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[[File:300cheech_chong_090402032509725_wideweb__300x281_3531.jpg|frame|''When troubled times / be-gin to bother me / I take a toke / and all my cares go up in smoke'']]
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin and Tommy Chong form the [[Los Angeles]]-[[Canada|Canadian]] comedy team [[Cheech and Chong]]. Their comedy derives from [[The Stoner|pot smoking]], hippies, the free love movement, pop culture, incompetent leaders (particularly [[Police Are Useless|cops]]) and [[Stoners Are Funny|more pot smoking]]. Cheech Marin, a Mexican-American, was based in L.A. and Tommy Chong, the son of a Chinese truck driver and a Scots-Irish waitress, was born and lived in Canada.
▲{{quote| Dave's not here, man}}
Chong was originally the guitarist of the interracial R&B group Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers (formerly "Four Niggers and a Chink"), whose hit single "Does Your Mama Know About Me", was cowritten by Chong (it was inspired by Chong's Afro-Canadian ex-wife, Maxine, the mother of Rae Dawn and Robbi).
▲Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong form the [[Los Angeles]]-[[Canada|Canadian]] comedy team Cheech and Chong. Their comedy derives from [[The Stoner|pot smoking]], hippies, the free love movement, pop culture, incompetent leaders (particularly [[Police Are Useless|cops]]) and [[Stoners Are Funny|more pot smoking]]. Cheech Marin, a Mexican-American, was based in L.A. and Tommy Chong, the son of a Chinese truck driver and a Scots-Irish waitress, was born and lived in Canada.
While attempting to turn a strip joint into a comedy club (including combining strippers and comedy routines), Chong met Cheech, who came to Canada to evade the draft, and the rest was history. Born Richard Marin, the stage name "Cheech" is short for "chicharron", a fried pork skin that is a popular snack in Mexican cuisine.
▲Chong was originally the guitarist of the interracial R&B group Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers (formerly "Four Niggers and a Chink"), whose hit single "Does Your Mama Know About Me", was cowritten by Chong (it was inspired by Chong's Afro-Canadian ex-wife, Maxine, the mother of Rae Dawn and Robbi).
Cheech
▲While attempting to turn a strip joint into a comedy club (including combining strippers and comedy routines), Chong met Cheech, who came to Canada to evade the draft, and the rest was history. Born Richard Marin, the stage name "Cheech" is short for "chicharron", a fried pork skin that is a popular snack in Mexican cuisine.
Their success with live shows and albums was followed by a successful film career, beginning with ''[[Up in Smoke]]''. However, Cheech felt that if he continued playing stoner roles, he wouldn't be taken seriously as an actor, leading to the duo's breakup, following more "experimental" efforts like ''The Corsican Brothers'', which didn't feature any drug humor at all, and the video and album ''Get Out Of My Room'', which focused primarily on comedy music (and, again, featured very little pot smoking).
▲Cheech & Chong developed a crossover audience by opening for rock bands in gigs arranged by manager Lou Adler, who got them a Warner Bros. recording contract and a string of hit comedy albums. Some of their best-known bits included "Earache My Eye" (a novelty single featuring a skit and a song by [[Alice Cooper|Alice]] [[David Bowie|Bowie]]), "Basketball Jones" (sung in character by Cheech as an African-American basketball player, with appearances by [[George Harrison]], Carole King, Billy Preston, and Tom Scott), "[[Santa Claus]] and [[Mrs. Claus|His Old Lady]]" (in which Cheech tells a fractured version of Santa's origins), "Sister Mary Elephant" ("Class? Class--SHUT UP!!!"), and, in particular, "Dave", in which Cheech is trying to get inside the house after a successful drug transaction, but Chong, too stoned to realize who is outside, tells him "Dave's not here!"
Cheech had the most success as a solo actor, appearing in the series ''[[Nash Bridges]]'', lending voice acting to Disney movies like ''[[The Lion King]]'' and ''[[Cars]]'', and small roles in [[Robert Rodriguez]] movies like ''[[From Dusk till Dawn]]'' (delivering a hilarious "pussy" speech trying to hustle people into the Tittie Twister bar), ''[[Spy Kids]]'' and ''[[Machete]]'', and pretty much moving away from his former stoner image entirely. Chong, however, retained firmly in the stoner culture, and his film and TV roles were pretty limited, with his biggest solo success being his role in the series ''[[That '70s Show]]''.
▲Their success with live shows and albums was followed by a successful film career, beginning with ''[[Up in Smoke]]''. However, Cheech felt that if he continued playing stoner roles, he wouldn't be taken seriously as an actor, leading to the duo's breakup, following more "experimental" efforts like ''The Corsican Brothers'', which didn't feature any drug humor at all, and the video and album ''Get Out Of My Room'', which focused primarily on comedy music (and, again, featured very little pot smoking).
▲Cheech had the most success as a solo actor, appearing in the series ''[[Nash Bridges]]'', lending voice acting to Disney movies like ''[[The Lion King]]'' and ''[[Cars]]'', and small roles in [[Robert Rodriguez]] movies like ''[[From Dusk till Dawn]]'' (delivering a hilarious "pussy" speech trying to hustle people into the Tittie Twister bar), ''[[Spy Kids]]'' and ''[[Machete]]'', and pretty much moving away from his former stoner image entirely. Chong, however, retained firmly in the stoner culture, and his film and TV roles were pretty limited, with his biggest solo success being his role in the series ''[[That 70s Show]]''.
Attempts at a reunion were largely unsuccessful because the two comedians were unable to get along with each other for a very long time, and appearances together in ''Ferngully'' and ''[[South Park]]'' were done with their voices recorded separately. (Chong was also offered a part in ''[[The Lion King]]'', but turned it down, and as a result, the character was changed into a female and the part was given to [[Whoopi Goldberg]]). Meanwhile, Chong and his wife, Shelby, toured as a team, and their routine included updated versions of Cheech and Chong bits.
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Compare and contrast [[The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers]].
'''Cheech & Chong'''
* ''[[Up in Smoke]]'' (1978)
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'''Cheech Marin'''
* ''Born in East L.A.'' (1987)
* ''[[Oliver and Company]]'' (1988)
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'''Tommy Chong'''
* ''Far Out Man'' (1990)
* ''[[Half Baked]]'' (1998)
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* ''Chinaman's Chance'' (2008)
{{Discography}}
'''Cheech & Chong'''
* ''[[Self-Titled Album|Cheech and Chong]]''
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'''Cheech Marin'''
* ''My Name Is Cheech the School Bus Driver'' (1992) - children's album, released in both English and Spanish versions.
{{creatortropes}}
* [[Berserk Button]]: Cheech on occasion. Unlike the [[Erudite Stoner|perpetually mellow]] Chong. Subverted in ''Things Are Tough All Over'', where both play two sets of characters: their usual personas and [[Hair-Trigger Temper]] Arab businessmen Mr. Slyman (Cheech) and Prince Habib (Chong), who try to kill Cheech & Chong, believing them to have stolen their money due to a comic misunderstanding.
* [[Breakaway Pop Hit]]: "Born in East L.A." (a Cheech solo song credited to Cheech & Chong) originally premiered in the video and album ''Get Out Of My Room'', but is better known thanks to being turned into a Cheech solo movie of the same name, which briefly featured the song that it was based on. It's also the only song from the album that the two acknowledge, as they performed a revamped version during their reunion tours (with a salsa interlude to highlight Chong and Shelby's salsa dancing, something they took up as a hobby in the 1990s).
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* [[The Pornomancer]]: Cheech.
* [[Racist Grandma|Racist Grandpa]]: Harry (Chong) drags his wife Margaret (Cheech) to see a porno movie. Pretty much everything in the movie (including bestiality) disgusts Margaret, but the only thing Harry is disgusted by is when the actress has sex with a black man...the very thing that actually ''arouses'' Margaret.
{{quote|
* [[Shown Their Work]]: Tommy Chong is actually a talented guitarist, and played in an R&B band before becoming a comedian. He Shows His Work in his performances by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUtxnPRhlks actually playing an electric guitar], and playing it well. He's also played acoustic and electric guitars in several of his movies.
* [[Stoners Are Funny]]
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[[Category:Actors]]
[[Category:Cheech and Chong]]
[[Category:Comic Actors]]
[[Category:Comedian]]
[[Category:Names to Know in Comedy]]
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