Potty Mouth

Chilling out with Doug Benson

by Ben Kharakh

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There are a lot of superlatives on Doug Benson's résumé: Last Comic Standing finalist, High Times' 2006 Stoner of the Year, VH1's Best Week Ever commentator. And yet the comedian and co-creator of The Marijuana-logues doesn't let his success make him paranoid. He's eating that brownie, regardless of what some offended audience member (or Courtney Love) may have put in it.

City Paper: Have any of the celebrities you've poked fun at on Best Week Ever returned the harsh words?

Doug Benson: One time Courtney Love approached me in a bar and said, "Doug Benson, you make fun of me on VH1." I said, "No I don't." Then she said it again and I said, "No, I don't." Then she dropped it, and the rest of the evening and every time I've seen her since she's been pretty friendly.

CP: Some comics make being clean onstage a part of their comedy philosophy, but you're not one of them. What are your thoughts about standup?

DB: There are some comedians who think comedy doesn't have to be hurtful and that no one's feelings have to be hurt. I think that something has to be the butt of every joke. As a result, I end up making a lot of jokes about myself. It's all about my pain, things that I've gone through and problems that I have. But sometimes you just have to go ahead and make fun of somebody else. You can't just aim it all at yourself and it can't just be all about inanimate objects and animals. Somebody's feelings have to get hurt a little bit in comedy.

CP: Under what circumstances do you let the obscenities fly?

DB: In my apartment building, if you want to get to the parking garage you have to go through a door. Just today I had been walking down these carpeted stairs and when my hand touched the metal knob I got a really, really big shock, and I said a couple of horrible words because I was standing there alone. Then I thought, "What if someone was on the other side of this door and they were coming in?" Then they'd be the shocked ones.

CP: Do people ever get angry at your shows?

DB: I've had a few of those. I try to block those out of my mind. Alcohol is almost always involved, or mental illness. A sober, healthy person usually doesn't get angry during a show.

CP: I'm sure that more people throw marijuana at you than punches.

DB: Yes they do, and I love it! It's really a nice gesture and something that popped up unexpectedly. I'd say the turning point was when we started doing The Marijuana-logues. We started touring around doing that show in comedy clubs and since it was three guys doing an entire show about marijuana, people had the tendency to give us some. People come to the show knowing what I'm about. Sometimes it's in baked goods, and my friends ask, "How do you know what they put in it?" I always answer that they're just nice people. And, besides, why would anyone want to poison me?

Doug Benson

Thu., Jan. 24, 8 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., Jan. 25-26, 8 and 10:30 p.m., $20-$29, Helium Comedy Club, 2031 Sansom St., 215-496-9001, heliumcomedy.com