Talk:Cheech Marin

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I think more talk should go into his music. I loved listening to Cheech Marin songs as a kid... that song about colors.. the cheech the busdriver song.. they were all great.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.47.38.130 (talk • contribs)

Also discuss his artwork. He is a wonderful painter.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.17.36.67 (talk • contribs)


Contents

[edit] Attitude towards pot & Tommy Chong

didn't he quit smoking cannabis and is kinda on bad terms with Tommy Chong? shouldn't their relationship and partnership be mentioned a little?


[edit] Is he really of Iranian descent?

Is he really of Iranian descent?—Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.241.245.49 (talk • contribs)

  • No, this is rumor perpetuated by Rotten.com AKA NNDB.com. No substantiation, probably internet rumor. Parents surnames were Marin & Meza, both Hispanic surnames. Cheech Marin regularly speaks out about his Hispanic heritage, and there is ZERO substantiation that he is Iranian. DO NOT change this back without independent verification, the aforementioned sites are neither indpendent nor provide verification. Please see Wikipedia's guidelines on how you should cite sources.05:15, 7 August 2005 (UTC)69.238.222.96
  • Yes. Cheech is, by his own admission, ethnically Iranian. In an article published July 27th, 2006 in Canada's The Province, he plainly states that despite being typecast as a chicano he is in fact Iranian. He did, however, grow up in east LA and clearly shares a strong connection to the chicano community. TheKyleD 02:36, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
  • No. He is a comedian; when he claims to be ethnically Iranian in The Province article, he is joking. References: Target Press Release ("Inspired by actor Cheech Marin’s vision to highlight expressions of his native Mexican-American culture"), San Francisco Chronicle ("'This is not Latin American art,' Cheech said, 'this is American art... We're Americans, too.'"), An Art Exhibition he has been supporting ("He is a third-generation Mexican American from East Los Angeles").
  • Don't know. Cheech Marin is said to have Armenian not Iranian in him...and some hints of Jewish roots (the Spanish Jews went to Mexico and Latin America to flee from religious persecution) but he's undoubtedly of Mexican heritage, and note some Armenians came to California through Mexico in the late 1800s/early 1900s. On the other hand, Tommy Chong is supposed to be Chinese through his father and some Native American from his "WASP" British Canadian mother (Tommy Chong played Native American roles in some western movies, but he's half-Asian and seems to behave like a 1950's/60's cool "black" man in a white body, or like an African American "hipster" in his standup comedy acts). + 63.3.14.129 00:24, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
  • The Chicago Tribune's Sunday magazine does a thing on its back page where a celebrity will choose from a list of questions and choose several to answer about themselves. One of the questions you see a lot in this is, "No one believes I'm..." fill-in-the-blank. Some years ago, Cheech Marin answered this with Iranian. Perhaps he's only self-perpetuating a hoax about himself as indicated above, but if this is the case it should be addressed in the article. TJSwoboda (talk) 22:53, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fluency

He speaks fluent Spanish and uses it in some of the movies he stars in.

When Weird Al Yankovic was recording his song "Taco Grande", he decided to call Cheech Marin to see if he could translate something into Spanish for the song. Weird Al said that, to his surprise, Cheech didn't know Spanish either! (However, he would happily read the text for the song after it was translated, which he did.) Did Cheech learn Spanish since then? Is Weird Al wrong? Maybe the article's wrong? - furrykef (Talk at me) 06:47, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

I read the article and wondered the same thing. Here's the relevant quote: "The surprise was that I wanted him to do a rap in Spanish, and it turns out he doesn't know much more Spanish than I do. So I wrote out in English what I wanted him to say, had a bilingual secretary at Scotti Bros. translate it into Spanish, and Cheech read it phonetically." It has been fifteen years now, so perhaps he's picked the language up since then?

Cheech was born and raised in the English language, but his parents install a good, but low fluency of Spanish. Cheech Marin is an American of Mexican descent, or Mexican American, especially he fits the stereotypical portrayal of a Chicano from the streets of el barrio of East L.A. he performs in comedy, but Cheech isn't really "very Latino" in serious movie roles. I'm sure Cheech may pretend to be "Mexican immigrant", "Puerto Rican" and other "Hispanic", but we know he's just as American like Bob Hope (who's born in England and lived in the US since age 5)...and like Rita Moreno, a Puerto Rican actress we identify as an American for living most of her life in the mainland (in fact, Puerto Ricans are born American citizens on the island is an US territory). + 63.3.14.129 00:30, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

A person does not have to speak Spanish fluently in order to be a "real" Mexican or Hispanic. There's so much BS on the right about how Mexican Americans and other Hispanic groups refuse to assimilate into the mainstream population, but the fact of the matter is that you'll find very few second and third generation Mexican Americans who can speak Spanish fluently. The majority can understand enough Spanish to get by and are able to communicate with native Spanish speakers using Spanglish, as most native Spanish speakers know enough English to get by as well.Dreamcast88 (talk) 11:01, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] sections requested

can we get a photo, a filmography and background history here? I tagged the article as cleanup so that we can get some filmography, a photo and background history (biography) and a infobox template. It's more easier to find everything if these sections were on the article. Tyty1234 21:20, 30 April 2007 (UTC)Tyty1234

I believe he's married, too. See http://www.nndb.com/people/620/000022554/ 72.87.188.108 04:44, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Richard Marin was born in East L.A. to Mexican-American parents; he grew up in Granada Hills, in the San Fernando Valley. He lived in a house on San Fernando Mission Blvd. near Louise Avenue from around 1955 until sometime in the '60's. I know, because I lived around the corner from him on Louise Avenue, and we rode our bikes together to Cub Scout and Boy Scout meetings, and to mass at St. John Baptist de la Salle School in Granada Hills where we served as altar boys and went to grade school together 1955-1960. He then attended Bishop Alemany High School in San Fernando 1960-1964. He was what I call a "bridge person," i.e. a bridge between cultures. He and his parents took me to Olvera Street in Los Angeles in the '50s and introduced me to Mexican food, which they also often had at home in Granada Hills. I'm sure the Iranian information is not accurate. I do not believe that he spoke Spanish fluently at the time (except for some colorful words) though I have no doubt he speaks more now. The last time I saw him was in 1967. He was in a fraternity at Cal State Northridge and was headed to Canada to avoid the draft. The day before he left, he met Frank Zappa at a store in L.A. and was invited to his house in Laurel Canyon. I don't know if this had anything to do with his later move into the entertainment industry. The next time I heard of him was in 1972 when I was a hospital orderly, and one of the patients repeated his and Chong's Japanese kamikaze routine, which made the patients laugh so hard their stitches all hurt. Richard's father Oscar was a juvenile police officer, and died a long time ago. Richard was very devoted to his mother, and looked after her and his three sisters. Somewhere I have a picture of him and me and some of our grade school classmates playing football on our front lawn in Granada Hills in the '50s. Brent Poirier, attorney. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.128.162.168 (talk) 22:03, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Quick-and-scheme

What does this mean? I have never heard the phrase before, and a google search returns this page only. Is this a mistake? Matt Adore 18:34, 13 May 2007 (UTC)