Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography

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Simon and Schuster, Aug 12, 2008 - Biography & Autobiography - 224 pages
Dave's Not Here, Man

But America's favorite stoner comedian, Tommy Chong, is back and funnier than ever as he takes us on a nostalgic trip through his career with partner Richard "Cheech" Marin. Over the course of their decades-long partnership, Cheech and Chong performed to sold-out crowds across the country, made nine hit albums, starred in eight blockbuster movies, and created memorable and iconic characters that still resonate with fans today.

But the good life didn't just appear in a haze of smoke. It all started during the late 1960s in a strip club in the fragile heart of Vancouver's Chinatown, where Tommy was winding down his career as a Motown recording artist and starting an improv comedy troupe, and Cheech was a draft-dodging, pottery-throwing, underground music reviewer. Together they came to define the hippie-era counterculture, and theircelebrated movie debut, Up in Smoke, remains one of the highest-grossing Warner Bros. films ever.

In his very own unauthorized autobiography, New York Times bestselling author and pop culture hero Chong reveals his unique relationship with Cheech and recalls the inspiration for their most beloved bits. He introduces famous guest stars like Peter Sellers, John Belushi, Jimi Hendrix, Dan Aykroyd, John Lennon, Diana Ross, and Jack Nicholson, and examines the influences that had the greatest impact on his comedy -- from R&B musicians and Redd Foxx to Lenny Bruce and (of course) marijuana. Finally, with keen insight and utter candor, he explores the rift that has separated the legendary comedy team for more than twenty years.

From pot smoking to politics to the universe at large, Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography is the closestyou'll ever get to sitting in a van made entirely of marijuana, trading stories with an unlikely legend, and feeling...well...funny.
 

Contents

CHAPTER
1
Does Your Mama Know About Me?
11
Introducing the Calgary Shades
18
Get Back to Where You Once Belonged
28
A Black Mans Dream Come True
45
Burn Baby Burn
56
A New Life a New Wife
68
Dave Was Here
77
Blind Baby Can You Hear Me?
121
Our First Mansion
136
Weve Got to Be in Pictures
159
Exit Lou Enter Howard
172
Nice Dreams
193
Things Are Tough All Over
201
Still Smokin
222
The Cheech and Me
244

Back to L A and the Quest for Fame
85
Oh Lord How Much Longer?
109

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About the author (2008)

Tommy Chong is a sixty-eight-year-old writer and director, best known as half of the legendary comedy duo Cheech and Chong. The pair found a wide audience through their stand-up routines, comedy albums, and popular films about the hippie, free-love, and (especially) drug culture movement. A father of five, Chong lives with his wife, Shelby, in California and performs with her at comedy clubs across the country. This is his first book.

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