“The dope is too strong here”
After the Boys had a meet-and-greet at the venue after the show, we got word they were on their way over a little before midnight. The approximately 30 people milling around the office space were composed mostly of dispensary staff, who were on hand to assist the Boys in continuing their weed shower from earlier in the night.
As the anticipation built for their arrival, my friend Dave and I chatted with Ryan Cook, the GM of Colorado dispensary powerhouse The Clinic, about a variety of topics — we were interrupted as Randy, Julian, Ricky, and Bubbles (equipped with a GoPro mounted on a “selfie stick”) nonchalantly entered the room and everyone gasped in collective awe. While they looked suitably tired after a nearly two-hour performance, Ricky and Randy in particular seemed stoked to tie one on and relax a bit, and headed directly to the booze and boxes of Voodoo Doughnuts that were arranged on the counter.
One common question I’ve gotten is: Were they in-character the whole time? The answer: Sort of. They arrived with a goal clearly in mind, which was to get some social media collateral for their Denver legal weed experience on the GoPro — they almost immediately started improvising as Randy began to build a stoned monstrosity of a “Luther” sandwich using a Burger King burger and Voodoo’s maple bacon bar and the rest of the Boys gathered around to lob suggestions at him. And yes, they all ate a little bit of it (Bubbles: “HOLY FACK, this thing is delicious.”) After wrapping up most of their video work (which of course had the whole room laughing), they took photos with the dispensaries in attendance (The Clinic, Denver Kush Club, Helping Hands Herbals, The Farm Co., and Colorado Care Facility) and then began to relax a bit and drop the characters.
A few observations:
1) John Paul Tremblay seems like he is always sort of Julian (minus the greasy moneymaking schemes). He was quiet and mostly serious, constantly accompanied by the same whiskey/rum and Coke that you see him with on the show.
2) Mike Smith (Bubbles) has to be one of the most dedicated character actors on the planet, because those horrendous glasses are completely real and the poor guy was constantly squinting and rubbing his temples every time he took them off, which is a brutal commitment to a bit.
3) They are incredibly humble, nice guys who seemed genuinely honored and happy to be smoking legal weed in Colorado, and said as much several times at the show and at the tasting session. They were also worried about what to do with all the awesome free weed they had gotten throughout the night, as nearly every tour bus going from Colorado into Kansas these days is likely getting the automotive equivalent of a cavity search — “we ran into that once in Kansas and it wasn’t pretty,” said Tremblay, in another moment of Julian-like seriousness.
Cannabist Q&A: Been pulled over by police? Know your rights
I was the photographer for the night (enjoy the pics, TPB fans!), so my duties were mostly making sure that everyone got their pictures with the Boys and as such, I didn’t get as much of a chance to interact with them as I would’ve liked. They were also incredibly tired and it was late, so being pushy was low on my list of things to do.
I wanted so badly for them to try the incredible orange-flavored, Amsterdam CannabisCup-entered live resin that I had brought with me, but the only dabbing that went on the entire night was a “screw it, I’ll try one” from Randy (Pat Roach), which was followed by him almost immediately falling asleep in a chair for much of the night, waking up just in time for group pictures, when he finally unveiled the majestic gut.
Other than that, the Boys were entirely smoking flowers, taking the time to admire and smell the samples that were being (legally!) given to them and again seeming genuinely impressed and blown away by our little weed experiment here in Colorado.
I had an ounce joint (that’s right) of some stellar UK Cheese rolled thanks to my friend who’s the Raw Rolling Papers rep, which resulted in my favorite picture of my entire life: Bubbles googly-eyeing the “fuck-clobberin'” joint in amazement as I enlisted someone else to take a shot of me with my comedic heroes.
“Well boys, you think we should we get the fuck out of here?” said Robb Wells (Ricky) at about 1:30 a.m. … and as quickly as they arrived, they were gone.
Things to do: What’s happening this month? Check our events calendar
Unfortunately for them and everyone in attendance, they had to pile onto the tour bus and head to Kansas City for a show that started in less than 18 hours — so after a few drinks, plenty of doughnuts, some weed, and only one dab (“the dope is too strong here”), they filed out as the attendees struggled to wrap their heads around what just happened. The awesomeness of seeing TV characters acting like your beloved TV characters right in front of your face, making you laugh until your cheeks hurt, and then (still wearing their character garb) proceeding to get high and drunk with you is surreal and hard to quantify.
While my giant joint never got the chance to be smoked and the absence of the elusive John Dunsworth (Mr. Lahey) at the after-party made me a little sad, my head is loaded with memories, one-liners and dope smoke thanks to my favorite Canadians, who were everything I’d hoped they would be.
Sometimes meeting celebrities is a huge letdown because they are either shockingly normal/boring, or pompous, distant and clearly just going through the motions — this was the complete opposite; they were warm, engaging, incredibly funny and seemed genuinely appreciative of their fans. To put it simply, these guys “got your belly,” world. Go see them when they’re in your city and offer ’em a toke.
