Comedy’s legendary duo Cheech and Chong inspire an incredible night of stand-up comedy, focusing on what made them iconic with their latest comedy special titled Up In Jokes.
Filmed at South Bay Customs in El Segundo, CA, Cheech and Chong host as they allow the spotlight to be focused on a special group of stand-up comedians Austin Kress, Katie Hughes, and Carmen Morales.
The duo met in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1968. Chong was a Canadian citizen, and Cheech had moved there from southern California to avoid the draft at the height of the Vietnam War.
Chong had formed an improv group called “City Works” after seeing Second City Improv while touring as a musician. City Works performed as part of a “hippie burlesque” at Shanghai Junk, a strip club owned by Chong’s family. Marin briefly joined City Works as a replacement for the original straight man.
According to Chong’s book The Unauthorized Autobiographyæ, the two came out one night to warm up the crowd for a new musical group of Chong’s, but never relinquished the stage due to the audience’s strong laughter. As the improv group had not been a financial success at the strip club—they drew a large but low-spending crowd—the two decided to form a comedy duo and play different venues. Successful as a duo, they eventually moved to Los Angeles.
The pair performed stand-up shows, released many successful comedy record albums, and starred in a series of low-budget films.
Some of their best-known comedy routines and songs include “Earache My Eye”, “Basketball Jones”, “Santa Claus and His Old Lady”, and “Sister Mary Elephant”. Perhaps their most famous line is “Dave’s not here”, from their self-titled debut album.
Their early success culminated with the release of their first feature-length movie, Up in Smoke, in 1978.
It became something of a cult classic and was also successful enough at the box office (grossing over $44 million despite a low budget) to warrant two sequels: Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie in 1980, and Nice Dreams in 1981. These were followed by the less successful Things Are Tough All Over (1982) and Still Smokin (1983). The pair attempted a departure from their stoner comedy with 1984’s Cheech & Chong’s The Corsican Brothers. To date, their most recent starring vehicle as a duo was 2014’s Cheech & Chong’s Animated Movie.
Chong directed four of their films while co-writing and starring in all seven with Marin.
They also appeared in smaller supporting roles in Graham Chapman’s Yellowbeard and Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, as well as a Joni Mitchell song (“Twisted” on the album Court and Spark).
In 1985 the duo released their album Get Out of My Room, which included the novelty hit song “Born in East L.A.” (based on Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.”).
This song later served as the basis for 1987 film of the same title, in which Marin played the starring role. Immediately following the release of the album, Marin separated himself from the pair’s drug-inspired act by working on a solo career.
