Weeding Out the Stoned celebrates the 4/20 holiday season this week.
Get our weekly picks of what to do this weekend and the latest on Philly’s arts and entertainment scene.
Chanel Ali takes the mic at a previous edition of Weeding out the Stoned, hosted by Alex Grubard (right). / Photograph courtesy of Alex Grubard
When Alex Grubard steps onto the stage to host another edition of Weeding out the Stoned, he knows he’s going to be herding cats all night. Founded on small Philly comedy stages 11 years ago, the show requires the audience to determine which of the eight comedians on his panel are high at and that moment, and which one is stone-cold sober. Along the way, Grubard administers several “sobriety tests” of dubious scientific rigor that have contestants riffing, blowing up balloons, reciting the alphabet backwards, etc.
Still, it’s not as easy as it sounds. “I try and tell the audience before the show — they’re all comedians. They’re all gonna say things that are silly. Don’t eliminate silly. Eliminate stupid.”
Grubard, who was a Temple student when he created the show in 2015, now lives in Jersey City, but frequently takes the show on the road. The current tour in celebration of the 4/20 holiday includes stops in Boston, New York, and Philly’s Sidequest Theater on April 18th. Part of the appeal of Weeding out the Stoned, Grubard says, is the result of changing attitudes about pot. “People like that little rebellion.”
You probably couldn’t have done this show 25 years ago.
Weed was just decriminalized in Philly right when we started. Honestly, the timing couldn’t have been better in regards to that. Now you read [about] people going to shows and not drinking; they’re getting high beforehand. I think it just kind of taps into what’s been trending — a trend that’s now happened that’s dispensary based, and edibles, and dog walker joints, and things like that, new little things that you never would have really done that much. I mean, when I started eating edibles, they were cookies, they were brownies.
What’s it like trying to maintain order during Weeding Out the Stoned?
With comics, there’s a way to lead them places. It’s like an organic, “unscripted television kind of thing.” They’re performers. They know what to do. And if people get off track, I’m always there to bring them back to the game show.
Sometimes you let them ramble.
It’s like letting somebody dig their own grave a little bit. We’re eliminating the people that are being high, so if you’re going off on rant after rant and being such a big personality, people are going to be like, “That guy is high.” I love when people do stuff like that, but you can tell. They’re not fooling anybody.
You can tell some people are impaired, regardless of all the sobriety tests.
It’s so fun when somebody on stage gets the giggles, or even in the audience. I mean, it’s an interactive show.
When you go to a different city, you have to try to recruit comedians from that area?
Every area has a local comedy scene, and people coming in from out of town for other shows. You get this lineup of eight people that maybe would have never been in the same green room at the same time. It’s great going to local comedy scenes and being like, “Hey, wanna do something other than a stand-up showcase?” It’s a little more of a community thing.
You’ve had some comics like Todd Glass, Jordan Jensen, and Danny Tamberelli on the show. Do you have a wish list, like Doug Benson perhaps?
Definitely, Doug Benson. I’m a big Tommy Chong guy. Those are some big names as far as weed guys go. Noah Gardenswartz is a super funny comic; I don’t think he’s ever done the show. Sometimes I get surprised, some comics that I love, I’ll be like, “Oh, you should be on Weeding.” And they’re like, “I did it in 2019.”
Weeding out the Stoned, April 18th, 7 p.m., $16.79, SideQuest Theater, 2030 Sansom Street.