Cheech and Chong

The duo Cheech and Chong released a number of successful comedy albums, and starred in a series of low-budget films. Their best-known comedy routines include "Earache My Eye," "Basketball Jones," "Santa Claus and his Old Lady," and "Sister Mary Elephant" (with the famous "Shudd-up!"). Perhaps their all-time most famous line is "Dave's not here, man" (from their self-titled debut album).

They also released a number of stoner films including Up in Smoke (the first), Cheech & Chong's Next Movie, and Still Smokin'. The movies never had much of a plot (probably so it wouldn't be too hard for the fans to follow) and their main theme was of course weed-smoking. They are considered the first, prototypical stoner movies.

The two were close - Chong stated that Cheech was "closer than a wife; The only thing we didn't do was have sex." However, they separated in the 1980s due to creative differences, and pursued solo careers as actors. Cheech played in several comedies and did character voices for several animated movies, including The Lion King (1994), and had a one-hit wonder song "Born In East L.A." (based on Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A."). Tommy Chong starred on some TV comedies, such as the TV series "That '70s Show", where he still played a burnt-out hippie, and made a cameo in the famous stoner movie Half Baked.

The duo had plans to reunite for another film when Tommy Chong's California-based company, Chong Glass, was raided by federal officials on February 25, 2003, as part of a federal crackdown on "drug-related paraphernalia." Tommy Chong pleaded guilty to charges of distributing drug paraphernalia in May and on September 11, 2003 was sentenced to 9 months in federal prison, fined USD$20,000, and forced to forfeit USD$120,000 in assets. He served the time between October 8, 2003 and July 7, 2004. With Chong off the hook, the duo planned to resume production on their latest opus. A variety of titles were rumored, including Grumpy Old Stoners. Cheech and Chong finally announced that the reunion film had been cancelled.