Comedian and actor Billy Crystal may have no problem speaking in front of an audience, but undergoing an MR scan causes him anxiety.

When his doctors told him he needed a scan to determine the source of hip discomfort he sustained while working out, the 73-year-old turned to a unique source of relaxation — marijuana edibles.

“I swallow the four [edibles],” he recounted earlier this month as a virtual guest on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. “I get on the thing, and they put me into the tube. I have a headset on, and I’m listening to a little Bill Evans on Pandora. They give you this little thing to squeeze so in case you get into trouble, you just squeeze it.”
The scan started off well. Then, half an hour in, Crystal jokes that he clicked the panic button — not because he was afraid or in pain, but because he was hungry and wanted to know if there was a Taco Bell nearby.

Crystal says he eventually fell asleep and that the experience was, "like 1968 all over again".

Marijuana use, both medicinal and recreational, has become increasingly mainstream in the last few years as a number of states have legalized it. While not well documented for relieving anxiety among MR patients, marijuana use has been studied among people with mental and psychological disorders like PTSD.

Crystal, meanwhile, told Fallon that he is doing “okay” after his scan.

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