Cheech Is Not My Real Name

December 12, 2016
The comedy duo Cheech and Chong defined “stoner humor” in a series of wildly successful LPs in the early 1970s—and later in equally popular low-budget films—with jokes based on “observing this hippie revolution that was going on all around us,” as first-time author Marin describes in this enjoyable and insightful autobiography. “We didn’t become hippies,” he writes. “We were hippies.” And though their comedy was often lowbrow, Marin’s descriptions of how the duo perfected their act in a range of venues, from their early days in Vancouver (where they met) to countless sets in the famed Troubadour club in Hollywood, makes a strong argument that behind the stoner facade were two seasoned entertainers who, when improvising, “were like jazz musicians.” But the Cheech and Chong team is only half of Marin’s story. After an honest description of the duo’s break-up (“I didn’t necessarily want to be in control. I just didn’t want to be controlled”), Marin describes the development of his solo success as an actor in films such as Tin Cup and Machete. Bookended by looks at his youth growing up poor in South Central Los Angeles and his development as a now well-known collector of Chicago art, this memoir is fun, wacky look inside Marin’s imagination.