Cheech and Chong perform at The Palais, Melbourne Australia
Photo by Ros O'Gorman

Cheech & Chong Light Up Australia

By Paul Cashmere

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 04:12:09 +1000

So anyway, there are these two guys. One is called Cheech, the other is Chong ...and they are funny.

It was actually 34 years ago when Cheech and Chong last came to Australia. They broke up at the height of their fame when they made a lot of money, or as Tommy tells it “try and get a rich Mexican to do anything”.

The Cheech & Chong Light Up Australia tour brings back a lot of memories. Bob Bitchin in back in ‘Let’s Make A Dope Deal’, the butt-sniffing Herbie and Ralph are there again (wow they must be old dogs now), and there are plenty of liners.

During Tommy Chong’s blues number he talks about how Bush fucked up so bad he got a black man elected President and in the porno movie sketch what was that line about, “it looks like Willie Nelson eating an ice-cream”?

The Cheech & Chong show is very different to what they did all those years ago. For starters, Cheech told us there was more music. We never had the chance to do ‘Born In East LA’ and ‘Up In Smoke’ live before, he told Undercover.

After they broke up, Tommy became a stand-up comedian and Cheech became an actor (Judging Amy, Cars, The Lion King, Beverly Hills Chihuahua). It shows in this show. Tommy does a lot of the stand-up with funny stories about being in jail. Cheech drives the sketches and brings back Alice Bowie for instance.

After the show I caught up with Cheech & Chong.

Watch the interview here: