So I was trying to figure out which CD I should listen to stoned, how I as a listener should approach this experiment, how I should do my part. But it turns out I'm broke and am completely out of pot, so I was straight for both CDs. Which is funnier? Well, it's impossible to tell, because of course whichever you listen to first is going to seem funnier because the material is new to you. So for me, the first CD is funnier. But I think it might also be funnier because he can joke about being out of his element. A stoner being straight is funnier than a stoner being stoned.
By the way, you don't have to smoke pot to enjoy this album.
Disc 1: Uncooked
Doug Benson is introduced by someone as "my favorite shithead." He says it's 4/20, which gets a big cheer from the audience (clearly a stoner crowd). He then tells the crowd of the experiment, and they're disappointed to learn he hasn't smoked pot all day. But between shows he plans to get as high as possible, and then do the same material. He says he still needs notes because even though he's not high, his memory is shot. He tells the audience the last time he didn't smoke for eight hours he was on a plane to Amsterdam.
But of course not everything is related to pot, or in this case, related to a lack of pot. (But most of it is.) Though he says, "All these jokes were written when I was high. I'm just trying to perform them not high."
At the beginning of his show, he checks what people are posting on Twitter. I hate those people who are on their phone telling everyone what they're doing rather than actually just doing it. But he's clearly encouraging them by checking on the messages during the show. And it turns out most of the messages were posted as folks were coming into the venue, before the show started.
I totally dig his bit about Easter, which he celebrated by waking his girlfriend and telling her he made her some eggs for breakfast, then instructing her, "Find them." She didn't, because they were behind the couch and he doesn't have a girlfriend. "She's hot, though."
The difference between stoned people and drunk people, according to Doug Benson: "If you're the only drunk person in a room, like at a public function, you're going to stand out like a triple A-hole and do something really obnoxious. But if you're the only stoned person in a public event, you're going to sit there and quietly enjoy yourself." That's actually perfect.
At the end of the first show, he reads "tweets" that he's written and posted. There is a bit too much of Twitter, I think. And it seems pointless. I mean, can't these folks read that shit on their own, when they haven't paid for it? And it's like the longest section of the CD. He comes back for an encore and reads more Twitter posts.
Disc 2: Cooked
On the second disc, the stoned show, Doug Benson is introduced again as "my favorite shithead." And he tells this group about the experiment. He says the line about the last time he went eight hours without getting high he was on a plane to Amsterdam. "How high am I right now? I am...I think I'm about a 7.4.... On a scale of 1 to 7.4."
Again he reads messages that people sent him on Twitter, including folks in the audience. But these are different messages from first show. He says, "Cooked is so much funnier already then Uncooked." Clearly he's having more fun during the second show (which is understandable). But is he funnier? Not really.
The CD track titles are different on the second disc, but it's essentially the same material. For example, "Game Changer" is the same bit that was called "Vaporizer Pen Thingy" on the first CD. And "Joke Giver" is "How Do Jokes Get Wrote?" "T.A.S.E.R." is "60 Minutes." And so on.
"I Love Seattle" is the same bit that was called "Bumbershoot" on the first disc. But this time he talks about alcohol and how he's not drinking in order to keep alcohol out of the equation. Interestingly, his line about the difference between drunks and stoners doesn't work at all this time around.
In "Episode 420" he actually makes a Salacious Crumb reference, which was totally surprising and cool. No one makes references to that particular Return Of The Jedi character. He gets lost in the middle of a bit and the audience laughs. He calls them "enablers."
The one section on the second disc that's not on the first disc is "True Story," where he talks about the weirdest thing written about him, and then about time. This is in place of the "Furry Convention Crasher" bit from the first disc.
He ends the second disc by reading his own Twitter messages. And yes, the Borg/Muppet Show connection cracked me up. But he repeats some from the first show. And he comes back for an encore, yelling "Bonus tracks," and reads more Twitter posts - but at least he makes fun of himself for it.
Smug Life was released on July 3, 2012 on Comedy Central Records.
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