Happy weekend! Let's forget all about crummy things and have fun! For instance, after a 26-year feud, stoner heroes Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin are getting back together for an historic comedy tour. Yay! It also coincides nicely with the release of Chong's book Cheech and Chong: The Unauthorized Biography. The counterculture icon sat for a nice Q&A on the topic, including the fact that he wrote the book while he was still pissed at Cheech, and didn't edit out any of the unpleasant bits once he and his former partner patched things up.

What does Cheech think about your book? You say some things in there about him "going straight" and wearing his Nash Bridges suits.
Yeah, well he hasn't read it yet. [Laughs]



What do you think he's going to say?
He won't like it, for sure. But Cheech has a habit of not dealing with unpleasantness. He probably won't read it.



Are you nervous about the comedy tour? Reuniting after 26 years?
Well, I wasn't really sold until we went onstage together in La Jolla, California two weekends ago. We absolutely destroyed the audience. They were so happy. We were so happy. It was as if we'd been off for two weeks. And the bits just fell together.



What do you think about the latest batch of stoner films - Pineapple Express, Harold & Kumar?
I read some reviews about Pineapple Express and one was very interesting. They said these movies, including ours, are an experience. It's like a contact high. If you look at all the Cheech and Chong movies, no one ever got hurt, no one ever got killed - the most you ever got was high.



Something else you wrote is that you think it's harder now to produce these kind of movies. Why do you think that is?
Nowadays, with Seth [Rogen] and those guys, they have directors, you know, and writers, a lot of people writing, and they've got money and a lot of intelligence and energy. Cheech and I, we lucked into this. The only thing I would do that these guys do, and I would definitely do next time we do a movie is rehearse. Cheech and I never used to rehearse, especially movies, you know. And you can see it. In Still Smoking, you can see first takes. Everything was first takes. [Laughs] We never got really comfortable and, all of a sudden, we're onto the next because I wanted to capture that rawness, that newness. But since I've been on That 70s Show, I learned the joy of rehearsing; If it's funny the first take, you can make it hilarious the 7th, 8th, 10th take.



When was the last time you and Cheech smoked together?

Couple of years ago. Oh no, what am I saying? The other day. We had an autograph session. We smoked up. See how pot does? It's either a couple of years, or yesterday. [Time]