Tommy Chong
Tommy Chong
Thomas B. Kin "Tommy" Chongis a Canadian American comedian, actor, writer, director, activist, and musician. He is well known for his marijuana-themed Cheech & Chong comedy albums and movies with Cheech Marin, as well as playing the character Leo on Fox's That '70s Show. He became a naturalized United States citizen in the late 1980s...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth24 May 1938
CityEdmonton, Canada
CountryCanada
People try to put ownership on things: 'That's mine, that's my joke.' No such thing. Like if you tripped or stumbled and people go, 'Oh, that's Charlie Chaplin.' You know what I mean? You can't own a joke. You can be the guy that tells it the best, but you can't own a joke. Nowhere can you own a laugh.
I've always believed in the concept of retirement. I retired for the first time at age 18 ... from school. To me, retirement means doing what you want to do without worrying about getting paid for it.
So (legalizing marijuana) means a lot more to me than just being able to smoke a joint without being arrested.
The thing is about Cheech & Chong, we've brought more families together than Dr. Phil.
I never had a criminal record. They were kinda banking on the fact that I was dirty as can be.
Music has always been a big part of Cheech & Chong's career, so it's just natural. You know, I was a musician before I met Cheech and had a record with Motown, and so I've got the cred.
Look what happened to me for a bong,
But on the other hand, pot is the best recreational substance for teenagers, athletes, people who have naturally high adrenaline.
What made me a comedian was that I wasn't really a songwriter, I was more of a poet.
They just wanted to show the entertainment world that we're vulnerable.
The way jazz works is that we take a theme, and then we write using the same structure, same chord changes, and then we can do different tunes.
Ya, we had a number one record, ya we, there's a lot of history there, we uh, we discovered the Jackson Five, opening for us one place.
Cheech and I used to call ourselves musicians; we never called ourselves comedians. We were musicians that were funny.
Life, especially in America, is ruled by corporations.