Musician, singer, actor, comedian, and beatbox extraordinaire, Reggie Watts has layers like an onion. If onions ate edibles, that is.
Born in Germany and raised in Montana, Watts’s love affair with cannabis started with the finest schwag a teenager’s money could buy. Thankfully, that crispy weed didn’t hinder him as he stayed on a path that led him to learning all of the benefits the cannabis plant has to offer.
Somehow he always gives the audience exactly what they want—not even Watts knows what he’s planning, from a TED Talk and comedy specials to his tones and beats on Comedy Bang! Bang!. His gift comes naturally and what a gift it is.
Edibles have also been a gift to him, not just to reduce stress and anxiety, but as a muse as well. He even takes his love for cannabis steps further, advocating far and wide in loopy improvised musical odes to 4/20 on The Late Late Show with James Corden where he serves as the leader of the show’s band, called Melissa.
We talked to Watts about practicing proper dosage, vibes over terps, and an “edible game” he plays when alone with himself. (Get your minds out of the gutter.)
High Times: What was the weed like growing up in Montana?
Reggie Watts: Oh man, I mean, it was very schwaggy. It was very brown with seeds in it, but we would get really fucked up! I don’t remember its efficiency, I didn’t know anything about that then, but we were high. I guess it came from Mexico? That’s what everyone always said, “It came from Mexico.” Who even knows if it was true.
Do you remember where you got it back then?
I like that question because it’s like you’re trying to score some.
Yeah so, where’d you get that dirt weed from? Can I get that number like, pssst… Reggie sent me?
So yeah, is there an email I get? A number I can hit up? I need some schwag! You know, I don’t know where we got it from back then. It was always my friend that procured it, and I had no idea where he got it. Ok actually, there was one time when I knew where we got it. I had broken into a small pickup truck and behind the seat, there was a huge brown paper bag full of weed. We ended up selling that in the summer, but we kept a bunch too. So that’s where we got some of our weed, but the rest of it my friend Beav got that was probably just from some guy. Maybe he got it from Mexico.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve MacGyvered to smoke pot out of?
Wow, what would that have been? Oh, you know what? This one was a pretty good one. I had this wood coffee table that I got from a thrift store when I was furnishing my first place in Seattle. My friend was a woodworker so, we decided to make one of the corners of the table into a pipe. So, we carved out a bowl and then drilled a hole in the corner so you had to just like, get down on your knees, put some weed on top of the table in the bowl, and draw from the corner of the table. You know what? It worked!
That’s the most random thing I’ve ever heard. Now that you’re a vet in the game, do you have a favorite strain?
My favorite stuff comes from my friend Dave. He’s in a band and grows the most amazing weed. It’s incredible because it’s grown biodynamically and it just has this really chill, fun, and awesome feeling to it. That’s my favorite. I’m not really a connoisseur when it comes to strains and things like that because for me it’s like, is it weed? Ok, lemme get high off of it. I’m not really like, well the terpenes are like… yeah, I have no idea.
“What gets me high? What’s a good vibe? For me it’s about the vibe. When someone is like, this is great for being creative… yeah good, let’s get high. That is all I need and I’m happy.”
– Reggie Watts
That’s so funny because every weed store is like, this is great because of the percent of terps and I’m like, “Let me stop you. I’ll take a sativa. Preferably something fruity.”
Yeah! What gets me high? What’s a good vibe? For me it’s about the vibe. When someone is like, this is great for being creative… yeah good, let’s get high. That is all I need and I’m happy. I also try to stick to edibles because smoking does kind of fuck with my throat.
Ahhh yes. I recall a space cake story you told on A Little Late with Lilly Singh. Have you given space cakes another go or was that it for you?
Of course! I’m not one of those people who give up or have a crazy experience like, “oh I’m never going to do that on stage again.” Of course I’m going to do that on stage again. The one thing I dislike is that every single person I run into when I offer them an edible is like, “I don’t know mannnn, I just can’t, it makes me all urghhhh.” I just feel like, you have to keep trying. You have to practice, know your amounts, and pick a brand that is consistent. People just give up so easily and weed has so many benefits. Don’t pass on it!
I hate to be part of the problem, but I once ate 25 mg, couldn’t move for 12 hours, and I had shit to do.
I don’t think anyone is a pussy for not taking them. And if you took too much, you took too much. I can’t just be like, “SUCK IT UP!” There are tricks you can do to calm yourself down and get through it, but it’s not really about that. It’s about how that was too much, so next time, you’ll do 4 mg or 2.5 mg. People get afraid of edibles and they’re so scienced out now and have all different kinds of doses from low to high. And their levels are insanely accurate, which makes them awesome products. I think edibles have a big advantage and I think they’re very helpful.
OK you win! I’ll give them another go. What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re all high and such?
All stizzy? That wasn’t sponsored. I enjoy the classics like video games and watching a really amazing show of any kind, mainly science fiction. Those things I really love. Something else I really love is, I just recently got ahold of some Level pills that are 100 mg each. I’ll take a high dose, like 100 mg, and then just try to complete technical tasks. Firmware updates or organizing a drawer or something like that. I love stuff like that because it’s basically me trying to batten down the hatches on a ship that’s in the middle of a hurricane, you know?
It’s a mental exercise or a creative challenge. Can I maintain my composure? A lot of people don’t know I’m high on an edible, or on anything. I have some weird ability to tap into normalcy and I can get into a pragmatic mindset. I just kind of do it as a practice because you know, when shit goes down, I don’t wanna be freaking out! I want to go into problem solving rather than being all, “AHHHHH!!!!”
I think you need to sell portions of your brain to other people. We all need a little Watts brain, please.
Yeah, I should do that. I need to create a method. The Watts method!
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