Shane Mauss
written by Ken Carlson
“I was playing video games with a friend one day when I was a kid,” recalls comedian Shane Mauss, “and I said something funny. He told me I should be a stand-up comic. I didn’t know what that was. He explained that it’s a person that goes on a stage and makes people laugh. I’ve never thought about doing anything else since.”
In comedy circles, the hunt to discover why one comic finds success quickly in this business is something akin to the craning of necks during a calculus exam or classic episodes of In Search Of, hosted by Leonard Nimoy. Obviously there is some simple shortcut being taken, a matter of knowing the right people, a hazy amateur photograph tracking Bigfoot or an agent on the make.
Mauss has quietly meandered to the head of the line with incomparable success at comedy festivals and many television appearances. Veteran Boston comic Rich Gustus is quick to dispel the mystery of why.
“Shane’s one of the hardest working comics I’ve ever come across,” says Gustus, “and is fearless when it comes to trying out ideas. The way he is able to introduce a truly disturbing premise, then use clever wording to make it more palatable, is part of his charm. I used to say if Ron Howard was a pornographer (the young cute Richie Cunningham, Opie Taylor, Ron Howard), he’d be Shane Mauss.”
Like anyone who seeks success at the national level, Mauss is always on the move. He loves the road, even with the tiresome flight delays and taking ten-hour flights because it’s cheaper with three-hour layovers. Five and a half years in, he headlines in almost every room he plays, with the exception of special opportunities – opening for the likes of Judah Friedlander or Joel McHale. Mauss cherishes the amount of stage time he gets in a week, about seven sets, 45 minutes to an hour per set, putting the time to good use.
“I get to work out a lot of new material,” says Mauss. “When I’m on the road I get really sick of my material. So I take as many chances as I can, try out as much new stuff as I can. I do a lot more stories that I get to work through on the road that people don’t get to see me do on television. The shorter stuff works better for TV, at least for me. Lately at some clubs, especially if it’s my second time there, I’ll alternate my first set with my second set each night. It keeps me a little more challenged, makes it a little more exciting, as opposed to doing the same thing over and over again. I write a lot every day when I’m on the road. I have to do something new every night or else I’d go insane.”
Looking back, Mauss is surprised by how fast he moved up, but, in the moment, felt his string of breakthroughs was a natural progression, “Like, oh, this is how it’s supposed to be,” says Mauss. “You go through it, get invited to festivals (like the HBO 2007 US Comedy Arts Festival where he was awarded, Best Stand-Up Comic), get a manager, and have everything fall into place (several appearances on Conan O’Brien, a special and CD coming out on Comedy Central). Now, seeing how so many struggle, there are a lot very talented people who have been doing it much longer than I have who haven’t caught a break. I feel very fortunate, and I don’t have to have a day job which is amazing!”
Mauss’ previous work history lies somewhere between Flashdance and Modern Times. He split his time working in factories or construction in Wisconsin where he grew up. Once he felt ready to take a stab at stand-up, he moved to Boston and supported himself with temp work. Boston provided more stand-up opportunities for Mauss, as well as anonymity, since he suffered from stage fright and didn’t want anybody he knew to see him perform.
“I started in Dorchester at the Emerald Isle,” says Mauss, “a real open mic where anybody could sign up and get on. It was a dive bar in a terrible neighborhood. Nobody but comics in there. The show would go on for five hours. It was kind of painful, but it had a pretty good sense of community. It was so hard to do it, it got me over stage fright. My act developed, trying to be funny with comedy savvy people, which is different than making the average person laugh. Everybody up there starts out with the same basic ideas. Comics will notice if something is a little clever or interesting or takes a chance. Writing that way is unique. Maybe that makes me stand out from other comics. Maybe that appeals to people whose job it is to watch an ungodly amount of stand-up [like at festivals where Shane has shined]. Anything you can do to stand out a bit as refreshing can help you.”
Mauss made his mark in Boston, using The Comedy Studio in Cambridge as his home club. He still goes there to work out new material, avoiding the missteps of those fellow comics who stand still and continue to, as Shane puts it, “do Monica Lewinsky jokes in 2009.”
“People like Shane are what makes running a club so gratifying,” says Rick Jenkins of the Comedy Studio. “When he first auditioned at the Studio, like many others, he wasn’t ready. But unlike others, he worked and worked and came back six months later as a really good comedian. We then moved him into a ‘comic-in-residence’ spot, then he got on television, and now we’re lucky he still hangs out with us.”
“Shane studies comedy with the diligence of a medical student,” says comedian Maggie MacDonald, “and the passion of a maniacal sports fan. He loves comedy the way a 12 year-old girl loves Robert Pattinson. But there’s also a respect there, a respect for various forms of comedy, for different interpretations, and differences of opinions. He never complains if audience members don’t agree with all of his jokes. He respects their reaction the same way he respects his joke and would never alter it to cater to someone else’s idea of what is funny.”
At 29, Mauss has made remarkable strides in the comedy arena, with the exception of one surprising area, considering his material and following. “I’ve had a hard time breaking into the college market, for whatever reason,” says Mauss. “I’m hoping within the next year, with the Comedy Central special (scheduled for broadcast on March 12, 2010) to get into it more. Colleges have a lot of money, but they’re nowhere near as fun as playing a regular comedy club. It’s not even close. They’re great if there are a thousand kids there and I’m opening for a really big act. But if you go there, and don’t know how many people will show up, or if the college has advertised it, or if it’s in a cafeteria with ten people showing up; or the college orientation shows with new freshman who are scared and nervous, or the ending part of a day long event. There are so many variables. They can be fun, but the chance of it being a disaster is so
much higher.”
For those who have taken a ride in the comedy limelight, the standard expectation involves greater mass market exposure; sitcoms and movies, the chance to have your picture on a billboard or lunchbox. But for Mauss, who finds auditions and acting uncomfortable, the goals are simpler. “Other than a paycheck, honestly, the money, I could care less about it, as long as I can survive,” says Mauss. “It’s a little bit scary thinking how long it will last. Will I be able to make a living at it when I’m 60 or 70 years old? But that could go for any job. I’ve wanted to be a stand-up since I was eight or nine years old. It’s living a dream I’ve always loved watching stand-up on TV. I’ve seen every single stand-up show Comedy Central has put on. I love the process and the writing. It’s the greatest performance form there is. My girlfriend gets on me when I talk about the ‘skills and the craft’ then go on stage and tell some boob jokes. But I have so much respect for anyone who gives it a try, trying to do something different. It’s an amazing thing.”
The week before Christmas, Mauss will return to one of his favorite clubs, to record his new CD. It’s the Comedy Club on State in Madison, WI. It will be a chance to strut his stuff in front of family and friends, an event he would sooner avoid earlier in his career. Madison is a college town with a lot of young people, “for Wisconsin it’s very hip,” says Mauss, “definitely the most progressive city there. They’re fairly comedy savvy. I have a lot of friends coming in from where I grew up so it seemed like fun place to record it. My air date for my Comedy Central Presents will be March 12th so I hope to have my CD out then. I’m supposed to do The Tonight Show on January 5th. My representation is trying to move the date back to March to plug the CD. That would be ideal, but I’m not in any position to turn down a Tonight Show spot.”
“Shane is a comedy genius,” says comedian Myq Kaplan. “Watch him on stage, or spend any time with him off stage, and you’ll see how being hilarious is just who he is. He’s really a natural. But he works at it, too. He is constantly writing and performing, expanding and editing, perfecting and honing. He’s also a real student of comedy, because he just loves it. It’s his life. I knew he would be super successful ever since I saw him for the second time. The first time, I just thought he was gross. I was right about that, too, but I soon learned that he’s so much more. He’s a gross, natural, hilarious comedic genius.”
High energy. Animated. Flashy. Over the top. These are traits you don’t think of when you see the easygoing Mauss in action. “I know I’ve given the impression I don’t care or I’m not trying. I’m a laid back guy,” says Mauss. “In rougher rooms, they may think I’m not trying. For the most part, people respond to my delivery. I get a lot of compliments for making people feel comfortable. Understatement is such a big part of my act. Being dry lends itself well. I hope people appreciate it and I’m not nearly as relaxed as I seem at times. When I started it was probably me trying to look relaxed.”
“With my material,” Mauss continues, “I really try to mix it up to keep the audience guessing. I try not to do too many drinking jokes in a row, or too many jokes about construction. I’ll do a dirty joke, then a clean joke, then maybe a weird alternative thing. The idea is to hold the audience’s attention, but I like to take chances. Before one show, I had just watched a documentary, Deliver Us From Evil, which is upsetting. It’s about the Catholic Priest scandal. The comic before I went up that night had done some very light jokes about the topic, ‘I was an alter boy, but never got molested.’ Stupid hacky jokes like that. The crowd was eating it up. There was a woman there, Catholic, who was enjoying it. I did a few jokes to warm them up. I was raised Catholic by the way. I went into this thing with the woman where I was asking her how many children would have to be raped for her to change to being a Lutheran, because there really is no difference, whatever religion that isn’t raping kids. I really pushed her on it. Most religious people would probably think it was in poor taste. Some got into it, but I was making a lot of people very uncomfortable. About ten minutes into my act, people were asking for their checks. I had to just stop and tell them, ‘All right guys, now I’m going to get you back.’”
Mauss admits he’s walked a couple of people before. That can happen to anyone who does a solid eight minutes on anal beads. “Some people don’t want to hear eight minutes on anal beads,” says Mauss, “That’s very understandable. I hardly want to do it!”
With the release of his new CD with Comedy Central, Mauss is bracing for the next stage in his career, putting away old bits and focussing solely on new ones. “That’s what I’ve been working toward,” Mauss says, “I’ve been stressing out about that lately. I certainly have a lot of material, but to take out of fifty minutes of my very best stuff and not do it anymore, that’s a scary notion to me. I have until March and I’ve been writing my butt off. I’m hoping to build a whole new act. I want to burn that material, but I’m sure when the mood strikes me or something happens in the audience where I have this old joke that goes perfect with it, I’ll do it once in a while.”
For more on Shane, visit ShaneMauss.com.