diff --git a/hooks/boilerplate.py b/hooks/boilerplate.py
index 72497f5840b..72fcf9709d6 100755
--- a/hooks/boilerplate.py
+++ b/hooks/boilerplate.py
@@ -33,11 +33,16 @@ def file_passes(filename, extension, ref, regexs):
 
     data = f.read()
 
-    # remove build tags from the top of Go file
+    # remove build tags from the top of Go files
     if extension == "go":
         p = regexs["go_build_constraints"]
         (data, found) = p.subn("", data, 1)
 
+    # remove shebang from the top of shell files
+    if extension == "sh":
+        p = regexs["shebang"]
+        (data, found) = p.subn("", data, 1)
+
     data = data.splitlines()
 
     # if our test file is smaller than the reference it surely fails!
@@ -91,6 +96,8 @@ def main():
     regexs["date"] = re.compile( '(2014|2015)' )
     # strip // +build \n\n build constraints
     regexs["go_build_constraints"] = re.compile(r"^(// \+build.*\n)+\n", re.MULTILINE)
+    # strip #!.* from shell scripts
+    regexs["shebang"] = re.compile(r"^(#!.*\n)\n*", re.MULTILINE)
 
     for filename in filenames:
         if not file_passes(filename, extension, ref, regexs):
diff --git a/hooks/boilerplate.sh.txt b/hooks/boilerplate.sh.txt
index f592735e31e..6ce3fbd4645 100644
--- a/hooks/boilerplate.sh.txt
+++ b/hooks/boilerplate.sh.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
 # Copyright YEAR The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");