Jim Belushi has a new TV show about his adventures as a cannabis farmer, and he plans to start selling soon in Illinois

CHICAGO — On his new TV show “Growing Belushi,” Chicago-area native Jim Belushi plays a variety of roles, including passionate cannabis farmer, demanding boss and perhaps most surprising, nude swimmer.

“I’ve done everything else. I’ve done off-Broadway, Broadway, musicals, dramas, comedies,” Belushi told the Tribune by phone about his turn on unscripted TV. “I’ve done TV comedy, TV drama. I do improvisational shows. I do Blues Brothers (shows) across the country. I’ve played a clown. I played an orangutan, and the unscripted television business is a formidable business in our entertainment industry, so it seemed natural to me because I’m an improviser from Second City in Chicago, and this whole show was improvised.”

“Growing Belushi,” which follows the hijinks of Belushi, his family and his employees on his 93-acre Oregon farm, is scheduled to premiere at 10 p.m. Eastern Wednesday on Discovery. The three-episode series comes as Belushi plans to sell a limited-edition Blues Brothers x Grassroots flower at the Greenhouse cannabis dispensary in Skokie.

“Grassroots is super excited about our relationship with Jim. It’s been a long time coming. We’ve spent a fair amount of time together over, at least a year at this point, talking about and seeing (what) fit for them and for us,” said Mitchell Kahn, co-founder and former CEO of Grassroots, which was acquired last month by cannabis industry giant Curaleaf. “Jim is really in the business and committed to being in the business, and this is not just a celebrity who wants to put his name on something.”