Heather McMahan Is Building Her Comedy Empire One Aperol Spritz at a Time

Follow comedian Heather McMahan on social media for just a few days and you'll get a sense of her brand: She loves Old Navy (she says the Rockstar jeans show off her “thin ankles”), favors White Claw or an Aperol spritz (yep, that's the sunset-colored cocktail in the logo for her podcast Absolutely Not), and has an encyclopedic knowledge of Britney Spears's life and career. In a recent Instagram video, she showcases the Cool Ranch Doritos she sneaked into a wellness retreat. In another she announces, blond half ponytail high on her head, that she's trading "hot girl summer" for "Shih Tzu season” this fall. She also has this thing about Karens and Sheryls: “Karen is the kind of woman who’d be like, ‘You know, maybe if you just tried counting your macros, you’d lose weight.’ Sheryl wants to throw in her two cents about what you need to do to fix your life but is kind of an internet troll.”

McMahan, in short, has become the poster girl of sorts for women who find the humor in everyday life. Trips to Trader Joe's, Kris Jenner impressions, PMS—it's all fodder for McMahan's comedy. And at all times she is unapologetically herself. Even if that self is presented as what she calls a "high-functioning hot mess." Ask the 32-year-old what her brand is, though, and she'll take it a step further: “I roast myself,” she tells me. “That’s my brand.”

Regardless, McMahan treats her life and comedy like an open book. And now it seems like you can read that book everywhere. In addition to her podcast and 355,000 (and counting) Instagram followers, she's spent this year appearing on Today With Hoda & Jenna, taking the stage to host Bustle's Rule Breakers Festival, and embarking on her inaugural nine-show "Farewell Tour." (You know, in case it didn’t go well.)

She didn't have to worry about that last one: Throughout the South this past September, crowds of women descended on theaters for the sold-out shows and announced their arrival with hashtags like #ThickNeckThinAnkles, #WellnessUpdate, and #DoingTheLeast—mainly to inspire FOMO in the friends not lucky enough to snag tickets but also in homage to what Today has named the comedian's "McMannerisms."

“She’s like the best girlfriend you’ve ever had, and she lets you embrace being your ridiculous self,” says Lisa Hellerstedt, who attended an Atlanta stop of the tour with four friends. “We started at my place with Aperol spritzes. It was so loud [in the theater] that my eardrums were going numb from all the screaming, cheering, and laughter.”

Kelsey Crane also had tickets in Atlanta and coordinated her outfit around McMahan. “One of Heather’s favorite stores is Old Navy,” Crane explains. “She often talks about how she’s an Old Navy girl and how they should sponsor her because they’re the perfect fit for her ‘thick neck and thin ankles,’ so me and my friends wore Old Navy graphic tees.” She adds that they “popped some White Claw” before the show, in McMahan's honor.

So, yes, McMahan's brand is strong. So strong, in fact, that Old Navy recently came calling with an invitation to visit its headquarters in the Bay Area. “They told me they got such crazy messages from my followers,” McMahan says. “Like, ‘She’s your number one fan, why isn’t she on every billboard?’ They felt as if they had to bring me in, or someone was going to burn the place down. I feel like Ariana Grande.”

It’s a far distance from where McMahan was a few years ago. After the loss of her father to cancer in December 2015, she left behind Los Angeles and her fledgling acting career—think credits in made-for-TV movies like Bride to Maybe and Merry Ex-Mas—to move in with her mother, Robin, in Atlanta. It was supposed to be a temporary living arrangement to help her mom and sister, Ashley, adjust and grieve, but it lasted until this past summer, when McMahan moved to New York with her fiancé, Jeff Daniels. (No, not that Jeff Daniels—hers is an engineer.)

“When I moved home, I was in 100% survival mode,” McMahan tells me. “I had a wonderful relationship with my dad. He was the love of my life."

She says she went through "a deep depression" for about a year following his death—something that intensified her career frustrations. "I'd spent the last nine years going on auditions for roles I wasn’t right for, driving across L.A. traffic from Hollywood to Santa Monica at 5 p.m. on a Friday for a role you know they already gave to someone else," she says. "Your soul leaves your body at one point.”

Thinking she was done with comedy and acting forever, McMahan applied for a flight attendant position with Delta Airlines. But they said…no. So she took the rejection as a sign: Stick with what you’re good at. “I’m a liability and probably would have been sent to HR on the first day anyway,” she jokes. Now? They’re a sponsor.

Around this time McMahan started talking more about her hustles and struggles on Instagram, using her now signature self-deprecating brand of humor. She soon found a community of like-minded people—some who had also lost a loved one, others could just relate to McMahan's struggle of wanting to do "the most, and the least, at the same damn time."

McMahan used her background in improv sketch comedy and style of storytelling comedy to open up about her daily triumphs and fails. One example of this: “I talk about my emergency weight,” she says. “Everyone has this weight where you don’t fit into any of your clothes. I haven’t had kids, but I have a C-section scar from the zipper pushing into my stomach. Everybody’s had that season like, ‘How did I get here?’"

"In this day and age, it’s body positivity all the time," she continues. "I’m here for it—and thank God I can finally book roles—but I also want to have honest conversations about how the wellness update is that I’m unwell. Like, I’m sweating in my apartment with the AC on, pacing, or in the Wendy’s drive-through and drinking Chardonnay every night just to get through life.”

Using Instagram to talk about these things became a form of catharsis for her—and, of course, it grew her following. McMahan jokes that her fiancé and family are enjoying the benefits of her rising profile. “Jeff likes to pretend he’s fazed, but don’t let him fool you that he’s not eating it up,” she says. “When the camera hits Jeff, he finds his light. My mom would push me in front of a bus if it meant she got to star in the show. Robin is riding my coattails.” [Editor’s note: At the Atlanta show, Crane tells me, “Robin came out before the show started and was thriving with all the attention from the audience. It was everything.”] McMahan says her sister, an attorney, is constantly worrying about what she’ll have to “fix legally” for the comedian. “It’s a mixture of fear, excitement, and jealousy.”

Fortunately for McMahan's fans (though maybe unfortunately for her lawyer sister), the comedian's career continues to reach new heights. She'll soon be announcing 20 more tour dates through the end of the year. Even more will follow in 2020. She also tells me she's manifesting the idea of her own TV show. On top of all that, she's busy planning her wedding in Italy for next summer. ("Hopefully, Jeff and I don't kill each other before then.") Oh, and what about that rumored partnership with Old Navy? “Wink, wink," she says. "Hope they call me.”

Allison Duncan is a writer covering culture, entertainment, lifestyle, interior design, beauty, women’s issues, and more.

Originally Appeared on Glamour