Remember Cheech Marin, one half of the one-toke-over-the-line comedy team Cheech and Chong?

Well, man, the erstwhile flaky hippie, man, he up and won Celebrity Jeopardy! a while back. That’s right, Celebrity Jeopardy!

Not bad for a Chicano “born in east L.A.”

“I always wanted to go on that program and I just wailed,” Marin said gleefully during a telephone chat on Monday. “I won $25,000.”

Then Marin paused and with powerful pride said: “I’ve gotten more recognition out of Jeopardy! than probably anything I’ve done.”

And Marin used that TV notice as a big eraser in an effort to rub out his long-haired past. “I thought if Cher could come out of Sonny and Cher, I could come out of Cheech and Chong,” Marin quipped.

What’s more, Marin also donated the sizable Jeopardy! winnings to an Los Angeles charity operated by Central Americans.

Marin’s dual thing nowadays is to upgrade the mainstream image of Latinos while improving his own career.

“I’m making a small dent,” Marin said. “But it’s a matter of getting us all under the banner of Latinos instead of I’m Cubano, I’m Mexicano or I’m Chicano, and to realize that, hey, if we don’t band together, we’re just never going to get anywhere ever.”

Happily, Marin is getting somewhere.

Already a regular on the CBS sitcom Golden Palace, Marin, 46, also is starring in a film called Angel of Oxnard, as in California. Further, he’s working on an animated series for Fox called Sheerluck and Holmes, which is about a cat and dog detective team.

But what is setting Marin’s heart aglow is a children’s album called My Name Is Cheech, the School Bus Driver. Marin also recorded a Spanish-language version of the disc titled Me Llamo Cheech, El Chofer Del Autobus De La Escuela.

The brisk, Tex-Mex disc is a witty, song-filled bus ride designed for grammar-school children, but entertaining for adults, as well.

“I think it’s one of the best things I’ve done,” said Marin, who added that he came up with the concept several months back. “It’s short and to the point and mixes humor and the message without beating them over the head with it.”

According to Marin, the just-released album already has garnered so much buzz in Los Angeles that there is talk of a live program or an animated series.

“I’m leaning toward animation,” Marin said. “There’s a whole cast of characters and there’s continuing adventures in this thing.”

Sounds reminiscent of Marin’s whoop-it-up days with Tommy Chong, doesn’t it?

It was only 20 years ago that the pair landed a Grammy for the irreverent comedy album Los Cochinos. In 1978, Up in Smoke was the comedy film of the year, grossing more than $120 million.

By the mid-’80s, however, the pair had parted ways, primarily due to Chong’s still being stuck in the 1970s. In 1987, Marin wrote, directed and starred in the left-field hit Born in East L.A., which was based loosely on Cheech and Chong’s parody of Bruce Springsteen’s 1985 smash Born in the U.S.A.

But in the late ’80s, “There was a little lull about two or three years when it was hard to get stuff off,” Marin says. “And all of a sudden everything is happening at once.” An interesting byproduct of Marin’s current prosperity is the possibility that he and Chong may reunite to do a weekly radio show. But Marin firmly assured that he and Chong and would no longer be blowing any smoke.

SHOW ROUNDUP

The Laughing Stock Comedy Team, a Broward-based comedy troupe, is set to go back in action at 11 tonight and 8:30 p.m. Sunday at the Glades Majestic Theatre in Coral Springs. Laughing Stock offers original comedy skits, improv and TV parodies with crowd participation. The Plaids are booked to provide musical balance. Tickets are $10. Call 346-7529.

Clubwise, Bill Engvall, 1992 Male Comic of the Year, is booked to headline the Improv in Coconut Grove. Opening are Kid Dave Miller and Nick Arrandes.

Levent is scheduled to top the bill tonight through Sunday at the Comic Strip in Fort Lauderdale. Opening are Jim Mendrinos and Burt Thompson.

Brian Regan is set to headline tonight through Sunday at the Comedy Corner in West Palm Beach. Richard Jeni is booked to start a six-day stint at the club on Tuesday.

Monique is set to appear Saturday and Sunday at Incahoots in Sunrise. Opening is Jay Convente.