Heather McMahan, an Atlanta native who graduated from the University of Mississippi in 2009 with a BFA in Theatre Arts, returned to her college town to perform a stand-up routine written exclusively for the Oxford audience at the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts on Aug. 29.
From performing small open mics in Los Angeles to selling out Radio City Music Hall in New York and releasing a Netflix stand-up special titled “Son I Never Had,” McMahan has amassed quite the following in recent years.
Jared Smith, a freshman international studies major from Long Beach, Miss., has been a fan of McMahan’s since 2020 and was among the excited attendees of the show.
“I’m a big fan of Heather. I listen to her podcast. I follow her on all her social media, so I was so excited when I got to have this opportunity to come see her live,” Smith said.
The evening began with an opening routine from comedian Raymond Padilla, who is a frequent guest of McMahan’s popular podcast “Absolutely Not!” He warmed up the crowd with jokes about his experiences as a gay man, which served as an appetizer to the daring and explicit jokes that were to come.
McMahan’s set started with a hype video and music reminiscent of those played at an SEC football game. The comedian immediately captivated the audience’s attention by calling out attendees who arrived late and showing facial expressions, movements and mannerisms — a skill set she attributes to her theater degree.
She talked about her Southern upbringing and the unrealistic expectations that Southern women have to uphold, which segued into her revealing that she has been writing a TV show about the fictional experiences of a woman in Mississippi.
Soon after, the jokes about Ole Miss started rolling in and never stopped. They were mostly focused on her own experiences as a “Reb,” but she did poke fun at the recent social and cultural landscape of the university. Telling jokes about her time living in the Crosby dorm and pledging the Delta Gamma sorority, she provided a provocative retelling of her college experience.
“I really enjoyed the show more than I thought I would. She was a part of sorority life like I am, so I found myself relating to a lot of her jokes,” senior early childhood education major and Oxford native Riley Mullen said. “I feel like everyone in the crowd found themselves relating to some part of the show and that made it feel very special.”
The set ended with an “Absolutely Not!” segment in which she gave Ole Miss and Oxford “absolutely nots,” similar to the schtick of her podcast, riffing off jokes with submissions from the audience.
She closed out the show with an impactful quote that represents McMahan’s destiny for greatness.
“Eli Manning’s from here, William Faulkner’s here, but I’m Heather McMahan!,” she shouted as she strutted off the stage with the crowd roaring with applause behind her.
After the show, McMahan met with a group of students to answer questions and discuss show business. Professor of voice, speech and acting Rory Ledbetter took a group of 20 students to see McMahan’s show as a part of educational programming for the Residential College South.
“Heather was a senior in the BFA Acting program when I first started teaching at the University of Mississippi. I taught voice and speech in the Senior BFA Acting Studio courses that she took,” Ledbetter said. “Heather invited the students to stay after the performance and do a Q&A with her. It was fantastic; Heather gave them amazing pearls of wisdom about performing comedy and navigating the entertainment industry.”
During the meet and greet, she revealed her early career struggles, her journey to finding confidence as a performing artist and how much joy stand-up brings her.
“If people come to my show and say, ‘Hey, you took me out of my s—–ty day,’ I did my job,” McMahan said.
