Soder - 134: Placebo Addict with Shane Mauss | Soder Podcast | EP 132

Episode Date: May 19, 2026

Support the sponsors to support the show!Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/soder Application times m...ay vary. Rates may vary.https://www.ethos.com/?utm_source=arm&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=soderStop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/SODER to find and instantly book a doctor you love today. Thanks Zocdoc for sponsoring this message.https://www.zocdoc.com/?utm_medium=audiopodcast&utm_campaign=soderRight now get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription – at Babbel.com/SODER Get up to 60% off @https://www.babbel.com/pages/en-us/eg_podcast_flags_ame_usa-en?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=offline&utm_content=podcast&mt_agency=oxfordroad&mt_region=usa&utm_campaign=Soder&ad_type=hostread&mt_template=89624c3c3c274a77ba63128d19e25b6aif you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans at MINT MOBILE dot com slash SODER. That’s MINTMOBILE.com/SODERDISCLAIMER [READ VERBATIM]: Upfront payment of $45 for 3-month 5 gigabyte plan required (equivalent to $15/mo.). New customer offer for first 3 months only, then full-price plan options available. Taxes & fees extra. See MINTMOBILE for details.https://www.mintmobile.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=audio&utm_campaign=mint_podcast&utm_content=soder&dnfemfkahqkdlf=soder The Golden Retriever of Comedy Tour is coming to your city!Get tickets at https://www.dansoder.com/tourJune 1-2 Key West,FLJune 5 - Newark,NJJune 13 - Mill Valley,CA - Special TapingJuly 9-11 Batavia,ILJuly 16-18 Stamford,CTJuly 31 - August 1 - Albany,NYAugust 13-15 Baltimore,MDAugust 20-22 Spokane,WASeptember 18-19 Manchester,CTOctober 2-3 Bernalillo,NMOctober 22-24 Calgary,ABNovember 5-7 Salt Lake City,UTDecember 10-12 Rochester,NYFollow Shane Mausshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHh3OSbTcWMhttps://www.instagram.com/shane_mauss/?hl=enhttps://www.facebook.com/shanecomedyfan/https://www.shanemauss.com/PLEASE Drop us a rating on iTunes and subscribe to the show to help us grow.https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soder/id1716617572Connect with SoderTwitter: https://Twitter.com/dansoderInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dansoderTiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dansodercomedyFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/dansoderYoutube: http://www.youtube.com/@dansoder.comedy#dansoder #standup #comedy #entertainment #podcastProduced by  Mike Lavin     https://www.instagram.com/thehomelesspimp/?hl=en

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everybody. Thanks for watching this episode. I'm on the road a little bit. Listen, we got a bunch of clubs we're about to announce soon. We're getting a poster together with it. We're getting all the dates. I'm going to be building a new hour in these clubs all summer, July, August, September, November. It's going to be a hell of a time. But right now, if you want to see this hour before we film it for Netflix, June 1st and June 2nd,
Starting point is 00:00:24 Comedy Key West. In Key West, Florida, one of the best venues to have fun in Key West. West of comedy. It's a blast. I'm looking forward to it. It's a Monday Tuesday, June 1st, June 2nd, June 2nd, Comedy Key West, Dan Soder.com for those tickets. And then June 5th, I'm going to be at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. I'm bringing Sam Evans and Greg Stone, going to have a hell of a time. Dan Soter.com for those tickets as well. And then in Mill Valley, we'll see you at the Throckmorton, June 13th. We're looking at trying to open up some more tickets once we find out our camera set up. So stay tuned for that. But Dan Soder.com,
Starting point is 00:01:00 for all the dates. We got all the dates up there, and we'll be announcing a ton of club dates soon altogether. Also, if you're in Montreal, I'll see you July 25th for just for laughs. I'll be at Club Soda doing a headlining show. Dan Soda.com. Thank you guys for watching the podcast.
Starting point is 00:01:15 Hope you're having a decent week. The part about New York City apartments that people don't understand is it's not like, if that would have happened in the suburbs, you would just go, is this your house? And you go, well, he lives next door. But New York City, you're like, hey I'm in the meat the meat refrigerator of a market is this your apartment and you go no and then you check
Starting point is 00:01:41 completely I gave you the completely wrong address that's it wasn't of the numbers to have wrong it was a decent one it was one block away yeah if it would have been the first number it probably would have really fuck some shit up but also I feel like it's unfair for you as a person that enjoys drugs that in that month moment. I was like, how many people in that moment go, it's probably on drugs. Yeah, yeah. Not realizing me. It was my fault. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm on drugs too, but weed's not even a drug. It's, oh, I, I get asked to do so many, uh, psychedelic events. And I'm like, let me guess. Well, meaning, terribly organized. And this is going to be a nightmare. For those of you that don't know Shane Moss, go watch Shane Moss. He is one of, uh, he's just a
Starting point is 00:02:32 fucking fantastic stand-up comedian. And the thing that I love about it is, I remember watching you when we were booze buddies. Yeah. And we'd go do stand-up. The thing that's great is you had this whole evolution and did, you know, experiences with DMT and all these. He's got a special out right now called First Dose.
Starting point is 00:02:50 The second dose is coming out April 13th. I think this might come out after that. So go watch it. It's great. I watched half of the first one and I love the entire idea of you explaining drug trips. but through jokes. A lot of times people do this shit
Starting point is 00:03:05 and they just talk. Yeah, yeah. You're still shit. That's what I said when I told Katie when I watch it, I go, it's awesome to watch you do material about drugs and you're still Shane Moss. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:03:14 You're still like writing great bits. I actually, so it started, I transitioned from doing regular stand-up to doing science-themed shows. Sure. And then I just... What made you want to do that? You just were bored with stand-up?
Starting point is 00:03:28 Honestly, I remember, I got my Comedy Central Presents in like 2009. And that was like my dream at the time. I remember when I started comedy, I was like, if I just had a Comedy Central Presents in like five years, boy, then I'd really be on something. And that was like an unrealistic expectation, but I did it.
Starting point is 00:03:51 And I remembered I like had this party in this bar, friends and family around and stuff. And I just remember going, and like killed it, loved the taping. And then I was like, I'm not happy. Really? And was it at the afterpart? It was after that.
Starting point is 00:04:09 And then I wrote an hour to like do an hour. And I was like, boy, I just don't care about this. And what changed? Because I think like, the thing about joke writing that's interesting is it's figuring out a puzzle a lot of the time. Yeah. I had this idea, but how do I make this idea do this thing of making people laugh? Yeah. And so I think a lot of the joy and joke writing is figuring it out.
Starting point is 00:04:36 But when you did the new hour, were you just like, whatever, dating's harder. It was like a lot of drinking and dick jokes and stuff. And I was like, ah. And then I was doing, you know, I was I was doing international shows where they're doing these themed shows. And I was like, well, what would my theme be? And I was always just reading science books. and I never put the two together
Starting point is 00:04:57 that I could put science in my act. And then anyone that ever tries to do science jokes, it's always like late 90, like you read a headline and then have a snarky response. Yeah. But they're like, Mars might not be as far as my wife's fucking, yeah, lame. And I was like, I care about ideas.
Starting point is 00:05:17 Like I like to eat mushrooms and watch David Attenborough documentaries and stuff. Who doesn't? And that was literally what I was doing and I had all these questions. I was just like in a funk and I just started writing scientists. Yeah. And then they like wrote back. And I was like, that's so weird that they're writing me back. But I feel like out of celebrities,
Starting point is 00:05:37 yeah. Scientists are the most to write you back. Yeah. Oh. Well, they're not celebrities. Well, that's what I mean. Even if they are like world renowned physicists. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:48 They're not getting pussy thrown at them when they walk out of the lab. Oh, no. They're not like, you were figuring out gravity. on Saturday. Can I suck your dick and your jaguar? They're taking a Honda back to a very like... No, there's not like ladies lining up to like
Starting point is 00:06:04 to blow the roadie to get backstage in the lab. I would enjoy celebrities so much more if it was for intelligent people providing information. And that's my whole thing. And then I like went to all these labs. I started this Here We Are podcast or each week when I was touring, I'd go to a different
Starting point is 00:06:21 university and talk to them a lot about how the mind works and perceptions and stuff. Sure. And I'd be talking with these people and I'd be like, oh my God, like, 200 people on earth have like read this paper that you wrote. They're all in your field. Yeah. And no one in the public would be hearing this at all if it weren't for my like miniscule amount of listeners. Yeah. Listening to this. Going and digging it up. And and, uh, and it blew my mind. And so I started putting together like I had a Netflix special called mating season. That was, like a bunch of animal mating behavior and as it relates to relationships.
Starting point is 00:06:59 Then I put out an el, and I, it was fine. But then I put out an album. I had broken my feet and put out an album. Remember that. You did the bonfire. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:09 After you had had a bad DMT experience and broke both your feet. Yeah. And then you were on the, you were healed by the time you came on the bonfire. Yeah. But it was fun because that was the first I saw of this version of you. Yeah. Because I knew Shane,
Starting point is 00:07:23 clean cut from Wisconsin. By way of Boston. It was in Minnesota or you grew up Wisconsin? Wisconsin. Yeah, by way of Boston. Yeah, and you were always like, I asked my buddy Shane,
Starting point is 00:07:32 you're going to come in and it looks like a lacrosse player. And then you showed it to the bonfire and Big Jay was like, I was like, this is Shane. What's you going to find out? This is a new shame. You were telling us about how you broke your feet. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:07:42 both your feet at the same time. Yeah, I broke my feet. I broke my mind, my bank accounts. But can I tell you something that makes me feel really good of seeing you this time? The last time I saw you on the bonfire,
Starting point is 00:07:54 you were coming out of breaking. in your mind and you're kind of piecing it together. And watching your shit last night, I was like, oh, he's back. Yeah, yeah. Like your mind is back. Yeah. Especially with, again, go watch. 10 years ago.
Starting point is 00:08:06 And it did take a while. Yeah. Go watch first dose because what I do love about it is you had fucking jokes, dude. I was telling Katie, you were the first person I ever saw do Conan live. Joe List got me a ticket. Joe, I was drunk in Central Park because my restaurant on our softball league. And Joe List was like,
Starting point is 00:08:27 Shane Moss is taping as Conan, do you want to go to it? And I had met you once or twice. And I was like, yes, what do I have to do? He's like, you have to get to 30 Rock right now.
Starting point is 00:08:35 And I was in my softball shirt, my fucking shorts, my like basketball shoes and a hat, and I was drunk. And I remember going to 30 Rock and finding my way. And I sat behind the Max Kellerman at 7. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:08:49 Like behind you, I watched you. And I'd seen your stand up, but it was the first late night saw, But you were so tight. Yeah. You were so like, boom, boom, boom. And then to watch your special last night, I'm like, man, he's still,
Starting point is 00:09:00 that motherfucker still writes a joke. Yeah. And I love that. That's my favorite thing is to be like, you still got that snap on that fastball. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I do, I go back and forth because some of my themed shows that I do
Starting point is 00:09:15 are definitely heading in the direction of like a TED talky type thing because it's bigger ideas. And I also realized with doing science. jokes like if it if it takes so long to do to set up a concept then to have like one or two punch lines like the last for a minute aren't there yeah so you really have to like make a theme so that it pays off so you take kind of the hit in the beginning and then it pays off like the people that i mean it is hard to do like i just watched maria bamford's old baby and like i i i was like i didn't realize the first time because i think i was just enjoying it so much yeah but i
Starting point is 00:09:54 paying attention to the laughs per minute that she had. It's like a meaningful, like, themed thing. And like, I'm not there. But I, but that's something to aspire to. For her, when people go, I don't like Maria Bamford, it's like when someone doesn't like a $400 bottle of wine, where you go, I don't even think you know what you're into taking. I don't think you realize this is some of the best of the best.
Starting point is 00:10:21 Yeah. She has done stuff that I've listened to. I like listening to her albums while I drive because for some reason, just listening to it helps me with my, it's almost like reading a book where you picture it better. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:36 Where when I listen to Maria Bantford, I can like hear all the places she goes where I think when I watch, I get distracted by lighting or the curtain or how she's standing. So I love listening to her albums. And one that I always listen to and I have for years is unwanted thought syndrome. Because you start seeing the like,
Starting point is 00:10:54 beginning of her going into the deeper stuff, but she just puts her foot in it, but the laughs or minute are still. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you can go to her site and find these treasure troves of all these like weird like web series things and stuff that she's done.
Starting point is 00:11:11 Lady Dynamite was like, was born out of all that. Yeah, yeah. Like she was like, yeah, she's incredible. I love people that do that. You know, I always really respected what Ari Shafir did
Starting point is 00:11:21 with storytelling. Yeah. Because he would be like, yeah, you got a long story, but you can punch it up. And then when I did his, this is not happening. I worked on this story about getting robbed when I lived with a drug dealer. And I remember trying it and you have that feeling where you go, I've really bummed out
Starting point is 00:11:36 the room. Yeah. Like the room is like, oh my God. They're like, I don't want to laugh right now. You have a gun on your head and you're like, oh, yeah, but it's going to get fun. And like to learn how to put that shit in to kind of like make it palpable for like or digestible as comedy. Well, that was also like, I was, part of the reason why I was so, like,
Starting point is 00:11:59 shot, tight and dry and everything was, I was like a very shy, introverted person. Sure. When I was like a way of having, like, very tight control over exactly every, it's funny when people are like, it's weird and introvert would get into comedy. It's like, oh, we like one-sided conversations. Yeah, you've never, no, I always thought it was funny when people were like, you talk to yourself and I'm like, how do you know? How do you work out voice?
Starting point is 00:12:23 People don't talk to themselves. It's crazy. When people think I'm crazy for talking to myself, it's like, so when you drop something on the ground, you just breathe through your nose? You just go, you don't go, you idiot. You fucking drop, like even that, like even that little bit of. I think people have, I think there's a spectrum of how much inner monologue we have, and some people have, some people don't have any at all.
Starting point is 00:12:47 That's what I've heard. That's very interesting to me to just not have a voice going, what the fuck is that? So get this, my special, we call them trips. Then it's like the first dose and the second dose. I'm doing the third dose. No, I'm stuck in this fucking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we were talking about, yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:05 We were talking about the first hit made the universe crumble on itself. And then the next one, you're like, my whole life went, hey, God, and you're like, dude, I wouldn't be able to handle that. Yeah, yeah. But part of the reason, because I did a psychedelic tour back, that's what we talked about on the bonfire. And then I set that aside and started doing other things. but then this opportunity, one of the first things that came up after COVID was this opportunity
Starting point is 00:13:28 to do a Vegas residency with like visuals and everything at all these artists and whatnot. Which is really fucking cool. Yeah, and it was a fun thing to get to work on. It took a really long time. We kind of have it down now. But my VJ. Michael Strauss, who blends things together in real time. So I'm not locked into a script so I can go off and he can. So basically almost like lighting cues, but with visual art.
Starting point is 00:13:53 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he can go, oh, you're going over here. Let me, instead of turn the lighting over here, I can, like, make it blend behind him. In the same way a DJ can alter things based on the vibe, he can throw in, he has, he has, like, 25 years worth of visuals. So, like, say a service dog is in the show and starts barking, he might start putting up dog visuals or something. And that would make my dog bark. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My dog would be like, there's dogs all over there.
Starting point is 00:14:18 I have to go fucking crazy. I mean, with the stuff like, you know, the reference to. DMT where you're like you learn all the whole universe you say this in the trailer for second dose and then it's like all the stuff behind you yeah yeah and then you're like and it's just forgotten is that is that is that kind of visuals planned or is that a lot of it a lot of it is like yeah so a lot of the bits we have like a set these are the visuals that that I'll put when he launches into this bit but I what order I do the bits and then if I improvise he'll improvise as well damn you got to be he's got to be on it. He's been doing it for 25 years. He started doing, his first VJ set was taking, was cutting VHS tapes together and put it together with scotch tape and having multiple players with multiple projectors going on and stuff 25 years ago. And so, anyhow, we, I saw him at a conference providing visuals for talks and I was like, this is the guy. I know he can do this.
Starting point is 00:15:20 And we started working on it. And then right before launching the Vegas residency, we were in the backyard in Vegas. And he had this projector set up. And he was playing visuals and stuff. And we were on this research chemical to CB and doing like a little nitrous and stuff. And watching visual visuals. That's how we put together. That's so funny. That's how you do your tasting.
Starting point is 00:15:46 Do we have any experimental chemicals? Great. Now throw up those flares. Perfect. And I was trying to describe, I forget what it was, but I was like, you know that one part, during this one aspect where it will look like this in like your mind's eye or whatever, I thought it was universal. And he's like, oh, I don't see anything.
Starting point is 00:16:05 I have Afantasia. And I'm like, what? Have you ever heard of Afantasia? So, Afantasia is, this is what brought it up, it's when you don't see any visuals in your mind's eye at all. So he only sees them. he's on psychedelics, which is why he's so attracted to this and seeing these visuals. So normally he can't think of it. Yeah. Yeah. If he's on psychedelics, it'll be in his face.
Starting point is 00:16:30 So like what we were saying about the inner monologue, people have that with their visual system where, where it's on a spectrum. So if you say like picture an apple, some people would see like a black and white apple, some people with two dimensional apple, a cartoon apple. And then like a better cartoon apple and then a vivid apple. And I like I see like, like an apple like almost takes over my vision. Yeah. You know, depending on how much you concentrate. When I, when you said that to me, I have a very clear picture of like a water dusted apple.
Starting point is 00:17:00 Yeah. Like where you see at the grocery store with the little flicks of water on it, like the round thing like that. See, you're on the higher end of it then. So you're more like hyperfantia. I think a lot of comics. Hyperfantia is absolutely going to be my screen name.
Starting point is 00:17:15 Oh, hyperfantia is a one, 100% my screen name. If you start a band. Yeah. As you grow, up, you realize there's things you need. You're in a house, a family, that stuff. But if you have those things, you're also going to realize you need life insurance. And if you need to find out how to
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Starting point is 00:18:06 That's eth-h-os.com slash soda. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Doc, Doc. Got to learn. That noise means it's sock, doc. If you are nervous about going to seeing a doctor or maybe you're like frustrated by it and you're just like, I don't know, man, how the hell do I go see a doctor? Well, try Zoc Doc. I've been using it for years as an app and as a website.
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Starting point is 00:18:57 and click to book instantly no phone tag no waiting around so stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to zocdoc dot com slash soda to find it instantly book a doctor you love today that's z o c d oc.com slash soda zok doc dot com slash soda thanks zok doc doc for sponsoring this message so i filed this out i'm on drugs and i'm about to start the show and i'm like oh my god my visuals guy is blind in the head but he's almost like you know what's funny about that is he's like the blind guitar player from roadhouse where he's just like fucking wails like he can wail on your visuals because he doesn't see it because he's almost like you know what's funny about that is he's like he has this like other thing of it's almost like um you know when they like i can't smell uh i lost it
Starting point is 00:19:49 during covid it's just completely gone oh you haven't regained it no haven't regained it i'm so sorry it's it's all right does it affect your taste yeah it doles it like a lot of hot sauce a lot of ranch i need stuff that actually like steps on my tongue for me to like wow really feel it but i was telling katy it's there's like moments where i'll get like uh now that the seasons are changing i don't know if it's like a memory smell or whatever, but it's starting to be like, I'll walk and I'll get like, kind of what you were talking about,
Starting point is 00:20:18 about how I have like, on the higher end I can picture an apple. To me, it's like I just see the edges. It was similar to like when I've seen documentaries where people talk about their site returning, where it's all of a sudden it's like, so big you can't see stuff, but you can see the outlines of it.
Starting point is 00:20:33 Yeah. That's been happening recently with my smell. Ah. Where I go, I can like take in the overall, but I can't smell. specific what it is, but I go like, that's a season change. That's like a spring.
Starting point is 00:20:46 It was when it got really hot outside. And I walked out, I was like, oh, I almost, I like, wouldn't say I smelled, but I would say that I took something in through my nose that made me remember stuff. And that was always what smell was to me. There's an interesting thing. I think it's called Charles Bonaise syndrome. I'm probably off on that. But Oliver Sacks writes about it in his book, The Mind's Eye, I think.
Starting point is 00:21:09 great neuroscientist the movie that Robin Williams about Parkinson's Awakening. Awakening. Yeah, yeah. He played Oliver Sacks
Starting point is 00:21:20 in that movie. Oh, I didn't realize that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so he had this thing about people that go blind in life. Like they weren't born blind.
Starting point is 00:21:33 They'll often have these visual hallucinations because what happens is when a part of the brain kind of goes dormant, it's not receiving stimulation. In the way that you, when you park a car, you don't,
Starting point is 00:21:47 you want to fire up the engine every few months to make sure stuff. The brain does a similar thing. Really? And so maybe. So I wonder if that was my brain going, oh, the season's changing.
Starting point is 00:21:57 What did that used to smell like? It might be something like that. I don't know, but there are exercises. And I just haven't sat down and done them where they really are like, sit there with like, I think it's something like,
Starting point is 00:22:08 a nail polish. It goes in order of like very, very hard and potent to like very soft. And then you're supposed to like do the smells and go down and then try to repeat up to teach your brain how to take it in. It's like relearning how to smell. Interesting. Yeah. I also heard if I take GLP ones, those things that they've been restoring people's smells.
Starting point is 00:22:30 And not to be a cliche, but have you had a psychedelic experience since this happened? I haven't. There's like, I mean, I'm, I'm due for it. I'm actually a bit of a skeptic for someone that does as many psychedelics as I do is the psychedelic community. They're like everything, psychedelics. It's going to heal everything. But there is, it does certainly psychedelics create a lot of new connections that at least temporarily. And I always, like my bad foot that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that,
Starting point is 00:23:07 has some like nerve damage and so it's just from the surgery sure they just you know cut into so many tendons and everything that it's like half of the foot's like sort of it's not a big deal like i'm i'm going rock climbing later today and stuff and and so it's but i sometimes have a little bit of a limp and everything and and sometimes when it's when it's worse it can um i've i've noticed when i've had an experience that there's like a little bit of a reset like it goes back to like feeling like a normal foot for a while. Sure. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:39 Yeah, I haven't done mushrooms since 2019, so I'm due. I'm due for a big one. And I think I'm going to probably wait till the tour's over. Yeah. What's the hours taped and safely done? That's a good idea. I don't want to crack open and go, I don't like that whole middle chunk. Oh, my God.
Starting point is 00:23:59 People always ask me if I trip on stage, like during the show. Sure. It was always when I started doing psychedelic shows 11 years ago, I had to have like in the, I had to have a question, a Q&A in the show description of common questions. Like, should I come on drugs?
Starting point is 00:24:17 I'm like, ah, it's really meant to simulate a trip more than like be on psychedelics and things like that. But one of the common questions is, are you going to be on drugs well performing? And like, I just don't know why that would be entertained. for people.
Starting point is 00:24:34 But I mean, it's fun when you hear like, well, this band during Woodstock was on 20 hits of acid or whatever. But I don't, I wouldn't want to, it wouldn't want to, I wouldn't want to see a band more if they're like, we're going to dose tonight. I'd be like, ah.
Starting point is 00:24:49 Is it going to be tight? I don't know if the music's going to be tight. Well, there is the times I have. I've done R.E. Storytelling Show in Montreal on mushrooms. And what was that like? good until it wasn't. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:25:04 He was good until it wasn't. He was like, we're all going to, everyone on the lineup, it was at Montreal. He's like, everyone on the lineup is going to do mushrooms. And I was there first because I think it was like one of my first years doing Montreal. So I ate two and a half grams and then I hung out. Okay. That's not crazy. Not crazy.
Starting point is 00:25:22 And I knew it wasn't going to be crazy. I can handle under three pretty well. But it will launch me for a little bit. And I was like, all right. And then I remember smoking a joint upstairs in that, it was at, Cleopatra's that like strip club. Yeah. And then already comes into the room and he goes, bad news.
Starting point is 00:25:38 You and I are the only two that did mushrooms. No one else wants to do them. And I was like, what? And then he's like, and the show's starting. And I was like, all right. And he goes, but you're on mushrooms. Do you want to go first? And I went, yes.
Starting point is 00:25:49 I want this over with right now, which is the worst headspace to be in when you're about to have a fucking six or seven hour trip. Yeah. And then I went on stage and it was going well because I was telling about the story about doing mushrooms in high school and I took them before my friend and he had to drive my car so we're like talking about it's almost like
Starting point is 00:26:08 can we get away from the cops and I'm like I'm doing a good job laughs per minute and then one of the lights on the stairs went and then it went and then it went off and it went up and then my whole entire attention was like
Starting point is 00:26:25 was that real and people are like was what real because no one saw it was one of the lights from under the stair so you don't trip and I went that light did that go off and then it was I just unraveled and by the end I went ah anyways the cops pulled us over we didn't even have like a punchline for this and then I left and walked around Montreal by myself with I remember I had an iPod at the time before iPhones yeah there's so no it must have been like I had an android so it must been like 2012, 2013, and I remember like putting my iPod on and being like, I'm just going
Starting point is 00:27:00 to walk around. Yeah. And it was, it was beautiful. Yeah, of course. I remember listening to Phil Collins outside of a, like a French church in Montreal and being like, one more night. I was like, this is incredible. That had a great time.
Starting point is 00:27:14 But performing, no thanks. That was my experience. Every time I performed, I was like, I want to be looking at trees right now. Like, this isn't, it's not like. it really hurt the performance too much, but it was like, I was just on autopilot. And then I'm like zoomed out. I'm having like an out of body experience watching the stupid thing that I do for my life. Yeah, that's when you really realize.
Starting point is 00:27:38 You go, we're all organisms and I'm a dumb one. What am I doing? I'm just talking for a living. This is so stupid. There was, do you go, do you do, do you go to shows? A trip? Like music. Oh, oh, uh, some.
Starting point is 00:27:53 Yeah, I mean, like, I'll go to, like, I went to this, it was called Pretty Lights Fest. It's like kind of like an EDM fish thing where it's like two days. That seems like a place to trip. I saw, I did truffles in Amsterdam and I went and saw a pearl jam. And that was the last time I want to trip inside. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I felt. Mushrooms are pretty intense too.
Starting point is 00:28:17 I like to be kind of by myself. Yeah. And being able to control the environment. I think that's why. I had to text while I was on it. Yeah. What an unpleasant experience. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:29 Looking at your phone and realizing what a phone is when you're on mushrooms. Oh, the last time I was on LSD, I was like trying to read and it looks like Sanskrit. And I was texting Lou from the bonfire. I was like, in the back of arena tripping hard. And then he came to the back and I was like, ah! And he's like, damn, he really are going through. The thing of truffles that I didn't understand the difference between them in American mushrooms
Starting point is 00:28:57 was that it hits a lot harder. The visuals are a lot more. And it burns cleaner. You like go up, but you go down. It's like quick to rise, quick to fall. Yeah,
Starting point is 00:29:09 because by the end of the Pearl Jam concert, we stopped by a cafe to get a joint. My friends wanted a beer or whatever. And I wanted like a spliff. I wanted some tobacco mixed with some weed. Yeah. And I remember being like, I'm pretty normal again.
Starting point is 00:29:23 Yeah. Like I went to bed that night in our hotel room, not. Yeah. I didn't feel like a lot of times when I do mushrooms, I feel like at night and the next morning, the shell is coming back together. Like I'm shelling back up, like getting a harder, like letting all the thoughts out.
Starting point is 00:29:37 But this I was like immediately like, oh, I'm really good at bed. That's why on tour, like when I do these big psychedelic tours, it's the least amount of psychedelics that I do. You know, when I'm not on tour, I'll trip and like try to write about it and articulate the experiences. so I have something to talk about when I'm touring.
Starting point is 00:29:55 But when you're on tour, yeah, especially the older you get, the more you realize, like, no, I want a few days afterwards to think about some of what happened. Yeah, I'm really interested to do a trip, you know. I think it might really, just even if it's like less than three grams of mushrooms, just to be back again and just to get launched and go like, oh, yeah, we're just, we're all just an organism on this rock. There's so many different, it's changing so much. because of the decriminalization of things that you can get kind of specifically what you want.
Starting point is 00:30:28 Like 2CB is this research chemical that's especially good for something like a concert because it's just it's mushroom visuals and MDMA like body and feel, but no head trip. Like you're clear, you're clear at it. Well, that's crazy. That would be both Pip and I are looking at each other like that would be fucking fantastic. That does feel like, at least we're at that part of science. where you go, we can make some fuck cool trips.
Starting point is 00:30:55 Yeah, yeah. Well, that was this guy, Alexander Shulgin, Sasha Shulgin. He was a chemist in the 50s. One of the legends in the field, he made a fortune making some fertilizer for Dow Chemical. And they're like, here's your own lab. Just do whatever you want. And he had had an influential mescaline experience. And he started tweaking the mescaline molecule.
Starting point is 00:31:17 And he tried testing on animals and wasn't noticing anything. And he's like, meanwhile, those raccoons are, just tripping their dicks off. They're like, yeah, dude, I won't dig through any trash. Holy shit, man. Holy shit, my legs grew out. And then my hands grew out. And then I understood why I have fingers.
Starting point is 00:31:33 Like a raccoon being tested on with its fingers. It's like, what is fucking happening? Yeah, but you can't see from the outside. It's like. A lab rat for that versus like, you know what I mean? Getting tumors put in. Yeah. Oh, we're going to hit this one with radiation.
Starting point is 00:31:48 You go, no, but this one you're like, brother, can I get a cigarette? That was unbelievable. So he got this whole, like, lab to himself. And he was like, we need to test it on humans, but it would be unethical because even with the best chemistry and neuroscience, you have no idea, like, what this new thing is going to do or what is the right dosage. And so he decided the only ethical thing to do was to test it on himself. Hero.
Starting point is 00:32:17 Listen, this goes back to my thing that I'm preaching on several podcasts across. Ross, anytime I can get on a mic, I'm going to preach it. I've been shorthand-terming it, calling it Dan's Law, but I think we should, where I believe that if you work, if you own a company, you need to work there. So to me, this falls right in line. If you're a scientist, better try it on yourself first. You know what I mean? Like, I'm not going to, like, you can't be a board member of Dow and go, I like this
Starting point is 00:32:46 chemical. You go, no, I need the motherfucker in the lab. That's like, boop. All right. Here I go. That's what I want. Accountability, baby. Yeah, and he took a lot for the team because he made over a thousand chemicals,
Starting point is 00:32:59 a new, new psychedelics, and he liked one out of five. Whoa! Which meant four times it was tough. Four times he went, no, no, no, no,
Starting point is 00:33:10 no. But that one time he had to go. Okay. That was pretty crazy. That was pretty crazy. Especially in the 50s where, like, people were sleeping in suits. Like,
Starting point is 00:33:19 you had to, like, wear a suit to go to bed. That's how dressed up they were and like pinned up being like, brother, I launched myself. Yeah, yeah. Well, this is in Oakland. So people were like a little looser. Shout out. And we're the Soder family immigrated to. Shout out to East Bay. And he, if he liked it, he would give it to his wife, Ann. Cool. And then if she liked it, then they would invite friends over for a weekend. That's the invite. They had these like Good Friday experiments. And then they would all do this brand new psychedelic that they had never that that he had just concocted for the first time and then they would write a paper about it and publish it he did get let go from dow after you know
Starting point is 00:34:01 too fun we're letting you go for being too fun what is it specifically about the bay area that there's so much psychedelic influence and because you had ken kesey right yeah yeah then you got this scientist and you have the merry pranksters you have hunter s thompson giving the The Angels LSD? I don't know. Eat Ashbury, the Grateful Dead. Right. You just wonder if it's like, what is it about the Bay Area that just lends itself so much to psychedelics?
Starting point is 00:34:30 Yeah, I mean, there's, there's good weather, first of all. Yeah, well, it's great. It is. It's always a little foggy, and then it gets a little warm, and then it goes back to being cold. It's never oppressive in any way, whether it's cold or with heat. Well, then there's like, there's a fair amount of intellectuals around, but it's always been like this alternative. There's also blue collar people. San Francisco at its best is mixed.
Starting point is 00:34:54 At its worst, it's all tech people driving people out. But my aunt, my aunt grew up, you know, my dad's from Oakland, and my aunt was born in Oakland, and they all grew up in the East Bay. But my aunt became a drug addict later in life, but did a lot of psychedelics in the 60s because she was just a teenager, and it was around. Now people use psychedelics to quit addiction.
Starting point is 00:35:17 It's crazy. Her's was on the way up, but she told me a story. She had a big fear of little people. She had like a very, very big fear of little people that I thought was so funny. I was close to her and I used to go stay with her. It's my dad's sister. It's after my dad's dead. So I had a really good relationship with her.
Starting point is 00:35:34 And she was very, very funny. She was a big lady, you know, former drug addict. She'd tell it like it is. But, oh man, I'll tell you right now, my biggest regret it was in middle school signing up for French and not Spanish. because boy, I don't use French, and I could really use some Spanish right about now. But thank God for Babel. You can do real learning with real results.
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Starting point is 00:37:23 Up front payment of $45 for three-month, five-gigabyte plan required. New customer offer for three months only. Then full price plan available. Taxes and fees extra. See MintMobile for details. Huge fear of little people. To the point where they would come on TV.
Starting point is 00:37:39 Meanwhile, you're a wrestling fan and stuff. They're all over the place. She's watching doink with all the little clowns. But I remember specifically us watching Austin Powers Spy Who Shagged me and Mini Me. She was like, no, no, no, no, like not even. I mean, I was laughing, but like she was like, no, I'm not playing. I don't fuck with that shit. I can't do that.
Starting point is 00:37:59 And then finally, when I was older, she told me the story of her and her friend took 20 hits of acid in downtown San Francisco and were walking around. And they went into a giant hotel, I think it was like a Marriott downtown. and they went up to the banquet hall and it opened up and it was a little person connection. She was like 16 years old and like tripping and they were all like talking to her and like grabbing her arms and she was like no, no, no.
Starting point is 00:38:29 And it just fucked her up until the day she died. Like she would not fuck with little people in any way. And I was like, what are you talking about? They're small. You're big. What are you worried about? She was like, she called me Danny. She goes, Danny, I don't fuck with that.
Starting point is 00:38:44 I don't want to fuck with that. And I always remember that. And then when she told me that story, I was like, well, you, you were tripping. Yeah. And then an elevator opened up. And everyone was half the size. You were Gulliver and Gulliver's travels. Of course you were freaked out.
Starting point is 00:38:57 And she was like, yeah, I don't know. But is that like, I don't know. I think of her when I think of psychedelics in the Bay Area. Because she would be like, because my grandmother had her committed when she was a teenager for doing acid. She did acid. She got in trouble and she did acid alone in her room. And she came out and was like, watching TV with my grandma and she was like whoa she got snakes in your hair my grandma was like
Starting point is 00:39:20 what and she was like laughing she's like you got snakes in your hair this shit's wild and my grandmother who's from oklahoma it's like a button up conservative was like oh my daughter lost her mind yeah and i think my i think aunt karen told me she did like 15 or 16 hits acid so she was up there for a while yeah they drove her to the mental institution and like a day later she called and she was like no i was on drugs. Please come get me. This is crazy. And I was like, damn, doing, that's what it was like in the 60s.
Starting point is 00:39:48 Yeah, yeah. Like, the regular community didn't understand what psychedelics were. Yeah. They're like, what do you mean you're taking acid? What is acid? Now it's like. I think it's like, yeah, like six, she was born in 50. So it must have been like 68 to like 73.
Starting point is 00:40:03 Now there's like frat houses doing mushrooms like instead of having kegs and stuff. And there's like there's like the, oh, you're like the mega mushroom. person and you're which doesn't feel like it connects on any level. How are you taking that and not looking at Trump with his bronzer on his face and not being like yo this is fucking
Starting point is 00:40:24 me up to think you take any sort of mushroom and look at a politician like any politician and go there are the peak of phoniness. Yeah. I couldn't imagine watching a campaign speech and take blue or red out of it but watching someone being
Starting point is 00:40:42 like, and I'm going to do this, and being on mushrooms and being like, yeah. Yeah, yeah. That is crazy. Do you take any offense to the microdose culture? I don't take offense. I think it's like oversold. I get that. It's funny.
Starting point is 00:40:59 The word psychedelic, it's like Latin for mind manifesting. These are considered the most mind-altering substances on earth, and that's why people had historically done them. Some people are like, oh, yeah, I want to take the most mind-altering substance on earth, but just enough so it doesn't alter my mind in any way whatsoever. I don't want to do the thing. But I want to take the thing. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:25 You know, that is, you know, what's funny about that is we're both former drinkers, heavy drinkers. Yeah. And that is always kind of how I felt about people who drink NA beers that don't have problems. Yeah. Because you go, well, I need it to crutch an urge. Yeah, yeah. I needed to overcome my disdain for the taste of beer to get the drunk enough.
Starting point is 00:41:48 But for me now, it is like a crutch. Like if I'm at a baseball game, I have the urge to want to drink 20 beers. Right. But if I find a Heineken zero, I go, oh, and I take a couple of sips. I go, that's fine. But I couldn't understand if I didn't have a drinking problem being like, give me the beer with none of the good stuff. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:09 I'd be like, no, good. Why NAs work is because you have one or two and you go, no warmth. Yeah, yeah. There's no like the feeling of when you drink and you have a couple and you're like, I'm starting to fucking feel it. NAs don't have that. So you have two and you go, I'm just drinking bubble water. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:27 It's making my gut feel heavy. Yeah, the whole, the whole cliche with the microdosing and the tech culture, I don't know. I was just, I was commissioned to there's this show surviving AI. I sometimes people ask me to put together some comedy on various science concepts and I don't know a thing about AI, but I was trying to put together some material. And it's this variety show. There's like a scientist, a tech person, a musician, and it's at this frontier towers in San Francisco. It's like this futurist thing.
Starting point is 00:43:01 Each level is like I think Ethereum has a level. Then there's an AI level. There's like a longevity level that I saw. Brian Johnson's poster out of the way. Come on. I'm just wet-skinned old dudes. They're like, I'm going to live forever. You're like, oh, you creep me out, bro.
Starting point is 00:43:19 You look like you just got... Do you know what forever is? Yeah, you go, I don't think... Also, I don't want you to live forever. You stink. Have someone cool. I'm not even like I'm going to live for a million years. Yeah, do you remember about my old...
Starting point is 00:43:32 It sounds ridiculous. My old Japanese neighbor Albert in Tucson was cool. Why can't he live forever? You bring me tea when I was hung over. You're a... Dickhead. I don't want you living forever. And I went and there was a money to get a water
Starting point is 00:43:45 and there was a vending machine and it was an AI vending machine. Which I would love because I used to love beating the shit out of vending machines where it took my money. So the AI, I'm glad it's going to be feeling something. Yeah, yeah. It's like four times as wide as a regular
Starting point is 00:44:01 vending machine. You know when airports try to be like, look at how fancy this vending machine. It's like an adult claw machine or something. And then it never works. It never works. SFO, if you go to the Delta, I think it's Terminal 2, there is a vending machine with one of the claws that grab stuff, and they have canned gatorade.
Starting point is 00:44:20 I love canned gatorade. It reminds me of my childhood. I'm trying to, I always, when I'm at SFO, I'm like, maybe the machine will work this time. And I can go get a can of orange gatorade before I get in my phone. It never is working. You put money in and it goes, and just doesn't. You go, I'd rather just have an old one that had the swirls that would just drop it.
Starting point is 00:44:44 Vending machines are pretty solid. We've got to take. We don't need you to put AI into the vending machine. This had two screens on each side and then a glass window so you could see like a third of the stuff that was in there. And then it has like this AI lady on it that you're supposed to be able to talk to her or whatever. It's new. She's not quite working yet. You can't quite talk. to her yet of course and then and so now i got to use the screen to find a drop down menu and there's no just like a eight or something like that just give me a fucking number a letter in a number so i need to go like drink soda water and then i and then i look and there's things in there that i can't find on the menu because the menu is not all together yet and then and i'm like all right here's snacks fine bag
Starting point is 00:45:31 of chips and then i order another thing and it goes and to get the soda water you're It turns into a person and walks down the hallway and pours you a soda water. You're like, just dropping out your asshole. You're a vending machine. Just go, blah. Here's a soda. Bluh. It opens up like the Star Trek, like that they got food out of or whatever.
Starting point is 00:45:52 And then I grabbed the drink out and it knows my hand was in there and the things. Then it closes and goes into trees. And then it does the classic thing where the bag of chips comes halfway. No way. It's like you had one. thing to fix on vending machines. The only thing to fix. Stop letting it get stuck against the window where it's like, that's so funny.
Starting point is 00:46:16 And theoretically, like, wouldn't you think an AI vending machine has all these sensors, it's doing its own inventory and ordering and restocking itself and stuff? And it doesn't even know that it has, and I'm trying to go on the screen to like ask for help. That's not an option. The AI lady has an Instagram. No, she does it. He does too, that I can go on and message this fucking. But you can't just, and then if you hit it, it would be a hate crime.
Starting point is 00:46:43 If you, like, shook it, like an old one, they'd go, please don't do that. I've asked you not to put your hands on me. Yeah, well, instead you're like, oh, she's doing the best she can. Oh, my God, I should follow her. She should follow her on Instagram. Really see if they update the chip selection. I'm really hoping for her. I hope she gets her stuff together.
Starting point is 00:47:00 You're the girl your dating, he's like, who is that? And you go, that's an AI vending machine. And she's going through it right. now. She's on only fans. I support her. She goes, do you want to watch me open a bag? And you go, is that cost sex? That's what it's going to be. They're going to, they're going to, they're going to like know what phone is nearby, know your preferences, and then put like the big titty lady or kid a walk by who would be their favorite cartoon character or whatever selling you stuff. And then I still had to stick my hand into nothing so that it would close to go out
Starting point is 00:47:35 retrieve my third item. And I'm like making fun of this thing. And then there's a guy in this tech building that comes over. And I'm like, oh, is it his or something? Like, he's taking this personally that I'm like mocking this thing. I love that. He like opens up the, he opens the thing up and gets me the chips.
Starting point is 00:47:54 It's like it works perfectly as long as there's a human there. It's like we're bringing back the like bellhop and elevators or something. I don't need that. You can save that. cut that out. But they are. They want it to like, it's almost like there's no practicality sometimes behind it. And that's what
Starting point is 00:48:13 feels like you guys are spending your money. I remember when my mom would, you remember book fairs in elementary school where they'd be like, hey, we're going to have a book fair so you can go down and buy a couple books or when Christmas was coming. I'm talking about when you're really little. And they'd go, there's a store
Starting point is 00:48:29 so you can buy your family some Christmas gifts. And you'd be like second grade and you go down. You go, I get my mom this. I'm going to get my stepdad. But I remember the first time doing that of going in there and being like, well, I want that. I want that poster book. And you take that and you go, well, I want that too.
Starting point is 00:48:46 And then you go back to class and you go, I just bought all this stuff for myself with my mom's money. I remember learning that lesson. And my mom was like, you're supposed to buy stuff for other people. That's what it feels like tech's doing right now. Oh, yeah. I'm just doing this all for all shit I want. And you go, you're supposed to be doing this for the rest of us so that it's fucking, that it makes our lives. it's real neat that they have this AI vending machine.
Starting point is 00:49:08 No man, AI vending machine. You go, that helps no one. And it was, and then I do the show in there with like a bunch of people that were like in the tower and like co-work in it or whatever. And, um, and, and the tech guy like brings up the vending machine. I started making fun of it. And they all fucking tightened up. These are the edge lords that think Elon Musk legalized comedy by the way. Do you see what Elon did?
Starting point is 00:49:33 He brought a sink into twilight. Twitter. You're like, oh, total on. What a, uh, your guys. Total own. The worst, the worst telling of a joke I've ever seen in my life was Elon Musk on Joe Rogan's podcast trying to tell a joke. And you're like, that's not a human being. Where he was like, there's two economists, okay?
Starting point is 00:49:53 And they're eating shit. And you're like, watch him tell this joke. And you go, dude, I'll pay, give him all the money in the world to not tell a joke. You could. This guy sucks. You could have 10,000 comedians. that you're paying like $200,000 a year to just write material for you. You have so much money.
Starting point is 00:50:12 You don't have to, but that's what it is. It's a lot of these guys, it's like, that's what's funny about the microdosing thing, where you talk about bros, microdosing. Oh, yeah. Well, a lot of your shitty behaviors is because you're insecure. A lot of your shitty behaviors, because you don't really know who you are
Starting point is 00:50:27 and you have this, like, idea of what masculinity is and what you're supposed to follow. And if you do these drugs, you're supposed to get scared. Yeah. Because you're supposed to have a moment of not repents. You're supposed to question the AI bending machine. You're also supposed to go, why do I need this stuff? Every successful mushroom trip I've ever had, there's been a moment where I've been like,
Starting point is 00:50:48 you know, and then on the way down, I always, and I've used this analogy a ton, but I liken it to the thing at the carnival where you get in and they strap you in and there's two of you, and they pull you down and then they shoot you up. Yeah. And that's what mushrooms is. where you go, holy shit, I'm so scared, I'm so scared. And then you take a view and you go,
Starting point is 00:51:08 look at the view. Yeah. And then you go, fuck, I'm scared a little bit. Then you go back up. And every time you go back down and go back up, you go, you enjoy it more. Yeah. Because you go, oh, shit.
Starting point is 00:51:15 I remember doing it at Coney Island in Brooklyn. And they pull you down and I was going like, the first one I was like, and then the second one, you're like, oh, shit, look, I think you can see Staten Island. And then you're like, oh, fuck. And you're supposed to go back down to the ground and go, I learned something.
Starting point is 00:51:29 Yeah. You're not supposed to take a little bit of mushrooms to remain a antagonistic dickhead. It's just a bunch of control freaks with like, you know, addicted to placebos. Like look at Brian Johnson. Just sitting in the dark, like eating placebos all day. Like I better train my blood.
Starting point is 00:51:49 You're like, dude, I get it if you're Keith Richards and you're trying to come off heroin and they go dump your blood for new blood, that way the heroin. And you go, oh, maybe that makes sense. But like just sitting there taking little pills being like, am I younger? That just always to me scream. mental instability or mental,
Starting point is 00:52:07 like something's wrong. And it's not even scientific. So they're just finding whatever scientists will validate what they want to believe. But you can cast a net wide and far. And, you know, tobacco companies would do this to find, like, the scientist that would take enough money to be like, well, we don't fully know the thing.
Starting point is 00:52:26 That's basically what these guys are doing now to have, like, a scientist that will tell them that they're going to live forever. And a dump. person like me reads that a scientist is helping them and I go, oh, there's a fucking scientist helping them. But it was. It really was like the tobacco companies finding them being like, it doesn't cause lung cancer or they find a scientist that signs off on anything. Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's a whole, you're always going to be able to find a disgruntled person or someone
Starting point is 00:52:51 willing to take enough money for something. But even the guy you were talking about that created in his own lab. Alex Shulgin. Yeah, Alex Hulgin. He had to work for Dow. Yeah. to make something for Dow, that Dow was like, yeah, this is going to be a forever chemical that's in the water forever. And he was like,
Starting point is 00:53:07 okay. And he goes, can I have my own labs so me and my wife can have our experimental parties? Yeah. But that's, that really is the unfortunate part of it
Starting point is 00:53:17 is a lot of times these, these people who aren't using drugs for good reasons, they're using it for nefarious reasons, have the money. So then they get these people who do know the chemicals to go and you go, it's just,
Starting point is 00:53:29 it's all fucked up. But the thing that I always, upset me about micro dosing was it never seemed to take a lasting effect as a three gram dose would or a terence mckenna dose of mushrooms yeah large dose is an experiential change that you're having so the chemicals go away but it was those insights that you had during the experience whereas microdosing like what's the difference between that and just like taking an antidepressant or something if you're taking it every other day anyway and now your brain's going to acclimate anyhow and It reminds, it's like, to me it's the difference of like taking a cruise to visit places or just going and living in a place.
Starting point is 00:54:10 Yeah. Where you go, yeah, well, I went and lived in Barcelona. So now I call it Barcelona because I was there for too long. Versus like you take a cruise and you stop and you go, we were there for a day. I wouldn't even say it's cruise level. I'd say it's looking at a couple pictures and thinking that you know Barcelona now. That's pretty fucking cool. Because I do think, I really do think the thing about psychedelics that I've always enjoyed,
Starting point is 00:54:36 even if I don't enjoy it in the time, is it humbles you. Yeah, yeah. Where you go, whoa, there's so much bigger shit than what we are. Yeah. And I think that is good for humanity to go like, holy shit, we're a tiny part of a big thing. Because a lot of what marketing now is you're the only thing that matters. You're the only thing. You're living your experience.
Starting point is 00:55:00 that's unfair to society. Yeah, I'm pretty concerned about the human ego. So there's this, there's a study that's really stuck with me. It's, I think it's called the book called The Social Brain or something. But the idea is, is that, is that our brain, the way our brains evolved, we were, we were like never thinking alone. And so the brain was always, like, assessing what the brains in your tribe also knew. So, so you'd be like, you know, you might not know exactly how to build a shelter as well as
Starting point is 00:55:29 this other person, but you have access to that information. And so then you're subconsciously, if you're around someone that has the expertise in that thing, you overestimate how much you know because your brain conflates the ability to access information with already having it. That's very interesting to think like, I've heard this guy talk about cars for six months in depth. I can fix cars. And they test it.
Starting point is 00:55:55 So like one of my favorite studies, they go, they make up a thing. and tell people they go, we have this, we have this, scientists discovered some mineral that glows. They've learned everything about it. How much do you know about how this mineral glows? And people are,
Starting point is 00:56:13 I think I have a handle on it. And move back. I'll tell you how this motherfucker glows right now. Which is related to this Dunning Cougar effect. Yeah. And which is that we, basically when you know nothing about something, is the most amount of confidence that you have because life's just too full of information.
Starting point is 00:56:34 So our brains just assume we know enough about whatever to get by in life. And then once you start learning, you go, oh, shit, I don't know anything. And that is why your first open mic you can kill and then spend the next two years eating shit. It's exactly what happened. And it takes 20 years before you have the same level of confidence as you had at that first open mic. And that's exactly.
Starting point is 00:56:54 Because you realize just how hard it actually is. Truly, I remember doing the first open mic and being like, Like I got these three ideas and I'm going to talk about them and make them funny. And I did. And then I was done and I was like three minutes. And I went, damn, I think I know how to do stand-up. And then I spent just after that, just like bombing. I probably like legitimately bombing for like two years.
Starting point is 00:57:14 Yeah. Just being like, I don't know. I don't know. And then like learning like, oh, you got to learn how to write a joke. And then you got to write a joke that's true to you. And then you got to deliver it like you're not fucking saying something you wrote. And it is. And then 20 years later you go, I think I got an idea.
Starting point is 00:57:28 And then you go up there. And it's funny. and you go, fuck. It really is. It's like a long process. Yeah, and everything's like that. So the experimental condition in this is that they said the exact same thing. They go, scientists have discovered this new mineral.
Starting point is 00:57:41 It glows. It's confidential. How much do you know about it? And people are like, what do you mean? I don't know anything about it. It's all the same information. Really? But because they said it's confidential, they're like, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:57:54 Like, I can't access that information. Yeah. And so the idea is, is that our brains are. conflating the ability to access knowledge with already having it. So what does that mean when we have the internet in our pockets all of the time? We're all just going to walk around thinking we fucking know everything already. Because you can look it up, you mistake it for like having already looked it up and doing the research.
Starting point is 00:58:19 I'm wondering of what the imprint is of learning it and retaining it versus just the idea. because I think just in what I've noticed since smartphones have came out is my ability to retain information is much lower than it was before when I just had a flip phone and I'd read a book or I'd be on a little read a magazine on the subway and then I would like read an article and then I would just like know about this subject versus now I'm scrolling and I read four different things on Reddit in an hour and I got none of it. I got absolutely none of it.
Starting point is 00:58:54 I got like little bits and pieces. You can read like a mediocre book and be like, oh my God, I've just learned all of these things. And on like one subject that might take you a month to read or whatever. And meanwhile, you can you can scroll through Instagram and I'll feel like, oh, I saw this thing on it. I saw a chart. And I saw these. I just learned so much. And it's like I didn't retain any of that at all.
Starting point is 00:59:23 It's like taking a cup to the ocean. and you're just like trying to get a cup of water and it's just like splashing out to where every time you pull your cup you're like there's nothing in there versus like a sink where it's just dropping and you go and I waited and now I got a full cup it just feels like the overload of information washes everything out
Starting point is 00:59:39 and you go I can't fucking hold on any of this shit that's why I'm like it's interesting to watch your special again watch second dose on YouTube we'll put the link right here but it seems like from watching your first special you're back
Starting point is 00:59:54 to finding the enjoyment of writing jokes about stuff. Yeah, yeah. Like it doesn't feel as empty as that Comedy Central presents. Oh, absolutely. I mean, part of it too is that, is that I always wanted to, like, get out of my comfort zone
Starting point is 01:00:09 because I had such a narrow comfort zone when I started, when you speak about storytelling, I remember when I first, like I'm a storyteller now, when I first started telling stories, it was the scariest thing in the world. The idea of,
Starting point is 01:00:24 of like, well, this is a really good story if people are into it. If they aren't, I'm bombing for 15 minutes. I was used to like, I can bomb on a joke. I have eight more. Then I just pull out my best joke after that. Just reload and shoot. And a story, you're right.
Starting point is 01:00:42 Also, a lot of times with stories, you might forget a integral part that you don't realize the audience needs. So you're just telling a story and then they're just lost. What's worse than bombing is having a crowd lost on a story where they're like, I don't even know where we're at right. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 01:00:56 That's what I learned by doing that story about getting robbed because I'm like, all of a sudden I'm like, no, it's funny. I have change in my pockets. I'm like, I didn't explain the whole bank part. And then you're like, ah, fuck. And then you're a lost. Yeah. So now with storytelling, you feel a lot more.
Starting point is 01:01:10 Yeah. And then trying to take, you know, like these studies that I can't stop from like, I'll tell anyone that will listen. Like, they just really interest me. And it's what I find myself thinking about going like, Now, how do I make that funny, though? It's really, really challenging. And so I like putting together.
Starting point is 01:01:29 I have a new show myth understandings that I'm putting together. That's all about kind of human storytelling and why we evolved to create myths and how they were useful through time. And how now that we have, like, more access to reality and information, the myths didn't go away necessarily. And how it just kind of transitioned into disinformation. and things. And so these are just the things that I just genuinely love talking about and thinking about and want to, you know, anyone that will listen when I'm at a party or whatever. And then just being like, can I make that funny?
Starting point is 01:02:07 Yeah. It's really challenging. That's what I've always loved it. It's very similar to Colin Quinn and what he does subject. That's like probably the closest thing to what I'm trying to do right now. He just goes, oh, the Constitution's interesting. Why don't I break it down with jokes for an hour? Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 01:02:22 I love that shit. That's the sort of thing. And I think that's an evolution for a comedian to hit that. I think when you hit that as a comic, you're, you're, you've stepped up from beyond the like, you ever have a doorknob jam and your dick's out? You know, like I do love those. I love, I'm always going to love jokes, but I do like watching comedians that I like, especially have that evolutionary jump where they go, well, now I have a whole subject and I
Starting point is 01:02:45 break it down with like a ton of great jokes and you like, this fucking rules. But now I'm like doing regular old, like if I had to do five, minutes now. I'm like, oh my God, that's a little out of my comfort. So I'm like, I can get on stage for 90 minutes. No problem. You're just over corrected. You want to do a full 24-hour set? You go, no one wants that. I can do that. And I go, hey, listen, I need you do a six-minute guest set. And you go, I'm going to bleed out of my ears. I'm fucking scared. I'm so scared. It's literally like that now. That's fun. I think that I'll probably do. I did like one weekend of regular stand-up last year, but not that specials are.
Starting point is 01:03:21 I might do a little more stand-up. Do it. Just fuck around. Why not? See what it's like. Come on back. I still make some notes. Fuck yeah.
Starting point is 01:03:30 I got some jokes. You're always hilarious and one of my favorites to watch. Shane Moss's special, second dose on YouTube. Out now. Watch it. Follow him. Go to his website. See where he's performing.
Starting point is 01:03:40 If you enjoyed any of this conversation, he's so funny and intelligent and just, it's great to reconnect with him. Shane Moss right, right there. Thank you for watching. Thanks, buddy. dude.

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