I thought I would give myself a little bit of time before writing this review. I saw Cheech and Chong live last week in Fort Wayne at the Embassy Theatre. I had been looking forward to seeing them ever since I purchased the tickets back in July. Before going any further I want to explain that I have never smoked pot, but have been around plenty of people that have smoked in front of me and I could never even imagine myself touching the stuff.
My evening started with finding a location in the parking garage to park and immediately was hit with a wall of stench that was of course pot. So I knew even if I was lost I was going to the right place. After getting to the front of the Embassy to meet up with my friend, I was stopped by Indiana pro-pot people. I told them I was not interested and continued on inside. Chong's wife Shelby (who is quite attractive) opened for the pair and had some very great jokes referring to pot growing in the house, her first time tripping out, meeting Chong and his time in jail for selling Chong-Bongs.
Then after her routine the boys came out for Q and A from questions that the audience gave Shelby. The most important question, I felt that of course was answered in a way that got a laugh, but not really answered was why did they break up. Chong said he realized they were broken up after he saw a Cheech and Chong movie that didn't have Chong in it and thought that they were on a long vacation of 4 years. Shelby talked about how Cheech went onto animation and other roles like in Nash Bridges which brought applause. Cheech didn't say much other than acknowledging his acting outside of Cheech and Chong. It could be assumed that since Chong wanted to keep on with the pot lifestyle that Cheech wanted to go about his own path and not just be known as the other half of the marijuana duo. That is not to say that Chong didn't make a come back. He did play the character Leo in That's 70's Show, basically playing himself and was quite surprised that none of the cast smoked pot and it was all fake pot on the show that got smoked in the basement scenes.
Of course they did some songs and even did the "Dave" bit and "Let's Make a Pot Deal" and Cheech dressed up in a tutu playing his character from Up In Smoke. All of these bits got me laughing and enjoying every minute of being able to see these comic legends. However, they started getting on the legalize pot in Califonia soap box (which I know is the platform which made them famous). We are in Indiana, I don't think there is much that can be done on our part here to get it passed in California and Chong kept saying pot is the safest drug out there to do and even went on to say that God was a pot head and used references from the Bible to prove his point (quite funny, I might add) since he had plenty of time during the 9 months he was in jail to read. I would have to disagree pot is not safe. There are children, born from mothers that smoked pot during pregnancy, that have health and other issues due to exposure in the womb. If people need and want their pot for medical use for legit reasons, by all means let it be for people that must need it not just because of wanting to get high. There has to be a difference. If it was so safe why is K2 getting banned since that is a fake pot?
The other thing that irked me was how they touched upon immigration law. I understand they have a large minority following and the minority works do a lot of jobs that we probably couldn't imagine or would want to do, but this show (in my opinion) wasn't for them to push their political agenda on the audience. I didn't pay to hear this. I could have done for some more of their comedy that made them famous. I can't remember exactly how it started, but Chong did touch briefly upon how bad the current times are with the economy. Well, duh! This non-new statement was shortly followed by Shelby stating at the end of the show both Cheech and Chong would have meet and greets with the audience...at a price. The proceeds would go to a local food bank. The price you ask? For one person $80.00 and a couple $150.00!!! The prices for licensed merchandise was even a bit much for people's wallets as well. What didn't Chong just say times were tough and they want people to pay that much just to meet them for a few minutes after paying $50.00 plus (this is even after having "cheap seats" with all of the convenience fees added) and get their picture taken as well? I understand that the food bank would be quite happy, but I think you would get more people and money if the prices were lower. I understand the draw and appeal of Cheech and Chong, but this is 2010 not the late 1970s or even early 1980s and the Embassy was not sold out for this show. Right there tells you that their draw or money was the reason for people not coming Needless to say that I and my friend did not spend any money to meet them and left after the show ended.
I wouldn't trade or wish that I didn't go to this show. I don't think this area would get a chance to see them in person let alone "live" again after it had been 20 years from when they last visited the Fort Wayne area. I am glad I got to see this pair live and my opinion of their recorded comedy and at least Up in Smoke won't change my opinion of what they built together, but I have to say I am disappointed that they didn't live up that standard last week.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
NBC-ya later Jeff Z! or How I saw the Late Night Wars II
It looks like the merger between Comcast and NBC has seen it's first victim, Jeff Zucker. I feel for you Jeff, I recently lost the job I held when the company, I was with, decided to be greedy and not keep the people that were their front-line for customers and related it to "workforce reduction" based on the economy. However, I digress.
Zucker, Zucker, Zucker...I have admit he was a very smart guy with how he ran the Today Show in the 90s and made it the success it became and how it still continues to thrive. However, I cannot forgive him for the whole late-night mess. I am not a Conan-fan or Coco-head or whatever they call themselves. I am a fan of Leno. I won't hide that fact. I consider myself as a part of Gen-X, but what does that truly means besides a title...I have no idea. Conan is supposed to be the representation for this generation. I have to say I didn't jump onto that Coco-bandwagon. Nothing against the guy, he pulled in ratings and an audience, he is just not my cup of tea. I wish him luck on TBS. I will probably even tune in for the first night or two to see how the show fairs and if he changes is style.
I know this topic is pretty much over with right now and will probably only gain momentum once again when November rolls around or when ever Letterman decides he needs to boost his ego and trash Leno. Leno did get a unfair beating by the media in this debacle and from what happened after Carson left during the first late-night war. Leno's agent worked hard (and mean) to get Leno signed to take over the Tonight Show from NBC when and if (at the time) Johnny Carson would ( if ever) sign off from the airwaves. Leno had been the full time guest host on the Carson Tonight Show while Johnny would take a night or week off. Leno was warming himself up to be the host. While on the East Coast, Letterman just felt that he should be given the show based on what he did on his Late Night for over a decade. Not that his work should have been ignored, but he just approached this whole issue the wrong way.
Granted, Letterman worked hard on the show and was hard on himself (thank you Bill Carter for writing such an excellent book with all the juicy late-night details). Letterman didn't show interest to NBC until it was too late after they had signed on Leno after Carson announced he was leaving. Carson's announcement came without a heads up to the NBC brass during an appearance at the fall upfront presentation. Carson's surprising comments was partially a result from Leno's manager making a false story to the trade papers that NBC was considering to let go of Carson because of his age and if he could maintain title of "King of Late-Night". Leno had no idea that his manager was behind it until much later. She was later fired for her rants by Leno as a result of her actions while trying to do a prepare a live Tonight Show went awry when NBC News coverage of a political convention ran over. The plan was to have Leno go live with fresh jokes about the convention, but when NBC News wouldn't budge on the coverage or cut it at the time the live show was supposed to start, she sent the audience home. NBC execs forced their hand with Leno to either let go of his manager or they would consider giving Letterman the show.
What I feel Letterman didn't take into consideration is that he needed to show more interest in the job instead of just expecting it to be handed to him. As we all know that just doesn't happen. Letterman should shown more interest and been more supportive of himself and NBC to have made his position known earlier and not after the fact. Of course that allowed him to start marketing himself elsewhere in a more covert way without breaking his NBC contract. This lead to him jumping over to CBS, to create a new legacy for late-night programming for them. At the beginning Letterman did take the lead over Leno when he went to CBS proving his 11:35 chops. This lead ended after what most TV reviewers would agree was the Hugh Grant-tranny hooker issue on Leno in the mid-90s and Leno rode on the high horse of ratings in late night for NBC until he ended his first run on the Tonight Show.
I am not saying Leno is innocent, by any means. I really think he should have walked away from NBC last year or even when they gave/offered the Tonight Show back to him. He placed himself in the line of fire and although he was and continues to be loyal to NBC throughout (which I know will sound like I am contradicting myself from earlier) he should went to another network or went away for awhile. I think time away may make it a big return for Conan. Yes, I know that Conan was contracted by NBC to not jump immediately into another program after he left NBC in January. A course of action like that would and should have been the high road for both Leno and Conan and really make NBC flounder to find their footing in late-night.
If NBC had full faith in Conan, why did they keep Leno around? Did they truly have faith in Conan or were they worried that their 2005 decision to kick Leno out in 2009 was wise? I think it was the combination of both with having Leno on at 10:00 pm with pretty much the same format as his Tonight Show taking away (with low ratings) the lead in from the news to Conan. Conan isn't innocent as his fans claim or would like him to be seen. He didn't want to change his format from 12:35 Late Night to his Tonight Show. Which I can see people not wanting to make changes to what works similar with Leno. However, one hour does make a difference with who is watching him. It alienated the older viewers and some of the younger viewers that were 11:35 Leno fans went to Letterman or Jimmy Kimmel to at least hold on to some sense of what was before the short Conan-era. The changing of the guard gave Letterman's show some new life when he needed it after his blackmail/mistress affair that seemed to have been placing him in a more downward spiral.
As history has shown having Leno back behind the Tonight Show desk gave the lead back to NBC and away from Letterman, but his ratings have been and are still sometimes lower than Conan's ratings. So was it really all about low ratings or trying to cover for a mistake with an even larger one? I don't know.
Getting back to Zucker, he gave NBC a long and great run with many good times before and during the big change in the TV industry due to the internet and some mistakes he made for the network. Does anyone remember Encore, Encore? Everything from Super-Sizing episodes of Thursday's "Must-See" shows to gain ground on the slipping ratings that CBS was chipping at on Thursdays and giving Friends (which I never understood that phemon) their last year with their higher pay checks per actor was some of his highlights. Overall, I think the final nail in his coffin, in my opinion, was the late night battle.Instead of being just a single, final nail to that coffin it was a economy sized box that sealed his fate.
Zucker, Zucker, Zucker...I have admit he was a very smart guy with how he ran the Today Show in the 90s and made it the success it became and how it still continues to thrive. However, I cannot forgive him for the whole late-night mess. I am not a Conan-fan or Coco-head or whatever they call themselves. I am a fan of Leno. I won't hide that fact. I consider myself as a part of Gen-X, but what does that truly means besides a title...I have no idea. Conan is supposed to be the representation for this generation. I have to say I didn't jump onto that Coco-bandwagon. Nothing against the guy, he pulled in ratings and an audience, he is just not my cup of tea. I wish him luck on TBS. I will probably even tune in for the first night or two to see how the show fairs and if he changes is style.
I know this topic is pretty much over with right now and will probably only gain momentum once again when November rolls around or when ever Letterman decides he needs to boost his ego and trash Leno. Leno did get a unfair beating by the media in this debacle and from what happened after Carson left during the first late-night war. Leno's agent worked hard (and mean) to get Leno signed to take over the Tonight Show from NBC when and if (at the time) Johnny Carson would ( if ever) sign off from the airwaves. Leno had been the full time guest host on the Carson Tonight Show while Johnny would take a night or week off. Leno was warming himself up to be the host. While on the East Coast, Letterman just felt that he should be given the show based on what he did on his Late Night for over a decade. Not that his work should have been ignored, but he just approached this whole issue the wrong way.
Granted, Letterman worked hard on the show and was hard on himself (thank you Bill Carter for writing such an excellent book with all the juicy late-night details). Letterman didn't show interest to NBC until it was too late after they had signed on Leno after Carson announced he was leaving. Carson's announcement came without a heads up to the NBC brass during an appearance at the fall upfront presentation. Carson's surprising comments was partially a result from Leno's manager making a false story to the trade papers that NBC was considering to let go of Carson because of his age and if he could maintain title of "King of Late-Night". Leno had no idea that his manager was behind it until much later. She was later fired for her rants by Leno as a result of her actions while trying to do a prepare a live Tonight Show went awry when NBC News coverage of a political convention ran over. The plan was to have Leno go live with fresh jokes about the convention, but when NBC News wouldn't budge on the coverage or cut it at the time the live show was supposed to start, she sent the audience home. NBC execs forced their hand with Leno to either let go of his manager or they would consider giving Letterman the show.
What I feel Letterman didn't take into consideration is that he needed to show more interest in the job instead of just expecting it to be handed to him. As we all know that just doesn't happen. Letterman should shown more interest and been more supportive of himself and NBC to have made his position known earlier and not after the fact. Of course that allowed him to start marketing himself elsewhere in a more covert way without breaking his NBC contract. This lead to him jumping over to CBS, to create a new legacy for late-night programming for them. At the beginning Letterman did take the lead over Leno when he went to CBS proving his 11:35 chops. This lead ended after what most TV reviewers would agree was the Hugh Grant-tranny hooker issue on Leno in the mid-90s and Leno rode on the high horse of ratings in late night for NBC until he ended his first run on the Tonight Show.
I am not saying Leno is innocent, by any means. I really think he should have walked away from NBC last year or even when they gave/offered the Tonight Show back to him. He placed himself in the line of fire and although he was and continues to be loyal to NBC throughout (which I know will sound like I am contradicting myself from earlier) he should went to another network or went away for awhile. I think time away may make it a big return for Conan. Yes, I know that Conan was contracted by NBC to not jump immediately into another program after he left NBC in January. A course of action like that would and should have been the high road for both Leno and Conan and really make NBC flounder to find their footing in late-night.
If NBC had full faith in Conan, why did they keep Leno around? Did they truly have faith in Conan or were they worried that their 2005 decision to kick Leno out in 2009 was wise? I think it was the combination of both with having Leno on at 10:00 pm with pretty much the same format as his Tonight Show taking away (with low ratings) the lead in from the news to Conan. Conan isn't innocent as his fans claim or would like him to be seen. He didn't want to change his format from 12:35 Late Night to his Tonight Show. Which I can see people not wanting to make changes to what works similar with Leno. However, one hour does make a difference with who is watching him. It alienated the older viewers and some of the younger viewers that were 11:35 Leno fans went to Letterman or Jimmy Kimmel to at least hold on to some sense of what was before the short Conan-era. The changing of the guard gave Letterman's show some new life when he needed it after his blackmail/mistress affair that seemed to have been placing him in a more downward spiral.
As history has shown having Leno back behind the Tonight Show desk gave the lead back to NBC and away from Letterman, but his ratings have been and are still sometimes lower than Conan's ratings. So was it really all about low ratings or trying to cover for a mistake with an even larger one? I don't know.
Getting back to Zucker, he gave NBC a long and great run with many good times before and during the big change in the TV industry due to the internet and some mistakes he made for the network. Does anyone remember Encore, Encore? Everything from Super-Sizing episodes of Thursday's "Must-See" shows to gain ground on the slipping ratings that CBS was chipping at on Thursdays and giving Friends (which I never understood that phemon) their last year with their higher pay checks per actor was some of his highlights. Overall, I think the final nail in his coffin, in my opinion, was the late night battle.Instead of being just a single, final nail to that coffin it was a economy sized box that sealed his fate.
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