Lighten Up with Cheech and Chong
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009Chris Lee
The local economy is tanking, pigs are spreading the flu, most of your favorite television shows are airing their finale episode of the season and football season is several months away. The prescription for these and other woes is Laughter. Fortunately the comedic duo of Cheech & Chong have reunited and are on tour set to touchdown on O’ahu at The Waikiki Shell on Thursday May 29 2009 and on Maui at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center at the Castle Theater.
Cheech & Chong’s Light Up America Tour was launched in 2008 and has carried the duo across the United States and Canada. Their stoner humor and wry observations about life are a welcome tonic during these troubled times. Tommy Chong a native of Alberta, Canada, a multi-talented musician and natural funnyman started an improvisational comedy troupe in 1966/67 in a Vancouver BC nightclub because, “It was a topless joint and I didn’t have the heart to fire the strippers,” recalls Tommy Chong “so when I turned the show into a comedy troupe known as ‘City Works,’ I put the girls in the skits. We had the only topless improvisational theatre in Canada.”
Cheech true/name Richard Marin, born in the barrios of East Los Angeles, found his way to Canada and joined City Works, at a tremendous salary of $60 a week! After two years the troupe disbanded and the two found that they could easily entertain an audience without an ensemble of strippers. They made their way to Los Angeles where they became a fixture at the famous Troubadour Club where they were swiftly signed up by a record executive who soon had them recording their first comedy album, their self titled record Cheech & Chong debut in 1971 and was swiftly followed by Big Bambu in 1972, the Grammy Award Winning Los Conchinos in 1973, The Wedding Album in 1974, and many more to follow.
Cheech & Ching successfully transferred their smoke fueled fun to the big screen with the 1978 film Up In Smoke followed by a slew of hilarious films including the grossly underrated The Corsican Brothers (1984).
Cheech and Chong are scheduled to perform at The Waikiki Shell on Thursday May 29 2009 at 7 PM. Tickets are available via any number of sources, and prices have varied so it is best for you to research your best bargain, one option is via their website http://www.cheechandchong.com/.
Cheech & Chong are scheduled to perform at 7:30 PM at The Castle Theater at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, One Cameron Way, Kahuli, Maui. Tickets are $59.50 and are available via https://www.mauiarts.org/tickets/ or call via 808-242-SHOW (7469)

