Cheech Marin, one half of Cheech and Chong, won celebrity Jeopardy. In the Tournament of Champions he “crushed” CNN anchor Anderson Cooper.
Cheech and Chong have made fortunes by playing the stereotypes of the stupid stoners. People who actually use marijuana watch their movies and see comedians. They have done such a brilliant job of mocking the stoner stereotype, that to the uninformed drug warrior they have become the stereotype. The stupid stoner stereotype in many ways hampers the drug warriors” efforts because they tend to underestimate their opponents. While not arguing marijuana politics, Anderson Cooper of CNN was caught off guard when he expected to face the stupid stoner Cheech Marin on Celebrity Jeopardy.
Anderson and Cheech were both playing in the second round of the Tournament of Champions. Each of them had already won in the previous round. Anderson Cooper admitted he felt more confident after finding out he was paired against Cheech. Afterwords Anderson said, “I thought his reflexes would be slow, along with his synapses perhaps, but I was so very, very wrong.” After losing Anderson brought Cheech on his show to congratulate him. Anderson asked, “do people pour out into the streets congratulating you because people have been mocking me mercilessly?”
Anderson tried to play off his defeat somewhat saying he knew the answers but Cheech was faster on the buzzer a lot of the time. Seeing as how he was beating Anderson, Cheech”s reflexes were obviously not slowed while on the show. Cheech explained that his musical training along with using his index finger instead of his thumb to chime in gave him an edge. Anderson Cooper joins a growing list of CNN anchors to go down in flames on Jeopardy. Soledad O”Brien and Wolf Blitzer were also eliminated from Celebrity Jeopardy. Blitzer actually did poorly enough to finish the game at negative four thousand dollars.
Anderson Cooper is one of America”s most respected journalists. This man who gets on television every night and explains the world to millions could not beat a stupid stoner. That is because there is no such thing as a stupid stoner. There are smart people and stupid people. There are those who can pass a drug test and who can”t. These things do not necessarily go together. Trust me there are plenty of stupid people who do not smoke. Both Anderson and Cheech deserve praise, however, because both winners and losers of Celebrity Jeopardy are earning money not for themselves but for worthy charities. Cheech was playing for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and Anderson gave his earnings to Friends In Deeds.