best stoners in movies and tv
[Photos via Smiley Face/First Look International, The Big Lebowski/Universal, Breaking Bad/AMC, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back/Miramax]

10 best stoners in movies and TV shows, ranked

With April 20 upon us, everyone is firing up their favorite classic stoner films along with their joints and bongs. What better time could there be to look at the best characters who embody the trope of the stereotypical stoner?

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From Pineapple Express to the Cheech And Chong series, we’ve seen the lazy burnout stereotype played out in so many different ways, but some stand clearly above others. Take a look below for the 10 best stoner characters in film and television. 

10. Marty Mikalski (The Cabin In The Woods)

Horror-comedy film The Cabin In The Woods was a smash hit, and it wouldn’t have turned out nearly as good without Marty Mikalski. The cannabis enthusiast spawned an iconic coffee mug pipe that was made readily available after the film released. His need to share one last joint as he watches the end of the world captures what every stoner would do in the end times perfectly. 

9. Jane F. (Smiley Face)

Smiley Face is a cult classic at this point. Through a menial storyline, Jane (Anna Faris) tries to find money to replace a batch of her roommates’ weed cupcakes she accidentally ate, which turns into a hilarious journey. Her tendency to say absolutely ridiculous things that hardly fit the context of conversations is all too relatable if you’ve ever hung out with someone who focuses their entire life around weed, but it’s endearing in a way. Although her character is pretty dumb, she’s fun, and you want to see her succeed by the end.  

8. Ron Slater (Dazed And Confused)

Coming-of-age films focused on teenagers making their way into the adult world always tend to include a burnout. However, Dazed And Confused captured teen stoners better than any other. Best of all is Ron Slater, who was blunt with his words. As the school’s resident stoner, he was always the one looked to as the epitome of the stereotype. 

7. Ed (Shaun Of The Dead)

Sure, we don’t really see much smoking from Ed, but his character is easily the highlight of Shaun Of The Dead. He annoys many of the characters, but they keep him around because he’s hilarious to be with and sells enough weed to keep the bills paid. Plus, his knowledge of video games helps them in the end as he knows, roughly, how to shoot a gun.

6. Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad)

We all know the point of Breaking Bad is, well, methamphetamine, but the show laces scenes involving weed all throughout, with Jesse Pinkman and his friends being huge stoners. The first season in particular shows a ton of weed scenes, with Walter White using some of Pinkman’s stash in an early episode. Also, White’s cover-up for manufacturing meth is that he’s just buying weed from Pinkman. 

5. Towelie (South Park)

South Park created one of the best stoner characters with Towelie, as his two core points of existence are reminding people to bring a towel where they’re going and smoking weed. The episodes with Towelie are some of the most fun to watch as he struggles to get the four boys to where they want to go while claiming he needs to smoke weed to remember. However, he quickly forgets the entire point of why he was smoking weed in the first place.

4. The Dude (The Big Lebowski)

The Dude is one of the most iconic stoners. He surpasses generations of film viewers, as The Big Lebowski lives on as one of the biggest movies to ever use the stoner stereotype. He’s a simple character living a life of relaxation thrown off by a case of mistaken identity. His laid-back attitude is something we can all aspire to, regardless if you smoke as much weed as he does. 

3. Jay and Silent Bob (Clerks)

Few stoner duos are as great as Jay and Silent Bob. While they aren’t the primary focus of Clerks, they did become the standout characters of the film. Their interactions outside of the Quick Stop while running their weed-selling hustle are short but some of the best scenes. It’s clear how much Kevin Smith enjoys using them given that they appear in nearly all of his movies.

2. Saul Silver (Pineapple Express)

Pineapple Express captured cannabis culture better than any movie since the Cheech And Chong series. James Franco’s character Saul Silver is the weed dealer we all wish we had. He’s a lovable goofball even though he gets Seth Rogen’s character into some crappy situations throughout the film. He never really intends to, though, and no one can knock his inventiveness with the legendary cross joint scene. 

1. Anthony “Man” Stoner and Pedro de Pacas (Up In Smoke)

There are no two people as important to cannabis culture becoming normalized as Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. Their series of movies and comedy albums have always been a go-to for any sesh. Up In Smoke showed some truly iconic scenes in cannabis cinema with their van made entirely of weed and the colossal joint that people were able to recreate themselves with the giant rolling paper contained in original vinyl copies of their record Big Bambu.