How is he coping? He says he is missing his five children and the grandchildren. It was in the late 60s that he teamed up with Richard Marin, a Mexican-American whose nickname was Cheech. They played music and did comedy sketches in a Vancouver strip club. The funny stuff soon took over, and the strip club became a comedy club. He says his favourite Cheech and Chong sketch is Hey, Margaret — about a husband describing a porn film to his wife.
First, an elderly woman has sex with the pizza delivery man, then she has sex with a dog, and the husband reports it all back to Margaret with relish. It was bad-taste comedy with bigotry as the butt of the joke. Why does he think they were so popular? Simple, he says. Could they really be such dedicated stoners and still be so prolific, or was it an act? Chong sounds slightly offended by the question. We always smoked a little before we went out there.
That was part of the job. Drugs, he says, were essential to the creative process. So if that meant being stoned, I gladly did it. I found that the more stoned I was, the more crazy the movie was, and the more successful we were. Oh, he says, there were a few. Cheech and Chong appeared to be having the time of their lives.
But by the mids they had fallen out. He was thinking I got too much credit. Talking to Chong today, I get a sense of what he means. Alongside the hippy-dippy mellowness, there is a man who clearly likes doing things his way. Because what Cheech wanted was the part where you got the power. Chong calls Marin a genius — not just for his comedic skills, but for his photographic memory and the sharpness of his brain. As for himself, he says his great gift has always been for teaming up with the right person — whether it be Marin or Shelby, his second wife, to whom he has been married for 45 years.
At times, he sounds calculated when he talks about what Marin brought to the table. So I realised, oh man, we can own this place with comedy. And we do. In the end, he says, it was money that did for them. That still makes me laugh. Going from absurd to meaningful, he walks a tightrope that few have traverse.
Williams delivers some of the most insightful comedy to as many that wants to listen. And as he forever changes, he always seems to find a place for us, the audience to join him on his wild ride.
I saw Bill Hicks perform a few times and after each performance I just wanted to quit comedy. He was a mind-blower. He took the elastic edges of your brain and stretched them as far as your imagination would allow. He could do a ten-minute bit that would leave your jaw hanging.
Then again he had one-liners in his back pocket that he could use at his will. A master of the stage. His shows were one-of-a-kind and special. Especially if someone heckled him. Then he would destroy the heckler. It was a joy to see. Of all his bits, I know this is trite because he had so many genius routines; I like this one the best.
RrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrEAL fucking high on drugs. The Beatles were so fucking high they let Ringo sing a few songs. They lie about marijuana. Tell you pot-smoking makes you unmotivated. There is a difference. You owe it to yourself. Then give it to a friend. But if there was one guy, a crazy eccentric that really kept the flame burning on the show biz joint for almost fifty years, it was Richard Myrle Buckley, better known as Lord Buckley.
Born in Northern California, he was natural performer. Even as youngster, he entertained friends and family, soon hitting the streets with his sister performing for pennies and nickels. Working in Vaudeville, he started doing comedy in the jazz clubs and speakeasies in Chicago. There Lenny Bruce, Charlie Parker would groove and hang out banging the gong.
After giving up booze, Lord Buckley became an open pot smoker. You ask writers who they think is the best writer, and they all mention someone above them. Gradually you get up at the top, and you get to Samuel Beckett and not many people have read him.
But a lot of people have been influenced by Beckett. I think the same was true of Lord Buckley. There were a lot of people influenced by Lord Buckley who never heard his material. Maybe the greatest joke writer there for my generation and a serious performer to boot. There are many more famous comics, who have more money, but for the comics of San Francisco, Steven Pearl was the act we aspired to be like. Despite the demands of hosting a late-night show, Noah made more than 70 stops across the world and had his second Netflix special last fall.
In addition, his book, Born a Crime , is still ranked No. Amy Schumer comes in at the number seven spot, thanks to her Netflix special and lucrative tour. Amy Schumer, who last appeared in the top ten in , is the only woman to make the list again.
Despite having to cut her tour short because of a pregnancy-related health issue, her tour made bank: According to data from Pollstar, her shows grossed an average of nearly half a million dollars per city. Chappelle has a Netflix special coming out next month, likely putting him back toward the top of the pack. And Hannah Gadsby is not quitting comedy after all. All earnings estimates are from June 1, , through June 1, Figures are pretax; fees for agents, managers and lawyers are not deducted.
Earnings estimates are based on data from Pollstar Pro as well as interviews with industry insiders.
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