Yeah man, you guessed it right, man. Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong recently visited Centre In The Square in Kitchener for their O Cannabis tour, celebrating the legalization of marijuana last year. The iconic duo has been making potheads laugh for decades and that’s exactly what I did for the entire 90-minute performance.
The show began with Chong’s wife Shelby Chong, pumping up the crowd and yelling remarks like “doesn’t everyone just love smoking weed!” and “weed is so great, everybody scream and clap if you love smoking weed!”
The stage was filled with smoke, (unfortunately not real cannabis smoke) to create a hazy stoner setting, along with bright green stage lights beaming the shapes of weed leaves.
When Mrs. Chong announced the entrance of the two best buds, everyone in the audience rose and gave a standing greeting. You could feel the dreams of so many stoners coming true together; getting to see the real Cheech and Chong, live in person.
Chong is Canadian originally from Vancouver, B.C., and that’s where the pair actually met for the first time. Cheech had come to Canada from Southern California to avoid the Vietnam war, and the two clicked instantly.
After releasing their comedy album called “Born in East L.A,” Cheech decided to split off and pursue a solo career. He starred in several movies like “From Dusk till Dawn, Cars, and Spy Kids.” Chong also pursued solo activities, such as making an appearance on season 19 of “Dancing with the Stars” and producing his own line of cannabis and cannabis products called Chongs Choice.
They have made many movies together, including “Up in Smoke, Nice Dreams, and Still Smokin’” starting in 1978 and up to 2014. During the show, they acted out some of their iconic movie scenes, taking the crowd back in time to their hippie generation. I giggled along and dug my hand further into a bag of Goldfish snacks I brought.
After a few stand up bits from their comedies, two microphones and two guitars were placed on stage and they began to sing hilarious songs. The night finished off with a song dedicated to Canada legalizing weed, along the lines “we don’t know how you did it but were sure glad you did!” Overall, I would highly recommend adding Cheech and Chong live to your bucket list.