Tuesday December 7 11:39 AM ET

Spending nine months in jail for conspiring to sell bongs on the Internet didn' t scare Tommy Chong straight.

One half of the ne' er-do-well, dope-smoking duo Cheech & Chong, the 66-year-old Chong joins the Off-Broadway show " The Marijuana-Logues" on Tuesday with new pot jokes.

" It' s a little more subtle, a little more cerebral and a lot less in-your-face," he told AP Radio.

Chong gained notoriety for the Cheech & Chong film characters he created with collaborator Cheech Marin, starring in such titles as " Up in Spoke," " Nice Dreams" and " Still Smokin' ."

In May 2003, the actor-writer-director pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia. Chong also pleaded guilty on behalf of his business, Nice Dreams Enterprises, which made a line of marijuana bongs and pipes.

But that hasn' t stopped him from launching a new Cheech & Chong project with his former comedic collaborator.

" It' s so nice, it' s so right," Chong said. " Fate told us that we had to split for a while and then again fate or the universe, whatever, says ' OK, time to go back together.' "

Chong added that he hasn' t fully recovered from breaking his act with Marin.

" I never really got over it. There was always an emptiness in my heart," he said. " I had a 60th birthday and Cheech came to it. And it was the first time we' d seen each other in years, and he said, ' I think of you every day.' "

" The Marijuana-Logues" features Chong at New York' s Actors Playhouse through Dec. 19 and premieres on the West Coast in February.