Page 29 - ARUBA TODAY

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PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 25 May 2018
Stoner comedy pioneer Tommy Chong still toking, joking at 80

By JOHN ROGERS daughter.
Associated Press More than just a stoner
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Yeah comedian, he's been a
man, Tommy Chong says passionate marijuana ad-
he always knew he'd live to vocate for decades. He
see the day marijuana le- used cannabis during a
galization would be sweep- bout with prostate cancer
ing America. 10 years ago and more
He knew when he and recently during treatment
partner Cheech Marin pio- and recovery from colorec-
neered stoner comedy 50 tal cancer.
years ago, a time when He finds it ironic that if the
taunting the establishment U.S. government hadn't
with constant reminders outlawed marijuana in the
that they didn't just play early 20th century, he and
hippie potheads in the Marin might never have
movies — they really were had a comedy career.
those guys — could have Before the pair's bitter 1980s
landed them in prison. He breakup, Cheech and
even knew in 2003 when Chong dominated com-
Chong was imprisoned for edy for 15 years. They re-
nine months for conspiring leased five Grammy-nom-
to distribute handcrafted inated, best-selling albums
artisanal bongs the govern- between 1971 and 1976,
ment declared drug para- winning the 1973 Grammy
phernalia. for "Los Cochinos." Turning
"Oh yeah, I saw it coming," to films, they wrote and
he says of cannabis being starred in a half-dozen, be-
legal in some form in about ginning with 1978's "Up in
two-thirds of his adopted Smoke."
country's 50 states. After the breakup, they
"In fact, I kind of planned would try periodically to
the whole thing out," he reunite. Those efforts gen-
jokes. "Well, maybe I was erally ended in angry, in-
a little premature with that sult-laden exchanges until
bong thing. But other than 10 years ago when Paris
that, I was pretty much Chong intervened.
right on point." Finding an email on his fa-
So much so that when the ther's computer from Marin
High Priest of Stoner Com- asking if he wanted to try
edy turns 80 on Thursday — Tommy Chong pose for a picture at his home Tuesday, May 15, 2018 in Los Angeles. again to put aside differ-
that's right, 80 — he expects ences, the son didn't both-
his Chong's Choice brand sician gave me a Lenny junior, who asked to join for the photos before de- er to tell the father. He sim-
of marijuana, available in Bruce record and a joint the house band. The pair ciding to stick with the origi- ply wrote yes and hit reply.
legal dispensaries in several at the same time, and it began warming up audi- nal. "And then I told my dad,
states, will be consumed in changed my life," he re- ences with stoner jokes, "Don't want to ruin my im- and they were really hap-
abundance at the parties calls. "I quit school I think a and a comedy team was age," he concludes with a py," he recalls, chuckling.
his family is planning. week later and went on the born. smile. "Sometimes you've just
"Tommy likes to say he tests road and became a blues After some discussion of As a photographer sets up, got to get out of your own
every single batch. Which musician and eventually a what to call themselves — Chong polishes off a break- way."
obviously he does. And he comedian, and the rest, as Chong says "Richard and fast of oatmeal topped "There's a bond now that
really enjoys it," his son Paris they say, is history." Tommy" and "Chong and with sliced banana. In re- will always be there no
Chong says with a laugh. His group Bobby Taylor and Marin" were quickly re- cent years, he's become matter what happens,"
"For this one, make sure that the Vancouvers was signed jected — they settled on a vegetarian, although he says Chong, who in casual
whatever you have to eat to Motown, and Chong co- Cheech (Marin's nickname) backslides. conversation sounds little
around the house is healthy wrote the band's only hit, and Chong. By then, Mo- "Especially if you put a plate like his stoner-dude alter-
because you'll find yourself "Does Your Mama Know town had helped Chong of dim sum in front of me. ego.
munching away like crazy," About Me," a smooth R&B obtain a green card, and Of course, that's my cultural And "yeah," he says, an-
the elder Chong says as he tune that rose to No. 29 the two headed to fame heritage." swering the obvious ques-
holds up a jar packed with on the Billboard Hot 100 in and fortune in Los Angeles. Chong, whose father emi- tion, "we still toke up."q
a dozen or so choice green 1968. On a recent early morning, grated from China before
buds. When no other hits fol- Chong answers the door World War II, mostly identi-
"Oh, and we have choco- lowed, Motown dropped for a photo shoot at his fies culturally as Chinese, al-
lates too," he says, reach- the group, and the Canadi- longtime home in the hills though he's equally proud
ing for a package of can- an-born Chong returned to overlooking L.A.'s wealthy of his Scotch, Irish and Na-
dies that vaguely resemble Vancouver, British Colum- Brentwood section, arriving tive American ancestry
Tootsie Rolls. bia, where he ran a pair of in gray jeans, sandals and from his mother's side. Mar-
Not that he was ever a strip clubs with his brother. a black T-shirt advertising ried for more than 40 years
heavy pot user, Chong There he crossed paths with the name of a Colorado to his wife, Shelby, he's a
says, just a consistent con- Richard Marin, a Mexican- cannabis dispensary he re- family man with six grown
noisseur. American art student from cently visited. He offers to children, three grandchil-
"When I was 17, a jazz mu- Los Angeles eight years his change into another shirt dren and a great-grand-