That’s sounds as horrible as the line “a voice filled with axe” would be wonderful. Sorry for both mishaps.
I watched as much Smothers as possible when I was in high school. Fortunately my parents weren’t fans of Bonanza. That a pair of folk singers in their 30s perfectly caught the emerging teen audience remains amazing. The bands, the comedy, the skits, all spoke directly to us.
Once Nixon was elected they were doomed. CBS CEO William Paley was a friend of Nixon’s. The battles and the eventual cancellation order came straight from the top.
Looking back, not a thing would have changed whether the show stayed on the air or not. A lot of people sadly made themselves martyrs to gain nothing. Except good memories.
I was introduced to them with their 1988/89 revival. Fifteen year old me found it hilarious. Really was comedy from a completely other era of humour. The bits that didn’t work were when they strived too hard for a racy punchline, but then the most “dangerous” stuff from the sixties incarnation was only slightly more abrasive than a Bob Hope special (he was still cranking those out).
Harry Anderson appeared on the 80s show and they did a song about their names.
“Tom, listen: you’re Tom, I’m Dick and he’s Harry and that makes us…?”
“Harry Anderson and the Smothers Brothers, but I don’t get it!”
According to the obit in the New York Times their mother was a major alcoholic who married and divorced multiple times after their dad was killed in WW2
Loved their show as a kid and collected most of their vinyl when I was in college in the 80’s. Glad I held on to those albums. I will have to play them over the next few days.
Or a snarling, vicious gnu (pronounced with a hard “g”-- guh-NOO).
ETA: They had some famous guest stars on their show. From Wikipedia:
History
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour started out as only a slightly “hip” version of the typical comedy-variety show of its era, but rapidly evolved into a show that extended the boundaries of what was considered permissible in television satire at that time.[10][11] While the Smothers themselves were at the forefront of these efforts, credit also goes to the roster of writers and regular performers they brought to the show, including Steve Martin, Don Novello, Rob Reiner, presidential candidate Pat Paulsen, Bob Einstein, Albert Brooks, and resident hippieLeigh French. The show also introduced audiences to pop singer Jennifer Warnes (originally billed as Jennifer Warren or simply Jennifer), who was a regular on the series. The television premiere of Mason Williams’ hit record, “Classical Gas”, took place on the show; Williams was also the head writer for the series.
Seeger’s appearance was his first appearance on network television since being blacklisted in the 1950s. It became controversial because of his song choice, “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy”, an anti-war song that the network considered to be an insult to PresidentLyndon Johnson and his Vietnam War policy. The song was censored on Seeger’s first appearance but permitted on a later appearance.
They were before my time, but I appreciated and respected the Smothers Brothers, and was bummed out to hear of Tom’s passing.
(Thanks for the links in this thread. I request that the links keep coming.)
I’m too young to remember their original show, but became a fan when I was in university. The Smothers Brothers were subversive, talented, intellectual and hilarious. And they taught me the meaning of the song La Cucaracha. I was saddened to hear this news.
