In the late 1960s, Richard “Cheech” Marin, now recognized as a generational comedy star, was a college graduate who had just received every Chicano’s worst nightmare: a draft letter.
He joined the draft resistance movement right as the “Hershey directive” was issued, which put draft-card burners first in line for service. Marin “got on the dog” and fled to Canada, where he would meet comedy partner in crime Tommy Chong, altering the course of his life.
Marin joined Times editors Fidel Martinez and Suzy Exposito on the latest episode of “The De Los Podcast” to dive into his comedy career, his patronage of Chicano art and all the wacky moments in between that made it possible.
In Vancouver, Chong recruited Marin into an improv group, where he performed comedy at a topless bar in front of bikers and loggers. The unlikely comedy duo got their big break after performing regularly at the Troubadour and recording their first album with legendary record producer Lou Adler.
“We just got discovered by Lou and he knew exactly how to market us once we started coming out with material. The record exploded when it came out,” Marin said. “Exploded, you know, like we went from never having played outside of L.A. to now being nationwide known, overnight.”
Marin also spoke about the making of “Born in East L.A.,” the 1985 parody song about a wrongful deportation that inspired the 1987 comedy film of the same name.
Marin said the idea came to him as he read the real-life case of Fernando Ontiverof in the Los Angeles Times, who was a young Native American man deported to Tijuana for a week in the spring of 1970 despite being an Americanborn citizen. After writing a letter to Bruce Springsteen for his approval to spoof “Born in the U.S.A.,” Marin got the green light, and went on to make the Chicano political comedy classic.
“This was politically and socially significant since the day I created it and more so now,” Marin said. “Everyone’s seeing how [deportation] impacts their communities, whether they like Latinos or not, it still impacts them.”
In addition to being a comedy legend, Marin is also a longtime collector of Chicano art. In 2017, the city of Riverside and the Riverside Art Museum approach Marin about creating a space to house his collection of more than 700 Chicano art pieces. In June 2022, the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture opened its doors.
“It’s a little museum that could. It’s gained prestige all the time. I’m trying to make it into an international destination,” Marin said. “And it’s starting to be that.”
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