Interview with Shelly Belly Comedy

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of sitting down and talking to Michelle Rider aka Shelly Belly Comedy from TikTok. And let me just say, she is an extremely funny human being! It was such a joy sitting down and talking to her. I wanted everyone that is coming to San Antonio to get the opportunity to know her a little bit better and what she is about. We were talking about her sense of humor, and she told me that lately a lot of people are trying to say she’s trying to be like “Southern Mama” and that she is faking her accent. Her response to that was this: “I’m from a state that has SOUTH in it. I couldn’t fake this if I wanted to.” And trust me, I’m from South Carolina, she isn’t lying! I asked her about her style of comedy, and this is what she told me: “I wanted, like, when I first started this, I wanted to do something that people could relate to. And I wanted to say things that people really want to say, but they don’t. Because we’re in the “woke” culture, right? So, nobody wants to say nothing to hurt anybody’s feelings, but I don’t give a shit. I don’t and so I couldn’t say it to somebody, so I had to create my characters to say it to you.” I started talking to her about some of her characters that she has in her videos and her talking about “The dollar general” stores which led us down a rant about family dollar. “Family dollars even better I can’t even talk about Family Dollar. Yeah, it’s like they just want you to come in with a damn box cutter and just open shit up yourselves. What’s it this box? It’s just like you know a free for all! You are just like ‘Haleigh! Do you have any laundry soap? Here take his box cutter and go back here and open up at the box and let’s get it out!”

I asked her what got her into comedy next. How did she get that itch to know it’s what she wanted to do: “I actually, you know, I tell this in one of my comedy skits. So, my dad, who has passed before I started doing standup, unfortunately, my dad who stuttered horribly. Okay, my dad stuttered. Like, you couldn’t understand anything he’d say in hardly. But he loved to tell jokes. He was a truck driver. So, he would come in off the road, and he would tell these jokes, obviously, you couldn’t understand a damn thing he was talking about. And you knew it was a joke whenever he would bend over and just start laughing crazy and he’d slap his leg and you were like, What the hell was that about? And so, then he took me to go see Jerry Clowers, who was a comedian from many moons ago. I’m telling my age now. And I went to go see him when I was a little girl. And I just watched this man on stage and watched all these people laughing and just there was no being -I was raised up in a criminal, domestic violent home. So, at that very moment, no, I was like, nobody’s thinking about anything but laughing. And I always used to get, you know, get sticks from outside or, you know, get my little Easy Bake Oven thing that you shove inside with a little cake. And I get it act like I’m telling jokes and stuff like that. And so, I always knew that’s w ow, that’s how we do it in the south. We, you know, we do untraditionally we just get knocked up and hope that we get a baby’s daddy. But so, I realized that, you know, I always want to do it. And then, like I said, I had children, and then you know, had a family. So, I wasn’t fortunate enough, like a lot of young comedians to start out in their 20s. Right, or in their 30s. I waited till later on, in, you know, I’m 54. So, it just, it just happened, but I’m so glad it happened when it did, because my comedy consists of life events, just things that happen in everybody’s life every day. You know, especially being a female. You know, we talk about going to the gynecologist, and you know, how we’re always trying to clean up ourselves really quick, you know, so they won’t find the toilet paper balls and stuff down there. So, I you know, so life has prepared me to be a great comedian. So that’s kind of how I started it was, you know, just always wanting to do it. And then let’s not forget the obvious of what happened. Then I started on TikTok, and didn’t know nothing about TikTok, anything like that. And my son had told me about it. And so got on TikTok, and then I was on TikTok for about a year. And then the producers of the circle on Netflix found me and said, you are freaking hilarious, you would be perfect to be on the circle on Netflix. And this was with studio Lambert. And they said you should apply. So, I was like, What the hell’s a circle? And so, I went back and watched it. And I was like, Okay, I’ll do it. So, I applied and out of like, over 100,000 people that applied, I was one of the very few that were chosen. And so, then I went on the circle, I was working a regular job, I was an accountant, for a big distribution center. And the day before the show came out, I was laid off my job the day before. So here I was, you know, wondering what in the world is going to happen. And I was already doing open mics and stand up locally, and trying to make it you know, and so my husband, he told me, he said, this is your time, God has put everything into place for you. You’re not you know; you’re laid off your job. All this is going on, this is your time to make a name for yourself and get out there. So that’s what I did. And the rest is history. I have been doing standup comedy ever since and I love it, I love my I get the opportunity to do what I’ve always wanted to do and stand on that big stage and make a whole place laugh. What could be a better job?!” We then began to talk about the bullies and trolls on social media and she told me this about an experience she had witnessed: “The thing about a social media influencer, and I just recently witnessed this happen to Mikayla TikTok. At the time that all this happened I think she was 24 and you know, who Mikayla is the makeup artist, the girl that does all the makeup and what they did to her was horrible. Just they took the video where she’s like, you know, ‘it’s hard being a social media influencer. I work at 530.’ And, you know, she was just kind of venting. And they took that video and they literally, I mean, just tore her to pieces. And it was so mean, so horrible. I felt I mean, I literally cried because what they were doing to her, but as an influencer if I say something about, I don’t like what you’re doing, they’re goanna cancel me. So, thank God there’s people like the Londini movement, to speak up for people when people like me can’t. There’re so many keyboard warriors out there. That, you know, I get I had somebody message me on Facebook the other day took the time to literally private message me and say, ‘Why are you posting videos? B word you’ re not even funny.’ And I’m like, and so I wrote him back and its always man. It’s always men that bash female comedians, right? It’s always man. And, and I hate to say that now I really do because it shouldn’t be that way. But it’s the truth. I speak on with the truth. So, I emailed him or text him back and I said, you honestly had the audacity to take time out of your day to bash me, when you could have just kept scrolling. I get that not everybody likes my comedy. It’s not meant for everybody. I get that there’s people that are angry or having a bad day, or whatever, but you don’t know what another person’s going through. You know, they think because I have a blue checkmark. And um, you know, I’ve been on Netflix and I’m, you know, I do comedy, that I don’t go through anything, which is totally not true. I have a husband and a wheelchair. That was in a motorcycle accident. I mean, I’m going through a lot in my life, I’m his primary caregiver. And people just think that, oh, well, you know, she did, and she was on that. She’s just, she’s rich and famous. And that is far from the truth, far from the truth. And so, I love what the Londini movement is about. And when I was asked to do this event, especially what the cause is, for, I knew I had to do it. I was like, absolutely. I’m 100% for the military. My son is a marine. You know, and I know that since my son has been home, he’s had some health issues and has tried to get some of his health issues addressed in it is like pulling teeth. with the, with the Veterans Hospital, you have to go through stacks and stacks of unnecessary paperwork. And just to go and get treated, and they want to give you the insurance, you know, the here’s the insurance, thanks for serving their country. And then they don’t want to take care of these veterans that have fought for our country. And you know, a lot of these people come back with PTSD. And even the people that don’t, you know, go to war, you know, my son experienced in the Marines, they literally tear you down and build you back up and make you into a whole new person. And then they turn you out into civilian life and go good luck. You know, and you don’t know anything else. My son went in at 18. So, he really didn’t know anything else when he got out. So, he had to just back into civilian life. So, with this, you know, this whole fundraising event we’re doing, I love my dogs, I love animals, I got both of my dogs from the pound. Well, one of them I didn’t, but I rescued her from a bad breeder. And but every dog I’ve ever had come from the pound. So, I knew that that, you know, hey, you’re taking a dog from the pound. And you are training them to become service dogs, and you’re gonna give them, the key word gives, to veterans, and that is amazing. And that I get to be a part of that fundraising. And I get to do that by making people laugh.” I just wanted to take this moment to thank Shelly again for taking the time to sit down with me and talk.

It was a great experience and such a blast to talk to her. I cannot wait to see her in San Antonio Texas for The Great Londini Meet & Greet!!!

Written by Carrie.like.the.movie_j