Woody Harrelson Had To Smoke A Joint To Endure The Stress Of Dinner With Trump

We’ve might’ve smoked a forest’s worth of trees to make it through 2017, but you have to hand it to Woody Harrelson. He’s had more direct exposure. In a recent episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, the Oscar-nominated actor confessed that when he met currently sitting President Trump back in 2002, he needed to hit the stash just to survive the night.

“It was brutal…I’ve never met a more narcissistic man.”

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While it was over a decade ago, the surreal nature of the evening sounds just about right. Harrelson says he was invited over to the dinner by the ex-Minnesota governor and ex-wrestler Jesse Ventura, who was being courted by Donald Trump to become his running mate for the 2004 Democratic ticket. Trump obviously did not get very far in that election, and the candidacy went to John Kerry, as America loves thinking about Herman Munster.

In another consistent sounding anecdote, Harrelson said that Trump rambled endlessly about himself and his own achievements. Woody Harrelson then excused himself to smoke a joint so that his brain wouldn’t explode.
“I had to walk out halfway through to smoke a joint just to, like, steel myself for the rest of it,” said Harrelson. “Is that what you told yourself?” responded Maher, riffing on the fact that Harrelson not smoking a joint probably would have been a bigger news story.

The subject came up because of Harrelson’s current turn as Lyndon B. Johnson in the new Rob Reiner film LBJ. The Kennedy successor had his own vulgarity streak. Harrelson said the two presidents’ rudeness isn’t comparable.

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After decades of being one of Hollywood’s favorite potheads, Harrelson recently decided to take a hiatus from weed. Earlier this year Harrelson revealed he had quit in 2016, a curious decision for a man about to hang around a Star Wars movie set. Not trying to tempt him back to the green, Maher started cycling through photos of their Hawaiian trip this year, with a sober, neutral looking Woody, and the year before, mouth agape and a joint the size of a pepperoni stick.

“I’m just concerned about your happiness,” said Maher. “That’s a strong case,” replied Harrelson, “I’m about ready to fire up a hooter.”

I’m sure Trump will deny this account of the dinner or that Woody Harrelson ever existed shortly.