“We became iconic by being moronic”
On Friday May 15, 2009 El Paso’s Abraham Chavez Theatre will host American comedy icon’s Cheech and Chong’s “Light Up America,” tour. Opening the show will be Tommy Chong’s wife Shelby. Cheech and Chong have appeared in at least fifty feature films, starring in many classic’s, such as “Up In Smoke,” “Nice Dreams,” and “The Lion King,” television shows such as “Nash Bridges,” with Don Johnson, “Judging Amy,” and “That 70’s Show.” They have sold in excess of 50 million recordings, and are interwoven into the fabric of American culture like no comedians before them. Richard “Cheech” Marin, was born July 13, 1946, in Los Angeles, California. In a serendipitous twist of irony, Cheech’s father was a Los Angeles policeman. Cheech was married until 1975 to Darlene Morley, with whom he had a daughter, Carmen, born in 1978. In April 1984, Cheech married Patti Heid, eventually having 2 children, Joey, born in 1985, and Jasmine, born in 1992. Cheech earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from California State University at Northridge. Cheech and Chong won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for 1973’s Los Cochino’s…Lest anyone think Cheech’s copious consumption of marijuana has left him with an addled mind, he was the 1992 Celebrity Jeopardy Champion. Cheech is actively involved in the arts, owning one of the largest collections of Chicano and Latino art in the world. He frequently loans portions of his collection to museums around the world, including The El Paso Museum of Art. In his spare time he volunteers for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and serves on the Inner City Arts Council.
Thomas “Tommy” Kin Chong was born May 24, 1938 in Edmonton, Alberta. Tommy married Maxine Sneed in 1960 and had 2 children with her, a daughter, the well known actress Rae Dawn Chong, and a son, Robbi. As previously mentioned, Tommy Chong was one half of one of the most successful comedy acts in American history and when Cheech and Chong decided to pursue solo careers, Chong was devastated. To him, Cheech was “closer than a wife. We were together 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The only thing we didn’t do was have sex.” A few years later he landed a recurring role on the FOX comedy, “That Seventies Show,” as burned out character, Leo. In 2005 a documentary “AKA Tommy Chong,” premiered at The Toronto Film Festival prompting Pittsburgh area prosecutor Mary Beth Buchanon to begin investigating Chong, costing taxpayers over $12,000,000. “Operation: Pipe Dream,” which led to Chong being sentenced to 9 months in Taft Federal Penitentiary, and fined $120,000, for being the CEO of Chong Glass/Nice Dreams Inc., and promoting the sale of over 7500 bongs and glass pipes. “The United States Government vs. Thomas B. Kin Chong a/k/a Tommy Chong,” a film by award winning New York film maker Josh Gilbert, premiered at The New York Film Forum to glowing reviews. Tommy Chong is an avid supporter of The National Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). While incarcerated Chong wrote a book called “The I Chong: Meditations from the Joint.” In mid 2008, Cheech and Chong reunited to form “The Light Up Canada Tour,” and “The Felimony Tour,” referring to Chong’s legal problems and Cheech’s maritial and alimony issues. The tour was a financial windfall and the decision was made to continue the tour in the US in late 2008, making a stop at the Abraham Chavez Theatre in downtown El Paso on May 15, 2009. I spoke with Cheech and Chong recently, about a number of the issues mentioned above, as well as the state of comedy today, their current feelings on marijuana, politics, how they spend their time, and various other topics that came up during the course of our conversation.
Fusion: How did you guys meet, and did you immediately realize you had a special chemistry?
Chong: Well, we were in Canada, and both of us happened to sign up for an experiment where they paid you $5 a day to smoke pot. How does a shotgun affect you (for the few of you who have never gotten high, a shotgun is when one person inhales a fresh hit and then exhales into another person’s mouth), how long did a high last, that kind of shit-and they partnered Cheech and I up.
Cheech: Actually we were in Canada during Vietnam protecting the Canadians from the Vietcong. My theory is the pot experiment was a cover for the real experiment, which was to see how mexicans and whites reacted to each other when they were extremely stoned.
Chong: See, Cheech was the first Mexican I had ever seen.
Fusion: Really?!?
Chong: Yeah, man.
Cheech: I had never seen a person who looked like Chong. He was the first Mongolian biker I ever met. But to answer your question I knew we were funny together.
Chong: Yeah, without a doubt, it just felt natural and people reacted to it.
Cheech: Chong had a nightclub in Vancouver that…I liked it. Go-Go dancers, pot smoking…it was everything good about that time. Eventually the police kinda figured out what was goin’ there, and people stopped comin’ by, until we were the only ones left.
Fusion: You guys found people for your films that everyone could relate to. How did you find them?
Chong: Man, when you meet people everyone has at least one thing, one bit, that they are perfect at, that’s really, really funny-like Standenko was a real cop in Vancouver that tried to bust us. We realized that everybody playing a real version of themselves and building a plot around that was something nobody in movies was doing-like the chick with the Ajax in “Up In Smoke,” (laughter) that was before CGI! She really could do that! We were around when the big cultural shift occurred in America-when culture as it really is became commonplace in the media. We could do what we wanted on film. We created characters people felt like they knew.
Fusion: The first three film’s “Up in Smoke,” “Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie,” and “Nice Dreams,” have become so integrated into the social fabric of America-did you realize when you were making them how well they would stand the test of time, how special they really were? There are bits in there that are just iconic cinematic moments…
Chong: Naw man, we didn’t realize how successful they would become. It was just us and our friends working around a real loose plot, doing what they were good at in terms of comedy. As far as iconic cinematic moments…Iconic is so close to moronic.
Cheech: We became iconic by being moronic! (laughter)
Fusion: Of all the holiday traditions, “Santa Clause and his Old Lady,” is something that is played hourly on every AOR station in America during the holidays. I just wanted to thank you for inserting a little creativity and genuine levity into an otherwise crass, commercial time of year that is ultimately measured in dollars and cents.
Cheech: We’re comedians-that’s what we do. Everyone needs money, but we like to think we make our money by making people laugh. It’s that carmex thing.
Fusion: You mean kharma?
Cheech Yeah, that thing, man.
Fusion: How do you produce your material? Improvisational or written?
Chong: We write and record at the same time, which is almost unheard of in this business. One of us will have an idea. For example, one day I said “Cheech, man, tell me the story of Santa Clause. It went from there.”
Cheech: That’s the way we worked. The secret was we were together 24/7/365 for seventeen years. We had to make it. We put ourselves in the position of making it or starving. We started out as musicians and we realized our best chance at success was to transform ourselves into comedians. We were offered television first, but it was to creatively constricting. We held out and then a movie opportunity opened up to us, and with that-total creative freedom. It came about, movies and records, because of the unrealistic nature of television at the time.
Fusion: Cheech, You got involved in collecting and raising awareness of Chicano/Latino art and it’s importance in the history and future of American art. How did that come about?
Cheech: I’ve always loved art, and there is a tremendous amount of incredibly talented Chicano/Latino artists. I am in a position to collect some of these brilliant works and share them with people, and if it makes one person discover their god given gift-there’s no price you can put on that. The beauty of the art enriches me and exhibiting my stuff-I hope-enriches other people.
Fusion: Chong, I was hesitant to ask you about this, but it has undeniable journalistic merit. In retrospect how do you feel about taking the fall for an overzealous prosecutor and giving up over 9 months of your life? Do you think it was politically motivated?
Cheech: What did you do for sex in the joint, bro?
Chong: I developed a very deep connection with my right hand. Seriously, I don’t know if it was politically motivated, and at this point I’ve moved on. Believe it or not, people inside were great. I learned a lot. Actually I think I got off kinda light. Somebody had to pay for all the shit Cheech and I got away with.
Fusion: What’s the best weed you’ve ever smoked? Do you still get high?
Chong: We’ve smoked, without bragging, the best pot on Earth. People are always like,”this is an incredible honor.” Give me a break-I’m Tommy Chong and I’ve smoked dope with thousands of people. I’m polite though, cause I respect those folks. They got Cheech and I were we are today. But to answer your question-I can’t smoke anymore. I’m bronchial.
Cheech: I make up for it.
Fusion: Guys I want to thank you for being so gracious, and funny. You guys have been heroes of mine for thirty or thirty five years, and this interview was even cooler than I thought it would be.
Cheech: Our pleasure, bro.
Chong: El Paso! See you in May!!
Cheech and Chong Light Up El Paso was released in issue #19, May 2009.
This is part of our Memory Lane Tour Sessions.
Article by Ray Sinder.