The Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney shared his cautionary tale of why you shouldn’t do magic mushrooms in a dark van in the latest installment of Tales From The Trip.
The Comedy Central series features celebrities from all walks of life discussing their sometimes good (and usually bad) experiences with hallucinogenic drugs. While Carney is so far the biggest name to appear on the program, past episodes have featured comedian Pauly Shore, Duncan Trussell, DJ Carnage, and many other semi-recognizable names.
Carney’s cautionary tale begins back in 2003 during The Black Keys’ “First real tour of Europe.” Of course, as touring musicians in their early-20s, Carney and guitarist/singer Dan Auerbach took full advantage of the opportunities afforded to them in the famously progressive city of Amsterdam. Carney, who is admittedly “Not really into drugs” and “Can barely smoke weed,” ends up in the back of the band’s van on an eight-hour drive to London with nothing better to do than eat the magic mushrooms Auerbach had purchased at the grocery store.
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Over the course of their “trip” to London, Carney gets way too high off the “Smurf House” mushrooms they bought and begins to panic. In a strange turn of events, what brings him back down to Earth is stopping at a pay toilet in a service station, and engaging in what—at the time— was probably a hilarious conversation with Dan about how much it should cost to pee, as well as the strange nature of banks. After three hours of staring at flowers, Dan and Patrick get back in the van and listen to Straight Outta Compton, which Carney describes at the moment as sounding “So plastic.”
The segment ends with Carney’s simple warning, “The best advice is to don’t take mushrooms when you’re on a highway in a dark van, it’s like the worst idea ever. So I completely credit Dan with the worst idea of all time.”
Watch Patrick Carney talk about eating mushrooms in the back of a van on Tales From The Trip.
Tales from the Trip – The Black Keys’ Shroom Trip in Their Van Didn’t Go So Well
[Video: Comedy Central Originals]