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Mary Shalaby believes she’s most known for her voice, a trait she described as “cartoonish.”

“I’d say it’s pretty high-pitched,” Shalaby said. “I don’t know why I sound like this.”

Her voice has been one of the few constants on her TikTok, @real_mary_mother_of_god. The page features Shalaby’s stand-up, improv comedy and stream-of-consciousness bits of her talking about whatever comes to her mind. A senior English student at Syracuse University, Shalaby currently has more than 721 thousand followers on TikTok and over 37.1 million likes.

Her videos are filled with thoughts about being a bigger Olivia Rodrigo fan than middle schoolers or squishing sandwiches into salami and cheese Uncrustables. Shalaby said most of her videos are just improv on top of whatever thought she just had.

Sammi DeLuca, a senior English student at SU and vice president of the improv group Zamboni Revolution, met Shalaby at an audition for the improv group of which Shalaby is now president. When she first met Shalaby, DeLuca said her voice immediately caught her attention.

“She was a (short) girl with a super high voice and she was wearing a Budweiser shirt, so I couldn’t really figure (her) out,” DeLuca said. “And now that I’ve known her, I still can’t really figure (her) out.”

As Shalaby’s fame on TikTok began to grow, DeLuca didn’t have the app. The pair would be walking on campus and people would approach Shalaby to talk about her and her comedy. DeLuca didn’t even realize it was because of TikTok.

“Now it’s funny that she gets to tell people that the person they’re obsessing over online is one of her closest friends,” DeLuca said.

The first comedy video Shalaby posted, however, wasn’t one of her notorious monologues. It was a video of her first-ever stand-up set at The Playground, a student-run comedy basement venue. Two years later, Shalaby helps run the venue that kicked off her account with Audrey Weisburd and American High Shorts cast member Julia DeCesare.

“Mary’s just on all the time because that’s just who she is,” said Grace Newell, Shalaby’s little in Kappa Alpha Theta and a junior at SU.

Coming from a town of around 2,000 people, she said the ever-increasing number was daunting in the beginning. Now, the number has gotten so large that it doesn’t even feel real to her.

Just the number of her TikTok followers could fill the JMA Wireless Dome 14 times over.

“Holy f*ck,” Shalaby said when she heard the statistic.

Outside of comedy, Mary Shalaby spends most of her time with her dog, Penny. Penny is often the first audience member for Shalaby’s comedy sets.
Cassandra Roshu | Photo Editor

The account has created a series of running bits between Shalaby and her audience. In many of her recent videos, the top comment relates to the situation being a “win” for Shalaby.

“I’ve heard some people tell me that sometimes they’ll do something awesome and they’ll be like, ‘That’s another win for Mary,” Shalaby said, “and that’s so cool that they’re saying that.”

In one video, she said she was going to New York City and that her only plans were to buy a pack of cigarettes, a beer and some bread as well to “get lit.”

“That is what I call another win for Mary,” reads the top comment.

Shalaby said she’s only used the phrase a couple of times, but people have latched onto it. At Syracuse football’s game against Wake Forest Saturday, someone tapped her on the shoulder after the Orange won. Just like comments on her videos, they called SU’s victory “another win for Mary.”

But not all of the interactions have been so positive. She said she had to adjust to some of the more hateful comments about her voice, although it’s something she’s dealt with her whole life.

What sometimes gets under her skin, she said, are users fetishizing her and her voice.

“I get objectified on the internet a lot, but it’s okay because I saw the ‘Barbie’ movie and not only is Barbie an icon, she’s also a literal object,” she joked in one stand-up set posted to her TikTok. “People keep saying I’m getting the wrong message, but whatever makes you feel good, right?”

In one instance, someone direct messaged Shalaby to tell her she was “sick in the head for attracting pedophiles.” The comment knocked her out, she said.

It’s frustrating, Shalaby said, when the fetishization and objectification move attention away from the joke she’s telling. In one of her TikToks at the beach, Shalaby brings two dead jellyfish together yelling “Jelly kiss!” before she throws both in the water. All of a sudden, the TikTok became about her body and her voice’s relation to her body, she said.

Shalaby said some of her friends have defended her in the comment section before. Both DeLuca and Newell said Shalaby has grown over the last two years in her ability to deal with that side of online culture.

“If she finds something f*cking funny, that’s what she’s gonna prioritize. It’s always gonna come first,” Newell said. “She’s got a really, really good system down of remaining super grounded, and she has a good head on her shoulders because she just loves doing what she’s doing.”

Despite the urge to peek at the comments, Shalaby mostly tries to not look at them.

“That’s something I do to protect myself,” she said.

Today, she said she believes “comedy heals all.” That’s resulted in her poking fun at the more intense comments she’s received. One of her recent shows with Zamboni Revolution was called “Mary’s Voice Reveal.”

“She went from very rigidly reading off a script to now just saying whatever is on her mind, which I think is what the world wants from her anyway,” DeLuca said.

Published on November 29, 2023 at 10:20 pm

Contact Kyle: kschouin@syr.edu | @Kyle_Chouinard