RIP Tommy Smothers

Another sign we are getting old.
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was a funny enough show. I could not understand why CBS cancelled them. I was 12.

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Tom Smothers, the older half of the Smothers Brothers comedy duo whose hit CBS variety show of the late 1960s was canceled amid controversy arising from sketches that skewered politics and the Vietnam War, died Dec. 26 at his home in Santa Rosa, Calif. He was 86.

The death was announced by the National Comedy Center, which released the information on behalf of Mr. Smothers’s family. He had been under treatment for cancer.

With their clean-cut, glee-club looks, including matching blazers, the Smothers Brothers were unlikely rabble-rousers. They started out as folk singers, with Dick also on string bass and Tom playing the acoustic guitar. But they quickly distinguished themselves by spoofing the genre and incorporating wry banter founded on sibling rivalry. Developing the material was easy, Mr. Smothers once said, because they had been “arguing from the time that we could talk.”

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Thanks for the laughs Tommy.

He was a funny guy that got screwed for speaking his piece. Or is it that he screwed up and said his piece?

RIP Yo Yo Man

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Originally Posted by Bunion 2020

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was a funny enough show. I could not understand why CBS cancelled them. .

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it was definalty funny but that wasn't the problem, the smothers bro's, SNL, sonny and Cher were all political problems for the networks

Look at what was considered controversial back then compared to what shows up now days on-line and that was the problem back then

Those fuckers and Laugh In were groundbreakers.
Kudos to TS!!!

It wasn't just the humor it was virtualy everything from the dresses Cher would wear to Dick & Tommys jokes , the networks were at the Pat Boone on Ed Sullivan stage of entertainment and TV was headed way past there

My dad was reading me an article on Tommy, I have no idea from where.

If I remember correctly, their dad was on the Bataan death march in WW2. He got released, and then his ship was accidently sunk by a US plane. Mom becomes a drunk, kids are bounced from house to house. Eventually, into an asthma ward, they didn't have asthma, just used as a way to place them.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bunion 2020

Another sign we are getting old.
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was a funny enough show. I could not understand why CBS cancelled them. I was 12.



Thanks for the laughs Tommy.

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Paley doing favors for the president and powers that be got them cancelled. Tom and Dick were the first real counter culture voice opposing Vietnam on network programming. Plus they were funny af, smart, and sold their pov really well. Loved those guys. There are some good docs on the bs they went thru just getting past the censors every week

Plus the smo brothers had a winery!

RIP

A funny guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSmqYSVVpTM

Those guys were funny.

Yeah, Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was when America started to go to hell in a handbasket. Or maybe it was when it was canceled.
Probably the first antiwar voice on television.

BTW, anyone know what a handbasket is?

That’s where princess keeps her lotion

Smothers Brothers, Laugh In, All In The Family, I could go on. Those were all 'family tv night' shows for us.

noun. hand·​bas·​ket ˈhan(d)-ˌba-skət. Synonyms of handbasket. : a small portable basket. usually used in the phrase to hell in a handbasket denoting rapid and utter ruination.

RIP. Looking at clips I found this one in which the Brothers barely do anything but a young Steve Martin is pretty funny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQVnHltFYvc

In the late 70s, my dad had to go to Europe on a last minute business trip. He’s taking mom and I with him, and we didn’t have our passports. So we had to go down to New York City and stand in the last-minute passport line at the state department. we got down there the night before, so we could get in the line first thing in the morning. We went out to get something to eat, and Mom wanted to see a show. The guy at the hotel desk said there was a good one just down the block, starring the Smothers Brothers, and the concierge could get the tickets for us. dad loved the Smothers Brothers. So we went to the Smothers Brothers show. But, they apparently never bothered to ask what the show was about. Dad thought it was a christmas comedy variety show. It was not… the wikipedia synopsis;

“Synopsis

In Trenton, New Jersey, old high school buddies Wally (now an executive in public relations) and Alvin (a furniture mover) discuss the possibility of adding some spice to their lives by having a foursome. Alvin suggests to his wife Cleo that they share their bed with Monica, Wally's wife. Cleo thinks that she would enjoy Wally. They agree that whoever enters first becomes the evening's partner, but the couple walks in together. After Monica leaves, the three discuss the situation and decide on a foursome on Christmas Eve.
Alvin and Cleo arrive for dinner on Christmas Eve, and while Monica is initially unhappy with the arrangement, she ultimately agrees. Too excited to eat: they undress, get into bed, and have some pot to relax. As Wally suggests ideas from a sex manual, the group discards all the options.”


Attachment 480900

hands down the funniest play i had yet to see in my 13 years on this planet. plus i got to watch my folks squrim in their seats the whole time. they probably would have enjoyed the play much much more if i hadn’t been there.

That's pretty funny, but "they discard all the options"? Nothing happens?

nope. very clean ending.

Tommy was a super nice guy. I grew up a few houses down the road from him and he'd always be showing me and my friends how to do yo-yo tricks. He'd also show up to my elementary school and put on little shows every now and then.