"The Marijuana-Logues" up in smoke; Tommy Chong cancels tour

NEW YORK — Tommy Chong's play has gone up in smoke.

"The Marijuana-Logues" has canceled its spring tour after its star, Tommy Chong, was barred from performing in it because audience members were frequently lighting up during the show.

Chong, half of the comedy team Cheech & Chong, was in danger of violating his probation, which bars him from being around people using or selling illegal substances. He served nine months in prison last year for conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia.

"The (parole) officer was compelled to revoke his ability to continue on the shows," said Phil Lobel, a publicist for the play. "The last thing he wants to do is go back to prison."

"The Marijuana-Logues" was on the second night of a North America tour. It has played for nearly a year off-Broadway. Chong had a special two-week run in New York and then went on the road with the show. Following a kickoff performance Feb. 18 in Vancouver, British Columbia, a Seattle show the following day was especially smoky.

Lobel said the large 1,000-2,000 seat theaters were much more difficult to patrol than the small Actors' Playhouse in New York.

The play expects to resume touring this summer, when Chong's parole ends.

The 65-year-old comedian served nine months in prison, beginning in 2003, after pleading guilty to conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia. His home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., was raided by police looking for smoking materials made by Nice Dreams, a company named for one of the Cheech and Chong movies.

Though the police found nearly a pound of marijuana, Chong was never charged with marijuana possession because the drug was not included in the search warrant. Chong was released from prison in July.

"The Marijuana-Logues," a parody of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues," is a three-man show that addresses the rites and rituals of getting stoned.

"I'm still on probation you know," Chong told The Associated Press before the Vancouver performance. "Doing a show about weed in the United States — when you just got out of jail for selling weed paraphernalia — makes me a little nervous."

Tickets already purchased for canceled "Marijuana-Logues" shows can be refunded at the point of purchase.