Comedian Tommy Chong and how he still gets high.

1. Chong hit
BY JENNIFER NICOLE SULLIVAN
One half of the comedy duo who gave us ‘Santa Claus and
His Old Lady’ now wants to give us gourmet weed candy.
Canadian-born comedian about their formed together since 1993. “When handmade bongs through his family
He’s not smokin’ these days, but reunion. “I mean, I look at it this way Cheech and I split up, she became business, Chong Glass. The 2006 doc-
he’s still eating it. Reefer that is. The — it’s twice the money for half the my Cheech,” Chong said. umentary “A/K/A Tommy Chong”
drug that Tommy Chong, of the ston- work.” Considered pioneers in their time by director Josh Gilbert chronicles
Their show, which Chong says is because of their no-holds-barred, the controversy surrounding his
er comedy duo Cheech & Chong,
“more like a play than strictly stand- cannabis-loving routines, the duo imprisonment.
famously joked about and toked.
up,” revisits Cheech & Chong’s hilar- paved the way for pot jokes in hun- In 2008, Chong published “Cheech
“I’m eating (it) more than ever,”
Old stoner bank. Tommy Chong, ious classic comedy bits. dreds of films, including “Knocked & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobi-
said the 72-year-old comedian via
left, and Richard ‘Cheech’ Marin, “We’re just sort of reacquainting Up” and the “Harold & Kumar” ography” about the infamous duo’s
telephone from Los Angeles. “I came
our audiences with our act that we movies. experiences. He and his son, Paris
right, are back with their classic bits up with a good recipe of weed
had for years,” said Chong, who’s “I think we were way ahead of the Chong, are currently working on a
from the ’70s and ’80s. ‘I look at it sautéed in coconut oil. You put it in half Chinese, half Scotch-Irish. pack in ‘Up In Smoke’ days,” said
this way — it’s twice the money for the fridge, let it harden, then you line of coconut-made beauty prod-
“This time around we’re doing mate- Chong, who directed nearly all of
half the work,’ Chong says. break it off like candy And it’s deli-
. ucts and Chong hopes to sell his
rial that we never did on stage their films. “The same issues that
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO cious. So I don’t smoke anymore.” coconut/cannabis candy to medical
before, you know, ‘Dave’s Not Here,’ are big now were big back then, you
On Saturday, July 10, Chong and marijuana distributors in Los Ange-
‘Santa Claus and His Old Lady .’” know, immigration and marijuana.
his longtime buddy Richard les.
CHEECH & CHONG’S Chong continued, “I mean Cheech So I think the humor has kind of
“Cheech” Marin will hit the Newport Later this year, Cheech & Chong
hadn’t even thought about Cheech & caught up to us. Every comedian has
‘GET IT LEGAL’ TOUR Yachting Center stage as part of the Chong for years and he really had to, a pot joke now.” will release an R-rated animated
Newport Summer Comedy Series you know, kind of rely on the DNA. After the pair split in the late ’80s, movie that includes their famous
Saturday, July 10,
with their “Get It Legal” tour. But it took us about five minutes, Chong toured extensively and routines and the duo is writing a
7:30 p.m.
The satirical, counter-culture pair maybe 30 seconds, to get back in the appeared in several films and TV script for their next film tentatively
Newport Yachting that produced nine comedy albums groove.” shows, most notably as the old hippie titled, “Grumpy Old Stoners.”
JULY 7-JULY 13, 2010
Center, 4 Commercial Wharf, off between 1972 and 1985 and eight hit Joey Marin, Cheech Marin’s son, stoner Leo in “That ’70s Show.” In But despite a heavy touring sched-
America’s Cup Avenue, Newport. films like “Up in Smoke” (Chong’s is the show’s DJ; Chong’s longtime 2006, he published the New York ule and loads of projects, Chong con-
Tickets $50 favorite) and “Still Smokin” reunited partner and wife of eight years, Shel- Times Bestseller, “The I Chong: Med- siders himself retired and calls it all
for their “Light Up America” tour by Chong, opens the show with a 30- itations from the Joint,” about his “a hobby .”
www.newportcomedy.com “You never know,” he said. “It
two years ago, more than 25 years minute stand-up routine and partici- nine-month stint in federal prison
(401) 846-1600, Ext. 2; (800) after Cheech & Chong split up. pates throughout the show. Chong from 2003 to 2004 for his involvement might be the last time Cheech &
745-3000 “Oh, it’s been great,” said the and his wife have toured and per- in distributing and manufacturing Chong will be on tour.”
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