'That '70s Show' was one of the highlights of my life. I didn't expect to be on it as long as I was.
— Tommy Chong
Awakening your spiritual side is really what artists do. When you hit a groove, it's not you; it's the spirit world.
The smartest billionaires I know never finished high school. I got my degree and my doctorate on the street and an advanced degree in jail.
The way jazz works is that we take a theme, and then we write using the same structure, same chord changes, and then we can do different tunes.
The trouble when you're doing something illegal is that you know what you're doing. You're lying to your parents, you're lying to your kids. The only person you can't lie to is yourself.
I used to joke for years that I was a black man. I adopted the black culture, the black race. I married a black woman, and I had black kids. I always considered myself a 'brother.'
My incarceration was actually a positive thing from the beginning. I needed a gimmick to get my act going again, it gave me material.
Activism, to me, I don't know if it really works. It may work for somebody else, but it does not work for me.
I'm just glad I can make a difference in someone's life.
Well, I started out as a musician, so when I was about 10 years old, I was already in a band.
A lot of prophets have gone to jail.
When you hit a groove, it's not you; it's the spirit world. The spirits whisper the ideas in your brain and prod you along. They're the ones that are really happy.
You know, I left the country when Reagan got in; I went to France.
We won a contest at the teen fair in Vancouver and the first prize was a recording contract and we recorded at a radio station on the stairway, and we did a record and it got put out.
The Shades never recorded anything, Little Daddy and the Bachelors recorded a couple of records, ya.
No. Maceo played sax, didn't he, well they used to sit in.
I'm as clean as a whistle.
What made me a comedian was that I wasn't really a songwriter, I was more of a poet.
Cheech and I used to call ourselves musicians; we never called ourselves comedians. We were musicians that were funny.
I know the musical world as well as I know the comedy world.
Music has always been a big part of Cheech & Chong's career, so it's just natural. You know, I was a musician before I met Cheech and had a record with Motown, and so I've got the cred.
Comedy is the ultimate truth. Jazz is hitting the notes that that no one else would hit, and comedy is saying words that no one else would say.
I've been a good boy, I've never really been convicted of serious crime.
I was more of a weightlifter.
People try to put ownership on things: 'That's mine, that's my joke.' No such thing. Like if you tripped or stumbled and people go, 'Oh, that's Charlie Chaplin.' You know what I mean? You can't own a joke. You can be the guy that tells it the best, but you can't own a joke. Nowhere can you own a laugh.
I love to meet my fans, and after every show I usually hang out for a few hours, talking to my fans, signing autographs, and selling T-shirts.
To be in a situation where you have no rights whatsoever is something I wish everybody could experience. People's attitudes would change. It would be a better place.
Jail was probably the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me.
You can't become a dictator through checks and balances.
Well, I had an after hours club in Vancouver and when any of the Motown acts would call.
Unfortunately, the American justice system is just riddled with lies and inconsistencies.
The funny thing is, Dennis Miller got me back into comedy.
Maybe once in a while, you know, after a hard day of shooting or something like that, I'd kick back.
I was about sixteen when I discovered that music could get you laid, so I got into music boy, didn't matter what you looked like either, you could be a geeky looking guy but if you played music, whoa, you'd get the girls.
Life, especially in America, is ruled by corporations.
The GRAMMY was a huge deal. It's the height of any musical career.
When they put me in jail, that's when they turned me into an activist. Up until the time I went to jail, I was just a comedian.
The thing is about Cheech & Chong, we've brought more families together than Dr. Phil.
I've met a lot of jazz musicians in my day, and they're all funny.
Once you're a felon you're a target.
I'm a hybrid.
Everything that happens to me is very cosmic.
I've always been into improvisation.
There's a hierarchy in prison, and I was right at the top.
Religion is run by thought police. 'Obey. Listen. This is what you do. Don't ask questions. Go die for your country.' The spirituality says, 'Okay, you can die for your country, but know what you're doing while you're doing it.'
You look at Cheney, Rumsfeld, Karl Rove, and Bush - if you saw them on Halloween, they wouldn't need a costume. You'd give them a treat and compliment them on what great-looking demons they were. They are demons. There's no doubt about it.
Well I don't know, I might have lost my citizenship, I don't think you can lose your citizenship though.
They just wanted to show the entertainment world that we're vulnerable.
One night all the James Brown band was playing on stage and I look in the back and I could see Mick Jagger and Keith Richards trying to get in the club and they couldn't get in cause it was to crowded.
If I don't get paid I'm going to take a whole lot of Marshall amps home with me on the plane.
