Cheech and Chong are a fondly remembered (by those who can) pop artifact from a time when the then relatively young drug culture was viewed in a more benevolent light. After two years of working together in a Toronto-based improv group, Thomas 'Tommy' Chong, the half-Chinese, half-Scottish-Irish Canadian, collaborated with the Los Angeles-born Mexican-American Richard 'Cheech' Marin in 1969 to create a comic sensation. Cheech and Chong started out with nightclub appearances in Toronto and LA, graduated to opening act for major rock shows, including the Rolling Stones and the Allman Brothers