Marin briefly joined City Works as a replacement for the original straight man. City Works performed as part of a 'hippie burlesque' at Shanghai Junk, a strip club owned by Chong's family. Chong had formed an improv group called 'City Works' after seeing Second City Improv while touring as a musician. Chong was a Canadian citizen, and Cheech had moved there from southern California to avoid the draft at the height of the Vietnam War. The duo met in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1968. Career Early years Cheech and Chong in the early 1970s The duo found commercial and cultural success in the 1970s and 1980s with their stand-up routines, studio recordings, and feature films, which were based on the hippie and free love era, and especially drug and counterculture movements, most notably their love for cannabis. Latin American culture, drug culture, everyday life, recreational drug useĬheech & Chong are a comedy duo founded in Vancouver and consisting of American Cheech Marin and Canadian Tommy Chong.
