and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ welcome comedian paula poundstone, this self-determined doubting thomas was determined to find the secret to lasting happiness and tried a series of experiments. in her new book. it's called "the totally unscientific study for the search for human happiness." why a self-proclaimed doubting thomas? >> i'll tell you. my book is a series of experiments, as you say, doing things that i or other people thought would make me happy, and every chapter's written as an experiment with a hypothesis and the conditions and the variables and hopefully the funniest field notes ever written, but the question for me wasn't whether i would enjoy doing something. the question was, what could i do that would give me, you know, a little lasting something. you know what i mean? like when i finished doing it i wouldn't have an umbrella, so to speak, for the inevitable rains of one's daily life, so the analysis of each chapter is the story of raising a houseful of kids and animals and being a standup comic, which i am, and just being stuck being me for 24 hours a day. i tried many things, and i think i discovered one thing, there's a difference between happiness and enjoying something. if i were to go on a ferris wheel with my son, for example, i'm sure that i would enjoy it, because i like ferris wheels, but i can guarantee you, by the time i got down, we'd already be in an argument, you know? that would be something that i enjoyed, which is not the same as something that gives you lasting happiness. >> what is, what did you discover or have you discovered what happiness is for you? >> well, i think, sadly, it's more biochemical than it is romantic. i westeish this wasn't true, bu think it has to do with getting exercise and human interaction, very important, which i think we skip over a lot nowadays because everybody's staring at their flat thing. it steals worlds like "friend" and "connected." but electronic is to happiness and relationships what doritos are to nutrition. it's not good for you. >> did you figure out the secret to, how might i put this? to sustained happiness rather than just periodic happiness? >> i'm not sure there is such a thing. >> okay. >> as really long. i think it's sprinkled in. i think it's an ingredient. as i say in the book. for me, happiness can be the back beat to the score of my life. i'm good. because the other emotions have a place to play, you know. in the very first chapter, the get-fit experiment, during that experiment, my dog died and one of my best friends died. and i firmly believe had i been doing anything else other than working out grueling workouts, not every day, but three, four times a week, i think i probably would have been towed under by those sad things. but instead, it's not that i wasn't sad, but, you know what i mean? it didn't overpower me. >> as i read the book, it seems to me after -- >> i love it that you read the book. that makes me so happy. >> that's our job around here. >> yeah. but do you read fast? >> no, i'm not a fast reader. >> i just said to a friend of mine on the phone today, i'm 57, i got maybe three more books to read. i have to choose very carefully. i'm auditioning authors right now. >> as i go through the text, it seems to me that after all these experiments that you tried, and you correct me if i'm wrong now, what you ultimately came to as a conclusion is that there are some pretty basic things in life that bring us happiness. >> yeah, i think that's true. >> my point is, you can try a lot of different things, but there are some pretty basic things that are pretty reliable. >> and by the way, it's the stuff we were always told. >> exactly. >> i don't do an experiment with having good sleep hygiene, as they call it, where you go to bed at a regular hour and get up at a regular hour. i don't do an experiment in that, but what i do in one of them, the get-wired experiment, it took me seven years to write the book for a number of reasons, but i came to computers later than a lot of people did, but it was still several years ago when we had the big kind in my house. i didn't know how to use it. my kids used it and my sister used it. i went out, everybody kept telling me, oh, if you used a computer, everything could be so much better somehow. so i went out and bought a laptop, because that you can bring door to door and beg for help, whereas -- >> the mainframe. >> the big kind, you have to lure someone into your house, and let's face it, jeffrey dahmer ruined that for everyone. i bought the laptop. what's interesting about the get wired chapter is because i started out a blank slate in terms of electronics, you actually see my steady decline into, you know, the addiction of compulsion of staring at your fla flat thing, whether it's a phone or computer. and it is addictive. there's no question in my mind. >> do you regret trying that experiment? >> no. i don't, i don't. i mean, it's not that i mind every aspect of it, but i definitely, my son, and it's a story that i tell in the course of the book. my son suffers from very severe electronics addiction. he seems to be doing well now, actually, i think. it was years and years, i put him in front of a computer when he was 3, because i didn't know any better. it's terrible for the developing brain. >> what's your advice? >> none, zero. we have to get them out of our schools. in high school, you want to have a tech class, great. it's behind a door. we learned to type. we didn't carry the typewriter around all day. you put it in a classroom, and they have a class for it. there were some constraints, but, kids need, and by the way, one of the things in the book, people need to make eye contact. people need to shake hands, give hugs, put the occasional hand on the shoulder. these are very important. i was just in new york and i was struck by, as i was walking down these wonderfully crowded streets, streets crowded with people, right, that live there, work there or are vacationing there. no exaggeration, 90% of them were either staring at their flat thing or they had a headset in. so here they've gone to the trouble of moving or visiting this place, who's, one of their virtues is, it's full of people and they're doing their very best to avoid those people. and that relationship with strangers is so important to us we end up feeling isolated. i think we should live every day like the opening scene of "beauty and the beast", you know, bonjour, bonjour! that's how we're supposed to be. >> when i got this book, and it came across my desk, one of the first things i thought, other than i loved the title. >> you shoved your volume of shakespeare away. >> yes. i had to read the funny title, but i was struck by your phrase, "the search for human happiness", and it made me wonder whether or not you think other creatures find happiness. you know where i'm going with this, right? >> no! >> do other creatures find happiness like we do? >> we are really lucky, i'm the luck yis perform luckiest performer in the world, because i get to go on stage and say things i think might be funny in front of a group of people who want to laugh for the night. and right now i feel like the world is in the midst of a mental health crisis, it is an absolute joyful job to be a part of this thing that's really good for people, which is laughing as a group. i think raccoons have it. i can't swear that. [ laughter ] but i'm telling you, i've seen raccoons like, with one another, and they look to me like they are amusing each other. i suspect that, you know, primates, but i don't now. cats, not so much. >> raccoons, it gives me the chills. >> why? >> i'll tell you why, a funny story, not so funny to me. i really had all the finishes around my house completely redone because there was a family of raccoons making their way under my fences and having a field day in my back yard. >> what were they doing? >> swimming in my pool, in moo jacuzzi, lying on my lounge chairs. every night about 3:00 in the morning, they would be having a field day. i got tired of the raccoons taking oev taking over my back yard. >> then i am absolutely sure of my earlier premise. raccoons do seek happiness, and apparently they find it at tavis smiley's back yard. i love it! >> we fixed that problem. >> were you serving like little umbrella drinks? >> no. i mean -- >> we had raccoons in my mulch pile, which is the closest i can come to having a pool and jacuzzi. and couple of summers ago we were having pizza, blazing hot summer. and one night i see my cats like staring out the window at something, and i realize, there's raccoons in the mulch pile. and i go out and take my son's super soaker gun, and i shoot water at these raccoons, and they come out, it's like a clown car, one after the other after the other. and the next night, they were out there again! and this time i go out with water balloons, i pelt them with water balloons. same thing. now there's even more. the first night there were seven, now there's like ten. i didn't realize, it's roasting hot, and i'm throwing water at them. i think they went back to their friends and they go, you know, tomorrow night she's going to have a slip and slide. >> who knew, only on pbs, we talk about raccoons with paula poundstone. >> i love that. >> here's my question. i was moved, all jokes aside. i was moved when i saw your dedication in this book. >> yeah, thank you. yeah. robin williams, was, you know, he was a mentor to lots of comics. that frenetic excitement and energy. he was the tazmanian devil of stand-up comedy. and people went out in clubs because they thought they might see robin, and they saw the rest of us and liked that too when he was the draw. >> i tried to interview him one time and i just gave up. >> yeah. yeah. >> there is no interview, there was no interviewing robin williams. >> he had a little of the raccoon in him. you know, in earlier years, you may have found him floating in your pool in your jacuzzi, if you didn't have the right finsin fencing. >> on that note, the book is called "the totally unscientific search for human happiness" by paula poundstone. >> i got carl reiner. >> you got -- >> dick van dyke. >> and you got lily tomlin. >> lily tomlin. good to have you on, paula. ♪ cheech marin is known, best known as one half of the comedy duo, cheech & chong. he is out finally with a new memoir, entitled "cheech is not my real name, but don't call me chong." good to see you, my friend. >> always good to see you. >> i didn't know the back story for how you got this nickname. >> oh, yeah. >> but the story itself is funny. >> when i was a little bit, just came home from the hospital, just two days old, my uncle looked in the carriage and says he looks like a -- [ in spanish ] and that's a pork rind. >> that's not the best comment that you're a -- >> if you're a mexican, there's a certain connotation. >> and that name stuck all those years. >> yeah. to my family. to the rest of the world i was richard. and when we were trying to come up with a duo, richard and tommy? marin and chong? he said do you have a nickname? and i said cheech is my nickname. and he said cheech, cheech, cheech & chong. and that was it. >> isn't it funny how you are coming home from the hospital. you get this nickname, but the nickname works so well with chong and the rest is history. >> that's fate, what can i say? yeah, it is, you know. beautiful. >> i had no idea. i learned so much about you, the book, that's why you wrote it i guess. >> the statute of limitations on a lot of that stuff is -- >> speaking of statute of limitations, i had no idea, and it's funny, given the subject of your movies and the trouble you've gotten yourself into, you're the son of a cop. your dad was a cop. >> yeah, lapd 30 years. >> how did that happen? >> i don't now, it was a family profession. two of my uncles were cops. my mexican uncle. and he was the highest-ranking chi chicano on the force. >> and you didn't feel chastised by your behavior given that your father is an over of the law? >> funny thing is cops are our biggest fan. they got the humor of it. they dealt with those people every day, and we had this amiable personality. my dad loved it, because he was working in juvenile all those years. so he wanted a free record to give juvies, man. you ever heard cheech & chong? he's my son, here's a free album, come over here, have you seen this guy? [ laughter ] >> i was thinking, and i'm so glad you talked about it in the text, in the book. but this is the 30th anniversary of "born in east l.a." and for those of us who know the movie and know what it's about, what do you make of the 30th anniversary of that film in this moment of immigration being such a -- >> it's like groundhog day, you know? it keeps happening over and over and over again, and we don't seem to have, we seem to know less about the subject right now and that whole process, but, you know, i view it like a lava flow. you can stand in front of it, i wouldn't recommend it, but this inner weaving of mexico and the united states is never going to be undone. never, ever. nor do we want it to be. mexico is our biggest ally. >> what, what do you make, i don't mean to make it political unless you want to go there, what do you make of the all-out assault and affront on these immigration? >> you know, i don't, i don't think it's based, it's based on fear, and it's based on not a lot of information, i travel the country, a lot of people do. but i travel the country all the time, and i see the integration of the latino influence all over. i mean, new york, the biggest concentration of latinos are mexicans in new york city. chicago, second biggest concentration of mexicans in the country. topeka, kansas has more mexican restaurants than mcdonald's, and so it is a gift to the country, not a threat. >> yeah. how were you treated or maltreated as a kid growing up because of your background? >> well, i was mexican in a black neighborhood, so. yo-mexican! i was, i grew up in south central l.a. where it was predominantly 90% something black. the rest latino and the lost white guy. that's who i went to school with. there's a good story in there about bo bo brazil. >> a wrestler. >> my dad was involved in a shooting next door at the barbershop. and we moved after that, a couple years after that to again grenada hills. one day the neighborhood was black and the next day the neighborhood was white. >> how did you process that? >> i kind of ignored it unless i was confront, but it was like an opportunity to live in the country and hear crickets and orange groves and stuff like that. >> how did you process, though, going from an all-black neighborhood to an all-white neighborhood? >> that's a change, man. i was always little, in every class. so that's kind of how i processed this. i'm a little kid in this new neighborhood. everybody's bigger. it didn't really matter to me if they were black or white. they were bigger. [ laughter ] >> you mentioned bo bo brazil. go ahead and tell the story. >> he was a legend aiary wrestl. he had the bolo punch. when you're a kid, i used to watch with my grandmother who spoke no english. you don't 2345need a language f wrestling, look out behind you! it was at the olympic auditorium which wasn't too far from my house. so my best friend jesse who lived across the street from the school, his mother did bo bo brazil's laundry, so he used to pull up every other week in a big, long, white cadillac convertible. and the whole school would rush over to his car and jesse being my best friend, he would call us over and give us a quarter. and me being his best friend, i got a quarter, too. so the whole school was like, my first brush with show business. i'm in to this. it was great. >> when did you know? there are great stories in here about how you and chong got together with the club that he owned >> yeah. yeah. >> maybe you'll tell some of that, but when did you now that entertainment was what you were destined to do? >> first grade. first grade, maybe kindergarten. >> yeah. >> i was in the christmas play for the class, and we were singing "up on the rooftop, boom, boom, boom." and for some reason i got chosen to play the kettle drum. and i was the littlest guy, and you couldn't see me. we had these bands, a paper band with a gold star and all you could siee was this little gold star bouncing around. and up on the rooftop, and boom boom boom. and everybody started laughing, and i didn't know why they were laughing. so the next time it came around, boom, boom, boom, again, and bigger la bigger laughter and by the end, they were convulsing, and i was like, this works, i could do this, all i need is a mallet. i knew i was destined. i was a little kid singer when i was 5 years old, i made my first record. and i was an anomaly. i was a little kid that could sing in tune. squeaky but in tune. >> when we think of your work over the years we think clearly of the mexican, chicano influences. but i want to go back to that black neighborhood. how much did culture influence your stuff? >> it was one of the early influences on my life. because of the music, next to central avenue, johnny otis used to play, and r&b, i didn't hear anything but r&b growing up, and my sense of humor came from that, my relaxed attitude, and tommy the same thing. he grew up in canada and found the only black neighborhood in calgary. really. all his neighborhood came from texas. and they said what's furthest we can get from texas on this money, and they ended up in canada at this place, amber valley, and his wife, maxine and her brother who was the drummer for three dog night. so there again, tommy was immersed in that r&b scene, black music recorded from motown, and radon and robbie. that's how we understood each other, a lot of that. because we understood, okay. and it's the rhythm. the rhythm and the cadence of that comedy, you know, that can be half-dozens and half insightful at the same time. >> tell me a little bit about the decision you made to sort of go solo and it worked out. your acting, you've been on hit tv shows. but sometimes when you step, and there are plenty of examples of this, people step out and it didn't work out, but you stepped away and it worked out and you got back together when you needed to. but talk about the journey ever going solo and be being successful. >> i had a lot of confidence. it wasn't that i couldn't write and direct and star in a movie. i'd been doing that. but as far as being able to lift 100 pounds, i've been able to lift 100 pounds every day since i could remember. i knew i could do it. it was nice to get a chance to make that kind of political commentary in this street comedy, you know. i'm a classic charlie chaplin. those who lived by their wits on the street, had a certain amount of charm and a certain amount of rascalness, and that's who i was. and i knew i could do it. and i knew that the audience was ready for it. it was cool. you know. it felt good. >> growing up in south central, did you ever have any idea that it would turn out to be this good for you all these years later? >> well, you know, i just wanted to have a job. somebody's going to pay me to sing? i was always a good student. i was a straight-a student at school. but i was a teacher's worst nightmare. i was a straight-a student who was a wise -- they couldn't shut me up. they couldn't fail me. >> you still got it, all these years later. the book is called "cheech is not my real name, but do't call me chong." cheech, a wonderful book. come back again, my friend. >> i'd love to. >> my pleasure. that's our show for tonight, thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. ♪ for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with carl and rob reiner, next time. we'll see you then. ♪ and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ angeles, i'm tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with jerrod carmichael and david alan grier of the "carmichael show." the sitcom has started its third season with frank discussions of rape and patriotism, but it still has plenty of laughs to go along with it. we're glad you could join us, jerrod carmichael and david alan grier in just a moment. ♪