NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� The irony tickles Cheech and Chong: The smoked them out of their homes.
鈥淚 had to de-smoke my house,鈥� says, giggling. 鈥淐an you imagine that?鈥�
Chong and 's houses, both in the Pacific Palisades, didn't burn down. But as two of the few homes left standing ("We're under suspicion," jokes Chong), they've been uprooted.
But being on the road has always been a more natural state for Marin and Chong. No comic act has ever gotten so much mileage out of driving nowhere in particular. In their new movie, 鈥淐heech & Chong's Last Movie" (in theaters Friday), they reflect on their odd journey while cruising through the desert, looking for a place called The Joint.
Marin, who grew up in Watts the son of an LAPD police officer, met Chong, whose father was Chinese and whose mother was Scotch Irish, after fleeing to Canada to avoid the Vietnam War draft. They met through an improv troupe and immediately felt a rare kinship.
"He鈥檚 the egg roll, I鈥檓 the taquito," laughs Marin.
Their stand-up tours made them counterculture icons. They opened for the Rolling Stones. Bruce Springsteen opened for them. Their comedy albums made them rock stars, and their films 鈥� including 1978's 鈥� made them ubiquitous stoner archetypes.
鈥淥ur whole getting together was very auspicious,鈥� Chong says. 鈥淚t was designed by god for us to be here.鈥�
鈥淧ersonally,鈥� adds Marin, smiling. 鈥淕od told us.鈥�
But despite their buddy-buddy routine, Marin and Chong weren't always the best of friends. After squabbles over credit, they split in the 1980s and saw little of each other for 20 years. In 2003, Chong was incarcerated for nine months for trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia. He calls his spell in federal prison the best time of his life.
Yet Cheech and Chong, a double act to rival Laurel and Hardy, has proven remarkably durable 鈥� and profitable. With the legalization of marijuana in many states, they preside over a flourishing weed business. (Sample tagline: 鈥淕et high with the legends.鈥�) For a pair of stoners that few would have forecast longevity, they've not just made it to old age 鈥� Marin is 78, Chong is 86 鈥� they look great. And they laugh just as much as they used to.
They've maybe even grown wiser, too. As Chong explained over breakfast, they're reluctant to talk politics. 鈥淲e're very deportable,鈥� he said with a grin.
AP: How was it to see your lives laid out in the movie?
CHEECH: I wish they had done even more on our early days because we were trying to figure out who each other were. 鈥淲hat are you? How come you鈥檙e named Chong?鈥�
CHONG: The thing is, he was a fugitive. So in order to come into the States, he had to take a chance. He had already sneaked up to Canada. The next thing you know, he meets me and we鈥檙e going back to the States!
CHEECH: I was wanted in the U.S. I came back in the U.S. with a phony ID: my friends鈥� driver鈥檚 license. It was his picture on it. 鈥淥K, that鈥檚 me.鈥� 鈥淏rown, check. Go ahead.鈥�
CHONG: They weren鈥檛 suspecting a Mexican sneaking in from Canada.
AP: People forget how big you were as a stand-up act. You were rock 鈥榥' roll comedians before that was a thing.
CHONG: We made up a whole genre of language.
CHEECH: Put this in your article: We should be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That should be the first sentence.
CHONG: We f鈥� up the comedy scene. We had people scrambling.
AP: Who were some of the people you enjoyed hanging out with back then?
CHEECH: would come over and stay with me by the beach. He was a great astronomer and knew everything about the constellations.
CHONG: We used to meet on the road sometimes. One time we got in a big discussion. His thing was: We gotta get on a spaceship. This Earth is getting messed up. I said Tim, 鈥淲e鈥檙e on a spaceship. The best spaceship you can imagine!鈥� And you know what he said to me? 鈥淥h, you sound just like John Lennon."
AP: Weed is legal is many places, but do you find it harder to find the anti-authoritarian spirit that accompanied it back in the '60s?
CHONG: What I鈥檝e known all my life is the racist policies that are now illegal were once the norm around the world. We grew up in a world where America wouldn鈥檛 let a boatload of Jews dock in America. And this is after Hitler was defeated. These are human beings!
AP: How has old age changed you?
CHONG: Like anything, you have to age gracefully. That鈥檚 what I learned. The older I get, the less I speak because you put your foot in your mouth every time you open it. Me, especially. I say things before I think them.
CHEECH: Really? Really? No!
CHONG: F鈥� off.
AP: You sound to me just like you always did.
CHONG: It鈥檚 ordained. It comes from the Power. I think what it was when I was younger and the guy that operated the jazz club came up to me and handed me a Lenny Bruce record and a joint. Oh, OK. Now I know what I gotta do with the rest of my life. And I鈥檝e been doing it. But he didn鈥檛 say anything about meeting a Mexican.
AP: Why do you think you two went together so well?
CHEECH: We had the same background frame of reference. We knew about the same things. We were both kind of outsiders and we had the same kind of sense of humor.
CHONG: I鈥檝e always been an instigator. I always hung with the craziest guy in the class, and quietly tell the guy what to do. He鈥檇 get in trouble. So when I met Cheech, it was a natural.
AP: After you split up, what brought you back together?
CHEECH: Money.
CHONG: My son, Paris. He arranged for us to meet, and the meeting didn鈥檛 really go that well. I hadn鈥檛 seen him for years. I sent an email saying it was nice seeing you. My son intercepted the email and wrote his own letter. He wrote: 鈥淵eah, I鈥檓 looking forward to working with you again. Let鈥檚 get together and rehearse.鈥� The next thing I know, I get a call from my son: 鈥淐heech is coming over.鈥� The rehearsal was like: 鈥淗ow you doin鈥�? So we got a gig? When? I鈥檒l see you there.鈥� And that was it. When we got on stage 鈥� we hadn鈥檛 been on stage for like 20 years 鈥� boom, like we had never been apart.
AP: You must be making a lot of money from selling weed now. Has that been good?
CHEECH: Very.
CHONG: Oh, incredible. Not quite as good as they touted, what they sold us on. We haven鈥檛 reached that point yet
CHEECH: But we鈥檙e approaching it.
CHONG: Especially with this movie, wow.
CHEECH: It鈥檚 going to win three Academy Awards. It鈥檚 already won three Academy Awards.
AP: To you, are there any downsides to the legalization of weed? It used to be a more rebellious subculture.
CHONG: The cellphone freed us all. You can get your jolt on your cellphone. I鈥檓 more flexible when it comes to personal appearances. There was a time when Cheech and I, because we had that reputation, I didn鈥檛 ever want to spoil anybody鈥檚 hopes or fears. There were quite a few shows we weren鈥檛 allowed on. And I understand, I respect those shows. They didn鈥檛 want to be changed by us. Because we have a habit of changing s鈥�.
AP: Like what? Like Johnny Carson?
CHEECH: We were never on Carson. Freddy de Cordova was the producer there.
CHONG: And he was a big pot head and didn鈥檛 want to get outed. All those guys. Johnny Carson.
AP: You existed in an odd place. You weren't quite allowed in the mainstream, but the mainstream found you.
Cheech: We were the new mainstream. We were showing what the mainstream actually looked like.
AP: Are you glad you got back together?
CHONG: He never wanted to break up but he always wanted to be able to do his thing. I鈥檝e always been the dominant guy. It鈥檚 not so much because I鈥檓 better, it鈥檚 because I鈥檓 only good at certain things. I鈥檝e always felt our job was to stay with the plot. That鈥檚 why we never went any further than pot, as far as drugs. And, if we did in the movies, it never turned out that well. We always had Cheech鈥檚 obsession with the opposite sex and my obsession with getting high. It just made everybody comfortable.
CHEECH: It was fun and it was going to be lucrative. And it was. We did stage (work) for another eight or 10 years.
CHONG: Fifty-some odd years! We鈥檝e been together longer than he鈥檚 been with his wife and I鈥檝e been with my wife. It鈥檚 something. Chances are, we鈥檒l still be together when he gets another wife.
AP: This is being billed as your last movie, but it doesn't seem like that's necessarily the case.
CHEECH: It鈥檚 not necessarily. I don鈥檛 know why they named it that. Anything can happen with Cheech and Chong. I think it鈥檚 unlikely, but who knows. This last movie was unlikely.
CHONG: I kind of compare it to Cher鈥檚 goodbye tour because she鈥檚 had, what, 18 of 鈥檈m? People ask me how do you want to be remembered. I like how we鈥檙e remembered now. When people think of Cheech and Chong, they smile. So I want to be remembered with a smile.
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
