On this day in comedy on January 16, 1998, Half Baked was released by Universal Pictures
Half Baked is a stoner comedy about the saga of four lifelong friends and their love of weed. From the time they first get high together as middle schoolers, it was all good. Then tragedy strikes while one of the potheads goes on a standard munchies run and is arrested for killing a diabetic police horse with sweet snacks. It’s now up to his posse to get him out of the pokey before he gets poked. Fortunately, one of the pals works as a janitor at a place where they test marijuana. Voila! The 3 amigos would steal the weed, sell it and bail their friend out. It’s going to take a lot of dope slinging (the bail is 1 million, but they only have to come up with $100,000), but they’re up to the task. Plus, along the way there’s romance and hallucinating.
Directed by Tamra Davis from a Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan script, Half Baked stars Dave Chappelle, Harland Williams, Jim Breuer and Guillermo Diaz. It also features the talents of Clarence Williams III, Tracy Morgan, Rachel True, Tommy Chong, Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg, Jon Stewart, Bob Saget, Laura Silverman, Steven Wright, Stephen Baldwin, Neal Brennan and Janeane Garofalo.
Half Baked is a cult classic taking in a box office gross of $17,460,020 on a budget of $8 million.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
Check out this clip:
