Cheech Marin & Tommy Chong Talk Last Movie: ‘We Were Always Battling’
Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong spoke to ComingSoon about their inventive documentary, Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie, which takes an in-depth look at the lives and legacy of the comedy duo. The film officially releases in theaters on April 25, 2025, but will fittingly see select engagements on April 20. Cheech & Chong discussed the documentary, Chong’s musical background, and their up-and-down relationship over the years.
“Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie defies documentary expectations, offering a wildly imaginative take on genre convention; a true-life tale told through a mix of animation and archival madness, all underscored by a classic cinematic road trip comedy. Tracing the enduring legacy of pioneering comics Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, the film features interviews, sketches, and never-before-seen footage spanning the duo’s five-decade career. The result is an unlikely story of friendship and fame, turmoil and defiance, rebellion and ultimately – redemption,” says the synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Cheech, this is a very unique documentary. You’re both involved as there’s a road trip going on. There’s animation, there’s some fourth-wall breaking. How special was it that this film is just as fun and unique as your comedy is?
Cheech Marin: Well, it was amazing. It took a lot of doing, and then what perspective it was gonna be told from, what the story was going to be, what part of our life it concentrated on, seemed to work that out pretty well. I have no problem.
Tommy. I love that this film really takes a look at your early days as a musician. Did your background as a musician really set you up to be creative and help your comedy career, or are they just totally different?
Tommy Chong: No, what it did, it showed me who I really am. I’m not a lead guitar player. You know, I can play guitar, but I’d never, never consider myself a guitar player, but it was something that I could do.
See, when you grew up on the farm or in the country, people need help. You don’t ask ’em, you just help ’em. I had a fiddle player, and he needed a backup guitar player. His guitar player got a job and left. So, yeah, I was the closest guy in the neighborhood that could play behind him as a backup rhythm guitar player.
So, I spent a bunch of years backing up a fiddle player, and he was very strict. We played for dances, house parties, and so we would play like a regular gig, and we’d go for hours, go all night, and I had to learn how to keep the rhythm and keep the time and learn the changes and everything, which I did. Then as I got older, I started playing with musicians that knew the music, and then I started picking up all the different aspects of it.
But right from the beginning, my whole thing was trying to do the right thing because I spent a lot of time in an orphanage, and when you’re a young kid in an orphanage, you learn your place very fast. I learned that if you hang out with big, strong people, they’ll protect you, keep you from the bullies. If you just listen to the teachers and just stay invisible, but learn the lesson… that’s what I did. So, by the time, I was kind of on a spiritual path and a righteous path with the music, and so combine it together, then I found out how powerful being a performer would be, and then that I could do it. Then it just took me further, further, further.
Cheech, the film does bring up your falling out, and it doesn’t stray from that. It shows that some sore spots are still there, but you guys have really reunited so well. Over the past 20 years, you’ve worked together and toured. What does it mean for you that not only has this creative partnership carried on and made it through these tough times, but this real brotherhood between you two has really made it last?
Marin: Well, that’s really what it is. We’re brothers. We’re not best friends. You know, like we grew up together. We’re brothers, and we treated each other like brothers.
Sometimes you want your brother to shut up, and sometimes you want your brother to help you [laughs]. So that’s kind of how we how we grew up, is we both understood that at the beginning ’cause I mean, viewing the conversation we’re having in this movie is no different from any conversation we might’ve had throughout our career. We were always kind of battling, and that’s kind of where the pearl emerges, when there’s irritation in the shell.
Thanks to Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong for taking the time to talk about Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie.
Source: Comingsoon.net