cannabisnews.com: Whoa, Like... How Do You Remember Lines, Man?





Whoa, Like... How Do You Remember Lines, Man?
Posted by Cannabis News on December 09, 2004 at 11:48:57 PT
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
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 the Edmonton-born 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.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.FootstepsChong's following in the theatrical footsteps of his daughter Precious, who was in Winnipeg last spring to star in Mating Dance of the Werewolf at MTC.Since his release from jail in July, Chong has finished an autobiography, started on the play and is planning 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'.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 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.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.Published: Thu, 09 Dec 2004Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)Copyright: 2004 Winnipeg Free PressWebsite: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/Author: John Rogers, Associated Press
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Comment #8 posted by mattesting on December 29, 2004 at 11:47:09 PT:
Testing one last time
123
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Comment #7 posted by mattesting on December 29, 2004 at 11:20:59 PT:
Testing again
123
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on December 09, 2004 at 17:31:19 PT
Oh dang!
I fell so easily into using the term "stoner". I can't believe I did that.sorry
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on December 09, 2004 at 12:27:14 PT
EJohnson...lol...I like that!
"Frankly, I want to see Pedro and the Man about as much as a Jesse Jackson wants to see a Stepin Fetchit movie."Things they (Cheech and Chong) are saying worry me, too. I'm thinking that...and of course, Chong was never really Man...but I'm thinking he's still feeling pretty close to his neck that "Sword of DEAocales" that hangs over all our heads.He's worried about what he says. I can't say as I blame him. I worry about what I might have said, sometimes.But then again...maybe he is all about the money he earns for the stoner image he has come up with. Maybe he really does think all stoners are truly morons and don't deserve freedom. I feel for him and I'm watching what he says but I'm way past thinking he's going to stand up for those who think the government goes way too far in their control of so many aspects of individual lives.It's always been obvious that he's smart and talented...but it's also obvious that he, like Dylan, doesn't want to be anyone's hero or leader. (I like their trimmed for TV movies better than the uncut ones. I don't care much for vulgarity... like the elephant thing...but without the vulgarity, to me, they were truly hilareous.)
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on December 09, 2004 at 12:09:21 PT
Yaaaay!
Up again!
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on December 09, 2004 at 12:04:31 PT
Thanks Matt
I assume it's good to go. I'll wait a little bit longer and then I'll started getting stories up.
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Comment #2 posted by E_Johnson on December 09, 2004 at 11:59:10 PT
He confuses me
I don't understand this man. Why can't he ever be straightforward and heartfelt? Why does he have to say mean things about marijuana users and act like it's funny?Is this love or hate? I'm not getting it.Frankly, I want to see Pedro and the Man about as much as a Jesse Jackson wants to see a Stepin Fetchit movie.
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Comment #1 posted by Matt Elrod on December 09, 2004 at 11:52:29 PT:
Just testing
Just testing
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