Country Artist Luke Combs Recalls the Time Willie Nelson Got High in Front of Him and Started Randomly Doing Karate
Country artist Luke Combs shared the hilarious moment an extended trip to Hawaii turned into a legendary smoking session with Willie Nelson.
Combs joined the guys of the Full Send Podcast last week to discuss his career in country music and offered the story as one of the most insane moments he’s experienced.
He says he was offered to go play poker with Nelson and immediately jumped on the opportunity. What he didn’t realize at the time was that he would be alone to introduce himself.
Combs was driven to Nelson’s house and was the first of the group to enter the beachfront property. “I’m like, it’s gonna be — everybody’s gonna be yucking it up, dude. It’s just Willie Nelson in there by himself watching TV in the garage,” Combs recalled.
“I’m walking in like — six-pack of Miller light, like, you know, plastic ring, six-pack. And he’s like, ‘Hey man.’ And I was like, ‘Hello?’ You know, like, dude, what is happening right now?”
He then remembers the moment Nelson began smoking pot and offered him a puff.
“He rips the piece out, dude. You know what I mean? Peace pipe. And I’ve heard the stories, bro!” Combs said. “And I go, all right, man, if — when this thing comes, you can only — you got one, dude. You can’t go twice.”
Combs said his fatal mistake was hitting the pipe a second time, which sent him reeling.
“It comes around again and I’m just real, dude, rip it, throw it down. And I’m like, oh man, after I passed it on I’m like, I just did — I just went there again, dude. This was the mistake that I was not supposed to make, that I’ve now made,” he said.
A small group gathered at Nelson’s house and they began to play poker.
“I’m the youngest guy there by 35 years. Mind you like don’t know anyone, dude, Willie’s — he’s got all the cards, he’s got ’em face up. And he’s slinging these cards dude, out. And it’s like, me and these old guys,” he continued.
As the game progresses, Combs became full-blown stoned, to the point where the cards became larger than life and everything seemed to move in slow motion. “I just see this ace, like, and it’s just spinning and it comes, it lands right in front of me man,” he said.
At some point, Combs leaves the table and begins to drink water in another nearby seat. He remembers Nelson getting up from the poker table and beginning to practice karate.
“I’m sitting at this table. He doesn’t say anything to anyone. He gets up. These guys are playing poker. He gets up, he walks right past me down all the way down the hallway. And there’s this punching bag at the end of the hallway,” Combs said.
“And he stands there and like arms out like full Karate Kid and starts just kicking this punching bag. Tossing crane like this dude he’s 85, 84, and like just hammering this punching bag,” he continued.
“I’m looking at the poker table. And I’m like, what is that? Like, nobody sees this happen. He goes out for five minutes. Could have been five hours. I don’t know the difference at this point, comes back in, stops at the thing hits one more crane kick, walks back in, doesn’t say a peep dude about it, sits back down like nothing happened.”
“And I’m like, that’s my moment. I’ve had my moment with Willie Nelson,” Combs concluded.
Listen above via Full Send Podcast.
