charlotte, and the first time I ever came out as transgender was in front of a forty person crowd. Luckily, I had the advantage of being, at the time, the only trans male comedian in the area, so my market was vast! But lonely. I experienced first hand the rejection of opportunities all for being who I am as a person. Even once, I had to be escorted to my car after a set because both host and venue didn’t think I would make it out alone without running into disgruntled bar patrons. I wanted to make sure that future queer and racially diverse comedians who were brave enough to get on stage would have the opportunity, space, and safety to joke about their lives.
That’s what I do for the talent. For audience members, we want to make sure their experience is unlike any other they have had at a comedy club. QC Hilarity, a venue under AQRONYM Entertainment, is in its early stages of development. We have goals of becoming the leading comedic experience in the Queen City by brining in varying talent from all across the country as well as having an aesthetically based space for the audience to experience hospitality.
AQRONYM provides a space through QC Hilarity for the stressed millennial professional to break away from their overworked reality with laughter in an inclusive environment so that they can feel capable of understanding the world.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Social media is not my strongest skill, which is a tough thing to deal with in this world of digital creation. I wouldn’t say that I built an online audience because I unfortunately don’t interact. I went from a thousand TikTok followers to 20k overnight, and honestly, I did not handle that pressure well. I know I dropped the ball on this opportunity because I had yet to acknowledge the balance it takes to perform what you want to do with the wants of your viewers. Frankly, I still don’t know the secrets, but I have been studying. That may also be my weakness- over preparation. People look for authenticity when scrolling through socials, and any sort of planning seems to take away that natural communication that people crave. I have been reading a book called ‘KNOWN: The Handbook for Building and Unleashing Your Personal Brand in the Digital Age” by Mark Schaefer, and I plan to be on the other side of this question in time.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I want to have fun. That statement seems so naïve and innocent, yet ‘fun’ has become scarce over time. Everyone has a different definition when it comes to ‘having fun.’ Some people read a book, some go to the club, many others do a number of other things. To me, laughter feels like the only universal language, so seeing others light up and enjoying themselves is where my fun lies.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @shaineolaine
- Facebook: AQRONYM Entertainment
- Linkedin: Shaine Laine
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC25znFWxO4OZa_fGetvrefQ
- Other: TikTok: @shaineolaine
Image Credits
Bobby Kerns Productions