Lake Bell's Holiday Ad for Cann Cannabis Drinks Will Blow Your Mind

“Merry microdosing, motherfucker!”

RuPaul Drag Race winner Raja, in the sparkly guise of a Fairy God, delivers that toast (while thoroughly toasted) during a fantastical, hopped-up holiday bash staged by Cann, the THC-infused tonic, and cannabis shopping app Jane.

Mickey Sumner plays a yuletide guest who feels bummed when alcohol harshes the festive family buzz. Thankfully, Cann elevates everyone’s spirits, and the party soon shimmers with strobe lights, irreverent innuendo and a retro groove worthy of Sting. (He’s Sumner’s dad!)

Chris Bear of indie band Grizzly Bear crafted the righteously repetitious earworm. Sultry yet silly, it provides the perfect backbeat for three-minutes of campy, neon-soaked visuals from Cann’s in-house team and director Lake Bell (who plays Poison Ivy on Harley Quinn). Performers Meg Stalter, Benito Skinner, Bre-Z, Brandon Kyle Goodman and Lauren Wasser appear as revelers in the film, which dropped Thursday across various digital platforms. Cutdowns, OOH elements and merchandising are also in the mix.

“Our fearless brand and marketing leads had been developing a concept centered around ‘rising above’ the typical alcohol-induced, anxiety-ridden family holiday experience many of us dread,” Cann co-founder Luke Anderson tells Muse. “But we were struggling to put a bow on it stylistically with only a couple weeks to go before shoot day. So, I called Lake Bell and asked what spin she’d put on it. Within hours she came up with the brilliant concept … an authentic, lightheaded but darkly comedic approach to the concept of not being sucked into boozy family drama.”

The goings-on mirror Cann’s previous inclusive, glitzy efforts, and this surely ranks as the freakiest year-end gathering since Miller Lite’s 2020 office soiree where the revelers were all incredibly lifelike mannequins.

“Lake and I cast, in traditional Cann style, a radically diverse and inclusive group with a special emphasis on centering queer artists in a non-Pride context,” Anderson says. “Our community desperately needs to break out of June rainbow moments to be accepted and legitimized.”

He believes that Sumner and Raja nailed their roles, “encapsulating the magic of Cann in this holiday context. There may be no silver bullet or magic wand to save every family holiday from despair. But we can remove the toxic alcoholic drink and replace it with something fuzzier and a generally better vibe.”

The team strove for “a retro-fabulous yet decade-agnostic approach, with slightly tilted but never fully trippy effects,” Anderson recalls. “We threaded the very tricky needle on this somewhat taboo topic of integrating cannabis in family-friendly environments, while acknowledging how infrequently the industry has paid homage to the communities that built it—women, people of color, LGBTQ+ folk.”

He adds: “Raja was delightfully high the whole time, but none of us knew it until after the shoot wrapped. We thought she was just expertly channeling that mood. Also, we did hope that Benny and Meg would make out—but perhaps that would have been straight-baiting?”

It’s cool, motherfucker. Pass the Cann!

CREDITS

Written and Directed by 
Lake Bell

Created by CANИ 
In partnership with Jane

Executive Producers: 
Luke Anderson 
Matthew Kauth 
Sandy Haddad 
Luga Podesta 
Andrew Lerios

Starring: 
Mickey Sumner as Heroine Jane 
Raja as The Fairy God Cann 
Benito Skinner as Dazed Darin 
Meg Stalter as Dazed Darling 
Lauren Wasser as Crying Cousin 
Bre-Z as Loud Larry 
Brandon Kyle Goodman as Uncle Ornery 
Alexis Carey as Angry Auntie 
Wendy Banks as Grammy

Co-Creative Direction by Kim Anderson

Music by: Chris Taylor

Wardrobe & Styling by: Ann-Marie Hoang 
Hair: Sara Seward
Makeup: Liz Las

Production Company: London Alley
Line Producer: Holly Harding

Co-Producers: 
Kim Anderson 
Jake Bullock
Ashley Fields

Casting: 
Luke Anderson 
Lake Bell
Kasia Szarek

Director of Photography: Laura Merians Gonçalves

Production Designer: Tatiana Van Sulter

Editor: Eric Wysocki
Photographer: Jessica Callerio
Assistant Editor: Tanner Jackson

Colorist: Beau Leon

Post Production Supervisor: Iván Ovalle 
Production Supervisor: Denny Rubianes