Review by Steve Bennett

Oh, how I wish this was a better show. Wisconsin comic Shane Mauss seems such a nice guy, charming and personable with his relaxed, open delivery. But his material, though well-intentioned, is so unambitious that it’s hard to feign interest.

Mating Season dresses its stand-up in a lab coat. Mauss invokes evolutionary science and academic studies of animal behaviour in his set-ups, giving the notion that these are significant truths he is exploring. And the conclusion to his extensive research: men and women are different, and penises are funny.

‘Women love stuff’ apparently, and men love sex. They are horny beasts, but women are more cagey about who they choose to sleep with, there’s the insight. Sure, it might be because of the demands of the ‘selfish gene’ as Dawkins put it – but this is still clichéd stand-up fare.

Homosexuality isn’t left out, either. Straight men should be thankful for gay men for leaving more girls for them, Mauss concludes. But lesbians are a different story. This pre-empts some comments about the nutty pastors who blame Hurricane Katrina on the gays – but while mocking such idiots might be the right thing to do, it’s ridiculously easy and Mauss offers nothing that wasn’t said at the time when the storm hit New Orleans in 2005.

On similarly well-ploughed comic grounds, the 33-year-old finds that the Garden of Eden story might not stand up to much logical scrutiny, a topic which is like shooting magical talking snakes in a barrel.

He speaks of his own failings in the bedroom, which at least puts a personal spin on things and away from sex he has some witty opening comments about British plumbing, even if he doesn’t approach it quite right, as we struggle to understand why he thinks our bathroom taps are weird.

But overall this is a show in which the content isn’t sufficiently evolved.

Review date: 6 Aug 2013
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett