By Bill Vaughan
Entertainment Writer
Forward thinking has served RICHARD “CHEECH” MARIN well. With comedy partner Tommy Chong, he blazed the entertainment world with stoner humor on classic albums like “Big Bambu,” and movies beginning with “Up in Smoke.”
A prominent solo acting career followed with roles in “Born in East L.A.,” “From Dusk Til Dawn,” “The Lion King,” “Nash Bridges,” “Lost,” “Machete,” “Jane the Virgin,” the “Cars” trilogy, and more recently “Champions” and “The Long Game.”
From his early days, Marin believes the industry is absolutely changing.
“There’s more Latinos, more Black peoples, more Asians even,” he said. “Everybody kind of concentrates on directors and studio heads, and that’s changing slowly, but as far as actors and people in front of the camera, that’s changing fast. Every show has a Latino now.”
We enjoyed scrumptious cocktails several years ago at NYC’s Black Bar made with Tres Papalote Mezcal, a mysterious spirit that like tequila is made out of agave but with a smokiness.
“Used to be Mescal water had a worm in it or a scorpion,” explained Marin who served as a brand ambassador. “It was a novelty that you could buy in Tijuana or something. The real mescal is becoming hotter and hotter across the country. It’s the real hipster drink now. I like it preferably as a mixer.”
I drank to that with The Cheech, made with grilled pineapple, serrano chili, lime and agave. The stand-out collector’s edition bottle is a glass sculpture made by the De La Torre Brothers, who have the biggest Chicano collection in the world.
Marin was touring and in the middle of filming “Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie,” a road trip documentary which made its debut on the appropriate 4/20 on Paramount Plus. He was also working on a sitcom with Paul Rodriquez and his popular skateboarding son, Paul Rodriquez Jr.
He also saw the release of his first memoir, “Cheech is Not My Real Name … But Don’t Call Me Chong!,” published by Hachette; along with the Riverside opening of The Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture, and Industry, the permanent home for his more than 700 works of Chicano art, including paintings, sculptures, and photography; collectively, the most renowned Chicano art collection in the United States.
When asked if he has capitalized on marijuana legalization, Marin said, “Why yes. Funny you should mention it,” before describing the multi-strain personal line called Cheech’s Private Stash, edibles, crumbles and all those things.
Of his appearance on “Dancing with the Stars,” with Chong, Marin says it was just fine with him. “Tommy had to do all the dancing,” he said. “I just came in to help him out and drive him on. It’s funny cause I wasn’t on the show and one week I got 4,000 votes. So how brilliant are these guys? I think it’s the same people who vote for Trump.”
For 12 years, Bill Vaughan has kept Wave readers up to date with the latest news in entertainment. Now, we are collecting some of those past columns into what we call the Best of Tasty Clips. To contact Vaughan, visit his social media pages on Facebook and Instagram or @tasty_clips, on X @tastyclips, and on LinkedIn to William Vaughan.
