Tommy Chong makes his theatre debut

[CyberHippie]

Tommy Chong makes his theatre debut

Last Updated Wed, 08 Dec 2004 19:27:47 EST

NEW YORK - Tommy Chong, known for being one-half of the stoner comedy duo Cheech & Chong, made his off-Broadway debut on Tuesday.

It came in a fitting production: The Marijuana-Logues, a three-man piece about the rituals of pot smoking inspired by The Vagina Monologues.

"Instead of talking about our private parts, we spend the night talking about our smoking parts," the Edmonton-born comedian told the Associated Press.

Chong says The Marijuana-Logues is the realization of a long-time ambition: to graduate from working nightclubs.

"I love the fact that it's in New York. Legitimate theatre. New York. That's always been my dream," he said.

The show, which premiered in March, runs through most of December in the Big Apple. There will be additional dates on the West Coast in the new year.

There are also plans for a big-screen reunion with his erstwhile partner, Cheech Marin. The new Cheech & Chong movie is still in the writing stage, but Chong says it will be in the same mould as films like 1978's Up in Smoke and 1981's Nice Dreams.

"What Cheech and I did, and we still do, is we told the truth about a culture. And truth endures," the 65-year-old funnyman said.

Chong's return to performing comes after a hiatus that was anything but self-imposed.

In July, he completed a nine-month jail stint following a bust for possessing drug paraphernalia.

The material was inventory for Nice Dreams, a company named after the movie that was run by his son, Paris. Chong says he pleaded guilty to spare his son any legal trouble.

"He put his heart and soul into it," Chong said of the venture.

"He's back in school now so it all worked out. He's studying to be a lawyer. I figure he may as well learn something the family can use."

Chong also plans to return to the cast of That '70s Show as the stoner Leo, and he even has an idea for how the producers can explain the greying hippie's absence.

"Maybe they'll say I was in jail."

http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2004/12/08/Arts/TommyChong041208.html