Cheech & Chong on the Comedy High Life

Comedy duo Cheech & Chong started doing improv theater together about 55 years ago, in an act they’ve called “hippie burlesque,” at a Vancouver strip club. Ten years later they invented the stoner buddy movie genre with Up In Smoke, introducing mainstream America to a lot of weed jokes and also a friendlier 70’s Chicano culture than had been portrayed on screen. We talk with Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, who are part of the comedy festival SF Sketchfest, about their long careers, art, activism and whether legalization has made marijuana any less funny.