ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON DEC. 23, 1988
By Steve Newton
Whether you’re a new-age hemp addict, old-fashioned hippie, or charter member of the John Birch Society, you’ve probably heard of Cheech & Chong, counter-culture heroes to millions of adolescents. In the ’70s, Richard “Cheech” Marin and Tommy Chong turned out comedy albums like Big Bambu and movies such as Up in Smoke that established them as pot-smokin’ hippie warriors in defense of a laid-back lifestyle.
But times have changed, right? In today’s “Just Say No” world of drug paranoia, it wouldn’t even be possible to make a movie that treats drugs lightly.
“Well, I just did!” says Tommy Chong, on the line from L.A. last week. “I just finished one called Far Out Man. I did it myself because Cheech didn’t want to do any more doper movies–he wanted to get away from the dope image. And I had no problem with that, except that the last time we did that, with [1984’s] The Corsican Brothers, it didn’t do very well at the box office.
“So I figured, ‘Hell, if I’m the only one doin’ it , someone’s gonna see it just out of curiosity.’ So I shot this film, and it’s got some dope humour in it. We’ll see what happens, you know, because personally I think that all that ‘Just Say No’ stuff acted in reverse–it made people so much more aware of drugs. I mean, they’ve got a bigger drug problem now than they ever had.”
Far Out Man, which was shot in Southern California this past summer, is slated for distribution in the spring of ’89 by CineTel Films. As in the previous Cheech & Chong movies, music plays an important part in the film and Chong–who’s performed in bands for most of his life–wrote the music along with Bobby Taylor, whom Chong used to play with in the seminal local band Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers.
Taylor also co-stars in Far Out Man, and their musical connection has led to the formation of the Far Out Man Band, which will play Richard’s on Richards for three nights, January 2 to 4.
“We were messin’ around on the set,” says Chong, “and we said, ‘Let’s find a little gig for us for fun.’ There’s an old jazz club down here called the Lighthouse that used to be famous at one time and we started playing there Tuesday nights. Then we said, ‘Heyyy!’, and hired a couple of real good players to round out the band.
“It’s mostly old ’60s R&B–we do updated versions of things. And since Bobby and I wrote all the music for the movie, we’ve got all that to do. Then the other guys in the group wanted to do the old Cheech & Chong tunes, you know, so we do ‘Earache My Eye’ and ‘Get Outa My Room’.”
Chong and his band, which includes drummer Floyd Sneed from Three Dog Night, got the Richard’s on Richards date because Chong is a friend of Richard’s co-owner John Teti, who lives near Chong in West Van. Chong was actually hoping to get the New Year’s Eve date at Richard’s, but it was already filled.
He hasn’t performed in Vancouver in at least 10 years, so he’s really looking forward to it. If you’re planning to go don’t forget the club’s dress code (you won’t get in looking like Chong does in his movies). And don’t expect a comedy show either.
“We just play,” explains Chong. “I don’t do any comedy or anything.”
Born in Edmonton to a Chinese father and English mother, Chong played with an R&B group called the Calgary Shades before moving to Vancouver and hooking up with Taylor. Diana Ross, who was then with the Supremes, came across Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers at the club they had, the Elegant Parlour, and through her the group got signed by Berry Gordy of Motown Records.
Chong cowrote a hit song, “Does Your Mama Know About Me?”, along with fellow Vancouverite Tom Baird, who went on to producing bands like Rare Earth before being killed in a boating accident a few years ago.
After his Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers stint, Chong returned to Vancouver, starting his own improvisational theatre group, and met Cheech, who was waiting out the Vietnam War. They moved to L.A. and played every comedy joint in Hollywood before being discovered at the famed Troubadour club and signed to a recording contract. Their self-titled debut album of 1971 sold more than a million copies, a virtual rags-to-riches story.
“It was quite a thing,” recalls Chong. “We went from hotdogs to caviar.”
Cheech & Chong recorded eight albums (including the soundtrack to Up in Smoke and a Greatest Hits), and followed them up with six movies. (They were once voted Comedy Team of the Year by the National Association of Theatre Owners). Far Out Man is the first movie that Chong has made without Cheech, although Cheech made one without Chong in ’86 called Born in East L.A.
“It’s very, very strange,” says Chong about working without Cheech. “And it’s tough, really tough. God, I can’t believe how close you can get to somebody! You know, we were writers, and buddies, and partners, and everything else.”
For Far Out Man Chong kept close ties with his co-actors by casting his real-life family: wife Shelby, daughter Rae Dawn and Robbie, and sons Paris and Gilbran. He says it wasn’t a problem acting with people he knew so well.
“It’s easier” he chuckles, “cause they’re always available. But really, it’s just a light, happy, funny movie–and they’re easy to do with anybody.”
Chong wrote the screenplay for and directed Far Out Man, as well as playing the title character, “Man”, whom he had created out of another character from his Vancouver improv years, “Strawberry”. He also directed most of the Cheech & Chong flicks, and says that he doesn’t really have much choice but to direct movies himself.
“I’d love to find someone else to direct, but the trouble is I’m such an improv-trained person that it would scare me. If the guy shot exactly what I wrote, I wouldn’t have a movie. I always have to go back and fix ’em.”
Fans of the Cheech & Chong movies might recall one of the funniest moments–there were plenty of them–in Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie, where Chong is in his living room playing an electric guitar so loud and awful that the neighbour’s dog is freaking out and Cheech can’t even get the front door open.
“I love that scene too,” says Chong. “Actually, Cheech wrote that bit. I had one of those loud guitar scenes in the new movie but we took it out. Now I might put it back in and see how it looks.”
Chong believes that the same crowd that enjoyed the old Cheech & Chong movies will like his latest, but adds, “It’s gonna be a test because everything’s changed. So it’s going to be interesting to see. I don’t think it’ll be as popular, say, as Up in Smoke was, but on the other hand I think it’s gonna fool a lot of folks because there’s a lot of people–like all the heavy metal crowd, and the Eddie Murphy crowd–that don’t even read reviews.”
To hear the full audio of my 1988 interview with Tommy Chong subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 500 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with musicians since 1982.