385: Shane Mauss Thought He Hacked the White House With His Mind | The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler #385

Summary

The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler #385 Guest: Shane Mauss Thought He Hacked the White House With His Mind Release Date: May 11, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, comedian and science-enthusiast Shane Mauss joins Ryan Sickler to dive deep into the "lowlights" of Mauss’s life, focusing on his personal journey through the highs and profound lows of psychedelic use, mental health crises, and his unique blend of comedy and science communication. Shane shares the story behind his new two-part comedy special "Trips," candid tales of mania and psychosis, and how a wild ayahuasca experience led him to believe he had mind-hacked the White House. The conversation is a raw, darkly funny, and ultimately hopeful look at the precarious line between genius and insanity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introducing Shane Mauss & "Trips" (02:13 – 05:33)

• Name Pronunciation & Background: Shane clarifies the correct pronunciation of his last name: “Moss, not Mouse.”
• About "Trips" Special: The first-ever standup special on psychedelics, filmed at Meow Wolf in Denver, blending live VJ visuals for a vicarious trip experience.
  • “We made the show that is meant to be like a trip in and of itself... doing a psychedelic to watch my psychedelics special feels like a bit of a hat on a hat.” — Shane (04:06)
• Psychedelic Preferences: Shane discusses the (playful) rivalry between LSD and mushroom users.
  • “Whatever your personal preference is, we're just fighting over shapes, basically.” — Shane (04:10)

2. Career Pivot: From Traditional Standup to Science & Psychedelic Comedy (05:33 – 11:04)

• Early conventional standup with a pivot to theme shows and integrating his science hobby.
• Key events:
  • Netflix’s "Mating Season" and “My Big Break,” combining comedy with science and his personal rock-bottom after a severe injury.
  • Performing on crutches for a year after breaking both his heels during an adrenaline stunt.
  • “I jumped off something that was much too high... I just broke my feet.” (08:32)
• Noting the challenge of weaving complex ideas into traditional standup spaces.

3. Initial Encounters & Interest in Psychedelics (13:32 – 17:18)

• Discusses the normalization of psychedelics, audience engagement, and challenges marketing substance-related shows post–social media crackdown.
  • “I was shocked by the [psychedelic] audience… they were really cool. Especially back then.” — Shane (17:00)
• The joy in finally connecting with audiences hungry for both humor and scientific information.

4. Documentary & Downward Spiral: Too Much of a "Good Thing" (20:03 – 31:26)

• Explains the making of his documentary "Psychonautics" and how, after 20 years of positive experiences, an over-ambitious approach to self-experimentation led to serious trouble.
  • “If things are going great, leave that alone. Great's really good.” — Shane (25:18)
• Increasing frequency and dose of mushrooms in an attempt to ‘feel better than great’—a major warning about pushing the limits.
  • “I learned a very important lesson, which is that if things are going great, leave that alone.”

5. The 'Break': Mania, Psychosis & The Ayahuasca Episode (31:26 – 56:54)

• Ayahuasca Ceremony: Shane describes the most profound trip of his life, feeling as though he never came down.
  • Entities "told" him he’d participate in a groundbreaking DMT study (which was confirmed by real-life messages after the trip).
  • During this period, Shane experienced delusions regarding controlling the universe, time-travel, and communicating telepathically with Roger Waters from Pink Floyd.
  • “I'm thinking I'm communicating telepathically with Roger Waters. Things are getting off the handle now.” (50:17)
• Rock Bottom: Sleep deprivation, paranoia, and the sensation of orchestrating world events.
• Believing He Hacked the White House:
  • “I once thought I hacked into the White House with my mind.” — Shane (53:03)
  • At the peak, convinced he’d trapped Donald Trump’s mind in his own and agreed to go to the hospital only to save the world.

6. Hospitalizations, Psych Wards & Recovery (55:58 – 77:09)

• Multiple cycle hospitalizations, gradual realization (with medical help) that he was severely manic, struggling to integrate reality.
  • Admitted to a psych ward after relinquishing power of attorney to family.
• Psych Ward Insights:
  • “When you walk in a psych ward, the craziest people want to throw, like, a welcome party for you.” (68:59)
  • The difficulty distinguishing reality from delusions and how the mind tries to solve invisible puzzles for release.
• Skepticism of Psychedelic Evangelism: Shane now balances advocacy with caution, highlighting that “psychedelics can be incredibly helpful for mental health, but they’re not a cure-all…not for everyone.”

7. Integration, Microdosing, and Empathy (77:23 – end)

• On microdosing: personally found it less effective, even worsening depression in his case, and warns efficacy is unproven beyond anecdote.
• Post-crisis, greater empathy for the mentally ill:
  • “It gave me a lot of empathy for people that go crazy... I’ve learned so much.” — Shane (78:56)
• More cautious approach to all substances; identifies alcohol as his true nemesis.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On psychedelic rivalry:
  “We’re just fighting over shapes, basically.” — Shane (04:10)

• Warning for Overdoing Psychedelics:
  “If things are going great, leave that alone. Great's really good. Great is great. What's better than great?” — Shane (25:18)

• Manic Logic:
  “Everything is one thing and I can't... There's no... It's all about me for some reason and I'm like a little close to the sun, bro.” — Shane (51:33)

• Paranoia Realized:
  “I thought I had trapped Donald Trump's mind in my brain. I'm not going because I'm crazy, I'm going because I have to save the world.” — Shane (56:54)

• On Psych Wards:
  “When you walk in a psych ward, the craziest people want to throw, like, a welcome party for you.” — Shane (68:59)
  “It's just who you are. And they don't know if you're, like, an undercover cop or, like, whatever. They're off on their paranoia and everything.” — Shane (69:16)

• On Empathy and Recovery:
  “It gave me a lot of empathy for people that go crazy... I’ve learned so much and so, you know, I've made the most of it.” — Shane (78:56)

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Important Timestamps

• [02:13] — Shane's intro and promoting "Trips"
• [05:33] — Why a psychedelic special? Themed comedy and shift from ‘dick jokes’ to meaningful material
• [08:31] — Breaking both heels, performing on crutches
• [20:03] — Attending psychedelic conferences, explaining MAPS and the psychedelic science world
• [25:18] — “Great is great” lesson on why to stop chasing more after “great”
• [31:26] — Ayahuasca trip that triggered prolonged mania
• [42:35] — Mania peaks: believing in time travel, new kinds of mathematics, communicating with entities
• [46:03] — Describing thousands of ‘lifetimes’ in a DMT trip, perspective on reality
• [50:46] — Full manic break at Roger Waters concert, given a “telepathically conjured” manila envelope
• [56:54] — Thinking he trapped Donald Trump’s mind, going to the hospital
• [63:35] — Final psych ward stay, power of attorney, process to get released
• [68:59] — “Welcome party” in the psych ward
• [77:23] — Microdosing skepticism and harm reduction
• [78:56] — On empathy, what he’d tell his younger self
• [80:48] — Closing plugs for “Trips” and final advice

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Tone & Style

The episode blends Shane’s cerebral, science-informed comedy with darkly honest accounts of mental illness, handled with Ryan’s trademark compassionate ribbing and openness about “lowlights.” The stories are frank, sometimes harrowing, and always underscored with wit. Listeners are left with both warnings and wisdom—both for those interested in psychedelics and for anyone haunted by mental health challenges.

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Final Advice to 16-year-old Shane Mauss

• “Great is good enough.” — Ryan and Shane (78:43)
• “Don’t ever drink alcohol or cigarettes… That story I just told was hard on everyone else. ...But my alcoholism through the years? That’s a waste.” — Shane (78:56)

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For more, check out Shane Mauss’s “Trips” special via 800 Pound Gorilla (first and second doses available), and follow Ryan Sickler for future HoneyDew episodes.

Transcript

[A]

Last night you spent two hours deciding what to wear to the party this morning. It'll take you two minutes to list it on Depop and make your money back. Just grab your phone, snap a few photos and we'll take care of the rest. The sheer dress and platform heels you'll never wear again. There's a birthday girl searching for them right now. Your one and done look is about to pay for your next night out, or at least the ride home. Your style can make you cash. Start selling on Depop, where taste recognizes taste.

[B]

Boston I'm fired up to head back your way. I'll be there Friday, May 15th and Saturday, May 16th Albuquerque, New Mexico. I'll be there Friday, June 5th and Saturday, June 6th, Tulsa, Oklahoma. I'll be there Friday, June 19th and Saturday, June 20th. All tickets on my [e-mail]

[A]

the Honeydew with Ryan Sickler. Foreign.

[B]

Welcome back to the Honeydew, y'. All. We're over here doing it in Night Pan Studios. I am Ryan Sickler. Ryan Sickler.com and Ryan Sickler on all your social media. Thank you guys for supporting this show. Thanks for supporting anything I do. And if you gotta have more, then you got to have the Patreon. What are you doing the Honeydew with, y'? All? It's five bucks a month. It's been that. I think we have over 300 episodes. That's insane. And it is the best show on Patreon because it's your show. It is this show with your stories. And no one has the stories y' all have. So if you or someone you know has a story that has to be heard, please submit it to usHoneydew podcast gmail.com. we would love to do your story. If you send it before, send it again. We get a ton of them send. So bump it back up to the top. All right. That is the biz. You guys know what we're doing here? We highlight the low lights. I always say these are the stories behind the storytellers. I am very excited to have this guest with us. First time on the Honeydew. Ladies and gentlemen, Shame Moss. Welcome to the Honeydew, Shame.

[A]

Thanks for having me, buddy.

[B]

Thank you for being here, buddy.

[A]

See you again.

[B]

You as well. And before we get into what we're going to talk about today, right there, please promote everything you'd like.

[A]

Easy peasy. Well, my name's spelt or pronounced weird depending on how you look at it. So Shane M a u s s.com

[B]

I have is it Moss. We all have been saying it wrong. It's like mouse or some.

[A]

Well, my family pronounces it moss and I believe my family's been saying it right. Germans say it mouse. Somewhere along the way something went wrong. I am saying moss correctly for you all. I almost changed it to moss before starting comedy just so I wouldn't run into this very situation. But now it's too late. All right? I was too lazy and. Yeah. So I have a two part special about psychedelics called Trips. And the first dose is already out, available through 800 pound gorillas. And the second dose is available for pre release Bicycle Day, the anniversary of LSD on April 19th and available for everyone on May 19th through 800 pound gorillas. It's the first ever special recorded at Meow Wolf. We did it in Denver and there's about 20 different. And I had a VJ that does concerts and things of blending all the things in real time to go along to bring to life so people can have a vicarious trip for the noobs and then people a little more experienced can have those I've been there moments.

[B]

All right. I mean, I have a million questions because we'll get into it. I'm definitely pro shrooms. Love me some shrooms. Never take an LSD in my life. Yeah, not interested in lsd.

[A]

That's fine. Yeah.

[B]

So if I'm watching your special on a substance, do you recommend shrooms or lsd?

[A]

Oh boy.

[B]

If I'm gonna take something, you want

[A]

to know what's funny? So there's this whole. They just clipped this joke of mine where I talk about how there's a rivalry between the LSD and mushroom people and, and how it's like, you know, not that big of a deal. Like whatever your personal preference is, we're just fighting over shapes, basically. And I have this joke about it and all the comments are about one, how there's no rivalry over mushrooms and lsd. And then lots of people fighting over what is better between mushrooms and lsd. I made the show, it's funny. So I had to. When I toured with, we did like 150 cities warming up for this and. And I had to put Q&As and frequently asked questions because it's like, is there going to be drugs there? What drugs should I show up on? And that sort of thing. And we made the show that is meant to be like a trip in and of itself. So like doing a psychedelic to watch my psychedelics. It feels like a little bit of a Hat on a hat. It's not. Cancels itself out or is maybe a bit too much. I. I mean, I think I would say if I had to pick, I would be on LSD to watch my own special. Okay, I suppose. But that's only because LSD doesn't do too much to me. And so any other ones would make me be like, what the fuck am I doing with my life? And too introspective.

[B]

And so let me, let me go back to the beginning. Why? Why this special, this journey? Why?

[A]

Sure, I started as a regular old stand up comic way back when Cop Breaks. Got to do Conan and Kimla and all the things. Became a full time touring comedian and, and the advent of podcasting. And I kind of did. I got like a half hour Comedy Central presents and stuff. I was so happy with. It was. That was kind of my dream starting out. I got it like, you know, in less than five years in the business. And I had. And then I was like, okay, I guess I do an hour now. And then I did an hour and it was like, you know, a lot of like, dick jokes and drinking stories and stuff. It's like, I just watched your special. It's like, cool and personal and, you know, like about stuff, you know, and, and that was, I just felt, you know, I turned 30 and I was like, I'm missing that. And this was, you know, 15 years ago and there wasn't like, really like, solo show type things, but I was doing international shows where people are doing theme shows. I was like, what would my theme be? I was always reading science books as a little hobby. And, and I went through a period of time when I was like, in a little bit of a funk. Like, everything was going well, but I didn't know. I was like, do I even want to do this with my life? And I found myself, like, eating a lot of mushrooms and watching the Animal Planet a lot. And I just had a lot of questions and I started emailing scientists and come to find out, they'll just write you right back. They were like, pumped to hear from a comedian that cared about what they did. And so then I started being like, maybe I'm gonna put together some science shows. I was in a new relationship at the time. I was writing a lot of relationship jokes. Then I'm watching like, David Attenborough documentari and like, starting to connect, like. So I put together a special about mating behavior called Mating Season years ago on Netflix, back when it didn't do anything for you to have a Netflix special. And I was a real hipster in that way. And then I started doing these. I like to do things when either before or after they matter for one's career. And I try to stay underground. Right? Try to stay.

[B]

Estrada just missed that Latin boom.

[A]

You know what I mean? Eric Estrada just missed that. If Chips would have been over the 90s, Eric Estrada's boo up there. Exactly. And so. And that was. I didn't really like that special that much either. It was. And then. And then I. And I started putting. I put together this show about the evolution of negative emotions, and I was going pretty good. And then I broke my feet while hiking. Feet?

[B]

Both.

[A]

Both of my feet.

[B]

What the hell?

[A]

I jumped off something that was much too high. I'm an adrenaline junkie. I was in the best shape of my life. I was, like, 34. I was rock climbing like crazy. And I was supposed to. I was in Sedona, Arizona. I was supposed to go rock climbing for my birthday. There was fires there, so I couldn't. So I was still trying to, like, get my adrenaline fix. Jumped off something that was much too high.

[B]

Broke both of them.

[A]

Both my heels. One of them exploded.

[B]

You're laying there. Someone with you?

[A]

Yeah, someone. Well, someone was with, like. So I. I landed. I. I landed and. And I heard it happen, and I was like, oh, it was just like, hey, I. I just broke my feet. Don't jump, like. But I said it like that so they thought I was joking. Oh, no. Like, I have a dry demeanor, you know, apparently even when I break, maybe I was in a little bit of a shot of shock. And. And so they almost. Then they had to, like, go all the way around. It was too steep to do anything to, like, carry me. Like, they tried a little bit crawl, so. Yeah. For how long? A few hours.

[B]

Hours, bro.

[A]

So I almost called a helicopter, but I wasn't sure where my insurance was at at the time. Turns out I did have insurance, but I was, like, waiting for this. I specifically look at their car. Like, do I have right when this is. Right when the, like, Obamacare shit came through. And I, like, got some confir that. It turns out you could have been. Yeah, yeah. I wanted to save some money, so I just called.

[B]

Look, I just saw this whole thing, and I. I had a. A friend of mine tell me she did this one time. We were no longer friends, but she went to the er and she's just like. I just go in. I don't fucking take my license. I don't take anything. I refuse to give My name. Legally, they cannot refuse me service, and they can't. And they will pressure the out of you. Please put your name on a credit card.

[A]

Yeah. Nope.

[B]

And then you walk out, and so many of the comments are from nurses saying, I work in a hospital. Unfortunately, this is true.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's like, yeah, yeah, it was in a helicopter. But see, that's where they got you, because you want to get that helicopter.

[A]

Helicopter. And I've always wanted to be in a helicopter, too.

[B]

Perfect.

[A]

No. Yeah. It's not the best way for a helicopter.

[B]

Dopey up and everything.

[A]

Well, when you have two broken feet, you're looking for silver lining.

[B]

So you're crawling for hours.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. And it was a whole thing, you know, And. But. But then I had to perform on crutches for, like, a year. I ended up getting a foot infection and all that. And. And so it integrated into this act I'd already written about. Like, why the evolution of. It's an evolutionary mystery. Like, why would we have anxiety, depression, these things that feel maladaptive that we don't want to have, that we don't want to experience? When we are experiencing them, we want them to go away. We don't feel very productive when it's happening. And. And so it really personalized it that I was able to make it about this injury. And. And so I put out this album, my big break. That's the first time I was, like, kind of able to integrate science and interesting, like, philosophical ideas into comedy in a way that was meaningful and I thought was, like, well executed. And I went on, pete Holmes, you made it weird podcast for, like, it was. I've been on a few times, and to promote the album. This is like, 2014 or 15. He was like, where were you? You know? And I was like, I was in Sedona, Arizona. What were you doing in Sedona, Arizona? I was like, I was going to do ayahuasca for the first time. Didn't get around to it. I broke my feet first. This is back before everyone in the world knew what ayahuasca was. Now every other person's a shaman.

[B]

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[A]

I didn't ask you if you're an ayahuasca shaman, so. I might be.

[B]

I'm an ordained reverend.

[A]

Every other person in LA at this point and so you're an ordained reverend? Oh, hell yeah.

[B]

I'm over one, though, bro. I married my buddy and his wife

[A]

and he got divorced. I'm over one. Well, that's just one. That's a small sample size. You can't be too hard on yourself.

[B]

You gotta.

[A]

You gotta. You gotta get back out. Yeah, my numbers aren't great. I gotta get out there and marry more people, man. God sucked at that first one. And. And so. And he was like, what's ayahuasca? I was like, well, there's a stuffed EMT that I got very interested in and I've had a bunch of these experiences and, like, had a hard time, like, wrapping my head around what's happening.

[B]

Dude, I'm having a flashback right now. It's odd to say. It's funny. Yeah. But I'm pretty sure you were the one at the Portland Bridgetown Festival. You've been there, right? That was educating me on dmt. The first time I'd ever even heard of dm.

[A]

I was giving a lot of people,

[B]

I'm pretty sure,

[A]

comics that did DMT for the first time.

[B]

I never did it, though, but I would listen to you and you. The way you were explaining and what my memory. I'm sure you did it much better, but like, this chemical that gets released as you're dying naturally and things like that.

[A]

I know, pretty speculative, but yeah, you

[B]

went into, like, what this thing was and that. It just made me think of that because I was like the first time I'd heard this from you. Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, go ahead.

[A]

No, don't be sorry. This. Is this

[B]

in our psychedelic story?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. And, and so we started talking about dmt. It took over the pod. I wasn't like up until I always had a couple psychedelic jokes in my act. I had all these psychedelic jokes, but you did them and the people look at you like you're crazy. I mean, I, I did one on Conan in 2007 and I had to fight with the FCC forever to do the most ador. Horrible little mushroom joke. And, and, and so it never occurred to me that I could do. Even though I was putting together themed shows, I could do like a themed show about psychedelics. But this, I got so many messages afterwards and Pete and I had the same agent at the time and she reached out and was like, what was that? Dmt? I thought I was in trouble. Like, I thought like my agent was like, I gotta. I didn't realize I was working with a crazy person, you know. And she's like, that was really fascinating. I said, well, I do have like an hour of psychedelic material in my back pocket. I thought to be able to talk about psychedelics I would need to be like Carlin or something like that. Like big enough where you could, like Carlin would just be like, you know what? I'm going to eliminate three quarters of my audience and start over going this like, new direction, you know, and, and she's like, no, let's just try some indie shows. Tried it. My met the psychedelic audience was like, really cool. Especially back then is. You know, they've changed. It's. The normalization of psychedelics over the last 10 years has changed the demographic. And so it's a weird space right now. But, but yeah, I, I had these fun shows and people came out. I was shocked by it and I was shocked. But, you know, before you're a name or whatever, you can crush it at a comedy club and you can have the best set you've had all year. People dying, laughing. People are like, hey, nice job. They're just like, yeah, I paid for a comedy show. That's what I.

[B]

Don't quit your date. Yeah, don't quit.

[A]

You're doing good. I get that one too.

[B]

Like, yeah, hey, you're pretty good.

[A]

I've been doing this for 21 years.

[B]

You just don't know me.

[A]

And it's, it's like the, the enthusiasm. And then they were, they were also like, you know, I really Liked the bits of information that you put there. And I was like, I have been waiting for an audience. I'd been crowbarring information into, like, you know, fucking the chuckle hut, you know, Saturday date night. Like, see if they'll tolerate a little bit of more complicated ideas in between dick jokes or whatever. And so it was really exciting. And I put together this. This psychedelic comedy Tour back in 2016 and 17. I think I did the Crab Feast back then. I did a whole bunch of podcasts, pumping it up and. And it was great. And. And then this guy, Matt Schuler, who produced my specials trips, he reached out. He produces a ton of comedy specials, and he is like, you know, I've never. I've always wanted to do something, you know, beyond the comedy special. And do you want to, like, put together a pilot for something I was like, well, I've always wanted to do? So I had this science podcast. Here we are at the time where each week I was traveling around interviewing a different scientist a lot about how the mind works and perception. A lot of my psychedelic experience got me very interested in consciousness and perception and. And why we have the beliefs that we do. And. And so I started learning a lot, but I never went to college. And so I'm, like, going to all these universities. And. And I. I always thought that I wanted to do like a kind of like a Mike Rose dirty jobs, but like, academia sort of thing, like, kind of normalize science. And, and, and, and so I pitched that idea as a documentary, and I was like, you know, it's too bad you didn't get a hold of me earlier, because there's a psychedelic conference that I got invited to. This maps, the Multidisciplinary association of Psychedelic Studies that's pioneered much of the modern. All of the psychedelic space is hilarious and wild, by the way. But, yeah, they're the ones that kind of got, like, the MDMA studies going again. And now psilocybin and others. They've. They've. They've. They've. People really had to jump through a lot of hoops just to study psychedelics. So they're schedule one, the most scheduled drugs that there are. And, and so I was like, I'm doing this conference. Like, this is not a normal science conference. This is like, you know, the word science should be in quotes when you're at a psychedelic science.

[B]

And are you performing your show there?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Or you.

[A]

Like a comedy gala?

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah. Like, Duncan Trussell was on it, of course, Adam Strauss and some. Or comics to do some Psychedelic stuff. And. And I was like, we should check this out because this will be. You know, you go to a psychedelic science conference, you're going to hear the word quantum more than you would at a physics conference. You know, it gets into the pseudoscience area. And so, you know, this would be a trip. It's a bunch of people way into drugs, trying to act sciency. And so we went and shot that and it had like a lot of the best psychedelic researchers at the time for this. What would become my documentary, Psychonautics comics exploration of psychedelics. And I had 20 years of nothing but positive psychedelic experiences up until 20 point. 20 years.

[B]

That's a hell of a run, bro.

[A]

Like, helped out with depression. Incredible creative aid, you know, I felt like it was like a superpower for me. I felt it made me a better comic. Everything else helped me see the world a little differently and just great, you know. And so I was rather arrogant about psychedelics. And then because I was making this documentary and some other things, I had like a couple months before this really started. I had my first panic attack because in advertising my shows, I. I had this 111 city tour and it was like gangbusters. But then the social media sites started cracking down on any substance related content.

[B]

Even considered that.

[A]

And early 2017, suddenly I went from like filling rooms everywhere I went selling out everywhere and adding shows to like, oh, I hope 20 people find out about this.

[B]

They really.

[A]

Yeah, I was able to figure it out and navigate around it and find new ways to market things. But it was making this documentary for the. I'd never done anything like that. And I was like, I had my first panic attack. I went to a hospital. It was just a panic. I thought it was a heart attack. And. But that was the first. I'd had depression my whole life, but that was the first time I experienced real anxiety. And how old do you have, like, tools to manage it? 30.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Six. Okay. No, 37. Almost 37. Yeah. Like, never really experienced it. Like waves, but not like a chronic state of anxiety. And. And all these, like, weird things happen. I was trying to make a psychedelic special. Then I was getting all these, like, weird notes from. Industry was like, very skittish about at the time. They wanted Breaking Bad to come out and they wanted like, sex, drugs and rock and roll. But I was saying, like, positive things about, like, psychedelics could be good for mental health. And everyone was like, like, oh, no. Like Showtime would be like. Like, I literally just got done watching a show where like, Benedict Cumberbatch was like shooting up and then being cool and having a three way and stuff. And then I got a call from Showtime being like, are you crazy? We're not going to like do a show that talks about how someone used psychedelics to like make them creative in their baking cakes or, you know, whatever, guys.

[B]

I recently used TaskRabbit for two things. I got an invert chair where I hang upside down and stretch my back and it feels amazing. And I got a vanity for my daughter. These things had about 3,000 pieces and I was like, yeah, man. I. I'm just looking at them on the floor. I'm like, I'm not doing this. So I hit up task rabbit. All right. Guy came out. Put both of them together. All right. TaskRabbit connects you with skilled taskers in your area for moving furniture, assembly, home repairs, yard work, mounting, and more. You can search for a tasker based on cost, skill set availability, and past client reviews so you know exactly who's showing up and can have confidence that they know what they're doing. Because Taskers have assembled over 3.4 million pieces of furniture, completed 700000 home repairs, handled 1.5 million moves. Moves and counting. I promise you, any kind of these chores I have nowadays, I'm hitting up TaskRabbit. When life happens, your to do list grows. Get ahead of it now and get 15 off your first [e-mail] or on the TaskRabbit app using promo code Honeydew. Taskers book up fast, especially for same day tasks. So book trusted home help today. That's 15 off your first task using promo code Honeydew with the TaskRabbit app

[A]

[e-mail] and, and, and so anyway, I was doing way more. I was eating mushrooms constantly at this time, trying to figure out what this documentary was going to be because I was basically what's constantly? We doing it daily, like three times a week. That's two.

[B]

Okay, three times a week.

[A]

You could do that for like all week, but you don't want to.

[B]

But when you say you're not microdosing, you're going for it.

[A]

Yeah. Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I want to make sure the famous, like heroic dose is like five grams of mushrooms. That really doesn't mean anything because of a bunch of things that I won't get into because different species, different potency, everything else, but that's like a standard. So that's like considered a large dose I was doing that was like a minimum, like every, every Single time. So I wasn't like allowing time for integrating. And you kind of have a tolerance at point and it usually takes a couple days to come down like fully from psychedelics too. Or like, you know, you're in a very open space. And so just to keep on like re upping like that. What had happened was I had always used whenever I, I'm bipolar and so anytime I, I started a depressive episode without psychedelics, it lasts for like two months. That's really standard for bipolar too. And but with psychedelics, if I caught it early on, things could wrap up like really quickly. If the first one didn't do it, I'd do it like again or one or two more times in the following week or two, that depression would lift, I'd be okay again. I was making, so that had happened. I was making this documentary, I was like, you know what, Instead of using mushrooms to feel not depressed, what if I could feel good? So I, I did more and then I was like, felt good and I was like, you know, what if I could feel great? You know, did more. I'm feeling great. And I was like, what's after great? And I learned a very important lesson, which is that if things are going great, leave that alone. Great's really good. Great is great. I got psychedelic Seinfeld. Stick with me. Great is great. What's better than great? Well, what'd you find out? Oh my God. So, so we, we basically were like, well, let's just have me doing, let's just shoot me doing all of the psychedelics. I did like ketamine in a clinical setting for my first time during the documentary we shot that. Just didn't really know what we were doing. You know, we didn't know what the shape of the, what the documentary was going to be. Which is also why I was doing so many psych hoping like I would figure out like what the. I was trying to stay in that space and figure out like what visuals we might want to add and stuff. And then I went to prep to do ayahuasca on. I wanted to do. I, I had done ayahuasca twice and it was like very mild. And I thought that was because I smoked so much dmt, which is dimethyltryptamine is the active ingredient in ayahuasca. So it's like a 10 minute kind of ayahuasca experience. It'd be an overly simplified way of describing it. And so it's like a very out of body experience. This is, you know, people come back with Reports of like meeting spirits and gods and things like that. And, and, and I was like, you know, I probably just smoke so much DMP that I have such a tolerance for this space. So I was trying to find what dose would be appropriate to like send me a little further before recording it. And so I went to this person's house in Colorado that I knew. It's also, it's also weird going like being in the psychedelic space especially you start to become known as a psychedelic comedian, a comedian all of a sudden and now you just meet all these strange people. So now you like meets and everyone wants to give you the. Introduce you to their thing and their new and, and so you know, you'll find someone at a place and like I don't know if this person knows spells, but they certainly believe they do. And I don't know what's. That's all takes some time. All religion and voodoo is, is belief in it exactly exist.

[B]

If you don't believe it, I don't

[A]

know what's scarier, having powers or believing they have. Without belief there is nothing. Exactly. And psychedelics are such an unpredictable space. And so like you see all these, all these like kind of. I think a lot of the rituals that evolve around it are like almost a ritualized OCD of like a kind of a way of having a perceived feeling of control over these experiences. I'm also a science guy, so I also like I tried to be, I tried to go with the experience and be an anthropologist and everything. And then I have like little voices and you know, they're having me pray to the north and the east and the west and the south and I'm like where the space doesn't work like that. That's like our like why not have me pray to a certain coordinate? Like that doesn't what. Why not like northeast, you know, I have stupid things going off in my mind.

[B]

So.

[A]

So all of this like getting into like the, you know, the deep spaces of the ritualistic side of psychedelics also like can be for someone that's a little skeptical minded it can be a little bit like unsettling sometimes too. But anyway, I trusted this person. She's great and. But I was like, hit me, you know, hit me harder. Like stuff didn't work the first time I did. It's just like all these careful what you wish for stories that are about to go and I had this amazing like the single greatest trip of my life. So much so I was supposed to stay like the weekend and have a couple more like ceremonies, but so much so that I was like, I'm good actually, you know, and then I left and then just started getting really weird and basically like I just never came down from that trip. And there was all these things during the Ayahuasca experience that like, like, you know, these beings are so I. Yeah.

[B]

What do you see? Is this, this one in particular, is it scary? Are you seeing the wild or not? That comes like the, the bad part comes later.

[A]

Bad part comes later. That was good. It was just. There was unsettling things. So I was working based off the mental model of what you're experiencing on these DMT experiences is that you are exploring different parts of your subconscious mind that you don't normally have access to. Most people that experience these, the face value take for very good reason, if you experience these, you're going to be like, I just saw God. But my take is that we have all of these different archetypes and sub selves in our minds that we're just in the same reason that you have dreams at night, they're just kind of like running simulations and stuff all of the time. Like I have like five different worlds coming up with what I'm going to say next. I'm just not privy to what's going on normally. And then you do psychedelics and you see all these worlds where like, so what might look like a God might just be like your memory of your neighbor or something like that that you're interested in. They seem so familiar but, but it like looks like a hologram or whatever. It doesn't look like this waking consciousness. So it's just different. And so that was my working idea. And so I was always like, when I talked with these entities or whatever in the spaces, I'd always be like, you got to do something to like show me something that would be like outside of myself or whatever. And there are several things that happened during that trip. One was it said that I was going to be the first. And this wasn't necessarily out of nowhere because I talked to the guy putting together the study, but there was a study of this first DMT X. It's a DMT is a 10 minute experience. It's like, you know, often considered the most intense psychedelic experience that you could have. And the idea is, is that can you elongate using an anesthesiologist to keep the supply going? Can you elongate the DMT state and stay in there for like hours to like really explore these?

[B]

Okay, so actually put you under and you're on DMT. So you can stay longer than 10 minutes.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so during my ayahuasca experience and I had met the guy putting this together, but I had this like, it told me I was going to be like the first person to like, be asked to participate in this. And, and then, and it told me this one like, scientist was going to reach out to me. And, and, and then, and then it was like, it was like, all right, now I'm gonna like, give you this, like, download. Are you ready? I'm like, yeah. You know, and then, and then it just, like, it just felt like, like a lightning bolt, you know. It really did. I started like fucking vomiting and stuff everywhere, which everyone's worried about Iowa. That's reasonable. When, when you're, when you're on Iowa, vomiting is the least of your concerns. It's an intense experience. And, and like, I swear I like felt the whole house shake. And so afterwards, hours later, I was like, hey, did anyone else like, feel a house shake? And, and like, oh, some people that were on my side of the room are like, yeah, actually. And then she was like, oh, you know, it rained recently. I wonder. And I checked the foundation and there was this enormous crack in the foundation, like right under where my head was. I was like, that is, that is strange.

[B]

Under your head.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. I was like, that's strange. The house, you know, and I'm always just like tripping be. You know, tripping's crazy. Just crazy shit happens. Like, I've had a thousand trips. I take it with a grain of salt, you know, and, and then, but so I leave and I didn't have phone reception. And, and while on this like, mountain. This is such a cliche story. I'm on some fucking mountain with no phone reception, doing ayahuasca. And, and I get off and I have phone reception again. And it's from this, this guy, Daniel McQueenie. He goes, he's like, oh, Shane, I, I saw, I, I saw you're coming through. You're. You're in Colorado. Crazy question. We're doing this whole press release tomorrow with the DMT X study and we were wondering actually if, if you would be interested in being the first participant and us like announcing you during this.

[B]

The shit that, that they just, just, just trip, just.

[A]

Oh, okay, yeah, like, sure. I mean, like, I'm interested enough in a four hour DMT experience. Like, I'm just going with, you know, I, I haven't come down really. Like, in hindsight I just, I realized that I had never, I just never really integrated. And, and then I like check my Twitter DMs and this fucking scientist that I talked to months earlier messaged me at the same time. I was like, what the fuck? It was the same. And so then I go to this DMTX thing and there's this guy, Andrew Gallimore, talks about DMT's and neuroscientists and stuff and he has a whole, we have different takes. He's been on my Here We Are podcast, but his whole take is, is that, is that you are actually talking with entities that are in different dimensions. And this is how. And this is there's all these different dimensions according to the laws of physics. And this is why your brain is under these states able to tap into this. And I'm like, yeah, I don't really buy it but, but I'm like sitting there watching that while they're like announcing me poor and like, like, like hey, I'm gonna do this weird thing. And, and, and, and I'm like in hindsight very manic now and not realizing it. And so I'm not sleeping, I'm like sleeping an hour or two a night. And then the next week I was just like sleeping an hour or two a night and I was just like obsessing. One of my first science shows is going to be about time travel actually. I just like the concept is funny and, and I just started like obsessing about ideas of like how you would test this and like, and time travel and how this could be possible. Again. I just like basically didn't come down from ayahuasca.

[B]

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[A]

I can't. Boom.

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[A]

And so I'm getting obsessed with time travel. I'm blabbing to my girlfriend about my stupid time travel ideas. She's a social worker, and she's getting concerned. She's seen this behavior. Time travel, big indicator. There was a no time travel rule implemented in our household. I'm like. I think I'm, like, making all these drawings and discovering new kinds of math, and I'm blabbing anyone's ear off, though, that will listen. And. And then. And so I'm already, you know, getting there. I'm like, you know, this is how a mind slowly falls apart. And I. A week later, I had. I had tickets to Roger Waters. The guy that flies the inflatable pig for Roger Waters is a fan of mine.

[B]

Dude, I've been to Pink Floyd. I've seen the pigs bounce on the

[A]

fucking side of this. Is that right? It was so weird. I was doing my psychedelic show in San Diego, and I'm like, signing merch and stuff. Afterwards, someone goes, hey, what's your favorite band? I was like, well, Pink Floyd is like a classic. You know, big, big influence as a teenager. And next guy's like, hey, did you say Pink Floyd?

[B]

Come on.

[A]

Inflatable, right? That's your job.

[B]

That's crazy.

[A]

And, yeah. And. And so I'm.

[B]

You're losing your mind.

[A]

I'm losing my mind. I have free to. Free tickets. So I'm gonna get, like, vip, like, tickets or whatever to Roger Waters. And I have, like, friends and stuff that I'm bringing with. And. And I'm losing my mind. I'm in Milwaukee. My girlfriend came out. She's concerned, but. And. And we had plans to eat mushrooms with friends that day. And she's like, I don't think you are in a place to eat mushrooms right now. Like, do not eat. Like, I think I'm okay. And. And like, when you're manic, you, like, everything's fucking great. And I'm. I'm solving puzzles. I'm figuring out the universe. And. And then I. I had this idea, and it was right before going. I was like, you know, I was like, if I was in this dmtx, let's say I was under. What I would do. I'm only going to tell you this. What I would do is I would tell whatever these entities, if they're like time traveling, whatever else in that space, I would tell them to arrange it. So after I'm out of the space, because I'm sometimes fairly coherent when I'm in like a DMT space and I can like communicate with these things. We have these long conversations. By the way, DMT can feel like you live like a thousand lifetimes. Like when you come back here, it's like, oh, I forgot that this is a thing that I'm a Shane in a human. This is. You can forget. Like this feels like a sliver.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Compared to the thousands of lifetimes that you just. And. And that might sound like an exaggeration, but ask people that have done it.

[B]

Years ago on the crab Feast, we had a guy, Steve Cantwell. Steve Can't End Wells, what we nicknamed. He had told a salvia story.

[A]

Oh. And he.

[B]

It changed my whole just view on this right now.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Could be the byproduct of two aliens, 14 goddamn rocks in outer space that way, smoking their space dust.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

You know what I mean?

[A]

Like, yeah, yeah.

[B]

And he got stuck in the salvia world for I think it was seven or eight years, where he finally convinced himself that that was real and the wife and kids that he had been missing. Right. And then he wakes up in there and he realizes that it's been in our time. One minute. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

And he.

[B]

I was like, whoa. And I'm thinking, well, 10 minutes in that world is 70 years. That's a lifetime in our life. Yeah. And that's when it really opened my mind up to like, oh, yeah, this could go. We could just get. And that could be a. Those alien smoking rock dust could be a product of that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you on the going. And.

[A]

And it's also why I'm such a fan of all these psychedelic artists that are able to pull out recollections of that space. There's a artist, salvia droid, he often deletes his stuff and then starts reposting it has his own stuff going on. But he captures the salvia space in a way that makes you go, I don't want to do.

[B]

I don't want to watch that.

[A]

That art's real cool. And no, thank you. Yeah. But. So DMT had already started getting weird for me and I had already kind of like, stopped doing it frequently, but, but anyway, I was like, you know what I do in this dmtx? I would tell these things just to test it to prove to myself that it's not, you know, time travel or anything. I would tell them to have and like go back in time and then have, when I come out of this experience, just have someone hand me like a manila envelope with something meaningful in it that's like really meaningful to me that I wouldn't even know what it is. And then I thought, why would it have to be then? Why wouldn't it just like, if I'm going to do it in the future, I could just have them send it back to me to today. Like, I could just have someone send me a manila envelope.

[B]

I'm starting to feel like I need

[A]

to go get help, for Christ's sake.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so then once I had that idea, I said like, so that's ridiculous then. And then I like, it cleared my head. I was like, you know what? I think I'm sane. I think I just like went a little crazy for a week. I think I'm good. That doesn't, it doesn't matter. I just had some bad ideas there. Okay, there's, yeah, like I was able to like rationalize everything and it, it like calmed everything down. And so I'm like, I can do mushrooms. So I go and I, I, I go and gobble some mushrooms with friends. And we're in the like backstage ish area of Roger Waters and, and dude comes out and he's like, he's like, oh, let me see your tickets. And, and I show him to him and he, he looks and he's like, he gives me this weird look and I'm like, what? What? He's like, I'll be right back. And then he fucking comes back with a manila envelope. And I was like, the is happening right now. And he's like, here you go. And he gives me it and it's a signed photo from Roger Waters and this like upgraded like family section and stuff. And I'm on mushrooms right now. I'm tripping balls with a bunch of. And I just like had to sit down. It took my breath. I was like, what the the is happening? And then I saw, which was this was 2017 and he was still

[B]

able

[A]

to like really perform and incredible show. Like, but, but I'm like thinking I'm communicating telepathically with Roger Waters. Things are getting off the handle now, you know? And like after the show I need to tell everyone How I fucking figured out some new kind of math and self time travel trouble. And so now my girlfriend's like really concerned we had to fly back. She was like, worried I wouldn't even be able to like hold it together on a flight.

[B]

She was right.

[A]

Like I was really losing it. And then like a week went by of her just like hoping I'm gonna like, calm down and. And now I know I'm going crazy. Like, I knew intellectually I was completely losing my mind. I'm like, I can't stop. Like really, I'm writing all these like weird formulas and stuff and I'm like getting paranoid. And I think every time I like, see, like I walk past someone, I. I think they're like communicating with me telepathically. And now everything is like, everything's one thing and I can't. There's no. There's no. And everything's very self referential. So it's all about me for some reason. And I'm like a little close to the sun, bro.

[B]

Oh yeah, you landed on the sun.

[A]

It sounds like you landed on the sun. And so like everything is like. It's like if you move your arm and like a bird flies and then a train goes off. That was. You're conducting. Coordinating me. You can't tell which is which is did the train move my arm or do my arm makes the train. I know it's one of those two things. Got to be one of those, oh, so when do you.

[B]

What do you do to help yourself?

[A]

And so all this whole time the thing is, is this is like the stuff that I studied is like, is like cognitive biases and the predictable ways in which the brain errors, like egocentrism, correlation and causation type stuff. Inability to like classic egocentrism things. And like why we have like negativity biases and how confirmation bias works and how it can flavor the conscious experience. And. And these are all. I mean, I have like flashcards I regularly look through, checking through cognitive. All the ways in which brains can err. So this is stuff that I study. And it wasn't that like I knew like most of Shane knew he was going crazy. Like 98%. It's just the 2% that was like. But maybe it was such a powerful, like I would have ideas that like I once thought I hacked into the White House with my mind. I thought we might want to believe that shit. Hacked into the White House. You might want to believe that. Why? In case I did. What does it even mean though?

[B]

Are you mentally walking around the White House.

[A]

That dude. If you get. If you get a call from. We'll let you know. We'll let you know. Hey, we heard someone hacked into the White House. Eczema is unpredictable, but you can flare less with F Glist, a once monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema. After an initial four month or longer dosing phase. About four in ten people taking mglis achieved itch relief in clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks. And most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing. MGLIS Lebricizumab LBKZ a 250mg 2ml injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis, that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. EBGLIS can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to ebglis. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with ebglis. Before starting eglis, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask your doctor about fglis and visit fgliss.lily.com or call 1-800-lilyrx or 1-800-545-5979.

[B]

What does that mean, though, in your mind? Are you like, walking the halls? Like, what is. Or do you mean they're like, their security? Or what do you mean when you say that?

[A]

I thought, like, I thought, like, I guess the easiest way to explain it was that this entire universe was like just, you know, an illusion that I was somehow controlling. And this was. This was right when the Trump North Korea. This was the little rocket man comments and stuff. So like, like the, the first, like, threat of like, nuclear. And so like, I thought this was. I thought this was like a reflection of me. I thought this was like my own inner turmoil being expressed to this thing. And I had to calm myself down

[B]

and saying that out loud to anybody. I'm tapped anymore.

[A]

Not this part, Because I was already like one foot in a psych ward and I knew it. Like, there was like a lot of talk. Oh, she was, was, you know, getting friends involved and stuff. And like, you know, Having, you know, good, caring, understanding friends trying to help. And. And I just couldn't. I was sleeping like an hour to a night.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

I mean, this is going on for, like, that.

[B]

That alone. No sleep at night. Lose your mind too.

[A]

And there's something that, like, when you're on in that state, there's like your something wants you to stay awake, so it will just use whatever emotional state that it can. So at first it'll be like, exciting ideas, but then it'll be like, paranoia, then fear, and just like, whatever hyper, emotionally salient thing will, like, keep you awake. It will utilize to, like, just so you won't sleep, basically. And like, there's something about that state that wants to, like, keep your attention in it. It's fucking scary. And so finally she takes me to a hospital, and here's how fucking crazy. I agreed to go to a hospital because I convinced myself that I had trapped Donald Trump's mind in my brain.

[B]

Okay. God, you're like that. No, look, listen, I'm not going because I'm crazy.

[A]

I'm gonna. Fucking Sedan before he blows up the world.

[B]

Okay, so you're on your way?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And. And so, like, I'm gone, you know, like, this is. And. And I remember I got to the hospital and. And. And like, you know, walking. And like, any homeless person I see is just. It is like, I think they're, like, communicating with. And then it's so my. My VJ that does the visuals for. For my shows and spins things in real time to bring the stories to life. He has aphantasia. Do you know what that is? It's where you can't see anything in your mind's eye. Like, picture an apple right now. You kind of picture an apple. Okay. Yes. People see gradients. They see maybe like a flat gray apple or a flat color cartoon apple. Some people see, like, a ripe apple. Like, I do. I'm like, have hyper fantasia. Well, in this state, like, your mind's eye, like, takes over your vision. So anything you like, you see like a homeless person. And all you just see, like, all of the world's homelessness. It's all like the scariest one, you see like a dog shit or something like that. And all you see is, like, intestines and all that in your eyes. Like, fucking horrifying. Like, you can't even see, like, a wall in front of. Of you. And. And so I got there and. And I. That I'm explaining to the doctor what a genius I am. Of course. Are you Showing them your equations and like, look at this. Right? And it's also weird because I like interviewing all these scientists and I'm a standup comedian and I've been on tv. And so it also sounds like crazy things that crazy people would say, but I also do those things. And so I'm like, no, you don't understand. I have like this deal with Universal Studios. I need to get to LA to. That's like, my girlfriend would have to be like, well, he's. That's actually true, but also. But also he is crazy. And. And so the doctor is finally like, listen, like, you see those cops over there? Like, you can either fucking take this sleeping pill or we're going to have those cops involved. I was like, fine. Is that right? They just knocked you out? Yeah. And then I got the first night's sleep I had gotten in forever, like weeks and woke up like eight hours later and felt like good enough that.

[B]

Take some more shrooms.

[A]

No, It could have gone that drift. Sure. Oh, yeah. I mean, it could have gone that way. Absolutely. I didn't think of it. Ryan.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You were too busy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

You felt good enough.

[A]

So. Felt. Felt good enough. Well, I, I was sane enough to kind of like, talk myself out of the hospital.

[B]

Whoa.

[A]

And.

[B]

Well, first of all, is it a 5150? Is that what it is? The hold they have you in? Like, what are they putting you?

[A]

Not yet. Okay, we'll get there. No, no, but.

[B]

So on your own recognizance.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They say he's. He's talking a little more normal day. We'll let him go.

[A]

And I attributed this to me actually, like, being sane again. Come to find out, it just is very hard legally to like, keep someone like, against their.

[B]

So if you sell. I want to get the out of here, they kind of got to let you go.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I. I've heard you haven't been

[B]

a danger to anyone or anything like that either. So it's.

[A]

I have a eye doctor friend who told me this story that once he was. He. He does like. He does plastic surgery and stuff, but then he'll. He'll go through Cook county to like, give back a little bit once or twice a week and. And you know, he's fucking awful cases and teach new residents and stuff. And he had this guy like. Oh, yeah, this guy. He. He. He was. He broke his handcuffs and. And he like, he decided to like, he. He got some sort of thing to like. Jimmy opened the handcuffs and broke them and Then he took the part of the handcuff that he broke, and he swallowed it. Like, the evidence. Like, he swallowed. Like, he showed me the X ray of it, and it's crazy. And then they're like. He's like, well, what are you bringing me in for? And he's like, because the piece that he broke it open with, he decided to jam it in his eye. He just jammed this thing in his eye to, like, hide it or something. And he's like, okay, so we got to get it out. He's like, no, he wants to keep it. He wants to leave it in his eyes. To leave it in his eye.

[B]

Listen, and if I see that guy in prison, I. I'm looking the other way.

[A]

I don't care if he's 5 foot 2.

[B]

This got a piece of handcuff sticking out of his eye.

[A]

And they're like, well, you can't let him keep. They're like. And he had to be like, well, is it like, endangering is. They're like, no, he, like, missed the eye. It's like the eye socket, and they're like, it can still see. Like, well, there's like, you can't take it out against his will. Like, you can't. So there's just. Just. So you need to bring in someone to, like, take away the power of attorney. Like, that's how hard it is.

[B]

So you're free to go.

[A]

So I'm free to go. And so I just start ramping up again. Like, I just. I slept for a night. I just start ramping up again. Crazier this time. Go back to the hospital. A week later, I'm much crazier than when I thought I had trapped the president in my mind. And. And they put me in some, like, next level thing.

[B]

Is it a room? Scary as fuck.

[A]

Are you by yourself? And there were some other people you could hear, but I was solo in the room. Yeah. Sedated me again, Same thing. I'm, like, cognizant enough. The next day, all right, we'll let you out. Then ramp up again. And, like, within a week or two, like, my parents are called. People were involved. I ended up. Basically, people had to, like, trick me into giving away my power of attorney. Then they put me in a psych ward.

[B]

Is that right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Who do you give it to?

[A]

I think I give it to my parents. Yeah.

[B]

So now they're in charge of whatever happens.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You don't even get to wake up and say, I feel fine. I'm leaving.

[A]

I got it back but yeah, hope so. Yeah.

[B]

So now you're in there.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

And what do you have to do or show them in order to get the out of there?

[A]

Well, what do I think I need to do?

[B]

Let's start there.

[A]

Let's start. Let's start with where that brain is.

[B]

The brain that trapped Donald Trump's got ideas.

[A]

Let's hear you got ideas up there, bro. Oh, my God. So first of all, and I didn't know this until the second. I've been to Psycho Twice now. Second time was not drug related, though it may not have ever happened had I not opened my mind up in this, in this way, you know, the first time.

[B]

Can I just say this real quick? You know, we're talking about Roger Waters, all this, you know, you gotta know about Sid Barrett. Oh, yeah, of course.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Crazy diamond. You know about all that? Oh, like that's a guy that took too much.

[A]

Yeah, crazy.

[B]

I also have a cousin who was the same thing.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

He took too much.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

He's. Now he's bipolar, paranoid schizophrenic. He's probably in his 70s now. He's never been able to hold a job in and out of halfway houses and hospitals and, you know, just a mess. But it was the. He was our say no to drugs campaign in the family because he was my dad's first cousin and he. And they were bros and he was like Ryan. He was great at lacrosse. He's a black belt and karate. Like this dude was not the guy you now know that just has the long stairs and you know, he'll. He'll chain smoke cigarette. Shane, this won't pull at that. He never puts it that he, he had poetry written all over his walls.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because he said it. Night, night when he, he would pass out, doctors would come in through his window. Yeah. Put liquid acid in his ears, render him useless. Take skin samples from him for whatever they need. Well, you know, and. And then he's rendered useless at that point.

[A]

That's the sample from people who no one will believe. Don't start getting me into the crazy.

[B]

So he would say his girlfriend would come over at that point and he's incapacitated.

[A]

He can't.

[B]

So the poetry is stuff he wants to tell her. So when she gets there and he can't talk, she can read the walls. It's everywhere.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I. There was one time I would go, and every now and then I go and we'd sneak him some weed and smoke weed. Yeah. But one night I'm at His place. And he's got the TV on with the volume down, down. And the radio on with the volume up. Yeah. And Shane, at one point it merged and it made sense. It worked. Everything that was on the team. And I was like, I gotta get the out.

[A]

It's crazy contagious. Because I was like, why is that lined up so beautifully? I'm getting the out here. Yeah. Oh, I mean, the mind's just gonna do that. I mean, it's the. It's the power of suggesting it. Suggestions, stuff like I always. When. When entertaining, I would often, you know, have like a David Attenborough documentary on the tv. And then just for ambience and then some playlist going.

[B]

Everyone.

[A]

They don't need to be on drugs or anything that comes over is like, what. What is this? You can try it yourself. And like, oh, that's just. It's just on mute. There's a play. But how's it sinking? So perfect. Because that's. This is. Our consciousness really strives for coherence. And so especially when. When we're in these altered states, your brain wants to put together something that's. Wants to make it all make sense. Sure. Some, like you're needing poetry or that you solved time travel and that's why you're experiencing all of these things, whatever it is.

[B]

All right, so I derailed you. We are. We're back again.

[A]

So. So, yeah, so what. What I found out is, is at least in my two experiences, small sample size is like, so you're. You go into a psych ward, they don't tell you, like, hey, here's what to expect in there.

[B]

Well, heads up.

[A]

Here's a frequently asked question they don't prep you for. Man, you believe it. Yeah. They'll ask you if you want to be sedated because they'll take you in there. So you just wait up inside. I don't know. I don't want to go that route either. But anyhow, what they. What. What they ought to tell people from someone that's been through it a couple times, is that. Or. Or have, like, security, like, curtail this a little bit. Is that what happens when you walk in a psych ward? Is that the craziest people in the psych ward want to throw, like, a welcome party for you. They are, like, always very interested in who, like, the new person and is. And there's like. Especially if it's like, a dude. They want to, like, establish hierarchies and things like that. And so this is like, this isn't like, jail, like, establishing, you know, hierarchy through, like, I'm in this gang, and I have these huge muscles. You know, I'm in charge around here. This is a crazy person.

[B]

This is interesting because we're talking about a normal jail situation, which is physical and muscles. This is all mental.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

What's this gonna bring in here? What's this guy gonna come tell everybody?

[A]

Yeah, so it's just who you are. And they. And they don't know if you're, like, an undercover cop or, like, whatever. They're off on their paranoia and everything. And. And so you get in there, they're shaking you down for information. Then they're giving you t. Let me show you around. Like, I don't. I'll sort it out. Like, I don't need the tour from you, you know, like, and. And. And there. And. And, you know, it'll be. It'll be a lot of, like, sage wisdom. They've been in there for a while. Be like, hey, don't eat the food. They're poisoning. Yeah, like, a lot of stuff like that. Then you're like, wait, are they. You're crazy, too? And it's like, well, they have more experience with this than I do. Are they poisoning the food? And also when you're, like, hyper,

[B]

because

[A]

I wouldn't know what to believe, leave. So if I'm already going crazy and

[B]

I'm in around crazy, that seems to, like, it would cancel itself out.

[A]

Tell you where my head was at. Going into the psych ward, I thought that things. I had been putting stuff. I was still recording my podcast somehow and, like, pulling off, like, interviews where people didn't know I was crazy for a few.

[B]

That's impressive.

[A]

And. And I was putting in, like, like, little note. I was testing ideas that, like, everything gets captured digitally, and eventually things will have, like, the accumulation of everything that's tested. And then once time travels is discovered, they'll be able to go back and influence, like, these little butterfly effects along the way. And let me see if I can get these things to, like, influence and interact with and create these, like, changes. These are some of these ideas that I'm having while also trying to talk to smart people about, like, how dung beetles behave or whatever. And. And so I had the idea that because I had this, like, documentary coming out and, like, becoming the psychedelic comedian, that there was, like, I was going to influence, like, the deregulation of psychedelics and their drugs or something that was going to, like. And that was going to, like, hurt the cartel. So there's like, cartel from the future was coming back to, like, stop me from doing that. That's where my head was at. I thought when I was going into the psych ward, I thought it was a building that had been constructed by, like, the cartel from the future to, like, stop me from, like, whatever powerful ideas that I was having or whatever. They weren't powerful. I checked the notes afterwards. They were not powerful ideas. Is Ryan.

[B]

So how long are you in there?

[A]

Like seven days. And.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

So. So not that long. That's long.

[B]

I think it is.

[A]

Well, so I did take the medication that they gave me that time and that actually did quiet things down quite a bit, but was insane. It was like, you know, I would start.

[B]

Wait, I'm sorry. What are they giving you to. To kill the MDMT and DM or whatever it is. MDMA and DMT and shrooms and lsd. What. What's canceling that out?

[A]

Olanzapine.

[B]

I believe that's something that they know will just knock that out of you.

[A]

I hope I'm getting that right. Yeah. Mood stabilizer. Yeah. Yeah. Like, it's more for acute because then. Then I supposed to like, theoretically transition into lithium eventually.

[B]

But seven days. Okay, I hear you. That's not that long. But for me in a terrifying state,

[A]

I feel like every day. So. So you're already paranoid. You already think like the cartels trapped you here and. And letting you walk in. You think everyone's watching you. And now you do have professional people watching you and taking notes on you and you're watching.

[B]

What do you have to show them for your parents to be able to say he can leave? Because isn't that the way it'll work now? Because you don't have your.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Basically there. There's. You start taking meetings with therapists and stuff. So one. One thing is one. One hack. Want to get out of a psych ward in a hurry. Just start cleaning up everything. Just start cleaning up after everyone and get orderly and neat because crazy people aren't. And. And not like in a, you know, LCD kind of food. I don't really remember. Every person must not have been here

[B]

and that sat there swears the food's phenomenal.

[A]

Really?

[B]

All of them, like, not just good. They remember it being exceptional. Every person who's been.

[A]

I don't remember it being bad. Y. Just don't remember it very well.

[B]

I mean, case you're cleaning up.

[A]

I think it changes the flavor. If you think there's pills and poisons.

[B]

Let me ask you this question. You're doing all these things, you're showing them that you're able to get back to normal function, whatever. Are you lucky that you didn't, it didn't open up that portal like a Sid Barrett or my cousin where you're permanently like that?

[A]

Oh yeah.

[B]

And are you scared of that now? Now?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. I mean I, I have been, I definitely like. So, so there's a couple things about it. One, oh, going back. One last little thing that I'll warn people about for the psych ward is the other thing is, is it feels like a puzzle that you need to solve in terms of how to get out. What you'll think is that there's some sort of test that you have to pass that's like a hidden puzzle. And then what they do to. Because they have different people coming in and out through the day. So they have like color coding things on doors so a new staff member can readily see a situation that they're walking into. And they don't tell you that you think you gotta like figure out why the blues changing things. And so I'm trying to figure out how to get out. I'm like, oh, maybe it's no. And then you see people wearing like different things. So it's like. And you don't know what is this person actually in here? Is this person a test? So it's like, oh, maybe it's regular shirt on, hospital pants, no socks. And you go and change. And then other people, crazy people see you doing that. Now they all change the same way. And now you're influenced. So now they're all like, now we all have like one fucking sock on. Is that how you get out? Your guess is as good as mine. And, and then the other thing was I had, when I was first making this documentary Psychonaut Addicts, I was like such an evangelist. I mean I still, the psychedelics can be incredibly helpful for mental health. I still use them sometimes for mental health way more cautiously than I used to. But I mean I had an absolutely life changing experience not too long ago when I had some dark times recently and helped me. But I, I, I, I had like an immediate disclaimer in this because I basically was like, hey, I want to show people that you don't actually go crazy on. And then I went cr. So you know, there, there wasn't, we didn't need to put a thing in the beginning of it. That's like, careful, like it's, Watch the thing. You'll see, you'll see, bro. Exactly. So it's like, you know, psychedelic community is diverse and I'm kind of known as the guy that's like, I've had these wild experiences and I have like a somewhat grounded compared to a lot of people's perception of it because I've had these unhinged experiences. But my interpretations of them are like, you know, somewhat grounded. I, I don't think that they're a cure all or anything else. I'm like a little skeptical of some of the pseudoscience surrounding it. I'm a little skeptical of the modern like gold rush kind of in the capital now.

[B]

As soon as corporations get involved and the government gets involved, you know how that goes.

[A]

And it's also like there's not much money to be made off psychedelics. You're doing it like once a year. You know, it's not like weed or you can smoke it.

[B]

Where are you on the microdosing of it and all that sort of stuff?

[A]

I was such a skeptic for a long time. I'm open. I've never had an experience that. So I've, I've tried microdosing for depression because, you know, I've been scared to do like, you know, any large doses ever since this was 2017 and. And so I'd been, you know, pretty, you know, know careful since that time and. And so I had tried microdosing for these depressive bouts like I told you. I normally had done large. Seemed like it made it worse for me. I don't think I'm not organized enough to do like the pulse damage. Stack of like this is what you're supposed to do on these days or whatever. I think that the safety of it is one of the big selling points, the efficacy. I don't know how much better it can be than a placebo. I don't know how much better it can be than like an antidepressant necessarily. I'm also like, I mean, you know, I've been skeptical of pharma my whole life, but I've also spent enough time in the psychedelic community to be like, you know what, maybe some rigorous studies.

[B]

Dude, this was great, man.

[A]

Thanks. Thanks man. Thank you for coming on.

[B]

Let me share before we wrap up and promote again, advice you're giving to 16 year old shame Moss. Can I throw one in?

[A]

Oh yeah, man.

[B]

I've never done this before. Great is good enough.

[A]

Great is good enough, man. Good enough.

[B]

What would you tell 16 year old Shane Moss?

[A]

Don't ever drink alcohol or cigarettes. Honestly, that story that I just Told, you know, it was hard on everyone else. It was harder on everyone else than it was on me. It was embarrassing for me. It was scary. I never want to experience it. I did experience something similar but for another time. But, but it was also interesting. It gave me a lot of empathy for people that go crazy. It got me more interested in how the mind works and how it can go off the rails and it gave me a unique perspective on that. I've learned so much and so, you know, I've made the most of it. I can't say that about, you know, my alcoholism through the years and stuff. I, if, I mean, you know, I had a pretty successful early career and stand up and wasted a lot of it drinking my, drinking my life away and screwing up and blacking out like crazy. So if I could tell 16 year old Shane it'd be stay the away from alcohol. It's, and it's some of those, I mean some people can handle alcohol. Not me man. I was just straight beer bongs and hard liquor right from Jump street and like you know, crushing. Like last time I was drinking like oh, I'll drink wine to be like sophisticated. It's like three, four bottles of wine lately. Stupid, stupid, stupid, you know, just annoying. I'm so happy that I'm not drinking at the moment. I'm sure I will be again in a few years for a little while and then I'll have to deal with all this again. But it's alcohol man. As crazy as that is that I just said alcohol is worse.

[B]

I, I listen, I believe it. I'm with you. I don't drink anymore. Yeah, yeah dude, thank you again. Right there. Please plug all of it.

[A]

Yeah. Trips, my new psychedelic comedy adventure. If you want to hear the highlights instead of lights, check out trips. It's a two part. The first dose is like mushrooms, LSD 101 type stuff on 800 pound gorillas. And then the, the, the second dose which will be available for all May 19th, but you can get an early access. Bicycle day, April 19th talking about DMT, ketamine, some of these out of body experiences, some of these wilder adventures, ayahuasca and stuff and representing all of it in real time with visuals and incredible artists that were able to articulate these experiences. And I can confidently say there's never been a come special like it.

[B]

You're damn right. Good for you dude.

[A]

Congrats man. Appreciate it.

[B]

Go watch Shane special as always. Ryan Sickler on all your social media. We'll talk to y' all next week.

[A]

D.