Exclusive: Heather McDonald Dishes on Staying Authentic in Hollywood and Finding Huge Success With Her 'Juicy Scoop' Podcast: 'I'm Never Going to Worry About What I Say'

Heather McDonald has built a career off of being true to herself.

The Chelsea Lately alum gained extremely loyal fans after years on the panel at the former late-night show. However, she was able to parlay her audience into her massively successful podcast "Juicy Scoop" all while she continues to hit the road with her sold-out stand-up shows.

McDonald chats exclusively with Morning Honey about making a name for herself in the industry, what she's learned about authenticity through her podcast and how she constantly keeps her comedy sets fresh.

"What's quite interesting about my career is that I never really was a darling in Hollywood," she spills. "Nothing came easy. I did grow up here [California], but my parents weren't in the business. I wasn't part of the alternative comedy scene with Janeane Garofalo or Sarah Silverman. That traditional Hollywood life was probably not ever going to happen. Therefore, I'm not going to censor anything I say about it because it doesn't really matter."

"With the success of 'Juicy Scoop,' I realized that a lot of people have podcasts, but they're still beholden to all these stars and have to watch what they're saying," McDonald notes. "They're not really being honest because they're like, 'Well, I might work with this person.' I don't feel like that. I honestly really don't care. I'd rather take this and not be that person."

The standup star's freedom to cover what she wants was inspired by another one of her outspoken peers. "Joe Rogan was the first to do it with podcasting and having honest conversations with people, even when it didn't seem good for him," she adds. "He was kind of like a model that I followed for my show after. But I'm never going to worry about what I'm saying."

While McDonald produces weekly episodes for her show, she's also constantly traveling across America, delighting audiences with her comedy sets.

"I've always really loved it, and it is a challenge to keep the stand-up going along with the podcast," she admits of touring. "But with so many people having successful podcasts and so many people going and taking the podcast to a live venue, it occurred to me that so few people on this Earth can do standup at a headline level. It's a very small percentage of people."

"I cannot let that go even if sometimes it doesn't really make sense to keep doing it," she adds. "I'm always excited to perform the new bits and work on those. It's always really different and fun."