LOS ANGELES 鈥� Yeah man, Tommy Chong says he always knew he鈥檇 live to see the day marijuana legalization would be sweeping North America.
He knew when he and partner Cheech Marin pioneered stoner comedy 50 years ago, a time when taunting the establishment with constant reminders that they didn鈥檛 just play hippie potheads in the movies 鈥� they really were those guys 鈥� could have landed them in prison. He even knew in 2003 when Chong was imprisoned for nine months for conspiring to distribute handcrafted artisanal bongs the U.S. government declared drug paraphernalia.
鈥淥h yeah, I saw it coming,鈥� he says of cannabis being legal in some form in about two-thirds of his adopted country鈥檚 50 states.
鈥淚n fact, I kind of planned the whole thing out,鈥� he jokes. 鈥淲ell, maybe I was a little premature with that bong thing. But other than that, I was pretty much right on point.鈥�
So much so that when the High Priest of Stoner Comedy turned 80 on Thursday 鈥� that鈥檚 right, 80 鈥� his Chong鈥檚 Choice brand of marijuana, available in legal dispensaries in several states, was consumed in abundance at family parties.
鈥淭ommy likes to say he tests every single batch. Which obviously he does. And he really enjoys it,鈥� his son, Paris Chong, says with a laugh.
鈥淔or this one, make sure that whatever you have to eat around the house is healthy because you鈥檒l find yourself munching away like crazy,鈥� the elder Chong says as he holds up a jar packed with a dozen or so choice green buds.
鈥淥h, and we have chocolates, too,鈥� he says, reaching for a package of candies that vaguely resemble Tootsie Rolls.
Not that he was ever a heavy pot user, Chong says, just a consistent connoisseur.
鈥淲hen I was 17, a jazz musician gave me a Lenny Bruce record and a joint at the same time, and it changed my life,鈥� he recalls.
鈥淚 quit school I think a week later and went on the road and became a blues musician and eventually a comedian, and the rest, as they say, is history.鈥�
His group Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers was signed to Motown, and Chong co-wrote the band鈥檚 only hit Does Your Mama Know About Me, a smooth R&B tune that rose to No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968.
When no other hits followed, Motown dropped the group, and the Canadian-born Chong returned to Vancouver, where he ran a pair of strip clubs with his brother. There, he crossed paths with Richard Marin, a Mexican-American art student from Los Angeles eight years his junior, who asked to join the house band. The pair began warming up audiences with stoner jokes, and a comedy team was born.
After some discussion of what to call themselves 鈥� Chong says 鈥淩ichard and Tommy鈥� and 鈥淐hong and Marin鈥� were quickly rejected 鈥� they settled on Cheech (Marin鈥檚 nickname) and Chong. By then, Motown had helped Chong obtain a green card, and the two headed to fame and fortune in Los Angeles.
On a recent early morning, Chong answers the door for a photo shoot at his longtime home in the hills overlooking L.A.鈥檚 wealthy Brentwood section, arriving in grey jeans, sandals and a black T-shirt advertising the name of a Colorado cannabis dispensary he recently visited. He offers to change into another shirt for the photos before deciding to stick with the original.
鈥淒on鈥檛 want to ruin my image,鈥� he concludes with a smile.
As a photographer sets up, Chong polishes off a breakfast of oatmeal topped with sliced banana. In recent years, he has become a vegetarian, although he backslides.
鈥淓specially if you put a plate of dim sum in front of me. Of course, that鈥檚 my cultural heritage.鈥�
Chong, whose father emigrated from China before the Second World War, mostly identifies culturally as Chinese, although he鈥檚 equally proud of his Scotch, Irish and Native American ancestry from his mother鈥檚 side. Married for more than 40 years to his wife, Shelby, he鈥檚 a family man with six grown children, three grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.
More than just a stoner comedian, he has been a passionate marijuana advocate for decades. He used cannabis during a bout with prostate cancer 10 years ago and, more recently, during treatment and recovery from colorectal cancer.
He finds it ironic that if the U.S. government hadn鈥檛 outlawed marijuana in the early 20th century, he and Marin might never have had a comedy career.
Before the pair鈥檚 bitter 1980s breakup, Cheech and Chong dominated comedy for 15 years. They released five Grammy-nominated, bestselling albums between 1971 and 1976, winning the 1973 Grammy for Los Cochinos. Turning to films, they wrote and starred in a half-dozen, beginning with 1978鈥檚 Up in Smoke.
After the breakup, they would try periodically to reunite. Those efforts generally ended in angry, insult-laden exchanges until 10 years ago, when Paris Chong intervened.
Finding an email on his father鈥檚 computer from Marin asking if he wanted to try again to put aside differences, the son didn鈥檛 bother to tell the father. He simply wrote yes and hit reply.
鈥淎nd then I told my dad, and they were really happy,鈥� he recalls, chuckling. 鈥淪ometimes, you鈥檝e just got to get out of your own way.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 a bond now that will always be there no matter what happens,鈥� says Chong, who in casual conversation sounds little like his stoner-dude alter-ego.
And 鈥測eah,鈥� he says, answering the obvious question, 鈥渨e still toke up.鈥�
