[Exclusive] Seth Green, All In

At the beginning of our sweeping and surprisingly revelatory conversation, legendary Hollywood actor—and more recently, director—Seth Green, said something so insightful, so spot-on that I could’ve stopped our interview right then and there and would’ve still been able to discern the rest.

I was in the middle of telling the three-time Emmy winner how I, too, lived in LA for several years selling television shows and producing films, and that without exception every entertainment executive would tell me that coming from New York City, I was so “authentic” and a “breath of fresh air” before never hearing from them again about a project they had supposedly “loved.” Without skipping a beat, a clearly amused Green says, “Isn’t it funny, Richard? They compliment exactly the quality that doesn’t exist in them.”

Bingo. Game over. Hollywood distilled to a singular sentence. This chat was going to be fun. I wasn’t wrong.

Born in Philadelphia, but having grown up, as he says, “between Philly and New York,” Green came to Los Angeles with a decidedly East Coast swagger and truth-telling that caught on and hasn’t let go in decades and decades of quality work. His IMDB credits are as eye-popping and befitting a genuine acting superstar.

Roll the tape.

In no particular order, Green has appeared in myriad impactful films including Pump Up The Volume, Can’t Hardly Wait, Big Business, Party Monster, The Italian Job, Can’t Buy Me Love and, my runaway favorite, his portrayal as Dr. Evil’s son, Scott Evil, in the smash Austin Powers franchise. How an actor can have the range to move seamlessly from, say, his wannabe rapper role as Kenny Fisher in Can’t Hardly Wait to portraying the real-life infamous Club Kid James St. James in the intense Party Monster, is difficult enough; but the fact that Green never lets the audience see the work he’s putting in to a given performance comes across as “not really acting” when the exact opposite is the truth. I call that quality so many actors have, including Streep, Penn, Cruise, McDormand and more, the “burden of talent.” These and other staggeringly gifted actors aren’t given full credit for the work they’re doing because the audience can’t see that work on the big screen. It seems effortless. Seth Green is one such thespian with a hefty burden of talent. He’s among the best doing the thing, and not everyone is aware.

Green sweetly swats any of that praise talk away. “I haven’t spent my time focused on how to achieve accolades,” Green says, smiling. “I like the process. I really love performing. My favorite moment is in between ‘action!’ and ‘cut!’ When I get to do the thing with other people who are great at it, that’s the best version of it.”

As accomplished as his film bonafides are, his television CV is something else altogether: eclectic, fearless, memorable. It’s nearly impossible to fathom that Green has been starring in TV shows for more than four decades: from ABC Afterschool Specials (remember those?) to his ongoing 20-year reign as mastermind—co-creator (with Matthew Senreich), executive producer, writer, director and primary voice actor— of the genius that is the six-time Emmy-winning juggernaut, Robot Chicken, the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim stop-motion animated sketch comedy that’s a legit global sensation.

Besides his countless memorable roles in literally dozens of televised series—Oz on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Mitch Miller on That ’70s Show, Wayne on Beverly Hills 90210—there are two particular Seth Green performances I’m most interested in: the first is one I still think about and loved; the second is one, well, everyone loved.

Greg The Bunny only aired 11 episodes on Fox back in 2002 with Green starring alongside a hand puppet (all of the puppets on the show preferred to be called “fabricated Americans”), Eugene Levy and Sarah Silverman. The genius show was co-created by my friend Kevin Chinoy, four-time Oscar-winner Sean Baker (Anora) and Dan Milano. If you have a chance for a fun binge weekend watch, this show is it. Think Ted, the potty-mouthed teddy bear, before Ted. So. Funny.

But, in the most unlikely of worlds, a three-episode arc playing an exaggerated version of himself on HBO’s mid-aughts hit comedy, Entourage, took Green to a whole other level of excellence. The Seth Green version he delivered was as hilarious, as nasty, as clever, as unforgettable as the actual Seth Green has arguably ever been. I mean… “Yo, E, tell Sloan I said, ‘what up’.” “Jackson Pollock.” #IYKYK

“The thing I like most about the Jackson Pollock line is that I loved the idea that this ‘Seth Green’ is literate and informed, but he’s also kind of gross,” Green says, really enjoying the memory of that performance. “The weaponization of sophistication for insult is the most sophisticated thing one could be. I love that so much. It was fun.”

So, in the context of Green only participating in things he loves, it stands to reason that when his attention turned to business—specifically the launch earlier this year of Hellbent Cocktails, his premium, ready-to-drink, canned cocktail brand—the genesis of the concept was first a failed sketch for Robot Chicken.

“I didn’t set out to diversify into the corporate world,” he says. “It feels like an extension into a space I already inhabit. Hellbent started as a parody sketch for a moonshine canned cocktail with a werewolf popping out saying ‘I’ll kill you with this!’ But then we discussed how the ready-to-drink category is spreading and how this generation is longing for something more predictable when they go out. When a drink is poured at a sports venue or a rock concert, it’s unpredictable. We realized there wasn’t a product that tastes good, has good shit in it and it’s strong. In fact, Hellbent’s promise is ‘two drinks in every can.’ The ABV [alcohol by volume] on this is bananas. Our No.1 slogan with these drinks is ‘call a cab.’ Hellbent spirits have a personality that you’re imbibing for the evening.”

Well, yeah. With flavor names Dirty Shirley, Spicy Rita, Water Hazard and Corpse Reviver, it’s not hard to fathom these cocktails having strong, um, personalities.

Enter Jeeter. As the industry knows, this colossal outfit is the top-selling cannabis and lifestyle brand famous for its high-potency infused pre-rolls.

“I’m not very public about any of my things, but I smoke a lot of weed,” Green says. “Being an elevated [cannabis] consumer, I connected with the Jeeter guys as soon as I discovered them. My wife and I thought it’d be a good idea to meet the owners of the company that has the best pre-rolls in the business—from the branding’s sophistication to the product itself. It all led to meeting the owners of Jeeter—you know it’s run by two sets of twin brothers [Sebastian Solano, David Solano, Lukasz Tracz, Patryk Tracz] and my wife and I have always been fascinated by twins.”

This is precisely when I tell Seth Green that I’m, in fact, a twin. The beloved Hollywood fixture nearly fell out of his chair. “Get the fuck out of here! You are?! What?! Oh! My! God! That’s incredible!” Our instant connection was making more sense to me by the minute.

“I started talking to the Jeeter guys about a movie I’m directing that stars me and Steve Agee coincidentally as twins who open a weed dispensary based on a magic strain of weed that Steve’s character develops called Gadzooks,” Green says. “That’s where this whole thing with Jeeter started, by wanting to make a movie that lies somewhere between Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Delicatessen—an alt-world comedy. So, I called up the twins, and asked, ‘would you guys do something with me?’ ‘would you do a Gadzooks strain and we could go through the entire process?’ Well, I’m so excited about it because Jeeter is so…these guys are so real. They don’t bullshit around the way they develop their products. Jeeter cares mostly about the vibe. They want people to think of Jeeter and think of this vibe.”

Here’s the fun, smart part of this Jeeter/Seth Green collab: The product serves as the de facto marketing campaign for the upcoming movie.

“I’m directing the Gadzooks product commercial in ten days in the style and format of how I’m directing the movie,” he says. “The Gadzooks product will be out well in advance of the movie coming out by the end of 2027.”

Just when we’re about to dig deeper about Green’s relationship with weed, his three-year-old daughter joyously interrupts our convo showing dad a colorful unicorn Lego art piece she created. I must say that it was something else watching the actor we all know for so, so many years, relate to his beautiful child so sweetly and gently. If we didn’t consciously know it before, we should know it now: Seth Green is an excellent father.

Back to weed.

“My relationship with cannabis is all flower and vapes,” he says, grinning. He proceeds to reveal why he has that cat-who-ate-the-canary smile on his face in the form of what he tells me is a present from Jeeter that requires a big breath in. At that moment, I was talking to a happy man indeed.

“You know, Richard, I have a great relationship with weed,” he says. “Cannabis has solved a lot of problems Western chemicals have been unable to solve. I didn’t come back to weed until my twenties after suffering from such intense insomnia because I couldn’t still my mind. A buddy of mine suggested I smoke a little weed to fight off the insomnia, and it was at that time I realized that, yeah, this could be a solution for me. It quieted the turbulent, urgent part of my brain enough for me to sleep and be more focused. When California legalized recreational weed, then I was all in. [Laughs] That’s all to say, that I have what I believe is a healthy and beneficial relationship to weed.”

When I mention how Woody Harrelson and Snoop Dogg were two of my more recent interviews I’ve done on the topic and how I had asked them to reveal their weed “Mount Rushmore,” Green jumps in.

“Richard, I read your Woody Harrelson cover story in Cannabis Now where you wrote that everyone you know in LA has a Woody story; well, I do, too!” he says. “I won’t disclose my age, but Woody’s the first person I ever smoked hash with. So, as far as a Mount Rushmore of weed, for me it’d be great to reconnect with Woody as an adult, since I loved the last time we did that. Also, Willie Nelson would be super fun, too. He’s the guy who’s been advocating for this forever and he’s still so artistic and full of joy. I’d really like to hang with him for a second. Let’s see…We’ve never smoked together, but Seth Rogen would be such a great person to have in the mix. Rogen’s always been so absurdly talented. And the fourth person up there is obviously Snoop because I’ve smoked with him an uncountable amount of times. That collection of people—Woody, Willie, Rogen, Snoop and me—can you imagine? What a great day that would be.”

“Any of those guys the biggest stoner in Hollywood?” I ask Green. “Nope—that’d be Jeff Bridges,” he says, laughing. “And, back in the day, Harrison Ford.”

When the talk turns to revealing the real Seth Green away from the big characters he’s always been known for, he says there aren’t any huge reveals people would be surprised about, save perhaps how he’s always loved painting, and more tactile pursuits, be it “making something or writing something—but it’s always doing something physical. Sometimes, I’ll just go work in my yard. But, lately, it’s just me hanging with my kid; that kid needs all of my energy. Picking her up has become my main source of exercise.” [Laughs]

As we round the corner to the denouement of our engaging hang—and were duly impressed by another colorful Lego creation (this one featuring a pink heart) from Green’s adorable fair-haired daughter—I ask him if not acting, what would he be doing?

“I probably would be into comics or toys,” he says. “That’s the stuff I was mostly interested in.” Then, I suddenly remembered his multiple-episode arc on Tim Kring’s brilliant and terrifying sci-fi show on NBC, Heroes, starring Zachary Quinto, Milo Ventimiglia and Hayden Panettiere, where Green and Breckin Meyer played comic book shop owners in a parallel universe. “Oh man, I fucking love that show,” Green says. “What could be better than me and Breckin, two comic book nerds, playing those characters?”

OK, on to the last question.

Seth Green is… Truthfully, I’m hoping for an answer that’ll linger in my soul.

“Seth Green is…still doing it.”

Mission accomplished. I got the answer I wanted. Seth Green is still doing it. And it’s nothing short of awesome.

This story was originally published in issue 54 of the print edition of Cannabis Now.

The post [Exclusive] Seth Green, All In appeared first on Cannabis Now.

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