Comedy duo Cheech and Chong will bring their comedy act to the Central Coast for their “Get it Legal Tour,” on Friday, May 14 at the Avila Beach Resort.
Their comedy, focused heavily on marijuana, has led to nine comedy albums and eight movies, including their first movie in 1978 entitled “Up in Smoke,” which earned more than $100 million at the box office.
Yvette Shearer, who serves as the personal publicist for Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, said it is great to introduce Cheech and Chong to new and younger audiences who have not experienced their comedy.
“Funny is timeless and when something is really done right it doesn’t matter whether you pick it up 30 years later, it’s still going to be funny,” Shearer said. “Marijuana is still funny to a lot of people, so it just makes sense and it’s a common subject matter that still resonates with a lot of age frames years later.”
The show will focus on the legalization of marijuana, which coincides with the naming of the tour. Shearer said the performance will include new and old material from their stand-up comedy routines over the years, some of their musical talents, a stand-up by Chong’s wife Shelby pand Cheech’s son Joey will serve as the disc jockey for the night.
Shearer said the tour has around 40 dates planned throughout the year and continues to add more stops. The tour has taken the duo throughout the United States and included some stops in Canada as well. Shearer said they wanted to come to San Luis Obispo because they heard it was a great spot and a beautiful place for a concert.
“I think they’ve had a couple of outdoor shows that seemed pretty much up the Cheech and Chong alley, so we thought it would be a cool and fun place to go kick-off a nice day out,” Shearer said.
Joe Graziano, who has served as Cheech and Chong’s tour manager for almost a year now, said they have enjoyed great support from people along the tour. Graziano said it is a privilege to work with Cheech and Chong because they care about their fans and their comedy still impacts people today.
“We’ve had sold-out shows everywhere and whenever you are touring with a couple of comedy legends like Cheech and Chong, it’s an honor and a crack up every night,” Graziano said.
He said Cheech and Chong still have die-hard fans throughout the country that have been around for years; the comedy team enjoys meeting all those people and the opportunity to put smiles on their faces.
“That’s really what we get out of the whole thing is just the enjoyment of the crowd,” Graziano said. “The passion that the crowd has comes through every night and the guys feed off of it in their performances.”
Shearer said their audiences tend to span many different generations from younger, college-aged kids to the baby boomers who grew up with Cheech and Chong. She said both men continue to enjoy touring and will provide a quality two-hour performance for attendants.
“I think it’s just the thrill of performing for different audiences that keeps them going and they’ve never stopped being creative,” Shearer said. “When you’re fueled by constantly putting out product and you want to do it, people enjoy it even better.”
With summer approaching, the concert season is beginning to pick-up in Avila. Bruce Howard, founder of Otter Productions Inc., helps plan and set-up concerts all over the Central Coast. He said his company jumped on the opportunity to bring Cheech and Chong to San Luis Obispo County for the first time. Howard has been doing shows in Avila for more than 20 years and said the Cheech and Chong performance popped up in the past two months. He said Cheech and Chong are iconic comedians.
“They are arguably one of the larger comedy acts that came out of the ’60s and they survived until today,” Howard said. “To be able to bring them to Avila at the beach on a Friday night seemed perfect to me.”
Howard said he is a big believer in the ability for people to recreate and have a good time and believes that entertainment is part of life. He said there is no big social implication for this show, but it is going to provide entertainment for the people who choose to attend the show.
“I believe that there’s something to be said for pure just having fun,” Howard said. “Do I have any great commentary about it? No. I mean it’s Cheech and Chong. They’re going to be talking about smoking dope and getting high.”
Howard said the show will help commerce in Avila by attracting people to come into town. He said their company tries to provide entertainment for a variety of different age groups and demographics. In the next couple of weeks, MGMT will be performing in Avila and they will be followed by the 17th annual Avila Beach Blues Festival.
“If you’re 20 we want to have something for you, and if you’re 60 we want to have something for you as well,” Howard said.
There are still tickets available for the show, including both general admission and reserved seats. Howard said tickets can be found as low as $25 by going to www.vallitix.com and entering the password “smoke.” The most expensive tickets are $60. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. The show begins at 7 p.m.