Kathy Bates: 'Pot Is So Much Better Now'

Kathy Bates, who plays dispensary owner Ruth Whitefeather Feldman on Netflix's Disjointed, appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Oct. 6. Here's how the conversation went:

Colbert: How did you study to play someone who smokes weed all the time?

Bates: I actually had a quick taste when I sat next to Bill Maher one night at Penny Marshall's birthday party.

Colbert: Just in the same room with him you can get high.

Bates: I've just got to tell you: Never share a joint with a stranger, even if they're famous, especially Bill Maher.

Colbert: What happened?

Bates: I don't even remember what happened. It was just insane. I had to get talked down by one of the other people at the table. She had to hold my hand and say, "It's OK. You're going to be alright. Really, honey, you'll be fine. Just breath." It was horrible.

Colbert: That sounds terrible.

Bates: But now, I have been doing research. The wonderful thing about doing Disjointed is we have a cannabis consultant.

Colbert: What does the cannabis consultant consult? "You're smoking that wrong!"

Bates: Yeah, exactly... I'm not stoned right now, I really promise. [Points to her eyes] See, everything's good. Dr. Dina 420 has been with us from the very beginning.

Colbert: Dr. Dina 420?

Bates: Don't laugh. That's how she is in my book. She's really like Ruth. She's had this great dispensary for 15 years.... [The show] is so much fun. It's a real romp. We need that now, even if it's just for a half an hour.

'At the very end of the week, after we've had the show, you get the new script. I go home, I take all my makeup off, climb in bed, get stoned and read the new script [laughs]. And they're hysterical!'

Colbert: Would you recommend that for the people who are viewing the show?

Bates: Some. We have a huge demographic. Maybe young children shouldn't be doing that.

Colbert: It stunts growth.

Bates: No, no, no. But it's fun to do the research. It really is. And pot is so much better now [laughs].

Colbert: I wouldn't know, Kathy. I'll take your word for it, Kathy. I wouldn't know.

Kathy Bates fakes a stealth vape pen hit on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

Bates: Now they have these vape pens.

Colbert: Oh, I've seen those.

Bates: You can control your intake. It's like: function, not function.

Colbert: It looks like you're playiing a tiny little flute.

Bates: Or you can have it in your pocket in a restaurant and go [fake inhales from her top jacket pocket]. Oh no! They're know what I'm doing now!

Colbert: You're so high you think no one notices. Meanwhile everybody's going, "Kathy Bates is vaping weed at the next table. Ask her for a hit."

Season 1 of Disjointed is now avaialble on Netflix. Season 2 will be avaialble in January 2018.

Steve Bloom

Steve Bloom

Publisher of CelebStoner.com, former editor of High Times and Freedom Leaf and co-author of Pot Culture and Reefer Movie Madness.