The Pope of Pot (Live at the Brooklyn Podcast Festival)

His newspaper ads read 1-800-WANT-POT, promising New Yorkers quality cannabis at a fair price, delivered in under an hour, by bicycle, at a time when legal cannabis was still a distant dream.

Known as the Pope of Pot, Mickey Cesar had first learned how to navigate the illicit weed business in the 1970s while living in Amsterdam, before coming home to start America's first underground delivery service. What followed was a tale of overcoming arrests, getting shot, and a snitch calling Howard Stern, all to bring the cannabis sacrament to his growing flock.

This episode features special guest Ben Sinclair, star and co-creator of High Maintenance on HBO. On High Maintenance, Ben plays a NYC weed delivery guy who makes his rounds on bicycle, so naturally Abdullah and Bean were thrilled to share with Ben the story of his real life predecessor. 

We recorded live in front of a standing-room-only crowd at the Bell House in NYC as part of the 2020 Brooklyn Podcast Festival.

Special thanks to journalist Mike Sager who wrote a June 1991 Rolling Stone article about Mickey called "The High Times and Strange Time of the Pope of Pot"

Special thanks to Danny Danko for MCing the live show. And to Kevin Schumacher for taking photos. And to everyone who came out to share a very special evening.

PATREON

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