Comedian Chelsea Handler isn’t shy about her cannabis use. Earlier this month during her stint on The Daily Show, she said during a satirical video about being childless that she starts the day at 6 a.m., takes an edible and goes back to sleep.
This week, she spilled even more about her cannabis habits, along with a notable anecdote involving a nun, on Jennifer Hudson’s talk show. The conversation started with a playful back-and-forth regarding Hudson’s lifelong lack of alcohol or cannabis use.
“It’s hard for me to believe. … I don’t know what your plan is,” Handler said as the audience laughed.
Hudson retorted, “So, is it true you got a nun to smoke some pot?” To which Handler nonchalantly replied, “I got a nun high. Yeah, that’s true,” met with a prolonged, shocked expression from the talk show host and singer.
It all went down during filming for Handler’s old Netflix show. Handler pointed to the notion that nuns “get a bad rap” for not being fun. She started to preface that drug and alcohol use aren’t prerequisites for having a good time, chiming back to Hudson’s own lifestyle.
“I respect the fact if you’ve never had a drink, good for you. Everybody should do their own thing,” Handler said. “I don’t want to be a bad influence on people. I mean, I do, but I can get by without doing that.”
As “so many people are,” Handler said that after convincing the nun to get high for the first time, she was “so funny.” Months later, Handler said that the nun reached out to her to say that she had loosened up since their meeting, to which the crowd cheered and applauded.
“I said, ‘Sister, that is all I’m looking to do, you know, is loosen people up.’ I just want people to enjoy and relax. And if you can relax and enjoy yourself without alcohol or drugs, great! Good for you! I can’t.”
At another point in the interview, Handler disclosed that her three passions are “reading books, smoking pot and skiing. That’s what I feel most passionate about in life.”
Handler said in 2018 that she re-introduced herself to cannabis when Donald Trump was elected, given that alcohol was too “on the nose” for her and she already used it heavily. At the time, California was in the process of legalizing cannabis, so she gave it a shot.
“It changed my life and made things a little more tolerable and a little bit easier,” Handler told The GrowthOp at the time. “Now with the way they are able to distribute the cannabis and to microdose it’s so helpful to so many people. It has opened my eyes to how it can really change lives.”
Since then, she’s been a vocal cannabis advocate, pushing back against stereotypes like cannabis hindering productivity and speaking about the role of cannabis in self-discovery and wellness.
“I think when you’re frustrated or stressed, and the world is a very stressful place these days, alcohol becomes a hat on a hat,” the comedian told Forbes in November 2022. “The intention that you have with drinking doesn’t necessarily always equate to the outcome. Whereas cannabis calms you down, it kind of dulls your senses in a way that’s not overpowering so that you have no reaction.”
She said in the same Forbes interview that she enjoys cannabis-infused beverages as an alcoholic alternative, with a quick onset of effects and controlled dosing. She also partnered with California-based cannabis beverage company Leisuretown late last year.
“You’re going to feel relaxed immediately. And you understand it’s a controlled substance,” she said. “I feel like we’re in the Wild West still with cannabis, even though we’re making so many inroads and there are so many great things happening, like decriminalization and the pardoning of people convicted of using cannabis and carrying it. But we are still in an area where it is evolving.”
Up next, Handler will head out to travel across the U.S. for her “Little Big Bitch” comedy tour which begins April 6 in Peoria, Illinois.
