Jake Shane

Jacob Shane Roshkow, also known as Jake Shane, or online as Octopusslover8, is an American influencer and comedian. In 2023, his TikTok videos featuring humorous reenactments of historical events went viral. Also in 2023, he was nominated for a Streamy Award and appeared on TikTok's inaugural LGBTQ+ Pride Visionary Voices List and on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

Jacob Shane Roshkow^[1] was born in Los Angeles, California and moved to Washington Heights in New York at the age of 2.^[2] His mother, Helaine Olen, is an author and columnist for The Washington Post.^[3] He has described himself as "a closeted kid".^[4] He has stated that he did acting as a child, performing in his school's production of Thoroughly Modern Millie in sixth grade, but quit due to his insecurities after switching schools.^[5] He also took improv lessons at the Gotham Comedy Club while attending high school on the Upper West Side, Manhattan.^[6] Shane moved to Los Angeles at 18 while working as an assistant at a record label.^[2] He attended the University of Southern California, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Science degree in public relations in 2022.^[7][8]

Shane started his social media career in 2021 as an Instagram food critic of octopus, using the handle @passthatpuss.^[9][8] He created it after his mom took him to try octopus for the first time when he was in high school.^[1] Jake created a TikTok account also for octopus reviews, where @passthatpuss was taken so he created the username "@octopusslover8" because they have 8 tentacles.^[10] In February 2023, Shane became known for his TikTok videos, in which he humorously reenacted historical events per requests in his comments, starting with the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal, which gained him 100,000 followers within one week of its posting.^[11] Other reenactments included dinosaurs seeing a comet, the Last Supper, John Hancock signing the United States Declaration of Independence, Moses parting the Red Sea, and a President who did not make it onto Mount Rushmore.^[4][5][3] He signed with WME in March 2023; by then his account had gained over one and a half million followers.^[9]

Shane was nominated for the Streamy Award for Breakout Creator at the 13th Streamy Awards in 2023, though the award was won by Dylan Mulvaney.^[12] He was also included on TikTok's inaugural LGBTQ+ Pride Visionary Voices List in May 2023.^[13] In September 2023, he signed with United Talent Agency for representation in all areas.^[14] He was featured on the 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30 list and had more than two and a half million followers on TikTok by December 2023.^[15][16]

Shane's podcast, Therapuss with Jake Shane, in which Shane responds to listener questions in the style of a therapy session alongside a different co-host each episode, launched in January 2024.^[17] On November 22, 2024 Jake Shane released his debut album Puss & Poems.

Shane frequently posts on social media about his mental health, specifically regarding his experiences with anxiety and obsessive–compulsive disorder, which he has stated he has struggled with since age seven and was diagnosed with as a teenager.^[3][5][6] He also often posts videos about his being a Swiftie.^[18] Jake's roommates Julia Mervis, Payton Purther, and Brett Chody also sometimes appear in his posts, or help film his skits performing as a humorized version of certain objects or reenactments of historical (and sometimes fictional) events. One person on Jake's team, Julia helps him manage many things including his podcast.

Geoff Weiss of Business Insider wrote in 2023 that "no TikToker [had] reached mass consciousness" like Shane since fellow influencer Alix Earle became popular on the platform the year prior.^[3] For Variety, Julia MacCary wrote, "Perhaps no one better embodies the app's ability to quickly catapult someone into stardom than Jake Shane."^[8] Queerty's Carson Mlnarik described him as a "short and sassy queer content-creator" who "skyrocketed to viral fame" in 2023.^[16]