Share this Story: Pemberton Fest: Gig lands weed comic Doug Benson in familiar territory
Pemberton Fest: Gig lands weed comic Doug Benson in familiar territory
Chances are Doug Benson is high right now. It probably explains why the comedian, whose trademark bleary eyed delivery is cause for much guffawing, only does interviews via email.
Francois Marchand
Jul 14, 2015 • July 15, 2015 • 4 minute read
Doug Benson is famous for his weed-derived comedy, which he has showcased in movies like Super High Me and The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled, and in his YouTube series Getting Doug With High.Doug Benson is famous for his weed-derived comedy, which he has showcased in movies and his YouTube series Getting Doug With High.
The 2015 edition of the Pemberton Music Festival takes place July 16-19. Photo by Handout /Handout
The 2015 edition of the Pemberton Music Festival takes place July 16-19. Handout
The 2015 edition of the Pemberton Music Festival takes place July 16-19. Photo by Andy Holmes /Handout
Doug Benson is famous for his weed-derived comedy, which he has showcased in movies like Super High Me and The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled, and in his YouTube series Getting Doug With High.
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Chances are Doug Benson is high right now.
It probably explains why the comedian, whose trademark bleary eyed delivery is cause for much guffawing, only does interviews via email.
Pemberton Fest: Gig lands weed comic Doug Benson in familiar territory Back to video
Benson is famous for his weed-derived comedy, which he has showcased in movies like Super High Me (his take on Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, comparing his health with and without marijuana use) and The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled (another Spurlock re-interpretation based on marijuana).
These days he focuses most of his energy on his YouTube series Getting Doug With High, where he invites comedians, actors and musicians to discuss — among other things — their smoking habits.
On the eve of returning to the Pemberton Music Festival and appearing alongside a strong comedy lineup that also includes Reggie Watts, Tim & Eric, Harland Williams, Vancouver's Dino Archie and more, Benson answered a few questions for The Vancouver Sun, discussing marijuana legalization, his first time smoking weed, and what he thinks of "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery.
Q: How does it feel to come back to Vancouver and B.C., land of the medical marijuana dispensaries?
A: I love it! Vancouver, Pemberton and Whistler are beautiful cities with nice people. For as long as I've been coming to Canada, it's a country that definitely seems cooler about weed than most places I've been.
Q: There's been a huge debate, since marijuana is still technically illegal in Canada (although we're arguably more tolerant about it than most of the States), about the legality of all these dispensaries popping up here in the last year. What is the best argument you have in favour of legalizing? The best argument against it?
A: It should be legalized because marijuana users tend to be pretty docile. Drunks are much worse than stoners. Bar fights don't break out because someone is too high. And sorry, I don't have any arguments whatsoever against legalizing it.
Q: Tell us about your first marijuana experience.
A: I tried it when I was 18 or so with some older kids who lived next door. Didn't really get into it until 10 years later, though. I was starting to go on the road a lot doing comedy, and the other comedians generally had weed, so I got into it that way. I was a pot mooch for a long time, only smoking when other people had it. But eventually I had to start buying my own. Now that I'm known as a pot comic, people give it to me all the time. Which is a dream come true that I never dared to dream about!
Q: How much of an influence were Cheech & Chong to you? (Note: At the time of the interview Cheech & Chong were scheduled to appear in Pemberton. The duo cancelled their appearance due to Tommy Chong's health.)
A: Huge. I had their albums when I was a kid. Which makes me feel better about kids listening to my stuff. Because as much as I loved Cheech & Chong, listening to their stuff didn't make me want to try weed. Like I said, I didn't really get into it until well into my adulthood. I also saw all of their films, of course, because I love movies.
Q: Do you feel marijuana makes you funnier? Why?
A: I feel like it makes me sillier, which makes my shows fun. I assume. Some people in the audience might be thinking, "This guy is messed up on drugs. What's funny about that?" But most people know the drill: I'm gonna be high but I'm gonna make you laugh because I do this for a living. My first album was called Professional Humoredian, after all. I made up the word "Humoredian." When I was high, probably.
Q: What is your go-to soundtrack for 4:20?
A: I've never synced up music to my 4:20 sesh, because I'm either outside where there is no music, or I'm at Chuck E Cheese, where they've got a swinging band. Just kidding, that band doesn't swing.
Q: In your movie Super High Me you had a close encounter in Vancouver with Marc Emery, a.k.a. "The Prince of Pot," who did jail time in the States for selling marijuana seeds via the Internet. You seemed really weirded out by the encounter. What is your take on Emery?
A: That he has a lot to say. When the cameras were rolling that dude would go into filibuster mode. I was supposed to be interviewing him, but he did 98 per cent of the talking. Don't get me wrong, it was interesting, but we shot in Vancouver during the 30-days-off-weed part of the movie, so I got frustrated with him taking big rips off his bong in front of me and trying to talk me into smoking. For whatever the reason, he didn't see the point in me abstaining from weed for the movie. You gotta love the guy for his passion about the cause, and I'm glad he's out of jail.
Q: Marc Maron recently had a conversation with President Barack Obama on his WTF podcast. What are the odds you could ever get the president on your web series Getting Doug With High? What would you talk about?
A: He'd have to no longer be president for me to get him on. And weed would probably have to be legal everywhere. But he's welcome any time. I'd talk to him about anything he wants to talk about. Who knows where the conversation would go if we were both blazed?
Q: How high were you while answering these questions?
A: On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd say I was about a B+.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
fmarchand@vancouversun.com
twitter.com/FMarchandVS
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