The Saturday Morning “Nobody-Asked-Me-To, But-Here-I-Go-Anyway” Concert Review – Cheech & Chong…

(or, Why I Will Never Be A Professional Concert Reviewer…)

Man, did I ever get a chance to relive my youth last night, man. It was, like groovy, man. Mrs. Wutz-Er-Name and I caught iconic stoner comics…umm…wait a minute…it’ll come to me…

Oh yeah – Cheech & Chong!

The reunited comedy duo are currently touring North America, reliving the glory days of their own youth, and flushing interesting audience members out of the bushes in the process. In some cases, you could have sworn it was 1970 on the fashion front, or that the bikers had been granted parole just to see this show when it swung through town. Harleys rule!!

I thought that the picture up at the top of this posting was appropriate – I’m pretty sure I’ve got some old Cheech & Chong 8-track tapes stored somewhere in the basement. I must root around sometime.

So, how were they? Well, for iconic stoners, they were pretty sharp. They offered up film clips from their career and movies, plus interspersed updates of some of their classic comedy routines, along with some fine stand-up by Tommy Chong in between the skits. There’s nothing lost there - these two are still sharp as tacks, and the stand-up was insightful as anyone pounding the boards currently. When Cheech came out in his tutu to rock out to “Earache My Eye”, well, it was just like putting on a comfortable pair of old shoes. Awesome. Ending the performance with an assistant bringing out a walker to help him get offstage, even more awesome…

And, I was unaware until I read in the paper before the show that Tommy Chong grew up in Calgary, and MET Cheech here before they teamed up. So Calgary was a bit of a home-coming for this legendary team. Pretty cool.

Hey, these guys should catch up with current stoner comics Judd Apatow and Seth Rogan, and really get their careers back into high gear – “Pineapple Express II – Up in Smoke’???? It boggles the mind.

Now, let me reassure you here, we may have been the only straight attendees in the concert hall last night, but we stilled laughed our asses off. That’s right, I said asses – there were far worse words routinely coming from the stage last night, and I could never, ever keep with the spirit of my postings and quote any of them. If you know who Cheech & Chong are, you shouldn’t be too surprised to believe that the show was about as politically incorrect and crude as humanly possible.

And painfully hilarious…

Chow for now!!