Jimmy Kimmel just gave 4/20 its Hulu debut, and the New York connection runs deeper than the trailer suggests.
4×20: Quick Hits, a four-film cannabis anthology executive produced by Kimmel, dropped on Hulu Monday, April 20. Each film clocks 20 minutes. Each takes a different corner of cannabis history. Kimmel produced alongside Scott Lonker; Adam M. Goldberg oversaw all four films as producer.
“Christmas has a whole cable channel dedicated to holiday programming,” Kimmel said in a statement. “For 4/20, we made four 20-minute-long documentaries for those who celebrate with trees of a different kind.”
The Lineup
“Highly Unlikely,” directed by Brent Hodge, traces the lore behind the 2004 comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.
“The Legend of Ganjasaurus Rex,” directed by Alex Ross Perry, follows the strange afterlife of a 1987 cult film as it became a “beloved local legend” in California.
“Bong Voyage,” directed by Todd Kapostasy, profiles hand-blown glass artist Jason Harris.
And then there’s the New York one.
The Forçade Episode
“High Times,” directed by Kyle Thrash, tells the story of High Times magazine and its founder, Tom Forçade, who launched the publication in 1974 and remained a fixture of the Manhattan weed scene until his death in 1978.
The episode also features Dana Beal: longtime NYC cannabis advocate, ibogaine champion, downtown organizer, and, as of February, an inmate.
Beal is currently incarcerated at the Mountain View Transformation Center in Boise, Idaho, following a 2024 cannabis trafficking arrest. His parole eligibility date is June 30, though programming requirements could push his release as far as December. He sat for the documentary shortly before he went in.
It’s a raw note for a Hulu series produced by a network late-night host. It’s also exactly why this episode matters. Beal has been arrested for cannabis advocacy across six decades of American policy. He’s still being arrested for it in 2026, even as licensed dispensaries in his home state of New York advertise on the subway.
Beal’s legal defense fundraiser is at gofundme.com/f/dana-beals-idaho-bail-and-trial-expenses.
An Other-ly Connection
The Consulting Producer on all four films and the Producer on the Ganjasaurus Rex episode is David Bienenstock, a name some of you may already know. He’s the author of How to Smoke Pot (Properly): A Highbrow Guide to Getting High (Penguin / Random House) and the creator and host of the podcast Great Moments in Weed History. He’s a former Head of Content at High Times. Before that, he produced at VICE Media, where he co-created Bong Appetit, including the cult installment A Gourmet Weed Dinner at Hunter S. Thompson’s House.
Bienenstock has been profiled by The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, and the Los Angeles Times. He’s done the rounds on CNN, NPR, MSNBC, HBO, and Fox News.
“It was a real dream come true to work with such a talented team of filmmakers to tell these stories,” Bienenstock told The Other. “Each of the four Quick Hits looks at cannabis culture from a unique and authentic angle, with a deep level of respect for the plant and the culture that’s too often absent from media depictions. As a former High Times editor, seeing the magazine’s founder get his flowers is especially gratifying. And don’t miss the episode about Ganjasaurus Rex, one of the great untold weed tales of all time from the heart of Humboldt County.”
We’ll be sitting down with him at length in a forthcoming feature.
The Cameos and the Late-Night Lineage
Neil Patrick Harris turns up in the trailer. So do John Cho and Kal Penn (the Harold & Kumar leads), alongside Tommy Chong, who at this point is contractually obligated to appear in any 4/20 release ever produced. We love him for it.
This isn’t Kimmel’s first lap around the block. In 2024, he executive produced Hulu’s High Hopes, a six-episode look inside a Los Angeles cannabis business. His recurring “Who’s High” segments have been a late-night fixture. And in a 2018 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, chatting with Seth Rogen, Kimmel offered up his “Mt. Rushmore of people to smoke with”: Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg, Woody Harrelson, and Rogen himself, who he said may have “bumped Cheech & Chong off.”
Watch It
4×20: Quick Hits is streaming now on Hulu. Pair it with the strain of your choice and a snack you do not have to assemble.
Consume responsibly (and legally!)
