I know we’ve discussed this before, but damn it, here it is again!
Why does ROTTEN.COM insist that Cheech is Iranian? There is no evidence of it!
What gives?
Cheech Marin’s birthday. He’s actually (gasp) Iranian, and his name is Richard. 
When he was on the Tracey Ullman show years ago (the original one on FOX) he said he was middle eastern. I forget if he specifically said Iranian or what.
Revtim - Cheech Marin? Or his former comedy team partner, Tommy Chong?
Cheech.
Revtim - Sir, with all the respect due a man of the cloth, I do believe you have your head up your cassock.
Why on Earth would I lie? What I could possibly have to gain?
Human memory can be a tricky thing…
AHA! Thanks to the link provided by Mockingbird, perhaps we can figure this out! “Tracey Ullman Show, The” (1987) playing “Azai, convenience store owner” in episode: “Segment: Foreign Exchange” (episode # 2.9) 22 November 1987
I certainly could be misremembering, it was a while ago. But I recall someone previously telling me he was of middle eastern ancestry, and being surprised he were right when Marin mentioned it to Ullman. He did a “Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone!” type joke, also.
I suppose it’s also possible he was fucking with her, and the audience.
My feeling is that he was telling the truth, though.
I suppose it’s also possible he was fucking with her, and the audience. Holy profanity, Batman! Does the ecumenical council know about your use of the vernacular?
Ehh, they don’t even know I have a wireless network in the church, and I’m surfing the web on my laptop when I’m suppose to be listening to confessions. Ehh, just pray for forgiveness, ya friggin’ whiners. Why are you wasting my time? Take it up with the boss yourself.
It’s hard enough to get off on these slow-loading pages from www.choirboy.com with someone yakking about how they stole a pen from the bank…
I hesitate to follow the link, Revtim, ‘cause yer scarin’ me over here. I expect to see fire and brimstone on the horizon in your direction any time now.
I have a hard time believing the creator of Pedro de Pacas and Born in East L.A. is middle eastern.
I thought this non-issue may have arisen from a scene in Nice Dreams. You have to remember, this film dates from the time of the infamous Iranian Hostage Crisis.
Cheech and Chong (with Cheech in disguise) walk into a hotel and start bugging the desk clerk (played by Pee Wee Herman) about something. Pee Wee gets very annoyed at them and calls the cops on them. The cops are not interested in responding. So to get their attention, he says “I think they’re Iranians!”
The very next moment, you see cop cars with flashing lights and screaming sirens, hurrying to the scene. :rolleyes:
IMHO, the only thing notable about that forgettable movie was a laughing Timothy Leary showing up to rescue Cheech from a mental hospital.
He was born in LA, if the IMDB entry is to be believed. So, it’s not hard to believe he might be familiar with hispanic culture.
Dropping “cheech marin biography” into Google turns up several references to his Mexican-American ancestry with his last name always provided as the Hispanic Marin. (I suppose that there could also be a Persian name, Marin, but it seems unlikely.)
Dropping “cheech marin iranian” into Google turns up pretty much the Rotten.com site, alone.
Holy smoke, Revtim, lay off the communicant wine!
That was Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie Jomo. Incidently, when that film was recently shown on cable, the “Iranians” reference was cut out.
Why is it so inconceivable that a kid of Iranian heritage grew up in LA and pretended to be Mexican?