The concept behind The Dope Show is simple: Comedians perform a sober set, go backstage, get high, then come back and perform a set while stoned.
It doesn’t always result in the most polished performances — but that’s exactly the point.
“It didn’t take me long after going to a few of The Dope Shows to notice that people were really excited about watching comedians not doing very well because they’re too high to perform,” said Bremerton comedian Joseph Rogers, who, along with Dope Show creator Tyler Smith, is co-producing this Saturday’s show at the Historic Roxy Theatre.
The first comedy show Rogers organized at the Roxy was a toy drive in December 2019, just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. The show went well, but before he had an opportunity to book another show at the downtown Bremerton theatre, the pandemic shut down live performances for more than a year.
“Luckily the Roxy managed to survive through the pandemic and when things did start to open, that was the first place I went,” Rogers said. “You guys are still alive, I’m still alive, let’s do some comedy, you know?”
Rogers has gone on to put on several comedy shows at the Roxy, including a previous production of The Dope Show in August.
Smith started The Dope Show about six years ago. He had a reputation as a cannabis comedian and was often asked to headline those types of shows. After cannabis was legalized in Washington state, he wanted to try to make the show more mainstream.
“Regulations and rules are always ever-changing and we never knew exactly what we were allowed to get away with,” he said. “I had to look up a lot of laws and there’s things that we got in trouble for that we can’t do anymore, and I’ll just leave it at that. I worked with the Liquor Control Board and came to an understanding of how we can make sure the performance is safe and what we’re doing isn’t just blatantly breaking the rules.”
Rogers knew Smith before he created The Dope Show, and when he learned about the concept behind the cannabis-centric show, it immediately piqued his interest.
“When he started The Dope Show I was like, oh man, that’s so cool,” he said. “I want to be on that show.” But at the time, he didn’t feel like his skills as a comedian were up to par.
Just before COVID hit, Rogers felt like he was ready. He attended one of Smith's shows at the Tacoma Comedy Club and approached Smith to let him know he felt he was ready to perform in a future edition.
“He was like, ‘Hey, well, one of the comedians hasn’t shown up for tonight, so you might get to go on tonight if they don’t show up,’” Rogers recalled.
There were 250 people at the club, and Rogers was chomping at the bit to perform, he said. “I was never hoping that a comedian didn’t show up more than that.”
They didn’t show up, and Rogers performed. “I was really nervous of course, but I was telling myself in my head, you just told him that you were ready, so the time is now: Be ready," he said. "So I stepped up and … I felt like I did really well.”
Smith thanked him and told him he’d use Rogers on future shows … and then COVID hit. Rogers took the time off, but this May, he finally had a chance to do another Dope Show at the Spokane Comedy Club.
Rogers had brought up the prospect of holding a Dope Show at the Roxy before COVID, but at the time Smith’s schedule was so busy, the idea hadn’t gained any traction, Rogers said. But when he brought up the idea again after things started opening back up, Smith was eager to get the ball rolling again, Rogers said.
“It was the first time I did the show in Bremerton,” Smith said of the show in August. “When you’re looking to put on a show like this, you want to make sure that the population of a city is big enough, and cool enough, for a show like this, you know? So I was always like, I don’t know about Bremerton. But Joseph is from there, and he was like, we can do it. So I believed him and we partnered up and had a great turnout, so we’re trying to recreate it.”
The influence marijuana has on each comedian varies. Rogers said he's found that certain strains make him anxious, or hinder his ability to remember his jokes while he's onstage. But others actually enhance his ability to come up with jokes on the fly.
"You really have to listen to your body," he noted. "It's an interesting thing to add to the art form of comedy, but whether or not it hinders or helps, it's really hard to say unless you really pay attention to years of experimenting."
Rogers' tolerance is such that he reaches for a THC drink backstage rather than a joint. "It doesn't matter how much you smoke, those drinks are processed by your body differently, so it gets you way more high," he said. "One drink for me would be like smoking 30 joints. I tell the crowd all the time, it wouldn't be fair if I smoked a couple joints and came back, because you wouldn't even be able to tell that I was high."
Smith tends to book a variety of comedians for his shows, Rogers said — national and local acts, some who are veteran stoners, and others who have never smoked a day in their lives. That means the stoned sets can, unsurprisingly, be unpredictable.
Smith said two performers have had panic attacks and run off without coming back for the second set. One was a comic in Spokane. "It was a disaster in itself, but the audience thought it was so funny that this guy had a panic attack and couldn’t make it back onstage," he recalled.
The other was Dana Carvey’s son, who was performing in Portland, Ore. “[He] was trying out comedy and he ended up on my show one time,” Smith said. “And the first time he smoked weed was on that show, and he had a huge panic attack and ran away.”
For his part, Rogers said he doesn't get intimidated by performing high.
“People that come to comedy shows, a lot of them admire comedians for having the balls, so to speak, to go on stage and perform,” he said.
That takes off some of the pressure of performing while stoned. "The people understand that if you get high and you can’t perform to your best ability, it’s OK. ... You’re not there to be perfect. You're not there to be funny the whole time. You’re there to have them watch you struggle."
Doors open at 7 p.m., show starts at 8 p.m., at the Historic Roxy Theatre, 270 Fourth St., Bremerton. Tickets are $20 online pre-sale, $25 at the door. Purchase tickets at the Roxy's website.
Follow Comedy in Kitsap on Facebook and Instagram. Rogers also hosts the Potcast Show.
Follow the Dope Show on Facebook and Instagram, or go to www.whosmokesweed.me.
