CALGARY - Marijuana has inspired some of the greatest music, poetry and art of all time.
Unfortunately, it also led to the popularity of hippie jam bands, but I'll let that slide.
Thankfully, Cheech & Chong are among the good things that came out of pot culture.
Thirty years after their feature film Up In Smoke, became a cult hit (it wasn't easy getting all those stoners off their couches) the comedy duo has returned for a hugely successful reunion tour.
The Cheech & Chong Light Up America/Canada Tour hit town last night to the delight of about 2,400 fans who packed into the Jubilee Auditorium.
It's safe to say there were a dozen or so patrons who may have been under the influence of a mind-altering substance. (Just kidding, there were probably only a dozen who hadn't smoked any weed before the show.)
Richard (Cheech) Marin and Tommy Chong ended their professional relationship in 1985 citing creative differences. But any bad blood between the two has washed away and the pair was in fine form performing many of their most popular songs and sketches, including the hilariously low-brow hitchhiker scene from Up In Smoke, which started off the show.
Marin was the first to walk on stage and received a boisterous standing ovation.
"Hey Calgary! You wanna ride?" he wailed in the nasal Mexican drawl that made him famous. "Then take off your four coats and come on over."
The crowd went wild when Edmonton-born Chong entered, but saved his standing O for the end of the skit.
It was apparent many audience members knew Up In Smoke inside out. Some couldn't contain their excitement, yelling out lines from the movie and there was often laughter before the jokes even dropped.
Between sketches, Chong regaled the audience with stories about the duo's early years and poked fun at his 2003 prison sentence.
The comic spent nine months in prison for selling bongs over the Internet.
"Forget what you've heard about prison," he said. "It doesn't hurt. You just have to breathe out."
Crass humour was pretty much the order of the evening. Quips about excrement, hard drugs and gay sex were common.
But there were also some very clever moments such as the hilarious Let's Make a Dope Deal, which demonstrated Cheech & Chong's razor sharp comic timing.
Chong started out as a musician and showed off his impressive singing and playing skills when he strapped on a guitar and did a couple of comical bluesy numbers under the guise of Blind Melon Chitlin.
At press time, the pair had yet to perform their 1985 single, Born In East L.A. (a takeoff on Bruce Springsteen's Born In the U.S.A.
Adding current references into their classic skits gave the show a fresh feel and their dedicated fans hope for even more of the good stuff.
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