Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
It's 8 a.m. California time when Cheech Marin answers my phone call. I ask if this is a good time for an interview.
"Well," he said, "I'm looking at my beautiful naked Russian girlfriend get out of the Jacuzzi right now, dude."
When he doesn't hang up right then and there, I know he's joking.
That is, after all, what he does -- jokes. And tokes. Combining the two, he's made enough money to fill his Jacuzzi with just about anything he wants.
Long before Seth Rogen started behaving Superbadly, Cheech and Tommy Chong were lighting up the big screen with reefers the size of baguettes.
They were the original potheads, and until Rogen, no other stoner has been able to match their success at the box-office.
Now, 30 years after their hit movie debut Up in Smoke, Cheech and Chong are reuniting for a standup comedy tour, and their first stop is at the usually staid National Arts Centre on Friday.
But first, they had to make up after a longstanding feud over what Marin called "a pissing contest, or ego contest more than anything."
They couldn't tour from Oct. 8, 2003, to July 7, 2004, because Chong was in jail serving time for selling bongs -- water pipes used to smoke canabis.
So with Marin at age 62 and Chong at 70, they knew if they were ever going to do a farewell tour, now was the time.
"We just said, 'Hey, this is stupid, we shouldn't be fighting over I don't know what for all these years,' " said Marin.
"We have this opportunity to tour and extract the wealth of Cheech and Chong that we've built up over the years. If we keep fighting, it's like having half a treasure map, it doesn't do anybody any good."
And thanks to Rogen, the timing is good. With his hit movies Knocked Up, Superbad and Pineapple Express, stoner humour is back on a high.
"I find him very funny," Marin said. "I liked Knocked Up and Superbad. We kind of blazed the trail and that's cool, that's the way it should be. I think it's flattering that we influenced so many people."
The NAC show will feature some new material, but a lot of older stuff they'll make new again.
"Last time we were on tour together was 27 years ago, so people walking around who are 27 years old weren't born, so it's all new material to them."
That includes his own children, who are adults now but had to deal with issues that come with having Cheech Marin as your father.
"At 14 or 15, there's a lot of peer pressure, like, 'You must be the biggest stoner in the world because your dad is,' " he said. "They've all had to deal with that and I've had to talk them through it. They're involved with being their own person so they don't tell people who their dad is."
Marin said he still has the odd puff of marijuana, but insists he and Chong were never baked 24/7 like their on-screen characters. The joints they smoked in their movies were "stunt dope," rolled with legal ingredients.
That will be the only weed they'll bring across the border, he said.
"Hey, Canada was very good to let us in," he said. "We go to Toronto next and we'll probably get kicked out after that, but what the hell."
News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Canoe
Author: SHANE ROSS
Copyright: 2008 Canoe Inc.
Contact: CANOE -- JAM! Entertainment and Showbiz
Website: CANOE -- JAM! Movies - Artists - Marin, Cheech: Cheech Marin a fan of Seth Rogen
"Well," he said, "I'm looking at my beautiful naked Russian girlfriend get out of the Jacuzzi right now, dude."
When he doesn't hang up right then and there, I know he's joking.
That is, after all, what he does -- jokes. And tokes. Combining the two, he's made enough money to fill his Jacuzzi with just about anything he wants.
Long before Seth Rogen started behaving Superbadly, Cheech and Tommy Chong were lighting up the big screen with reefers the size of baguettes.
They were the original potheads, and until Rogen, no other stoner has been able to match their success at the box-office.
Now, 30 years after their hit movie debut Up in Smoke, Cheech and Chong are reuniting for a standup comedy tour, and their first stop is at the usually staid National Arts Centre on Friday.
But first, they had to make up after a longstanding feud over what Marin called "a pissing contest, or ego contest more than anything."
They couldn't tour from Oct. 8, 2003, to July 7, 2004, because Chong was in jail serving time for selling bongs -- water pipes used to smoke canabis.
So with Marin at age 62 and Chong at 70, they knew if they were ever going to do a farewell tour, now was the time.
"We just said, 'Hey, this is stupid, we shouldn't be fighting over I don't know what for all these years,' " said Marin.
"We have this opportunity to tour and extract the wealth of Cheech and Chong that we've built up over the years. If we keep fighting, it's like having half a treasure map, it doesn't do anybody any good."
And thanks to Rogen, the timing is good. With his hit movies Knocked Up, Superbad and Pineapple Express, stoner humour is back on a high.
"I find him very funny," Marin said. "I liked Knocked Up and Superbad. We kind of blazed the trail and that's cool, that's the way it should be. I think it's flattering that we influenced so many people."
The NAC show will feature some new material, but a lot of older stuff they'll make new again.
"Last time we were on tour together was 27 years ago, so people walking around who are 27 years old weren't born, so it's all new material to them."
That includes his own children, who are adults now but had to deal with issues that come with having Cheech Marin as your father.
"At 14 or 15, there's a lot of peer pressure, like, 'You must be the biggest stoner in the world because your dad is,' " he said. "They've all had to deal with that and I've had to talk them through it. They're involved with being their own person so they don't tell people who their dad is."
Marin said he still has the odd puff of marijuana, but insists he and Chong were never baked 24/7 like their on-screen characters. The joints they smoked in their movies were "stunt dope," rolled with legal ingredients.
That will be the only weed they'll bring across the border, he said.
"Hey, Canada was very good to let us in," he said. "We go to Toronto next and we'll probably get kicked out after that, but what the hell."
News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Canoe
Author: SHANE ROSS
Copyright: 2008 Canoe Inc.
Contact: CANOE -- JAM! Entertainment and Showbiz
Website: CANOE -- JAM! Movies - Artists - Marin, Cheech: Cheech Marin a fan of Seth Rogen
