Shane is a great comic. He's an incredibly hard worker and a great writer and most importantly, he knows who he is. He's candid on stage in a way few manage. He talks about genuine emotions without making it uncomfortable to listen to. He doesn't make you feel bad for him, but he doesn't shy away from telling stories in which he doesn't play the hero.
And he can handle himself in any situation. If you weren't sure Shane was ready to move up to the comedy big leagues in New York, his last night of hosting Portland's Funniest Person showed he could handle anything comedy throws at him.
As host, he was responsible for opening (10 minutes of his A material when the crowd is cold), coming out between all the comics and keeping the energy up, and then doing a stall set. Meaning, he had to come back out two hours into a show, just when the audience was most tired of hearing jokes and desperately wanted to know the results, and distract them while the club counted the votes with no idea of how long it'd take.
Usually stall sets last about 20 minutes, but because of the incredibly close scores that night, the vote counting took almost an hour. Shane did the equivalent of a headlining set without preparation to a dead crowd in the middle of the night without knowing when it would end. He did old jokes and new ones, crowd work, stories he didn't have endings for yet, brought a lady up on stage and interviewed her for one question and then sent her back to her seat, and then when the audience got unresponsive, he launched into a bit about 9/11 and WON THEM BACK. It wasn't always pretty, but I've never laughed harder at a comedy show or been more impressed.
Shane, I hate seeing you go, but I'm stoked for you and all the cool shit you're going to do. No matter what New York throws at you, you'll be able to handle it. And if the city doesn't like you, I know you'll always be able to win them back with your 9/11 joke.
Everybody go see his goodbye show tonight because you won't be able to afford him in five years!
