I'm not really paranoid anymore about talking to a legend, but like I was trying to say, it's mad-awkward when I have to look down at the list of questions I want to ask him and act all professional. Like, "Hey Tommy, tell me about The Marijuana-Logues," the off-Broadway show he's bringing to the Keswick on Saturday.

"It's a spoof on The Vagina Monologues, two of my favorite substances on earth," he says before he starts laughing that laugh he laughed when Cheech ate all that acid. "The guys that wrote it [comedians Arj Barker, Doug Benson and Tony Camin] put all their pot jokes together. When I was in jail, I had all that press, you know, so their agent was like, 'Why don't you get Tommy Chong?'"

And that's about all he has to say about the show.

But oh yeah. Back in 2003, he did nine months after the Man popped him for selling bongs. Feds in Pennsylvania set up a fake head shop and ordered pipes. When he wouldn't ship them, they came out to L.A. and busted him. Weak.

"They spent $12 million to bust me for a bong," Chong says. "Pennsylvania is one of two states where you can get busted for this."

Well, at least he's off probation now because when he tried to do this show before, he couldn't. Because when you're on probation you can't be around crime, and if you see something illicit you have to report it, like someone smoking weed.

"This is my way of telling the government we still have free speech," says Chong.

He's totally right. The government's so harsh. But while we're talking about that, I remember a question I had to ask. I saw somewhere that he'd been involved in theater in Canada before he hooked up with Cheech. I thought that was totally hilarious.

"I had a strip club, and we'd do improv and skits too," he explains, laughing about the image of him all Shakespeared up. "The girls looked so hot when they came in, and then they got into these goofy outfits. I thought it would be much hotter to see them strip out of their street clothes. And I'll tell you what: It was!"

Dude's on.

Before I let him go, I wonder what he thinks of today's marijuana-related comedy, like Chappelle, since his hourlong play could bring him back to the forefront more than his bit role in That '70s Show did. Some of it's pretty good, he says, but like I'm thinking, he was a pioneer.

"We owned the store!" he says. "Sometimes I think about the generations we ruined, but you know, we probably saved lives. I mean more people die of alcohol and all [than with weed]."

And just like that, with one more laugh and a "catch you later," he was gone.