Over the years, Tommy Chong has let it slip that many of the Cheech and Chong bits were taken from The Committee.
For instance, Old Man in the Park was a complete rip-off of a The Committee sketch.
The Committee was a San Francisco-based improvisational comedy group founded in 1963 by Alan Myerson and Jessica Myerson, formerly known as Irene Ryan, Irene Riordan and now known as Latifah Taormina.On a recent, Rhino Records podcast, Tommy Chong said they turned The Committee sketches into entire Cheech and Chong albums.
However, Cheech and Tommy still stand by their story that Dave's Not Here was created when Cheech was trying to get Tommy to open the door. Tommy used to claim the original recording was funnier than the version they recreated in the recording studio and that the original tape has since been lost.
In reality, Dave's Not Here was created by Cheech and Dave. Dave worked at Tommy Chong's strip/comedy club in Canada.
During the Rhino podcast, Tommy says that Earache my Eye was created by Cheech, Tommy and Gaye Delorme. False. It was created by Cheech and Gaye. Tommy heard what they had created, was jealous and then re-recorded Gaye's guitar parts.