Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong Bicker About Their Bitter Split in New Doc

As the comedy duo Cheech & Chong, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong were virtually inseparable from their formation in 1971 to their final movie and album together in the mid ’80s. But despite appearing to be in sync comedically, as with so many successful comedy duos, friction lurked behind the scenes.

In an old clip in the new documentary film Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie, an interviewer asks the duo that helped invent stoner culture: “Did you ever get on one another’s nerves to the point that you get mad and don’t speak for a while?”

“Not Cheech & Chong,” Cheech immediately replies, while Chong, sitting beside him, emphatically shakes his head yes.

Evidently, the discord stemmed from their division of labor. Although they were both credited as writers of all six films they made as a team between 1978’s Up in Smoke and 1984’s Cheech & Chong’s The Corsican Brothers, Chong was credited as the sole director of four of them. In a throwback interview, Chong calls his director status “a very touchy thing” between them as Cheech listens intently while wearing a serious expression.

Moments later, alone in a current-day confessional, Cheech, 78, says Chong’s ego was “always quite large,” adding, “He got an ego out of proportion to his actual talent.”

In his own confessional, Chong, 86, says that although he directed four of their films together, Chong was “the star of all the movies.” He adds: “And I did that purposely, because there was a trade-off.”

After a movie clip is shown of Cheech literally sitting at center stage miming space travel, Cheech says, “He didn’t put me anywhere. I was in the same position I was since we started the act. I was Cheech from Cheech & Chong, and that came with it’s own thing.”

Then the doc cuts to a scene of them together in a car discussing the same topic.

Cheech: “If you weren’t going to be recognized as the acting star, you wanted to be recognized as the director. I understand that.”

Chong: “So you think that I directed because it was a job that I could do instead of being the star? I could be the director?”

Cheech: “Well, you always were the director.”

Chong: “You never earned it. You can’t say say, ‘Because I was there with the other that directed, I should be a director.'”

Cheech: “Did I direct as much as you did in the movie?”

Chong: “Huh?”

Cheech: “Did I direct as much as you did in the movie?”

Chong: “No. No, never.”

Cheech: “See, that’s a lie.” [Laughs]

Chong: “That’s a lie?”

Cheech: “Of course, it’s a lie. I directed just as much as you did in the movie. You know, when we had to… This isn’t really worth going into.

They sit in silence.

It’s a moment of realness that underscores the friction that fueled their creativity and ultimately led to their breakup. A year after 1984’s Cheech & Chong’s The Corsican Brothers, their first movie without predominant stoner humor, the duo split. Cheech went on to costar on TV series like The Golden Palace, the 1992–1993 The Golden Girls spinoff, and Nash Bridges with Don Johnson.

Chong, meanwhile, had a recurring role on That ’70s Show and competed on the reality shows Dancing with the Stars and The Masked Singer. In the years since their split, they’ve reunited sporadically.

Perhaps the push-pull of their nearly 55-year association is best captured in an offhand comment about Cheech that Chong makes in a vintage interview at the start of the documentary.

“He’s like a wife that, thank God, I don’t have to go to bed with.”

Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie is now playing in select theaters.