While working as a stand-in on numerous movies in the 1980s, he had roles as an extra in films such as
Blade Runner
,
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
,
About Last Night
and a backup dancer in the
Disney theme park
attraction
Captain EO
.
[6]
[7]
While in Los Angeles, Benson began doing stand-up after he and two other friends dared each other to. One of them did not show up, and the other one signed up too late. Benson claimed that "I went in anyway and did my three minutes of whatever I could come with and people actually laughed."
[8]
At the age of 22, Benson began performing regularly as a stand-up comedian. However, it wasn't until 28 that he became a stoner, after a week's worth of gigs smoking pot afterwards alongside
Brian Posehn
and
Greg Proops
.
[9]
He made his earliest television appearances as a stand-up in the late 1980s and early 1990s on programs such as
Comedy Central
's
The A-List
and
Two Drink Minimum
and was one of the featured comedians in the cast of
Joel Hodgson
's sketch-comedy pilot
The TV Wheel
which aired on Comedy Central in 1995. One of Benson's earliest jobs in television was writing for the
MTV
game-show
Trashed
in 1994.
Along with comedian friends
Arj Barker
and Tony Camin, Benson co-created and performed in the comedy stage-show
The Marijuana-Logues
. He also hosted
High Times
' 6th annual
Stony Awards
with rapper
Redman
.
Benson appeared on the comedy compilation album
Comedy Death-Ray
.
On August 4, 2009, Benson's second album,
Unbalanced Load
, was released by
Comedy Central Records
. His third album,
Hypocritical Oaf
was released on August 31, 2010. Benson aims to record a new album every April 20 (with a subsequent summer release date) for as many consecutive years as possible.
[6]
Benson's fourth album,
Potty Mouth,
was released on August 29, 2011. The pattern continued with the release of his fifth album,
Smug Life
, which was released on July 3, 2012, and
Gateway Doug
, his sixth album, released on July 9, 2013. On July 8, 2014, Doug released a sequel to
Gateway Doug
entitled
Gateway Doug 2: Forced Fun
. His latest album release is
Promotional Tool
which came out on June 9, 2015.
Doug Loves Movies
podcast
edit
In 2006, Benson began hosting a weekly comedy
podcast
, titled
Doug Loves Movies
(formerly
I Love Movies with Doug Benson
), which is recorded in front of a live audience at the
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
in Los Angeles. The show typically tapes weekly, and is later archived on iTunes for fans to listen to for free. Benson and guests talk about movies and comedy both.
A regular feature of the podcast is the
Leonard Maltin
Game, which has been described as
Name That Tune
with movies instead of songs.
[10]
The game consists of Benson reading excerpts from a Leonard Maltin review and guests wagering how many names, read from the bottom of the cast list up, it would take for them to identify the movie.
Other regular features of the podcast include the segments
Tweet Relief: Tweets About Movies
,
Watch This/Not That
,
Not for Emetophobes
, and
From the Corrections Department
, as well as the games
Build a Title
,
Name a Movie
,
A-B-C-Deez Nuts
,
How Much Did This Shit Make?
,
Lincoln or Bane?
,
Love, Like, Hate, Hate-Like
,
Doing Lines with Mark Wahlberg
,
Last Man Stanton
,
Whose Tagline Is It Anyway
,
Now Buscemi Now You Don't
,
Tell The Truth!, Live Die Repeat, Alex and Jason and Deb's IMDB game,
and
F Marry Kill: Movies
.
At the conclusion of many of the early podcasts, Doug would state "As always,
Willem Dafoe
is a Shithead," which resulted in so many people wondering about why, that
Google
searches began to automatically complete the phrase as a suggested match. The Willem Dafoe comment started as a joke based on the fact that it would seemingly be the only bad words ever uttered about Dafoe, but many people didn't catch on and, after explaining it a few times, Benson decided to let Dafoe rest. Until 2019, the runners up in the Leonard Maltin game are allowed to name one shithead as a consolation prize. Starting in early 2019, Benson now closes the show with "Positive Energy" in honor of his late friend,
Brody Stevens
In 2010, Benson started an annual, 2 hour Twelve Guests of Christmas special every holiday season. This episode features 12 guests (occasionally more) rather than the usual 3 guests and they play an elimination style Leonard Maltin Game.
Scott Aukerman
won the first year, while Graham Elwood dominated the next two years in a row.
[11]
The 2013 champion was podcast fan and
Pardcast-A-Thon
auction winner, Sean Sakimae. Sakimae also qualified for the next Tournament of Champions for naming the film
Titanic
in negative names and winning the game.
[12]
Riki Lindhome
beat
Jimmy Pardo
in the finals of the 2014 edition when Pardo couldn't get the name
Lori Singer
when going negative three on
Footloose
. Scott Aukerman bested
Sarah Silverman
for his second win in 2015.
In addition to
Doug Loves Movies
, Benson has begun recording
The Benson Interruption
and releasing it as a monthly podcast for $1.99 and has appeared on numerous other podcasts, including
Comedy Bang! Bang!
,
The Joe Rogan Experience
,
WTF with Marc Maron
,
The Adam Carolla Show
,
Nerdist
with
Chris Hardwick
,
Mohr Stories
,
You Made It Weird
with
Pete Holmes
,
Never Not Funny
, and
Who Charted
with Howard Kremer and Kulap Vilaysack.
In 2008, Benson was the protagonist of the film
Super High Me
(a play on the name and concept of the film
Super Size Me
), released on DVD on June 10, 2008. In the movie, Benson compares the results of not smoking any marijuana at all for 30 days versus the effects of smoking as much marijuana as possible for the same amount of time.
[13]
The film was produced by
Red Envelope Entertainment
. The results of the experiment were that it had little or no negative effects on Doug's health. In 2014, the film's other producers planned to release a sequel,
Super High Me Redux
, which would have shown additional footage taken for the film; Doug sued them to stop the film from getting made.
[14]
[15]
The Benson Interruption
edit
In 2010, Comedy Central aired
The Benson Interruption
, hosted by Benson, which ran for one season. The show was based on the live stand-up comedy showcase of the same name that he had hosted in
Los Angeles
for many years.
The show
spun off
into a monthly audio-only podcast in 2011, which took the TV show's format and altered it slightly by allowing the performances and conversations to play out in longer unedited episodes.
Getting Doug with High
edit
From 2013 to 2019, Benson hosted a weekly
talk show
on
YouTube
titled
Getting Doug with High
, which generally aired live every Wednesday at 4:15 PM PST. Benson invited featured guests to recreationally smoke
marijuana
with him at
4:20
. He asked them questions and discussed topics (usually related to marijuana), and at the end of the show, he made them watch a magic trick. Occasionally, the show was done in front of a live audience in
Los Angeles
, where the performers took turns inhaling from bags of
vaporized
cannabis.
The High Court with Doug Benson
edit
Benson starred as the
judge
on
The High Court with Doug Benson
, a comedic
court show
on Comedy Central. During each episode Benson was under the influence of cannabis. All of the cases featured were real and all of his rulings were real and legally binding. The series premiered on February 28, 2017.
[16]
After hearing the case with his guest bailiff, Judge Doug and the bailiff retired to his chambers where they smoked marijuana while deciding the case. The series was produced by
JASH
and Propagate Content.
Other television work
edit
In the mid to late 1990s, Benson had small roles on
HBO
's
Mr. Show with Bob and David
, which was co-created by his friend
David Cross
. He also had small roles on
Curb Your Enthusiasm
,
How I Met Your Mother
,
The Sarah Silverman Program
,
Yes, Dear
, and
Friends
.
In 2007, Benson was a contestant on
fifth season
of the
NBC
reality show
Last Comic Standing
. He was voted off the program during the ninth episode, earning him 6th place overall.
[13]
In the 2000s, the comedian regularly appeared on the
VH1
show
Best Week Ever
and taped several episodes of
Comedy Central Presents
.
[13]
On December 29, 2009, Benson had a documentary special called
The High Road with Doug Benson
air on the
G4
network. The special followed Benson and comedian Graham Elwood on one of their stand-up comedy tours.
Benson regularly appeared as a panelist/contestant on the Comedy Central game show
@midnight
, which ran from 2013 to 2017. During the week of January 4?7, 2016, he was featured during a weeklong special titled the "Benson Bowl," featuring many marijuana-related games. Benson ranks first in number of appearances on the show, as well as victories.