Cinema connoisseur and marijuana aficionado Doug Benson hits Oklahoma City with a stand-up set

Doug Benson with Graham Elwood, Leah Kayajanian and Cameron Buchholtz
7:30 p.m. Monday
City Arts Center
3000 General Pershing
951-0000
www.cityartscenter.org
$20 advance, $25 door

Comedian Doug Benson loves movies and marijuana.

He combined the two on screen in 2008 for "Super High Me," a documentary riff on Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me," wherein Benson tested the physical and mental effects of 30 continuous days of marijuana use and peppered in interviews with pot users, activists, politicians and dispensary owners.

Benson co-created "The Marijuana-Logues" stage play; performed on NBC's "Last Comic Standing"; has been a panelist on VH1's "Best Week Ever"; has had roles in "The Sarah Silverman Program," "Run Ronnie Run" and "Mr. Show with Bob and David"; and recently worked behind the scenes with Aziz Ansari for the 2010 MTV Movie Awards.

Benson is back on the road doing stand-up and performs Monday night at the City Arts Center. His live set isn't all about marijuana, but he said pot definitely plays a part.

"It's not like pot is the only thing I want to write jokes about. It's just that it's a big part of my life, and people do want to hear about it," he said. "In Oklahoma, it's not legal, so I can't really say, 'Get high and come to my show,' but that's what I'm trying to say."

Because Benson loves movies " so much that he's created the very popular "Doug Loves Movies" podcast " Oklahoma Gazette bribed him into creating a top-five list of his favorite Okie actors.

We're not going to tell you what we bribed him with. "Joe Wertz

Doug Benson's top five Oklahoma Actors

5. Tony Randall
This dude is on this list not only because he was great in Doris Day movies and in "The Odd Couple" on television, but also because the late actor had a baby with a woman 50 years younger than him when he was 77. Go, Felix!

4. Bill Hader
This guy has had some good movie roles ("Adventureland," "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian"), but I love all of his impressions on "Saturday Night Live," from James Carville to his virtually wordless take on Lindsey Buckingham in the recurring "What Up With That?" sketch.

3. Cleavon Little
"Blazing Saddles" is one of the best comedies of all time. So there.

2. James Garner
Is the man. He was a "Maverick" long before Mel Gibson or John McCain.

1. Brad Pitt
Is my No. 1 because he's arguably the biggest movie star to ever come from Oklahoma, and he gives my favorite stoner performance as Floyd in "True Romance."

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