After the dissolution of Cheech & Chong in the 1980s, both Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong pursued solo careers—to disparate levels of success—but always carried on with the other as a sort of phantom limb, never quite feeling whole in their absence. Cheech & Chong finally reunited in 2008, an implicit acknowledgment that there was no one else who could complement each other so completely, no other partner with whom they could create that ineffable chemistry. But then, that’s only because Robert De Niro wasn’t available. Until now.
The long-awaited team-up of Cheech & De Niro has finally aligned, The Wrap reports, with the comedy supergroup set to convene on the upcoming War With Grandpa, a film in which Robert De Niro continues his late-career renaissance of playing grandpas who definitely aren’t your grandpa’s grandpa. This grandpa, recently widowed, will move into his grandson’s bedroom, where he will drive him crazy with his unconventional grandpa-ing, forcing the youngster to plot a series of pranks to drive him out.
But much like Up In Smoke or The Deer Hunter, this is all just the whimsical rubric around which Cheech & De Niro will wind their unique comic rapport, with Marin playing De Niro’s friend “Danny, who still thinks he’s a catch with the ladies” despite also being old. That sounds like the set-up for a classic Cheech & De Niro bit!
CHEECH: I’m still a hit with the ladies, man!
DE NIRO: What’d you say?
CHEECH: I said I’m still a hit with the ladies, man!
DE NIRO: You’re still a hit with the ladies. You’re still a hit with the ladies? Is that what you’re telling me? I want to make sure what I’m hearing.
CHEECH: Yeah, man, the ladies still dig me!
DE NIRO: [fumes silently]
And so on! This fat, slightly cranky comedy joint will be lit when War With Grandpa arrives in theaters in October, where it will also bring together the beloved comedy trio of Christopher Walken, Uma Thurman & Rob Riggle.