From time to time, we’ll share content with the awesome ladies at Grown Ass Lady. Here is a stellar post that their Molly did on her undying love for Tommy Chong. Please enjoy!
Today we’re going to talk about a Hot Fox of Yesteryear who might not be someone we traditionally think of as “hot”: Tommy Chong, legendary stoner and half of the comedy duo Cheech and Chong. Wait, don’t close the window yet! I swear I can prove to you that there was more to him than just a headband, a dopey-ass voice, and an unruly hair/beard combo that suggested he’d been trapped on a desert island for several years.
So Tommy Chong is Canadian and half-Chinese (the mooooore you knooooow), and he wasn’t always a comedian. In fact, he started in “tha biz” as a guitarist, and backed soul singer Bobby Taylor in the ’60s. In the photo below, he’s the guy on the far right.
Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers
I KNOW, right? Major El Vez/Current Johnny Depp vibes. Here’s another shot for good measure—he’s on the far left:
I can’t cope. Then he went on briefly to write comedy skits for the performers at a topless bar in Vancouver (you know, as you do.)
And finally, he ditched the music world in favor of comedy, in the early ’70s. That’s when he became one of the most famous stoners of all time. I know, I know—Tommy Chong isn’t someone we typically think of as a sex symbol. But he is right in my wheelhouse: I’m a sucker for robust facial hair (see: the other Hot Foxes of Yesteryear columns), lankiness, and mellow gentlemen who look like they’ve done some light jail time.
Here he is, having quality time with his best pal, looking suave and relaxed in some lounge wear:
Here he is forcing a small Asian boy to smoke weed:
Tommy is often-imitated:
But never duplicated:
With Cheech, Tommy has made 14 spectacularly dumb movies, and is now a major advocate in the weed-legalization movement. [Sound of the loudest “NO DOYE” echoing out over the mountaintops.] Yes, he may not be a traditional hunk, but there’s no ’70s dude I’d rather spend an afternoon with while on peyote, chatting about conspiracy theories. Just talking about it makes me want to curl up and take a nap on that beard:
Molly is the co-founder and ed-in-chief of Grown Ass Lady.
