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Humboldt’s humor magazine, Savage Henry, has produced live comedy shows at The Jam in Arcata just about every Tuesday since 2011. Recently they had their biggest show in nearly five years when Comedian Shane Mauss came to town.

“I remember turning around and saying, ‘Holy crap,’” said Savage Henry editor and publisher, Chris Durant. “I had to stay in the booth the whole time. It was super-packed and I was really impressed.” 

But Mauss isn’t your ordinary stand-up comedian. His show is all about psychedelics and how they’ve positively affected his life. It’s called ‘A Good Trip’ and he’s on an 80-city tour sponsored by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, also known as MAPS.

He says, “I’m just trying to get people to open up a little more and not be so scared of life. Psychedelics are about looking at life in a different way.”

Mauss is a self-proclaimed psychonaut and says he uses psychedelics to aid in gaining a deeper understanding of the mind. In the show, Mauss shares 20 years of personal experiences and talks about the stigma, history, laws and science of psychedelics and the effects of hallucinogens such as mushrooms, LSD and DMT. 

Mauss is now an advocate for psychedelics being researched and used in clinical settings. In this LoCO video report we sit down with the comedian to find out more.