Cannabis Cooking Show Coming to Netflix, With Cleveland's Ramon Rivas as Guest Judge

On June 22, Netflix debuts its newest original cooking show, Cooking On High. The series features a high-stakes cooking competition where all dishes must contain enough weed to get the celebrity judges high.

Hosted by YouTube sensation Josh Leyva, the show, only available to those 18 and over, also features fellow comedian and noted cannabis activist Ngaio Bealum as the show’s “culinary weed expert.” So far the show has announced 17 celebrity judges, including comedian and co-founder of Cleveland-based collective and festival Accidental Comedy, Ramon Rivas II.

"It was a real Sophie's Choice," Rivas tells Scene. "I had been asked to throw out the first pitch at an Indians game to promote Accidental Comedy Fest but then I got this offer through a friend to do the tapings."

Rivas gave up the chance to pitch last minute, and decided to do the show.

"At the time [of the taping] I had a poster of me smoking a joint riding on a sandwich done by Cleveland artist, Aaron "Pants" Sechrist aka OKPANTS, so it was kind of too on brand to not get paid to eat cannabis," Rivas says.

Rivas, a noted cannabis advocate, was recently featured on Viceland encouraging students to "Drop Out and Move To Cleveland." He's also made appearances on @midnight, Broad City, Getting High With Doug, and an episode of The Half Hour on Comedy Central.

"I usually don't really do edibles because I have such a high tolerance and I am so large that they feel wasted on me," he says. "It was cool to see [cannabis] infused into actual gourmet, restaurant-quality foods by legit chefs."

For most of us, our consumption of edibles (in states where it's legal, obviously) tend to be overly potent chocolate brownies, so this show is sure to inspire some new and inventive food ideas.

Despite now living in L.A., Rivas is almost always seen at public appearances reppin' his hometown — whether it's his Accidental Comedy hat, a "Make America Cleveland Again," shirt, or signature red Ohio hoodie — and his appearance as a celebrity judge is no exception.

Clevelanders can catch Ramon Rivas II at this year's Accidental Comedy Fest at Hilarities Aug. 29-Sept. 2, 2019.