Former Alabama softball player Danae Hays is making headlines at the Alabama Theater

Former Alabama softball player Danae Hays has always been her family’s entertainer.

When she was ten years old and growing up in Morris, Alabama, Hays would make sketches and play them for her father, Ken. A lover of “Saturday Night Live,” Hays tried to emulate the show in her skits, costume changes and all.

“I wanted to make him laugh,” she said.

Eventually, Ken Danae bought her own camcorder and a DVD with editing software so she could record herself and create her own version of Saturday Night Live. She took her sketches to a higher level, taking multiple characters and cutting them together as if they were having a conversation.

Once she was finished editing, Hays burned her sketches onto DVDs – all of which she still owns – and she and her father watched them together on Saturday nights.

“I wanted to pretend I was on ‘Saturday Night Live,'” she said.

Her sketches, Hays said, ranged from playing a “wack-a-doodle” golf instructor trying to teach proper golf form while doing everything wrong to performing Miley Cyrus’ song “See You Again.” while eating an entire tub of Jiffy peanut butter.

“You know,” she said, “10-year-old humor.”

Hays, 31, a Nashville-based country comedian, singer, actress and content creator, is currently on her “The First Time Tour.” Their shows, which are 18+, consist of their “crazy” Southern characters and parody country music, offering a mix of country and comedy. She has 3 million followers on the social media platform TikTok.

The next stop on Hays’ tour: right near her hometown at the Alabama Theater on Friday. Ten-year-old Danae always knew she would perform at the Alabama Theater; She just wasn’t sure what exactly she was going to perform.

“I didn’t know if I was going to dance my butt off or what,” she said, “but I knew I was going to play it.”

Danae Hayes: Former Alabama softball shortstop

Before Hays found fame in the comedy world, he was a two-time SEC and national champion in Alabama softball and played shortstop for the Crimson Tide from 2012 to 2015.

Hays was originally a full-time Auburn commit to play for the Tigers. That changed after she signed the scholarship papers when both of her grandparents — Dan and Mary Jane — became ill and Hays no longer wanted to go to school two and a half hours from home. Hays decommitted from Auburn and took an unofficial visit to Alabama two weeks before the start of her freshman year.

Ten months later, Hays was both an SEC and national champion with the Crimson Tide, starting in 52 of Alabama’s 57 games.

“And the coolest thing about it,” she said, “is that both of my grandparents saw me win.”

Despite the serious culture of Alabama softball, Hays made sure to always joke. Whether it was prank calls or ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong calls, Hays was always a source of entertainment for her teammates. She recalled once listing Danielle Richard’s furniture for sale for free on Craigslist and listing it with Richard’s phone number.

“She had dozens of people asking how they could pick up her furniture,” Hays said with a laugh.

Because of her busy schedule, Hays doesn’t make it to as many Alabama softball games as she would like, but she plans to attend one this season. She still keeps in touch with her former teammates and coach Patrick Murphy.

“Coach Murphy, he means a lot to me,” Hays said. “He gave me a chance when he could have easily passed me by.”…I adore him.”

Amanda Locke, a former Alabama teammate, bought Murphy a ticket to Hays’ show at the Alabama Theater.

“She’s doing a great job,” Murphy said. “We are really proud of her.”

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The taxidermist’s prank call went viral

It wasn’t until 2021 that Hays began posting her comedy on social media. She recorded a video of herself making a prank call – something she always did – this time to prank a taxidermist.

“I was wondering if you all…I don’t know how you say it, but do you all stuff dogs?” Hays said in a deep Southern accent.

Hays continued to chat with the taxidermist throughout the entire 2-minute, 56-second video, prompting him to stuff her grandmother’s Rottweiler, Pooney, but in his usual spot on the recliner, with both paws up. The video exploded overnight, Hays gained more than 300,000 followers on TikTok and the video reached more than 25 million views in just a few days.

“It opened Pandora’s Box and gave me so much confidence to put out comedy content,” Hays said.

Hays released her first single “Rode Hard” in 2023. It peaked at #5 on iTunes and peaked at #8 on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales. Hays soon began doing stand-up comedy, performing in comedy clubs to sold-out audiences.

“It was just a whirlwind,” Hays said. “It was just absolute madness.”

Hays plans to take her comedy internationally in 2025 with shows in Canada and Australia. She now has a following of more than 3.6 million followers on social media with almost 2 billion views across all platforms.

To purchase tickets to Hays’ show on Friday, December 6th at the Alabama Theater, click here. Doors open at 7 p.m., the show starts at 8 p.m

Anna Snyder covers high school sports and softball and football recruiting at the University of Alabama for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach them at [email protected]. Follow her on X @annaesnyder2.

Former Alabama softball player Danae Hays is making headlines at the Alabama Theater

ByAmelia Journalton

By Amelia Journalton

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