Cheech & Chong

Cheech & Chong are a comedy duo, consisting of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, who found a wide audience in the 1970s and 1980s for their stand-up routines, which were based upon the era's hippie, free love, and especially drug culture movements. The duo released a number of successful comedy albums, and starred in a series of low-budget films, becoming a highly successful comedy team. Their best-known comedy routines include "Earache My Eye," "Basketball Jones," "Santa Claus and his Old Lady," and "Sister Mary Elephant." Perhaps their all-time most famous line is "Dave's not here." (from their self-titled debut album).

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 would later serve as the basis for the 1987 movie film of the same name, in which Cheech Marin played the starring role. Immediately following the release of the album, Cheech Marin separated himself from the pair's drug-addled act by working on a solo career. In addition to starring in the aforementioned Born in East L.A. movie, he has performed character voices for several animated feature films, including Disney's Oliver and Company (1988), The Lion King (1994), and Cars (2006). Marin also starred in various comedy films, including The Shrimp on the Barbie, as a lead in several television series: Nash Bridges (which featured Chong in one episode and treated fans to "Dave's not here, man", to which Marin replied "Let's not go there"), a Cisco Kid series on cable starring Jimmy Smits as Cisco and Marin as his sidekick Pancho, and The Golden Palace, as well as a recurring guest role on Judging Amy. He had a memorable part as a bartender in the film Desperado, as well as other roles in successful Robert Rodriguez films such as From Dusk Till Dawn and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and has a recurring role as Hugo Reyes' (Hurley) father in the popular ABC series Lost. Recently, he appeared in the movie Christmas with the Kranks.

Tommy Chong also pursued a solo career, starring in such comedies as Far Out Man, in which Marin made an appearance. He co-starred on the Fox Television series That '70s Show in which he played Leo, a burned-out hippie very similar to his character Anthony Stoner (Man) in the movie Up in Smoke (1978). Chong also had a cameo in the U.S. Bicentennial movie spoof, The Spirit of '76.