Tom Smothers, half of the Smothers Brothers and co-host of one of the most socially conscious and groundbreaking television shows in the history of the medium, has died at the age of 86.
The National Comedy Center said in a statement on behalf of his family on Wednesday that Smothers died Tuesday at home in Santa Rosa, California, after battling cancer.
“I'm just devastated,” his brother and the duo's better half, Dick Smothers, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. “Every breath I took, my brother was there.”
When “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” debuted on CBS in the fall of 1967, it was an instant success, to the surprise of many who had assumed the network's expectations were so low that their show was ranked opposite the top-rated “Bonanza.”
But the Smothers Brothers represented a turning point in television history, with their keen eye for pop culture trends and young rock stars like The Who and Buffalo Springfield and their daring skits in which they ridiculed the establishment, railed against the Vietnam War and portrayed members of the hippie counterculture at the time as gentle, fun-loving spirits – immediately found an audience among young baby boomers.
“We were moderate. We were never out there,” Dick Smothers said. “But we were the first to walk through that door. It just crept in with the 60s. We were part of that generation.”
The show reached number 16 in ratings in its first season. It also drew the ire of network censors. After years of fighting with the brothers over the series' creative content, the network abruptly canceled the show in 1970, accusing the siblings of failing to submit an episode in time for censorship review.
Nearly 40 years later, when Smothers was awarded an honorary Emmy for his work on the series, he jokingly thanked the writers who he said led to his firing. He also showed that the years had not dimmed his openness.
“It's hard for me to remain silent when I hear again and again that peace can only be achieved through war,” Smothers said at the 2008 Emmy Awards, as his brother sat beaming in the audience. He dedicated his award to those “who feel compelled to speak their minds and who are not afraid to speak to those in power and who do not keep their mouths shut.”
During the show's three years on television, the brothers constantly battled with CBS censors and occasionally outraged viewers, particularly when Smothers joked that Easter is “the year when Jesus comes out of his grave and when he “When he sees his shadow, he goes back in.” .
In another episode, the brothers brought blacklisted folk singer Pete Seeger back to television for the first time in years. He performed his song “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” which was widely seen as a mockery of President Lyndon Johnson. When CBS refused to air the segment, the brothers brought Seeger back for another episode and he sang it again. This time it made the air.
After the show was canceled, the brothers sued CBS for $31 million and were awarded $775,000. Her struggles with the network were chronicled in the 2002 documentary “Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.”
“Tom Smothers was not only an extraordinary comedic talent who, along with his brother Dick, became the most enduring comedy duo in history and entertained the world for over six decades – he was also a true champion of free speech,” the National Comedy Center said Executive Director Journey Gunderson in a statement.
Thomas Bolyn Smothers III was born February 2, 1937, on Governors Island, New York, where his father, an Army major, was stationed. His brother was born two years later. In 1940 her father was posted to the Philippines and his wife, two sons and her sister Sherry accompanied him.
When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the family was sent home and Maj. Smothers stayed behind. During the war he was captured by the Japanese and died in captivity. The family eventually moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Redondo Beach, where Smothers helped his mother care for his brother and sister while working.
“Tommy was the biggest older brother. He took care of me,” Dick Smothers said. “His maturity was amazing. Sometimes you lose a part of your childhood.”
It seemed unlikely that the brothers would make television history. They had performed in nightclubs and universities for several years and made guest appearances on television, honing an edgy comedy routine that mixed folk music with a healthy dose of sibling rivalry.
They came on stage, Tom with a guitar in his hand and Dick with a double bass. They quickly began with a traditional folk song – perhaps “John Henry” or “Pretoria”. After playing several bars, Tom, despite being older, messed up the stupid one and then quickly claimed he had intended it. When Dick, the serious, quick-tempered man, scolded him for not admitting his mistake, he shouted angrily, “Mama always liked you best!”
“It was childlike excitement through ignorance, and I, the teacher, corrected him – sometimes I corrected him even when I was wrong,” Dick Smothers said. “I was the perfect straight man for my brother. To my brother, I was the only straight man.”
They continued this trick in their show, but also surrounded themselves with a talented cast of newcomers, both writers and performers.
Future actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner was among the top writing crew assembled by the brothers.
“Tommy was funny, smart and a fighter” Reiner said on social media Wednesday. “He created a groundbreaking show that celebrated all that was good about American democracy.”
Other writers included musician Mason Williams and comedian Steve Martin, who awarded Smothers a lifetime Emmy. Regular musical guests included John Hartford, Glen Campbell and Jennifer Warnes.
The brothers had started their own band when Tom, then a student at San Jose State College, formed a musical group called Casual Quintet and encouraged his younger brother to learn bass and join in. The brothers continued as a duo after the other musicians dropped out, but began mixing their limited folk music repertoire with comedy.
“We never wrote anything, we just made it up and tried to remember what we made up,” Dick Smothers said. “I simply answered Tom: If he said something that wasn't in the part, I wouldn't stick to the script, I would listen.”
The brothers' big break came in 1959 when they performed at the Purple Onion in San Francisco, then a hotspot for new talent. They were booked for two weeks and reached a record 36. They also had a similar run with New York's Blue Angel. But to their disappointment, they couldn't get on The Tonight Show, which was then hosted by Jack Paar.
“Paar kept telling our agent that he didn’t like folk singers — except Burl Ives,” Smothers told the AP in 1964. “But one night he got a rejection and we moved on. “Everything worked out that night.”
Dick Smothers said Wednesday: “We weren't that good when we were on 'The Tonight Show.' We were just charmingly different.”
The brothers then appeared on the television shows of Ed Sullivan, Jack Benny and Judy Garland, among others. Their comedy albums were best sellers and they toured the country, particularly to college campuses.
Before their acclaimed show, the duo landed a sitcom in 1965. “The Smothers Brothers Show” was about a businessman (Dick) who is haunted by his late brother (Tom), a young guardian angel. The show only lasted one season.
Shortly after CBS canceled The Comedy Hour, ABC picked it up as a summer replacement, but the network didn't bring it back in the fall. NBC gave them a show in 1975, but it failed to find an audience and only lasted one season. The brothers went their separate ways for a while. Among other things, Smothers entered the wine business and founded Remick Ridge Vineyards in the wine-growing region of Northern California.
“Originally the winery was called Smothers Brothers, but I changed the name to Remick Ridge because when people heard Smothers Brothers wine they thought of something like Milton Berle Fine Wine or Larry, Curly and Mo Vineyards,” Smothers once said .
They eventually reunited to star in the musical comedy “I Love My Wife,” a hit that ran on Broadway for two years. They then began traveling again, playing at casinos, performing arts centers and corporate gatherings across the country, and remained popular for decades.
“We just keep popping up,” Smothers commented in 1997. “We just haven’t been around long enough to really get old.”
After a successful 20th anniversary of “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” in 1988, CBS buried the hatchet and brought them back.
The show was quickly canceled, but remained on the air long enough for Smothers to introduce the “Yo-Yo Man,” allowing him to demonstrate his considerable skills with a yo-yo while he and his brother played a steady one Trampling continued the comedy. The piece remained in her file for years.
“It was like a great marriage, you go through some rough patches but you still don't lose focus,” Dick Smothers said.
They retired in 2010, but returned in 2021 for a series of shows that would be their last before Tom Smothers was unable to continue due to his illness.
“The audience exploded,” Dick Smothers said of these shows. “It was like a thunderbolt. They were young again.”
Smothers married three times and had three children. He is survived by his wife Marcy, children Bo and Riley Rose, his brother Dick and other relatives. He was preceded in death by his son Tom and his sister Sherry.
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This story has been updated to correct that Smothers' father was in the Army, not the Navy, and that his wife's name is Marcy, not Marie.
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Dalton reported from Los Angeles. Moore, a longtime Associated Press television writer, retired in 2017. Former Associated Press journalists John Rogers and the late Bob Thomas contributed to this report.