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Los Angeles - It was pot that made him famous and pot that helped put him in prison. So it seems only natural that Tommy Chong's first big gig since leaving the joint would be in a play called The Marijuana-Logues.
"I'm trying to change my image," jokes the taller, bespectacled half of comedy's ultimate doper duo, Cheech and Chong. Only in this case, it's not entirely a joke. At 65, with his long dark hair and beard turning seriously grey, Chong may still be talking about pot - but he's doing it off-Broadway.
"I'm trying to go from nightclubs to the legitimate stage," he says of his role in the three-man ensemble show at New York's Actors Theatre. "I love the fact that it's in New York. Legitimate theatre. New York. That's always been my dream."
If that sounds surprising, it turns out that Thomas B. Kin Chong is full of surprises. For one thing, he's soft-spoken and articulate - nothing at all like the character he's played in films, nightclubs and on television and comedy albums for more than 30 years. The father of six says he hasn't touched marijuana in two years, joking that's why authorities found nearly a pound when they raided the Pacific Palisades home he shares with Shelby Chong, his wife of more than 30 years.
"In the old days, they wouldn't have found a seed," Chong says with a laugh.
Chong was never charged with marijuana possession because the agents who arrested him were looking for smoking materials made by Nice Dreams, a company named for one of his Cheech and Chong films, and had not included marijuana in the search warrant. He ended up serving nine months after pleading guilty to conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia.
He maintains that what authorities say were bongs and water pipes actually were examples of the fine blown-glass art he has exhibited over the years. He says he agreed to plead guilty to spare his son Paris, who ran Nice Dreams, any legal troubles.
"He put his heart and soul into it," Chong says quietly. Quickly brightening, he adds, "He's back in school now so it all worked out. He's studying to be a lawyer. I figure he may as well learn something the family can use."
Despite the persona he developed over the years, Chong says he was never that much of a stoner, and his humour was about "cracking up at all the stupid things stoners do."
For example, not showing up at the show on time.
"My fans usually show up the day after I go on," he jokes. Then, breaking into his more recognizable laid-back stoner drawl: "I was going to come down sooner, man, but then I fired one up and I got here - next year?"
Chong describes the three-man show, which has been running off-Broadway since March, as a parody of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, with the three actors comically addressing the rites and rituals of getting stoned.
"Instead of talking about our private parts, we spend the night talking about our smoking parts," he says.
The Marijuana-Logues runs in New York through most of December and then on the West Coast (with cities to be announced) beginning in February.
The show's producer couldn't be happier.
"We've been off and on in discussions with Tommy about doing it since he got released several months ago, and we're real excited to have him," said producer Lee Marshall. "He's just a natural for the role. We're selling a lot of tickets in New York and I think when we go on the road we'll probably sell out everywhere we play."
Chong's been a busy man since his release from jail in July. He's been finishing an autobiography, doing the play and he plans to return next year to That '70s Show and his recurring role as Leo, the stoned-out, aging hippie. He doesn't know yet how his absence will be explained. "Maybe they'll say I was in jail," he chuckles.
After that there is the long-awaited return of Cheech and Chong. He and Cheech Marin haven't made a film together in 20 years, but a new one, still untitled, is in the works. It will reunite Pedro and Man, the bumbling dopers who staggered through the 1970s and 1980s in such films as Up in Smoke, Nice Dreams and Still Smokin'.
"No, they haven't gotten smarter with age," Chong says of the characters. "But they're still the same lovable guys."
The comedy team's long-dormant partnership, Chong adds, never amounted to an estrangement. Although they saw little of each other over the years, he says, they always kept in touch and remained friends. His partner agrees.
"I always cared about him and he always cared about me," Marin says. "We actually tried to get together a couple other times, but the timing wasn't right then."
So what broke them up?
"We just got sick of each other," Marin laughs. "We'd been together 17 years. We just kind of didn't want to listen to each other anymore. We both wanted to go our separate ways."
Chong and Marin say they began planning their reunion before Chong's arrest - the first brush with the law either had in 50 years. Chong acknowledges being busted for joy-riding in his native Canada when he was 15. As for Marin, now 58, "My dad was a cop," he says, explaining his impulse for staying out of trouble.
The two met in Canada, where Marin had moved after studying English at California State University, Northridge, and where Chong was running a topless nightclub that offered improvisational comedy. Chong had dropped out of high school to pursue music, touring for a time with the Vancouvers, for which he co-wrote the rhythm and blues hit, Does Your Mama Know About Me.
Cheech and Chong were ahead of their time in some respects. Decades before multiculturalism became hip, the Canadian-born Chong, whose truck driver father was Chinese, and Cheech, the Mexican-American son of a Los Angeles police officer, could bill themselves as the world's only "Chicano-Chinese-Canadian comedy team."
Though their act had its limits, its appeal endures.
"What Cheech and I did, and we still do, is we told the truth about a culture. And truth endures," Chong says. "We played the lowest common denominator, the stoner. . . . We not only made people laugh but we also reflected a society that's been around since the beginning of time."
Canada.com
Canada.Com
"I'm trying to change my image," jokes the taller, bespectacled half of comedy's ultimate doper duo, Cheech and Chong. Only in this case, it's not entirely a joke. At 65, with his long dark hair and beard turning seriously grey, Chong may still be talking about pot - but he's doing it off-Broadway.
"I'm trying to go from nightclubs to the legitimate stage," he says of his role in the three-man ensemble show at New York's Actors Theatre. "I love the fact that it's in New York. Legitimate theatre. New York. That's always been my dream."
If that sounds surprising, it turns out that Thomas B. Kin Chong is full of surprises. For one thing, he's soft-spoken and articulate - nothing at all like the character he's played in films, nightclubs and on television and comedy albums for more than 30 years. The father of six says he hasn't touched marijuana in two years, joking that's why authorities found nearly a pound when they raided the Pacific Palisades home he shares with Shelby Chong, his wife of more than 30 years.
"In the old days, they wouldn't have found a seed," Chong says with a laugh.
Chong was never charged with marijuana possession because the agents who arrested him were looking for smoking materials made by Nice Dreams, a company named for one of his Cheech and Chong films, and had not included marijuana in the search warrant. He ended up serving nine months after pleading guilty to conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia.
He maintains that what authorities say were bongs and water pipes actually were examples of the fine blown-glass art he has exhibited over the years. He says he agreed to plead guilty to spare his son Paris, who ran Nice Dreams, any legal troubles.
"He put his heart and soul into it," Chong says quietly. Quickly brightening, he adds, "He's back in school now so it all worked out. He's studying to be a lawyer. I figure he may as well learn something the family can use."
Despite the persona he developed over the years, Chong says he was never that much of a stoner, and his humour was about "cracking up at all the stupid things stoners do."
For example, not showing up at the show on time.
"My fans usually show up the day after I go on," he jokes. Then, breaking into his more recognizable laid-back stoner drawl: "I was going to come down sooner, man, but then I fired one up and I got here - next year?"
Chong describes the three-man show, which has been running off-Broadway since March, as a parody of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, with the three actors comically addressing the rites and rituals of getting stoned.
"Instead of talking about our private parts, we spend the night talking about our smoking parts," he says.
The Marijuana-Logues runs in New York through most of December and then on the West Coast (with cities to be announced) beginning in February.
The show's producer couldn't be happier.
"We've been off and on in discussions with Tommy about doing it since he got released several months ago, and we're real excited to have him," said producer Lee Marshall. "He's just a natural for the role. We're selling a lot of tickets in New York and I think when we go on the road we'll probably sell out everywhere we play."
Chong's been a busy man since his release from jail in July. He's been finishing an autobiography, doing the play and he plans to return next year to That '70s Show and his recurring role as Leo, the stoned-out, aging hippie. He doesn't know yet how his absence will be explained. "Maybe they'll say I was in jail," he chuckles.
After that there is the long-awaited return of Cheech and Chong. He and Cheech Marin haven't made a film together in 20 years, but a new one, still untitled, is in the works. It will reunite Pedro and Man, the bumbling dopers who staggered through the 1970s and 1980s in such films as Up in Smoke, Nice Dreams and Still Smokin'.
"No, they haven't gotten smarter with age," Chong says of the characters. "But they're still the same lovable guys."
The comedy team's long-dormant partnership, Chong adds, never amounted to an estrangement. Although they saw little of each other over the years, he says, they always kept in touch and remained friends. His partner agrees.
"I always cared about him and he always cared about me," Marin says. "We actually tried to get together a couple other times, but the timing wasn't right then."
So what broke them up?
"We just got sick of each other," Marin laughs. "We'd been together 17 years. We just kind of didn't want to listen to each other anymore. We both wanted to go our separate ways."
Chong and Marin say they began planning their reunion before Chong's arrest - the first brush with the law either had in 50 years. Chong acknowledges being busted for joy-riding in his native Canada when he was 15. As for Marin, now 58, "My dad was a cop," he says, explaining his impulse for staying out of trouble.
The two met in Canada, where Marin had moved after studying English at California State University, Northridge, and where Chong was running a topless nightclub that offered improvisational comedy. Chong had dropped out of high school to pursue music, touring for a time with the Vancouvers, for which he co-wrote the rhythm and blues hit, Does Your Mama Know About Me.
Cheech and Chong were ahead of their time in some respects. Decades before multiculturalism became hip, the Canadian-born Chong, whose truck driver father was Chinese, and Cheech, the Mexican-American son of a Los Angeles police officer, could bill themselves as the world's only "Chicano-Chinese-Canadian comedy team."
Though their act had its limits, its appeal endures.
"What Cheech and I did, and we still do, is we told the truth about a culture. And truth endures," Chong says. "We played the lowest common denominator, the stoner. . . . We not only made people laugh but we also reflected a society that's been around since the beginning of time."
Canada.com
Canada.Com
