Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong have made a legacy for themselves with their pot fueled antics,
but there's a lot more to the comedy duo than you might expect.
Here are some things you probably believe about Cheech and Chong that aren't actually true.
While they might sound like cleverly baked-up stage names, Cheech and Chong have been going
by those names since long before they started their act. Chong simply goes by his last name,
having been named Thomas B. Kin Chong at birth. As for Cheech, he was born Richard Anthony Marin,
but was given the nickname "Cheech" at only a few days old when his uncle joked that he
looked like a little chicharròn — or pork rind, in Spanish. It's a rather fortunate
coincidence that their names happen to roll off the tongue so well together.
While it's hard to imagine Cheech without Chong and Chong without Cheech, both had careers
before they crossed paths and joined forces. Before he got into comedy, Cheech Marin was an
amateur musician and writer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he moved to Canada after college
to escape the Vietnam war draft. While living in Alberta, he apprenticed with a well-known potter,
and had a gig delivering carpets in Vancouver when he met his comedy partner.
Meanwhile, Tommy Chong was a serious musician long before he started incorporating comedy
into his work. In the early 1960s, he played guitar with a band called the Shades — which
changed names several times before Chong left the group — co-operated a nightclub in
his hometown of Vancouver, and later helped run an improv comedy club with his family.
When Marin and Chong finally met in 1968 and began performing together, it was initially
as a musical act performing at Chong's family's club, but audiences found the casual, easy banter
between the two men so funny that the pair decided to pivot toward comedy. Marin told Rolling Stone,
"We started in a strip bar that Tommy's family owned in the worst part of Vancouver. He wanted
to do improv theater, but he wanted to keep the topless element at the same time in order
to preserve the audience that was already there. So it became topless improv, hippie burlesque."
If you had met Tommy Chong in the early 1960s, you probably wouldn't have recognized him with
his crisply pressed suit and carefully styled hair — a far cry from the look we know him for
today. It was only after meeting one of the greatest guitarists of his generation
that Chong started letting loose with his appearance. Chong told The Wrap,
"When we met [Jimi] Hendrix, everyone started dressing like Hendrix. We all [started wearing
new] outfits, doing our hair long. And I changed so radically that when I got back to Vancouver,
they wouldn't let me back into my own club because they didn't recognize me."
Chong didn't take very long to grow into his new look, embracing the drug-using,
freewheeling lifestyle of the mid to late 60s to such an extent
that it's nearly impossible to imagine him without it.
Thousands of fans were introduced to the comedic
stylings of Cheech and Chong through the 1978 cult classic "Up In Smoke,"
the tale of two pothead buddies who get chased down by cops for unknowingly smuggling a van
made of marijuana across the US-Mexico border. The film was a runaway success,
earning over a hundred million dollars at the box office on a two million dollar budget.
By that point, however, the pair had already established themselves as a successful act.
Cheech and Chong released five studio albums between 1971 and 1976, four of which
were certified gold. Their self-titled debut record sold impressively for a debut effort,
and their second, "Big Bambu," peaked at Number 2 in the Billboard 200 charts. In 1974, their
third album, "Los Cochinos," won a Grammy award for Best Comedy Recording.
The pair's hard work on the comedy circuit made them an act to pay attention to,
but their movies, including "Up in Smoke," "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie," and "Nice
Dreams," enhanced their profiles to legendary status and brought in a slew of new fans.
Cheech Marin's most famous character is Pedro de Pacas, a giggling Chicano stoner who speaks with
a Mexican accent and drops Spanish phrases into his speech. However, those who meet Marin out of
character are often surprised to learn that his real voice is nothing like it is in the movies.
Marin was born in South LA, speaks completely unaccented English,
and doesn't speak the Spanish language beyond some casual use. As of 2018,
Marin had never even visited Mexico, the country many people have assumed to be his birthplace.
Regardless, Marin has said he does self-identify as Chicano, stating,
"I really hated those hyphenated names — you know like Mexican-American, and so finally,
when I heard this term Chicano, and I found out what that meant, I knew that was me."
Given his fictional history in "Up In Smoke,"
one might assume that Cheech Marin has been partaking in pot from a young age.
"I been smoking since I was born, man. I can smoke anything, man."
On the contrary, however, Marin's early life was clean and completely drug free.
Marin's straight-laced childhood likely has to do with his father,
who was an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department.
As far as he can remember, Marin's first experience with marijuana was at a party
during his first year of college, when he decided to take a puff of a joint that
someone handed to him. It proved to be quite the consequential decision, as Cheech would
soon find himself building a career based almost entirely around the consumption of cannabis.
Even though Cheech Marin is most famous for acting perpetually stoned,
many of his most iconic performances were exactly that — an act. While Marin
is a proud user and advocate of cannabis, he was rarely, if ever, high while actually performing,
as he actually takes his art quite seriously. According to TheWrap, he has said that he,
quote, "didn't get stoned making the record, [and was] never stoned on stage."
Marin describes his approach to acting and performing as disciplined and concerted,
saying that the reason he comes across as so laid back when in character is because he works
so hard to portray that persona. When seen out of character, it is easy to believe that he means it:
Marin comes across as present, poised, and sharp — a stark contrast to Pedro,
who is usually confused, giggling, and anything but serious about the world going on around him.
While Marin prefers to keep his mind clear while the cameras are rolling,
Tommy Chong doesn't quite share the same reservations. Known to toke up before a
performance, shoot, or recording session, his smoking habits aren't much of an act at all.
Chong has admitted as much himself, telling TheWrap,
“I’ve gotten high every chance I get. ‘Up in Smoke,’ ‘Still Smokin,’
‘Next Movie,’ it’s part of my routine… And I couldn’t have done
anything, the records or the movies, without the assist of some good bud.”
Chong's onscreen persona may be a bit of a wild exaggeration, but there's undoubtedly a glimmer
of truth in each of his performances. Considering the level to which Chong's
personal brand has become associated with the persona of the stereotypical stoner,
it's really no surprise that he's decided to lean into it entirely.
In 2003, the United States Justice Department launched Operation Pipe Dreams,
a DEA investigation that targeted 55 businesses for illegally selling bongs and pipes. One of
these businesses was Nice Dreams, a glass company started by Chong's son, Paris,
that Chong had promoted and invested in. Along with multiple fines and asset seizures,
Chong took a plea deal — he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute drug
paraphernalia in exchange for no charges being brought against his wife and son. He was sentenced
to nine months behind bars at the minimum-security Taft Correctional Institution in California.
More often than not, when someone is sent to jail for the business they run, that business
is done for — but that wasn't the case for Tommy Chong. Today, Chong is a part of several different
cannabis-affiliated businesses, such as the online retailer of pipes, water bubblers, and bongs,
and other paraphernalia known as Cheech & Chong Glass, and the Chong Bong, a website that offers
a five thousand dollar decorative water bong so popular and exclusive that it is often sold out.
Chong didn't seem to mind his time in federal prison very much at all, and actually described
it in pretty positive terms following his release in 2004. He even made lasting friendships,
including with Jordan Belfort, the stockbroker who would later be portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio
in "The Wolf of Wall Street." In fact, it was conversations between these two prison
buddies that apparently led Belfort to write the memoir that became the basis for the hit Martin
Scorcese film. Chong has described Belfort as, quote, "a little crooked, but a genius."
While incarcerated, Chong spent time writing, reading, exercising,
and was seemingly generally at peace with his situation.
"Take advantage of your solitude, because that's very important.
When you get a chance to be alone, man, that's a very important time."
More recently, Chong has gone as far as to later offer consolation to other celebrities
destined for relatively short minimum security prison stays,
such as when he said Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman should relax and not
worry about their sentences for their roles in the college admissions scandal.
Cheech Marin may be best known for playing a dumb stoner who gets himself into all sorts of
trouble due to his drug-addled mind, but that character is a product of disciplined acting,
not a reflection of his true self. In reality, Marin is a college-educated polymath who collects
art, writes books and music, and has produced, directed, and starred in dozens of screen,
stage, and audio endeavors. He's even won multiple episodes of "Celebrity Jeopardy!"
Marin has dedicated much of his life to promoting Chicano art and cultural contributions,
serving as an outspoken champion of the often under-appreciated
work by the community with which he identifies. Now in his mid-70s,
he is a father of three and remains active in film and TV production, in live stage work,
and in his many other pursuits. Twice divorced, Marin is now married to Natasha Rubin,
a celebrated Russian-born classical pianist and accomplished artist in her own right.
Far from being a dumb stoner, Marin is somewhat of a Renaissance man.
Cheech and Chong both had established careers before they crossed paths, and though their
partnership is undeniably the reason each excelled to greater fame and stardom, it hasn't always been
easy — in fact, the two had a falling out that lasted for decades. They barely worked together
from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, not truly making amends until after the end of Chong's 2003
stint in prison and not really working together again until they reunited for a tour in 2008.
The main reason for the personal and professional schism that formed between Cheech and Chong had a
lot to do with their work. While Chong was happy to continue playing a stereotypical stoner,
Marin was interested in exploring different types of roles. In his
2017 memoir "Cheech Is Not My Real Name, But Don't Call Me Chong," Marin wrote,
"A real struggle set in between us. Tommy wanted to be the boss and make all the decisions."
Marin did indeed go on to expand his creative horizons, with a six year stint in the CBS series
"Nash Bridges" and various voice acting parts in animated movies. He would only share credits with
Chong on select occasions throughout the 90s and early 2000s, including one "Nash Bridges" episode,
a "South Park" episode, and the animated movie "Ferngully: The Last Rainforest."
Despite the tension behind the scenes, however,
the two comedians remained devoted to their act through it all. Marin told the New York Post,
"We could be having a knock-down, drag-out [fight] off-stage,
and we'd walk on stage and the rhythm would be there. It never affected us [as performers]."
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