- 9 months ago
Tommy-Chong-Interview
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00:00copy hello tommy hey hello how are you doing doing great hey tommy hey how are you oh i was
00:11gonna say i'm the guy in the black shirt but we're both wearing black all three of us are
00:15wearing black shirts well they got everyone's got the name titles i think because i see the
00:20tommy yeah so he sees carl okay okay is it a fresh shirt for you guys because this is the one i wore
00:27yesterday uh same here same here i i i it's everything costs more money so i'm not going to
00:35spend eight thousand dollars on the laundromat so i i double up i do shirt to uh in the day shirt to
00:44nighttime and then shirt in the morning radio show i uh i wore the same black shirt but it's an actual
00:50different physical shirt does that make sense yeah i i yeah yeah you have a you have a lot of
00:58them well i i uh i'm a little late getting on the zoom and everything and i couldn't find the zoom
01:05and so and then when i found it i realized i'm not dressed
01:10so so so i had a i had a hurry and and throw this on and this is the the one i had on yesterday
01:20i usually have my wife is my uh my clothes monitor you know and so and so uh and i haven't seen her
01:29this morning yet uh so i'm i'm on my own dude you know i i was actually remarking to somebody the
01:37other day i've only uh washed one pair of socks this is but but but there's a reason for that it's
01:44hot summer a hot summer in jersey and i've only washed one pair of socks the entire summer because
01:52i've been barefoot the entire time yeah yeah yeah that's how you didn't cope with this this so-called
01:58uh unscent unseasonable heat wave this summertime man i agree let's go i think we got a new thing
02:06here laundry tips with tommy john i think we got something good hey we got to save we got to save
02:12the water that you know there's a whole water i i grew up you know in the country i grew up very
02:19very very uh like on a reservation almost and we had no running water we had and so water conservation
02:26was always at top of the the list yeah yeah you you didn't waste anything at the end of the day
02:35you threw it out on the garden wow right under the water yeah wow i've used laundry products in
02:43all kinds of way i mean back in college i used dryer sheets to uh cover up the smell of my weed
02:48did you uh stuff the hide under the door but you know yeah towels yeah towels under the door and then
03:01when i was in college it was towels under the door and the giant wide mouth gatorade um bottles that
03:08you would actually exhale the smoke into oh yeah we actually didn't have um brains enough to simply
03:15open the window so instead we i guess maybe it was cold out you know in the winter that's it so we
03:21would exhale yeah exhale into the gatorade bottle that's it those windows in a cold country you got to
03:28be careful uh we shot a movie in chicago and we had a la crew with us and when the hotel they stayed at
03:36they left the wind the same thing they were smoking weed so they opened the windows but they forgot to
03:42shut them oh and and and the pipes froze in the room
03:46that's a whole different way of wrecking a whole room like the
03:55i i guess can we can we just get into it carl because i would love that we are yeah okay okay
04:03okay that's all right i was assuming so but i didn't know officially um hey tell me you just
04:10were at the vmas you and and cheech uh inducting the red hot chili peppers as like a icon video icons
04:17what was that like yeah it was great it was it was nice to be recognized uh you know at our our
04:24stage of our career you know because the audience were they were i i was saying my grandkids but my
04:32grandkids are older than the audience almost great grandkids time and and it was it was great it was
04:43wonderful you know seeing how crazy everything is and my wife she got more excited than i did you know
04:50uh shelby because she she's you know uh a lot uh younger and a lot uh uh you know hipper and so she
04:59knew what we were getting into i had no idea you know mtv i i couldn't i can't remember i can't
05:06remember shit anyway so my god i just i just showed up wore what she told me to wear in fact she bought
05:14my wardrobe for me in new york the shirt and so uh yeah i owe everything i owe everything to my wife
05:22shelby she she really does prop and my son paris because you know i'm the breadwinner
05:29so i'm propped up i'm propped up ready to go back with the red hot chili peppers do you know
05:35those guys no well you know the weird thing is uh my my older my first wife uh kids you know the
05:43kids with my first wife uh robbie and radon went to school with them in uh fairfax high and and so
05:50they they used to and i was you know we were doing the records then and so the chili peppers just
05:57follow my daughters around because they were so big fans of cheech and chong you know and so i got
06:03to know them before they were the chili peppers or they got to know me and then uh over the years uh
06:10we always had the connection and and the singer uh yeah he he's uh uh i again we connected at a beach
06:19that he he serves that and my radon my daughter she's got a camper and so we have picnics at the beach
06:27and so then we connected again uh there and then uh i we connected uh they did a private uh concert for this
06:36uh promoter in in la and and we got uh invited to the concert and uh and then i got to hang with them
06:44you know and really meet them uh face to face and and so we've been connected for since the beginning
06:50yeah that's so cool that's funny that that his kids were fan or that the band was a fan of yours
06:59isn't that funny yeah that's neat the the the drummer came up to me and says i've been listening
07:05to you since i was seven years old oh my god that's amazing now i i got another i got another weird
07:13celebrity for you it uh in a just a very short time period september 16th through the 18th
07:19you and mike tyson are among the stars who will be appearing at the 420 expo in uh edison new jersey
07:28and oh yeah yeah yeah you're gonna be right here in the garden state you're gonna be at the 420 expo
07:34september 16th through the 18th and uh you're gonna be there mike tyson is gonna be there yeah will
07:42there be some sort of union of tommy chong and iron mike yeah yeah we we we were on his show
07:50he's got a podcast uh studio here in la and uh well i guess a year or so ago we were on this show
07:58oh it was great mike is great man oh have you smoked with him before oh yeah well on his show
08:05oh wow yeah you can get it on uh somewhere you know it's the show's on here it's really funny
08:11because there was a lot of silence
08:14there was it must have been on a podcast video show silence there's no quiet but on mike's show
08:25all of a sudden the conversation stopped because everybody was so stoned
08:30yeah oh yeah i think it was indica anyway we're sitting there and and finally mike says
08:40hey donald what do you think of what do you think of my studio and i says because i knew it used to
08:47be a warehouse so i said oh my mike this would make a nice warehouse and then mike goes mike goes it was a
08:54warehouse it was a warehouse oh my god i would love to be in the room with you two guys that would be the greatest experience ever
09:04hilarious because mike mike is so real and and and and such a oh so you know he's he really does
09:15you know he he lives in the moment yeah you know and and uh and that's why yeah then mike and i had lots to
09:25talk about because we've both been in jail
09:27so we we had a little jail time talk and you know it got really quiet with cheats and everybody else but
09:38mike and i mike and i we were because you know you you can't unless you've been there
09:45you know what i mean unless you've done the time you know overnight don't count right you know you
09:50got you got to be there you know uh for for a few months for sure and so mike mike and i had we had
09:58we had a lot of you know a lot of inside stories to uh catch up with you know oh my god he was great
10:05you guys you you guys gotta do a brand new podcast series called tommy chong and iron mike's jailhouse
10:12stories yeah it'll be the number one show on itunes oh yeah well you know there's there's i i you know
10:22when i grew up uh you know you know not a very uh uh in calgary calgary alberta canada sure and so
10:31the big deal is moving into a house with indoor plumbing that was a big thing uh for me right and
10:38and and and and so my early friends like my house we took in a border uh when we moved into the city
10:46because we had an extra room and we needed the money and so we we took it we always took in borders
10:53well then as i got old around 15 years old i started hanging meeting you know people that just
11:01got out of jail you know the the rough crowd you know the and uh and so i i i made friends with this
11:09one guy just got out of jail and he was like a tattoo artist as well you know jailhouse tattoos
11:15homemade tattoos and he and he was he and he was running with the biker there was a lot of bikers back
11:22then this is in the 40s 50s and so uh urban urban mccann was his name really handsome guy looked like
11:31james dean kind of you know had that james dean you know the sullen look and and the lips and
11:37and and he was like i said he was a tattoo artist so i was 15 years old he says hey let me give you a
11:44tattoo oh thank you i love one and so he gave me this tattoo here i don't know if you can see it
11:50yeah we can see it that's nice yeah what is that that's nice it's a white supremacy tattoo oh god oh god
11:56i take back i take back the nice comment immediately i rescind the adjective nice
12:03no the word nice has been subtracted from the comment i had no idea
12:09wow i had that's the funniest thing i've ever carried this around
12:17listen i carried this around for years and years and years and so i was on a radio show one time
12:24and the biker's looking at it goes hey that's a white supremacy tattoo and i looked at it and i said
12:30really and he said yeah and it's a nazi insignia you know uh the eagle and and and oh man wait you
12:39found out about it's meaning in jail no no i found out this at a radio station oh okay down south
12:48somewhere uh you know where there was other bikers on the show and uh uh and oh wow and so i was going
12:57to get it changed and so my son he goes dad no don't touch that that's og you know that that's
13:05that's you know that's like art you don't mess with art no i know hell of a story
13:11so i still i got it the only thing was the the he he left a little
13:18and it was a spot in there luckily i left a blank
13:28because you know good idea yeah the more blanks the more blanks on that tattoo probably the better
13:36because i was afraid that that you had learned that what its meaning was in prison and i was
13:42thinking we were going to have some sort of american history x scenario where you're going to have to
13:47fight for your life or something well the thing is you learn in prison people respect your privacy
13:54to the to the point that that they will not say anything you don't even make eye contact with
14:02anybody in prison and and so my the the i'll tell you uh when i was in prison i was taking tango
14:12lessons at the time well uh argentine tango and so and i'm i'm used to crowds i don't mind people
14:19staring at me so i was practicing my tango walk on the basketball court you know at the end of the
14:26basketball court where i'd just walk up and down with the tango pose you know or you can tell i was
14:33doing something you know in in prison i found out accidentally that if you find some weird thing to do
14:40that's good because the weirder you act the more people will leave you alone you know because the
14:47prison's filled with weird people and so so i was doing my tango walk well the bikers because of my
14:55celebrity uh status especially with the bikers you know in the movies uh they start gathering around me
15:02and the bikers in the prison i was at they're the peaceful ones they're the ones that are they're the
15:08ones that are proven that they can live in because i was in like a uh camp more than a prison it was a
15:14celebrity like uh uh what's his name in new york's in you know martha stewart all right that kind of
15:22prison and and so the bikers they're bikers they're real bikers they're house angels and
15:28moguls and all those guys but they're peaceful they're they're they're they're they got a peaceful
15:34rep rep and so they would gather at the at the basketball court and watch me do my tango and then
15:41heckle me you know and this one one guy uh steve he goes hey john you don't have to dance alone i'll
15:50dance with you so i walked over so i walked over to him and took him in my arms and started dancing
15:58with him and you know he got all homophobic and oh he got all creepy and it was and the rest of
16:05bikers they fell out laughing and that so steve uh larson was his name he became my dog well your dog
16:13is your best friend in prison you know just like a dog you walk around together you do everything
16:18together and so steve and so we're walking the track because that's what you did in in prison you
16:25every chance you get you get out and you walk the it's a running track a quarter of a mile and so you
16:31walk that for for hours and so we're walking the track and and uh and so i said to steve i said you
16:38know uh teach me teach me how to do time because he he'd been in in a prison all his life and and
16:45there is you know there is a rhythm that you have to learn one way or another you know and and the
16:52best way is uh you know like get with a pro like i did with steve and so steve says well you got to
16:59play games that's what you do games and i said games yeah yeah like everything pool and they had
17:05a pool hall they had a bocce ball court i i and i wanted to learn how to play bocce ball i didn't
17:11tell steve that i could play pool because i'm a canadian i'm a canadian i grew up in you know that
17:17was where you hung out when i was a kid you know and so steve says okay well let's let's start with
17:23pool okay and so he starts explaining the game to me and i realized oh okay i got i got a sucker
17:30here you hustled him you hustled steve i hustled steve you shame on you and and he's being really
17:38nice you know okay here's what you do the eight ball and you know all that stuff and so so i win the
17:45game and and and before we started the game he says okay what you do you play for you can't play
17:53for money so you play for uh push-ups on demand what's that mean what's that mean steve he said
17:59well whenever and when you win and you would say we'll play for 20 push-ups okay and so wherever you
18:06are if if you if when you start arguing or something you say okay give me give me two give me three give
18:13me four uh right away and and you have to do that and so i said okay and so we played the one game and
18:20and i won and steve says okay rack them up again okay okay and i see you know how to play and i says
18:27okay no that's it he said what i said no that's it i'll never play with you again what i says he started
18:36give me a hard time i said give me one he had to stop and give me a push-up oh that's so funny
18:44no and then he said let me let me do them all i said no and so then that night we're walking the
18:49track with the rest of the bikers and steve starts telling what a punk i was you know that i only played
18:55one game and and and they wouldn't do it so i said steve give me five
19:01that's phenomenal i had the best time no steve let me tell you about steve's tattoo he can bench
19:11press 400 pounds with no problem so he was like doing five push-ups wasn't a big deal for this guy
19:18no oh yeah oh no no the guy is is tough as nails been you know in a hustler and he had more stories
19:26and everything else i tried to get him straight you know i tried to help him out you know get him off
19:31the the the crime thing but you know and and by by having him become like uh uh in the movies you know
19:39i could get him in the movies right away guys like that you know they love him you know uh the movie
19:45studios of him but uh no he as soon as he got up he he got back on on heroin and that's usually
19:53that's usually with the the way they go to jail to get clean and and and that's why these people
20:00drive crazy you know those runaway cars or you know the cars where they're being chased
20:05you know carjackers all that usually they're guys going back to jail and you got to commit a crime
20:12bad enough to put you to make you so you can go back it's like going to school you have to you
20:19have to have the right credentials i mean you got thrown in for such a bs reason we were so
20:25so bummed when that happened to you tommy like i know selling bongs through the mail
20:30what do we know we're putting people in jail for that back then yeah well you know bush was looking
20:36for uh an excuse uh to invade iraq and and uh the you know the hippie thing you know nixon used the
20:46hippies right and that's why we ended up in in vietnam for so long the hippies prolonged the war
20:53with their protests and and so they were trying to get that going with uh with the bongs because that
21:00was the only hippie thing that was left and then so and and i think i got time because of my name
21:07right chong you know because no one else got any anywhere close to time the most some got uh the
21:16guy with the papers he got uh you know the cigarette rolling papers he got house arrest
21:21jerome baker uh this buddy of mine that had the jerome baker bongs he got house arrest uh i was the only
21:28one that got jail time but i i look at it like a it was a very positive part of my life it really was
21:36yeah and i i had a chance to get uh uh pardoned you know uh cheech uh had to go to uh the obama
21:46obama was giving chicha and uh chicano of the of the century award or something like that and
21:53chicha asked obama you know about me and obama said yeah i'll pardon him have him fill out the
21:59papers you know everything but part of the pardon is that you got to admit your guilt and and you got
22:06to show remorse and that and i realized you know i can't do that you know because i i was it was bogus
22:15you know it was racist it was racist and it was against medicine that we that we knew and the
22:22government's always known that this was medicine right the government has you know they've had the
22:27studies that that have always shown that this was medicine but it was such a a handy racist law
22:33you know to replace uh liquor prohibition that's that's why they made marijuana do you find it crazy
22:41that how legal now marijuana is in most states i mean it's real i mean we're in jersey it's totally
22:47legal it's fantastic is it is this something that you foresaw or yeah yeah well i i kind of knew i was
22:55doing right i you know i'm not a uh you know first of all i i got turned on to bodybuilding real early
23:02and and so when when you're a bodybuilder and and you're clean you can't you know there's no reason
23:09to to put anything bad in your body no reason at all you know most people uh drink because they have
23:16some uh thing they they're trying to get uh over you know and and they don't realize uh you know how
23:23bad the alcohol is is is acting or they do and and that's what they're looking for well with with a
23:31bodybuilder uh you you monitor everything you put in your body and then when i found out that uh and i've
23:38always liked getting high and not smoking not not not getting blotto high but because again i'm a
23:45musician so i i want to get as high as i need to get to give me that inspiration you know to play
23:51to to really love music yeah and and that was the only reason i got high and so when they when it
23:58started i've known forever how good weed was for you just from uh my experiences with uh alcohol and
24:07and everything else and uh the the hard drugs you know like i once asked uh lenny bruce remember
24:14lenny bruce the comedian oh well his roadie ended up being our roadie uh you know after he died
24:22lenny's uh uh the whole entourage were looking for someone and then they found cheech and john
24:30and and we were very close to lenny so tony vizcaro was his name and while tony was the guy
24:36that used to get you know find the the dope for lenny and and he was actually the one that gave him
24:43the the stuff that ultimately killed him well tony became a real close friend of mine and so i asked
24:51tony one time you know uh what's the big deal with heroin what why why does it do what it does to
24:58people and he didn't say a word he just reached in his pocket pulled out a packet of heroin and gave
25:03it to me oh wow and so i took it and i put it in my pocket then when i got home i put it in my sock
25:11drawer you know i hid it in the drawer and then about a month later i i went and found the heroin
25:17and they took it flushed it down the toilet oh wow because because i know that if it would mess up
25:24guys like lenny bruce and miles davis and john coltrane and all of the heroes to the point
25:31where they died right like these like michael jackson or prince and all those guys you know
25:38i and i realized you know that i i i'm not strong enough to even mess with it even to touch it you
25:47know and and and i know that and so i i respect my weakness and so then i because again i'm a
25:55bodybuilder and so i won't put anything in my body that's going to uh to stop me from you know
26:04achieving the goal of a bodybuilder which is which is total health and looking good looking good yeah
26:12i mean i'm a runner and cyclist and i don't smoke it anymore but i'll eat it because i feel like it's
26:18better for me and better for my lungs if i don't smoke it is it is it is it is and i yeah i i agree
26:26with you uh the the smoking if if you smoke a lot of it like they asked me i did the magazine uh the
26:34cannabis magazine and they said what's your favorite way of smoking now i said well you know i got so much
26:41cannabis in my house you know that and i give it away as much as i can you know for tips and
26:48currency it's kind of currency yeah but smoking it i said you know when i was a kid you know back in
26:58the day when we were poor every tote you had to hold it hold your breath and squeeze every ounce of thc
27:07and you could into your lungs i said but when you got as much as i got i i just light it up and smoke
27:13like like a snoop dog you know you don't inhale you just get the the smoke going like crazy and you
27:21can get a contact high without without without ruining your lungs or or or or getting too stoned
27:28oh wow there it is so so so i i don't inhale i just get the smoke going looks good for pitchers
27:36everything else and then and then what little bit gets by me um you just said that you have
27:44you have something in common with bill clinton you didn't inhale oh yeah exactly exactly exactly
27:50and that's bill no bill was right you know that's the way you smoke without like like if you got to
27:59do a movie or you got to do uh you know like we did in up and smoke you know i never inhaled you know
28:05and because that wasn't weed that was that was uh it was like uh in some kind of herbs but you don't
28:13you don't inhale like you go into a storm you know uh you know or smog you try not to inhale
28:21or you breathe through your nose you know yeah hey how close are you in uh cheech because it sounds
28:26like just from listening to you talk that you you seem to be in in contact a lot still well cheech oh
28:33no no we're we're we're in business together we got our cheech and chong weed uh business together
28:39and and we we we see each other a lot we we don't uh we're not doing performing anymore right you
28:45know we we pass uh we're actually we're in to this celebrity stage uh the q a the question and answer
28:53i love that you know you don't have to think about anything you just show up you literally have to sit
29:03down in front of a microphone and your job is done at that point that's it that's it now that
29:09pissed my wife off the shelby because she was uh part of the show you know she in fact she got
29:15to the point where she was doing a half hour and sometimes 40 minutes before cheech and i would get
29:21out there but but because we're not doing a show uh we didn't need that that kind of talent in front
29:30of us and so we only did one q a without her and i swear to god it was the worst
29:37i went through a patch of of being ignored
29:42it's amazing no matter no matter how famous you get no matter how much weed you have in your house
29:51that one inconsiderate gesture tommy you're in the dog house i suffered are you kidding
29:59the dog had it better than me how is it that we all get treated like that how is that i mean that's the power of the pussy
30:10got blinded by the tang
30:13that's it that's that's it but but i uh but we did the mtv awards and then she showed up
30:22looking phenomenal and uh and so because she's got a following herself and that's really what she
30:30wanted to to keep that following uh you know alive and and we're gonna do i'm gonna uh do some
30:37uh personal appearances with her you know uh promoting promoting our stuff and that you know
30:43so so we're gonna do that but that was a stretch well we're excited we're excited about the 420 expo
30:52that you'll be at uh in edison and uh we i think that's uh yeah a cool opportunity for people to run
31:00into you and and get an idea of what you're really about uh yet again because it's deeper yeah yeah
31:05yeah we usually yeah we i take pictures and that's another thing too you know we do a lot of autograph
31:11signing and people you know make money selling our autographs and so i had my wife with me
31:17and she was making those guys pay me money for the autographs no you don't know i'm free you know
31:25what is it she is well she's the reason for teaching chomp she really is because uh we we're
31:33she was uh uh my i've known her for since she was like 16 years old in high school that's where i met
31:41her actually she came to one of our gigs and we were just friends because i was married and she liked
31:47she loved the fact that i was married because then i couldn't fall in love with her
31:50she's so she's so beautiful you know and so so she had the best of all worlds until until we took
31:58acid together and and then we took acid and made love for the first time and we have a beautiful
32:06daughter named precious chong out of that and we've been together literally uh for all her life all my
32:15most of most of my life and and we're still together and she she's such a well she really
32:21is responsible for for for the look you know up in smoke uh teach designed his outfit but uh i uh
32:31shelby designed my look everything the long hair the the the everything the blue jeans the look
32:38she's a a beautiful artist and uh and you know artists the trouble that's going on with artists
32:45they they look at you like you're a piece of art and if there's something missing or needed
32:52you know yeah i have to mess with the art time yeah project yeah and they don't talk to you they talk
32:58over you yeah like what are we gonna what are we gonna do with him you know her and my son get
33:03together oh my god look at his hair what what are you gonna do with it that's so funny and you gotta say
33:08i'm right here i i still have my hearing yeah oh man well you're you're an absolute legend thank
33:15you for talking to us man yeah okay thank you are we all done yeah well we got uh two more minutes on
33:21this uh uh on the recording time so yeah what what what are we what are we promoting again edison
33:27edison 420 expo yeah yeah the 420 expo september 16th through the 18th at edison new jersey you're
33:35gonna be there mike tyson's gonna be there i'll tell you what god what a show if you like it would
33:41you like to invite people to come join you and we can run that we can run that clip a bunch of times
33:46beforehand i didn't mean invite everybody or yeah like you can say hey it's tommy i'm inviting you to
33:54join us at the uh 420 expo in edison uh the weekend of the 16 17 18th if that makes sense okay
34:01hey hey this is tommy chong and i want to invite all all my cheech and chong fans and mike tyson fans
34:08and everybody to edison uh new jersey and the announcer will give you the dates and the time
34:13because i can't remember oh september 16th 17th and 18th that's a good
34:21people like ozzy osborne yours was better
34:25have a great day
34:30love you guys bye
34:34you
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