Pubdate: Fri, 25 Feb 2005
Source: MSNBC (US Web)
Copyright: 2005 MSNBC
Contact:  http://msnbc.com/news/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/938

CHONG'S 'MARIJUANA-LOGUES' TOUR GOES UP IN SMOKE

Parole Officer Nixes Performances

NEW YORK - Tommy Chong's play has gone up in smoke. "The Marijuana-Logues" 
has canceled its spring tour after its star, Tommy Chong, was barred from 
performing in it because audience members were frequently lighting up 
during the show. Chong, half of the comedy team Cheech & Chong, was in 
danger of violating his probation, which bars him from being around people 
using or selling illegal substances. He served nine months in prison last 
year for conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia. "The (parole) officer was 
compelled to revoke his ability to continue on the shows," said Phil Lobel, 
a publicist for the play. "The last thing he wants to do is go back to prison."

"The Marijuana-Logues" was on the second night of a North America tour. It 
has played for nearly a year off-Broadway. Chong had a special two-week run 
in New York and then went on the road with the show. Following a kickoff 
performance Feb. 18 in Vancouver, British Columbia, a Seattle show the 
following day was especially smoky.

Lobel said the large 1,000-2,000 seat theaters were much more difficult to 
patrol than the small Actors' Playhouse in New York.

The play expects to resume touring this summer, when Chong's parole ends.

The 65-year-old comedian served nine months in prison, beginning in 2003, 
after pleading guilty to conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia. His home in 
Pacific Palisades, Calif., was raided by police looking for smoking 
materials made by Nice Dreams, a company named for one of the Cheech and 
Chong movies.

Though the police found nearly a pound of marijuana, Chong was never 
charged with marijuana possession because the drug was not included in the 
search warrant. Chong was released from prison in July.

"The Marijuana-Logues," a parody of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues," 
is a three-man show that addresses the rites and rituals of getting stoned.

"I'm still on probation you know," Chong told The Associated Press before 
the Vancouver performance. "Doing a show about weed in the United States - 
when you just got out of jail for selling weed paraphernalia - makes me a 
little nervous."

Tickets already purchased for canceled "Marijuana-Logues" shows can be 
refunded at the point of purchase.
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