Tommy Smothers, 86(!), the "brains" behind the famed folk music/comedy duo The Smothers Brothers, has died after a cancer battle. He and his younger brother, Dick, 84, had continued with their 60-year act as recently as a year ago. The brothers are not just remembered for their music and comedy act (Tommy to Dick: "Mom always liked you best!") , but most important, they were known for their battles with the television network CBS over satirical content from their variety show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The program ran from 1967 to 1969 on Sunday nights at 9:00 following the legendary The Ed Sullivan Show.
I have official DVD compilations of the series, and honestly, for all the topical humor, it still holds up pretty well. It might not be so much the case for people who were too young or not alive when it appeared. What really stands out is how absolutely YOUNG those brothers were. When it premiered, Dick was around 28, while Tommy was 30, and they had already been in show business for a decade. The brothers also had a short-lived television series in the mid-1960s before hosting the variety show.
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour didn't just engage in topical humor and promote the joke candidacy of comedian Pat Paulsen (boy, does this go back), it also showcased some of the prominent rock music acts in the country. It is interesting, as while The Ed Sullivan Show also showcased the same or similar acts, it catered to an older audience, while the Smothers Brothers program catered to a youth audience.
Anyway, because of the topical humor, the brothers and their staff had to submit much of their material to the CBS censors so as to not "offend" middle America, especially those living in the Bible Belt. The most notorious of these censorship actions was over the "sermonette" from standup comedian David Steinberg, which caused a firestorm of protest. Seeing this "sermonette" fifty years later, the viewer is left shaking his or her head. I mean, it isn't even a particularly funny segment, for it falls flat, and it was hardly worthy of the censors' time. In any case, CBS tired of dealing with this show's content and canceled it in the spring of 1969. The brothers sued over breach of contract for $30 million and won some three-quarters of a million, but the money wasn't the issue. It was a matter of principle. Tommy may have played the idiot onstage, but he was a smart, very creative person offstage, and he wasn't going to back down regarding freedom of expression (Dick was more interested in race cars and other pursuits though he obviously supported Tommy).
Snip:
“Tom was not only the loving older brother that everyone would want in their life, he was a one-of-a-kind creative partner,” Dick Smothers said. “I am forever grateful to have spent a lifetime together with him, on and off stage, for over 60 years. Our relationship was like a good marriage — the longer we were together, the more we loved and respected one another. We were truly blessed.”
Tommy died December 26.
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