Visualize Ed Sheeran, Suffolk’s red-haired bard himself, downing a pint and getting down to it on his guitar. Picture him now in a fog so thick he cannot even see his hands, the result of a backstage session with Snoop Dogg. That’s exactly what went down in Melbourne, Australia, back in March 2023, and Ed’s still chuckling about it. Spilling the tea on Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, he recounted how a puff with the Doggfather left him temporarily blind—and mate, it’s the kind of story that deserves a proper pub yarn.
This isn’t just another celebrity anecdote; it’s a proper laugh, complete with Russell Crowe as the unlikely wingman and Ed’s wife and mother-in-law along for the ride. For us Brits, who love a bit of cheeky gossip about our chart-topping lads, this tale is pure gold. So, grab a cuppa and let’s dive into Ed’s wild night Down Under.
It all kicked off at a Snoop Dogg concert in Melbourne, where Ed, his wife Cherry Seaborn, and his mother-in-law were soaking up the vibes. Enter Russell Crowe—yes, the Gladiator bloke—who’s mates with both Ed and Snoop. Russell, with his Aussie swagger, played matchmaker, ushering the Sheeran clan backstage to meet the rap legend.
“I was like, ‘This is mental,’”
Ed recalled on the podcast.
“It’s Snoop Dogg!”
By the time he looked up, the room was a blur.
“I just remember staring at Snoop and thinking, ‘Mate, I can’t see right now,’”
he told Conan, who was in stitches. Turns out, Ed’s eyes had checked out, leaving him in a foggy haze. A 2022 study from the Journal of the American Medical Association backs this up—high-potency cannabis can mess with vision and memory in occasional users like Ed, who admitted he’s not exactly a seasoned smoker. Blimey, talk about jumping in at the deep end!
A master of a fine yarn himself, Conan O’Brien just could not resist jumping in. He offered his own Snoop anecdote, remembering the time the rapper’s posse came to his studio.
“I got a contact high just from being in the same building,”
Conan joked, envisioning the rapper’s posse leaving trails of smoke like a human fog machine. The podcast erupted in laughter, and you can hear the full madness around the 48:30 mark if you fancy a listen.
Snoop, of course, is no stranger to these stories. The man’s been synonymous with weed since his Doggystyle days, but he’s got a savvy side too. In a 2024 UNILAD interview, he revealed he hires a monitor to keep an eye on mates who might overdo it, a nod to cannabis’s potent risks. And who could forget his cheeky 2023 social media post claiming he was “giving up smoking”? Fans panicked, thinking he’d ditched his signature habit, only for Snoop to clarify he meant fire pit smoke, not his beloved green. Classic Snoop, keeping us on our toes.
Ed didn’t stop at Snoop. He dropped another nugget, claiming Nigerian star Burna Boy—his collaborator on tracks like “Own It” and “For My Hand”—is the heaviest smoker he’s ever met.
“Burna Boy makes Snoop and Russell look like amateurs,”
Ed said, half-laughing. Imagine that: the Afrobeats king out-puffing the Doggfather. It’s the kind of banter that’d spark a lively debate in a London pub.
This smoky tale isn’t the only thing keeping Ed in the headlines. Fresh off releasing his introspective Autumn Variations album, he’s been winning hearts across the pond. Last year, he went on a proper New York City pub crawl, buying rounds for gobsmacked fans.
“It was mental, just chatting with people over a beer,”
he said. That’s our Ed—global superstar, but still the bloke who’d share a pint with you at The Red Lion.
Ed’s wild night might just be a one-off, but it’s a reminder that even our wholesome chart-toppers can get swept up in a bit of rock ‘n’ roll chaos. As for Snoop, he’s still out there, rolling joints and cracking jokes, probably with that monitor keeping tabs. Will Ed dare to spark up with him again? “Maybe I’ll stick to a cuppa next time,” he laughed on the podcast.
