Cheech & Chong

Cheech & Chong
Cheech and Chong onstage in 2008
Occupation	Actors/Comedians
Years active	1971—present

Cheech & Chong are a comedy duo consisting of Richard "Cheech" Marin and Tommy Chong, who found a wide audience in the 1970s and 1980s for their stand-up routines, which were based upon the era's hippie, free love, and especially drug culture movements.

Career

The duo released many successful comedy albums, and starred in a series of low-budget commercials, becoming a successful comedy team. Some of their best-known comedy routines and songs include "Earache My Eye," "Basketball Jones," "Santa Claus and his Old Lady", and "Sister Mary Elephant." Perhaps their all-time most famous line is "Dave's not here," from their self-titled debut album.

Their early success culminated with the release of their first feature-length movie, Up in Smoke, in 1978. Relatively successful, it became something of a cult classic and was successful enough to warrant a sequel, Cheech & Chong's Next Movie, in 1980, and Nice Dreams in 1981. They also appeared in smaller supporting roles in Graham Chapman's Yellowbeard and Martin Scorsese's After Hours.

In 1985 the duo released their album Get Out of My Room, which included the novelty hit song, "Born in East L.A." (based on Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A."). This song would later serve as the basis for the 1987 film of the same name, in which Cheech Marin played the starring role. Immediately following the release of the album, Cheech Marin separated himself from the pair's drug-inspired act by working on a solo career.

Reunion

After their contentious parting in the 1980s, the duo had a less-than-stellar friendship. Chong recalled going to Cheech's birthday party in 1994 and seeing Cheech "on the couch with his arm around his wife like we had just met. It wasn't comfortable."

They somewhat reunited in 2000 to voice characters in the animated television series South Park for the episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons"; though their voices were recorded separately.

The duo had plans to reunite for another film when Tommy Chong's California-based company, Chong's Glass, was raided by federal officials on February 25, 2003, as part of a federal crackdown on "drug-related paraphernalia." Tommy Chong pleaded guilty to charges of distributing drug paraphernalia in May and on September 11, 2003, was sentenced to nine months in federal prison, fined US$20,000, and forced to forfeit US$120,000 in assets. He served the time between October 8, 2003 and July 7, 2004.

With Chong released, the duo planned to resume production on their latest opus. A variety of titles were rumored, including Grumpy Old Stoners. Cheech and Chong announced on September 8, 2005 that the reunion film had been canceled. In a 2007 interview, Chong hinted that the reunion may be back on.^[1]

On June 3, 2008, Tommy Chong announced that, starting in September 2008, he will be reuniting with Cheech Marin for a comedy tour. Shelby Chong, Tommy's wife, will be opening.^[2]

On July 3, 2008, Tommy Chong (on a live webcam chat) reconfirmed that he and Cheech will be doing another film, based on their reuniting and live bits from the aforementioned comedy tour.^{[citation needed]}

On July 30, 2008, the team reunited to publicly announce their fall comedy tour, titled "Cheech and Chong Light Up America/Canada".^[3] This announcement was made at a press conference at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA. Ottawa was the first city worldwide on September 5, 2008. And on September 19, 2008, they appeared on The Bob and Tom Show.

On November 5, 2008, Cheech and Chong reunited for a timely message in a video on Funny Or Die to encourage people to get out and vote on Wednesday, November 5th, the day after the election. The video is titled "Cheech and Chong Get Out the Vote!"^[4]

On November 30, 2008, Cheech & Chong were honored during a roast special on TBS hosted by Brad Garrett which included other guests, among them Chong's wife. The event was filmed at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas during The Comedy Festival. [4] [5]

On March 7, 2009, Cheech & Chong appeared on Spike Feresten's talk show and they said that there is a new movie in the making.

On March 14, 2009, Cheech and Chong recorded 2 shows at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, TX for a dvd release of the their Cheech and Chong Light Up America tour.

On April 17, 2009, while on the Sydney leg of their "Cheech and Chong Light Up Australia" Tour, they had to delay the start of their show as it became the target of a drug operation by the New South Wales Police. About 25 police and four drug dogs were involved, searching around 50 people, with six people caught in possession of small amounts of cannabis. ^[5]

On October 24, 2009, Cheech & Chong hosted the main stage at the Smoke Out festival in San Bernardino, CA.^[6]

Discography

Albums

• Cheech and Chong -- Ode 77010 (1971)
• Big Bambu -- Ode 77014 (1972)
• Los Cochinos -- Ode 77019 (1973)
• Wedding Album -- Ode 77025 (1974)
• Sleeping Beauty -- Ode 77040 (1976)
• Up in Smoke -- Warner Bros. 3249 (1979)
• Let's Make a New Dope Deal (1980) -- Warner Bros. 3391
• Greatest Hit -- Warner Bros. 3614 (1981)
• Get Out of My Room (1985) -- MCA 5640
• Where There's Smoke There's Cheech & Chong -- Rhino 74265 (2002)

Singles

• Santa Claus And His Old Lady / Dave -- Ode 66021 (12/71)
• Basketball Jones featuring Tyrone Shoelaces / Don't Bug Me -- Ode 66038 (8/20/73)
• Sister Mary Elephant (SHUDD-UP!) / Wink Dinkerson -- Ode 66041 (1973)
• Earache My Eye featuring Alice Bowie / Turn That Thing Down -- Ode 66102 (8/10/74)
• Black Lassie featuring Johnny Stash / Coming Attractions -- Ode 66104 (1974)
• (How I Spent My Summer Vacation) or A Day At The Beach with Pedro & Man, Parts I & II -- Ode 66115 (9/75)
• Framed / Pedro's Request -- Ode 66124 (1976)
• Bloat On featuring The Bloaters / The Bloaters' Creed (Just Say "Right On!") -- Ode 50471 (1977)
• Up In Smoke / Rock Fight -- Warner Bros. 8666 (8/78)
• Born In East L.A. / I'm A (Modern) Man -- MCA 52655 (1985)
• I'm Not Home Right Now / Hot Saki -- MCA 52732 (1985)

Filmography

1. Up in Smoke (1978)
2. Cheech & Chong's Next Movie (1980)
3. Nice Dreams (1981)
4. It Came From Hollywood (compilation, 1982)
5. Things Are Tough All Over (1982)
6. Still Smokin' (1983)
7. Yellowbeard (1983)
8. Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers (1984)
9. Get Out of My Room (1985)
10. After Hours (1985)
11. FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
12. a/k/a Tommy Chong (2005)
13. Cheech & Chong's Hey Watch This (Documentary film about their 2008–09 reunion tour) (2009)
14. Cheech & Chong's Smokin' Animated Movie (Currently in Production)
15. Untitled Future Film (TBA)

References

External links

• StonerNation.com - Cheech and Chong's Smokin' Animated Movie Website
• Cheech and Chong Dot Com
• Official Live Nation Tour website
• HoboTrashcan's One on One with Tommy Chong An in-depth interview about politics, Cheech and Chong and Tommy's wife and kids
• L.A. Weekly photographs of Cheech and Chong's "Light Up America" reunion show at the Roxy Theater, September 18 2008
• Cheech and Chong Interview over reunion, "Light Up America" tour. December 10, 2008 Riverfront Times
• Submerge Magazine Interview with Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, Jan. 2009