Jake Shane built a following making funny octopus food reviews and historical reenactments. This year he stepped onto a real red carpet — and the internet has been arguing about it ever since.

For years, Jake Shane was a name mostly known inside TikTok comedy circles and to listeners of his hit podcast. Then Vanity Fair handed him a microphone at one of the most-watched events in entertainment — its Oscar party red carpet — and the resulting interviews turned “who is Jake Shane” into a search question for people who’d never opened TikTok in their lives.

From Octopus Reviews to Millions of Followers

Jake Shane was born on October 27, 1999, in Los Angeles, to journalist and author Helaine Olen and television writer Matt Roshkow. He grew up between Washington Heights and the New York suburbs before eventually attending the University of Southern California, where he earned a Public Relations degree in 2021.

His online career started almost by accident. Under the TikTok handle “@octopusslover8,” Shane began posting food reviews built around octopus dishes — a strange, specific niche that didn’t go anywhere close to viral on its own. The real turn came when he pivoted to comedic, over-the-top reenactments of historical events: dramatic storytelling videos that turned real history into fast, funny sketches. Those clips are what actually built his audience, pulling in millions of followers and establishing his voice as a comedian, not just a food reviewer.

By 2023, that voice was enough to get him signed with WME, one of the biggest talent agencies in entertainment — a clear signal that Hollywood was starting to pay attention.

Therapuss and the Mainstream Push

In January 2024, Shane launched Therapuss with Jake Shane, a podcast where he responds to listener questions in the style of an informal therapy session, joined by a different celebrity or creator co-host each episode. It worked. Therapuss climbed to No. 3 on Spotify’s Top Comedy podcast chart and No. 8 on the platform’s overall chart — genuine mainstream numbers, not just internet-famous numbers.

The momentum kept building: a spot on Rolling Stone’s Most Influential Creators list in 2024, a debut album, Puss & Poems, released that November, and in 2025, a real acting credit — a role in Season 4 of the acclaimed comedy series Hacks. By any measure, Shane had made the jump most creators try and fail to make: from a platform-specific personality to someone with a foothold in traditional entertainment.

The Vanity Fair Oscar Party — and the Backlash

In 2026, Vanity Fair hired Shane as one of three influencers — alongside Quen Blackwell and Brittany Broski — to cover the red carpet at its Oscar party, the first thrown under the magazine’s new editor, Mark Guiducci. It was Shane’s biggest, most visible assignment yet: a chance to interview A-list celebrities live, on camera, at one of the industry’s most scrutinized events.

It didn’t go smoothly. Interviewing Kris Jenner alongside Blackwell, Shane reportedly seemed at a loss for words — to the point that Jenner herself asked, half-joking, “How did you get this gig?” A separate interaction with Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade ended with Union appearing to address only Blackwell, leaving Shane visibly caught off guard. Another exchange, with actress Julia Fox, drew enough attention that Shane later addressed it directly, saying he “needed to adjust my approach” for high-stress live environments.

The clips spread fast — not because they were flattering, but because they weren’t. Variety ran a piece arguing the moment proved “influencers shouldn’t be red carpet reporters.” Other outlets framed it as the latest flashpoint in an ongoing industry argument: as media companies increasingly hire creators instead of trained entertainment journalists for red-carpet coverage, what happens when the format needs someone who can think on their feet in front of an unpredictable A-lister?

Why This Is a Search Story Right Now

This is what makes Shane a genuinely useful case study in breakout search behavior, and a different pattern than a pure hype story: his search spike isn’t purely about fame going up — it’s about controversy pulling in an audience that didn’t know who he was before. People who saw a clip of Kris Jenner’s confused reaction, or read a headline about influencers replacing journalists, are the ones now typing “who is Jake Shane” into Google — not existing fans, who already know.

That’s a distinct and common pattern in “breakout” search traffic: a single viral, debated moment does more to introduce someone to the mainstream than years of steady growth on their home platform ever could. Shane had already done the slow build — TikTok fame, a hit podcast, a TV role — but it was one uneven red carpet night that made him a subject of conversation outside his existing audience.

The Short Version

  • Real name: Jake Shane
  • Born: October 27, 1999, Los Angeles, California
  • Education: University of Southern California, Public Relations degree (2021)
  • Broke out on: TikTok, as “@octopusslover8,” via comedic historical reenactments
  • Signed with WME: 2023
  • Podcast: Therapuss with Jake Shane, launched January 2024, reached No. 3 on Spotify’s Comedy chart
  • Other credits: Debut album Puss & Poems (November 2024); recurring role in Hacks Season 4 (2025)
  • Latest mainstream moment: Red carpet host for Vanity Fair’s 2026 Oscar party, sparking industry-wide “influencers vs. journalists” debate after uneven interviews with Kris Jenner, Gabrielle Union, and Julia Fox

Shane’s career is a case study in both directions a creator’s crossover can go: the podcast and the TV role show what a clean, earned mainstream transition looks like. The red carpet night shows what happens when that transition gets tested live, in real time, in front of an audience that isn’t already on your side.