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Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

How Cheech & Chong lit up the film industry

Stoner buddy comedies like "Up in Smoke" and "Harold & Kumar" make the grass greener on all sides

Published April 18, 2026 10:30AM (EDT)

A version of this story first appeared in The Swell, Salon's culture newsletter. Sign up for early access to articles like this, for more culture that's made to last.

Early in their 1978 film debut, “Up in Smoke,” comedy duo Cheech & Chong inadvertently expose a bit of systemic corruption. Still stoned out of their minds after being picked up by the cops for driving around Los Angeles smoking a massive joint, the two are hauled into court. Noticing that his new friend Anthony (Tommy Chong) is spiraling into a bit of marijuana-induced panic, Pedro (Cheech Marin) approaches the bench to grab a glass of water sitting next to the judge’s gavel. Anthony takes a gulp and spits it all over the courtroom floor, exclaiming that the cup is filled with vodka. With the presiding judge’s faculties called into question, Anthony and Pedro are let go on a technicality, free to seek out their next high. The grass is greener — and far more potent — on the other side of handcuffs.

With 4/20 fast-approaching and state-level marijuana laws changing all over the country, the stoner buddy comedy has never been quite so relevant.

While funny, the scene doesn’t exactly come as a surprise for fans of the comedians. Cheech & Chong were already staples in the counterculture comedy movement by the time their first film was released. Even their meeting had radical beginnings. In the ’60s, Chong’s band The Shades was making a name for itself, touring Vancouver’s nightclub scene. On the side, he’d been developing an improvisational comedy troupe at a strip joint when a mutual friend introduced Marin, believing he’d be a perfect straight man for the act. The two had........

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