Cheech and Chong Ride once again

New York (AP) – The irony tickles the cheech and chong: the Fire of the Palisades smoked them out of their house.

“I had to move my house”, Tommy Chong said, laughing. “Can you imagine this?”

Chong and Sea chepe The houses, both in the Pacific palisades, have not burned. But while two of the few houses are standing (“we are suspected”, jokeing Chong), they were uprooted.

But being on the road has always been a more natural state for Marin and Chong. No comic act has never obtained so much mileage of driving anywhere in particular. In their new film, “Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie” (in theaters on Friday), they think about their strange trip during the cruise in the desert, looking for a place called The Joint.

Marin, who grew up in Watts, son of a LAPD police officer, met Chong, whose father was Chinese and whose mother was Irish, after fled to Canada to avoid the Vietnam War project. They met with an improvisation troop and immediately felt a rare kinship.

“It’s the roller of eggs, I am the teasing,” laughs.

Their standing visits have made it counter-culture icons. They opened for the Rolling Stones. Bruce Springsteen opened for them. Their comedy albums have made them rock stars, and their films – including 1978 “Up in smoke” – In fact archetypes of omnipresent stoner.

“Our gathering was very conducive,” explains Chong. “It was designed by God so that we are here.”

“Personally,” adds Marin smiling. “God told us.”

But despite their Buddy Buddy, Marin and Chong routine were not always the best friends. After quarrels on credit, they separated in the 1980s and have not seen each other for 20 years. In 2003, Chong was imprisoned for nine months for illegal drugs trafficking. He calls his fate in the federal prison the best time in his life.

However, Cheech and Chong, a double act to compete with Laurel and Hardy, turned out to be remarkably durable – and profitable. With the legalization of marijuana in many states, they chair a flourishing company of weeds. (Example of slogan: “Be high with legends.”) For a pair of stoners that little would have planned longevity, they have not only reached old age – sailor is 78 years old, Chong is 86 years old – they look great. And they laugh as much as before.

They may have even become wiser too. As Chong explained during breakfast, they are reluctant to talk about politics. “We are very exportable,” he said with a smile.

AP: How was it to see your life arranged in the film?

Cheech: I would like them to make our debut even more because we try to understand who were each other. “What are you?” How is it that you named Chong? ”

Chong: The fact is that he was a fugitive. So, to enter the United States, he had to try his luck. He had already fallen in Canada. The next thing you know, he meets me and we return to the United States!

Cheech: I was wanted in the United States, I returned to the United States with a false identifier: the driving license for my friends. It was his photo on it. “Ok, it’s me. “Brown, check. Go for it.”

Chong: They did not suspect a Mexican sneaking from Canada.

AP: People forget how much you were standing. You were rock actors ‘n’ roll before it was one thing.

Chong: We invented a whole kind of language.

Cheech: Put this in your article: We should be at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. This should be the first sentence.

Chong: We F— At the top of the comedy scene. We had people who were denied.

AP: What were some of the people with whom you liked spending time at the time?

Cheech: Timothy Leary Will come and stay with me near the beach. He was a big astronomer and knew everything about the constellations.

Chong: We sometimes met on the road. Once, we had a great discussion. Her thing was: we have to get on a spacecraft. This earth is spoiled. I said to Tim: “We are on a spacecraft. The best spacecraft you can imagine!” And you know what he told me? “Oh, you look like John Lennon.”

AP: The grass is legal, it is many places, but do you find yourself more difficult to find the anti-authoritarian spirit that accompanied it in the 60s?

Chong: What I have known all my life is that racist policies that are now illegal were once the norm in the world. We grew up in a world where America would not leave a cargo of Jews to dock in America. And it was after Hitler was defeated. They are human beings!

AP: How has old age changed you?

Chong: Like everything, you have to age graciously. This is what I learned. The more I get older, 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— Off.

AP: You sound me as you always did.

Chong: It’s ordered. It comes from power. I think what it was when I was younger and the guy who exploited the jazz club came to me and gave me a record of Lenny Bruce and a joint. Oh okay. Now I know what I have to do with the rest of my life. And I did it. But he didn’t say anything to meet a Mexican.

AP: Why do you think you went so well together?

Cheech: We had the same background frame. We knew the same things. We were both sort of foreigners and we had the same kind of sense of humor.

Chong: I have always been an instigator. I have always hung with the craziest guy in the class, and I quietly say to the guy what to do. He would be in trouble. So when I met Cheech, it was a natural.

AP: After being separated, what gathered you?

Cheech: Money.

Chong: My son, Paris. He managed to meet we met, and Reunion did not really go well. I hadn’t seen it for years. I sent an email saying that it was good to see you. My son intercepted the email and wrote his own letter. He wrote: “Yes, I can’t wait to work with you again. Sitting and repeating.” The next thing I know, I receive a call from my son: “Cheech comes.” The rehearsal was like: “How are you going? So we have a concert? When? I will see you there.” And that was everything. When we went on stage – we had not been on stage for 20 years – Boom, as we had never been separated.

AP: You have to make a lot of money by selling grass now. Has it been good?

Cheech: Very.

Chong: Oh, incredible. Not as well as they boasted, which they sold us. We have not yet reached this point

Cheech: But we are approaching.

Chong: Especially with this film, Wow.

Cheech: It will win three Oscars. He has already won three Oscars.

AP: For you, are there disadvantages to legalize grass? It was a more rebellious subculture.

Chong: The mobile phone freed us all. You can get your shield on your mobile phone. I am more flexible with regard to personal appearances. There was a time when Cheech and I, because we had this reputation, I never wanted to spoil the hopes or fears of anyone. There were a lot of shows on which we were not allowed. And I understand, I respect these shows. They didn’t want to be changed by us. Because we are used to changing S—.

AP: Like what? Like Johnny Carson?

Cheech: We have never been on Carson. Cordova Freddy was the producer there.

Chong: And he was a big pot head and didn’t want to go out. All these guys. Johnny Carson.

AP: You existed in a strange place. You were not entirely authorized in the dominant current, but the dominant current found you.

Cheech: We were the new dominant current. We showed what the dominant current looked like.

AP: Are you glad you got back together?

Chong: He never wanted to break but he always wanted to be able to do his thing. I have always been the dominant guy. It is not so much because I am better, it is because I am only good in certain things. I always felt that our job was to stay with the plot. This is why we have never gone further than the pot, with regard to drugs. And, if we did it in the films, it never turned out to be well. We have always had Cheech obsession for opposite sex and my obsession with becoming high. It just made everyone at ease.

Cheech: It was fun and it was going to be lucrative. And it was. We have made steps (work) for an additional eight or 10 years.

Chong: Fifty years of odd years! We were together longer than with his wife and I am with my wife. It’s something. There is a good chance that we will always be together when he has another woman.

AP: This is presented as your last film, but it does not seem that this is necessarily the case.

Cheech: It is not necessarily. I don’t know why they named it. Anything can happen with Cheech and Chong. I think it’s unlikely, but who knows. This last film was unlikely.

Chong: I sort of compare it to the Goodbye tour of Cher because she had, what, 18 of them? People ask me how do you remember. I like the way we remember now. When people think of Cheech and Chong, they smile. So I want to be recalled with a smile.