As one half of the legendary Cheech and Chong comedy duo, Tommy Chong's name is synonymous with weed. Years after parting ways with his comedic partner, Chong still embodies the spirit of the hippie generation and has been unapologetic and vocal about his beliefs. We recently talked to Chong about politics, the chances of a Cheech and Chong reunion and the mandatory talk all parents must have with their kids about drugs.

Where are you originally from and where do you call home now?
Las Angeles, California – Pacific Palisades. I'm originally from Calgary, Canada.

Obviously, you are best known for the Cheech and Chong comedy act. What is it like when you look back on that period of your life and how often do you watch your old movies and albums?
I sign a lot of them, but I don't watch them. I haven't for a long time. Basically, my wife and I do standup and I still allude to that time period and I'm still very much involved in the legalization of pot, so I'm still the old hippie. I'm not a young hippie anymore, I'm an old hippie.

What do you think it is about your movies that makes them so iconic? Why do you think Cheech and Chong films are so beloved even after all of these years?
They were really the first reality show, you know what I mean? We weren't playing characters or doing some historical thing or some murder thing – it was a day in the life of a couple of guys in America that were caught up in an interesting time. We came around in an era when LSD was legal and pot was really demonized in some areas. We were the blossoming of a whole culture. I think Woodstock was really the official kickoff of that whole culture.

Do you have a favorite moment or scene from your time in Cheech and Chong?
Yeah, back in the day, there was a play called The Age of Aquarius. That play, if you remember it at all, it crossed all color lines – blacks, whites, women. And that's really what hippies represented, we represented humanity without any race or creed or financial – like rich or poor, you know. They were all together at Woodstock. And that's really what we personified.

There have been rumors of a Cheech and Chong reunion. Have you been in talks with Cheech Marin about reuniting and what are the chances of it actually happening?
We've been off and on since 2002 actually. I think it was 2001–2002, my daughters tried to get Cheech and I to do another movie together and that process lasted for almost five years. And then, the movie company we were going to do it with didn't like the script, so they bought out of it, they didn't want to do it. Since then, I wrote a script. But Cheech and I don't really get along anymore because he wants to change his image and I want to further it.

So do you think there is any chance a reunion will happen or have you given up on it at this point?
I'm never giving up on it because my door's always open. I'm a hippie. I'm ready to party anytime.

So has Cheech given up marijuana?
He hasn't, he went over to the rich side of life. He hangs with the billionaires and George Lopez and he's really become a Chicano activist and spokesman. And his view is that the character he played was detrimental to the Chicano community in as much as it was like a lowrider – the lowest common denominator of the Mexican culture. I never changed my views. Cheech has evolved into like a rich guy. I was rich – my movies, I was a rich kid that wanted to smoke dope and play music. I'm exactly the same way.

As you mentioned, you and your wife Shelby tour around the country doing a live show. What can fans in attendance expect to see at these shows?
It's like a little hippie vaudeville, really. My wife is becoming a very powerful force in the women's comedic area because for some reason women have sort of stopped being shown in comedy clubs and that. She's one of the few that is still struggling with it.

So she comes on first and she does a lot of women's humor. Then she brings me out and I do a lot of hippie smoking dope humor and then we work together. It's a throwback to the old vaudeville era where you had an act and you performed your act and that's what people come to see and that's what we do.

At some point in their lives, most parents sit their kids down and talk to them about drugs. Did you have a conversation about drugs with your kids and, if so, how did it go?
Well, that's very interesting. I've had two sets of families. I had my older daughters, Rae Dawn Chong, who is a very famous movie actress, and Robbi Chong, who is also another famous television actress. I was a very friendly father – if they wanted to get high, they could smoke with their dad. My one daughter used to just ask me for joints and I'd give them to her and then she'd sell them to her friends at school. "Hey, do you want to buy a Tommy Chong joint?" Her friends were people like the Chili Peppers. I was very free with the kids, my older daughters.

And then my three younger ones, the two boys and my daughter, they made their own choices. They didn't have to sneak it around me, but I preferred they did. I told them, "I don't care what you do, just don't tell me." So I was more of like a hands-off parent and it turned out really well because I believe in kids living their own life, right from the get go.

If they've got to come and ask me whether or not they should do pot, then my answer is no. Because if you have to ask somebody, then no. You only do pot when you want to do it so much that you're going to sneak around and do it anyway. You're not going to ask anybody, you know what I'm saying? So that was very easy. Of course, I'm a parent – the answer is no. But I don't enforce anything and like I said, "I don't care what you did …" And I know my older daughters, they had all sorts of adventures that they never told anybody about, like all kids do.

But the one thing that I did talk to them about is smoking cigarettes. That was my one thing that I said I don't want them developing a cigarette habit. Now, I know that my one daughter, she was a ballet dancer, that she used to smoke but she never smoked in the house and she doesn't smoke now. And I caught my one son smoking cigarettes and I marched his little butt home and told him, "I don't want you smoking cigarettes. It's as simple as that." And I didn't punish him or anything, I just told him, don't do it. And he quit.

When Paris Hilton went to prison, you appeared on MSNBC defending the heiress. How exactly did you end up on as an on-air pundit and after your heated conversation with Contessa Brewer, do you think you will be invited back on MSNBC?
They actually thought, because I'd done time in jail, they thought I was going to bash Paris. In fact, what they did is they had me wait for a long enough time to me to kind of get pissed off because it seemed like they were jumping all over this girl for no reason compared to what other people had been doing, like the Bush administration.

To put a young person in jail because she was late for a court appearance to me is a little excessive. They were pandering to the press. And I saw that, so I called them on it. And I don't care if I get invited back or not. I know one thing – that bit played all over the place. They loved it because Contessa didn't know what to say. In fact, I said at the end, "You weren't expecting that, were you?" She said, "No."

That's the media – they're just talking heads. They're puppets. And they just say whatever anybody writes. And I'm so sick of seeing Americans being manipulated by this administration and by this right-wing press that whenever I get a chance, I speak out.

If you were president for a day, after you legalized marijuana, what would be the second change you'd make to the country?
I would make all the fast food people liabel for their product. For instance, if people got fat and got diabetic, I would make the fast food companies pay for their medical expenses. That would be my healthcare program is that I would make people liable for their products, including gun manufactures. I'd make everybody liable for whatever they sell to people. In so many ways, all of these products that are so-called legal are killing millions of people daily.

And, just like the oil companies - I'd make the oil companies clean up the environment. They've got the money. And if their product is causing global warming and pollution, then I would give them the bill for the hurricanes and the clean up that happened. And I can say that because I know I'd never be elected president. But if you asked me my wish list, that's exactly what I'd do.

Do you think pot will be legalized in your lifetime?
Yeah, the thing is, it's legal now; you just have to be very smart with how you smoke it. You have to make sure you have a medical card and don't be carrying a whole lot on you. Because really, right now it's only illegal to have large amounts that you sell. Right now, it's really a slap on the wrist, unless you're a black guy or a Chicano and they want to put you in jail and they'll think of a reason. But pot really is so legal now that you can get pot faster than you can get a pizza. I've ordered both and the pot always showed up first.