Tommy Chong - Cheech & Chong

PLEASE WELCOME
CHEECH AND CHONG

The Forum, Los Angeles, 1973

The roar from the crowd was loud. Almost frightening. It sounded like there were sixteen thousand hungry animals screaming to be fed, and we were the foodwell actually, the appetizers; the Rolling Stones were the main course. The sixteen thousandplus fans were there to see the greatest druggie rock band in the world, and we were about to be introduced into their world for the first time as the added feature act, thanks to our record producermanager Lou Adler, who knew everyone in the music business. At the time, he was the music business.

That sound of thousands of people clapping and cheering acts like a drug. Actually, the high is way better; it is a rush unequaled by any drug, illegal or otherwise, and the addiction can last a lifetime. Its the same rush that makes boxers risk life and limb by fighting way past their prime. That special sound of love and anticipation directed toward you, and only you, sends shivers up and down your spine. A glow comes over your body and all of your senses switch to automatic. Each moment becomes so huge, the flow of events is measured in microseconds, not minutes. And each second flows into the next so seamlessly that its over before you know it. You leave the screaming crowd wringing wet with sweat, totally unaware of body pain, feeling only extreme bliss. All you feel at the time is the moment itself.

This is why actors, musicians, teachers, lawyers, athletes, and performers live for that moment. And we die a little when that moment is over because each time we give a performance, a little is left onstage that never comes home with us again. A piece of our soul is locked in time to be brought back only in memories and, eventually, buried forever. And the first moment is the one you will always remember.

The drug that produces this electric effect is produced naturally by your body. It is the fight-or-flight drug, and it gives the body superhuman strength whenever it is threatened or stimulated by some person or some event. Performing in front of a crowd is one such event. The drug is adrenaline. Adrenaline is produced naturally by our bodies when we are in danger of being hurt in some way.

The problem with the adrenaline high is that it is so intense and overwhelming that the power it gives you can be addictive and it takes a long time to come down. Adrenaline is probably the number one problem in the law enforcement community. Cops are continually dealing with the problem of winding down after a shift, especially in ghettos and high crime areas where they are often in danger. The high levels of adrenaline they produce cause sleepless nights, and the constant lack of sleep leads to anger-management problems, which in turn can lead to relationship problems and alcohol abuse.

The best antidote for excess adrenaline, in my humble but experienced opinion, is pot! Marijuana, hemp, weed, da kind, whatever you want to call it. You see, pot actually counters the effects of adrenaline because it slows you down. Pot sits you down, mellows you out, and in some cases, puts you to sleep. And it does this without the bad side effects of alcohol. Alcohol will also slow you down, but its killing effects will eventually catch up with and destroy you, whereas pot has no known adverse side effects or the lingering problems of addiction. Apparently, you can become mentally addicted to it, but so far, no studies have shown that you can actually become physically addicted.

According to news reports, many professional athletes have been known to smoke pot recreationally. In fact, hardly a day goes by without news of some famous athlete being arrested for the possession of marijuana somewhere in America.

I was introduced to pot by a Chinese jazz musician in Calgary, Canada, in 1957. He gave me a joint and a Lenny Bruce record and changed my life forever. The joint lasted almost a month because I would take a hit, put it out, and then pull out the Lenny Bruce record and listen to comedy that had me falling on the floor laughing so hard and loud that on many occasions, I scared my mother.

I became a one-hitter mainly because pot was so hard to find back in the fifties. This was the reefer madness period, when people thought that smoking that evil weed would make you murder your family with an ax. People were doing heavy jail time for pot, people like Robert Mitchum, who did a year in county jail for possession of one marijuana cigarette. And I felt bad when I did nine months for a bong! Yeah, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Listening to Lenny under the influence of pot gave me a goal in life. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to experience life to the fullest. I wanted to hit the road and travel and see for myself what was out there. Lenny made me laugh, but he also made me think. He made me realize that there were problems real problemswith the way the police and judges treated minorities and poor people. Lenny made me realize how bogus the system really is, how hypocritical religion isall organized religions that exclude the rest of the world because they are somehow the true faith. Pot made me realize how organized religion has screwed up the world with all the fighting and bickering over whose god is the real god.

Lenny also addressed the race issue in America. He was the first comic to make it disappear with humor. He showed me what a powerful force humor was. He made me feel proud of who I was. Lenny gave me direction and a cause to believe in. Years later, when Cheech and I recorded our comedy albums, I could feel Lennys presence in the studio with us.

There would not have been a Cheech and Chong had there not been pot and Lenny Bruce. Just like there would not have been Motown, or the Beatles, or Bob Dylan, for that matter, because pot rules! Pot has played a big role in the evolution of the human species since the very beginning of the Stone Age. The ten-million-year-old dude they found frozen in a glacier was wearing hemp clothing and a Cheech and Chong T-shirt, proving that pot has been around for a very long time.