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Cheech & Chong

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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.

Background

The duo released a number of successful comedy albums, and starred in a series of low-budget films, becoming a highly successful comedy team. Their best-known comedy routines 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.

Solo careers

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-addled act by working on a solo career. In addition to starring in the aforementioned Born in East L.A. movie, he has performed character voices for several animated feature films, including Disney's Oliver and Company (1988), The Lion King (1994), and Cars (2006). Marin also starred in various comedy films, including The Shrimp on the Barbie, as a lead in several television series: Nash Bridges (which featured Chong in one episode and treated fans to "Dave's not here, man", to which Marin replied "Let's not go there"), a Cisco Kid series on cable starring Jimmy Smits as Cisco and Marin as his sidekick Pancho, and The Golden Palace, as well as a recurring guest role on Judging Amy. He had a memorable part as a bartender in the film Desperado, as well as other roles in successful Robert Rodriguez films such as From Dusk Till Dawn and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and has a recurring role as Hugo Reyes' (Hurley) father in the popular ABC series Lost. Recently, he appeared in the movie Christmas with the Kranks.

Tommy Chong also pursued a solo career, starring in such comedies as Far Out Man, in which Marin made an appearance. He co-starred on the FOX Television series That '70s Show in which he played Leo, a burned-out hippie very similar to his character Anthony Stoner (Man) in the movie Up in Smoke (1978). Chong also had a cameo in the U.S. Bicentennial movie spoof The Spirit of '76. In Dave Chappelle's 1998 comedy film Half Baked, Chong played "Squirrel Master" in the prison.

Reunion

The two reunited when they did voices for an episode of the animated television series South Park, though their voices were recorded separately. The duo also appeared in the video game Scarface: The World is Yours.

After their contentious parting in the '80s, 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."

The duo had plans to reunite for another film when Tommy Chong's California-based company, Chong's Bongs, 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 in Philadelphia, USA, the first U.S. city on their tour. Ottawa was the first city worldwide on September 5, 2008.

Discography

  1. Cheech and Chong (1971)
  2. Big Bambu (1972}
  3. Los Cochinos (1973)
  4. Wedding Album (1974)
  5. Sleeping Beauty (1976)
  6. Up in Smoke (1979)
  7. Let's Make a New Dope Deal (1980)
  8. Greatest Hit (1981)
  9. Get Out of My Room (1985)
  10. Where There's Smoke There's Cheech & Chong (2002)

Filmography

  1. Up in Smoke (1978)
  2. Cheech & Chong's Next Movie (1980)
  3. Nice Dreams (1981)
  4. It Came From Hollywood (1982)
  5. Things Are Tough All Over (1982)
  6. Still Smokin' (1983)
  7. Yellowbeard (1983)
  8. Cheech & Chong's The Corsican Brothers (1984)
  9. After Hours (1985)
  10. Get Out of My Room (1985)

Notes and references

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ AOL News "What's That Smell? A Cheech, Chong Tour", 2008-07-30. Retrieved on 2008-07-30.

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