Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The


The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

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About

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, starring the folk singing, comedy duo Tom and Dick Smothers, premiered on CBS in February 1967. A variety show scheduled opposite the top rated NBC programme, Bonanza, the Comedy Hour attracted a younger, hipper, and more politically engaged audience than most other video offerings of the 1960s. The show's content featured irreverent digs at many dominant institutions such as organized religion and the presidency. It also included sketches celebrating the hippie drug culture and material opposing the war in Vietnam. These elements made The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour one of the most controversial television shows in the medium's history. Questions of taste and the Smothers' oppositional politics led to very public battles over censorship. As CBS attempted to dictate what was appropriate prime time entertainment fare, the Smothers tried to push the boundaries of acceptable speech on the medium. The recurring skirmishes between the brothers and the network culminated on 4 April 1969, one week before the end of the season, when CBS summarily threw the show off the air. Network president Robert D. Wood charged that the Smothers had not submitted a review tape of the upcoming show to the network in a timely manner. The Smothers accused CBS of infringing on their First Amendment rights. It would be twenty years before the Smothers Brothers again appeared on CBS.

In their earliest days, however, the network and the brothers got along quite well. The Smothers began their association with CBS in a failed situation comedy called The Smothers Brothers Show which ran for one season in 1965-66. The show featured straight man Dick as a publishing executive and slow-witted, bumbling Tom as his deceased brother who had come back as an angel-in-training. The sit-com format did not prove to be appropriate for Tom and Dick's stand-up brand of comedy. CBS, feeling that the brothers still had potential, decided to give them another try in a different programme format.

Considering how contentious The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour became, it is worth noting that, in form and style, the show was quite traditional, avoiding the kinds of experiments associated with variety show rival, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. The brothers typically opened the show with a few minutes of stand-up song and banter. The show's final segment usually involved a big production number, often a costumed spoof, featuring dancing, singing and comedy. Guest stars ran the gamut from countercultural icons like the Jefferson Airplane and the Doors to older generation, "Establishment" favourites like Kate Smith and Jimmy Durante. Nelson Riddle and his orchestra supplied musical accompaniment, and the show had its own resident dancers and singers who would have been as comfortable on the Lawrence Welk Show as on the Smothers' show.

The show was noteworthy for some of the new, young talent it brought to the medium. Its corral of writers, many of whom were also performers, provided much of the energy, and managed to offset some of the creakiness of the format and the older guest stars. Mason Williams, heading the writing staff, achieved fame not so much for his politically engaged writing, but for his instant guitar classic, "Classical Gas." Bob Einstein wrote for the show and also played the deadpan and very unamused cop, Officer Judy. He went on to greater fame as Super Dave. Finally, the as yet unknown Steve Martin cut his comedic teeth as a staff writer for the show.

What also raised The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour above the usual fare of comedy variety was the way the Smothers and their writers dealt with some of their material. Dan Rowan of Laugh-In noted that while his show used politics as a platform for comedy, the Smothers used comedy as a platform for politics. A recurring political sketch during the 1968 presidential year tracked regular cast member, the lugubrious Pat Paulsen, and his run for the nation's top office. Campaigners for Democratic contender Hubert Humphrey apparently worried that write-in votes for Paulsen would take needed votes away from their candidate.

Another Comedy Hour regular engaged in a different kind of subversive humour. Comedienne Leigh French created the recurring hippie character, Goldie O'Keefe, whose parody of afternoon advice shows for housewives, "Share a Little Tea with Goldie," was actually one long celebration of mind-altering drugs. "Tea" was a countercultural code word for marijuana, but the CBS censors seemed to be unaware of the connection. Goldie would open her sketches with salutations such as "Hi(gh)--and glad of it!"

While Goldie's comedy was occasionally censored for its pro-drug messages, it never came in for the suppression that focused on other material. One of the most famous instances was the censoring of folk singer Pete Seeger. Seeger had been invited to appear on the Smothers' second season premiere to sing his anti-war song, "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy." The song--about a gung-ho military officer during World War II who attempts to force his men to ford a raging river only to be drowned in the muddy currents--was a thinly veiled metaphor for President Lyndon Johnson and his Vietnam policies. The censoring of Seeger created a public outcry, causing the network to relent and allow Seeger to reappear on the Comedy Hour later in the season to perform the song.

Other guests who wanted to perform material with an anti-war message also found themselves censored. Harry Belafonte was scheduled to do a calypso song called "Don't Stop the Carnival" with images from the riotous 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention chromakeyed behind him. Joan Baez wanted to dedicate a song to her draft-resisting husband who was about to go to prison for his stance. In both cases, the network considered this material "political," thus not appropriate for an "entertainment" format. Dr. Benjamin Spock, noted baby doctor and anti-war activist, was prevented from appearing as a guest of the show because, according to the network, he was a "convicted felon."

Other material that offended the network's notions of good taste also suffered the blue pencil. Regular guest performer, comedian David Steinberg, found his satirical sermonettes censored for being "sacrilegious." Even skits lampooning censorship, such as one in which Tom and guest Elaine May played motion picture censors trying to find a more palatable substitution for unacceptable dialogue, ended up being censored.

The significance of all this censoring and battling between the Smothers and CBS is what Bert Spector has called a "clash of cultures." The political and taste values of two generations were colliding with each other over The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The show, appearing at a pivotal moment of social and cultural change in the late 1960s, ended up embodying some of the turmoil and pitched conflict of the era. The Smothers wanted to provide a space on prime time television for the perspectives of a disaffected and rebellious youth movement deeply at odds with the dominant social order. CBS, with a viewership skewed to an older, more rural, more conservative demographic, could only find the Smothers embrace of anti-establishment politics and lifestyles threatening.

In the aftermath of the show's cancellation, the Smothers received a great deal of support in the popular press, including an editorial in the New York Times and a cover story in the slick magazine Look. Tom Smothers attempted to organize backing for a free speech fight against the network among Congressional and Federal Communications Commission members in Washington D.C. While they were unsuccessful in forcing CBS to reinstate the show, the Smothers did eventually win a suit against the network for breach of contract.

In the years following their banishment from CBS, the Smothers attempted to recreate their variety show on the other two networks. In 1970, they did a summer show on ABC, but were not picked up for the fall season. In 1975 they turned up on NBC with another variety show which disappeared at mid-season. Then, finally, twenty years after being shown the door at CBS, the brothers were welcomed back for an anniversary special in February 1988. The success of the special, which re-introduced stalwarts Goldie O'Keefe (now a yuppie) and Pat Paulsen, led to another short-lived and uncontroversial run of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS. Most recently, in 1992, the Smothers re-edited episodes of the original Comedy Hour and ran them on the E! cable channel, providing introductions and interviews with the show's guests and writers to explain the show's controversies.

-Aniko Bodroghkozy

REGULAR PERFORMERS

Tom Smothers

Dick Smothers

Pat Paulsen

Leigh French

Bob Einstein

Mason Williams (1967-1969)

Jennifer Warnes (1967-1969)

John Hartford (1968-1969)

Sally Struthers (1970)

Spencer Quinn (1970)

Betty Aberlin (1975)

Don Novello (1975)

Steve Martin (1975)

Nino Senporty (1975)

DANCERS

The Louis Da Pron Dancers (1967-1968)

The Ron Poindexter Dancers (1968-1969)

MUSIC

The Anita Kerr Singers (1967)

Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra (1967-1969)

The Denny Vaughn Orchestra (1970)

PRODUCERS

(1967-1969) Saul Ilson, Ernest Chambers, Chris Bearde, Allen Blye

PROGRAMMING HISTORY

CBS
February 1967-June 1969   Sunday 9:00-10:00

ABC
July 1970-September 1970   Wednesday 10:00-11:00

NBC
January 1975-May 1975   Monday 8:00-9:00

FURTHER READING

Bodroghkozy, Aniko. "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and the 1960s Youth Rebellion." In, Spigel, Lynn, and Michael Curtin, editors. The Revolution Wasn't Televised: Sixties Television and Social Conflict. New York: Routledge, 1997.

Carr, Steven Alan. "On the Edge of Tastelessness: CBS, the Smothers Brothers, and the Struggle for Control." Cinema Journal (Champaign, Illinois), Summer 1992.

Hendra, Tony. Going too Far. New York: Doubleday, 1987.

Kloman, William. "The Transmogrification of the Smothers Brothers." Esquire (New York), October, 1969.

Metz, Robert. CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye. Chicago: Playboy, 1975.

Spector, Bert. "A Clash of Cultures: The Smothers Brothers vs. CBS Television." In, O'Connor, John E., editor. American History, American Television. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1983. 

Highlights
Tom and Dick Smothers on some censored portions of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
03:12
Ron Clark on the guests of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and the behind the scenes roles of Tom and Dick Smothers
02:00
William Tankersley on CBS Standards & Practices' problems with The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour
06:00
Henry Colman on covering The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour for the network when Tom Smothers wouldn't relinquish a tape to CBS
02:53
Michael Dann on taking The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour off the air
02:31
Tom and Dick Smothers on the variety show genre and  working with CBS executives on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
04:03
Who talked about this show

Allan Blye

View Interview
Allan Blye on how he came to be hired as a writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
03:07
Allan Blye on the writers on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and on the writing process on the show
04:48
Allan Blye on Tom and Dick Smothers' involvement with the writers on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and on their individual talent as performers
00:43
Allan Blye on Tom and Dick Smothers' creative control on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and on their conflicts with Standards & Practices
02:10
Allan Blye on the kind of material he wrote on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
00:36
Allan Blye on being a producer on the third season of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, including David Steinberg's sermons
02:13
Allan Blye on the kind of mail they received from viewers on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
01:07
Allan Blye on the political nature of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and various controversial appearances, including by Harry Belafonte, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and The Who
04:13
Allan Blye on the "Share a Little Tea with Goldie" sketch on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
00:41
Allan Blye on Pat Paulsen's editorials on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and Paulsen's presidential run
00:50
Allan Blye on favorite guests on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and on his role as producer on the show
01:36
Allan Blye on the end of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
02:52
Allan Blye on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour winning an Emmy after the show went off the air
01:21
Allan Blye on the legacy of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
00:27

Sam Bobrick

View Interview
Sam Bobrick on writing for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
03:03
Sam Bobrick on working with the writing staff of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
02:40
Sam Bobrick on the controversies involved with The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and on his writing partner, Ron Clark
04:42
Sam Bobrick on the writers of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
02:51
Sam Bobrick on the performers on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, including Pat Paulsen
02:38
Sam Bobrick on working with Tom and Dick Smothers on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
02:52
Sam Bobrick on the guest stars of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and on network censorship on the show
03:35
Sam Bobrick on how comedy writing has changed since the days of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
02:28
Sam Bobrick on the legacy of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and on his decision to leave the show to write for The Kraft Music Hall
06:00

Ron Clark

View Interview
Ron Clark on writing for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
08:03
Ron Clark on working with Tom and Dick Smothers on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and the censorship the show faced
02:19
Ron Clark on the guests of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and the behind the scenes roles of Tom and Dick Smothers
02:00
Ron Clark on writing the sketches for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour including for cast member Pat Paulson 
02:45
Ron Clark on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour tackling current events and the language on the show
05:12
Ron Clark on the legacy of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
00:41

Henry Colman

View Interview
Henry Colman on covering The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour for the network when Tom Smothers wouldn't relinquish a tape to CBS
02:53

Michael Dann

View Interview
Michael Dann on taking The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour off the air
02:31

Bill Davis

View Interview
Bill Davis on directing The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour
08:00

Nanette Fabray

View Interview
Nanette Fabray on appearing on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and Art Linkletter's House Party
02:40

Barbara Feldon

View Interview
Barbara Feldon on appearing on variety shows
02:01

Carl Gottlieb

View Interview
Carl Gottlieb on making the transition from writing supervisor of The Summer Brothers Smothers Show to writing supervisor of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and on Tom Smothers becoming more of a hands-on producer in the third season
01:11
Carl Gottlieb on working with Rob Reiner in the writers room of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
00:47
Carl Gottlieb on working with Steve Martin in the writers room at The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and on Lenny Bruce's influence on comedy at that time
02:39
Carl Gottlieb on the music sensibility of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, given that many of the writers and performers on the show were musicians
01:07
Carl Gottlieb on the friendship between the writers on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, including Rob Reiner, John Hartford, Steve Martin, Bob Einstein, and non-show writer Albert Brooks (Einstein's brother)
03:12
Carl Gottlieb on teaming up with Lorenzo Music on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour to write monologues for the Smothers, and long-form sketches for guest-stars like Bob Newhart
04:56
Carl Gottlieb on working with writer Murray Roman on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
03:51
Carl Gottlieb on getting his jokes and sketches on air on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
04:19
Carl Gottlieb on Tom Smothers battling CBS Standards & Practices department over the content of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
04:57
Carl Gottlieb on Tom Smothers holding back the master tapes of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour so that they could not be censored by CBS
04:08
Carl Gottlieb on CBS approving the content of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour at various stages of production
02:29
Carl Gottlieb on CBS cancelling The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour despite the show being in the top ten
01:55
Carl Gottlieb on David Steinberg's sermons on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
03:12
Carl Gottlieb on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour winning Emmy Awards after it was cancelled
03:11
Carl Gottlieb on the legacy of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
06:56

Perry Lafferty

View Interview
Perry Lafferty on some of the hit shows during his tenure at CBS, including The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
02:37

Marty Pasetta

View Interview
Marty Pasetta on getting the job as director of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and being inventive to get around budget issues
06:56
Marty Pasetta on directing the controversial final season of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
02:10

Carroll Pratt

View Interview
Carroll Pratt on providing laugh track for Kraft Music Hall, The Steve Allen Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Odd Couple, and The Partridge Family
05:50

Rob Reiner

View Interview
Rob Reiner on writing for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour featuring Tom and Dick Smothers
05:39
Rob Reiner on being partnered with Steve Martin on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and on the writer's room of that show
01:19
Rob Reiner on censorship issues surrounding The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour mostly handled by Tom Smothers
03:07
Rob Reiner on the regulars on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, as well as the musical guests
02:04
Rob Reiner on the cancellation of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and what he learned from his time on the show
01:37

Dick Smothers

View Interview
Tom and Dick Smothers on the origin of Tom's "mom always liked you best" catchphrase
01:18
On the development of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
08:26
Tom and Dick Smothers on the changing social and political views in the sixties as The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour came on the air
02:14
Tom and Dick Smothers the start of The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour and the difficulties of producing a variety show
04:56
Tom and Dick Smothers on some of the confrontations they had with CBS and unions regarding the material on The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour
05:45
Tom and Dick Smothers on their dealings with CBS, their firing, and their thoughts about the larger political issues which may have contributed to the demise of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
17:37
Tom and Dick Smothers on CBS' cancellation of The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour for breach-of-contract
03:23
Tom and Dick Smothers on some censored portions of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
03:12
Tom and Dick Smothers on their relationship with the Johnson administration
02:35
Tom and Dick Smothers on the variety show genre and  working with CBS executives on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
04:03
Tom and Dick Smothers on the variety show genre and  working with CBS executives on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
03:13
Tom and Dick Smothers on the collaborative nature of The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour
02:25

Tom Smothers

View Interview
Tom and Dick Smothers on the origin of Tom's "mom always liked you best" catchphrase
01:18
On the development of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
08:26
Tom and Dick Smothers on the changing social and political views in the sixties as The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour came on the air
02:14
Tom and Dick Smothers the start of The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour and the difficulties of producing a variety show
04:56
Tom and Dick Smothers on some of the confrontations they had with CBS and unions regarding the material on The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour
05:45
Tom and Dick Smothers on their dealings with CBS, their firing, and their thoughts about the larger political issues which may have contributed to the demise of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
17:37
Tom and Dick Smothers on CBS' cancellation of The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour for breach-of-contract
03:23
Tom and Dick Smothers on some censored portions of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
03:12
Tom and Dick Smothers on their relationship with the Johnson administration
02:35
Tom and Dick Smothers on the variety show genre and  working with CBS executives on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
04:03
Tom and Dick Smothers on the variety show genre and  working with CBS executives on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
03:13
Tom and Dick Smothers on the collaborative nature of The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour
02:25
Tom and Dick Smothers on some censored portions of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
03:12

George Sunga

View Interview
George Sunga on being Associate Producer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
03:52
George Sunga on the evolution of Tommy Smothers on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
03:27
George Sunga on the guest stars on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and the innovative technical aspects of the show
02:39
George Sunga on the writers on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
02:32
George Sunga on The Who and Pete Seeger performing on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
05:06
George Sunga on CBS's reaction to The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
01:45
George Sunga on becoming a Producer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour; on the staff
03:42
George Sunga on the cancellation of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and the lawsuit that followed
03:14
George Sunga on his Emmy nomination for producing The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
01:01

William Tankersley

View Interview
William Tankersley on CBS Standards & Practices' problems with The Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour
06:00

Leslie Uggams

View Interview
Leslie Uggams on The Leslie Uggams Show being CBS' response to cancelling The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and her show being replaced by Hee Haw
02:47

Ben Wolf

View Interview
Ben Wolf on shooting The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
02:56
Ben Wolf on shooting The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
02:46

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