NYC comedy icon complains about persistent smell of marijuana

Caroline Hirsch, the Broadway comedy club owner who discovered stars like Robin Willians and Jay Leno, says the persistent stench of marijuana contributes to the Big Apple’s atmosphere of lawlessness.

“I have to tell you that it’s not only here, but the smell of pot is on every goddamn corner,” Hirsch, who opened Caroline’s on Broadway in 1992, told the New York Post in a weekend interview.  

“I mean, I’m very susceptible to smelling it … not that I smoked pot, but I’m an ex-cigarette smoker,” she added.

New York legalized recreational marijuana in Sept. 2021 for adults 21 and over, but it has not available for legal purchase outside of American Indian reservations as the state processes dispensary applications.

Hirsch originally opened Caroline’s in Chelsea in 1982 as a cabaret club and became known for her sharp eye for talent after pivoting into comedy. Her young discoveries include Robin Williams, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal and Chris Rock.

Legal or not, Hirsch says that the ubiquity of pot smokers and the clouds of overpowering marijuana smoke have has become difficult to ignore.

“That’s because they put the plazas in … people don’t move around enough, people sit in certain areas,” said Hirsch, a board member of the Times Square Alliance. “And certainly, the bail reform has not helped the city.”

The city has been ravaged by a crime wave that helped elect candidates that promised improved public safety, like current Mayor Eric Adams.

Long Island congressman Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for New York governor, has gone from long shot to neck-and-neck with incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul, largely off his focus on crime and the economy.

The comedy maven said that being from the city can give one a false sense of security.

“As a New Yorker, you always think like, ‘Nothing’s gonna happen to me,’” she said.

Hirsch founded the New York Comedy Festival, which runs from Nov. 7 to 13 this year.