Tommy Chong

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Q&A | Tommy Chong
Comedian makes most of arrest
August 22, 2008
By Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

Tommy Chong's glory days as the latter half of the pothead act Cheech & Chong were decades behind him. In 2003, he went to prison, convicted of selling glass water pipes over the Internet. The documentary a/k/a Tommy Chong, on how he was jailed for his reputation, has won awards at film festivals. The movie will come out on DVD Tuesday.

The U.S. Justice Department seized 10,000 copies of the DVD in May, even though Chong doesn't profit from it. "They're my best career boosters," Chong jokes.

Q: Why should we care about what happens to a guy who's famous for what you're famous for?
A: Somehow, sending a piece of glass through the mail, or "conspiring" to send it, is a crime. If they can lock me up for that, no American is safe.

Q: How has the arrest affected you?
A: They arrested a popular guy. And everybody wants to hear my story. Now I've got a DVD; Cheech and I are touring. I do interviews about the why and how of what they did all the time.

Q: What was the low point for you?
A: Oh, that first night in jail. I had a bad, bad attack of claustrophobia. There was a prisoner in the bunk above me, one off to the side. They're men, so they're making men sounds. I could hear the doors being locked. I had a real panic attack. After the first night, I had the best experience of my life.

Q: When did it start seeming funny to you?
A: That next day. It was like going on a cruise because every dude in there knew who I was. If they didn't know the records or movies, they knew the TV (That '70s Show) show. The prison thought they were punishing me, putting me right across the hall from the bathroom. But I'm an old guy. That came in handy.

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Cheech and Chong clear the air and reunite for comedy tour
By Daniel Durchholz
SPECIAL TO THE POST-DISPATCH
01/16/2009

Cheech and Chong are back in the high life again. The duo, whose profoundly stoned humor led to a string of hit albums and movies in the '70s and '80s, have reunited after a two-decade split that found each harboring more than a little resentment toward the other.

"Cheech went off into the straight world, and he started doing anti-drug commercials, which (angered me)," Tommy Chong says by phone from his home in Los Angeles. "When we got back together, we had our little air-clearing brawl, and we just realized it was a clash of ignorance — a big ego trip." In a separate interview, Cheech Marin jokes that he is touring with his old partner because "they offered to wipe out 500 hours of court-mandated community service. It's a win-win."

The pair's classic routines include "Earache My Eye," "Let's Make a Dope Deal," "Dave's Not Here" and "Sister Mary Elephant." All of their material, they say, resulted from setting up a premise and then improvising and layering the jokes on top. "We came out of improv theater, so that's the basis for everything we do," Cheech says.

Part of the allure of albums such as "Big Bambu" and "Los Cochinos" was that in some households, the pair's (then) young fans had to hide the albums and listen to them surreptitiously. "That's what the Japanese call 'stolen lessons,'" Chong says. "When they apprentice a Japanese carpenter, they make the apprentice steal the tools. They won't let them touch them otherwise, and when they steal the tools to use themselves, that's when they know the apprentice has the desire. By making our albums PG or maybe a little more adult-oriented, it made the experience of listening to them that much more fulfilling."

Perhaps the biggest surprise about Cheech, 62, and Chong, 70, is that they're still around. Who wouldn't have expected them to be found splayed out in the cookie aisle, dead of a serious case of the munchies? But Cheech characterizes himself and his partner as "health freaks. We worked out, went to the gym every day," he says. "We still do."

The reunion, which began taking shape years ago, was delayed by a Chong's 2003 stint in jail for selling drug paraphernalia. Today he calls the experience a "defining moment" in his life. But he admits that it wasn't exactly hard time. "You know, they put an icon in jail with his fans," he says. "I spent most of the day signing autographs, taking pictures and attending farewell parties for inmates that were leaving."

As for Cheech and Chong's plans, the duo foresee a DVD of their current tour and possible movie and TV projects, as well as a "stoner art tour" for Chong and perhaps even a stage play á la "Spamalot." After that, Cheech, who is scheduled for knee-replacement surgery after the tour, says, "We're going to keep going until we're 105 and need a total body transplant."

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[luke]

theres a good documentary called a/k/a tommy chong, which looks at the whole case against him, the laws around it and the political motivations for it. outrageous - 9 months for selling bongs?!?!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478090/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A/k/a_Tommy_Chong

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Nice one, I'd not heard of it before - downloading now...