Up in Jokes

For these comics, laughter is the best (marijuana) medicine

By David Burton

Ask any successful standup comic: Comedy and cannabis are a natural pairing, like Martin and Lewis or pears and gorgonzola.

It isn’t just that audiences can’t get enough marijuana-based entertainment. They can’t, but it isn’t just that. It’s that the material presented to comedians by America’s favorite herb is vast—so vast that different comedians specialize in different subgenres of canna-comedy. It’s that in society’s relationship with cannabis, comedians find a renewable source of material that only gets funnier over time.

Here’s a quick look at some of the comedians whose names have become almost synonymous over the years with the green they love to joke about:

LENNY BRUCE

Celebrated today as America’s first comic martyr (though Fatty Arbuckle might have something to say about that), Lenny Bruce made a career of poking fun at societal hypocrisy. Though he professed to not caring much for marijuana, he put himself at great personal risk by publicly defending it. With The Pot Smokers, Bruce’s screamingly funny spoof of anti-cannabis government pamphlets, the comedian so offended public sensibilities that nearly every copy of it was destroyed by horrified authorities. Poor Lenny should have smoked more pot: He died of a morphine overdose in 1966, at the tender age of 40.

GEORGE CARLIN

Had Lenny Bruce lived long enough to pass his torch to anyone, it would have been George Carlin. The two comics shared similar styles and passions for pissing off the government. They even shared the same paddy wagon, following a 1962 arrest by Chicago police. Unlike Bruce, Carlin managed to live long enough to enjoy a full career and break free from his addictions to morphine-based medication and alcohol. He nonetheless continued to use marijuana in his creative process right up to his death in 2008 at 71, commenting that he liked to write material while sober and then review it for funniness while high.

CHEECH & CHONG

Few entertainers have found more gold in the green than Richard “Cheech” Marin and Tommy Chong, the legendary comedy duo who forever altered attitudes about marijuana. Cheech & Chong have poked fun at weed lovers and the people who prey upon them since 1971, but it wasn’t until 1978’s seminal stoner film, Up in Smoke, that the magic truly happened. Prior to the film, most Americans viewed cannabis users as dangerous criminals and drug warriors as heroic defenders of the realm. By the time Up in Smoke finished raking in an estimated $42 million in box-office receipts, the perceived roles had flipped, with pot smokers viewed as mostly harmless and John Ashcroft types as more than a bit silly.

DAVE CHAPPELLE

Pioneers like Carlin and Cheech & Chong may have laid the foundation for weed comedy, but it took Dave Chappelle to build a 24-hour 7-Eleven on it. With his in-your-face swagger and spot-on impersonations, Chappelle took the guilt out of the guilty pleasure of getting high—you find yourself craving a joint just listening to him rave about it. Understanding that cannabis fans are a colorful and hugely diverse bunch, he filled his 1998 cult classic, Half Baked, with stoners from every walk of society. The film bombed with the critics, but fans couldn’t get enough of it: Half Baked has since raked in $17 million (it cost $8 million to make) and was listed by Bravo TV among the 100 funniest movies ever made.

JOE ROGAN

Lenny Bruce and George Carlin brought an intellectual quality to weed comedy; Cheech & Chong and Dave Chappelle brought the crazy hi-jinks. But Joe Rogan may be the first comedic entertainer to add martial arts to the mix. A seasoned kickboxer and brown belt in multiple forms of jiu-jitsu, Rogan performs his observational comedy in a no-nonsense manner that just dares you to reconsider long-held beliefs. The man is fearless: In a single routine, he’ll skewer political sacred cows, religious nuttiness and gender relations before turning to his favorite topic: drug legalization. Ignore him at the risk of a roundhouse to the face.

ZACH GALIFIANAKIS

Actor/entertainer Zach Galifianakis has been doing weed comedy for a while now, particularly in his role as comic book artist/perennial pot smoker Ray Hueston on HBO’s Bored to Death. But it was through his Oct. 29 appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher that Galifianakis cemented his reputation as the weed comedian with balls. While proclaiming his support of Proposition 19, the 41-year-old co-star of The Hangover shocked Maher and fellow guests by pulling a joint out of his coat pocket and lighting up with the cameras rolling. Maher later claimed the joint didn’t contain pot—exactly what you’d expect him to say, since the stunt almost certainly caught the FCC’s attention.

SETH ROGEN

Before his foray into movies, Seth Rogen cut his entertainer teeth doing stand-up and writing for shows like Da Ali G Show. Later, with flicks like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Pineapple Express, Seth Rogen evolved into the poster child for the well-intentioned, largely harmless herb head who still got the girl (and the bong) in the end. And while Rogen of late has gone on to take on less-green, mainstream roles (Funny People), we’re sure Pineapple Express II: Still Best Buds can’t be far behind.