LAST weekend had some of the worst shitty weather Britain has to offer during the height of summertime; not to make too finer point, it was absolutely pissing down in the South West of England. Good weather for germinating cannabis seeds, bad for driving to Taunton!

That did not stop me from getting there where Howard Marks aka Mr Nice had kindly left my name on the guest list for his one-man show at the Brewhouse House Theatre.

Before the show began, Howard invited me backstage into his dressing room for a toke and chat. I had a few things to give him, including a couple of cakes (not Mr Kipling) and a NORML UK stash jar, filled of course with the only kind of goodies you would give Mr Nice. I also presented Howard with a portrait of Mr Nice painted by Totnes based artist and rising star of the art world, Michael Shurman.

Howard Marks

I told Howard I saw his show last year in Totnes and he apologised saying I’d be seeing the same show. Well he had nothing to apologise for, the show is so awesome I gladly sat through it again, and as Howard is very ad-lib, there were plenty of new gags.

The show starts with a short film about Howard’s colourful career as a cannabis smuggler then on comes the great man himself to start his critically acclaimed one-man show.

The atmosphere in the theatre was amazing and Howard had the audience in stitches for much of the show, especially when on a couple of occasions he forgot what he was just talking about. Was this all just part of the act? Having had a toke on Mr Nice’s spliff prior to the show, I’m not so sure.

Howard talks about his life how he went from being the biggest smuggler of cannabis in the world, his darker times in the US prison system to his eventual release where he became a best selling author, stand up comic and seller of his own brand of cannabis seeds, Mr Nice Seeds.

The show finished with a question and answer session with audience participation, this meant the audience lights were turned on, which pleased Howard as he said now he could finally see us. The audience participation parts are great and different at every show; you get the feeling Howard could comfortably answer any question that was thrown at him and he would have easily carried on, were it not for theatre staff telling him his time was up and to wind the show up.

All in all, I would thoroughly recommend seeing Howard Marks’ show if it is coming anywhere near you; in fact, it’s even worth travelling a fair few miles to see it if he doesn’t come to your town.

You can see details of Howards Marks’ tour dates for his 2012 tour on his web site  - http://howardmarks.name/?page_id=9

. . . don’t miss it you will not be disappointed.