¦¦Cheech & Chong!¦¦

RICHARD "CHEECH" MARIN AND THOMAS CHONG WERE ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR AND SUCCESSFUL COMEDY TEAMS OF THE 1970s. IN MUCH THE SAME WAY W.C. FIELDS HAD MADE ALCOHOL THE FOCUS OF HIS COMEDY ACT, CHEECH AND CHONG CHAMPIONED AND MADE FUN OF THE DRUG CULTURE OF THE SEVENTIES. THEY WERE UNDENIABLY COUNTERCULTURE HEROES AND THEIR COMEDY DEFINED AN ERA.
THE TWO FIRST MET IN THE LATE 1960s. CHONG HAD BEEN WORKING AS A GUITARIST IN A ROCK BAND WHEN HE FORMED A COMEDY TROUPE NAMED "CITY WORKS". CHEECH JOINED THE TROUPE AND WHEN "CITY WORKS" BROKE UP, CHEECH AND CHONG CONTINUED TO WORK TOGETHER AS A MUSICAL COMEDY ACT. THE POPULARITY OF THEIR SPACED OUT COMEDY EVENTUALLY OVERSHADOWED THE MUSIC. PRODUCER LOU ADLER SAW THEM ONE EVENING AFTER HAVING PRODUCED CAROLE KING'S MILLION SELLING 1970 LP "TAPESTRY" AND SIGNED THE DUO TO ODE RECORDS.
CHEECH AND CHONG RELEASED THEIR SELF-TITLED DEBUT ALBUM IN 1971. IT WAS A TREMENDOUS SUCCESS, AS WAS THEIR FOLLOW UP LP, "BIG BAMBU" (PACKAGED WITH A GIGANTIC ROLLING PAPER). THEIR THIRD LP, "LOS COCHINOS", WON THE DUO A GRAMMY AS WELL AS GIVING THEM THEIR FIRST NOVELTY HIT "BASKETBALL JONES" (FEATURING EX-BEATLE GEORGE HARRISON ON LEAD GUITAR). THEY HAD MANY OTHER NOVELTY HITS OVER THE YEARS SUCH AS "EARACHE MY EYE", "BLACK LASSIE", "FRAMED", AND "BLOAT ON". THEY MADE A LEAP INTO FEATURE FILMS IN 1978 WITH THE FILM "UP IN SMOKE".
CHEECH AND CHONG CONTINUED TO WORK TOGETHER ON FILMS AND ALBUMS THROUGHOUT THE LATE 1970s AND EARLY 1980s. THEY RELEASED THEIR FINAL LP, "GET OUT OF MY ROOM" (FEATURING THE HIT "BORN IN EAST L.A.") IN 1985. THEY MADE THEIR FINAL FILM APPEARANCE TOGETHER IN THE MARTIN SCORCESE FILM "AFTER HOURS" IN 1985.