The Leafly Cannabis Comedy tour kicks off in Seattle at the Crocodile on January 2, with an opening act by Emmett Montgomery. The show is 21+ and 100 percent, completely FREE, but you must RSVP to attend.
So, I understand this is “the world’s first-ever cannabis comedy tour”? What makes it a cannabis comedy tour? Obviously comedians smoke a lot of weed, and weed makes you think things are funny, but…
That, my friend, is very true. I mean, it’s pretty fun. Each thing that happens that makes marijuana mainstream, I think is really interesting. I think [the tour] is really exciting, because marijuana should be mainstream. I’m hoping that legalization will happen nationwide, or at least in the more liberal states. That would be ideal. I’m so proud of Colorado for, kind of, leading the charge, y’know? And being open to to the idea. Like, what’s gonna happen? The economy is gonna collapse or something? No! In fact, it’s made our state $88 million dollars. What we’re able to do with schools and parks and municipal infrastructure, it’s amazing.
Same in Washington State. The sky didn’t fall on us. That’s pretty awesome.
Yeah it’s awesome. I mean, everybody in Denver was already pretty “relaxed” and we have such awesome natural surroundings. There’s nothing better than smoking a joint and walking down the street and running into other Coloradans who are doing the same thing. It makes everybody really chill. I grew up next to Cheesman Park, and now that park is incredible, it’s so much more beautiful and better and everything even in the last couple of years, and I walk into the pavilion—there’s a big marble pavilion—and there’s jugglers, girls doing hula hoops, and you see two middle-aged women sitting on a park bench smoking a joint, you walk past dudes just smokin’ a bowl at lunch…havin’ a bowl and some Chick-Fil-A. It’s become this stoner paradise hangout and, uh, I love that very much.
Denver sounds like a paradise for a lot of reasons.
DUIs are down. Crime I think subsided a bit. So that’s good.
And you have Chick-Fil-A. Like, we only have one and that sucks.
Oh no! I’m really, really all about Denver. So, I appreciate you being down with that. But the more mainstream [weed] gets, the more they figure out edibles and regulate them and all that kind of stuff…I don’t think they have edibles in Denver anymore, ’cause some kids got into ’em.
No! It was Maureen Dowd. She ate an entire candy bar and wrote about it for the New York Times. She kinda blew it for everybody.
Aw, jeez. She did kinda blow it for everybody. But we’re gonna have those setbacks on our way to legalization. I just want there to be bars in America where you can go to and just smoke. Nobody gets in a bar fight when everyone’s high. People kind of freak out and leave instead of saying, “Hey, are you hitting on my girlfriend, dude? Hey answer me, man! Look at me! Hey dude from Yogi Bear 3D, why you talkin’ to her for so long, huh?” That doesn’t happen when everyone’s high. Instead they’re like, “It’s freaking me out to see you in real life. Hey, you’re great, I’m gonna go outside.”
Does this happen to you in Denver? People see you and they’re like, “That’s the Yogi Bear dude,” and then they freak out because they’re too high?
Well it’s stemming from one experience. It wasn’t in Denver, but this dude was high out of his mind and when he turned to see me…I think for a moment he was like, “Am I in TV?” I’d rather inspire that than have some drunk guy saying, “Oh Mr. Famous can’t take a picture, huh?” That’s not the energy that I’m looking for. But I do love whiskey. I love gin. I love comedy club crowds. They get drunk and they have the greatest time. Like the Friday night late show…these are people that have worked all week, they probably went out right after work, it’s doubtful that they even went home and changed. If they did they did it real quick so they could start drinking. They’ve been drinking and also had dinner or didn’t have dinner, so those people are drunk and tired. Very drunk, very tired, and wild! They’re the people that are going, “Let’s get the weekend started!” Which is a really good thing in my opinion, that’s the way I am. Late show Friday is really hard for a lot of comedians, but I’ve come to embrace it. Like, I’m doing comedy and all that but I’m also sort of partying. I’ve had a week of travel or whatever, so I’ll take beers on stage, and send people shots and that kind of stuff.
You partake?
In Denver, I give them hits of whatever I’m smoking.
We can’t do that here, unfortunately.
Not yet!
Yeah, it’s coming.
Hopefully I’m doing something, this being a cannabis tour. I mean, I play a marijuana user on Silicon Valley.
Yes you do!
I’m from Denver, I live in Los Angeles, so I know marijuana. But I’m hoping that, unlike Doug Benson—who is a great friend of mine—it’s not gonna be stoner comedy. I am kind of an absurdist, ridiculous, performative kind of comedian, who happens to also be a very effective marijuana user.
And you were before it was legal too?
Absolutely not! Or…don’t tell Disney.
They would cancel Yogi Bear for you?
No Yogi Bear 4D! But, y’know, I worked on How to Train Your Dragon, and Big Hero 6, and Gravity Falls…I have a very broad audience on purpose, because I believe that life is fundamentally tragic and comedy is one of our best escapes from the harshness of life. I’m learning more about how you can instill morality in children through movies and TV.
Oh yeah, you’ve got a great responsibility as Ranger Jones!
Absolutely! I’m glad kids love my movies, like How to Train Your Dragon. You know that obviously because you’ve seen it, but y’know, that was my best role to date. Life has kinda been a sad descent from that. When you hit the pinnacle of your career so early on, life is just a sad descent into Transformers 4, Deadpool, and all that la di da.
That’s rough, man.
Yeah it is. You probably peaked early right?
This interview is probably going to be my creative peak, so…I hope it’s good.
That would be amazing. It’s gonna be a great article, you know that.
Well I’m just gonna use the funny words you say.
Some of your words were very funny too.
Aww, that’s sweet. I have to ask, are you going to tell jokes about weed on the Cannabis Comedy Tour?
[Laughs] Absolutely not! I’m only going to talk about heroin and opiates. That’s the new thing to talk about! No one’s talkin’ about that on the cannabis tour! That’s the way I’m going to be different. These people are talkin’ about weed…let’s move on the next thing, y’know?
You’re just light years ahead of everybody.
I have a little bit of material about marijuana, to be sure. I’m mostly interested in how it affects you if you use too much of it, compared to alcohol. I tell a story or two about my escapades as a very high person. Times when I’ve overimbibed. There’s a little bit, to be sure. But mostly, my material is so bizarre—like, “Ever snerd of it,” where you smell something a nerd heard, and there’s water being sprayed all over the stage—it’s actually a really fun one to watch while you’re high. When you’re high, spectacle and things that are super bizarre are fun to just relax into. So that’s the thing, I don’t talk about weed so much as I perform material that’s very fun to watch high.
Do you feel like this will be the easiest audience of your life because everyone will be really high?
No! I’m just learning this, from playing shows in Denver—also in Canada, they smoke a lot of weed up there—but you don’t ever know the speed that they’re at. You really gotta gauge that. If everybody’s super high, sometimes it takes them a second to get a joke. You gotta take an extra beat waiting for them to be like, “Ohhhh yeahhh!” Sometimes you get that, but other times people are high and the more bizarre I get, the more I riff, the more they’re into it.
Do you ever have people who literally cannot stop laughing?
I’ve had a couple times where someone has a laugh…I don’t care what your laugh sounds like, but the rest of the audience is like, “Whoa that woman keeps laughing…” I actually think that’s really fun, so I’ll sort of play with it and try to keep them laughing. Talking about them laughing makes them laugh.
Are you ever worried that someone will choke?
No, I always give them something to eat. I’ll send some chicken tenders to the table, goddamit!
You sound like the most generous comedian ever…
I’m incredibly generous and very altruistic and I’m only out for money.
You’re only out for money?
That’s all I care about. Money, public service, and one day owning a boat that is mostly made of gold or platinum.
Wow, I don’t really know what to ask you after that.
Yeah I was about to say, that’s a pretty good out. Maybe it should be a tank?
Master P already did the tank, man.
You’re right on that front. All right, let’s make it a boat, but at least make it a catamaran.