Cheech and Chong tickets on sale at... 4:20PM

Cheech and Chong were gone from the comedy landscape for 25 years. Fans had to go to the old albums and movies to see their favorite high-minded heroes. Now, you can see the pair on tour and on their new DVD, Hey Watch This, which chornicles their Light Up America reunion tour, which began in 2008 and is still going strong.

Now it's called the Get It Legal tour, which Cheech and Chong will bring to the Comedy Connection Wilbur Theatre on July 8-9 (they'll also be at the Cape Cod Melody Tent on July 11, tickets go on sale for that tomorrow). The DVD was released on 4/20, and just to keep the theme going, the Connection will start selling tickets this afternoon at, yes, 4:20PM. You can get tickets here at that time.

On the last tour, Cheech and Chong concentrated on a kind of greatest hits package, doing scenes from the movies and albums, with Chong doign stand-up in between. Now that they've been together for more than a year, it will be interesting to see how much new material they might generate, and if they can get away with replacing some of the more classic stuff they've been doing.

Cheech & Chong's tour doc, Hey Watch This, at the Brattle Saturday

In October of 2008, I got a backstage view of Cheech and Chong’s reunion tour, their first in twenty-five years. The pair had come to the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, bringing back characters and scenes from their movies and albums for an audience that included fans from the old days and kids that weren’t even born yet when Things Are Tough All Over came out in 1982 (you can read the piece here).

The natural chemistry was still there, and Chong did stand-up between bits and introduced sketches. They were loose and friendly, although when I asked each of them to sign Chong’s book, Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography, Cheech signed it, “To Nick, ‘Mentidor,’ Cheech 08.” The closest definitions I could find for “mentidor” on the Web were “liar” or someone who had committed a breach of trust. (Chong signed first and wrote, "Read and Weep!") So there’s still a nice, sly edge to their relationship.

Tomorrow at the Brattle, everyone gets that backstage view when Cheech and Chong’s Hey Watch This comes to the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square. The film documents the pair’s tour through 2008 and 2009. It’s a preview of sorts, since the film will be rolled out in a limited theatrical run, on DVD/Blu-Ray, on Video On Demand, and streaming through gaming systems on 4/20 (numbers of some importance to pot connoisseurs.

The movie was directed by Christian Charles, who also directed Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedian. Here’s the trailer:



This is also separate from Cheech & Chong’s Animated Movie, which still have no official release date attached. Although the trailer for that has been out since last year:

Flashback: Before Cheech and Chong Lit Up America, They Lit Up Paul's Mall in Boston

Cheech and Chong play the Orpheum tonight and tomorrow on their “Light Up America” tour, the first time they’ve played the road in 27 years. The ticket price to see the duo’s greatest hits live is $39.50 to $59.50, but Fred Taylor remembers when you could see Cheech and Chong in Boston as a bit cheaper. Taylor owned Paul’s Mall for 15 years in the 60s and 70s, an eclectic club that was once a hotbed for jazz and comedy. He remembers Cheech and Chong recording parts of their album Big Bambu at Pall’s Mall.

“They first appeared April 10-16, 1972, July 3-9, 1972, July 10-16,1972, and August 12-17, 1975,” he says. “Ticket prices were $3 and $3.50 for the first three dates and $4.50 on the last date. As I recall those were double bills with Tavares, The Fabulous Rhinestones, and Pablo Cruz.”

When I caught up with Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong in October backstage at a gig in New Hampshire, they remembered one specific gig with some technical problems. “We were there when the toilet had overflowed right above the stage,” says Chong. “And the plaster was coming down in the middle of our act.”

They also remember some of the legendary performers they saw onstage at the Paul’s Mall/Jazz Workshop complex. “I remember walking through there one night and Charlie Mingus was on one stage playing away,” says Chong. “I forget who was on the other.”

“Rahsaan Roland Kirk,” Cheech says.

“Oh yeah! And then we were in the back.”

I wrote more about Cheech and Chong for the Boston Globe’s Sunday edition.