Idris Elba Reveals He Used to Sell Weed to Dave Chapelle

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 star Idris Elba certainly picked the odd occasion of the family-film sequel’s arrival to start talking about how he used to sell weed to comedian Dave Chapelle – but hey, here we are! Elba was doing an interview recently, where the subject of all the crazy jobs he worked – and all the future stars he met while doing so – came up. Elba is famous for working as a DJ (under the name DJ Big Driis) on the side, as well as being one of the doormen at NYC’s famous Caroline’s Comedy Club. Well, Elba also made some green from selling green – and Dave Chappelle was one of his clients!

“Dave Chappelle remembers me because he used to buy weed from me,” Idris Elba told Sirius XM’s Jess Cagle Show, quickly adding, “anyway, moving on.” 

This little anecdote is hilarious on several levels. First of all, it’s crazy to hear about Idris Elba and Dave Chappelle – now two of the most famous stars around – in their hustle and bustle days on the streets of NYC. The thought of them going to some hidden spot at Caroline’s to do drug deals (and indulge?) is mind-boggling. 

It’s even more mind-boggling when you step back and realize that both Elba and Chappelle would take their real-life dabbling with marijuana and use it to achieve their respective big breaks in the industry. Elba became a star of the TV screen for playing a ruthless drug dealer with corporate ambitions (Stringer Bell) in HBO’s landmark crime drama series The Wire. Chappelle took the comedic route, playing a bumbling NYC weed dealer with a one-of-a-kind strain in the cult-classic comedy Half-Baked. From there, Elba has blown up into one of the biggest stars on the planet, crushing movies (Hobbs & Shaw, Sonic 2), television (Luther), and music. Even after a major career implosion in the 2000s during his top-hit sketch show Chappelle’s Show, Dave Chappelle has come back to become one of the most influential stand-up comedians in the world, reclaiming the limelight (and all the infamy with it) via his deal with Netflix. 

Idris Elba is working on two new projects: he’ll play a father trying to protect his two teen daughters from a lion in the African Savanna in Beast; Elba also has a new season of Luther set for production. 

READ MORE: Sonic 2 Official Review