A Comedian + Psychedelics + A Scientist =
Head Talks Live!
Presented by the Here We Are podcast
Shane Mauss is a stand-up comedian, science communicator and a psychedelic advocate.
Head Talks is his new tour where he is joined by a psychedelic researcher in each city for a show combining all three of his worlds into one two-hour show.
Format
History - Shane will host the show and open with comedy about the history of psychedelic research before introducing special guest, anthropologist Sophia Rokhlin.
Ayahuasca - Sophia will give a talk about her book When Plants Dream: Ayahuasca, Amazonian Shamanism and the Global Psychedelic Renaissance (Watkins, 2019) about the global spread of ayahuasca and plant communication.
DMT- Shane will take you for an exciting and harrowing journey into the complex worlds of DMT. (Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of these substances)
Q&A – The show ends with a fun, informative and funny Q&A with the audience.
The show will be followed by a book signing and community meet & greet.
About Shane Mauss
Shane Mauss wears three hats.
1) He is an award-winning stand-up comedian who has had five appearances on Conan, multiple appearances on Comedy Central and a variety of other shows. He is best known for his recent appearances on podcasts like Pete Holmes ‘You Made It Weird’, Duncan Trussell’s Family Hour, The Joe Rogan Experience, and Marc Maron’s WTF.
2) He is a science communicator who hosts the podcast ‘Here We Are’ where each week he travels to interview a different scientist about their work and the meanings of life. The bulk of his latest touring is with his live show ‘Stand Up Science’ which combines two comedians and two scientists on the same stage for a night that is equal parts aha and haha.
3) He is a psychedelic advocate and explorer whose 111-city comedy tour about psychedelics ‘A Good Trip’ was the inspiration for the documentary ‘Psychonautics: A Comic’s Exploration of Psychedelics’. Available now on Amazon Prime, the documentary combines perspectives of some of the top researchers with Shane’s personal journey in a fun, enlightening, and somewhat turbulent adventure.
SPECIAL GUEST
About Sophia Rokhlin, MSc.
Sophia Rokhlin is an anthropologist and political ecologist exploring the world of plants. She is a co-author of the new book When Plants Dream: Ayahuasca, Amazonian Shamanism and the Global Psychedelic Renaissance (Watkins, 2019). Sophia is a Program Coordinator at the The Temple of the Way of Light, a indigenous plant medicine retreat center in the Peruvian rainforest. She’s a member of the Ayahuasca Community Committee at the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines, and lives in the Amazon where she collaborates with indigenous communities conserving land and traditional knowledge.
Frequently Asked Questions
Isn’t drug humor cliché? ?
It sure can be! Good thing that this won’t be a bunch of dumb pot jokes. This show will feature some of the most thoughtful and unique humor and insights you’ve ever seen.
Do I need to have psychedelic experience?
Absolutely not! Communicating these ideas to unfamiliar but curious people is incredibly rewarding for us. From the beginning, the show has been built to make big ideas accessible to the psychedelic naïve while pushing some new, ambitious ideas further so that even the most experienced psychonaut will learn things and appreciate the way in which we have articulated these ineffable worlds. One of our favorite things about this show is that psychedelic fans often invite their family and friends who they have always had a hard time explaining this subject to.
Are you guys going to be on psychedelics while presenting?
Negative! …why would an audience want to watch to people laying on the stage, talking about what color sounds like for 2 hours? (Not to mention from our side of things, tripping at work is a horrible waste of a good trip. No thank you.)
Are you going to pass out psychedelics out to everybody? ?
Umm NO. Obviously not. Strike two for dumb questions. However — if you come and support this kind of message, meet like-minded people at the show, and help keep the conversation going, maybe one day these destructive/ignorant drug laws will change.
Should I do psychedelics before the show?
You wouldn’t be the first one. I will not tell you what to do. In my opinion, it’s not how I would choose to spend a trip. I would rather be in nature. It’s not a Pink Floyd laser light show — it’s a comedy and science talk. It’s about tripping and trippy ideas, not necessarily “trippy” (although everything in life is trippy, it just sometimes takes tripping to realize that). That being said, we’ve never heard of anything but positive experiences from people who have chosen to go that route.
We’ve just constructed this show in a way to inform and get people excited about their future experiences (and maybe see their past experiences in a new light!) There is a lot of great material that will help you on future trips that you may not retain if you are tripping.
We are not your mom. Choose your own adventure.
What is the most important thing to know about this show.
Get ready to crawl out of your shell and MEET PEOPLE!!! These audiences are made up of the best folks in a given city. It can sometimes be hard to find like-minded people out there. This is a great place to find the others. The psychedelic community can be a bit introverted and quiet. Take a chance! You will already have the topic of conversation as an ice-breaker. Make some new friends. This is why we have a meet and greet after.
Previews http://www.shanemauss.com/head-talks-preview
more info at http://www.shanemauss.com