Michael John Shea was born in the small town of Oak Park, California. From an early age, he loved doing impressions of different characters from The Simpsons to Austin Powers. Being the youngest in the family, he sought the center of the conversation at the dinner table and making people laugh. He graduated from Oak Park High School, and went off to college in Santa Barbara but partied way too hard and eventually moved to San Diego the following year to party some more and finish his BA degree in Communications (the talking major) with a minor in Theatre. At the time, he had no clue that he would be doing standup comedy later in life.
He moved back to Los Angeles after college and took up improv classes at The Groundlings and Upright Citizens Brigade. There he would develop the skills and characters to act out on stage. At 24, he was convinced by a friend to go to an open mic. From then on he was hooked. He performed in Los Angeles for 4 years including overseas in Ireland and London. Then the pandemic hit.
After a year, he thought New York would be fun place to perform next. With no plan of ever living there, he packed two bags and two skateboards for what he thought was gonna be a 2-3 month couch hopping comedy experience. He soon got a job, got Covid, and figured, “Well I gotta do a year. Well I gotta do 3 years. Well I got a girlfriend so I gotta get married here now.”
He currently lives in Brooklyn performing at open mics and shows throughout the boroughs.
“Moving to New York has leveled up my game for sure. I take myself more seriously recording my sets and my overall joke writing process. LA will always be my home but for now, my main goal is to break into the NY comedy scene.
