Kieran Culkin Recalls Getting Mark Ruffalo High in an On-Stage Prank: 'I Was 17 and Stupid'

The whole world is a stage!

Kieran Culkin, 42, opened up in a recent interview with The Guardian about getting high on Mark Ruffalo, 57, as they acted out a prop for real-life marijuana.

The Golden Globe nominee recalled that he was “17 years old and stupid” when he pulled the prank at the opening night production of James Lapine’s 2000 play. The moment when with Ruffalo and Tony winner Phyllis Newman.

But after the smell of weed hit him, he immediately felt regret.

Kieran Culkin at the New York premiere of “A Real Pain” at the Museum of Modern Art on October 17, 2024 in New York City.

John Lamparski/Getty

“I’m like, ‘I thought this was a good joke. I’m stupid. Oh my God, I’m so sorry.’ But they actually liked it,” Culkin told the paper. “Mark says, ‘I haven’t smoked weed in 10 years; the second half is going to be so much fun.’ There was another actor who had never smoked weed in his life. She goes, “Is this nice?” And then Phyllis Newman comes in and says, ‘I haven’t smoked weed since the 1960s, honey.’ ”

However, some people weren’t too thrilled with his stunt.

“Then the stage manager comes in and says, ‘I don’t care whose it is or what happened, but Kieran, give me the joint. I sheepishly handed her the cockroach, and she said, ‘Ruin your life alone, time,'” Succession the alum said.

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A few years later, Culkin starred in Kenneth Lonergan’s play This is our youth in London’s West End with Colin Hanks and joked about pulling the same prank, but Hanks said, “Are you kidding me? If you ever do something like that, I swear to God, I’m going to punch you in the face.”

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The Real pain the actor continued: “But then towards the end of the series I did it again and he shrugged as if to say, ‘If you want, it could be fun.’ The thing is, his character has to roll a joint on stage, so one day I gave him real pot and I saw him, like, react, but then he got too excited and he got nervous. His hands started shaking so much that he couldn’t roll a joint, and when he tried to light it, it fell apart, luckily we had a fake joint already rolled, so we ended up going with it.”

Those in the theater don’t have to worry about what kind of antics Culkin would pull in this day and age. “I’m 42 now. I know better,” he said. “I’m not going to try to get anybody high on the stage.”

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Ruffalo recalled the joke in 2020 during a guest appearance on The Graham Norton Show – though he didn’t name Culkin as the culprit.

“I did one show where I had to smoke a joint in the first scene,” the Marvel star said. “And of course there was the very mean young actor I played with in the play, who put a real joint on the prop table on the opening night, despite all the criticism.”

Mark Ruffalo speaks on stage during the Marvel Studios ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Global Press Conference at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown on April 7, 2019 in Los Angeles. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty

Ruffalo explained that when you’re a stage actor, everything is exaggerated, so he dramatically inhaled a joint during his performance because he didn’t know it was real.

“We were smoking a giant blunt on stage,” he recalled. “I’m like, ‘Man, I’m in it tonight, I’m feeling it.’ ”

He then recalled turning around and seeing “the kid who put the joint on the table” laughing.

“The girl I was giving it to has never smoked weed in her life,” he continued. “I’d smoked a lot of weed by that point.”

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After all, the joke had its ups and downs.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever done. Don’t do it,” Ruffalo said, “but at the end of the show I got the best reviews of my career.”

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Source: HIS Education