Did Robin Williams Smoke Weed?

You’re probably wondering: Did Robin Williams smoke weed? The late comedian was an over-the-top humorist, Academy Award winner, and a cultural icon, but was he also a cannabis enthusiast?

Who is Robin Williams?

Robin Williams got his start in comedy as a stand-up performer in San Francisco and Los Angeles in the 1970s. After graduating high school, Williams enrolled himself in community college.

But he soon dropped out to pursue acting instead. He was awarded a full scholarship in 1973 at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City.

From there, he began doing stand-up in the mid-1970s in the San Francisco Bay area. Williams eventually moved to LA, where he continued his quirky routine.

He was noticed by television producer George Schattler, who asked Williams to be a part of his revival of the comedy show “Laugh In.” The revival ultimately failed, but Williams ascended into the mainstream.

He appeared in an episode of “Happy Days” as an alien named Mork, which later spawned the spinoff sitcom “Mork and Mindy,” a role that put Williams on the map as a legitimate comedic superstar.

Williams later recorded three HBO stand-up specials. They were: “Off The Wall” (1978), “An Evening with Robin Williams” (1982), and “Robin Williams: Live at the Met” (1986).

During the ’80s, William moved on to movies. He starred in comedies such as “Popeye” (1980), “The Survivors” (1983), “Club Paradise” (1986), and “Good Morning Vietnam” (1987), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.

Williams soon crossed into the drama spectrum, where he found a great deal of success. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the 1997 Drama “Good Will Hunting.” 

Williams was also an accomplished voice actor, providing voices in “Aladdin,” “FernGully: The Last Rainforest,” “Robots,” and “Happy Feet.”

On August 11, 2014, Williams committed suicide at the age of 63. After a brain examination, it was revealed he showed early signs of Lewy body dementia, a form of the disease that worsens over time.

Puff or Pass?

On less of a somber note, let’s get back to the burning question at hand: Did Robin Williams smoke weed? The actor never explicitly said he did in any interviews.

However, Williams did have a good amount of cannabis-related material in many of his stand-up sets. Most of them poked fun at how harmless weed actually is.

For example, in his 2009 special, “Weapons of Self Destruction,” Williams compared the mild effects of cannabis to drugs regularly prescribed by doctors:

“When we were growing up, we knew the side effects of the drugs we were taking. Cocaine, side effects were paranoia and ninjas on the lawn. I remember that.”

He continued: “Quaaludes, side effects were talking in tongues, English as a second language. I remember that. Marijuana, side effects were laughter, Frosted Flakes. That’s all I remember.”

Williams also had a bit about how much safer weed is than alcohol in his 1986 special “Live at the Met.” He also poked fun at the Olympics for considering weed a performance enhancing drug.

“The only way it’s a performance enhancing drug is if there’s a big fucking Hershey bar at the end of the run,” Williams joked.

But perhaps the line that proved Williams smoked weed the most, was when he joked about the potency of California weed: “California weed is kickass fucking weed. This is weed that even Jamaicans go, Oh don’t smoke dat weed, mon. It’s California catatonic.”

“You get so stoned you end up sitting on your couch for a week to the point that your cat’s going, Get up, you asshole.”

Final Hit: Did Robin Williams Smoke Weed?

So did Robin Williams smoke weed? While it’s still a bit unclear, it seems pretty apparent that he had to—at least at one point in his life.

With his array of weed-centric jokes, one has to think Williams toked up from time to time. Most of his jokes were absolutely spot-on. That leads us to believe he had to have smoked at least a handful of times.

Either way, Williams was definitely a weed advocate. Cannabis wasn’t as much of a social norm back in his day, so it’s not that crazy to say he’s a pioneer of the green.