Dec.28

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Tom Smothers Dead at 86

Tom Smothers, who with his brother Dick formed the legendary Smothers Brothers comedy team, died yesterday at the age of 86. The Smothers Brothers were transformative figures in the development of American political satire, particularly on TV, linchpins in the evolution from relatively tame stuff like Hee Haw and The Jack Benny Show to much more edgy stuff like Saturday Night Live, In Living Color, South Park and Chappelle's Show.

With someone as significant as Smothers, we are simply not in a position to equal the obits written by major media outlets. So, if you want a standard obit, then take a look at The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Hollywood Reporter, Rolling Stone or Variety. Instead, we will present 10 anecdotes from the life of Tommy Smothers, in hopes of giving a different sort of insight:

1. The Die Is Cast: The brothers were born in 1937 (Tom) and 1939 (Dick). Their father, who was Tom Sr., was a West Point grad and career military man. At the outbreak of World War II, he was sent to the Pacific theater, and eventually taken prisoner by the Japanese army. The elder Smothers was part of the Bataan Death March, and died a POW in 1945, meaning his sons never knew him in any meaningful way. This surely contributed substantially to their lifelong antiwar stance.
   
   
2. Multi-talented: Those readers who have seen episodes of any of the various Smothers Brothers shows (the original, or the revivals) know that Tom was pretty athletic, since he regularly made use of his yo-yo skills on camera. In addition, he was a California state champion gymnast in high school, and also won trophies as a competitive unicyclist.
   
   
3. Serendipity: Initially, the brothers were a folk singing duo, and that is what they were hired to do for their first paying gig, at a club in San Francisco called the Purple Onion. However, the flamenco dancer scheduled to appear as the headliner that night sprained her ankle, meaning the brothers had to fill 40 minutes more than expected. They didn't have enough songs for that, so they filled out the act with comic patter, which gave them the act that made them famous. That was 1959; after the Purple Onion extended their booking by 36 weeks, they became popular as a touring act. That led to The Smothers Brothers Show in 1965, and then the much better known Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967. Although the latter program is invariably described as groundbreaking (or with some synonymous word), the brothers didn't see things that way. "We would have been ineffective if we were ahead of our time," Dick once observed. "We were ON time."
   
   
4. Edgy Stuff: To give a sense of the humor the brothers displayed on their show, here are a few of the best-known one-liners and exchanges from the program:
   
   
   • Dick: "Being a comedy team is a lot like a marriage. A lot of fighting and no sex."
     
     
   • Pat Paulsen, who was perpetually running for president: "I've upped my standards. Now, up yours."
     
     
   • Tom: "When I die, I want to die like my grandfather did, in his sleep. Not in stark terror, like the rest of the people in the car that he was driving."
     
     
   • Tom: "You can tell who's running the country by how much clothes people wear, see?"
     Dick: "Do you mean that some people can afford more clothes on, and some people have... less on? Is that what you mean?"
     Tom: "That's right."
     Dick: "I don't understand."
     Tom: "See, the ordinary people, you'd say that the ordinary people are the less-ons."
     Dick: "So who's running the country?"
     Tom: "The morons."
     
     
   • Pat Paulsen: "What are the arguments against the draft? We hear it is unfair, immoral, discourages young men from studying, ruins their careers and their lives... Picky, picky, picky."
     
     
   • Tom: "Easter is when Jesus comes out of his tomb, and if he sees his shadow he goes back in, and we get six more weeks of winter."
     
     
   • Tom: "Mom always liked you best."
     Dick: "Lower your voice!"
     Tom: (in a basso profundo) "Mom always liked you best."
     
     
   The latter bit was built around the show's best-known catchphrase; "Mom always liked you best" showed up in nearly every episode.
   
   
5. The Cool Kids: Given the anti-authoritarian, counterculture feel of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, the show had a pretty easy time attracting top-end young talent. The writing staff, for example, included Steve Martin, Albert Brooks, Lorne Michaels, Rob Reiner and Elaine May. They also hosted a who's who of music guests, including Jefferson Airplane; George Harrison and Ringo Starr; Buffalo Springfield; Ray Charles; The Doors; Simon and Garfunkel; Peter, Paul and Mary; and yes, The Who.
   
   Two musical performances are particularly notorious, albeit for different reasons. The Brothers were able to get the blacklisted Pete Seeger on the air; his performance of "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" was interpreted (correctly) as a scathing indictment of the Vietnam War, and infuriated both the Johnson administration and the network brass. The Who, meanwhile, had a regular bit of stagecraft wherein they would put an explosive charge in Keith Moon's bass drum and light it off at the end of their performances. Due to some miscommunication and a desire to really bring down the house, unbeknownst to everyone, the drum kit ended up with a triple charge on the night the band appeared on the Smothers brothers' show. You can see the footage here; cymbal shrapnel hit Moon in the arm (see him grab his shoulder), and the explosion singed Pete Townshend's hair while also giving him permanent hearing loss.
   
   
6. All Is Forgiven: LBJ may have disliked The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour while he was in office, but he eventually came around. Maybe the events of 1968 gave him some perspective. Maybe he appreciated the barbs directed at his successor, Richard Nixon. Maybe both. In any event, in 1970 he sent the brothers a letter that read, in part: "It is part of the price of leadership of this great and free nation to be the target of clever satirists. You have given the gift of laughter to our people. May we never grow so somber or self-important that we fail to appreciate the humor in our lives."
   
   Of course, presidents always mellow out and become more gracious once they are out of office. (Note to staff researcher: Double-check this statement.)
   
   
7. Give Peace a Chance: Speaking of music, Smothers is one of the credited performers on John Lennon's song "Give Peace a Chance," along with Yoko Ono, Timothy Leary, Petula Clark and André Perry. Quite a lineup. If you watch the official video for the song, you can see Smothers doubling Lennon on acoustic guitar; he is sitting in a chair just to Lennon's right (advance to 3:35 for a particularly clear view). He's also mentioned in the lyrics: "Ev'rybody's talking about John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rose Marie, Tommy Smothers."
   
   
8. It Takes All Kinds: One might assume that the Smothers Brothers, given their well-known stances against war and in favor of civil/women's/LGBTQ rights, were both ultra-liberal. And one would be wrong. They regarded themselves as moderates, and besides, were registered with different political parties. The somewhat more lefty Tom was a Democrat, while the somewhat more righty Dick is a Republican. They felt their different viewpoints helped keep their act well-rounded.
   
   
9. Maybe He Knew Something: As the Civil Rights Movement heated up, and as Black Power emerged, Smothers became outspoken about Black celebrities who tried to maintain neutrality, seeing them as sellouts. In particular, he feuded with Bill Cosby, culminating in a fistfight at the Playboy Mansion.
   
   
10. D'oh!: Tom Smothers' final credit was a 2009 episode of The Simpsons entitled "O Brother, Where Bart Thou?" Needing two sets of celebrity brothers for purposes of the episode, the producers begged Tom and Dick to appear, just to have the chance to work with them. The other set of brothers? Football players Cooper, Eli and Peyton Manning. Again, quite a lineup.

We will let Tommy's longtime friend and colleague Rob Reiner have the last word here, via Ex-Twitter yesterday: "In 1968, Tommy Smothers plucked me out of the improv group, The Committee, and gave me my first writing job for his show. Tommy was funny, smart, and a fighter. He created a ground breaking show that celebrated all that was good about American Democracy. We loved you best, Tommy." (Z)