Are y'all ready for my most out-there take on what Shane does after hockey?
He and Ilya have retired and they decide that before they jump into the next thing, they're going to take a bit of a sabbatical β do some traveling, settle at the cottage, maybe look at some family planning stuff. As part of this, they've been looking for weird little quiet places to go on dates, and one of the places they try (after a pretty boozy dinner) is this bar that they don't realise until they're there is actually a comedy club. And it's an open mic night.
Ilya is immediately like "My Shane, you're funny, you should go tell some jokes." And Shane at first refuses, but then Ilya promises to reward him by blowing him in the bathroom right after if he does it, and Shane's had juuust enough alcohol to be like fuck it. So he signs up.
When his turn comes, he's so nervous he feels like he might throw up. But then he spots someone with a camera and between that and the lights, it starts to feel just like a press conference. He's used to trying to get a room full of journalists to laugh when he says something quippy and he realises this isn't that different. He could actually do this.
And he does.
He does his five minutes and he absolutely kills. His dry delivery and a cutting wit go down so well with the crowd that afterwards the owner of the club approaches him to ask if he'd like to do a fifteen minute set sometime. And Shane actually really wants to, but he's already promised Ilya that they'd take this year to rest and plan. He's about to tell the guy no thanks, when Ilya interjects. "He would love to, thank you." And then Shane and the owner only have just enough time to exchange numbers before Ilya's dragging him off to the bathrooms.
And that's how Shane Hollander hard-pivots into becoming a stand-up comedian.
