Bob Dylan and his friend, neighbor, co-star, and basketball opponent, Cheech Marin

Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin was born in Los Angeles on July 13, 1946. He is an actor and comedian, and is half of the comedy duo Cheech and Chong.

It appears Marin and Bob Dylan go way back. Marin was quoted in the book, Knockin' On Dylan's Door, Rolling Stone magazine's paperback collection of articles about Bob Dylan and the Band's "Tour '74". At the intermission of one of the west coast shows, Cheech said, "I didn't like the new album (Planet Waves), I'm here to hear the old stuff". At the end of the evening, he said he was "happy".

(Sony BMG)

Marin appeared in Dylan's 2003 movie, Masked and Anonymous, playing the part of Prospero.Here, Marin talked about his work on the movie:

CM: Yeah, that was fun. I mean, I just worked a day on it with Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan, I’ve known for a long time. We were neighbors, and the same guy built both of our houses. You know, we hung out a little bit in the day. It was fun working with him. I hadn’t seen him in a long time. So we sat around the whole day talking about old folk stuff, which I knew very well. We were just like two old buddies who hadn’t seen each other for a long time.

AVC: Is it safe to say that people were in that movie because they wanted to work with Bob Dylan?

CM: Yeah, exactly. Bobby Dylan.

"Masked and Anonymous" trailer

Cheech and his partner in comedy, Tommy Chong, talked about playing basketball with Dylan here:

Tommy, in your recent book, Cheech & Chong The Unauthorized Autobiography, you wrote about playing basketball with Bob Dylan and dumping him on his ass. Is that any way to treat the Voice Of His Generation?
CHONG: It’s the way to treat a basketball player. See, it doesn’t matter who you are. When you put on your shorts. And you’re coming in for a little ticky-tack lay-up…
MARIN: Not in my court!
CHONG: …and you get dumped on your ass. So be it.
MARIN: He was good. He had the basketball moves.
CHONG: Then we all ended up in the sauna together. We’re looking at Bob Dylan naked!

Chong commented elsewhere:

Q: You played basketball with Bob Dylan. Was he any good?

A: Not bad. He had one of those white-boy shots. He played on his high school team. Better than I did.
 

Here's what Chong wrote  in his book, Cheech + Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography:

"Talk about legends! Bob Dylan wrote and recorded so many meaningful, historic songs.

"Bob had a good jump shot and some pretty good moves - but when he tried driving past me for a lay-up, the Canadian ice hockey player in me came out... I dumped him on his ass with a ticky-tack foul." 
 

I believe that Marin was also heard on Theme Time Radio Hour With Your Host Bob Dylan, but I'm not sure which episodes. Marin also appeared with Dylan in the Traveling Wilburys' original video for "Wilbury Twist." The 2007 version was a very different edit, without most of the celebrity cameos.

TRIVIA: The classic Cheech and Chong song, "Basketball Jones", featured, among others, George Harrison, Klaus Voorman, Jim Keltner, Carole King, Nicky Hopkins, Tom Scott, Billy Preston, Darlene Love, and Michelle Phillips.

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