Comedian Shapel Lacey’s varied background as cheerleader, punk rocker, brings diverse audience to his shows

When comedian Shapel Lacey says goodbye to club owners after his shows, he often hears the same thing time and time again: “Your audience is so diverse. You get people that come from all walks of life to your show.”

Fans of Lacey typically come from one of three camps.

Many, of course, are in the audience because they’re fans of his comedy, which he began performing after a dare from friends in college.

Some are also there because they know his history as a fan of punk rock and hardcore music, bands like Nirvana, the Offspring and Black Flag.

Others are there because they, like Lacey, used to be a competitive cheerleader and want to hear his perspective on the sport.

“When I look out, I see all the layers of who I am,” he said.

Lacey headlines the Spokane Comedy Club on Tuesday.

Music came first for Lacey, who grew up in Mesa, Arizona, playing the guitar and skateboarding. He initially thought he might be a professional skateboarder, but by that point, he was about three years into his cheerleading career, which took up much of his free time.

“There were so many things I wanted to do, but I was so locked in with cheerleading, music eventually became a thing that I attended, going to shows and stuff like that,” he said. “I love playing guitar. I’m not the best guitar player, but I have fun playing the songs that I like to play and covering songs and learning new things about the guitar.”

When he’s not on the road doing standup, Lacey goes back to his musical roots as the front man of a hardcore band, Mad Peaceful, alongside former and current comedians.

Music and skateboarding took a backseat to cheerleading, which Lacey joined because he had a crush on a girl on the team. He stayed because he was good at it and it was something different, not the average sport other kids were playing.

Over his dozen years as a competitive cheerleader, Lacey said he learned how to be around women in a way that most boys that age wouldn’t understand. It’s not the same as having a lot of sisters, he said, but rather the experience of learning to work as teammates in a high-stress environment. This brings a lot of women to his shows, which club owners don’t always expect.

Cheerleading took Lacey from Mesa to Trinity Valley Community College in Texas to a full ride scholarship to cheer at the University of Louisville. It was at the University of Louisville that Lacey would have his first taste with standup after some friends dared him to perform at an open mic.

He was hooked but later chose to take a couple years off to work through a bout of depression. He then returned to the stage, again at his friends’ insistence, where he’s been ever since.

Unlike some comedians, who say they got into comedy because they wanted to make people laugh, Lacey has no problem saying he does comedy for himself and that it’s through his comedy that he gets the thoughts in his head out.

Growing up with his mother and stepfather, who he said wasn’t the best person, and his “thousand siblings” in low-income housing, Lacey said he was always in thinking mode, analyzing what he was seeing from those in the community and wondering why they weren’t trying this or that tactic to get out of their current situation.

Skateboarding was the first thing that got him out of his immediate neighborhood and helped him see not only more of the world but also the places he knew so well in a different light. Cheerleading took him further outside Arizona, and now comedy is doing the same thing.

Lacey, still in thinking mode, journals a lot and, though he said his journal entries are very dry, gets a lot of material while reflecting on what he’s written. He then takes those jokes to the stage and shares them as he feels comfortable.

Lacey said writer James Baldwin is one of his favorite humans of all time because he put out his work in the way he wanted.

“I feel inspired by him a lot, and it’s made me find this comfort in having comedy and doing it (the way I want),” he said. “He wrote it in books in that way, and I’m like, ‘I want to do it this way. This is the way I feel compelled to do it.’ ”

He also looks up to comedian and actor Richard Pryor for his level of honesty on stage. In the past, Lacey would try to bury some of the things that he dealt with growing up. He eventually came to terms with those moments, telling himself, “That was just your life, bro. Here’s the thing: You’re still walking.”

“Those two specific people right there have helped me to be able to deliver myself in a way that I am able to and the way I want to,” he said. “This is what I want to say on stage. I don’t really say anything for people to feel it. I say it because that’s what I feel.”

Nevertheless, audiences are connecting with what Lacey is feeling, no matter what aspect of his background brought them to the show in the first place.

“I will get the pretty girls that you wouldn’t normally see at a show like mine, but I have a connection with them that is on a different level,” he said. “I’ll get the bro guys. I’ll get the hardcore punk people. I’ll get Black dudes that skate. It’s such a wide range of people that all seem to really appreciate what I’m saying.”