It's me, Dave... open up, man, I got the stuff!

March 8, 2008 9:07 PM

[Rated NSFW, depending on where you work] | I got a Basketball Jones. (original animation) | D-A-V-E!! Open up! | Earache? Earache, my eye! | class...? Class...? | HardHAT! This is Codename Hardhat! | Ralph and Herbie | Where there's smoke, there's Cheech and Chong!

Richard Marin and Thomas B Kim Chong met in Vancouver in 1970, during a short stint where they both performed improv comedy at Tommy's brother's nightclub. When the improv group disbanded, they teamed up as Cheech and Chong, touring comedy venues, and eventually landing in Los Angeles, where they were discovered by a record exec and signed. In 1971, they went into the studio, and started recording comedy albums.

This is the part of the FPP where I pause, while you light up, mix a drink, or imbibe in the drug of your choice. Watching and listening to the following clips while sober may result in fatigue.
OK, ready? Great! Now, what was I tallking about...?

...oh yeah! Here, man!

Cheech and Chong (1971)
Dave | Blind Melon Chitlin' | Trippin' in Court | Vietnam | Still waiting for Dave (vs. 2001)

Big Bambu (1972). The original LP sleeve was manufactured to look like a giant rolling paper package, and originally contained an LP-sized rolling paper.
Sister Mary Elephant (and, a completly lipsynced stage recreation) | Ralph and Herbie | Let's Make a Dope Deal (at 3:42, after Sister Mary Elephant)

Los Cochinos (1973)
Seargant Stadanko (Sister Mary Elephant II) | Basketball Jones (original animation!) -- Check out the lineup on this song, and how often this cartoon was featured elsewhere!

Cheech & Chong's Wedding Album (1974)
Earache my Eye | The Three Little Pigs

Sleeping Beauty (1976)
T.W.A.T. (Tactical Women's Alert Team) | Framed (via an excellent Lupin AMV)

In 1978, Cheech and Chong released their first movie, Up in Smoke.
Up in Smoke | Original Trailer | - Codename Hardhat! | Earache My Eye | Fuck me, Alex!
The whole movie in ten parts: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | Deleted scenes

Here's a series of skits, performed live in 1978 at some nightclub:
Intro | Let's Make a New Dope Deal | Blind Melon Chitlin | Earache my Eye | Adult Movie Theater | A Word from one of our sponsors | Low Rider part 1 | Low Rider part 2 | Chinese Restaurant | Red Neck | Sister Mary Elephant | Reverend Dyke | Queer Wars | Ralph and Herbie | Chicanos | Hairy Palms

An interview with Aussie schmendrick Norman Gunston.

Two reels of clips from Up In Smoke and Cheech and Chong's next movie, Cheech & Chong's Next Movie.

Let's Make a New Dope Deal (1980)
Queer Wars (via a puppet show)

Cheech & Chong's Next Movie (1980)
Trailer | Loud guitar | Mexican Americans / Beaners! (song) | Pee and coke | At the welfare office | Ain't that a peach? | Pendejos! | Pee Wee Herman's cameo | Chong's Peach | Space Coke (ending)

Nice Dreams (1981)
My balls itch | big sticks | At the gym | Save the Whales (song) | 1st 9 minutes of movie | a surreal russian dub | Stacy Keach sounds cooler with a french accent.

By now, the well is starting to run dry...
Things Are Tough All Over (1982)
Chong's Bad Trip (with Rip Taylor) | Sensitive | [I didn't watch this one] | Herpes on his head | Me and my old lady (song)

Still Smokin' (1983)
Invisible Wrestler | Ralph and Herbie

The Corsican Brothers (1984) - Their first movie that didn't have anything to do with weed. Also, their last feature-length movie.
[another one I didn't watch] | Getting Brother Drunk | My sword is broken

They were in Yellowbeard, too. Here's their section from a documentary on the making of Yellowbeard.

Get Out of my Room (1985)
Born in East L.A. | I'm Not Home Right Now | Get Out of my Room


And, one of my favorite Xmastime classics: Santa Claus and his Old Lady

After Get Out of My Room, they went their separate ways. "Which ways?" you may ask. "Which ways what?" I respond. "Which ways did Cheech and Chong go?" you ask, a little more irritated. "Far out, man," I respond.

Cheech became a respected voice and character actor, and one of the world's foremost collectors of Chicano Art.

And Chong? "After a fully armed SWAT team raided the 65 year-old comedian's home in February of 2003, Tommy Chong was sentenced to 9 months in federal prison for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute drug paraphernalia through Chong Glass, a family business specializing in handmade glass water pipes, or 'bongs.' Of the 55 defendants prosecuted, Tommy Chong was the only one with no prior convicitons to receive jail time. Justifying the 9 month sentence, the prosecutor cited the classic 1978 movie Cheech & Chong film Up In Smoke as evidence that he had become wealthy 'trivializing law enforcement efforts to combat marijuana trafficking and use.'" A documentary, A/K/A Tommy Chong (review), was made of his ordeal; he also published a book, The I Chong. Here's Chong, promoting The I Chong at a bookstore appearance.

Here's a bit of Chong's standup, and here's an interview with fellow Alternative Canadian Walk of Fame inductee, Nardwuar the Human Serviette.

Here's Tommy Chong's youtube blog.

Now I'm going to go eat a tub of ice cream. Adios!

posted by not_on_display (28 comments total)

OK, this is awesome.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 9:13 PM on March 8, 2008

Oh, man. My Mum loved Cheech and Chong. Seriously, she did.
posted by maudlin at 9:33 PM on March 8, 2008

Earache My Eye was also covered by Soundgarden.
posted by Tube at 9:34 PM on March 8, 2008

I spent a good portion of my childhood listening and watching cheech and chong, which might explain some things.
posted by puke & cry at 9:46 PM on March 8, 2008

Damn!

Plus, that Basketball Jones is freaking awesome. Nice to see some animation that isn't all computer generated.

Tommy Chong was interviewed on Fresh Air, and he said that he and Cheech were in Canada to avoid the draft, and the comedy they were doing was at a strip club. They'd do these skits that involved the strippers taking off their clothes.

Awesome stuff!
posted by Eekacat at 9:59 PM on March 8, 2008

And Chong?

you forgot his successful stint as the photo-processing booth attendant on That 70's Show.
posted by quonsar at 10:00 PM on March 8, 2008

Entirely awesome. Being exposed to C&C at a young age may wel explain a few things about my general inability to recall much of the 1980's. I'll be poking around these links for a while I suspect, great post.
posted by Aversion Therapy at 10:07 PM on March 8, 2008

Now *that's* a post. Well done!
posted by pjern at 10:26 PM on March 8, 2008

Aw, man, this stuff smells like dogshit, man.

--

Great, really impressive, post.
posted by mwhybark at 10:41 PM on March 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

Yeah, quonsar, I knew there was some (a lot of?) stuff I was forgetting; but I also knew that there would be someone to pick up the slack. Thanks!*pat pat*

(There's also the reunion stabs they took: the seperately-recorded voices on South Park, some Leno appearance, . . . )
posted by not_on_display at 10:46 PM on March 8, 2008

Thanks for this.
posted by Sailormom at 10:57 PM on March 8, 2008

Wow.
posted by Smedleyman at 11:01 PM on March 8, 2008

'Don't look dangerous to me' ...

This orange and purple shirt stoner is digging this bigtime tonight - thanks sooooo much!
posted by mctsonic at 11:03 PM on March 8, 2008

It wasn't just the big bambu that had a great album cover. Los cochinos had a foldot where you could see all the dope stashed in the car door. I remember the Wedding album had a full wedding album of photos featuring them as siamese twins. If I remember correctly the bride was pregnant and had a bag over her head. One of them had a poster, and catalog for Cheech and merchandise like foot high Cheech and Chong candles, and other assorted paraphernalia. A few years back I found all of the lp's intact with all the goodies including the big rolling paper at a thrift store for a buck a piece, only to lose them in a flooded basement.

I was bummed.

It baffles me that at the age of around 10 or 11 My cousin and I were Cheech and Chong fanatics, and nobody ever raised an eyebrow. I remember sitting in the backseat of the car on the way to some family function reenacting the opening car scene from Up In Smoke,and the adults in the front seat finding it hilarious. Funny thing is we had no clue about drugs, but that shit was still funny. That scene still makes me laugh until my stomach hurts.

Interestingly enough I developed quite a taste for the green a few years later. My cousin never touched the stuff.
posted by billyfleetwood at 11:57 PM on March 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

but what I meant to say was...This post is amazing! Thanks You!
posted by billyfleetwood at 11:58 PM on March 8, 2008

This is just a bunch of links to other stuff on the internet. What is MeFi coming to?
posted by redteam at 12:51 AM on March 9, 2008 [1 favorite]

I guess Tommy got shipped off to military school after all, 'cause I don't see anything about that Finklestein kid posted :-(

I quote Cheech & Chong to my partner all the time, nice to play it for him. It's outside both his age and his culture. LOL!

Thanks for the post.
posted by Goofyy at 4:49 AM on March 9, 2008

Hey! This is.....wait...what was I just saying?
posted by dejah420 at 8:50 AM on March 9, 2008

I was but a wee youngster of 11 when "Sister Mary Elephant" was a radio hit. I'd never heard the bathroom referred to as "the can" before, and besides the hilarity of the rest of the record, I'll always remember driving my mom nuts that summer by saying "I gotta go to the can, man." Of course, the more it upset her, the more I said it.

I'm talking about Black Lassie, a Great American Dog....Aw, shut up yourself, I wasn't going to say "bitch"!
posted by Oriole Adams at 9:48 AM on March 9, 2008

That "goddamned Finklestein shit kid" quote can be found about a minute or two into this clip.
posted by not_on_display at 11:37 AM on March 9, 2008

Wow, man. Like, thanks for this, man. I used to like Cheech and Chong a lot more than I do now (mostly because I imbibe far less drugs than I oncee did), but this will still keep me occupied for hours. Like, awesome post, man.

Watching and listening to the following clips while sober may result in fatigue.

The records were and are still funny (I'd never heard the original Earache My Eye before now), but the movies are pretty hard to watch if you're not 19 and completely blitzed, outside of the first 15 minutes or so of Up In Smoke (everything until after the courthouse scene) which is hilarious regardless. Nice Dreams, Next Movie, the one where they're in Amsterdam, etc. are all pretty lame unless you're REALLY high and haven't seen them a hundred times.
posted by DecemberBoy at 3:17 PM on March 9, 2008

That "Basketball Jones" song is ridiculously star-studded. A must for any Beatles fan! Too bad its accompanying animation is tragically dated.
posted by Down10 at 4:20 PM on March 9, 2008

Heey Maaaan, whuda 'bout Rock fight maan?

That was my first intro to them via Dr. Dimento MANY years ago.

Thanks for the TREMENDOUS effing post!
posted by snsranch at 5:20 PM on March 9, 2008

Where have you been all my life?

*snorts*
posted by jonmc at 7:05 PM on March 9, 2008

Welcome back, jonmc! *snorts*

AAAAGH, that was salt! Gimme something to drink, man!

*drinks*

AAAAGH, that was pee!!
posted by not_on_display at 7:23 PM on March 9, 2008

Yeah, I always loved that Basketball Jones was basically a Beatles song without John, Paul or Ringo, but with Cheech.

Thanks for putting all this together!
posted by yhbc at 7:36 PM on March 9, 2008

Check out parts 8 and 9 of Up In Smoke for the battle of the bands sequence. They used actual LA punk bands, and you can see among others The Dils doing "You're Not Blank". I'm pretty sure The Germs filmed something too, but it was cut. It may have been the same gig where they doused the audience in peanut butter and other crap they loaded up on before the show.
posted by DecemberBoy at 7:38 PM on March 9, 2008

I missed this till it hit the podcast. I am in awe.
posted by absalom at 4:17 PM on March 25, 2008