Reunited for the first time in two decades, “a lot of things are starting to boil” for Cheech & Chong, according to Richard “Cheech” Marin. But the comic duo, currently on its first concert tour in 25 years, is taking its time considering opportunities for future projects.
“I don’t know where it will go,” Marin tells Billboard.com. “We’re getting offers to tour other places outside of (the U.S.), so we might take a look at that. We’re taking a look at all the options.” Even, perhaps, Cheech & Chong’s first feature film since 1987’s “Born in East L.A.”
“You never know,” Marin says. “We’re talking about it. If one comes up and we can agree on what to do, how to work, then why not?”
Marin says the only thing that’s definite is a DVD from the Light Up America Tour, which will probably be filmed in mid-October. Mostly, however, he’s pleased that after an acrimonious split he and Chong are working together again — happily.
“We’re getting along better than ever,” Marin reports. “There was always a great love between us. We had a lot of respect and admiration for each other. I think egos got in the way. Now we both realized we (each) had half a treasure map, but we’re not gonna be able to get the treasure unless we put the two halves of the map together again.”
The shows, he adds, have been going well, with audiences greeting’70s bits such as “Earache My Eye,” “Sister Mary Elephant” and the top 20 hit “Basketball Jones” like long-lost friends. “They were of their time, but they transcended their times, too,” Marin notes. “People still laugh at them.”
And those people now include an even wider age range — “From the womb to the tomb,” Marin says — in Cheech & Chong’s audiences.
“The bulk of our audience coming wasn’t even alive the last time we were on stage,” he says. “Those bits are all classics and they’ve endured just like they came out last month, which is great.”
