The Late Great Tom Smothers

Tom Smothers, one half (with his brother Dick Smothers) of the legendary comedy duo the Smothers Brothers, died yesterday, December 26 2023, at the age of 86. The cause was lung cancer.

Tom Smothers was born on February 2 1937 in in a U.S. Army hospital on Governors Island  in New York City. His father was Major Thomas B. Smothers of the United States Army. The family moved to the Philippines in 1941 when his father was stationed there. During World War II his mother moved the family to Southern California. Sadly, his father died in a Japanese POW camp in 1945. While attending Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California, Tom Smothers was on the gymnastics team and won the state championship on the parallel bars. He attended San Jose State College, where he competed both in gymnastics and pole vaulting.

Tom Smothers and his younger Dick Smothers set out to become folk singers, and played in a group called the Casual Quartet. In 1959 they left that group to form their own act. The two played at the Purple Onion in San Francisco. By 1961 the Smothers Brothers were regulars on The New Steve Allen Show. Although they had set out to become folk musicians, the banter between Tom and Dick Smothers eventually became the focal point of their act. Tom played the scatter-brained brother, something of a male Gracie Allen, while Dick played the straight man. In truth, Tom Smothers was very intelligent and was the driving force behind the act. Their first album, The Smothers Brothers at the Purple Onion, was released in 1961. It was followed by The Two Sides of the Smothers Brothers in 1962. The Smothers Brothers released nine more albums in the Sixties, that sold very well. Their biggest selling album was Curb Your Tongue, Knave! from 1964.

The continued popularity of the Smothers Brothers would insure that they would be frequent guests on television. They appeared on such talk shows, comedy sketch shows, game shows, and variety shows in the Sixties as Tonight Starring Jack Paar, The Steve Allen Playhouse, The Mike Douglas Show, Hootenany, The Judy Garland Show. The Garry Moore Show, I've Got a Secret, The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, The Hollywood Palace, The Jack Paar Program, The Jack Benny Program, Password, Hollywood Talent Scouts, Gypsy, The Andy Williams Show, The Val Doonican Show, The Eamon Andrews Show, What's My Line, Pat Boone in Hollywood, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Dee Time, Laugh-In, Celebrity Billiards, The Rosey Grier Show, 60 Minutes. The Jonathan Winters Show, Della, The Joey Bishop Show, Laugh-In, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, The Andy Williams Show, The David Frost Show, The Irv Kupcinet Show, The Dean Martin Show, and Playboy After Dark. The Smothers Brothers also guest starred on the sitcom The Danny Thomas Show and the mystery series Burke's Law.

Given the popularity of the Smothers Brothers in the Sixties, it was inevitable that they would have their own television show. Their first TV series was the fantasy comedy The Smothers Brothers Show, which aired on CBS from 1965 to 1966. On the show Tom played an apprentice angel who returns to his brother Dick and is charged with helping others. Of course, Tom usually made a mess that Dick would have to straightened out. The Smothers Brothers started strong in the ratings, but soon faltered and was cancelled at the end of the 1965-1966 season. Tom Smothers blamed the failure of the series on the fact that the Smothers Brothers lacked creative control over the show and it did not play to their strengths.

It was then on February 5 1967 that The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour debuted on CBS. Unlike The Smothers Brothers Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was a comedy and variety show. The show began as a hipper version of the typical variety show, with such musical guests as Buffalo Springfield, Cream, Donovan, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, and The Who. It was not long before The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour evolved into a show that referenced the youth counterculture and addressed political topics of importance to young people. The socially relevant humour made The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour very successful, so successful that it was the first show to challenge the top-rated Bonanza in the ratings in years. The socially relevant humour also brought the Smothers Brothers into conflict with CBS. Ultimately CBS cancelled The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour while it was still popular in 1969. The Smothers Brothers sued CBS for breach of contract and ultimately won. Following the cancellation of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, the Smothers Brothers appeared on the summer replacement series The Smothers Brothers Summer Show on ABC. In 1969 Tom Smothers played acoustic guitar on John Lennon's single "Give Peace a Chance."

Tom Smothers began the Seventies hosting his own syndicated show without his brother, Tom Smothers' Organic Prime Time Space Ride. Later in the decade the Smothers Brothers starred in their own short-lived variety show on NBC titled The Smothers Brothers Show. Tom Smothers guest starred on the shows Love, American Style. He provided voices for the animated specials The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas and Betty Boop for President. He was a guest on the talk shows, variety shows, and game shows The Glenn Campbell Goodtime Hour,. The Flip Wilson Show, The Dick Cavett Show, The Julie Andrews Hour, NBC Follies, The Carol Burnett Show, Cher, Dinah!, The Sonny and Cher Show,  The Merv Griffin Show, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. At the end of the decade the Smothers Brothers guest starred in their own TV specials, The Tom and Dick Smothers Special I and The Tom and Dick Comedy Special II. Tom Smothers appeared in the movies Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972), Silver Bears (1977), A Pleasure Doing Business (1979), and There Goes the Bride (1980).

In the Eighties the Smothers Brothers hosted a new, but short-lived incarnation of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour that aired on CBS. At the start of the decade they starred in the short-lived adventure comedy series Fitz and Bones (Dick Smothers was Fitz, while Tom Smothers was Bones). Tom Smothers guest starred on The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Hotel, Tales of the Unexpected, Benson, and Cinemax Comedy Experiment. He was a voice on the animated special The Great Bear Scare. He appeared on such variety shows, talk shows, and games shows as Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters, The Glenn Campbell Music Show, Saturday Night Live, The New Hollywood Squares, Dolly, Super Dave, and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He appeared in the movies Pandemonium (1982) and Speed Zone (1989).

In the Nineties Tom Smothers guest starred on the TV shows Dream On; Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist; Suddenly Susan; and Maggie. He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Martin Short Show, and Hollywood Squares. He appeared as himself in the movie The Vegas Connection (1999).

In the Naughts he guest starred as himself on the sitcom Life with Bonnie and the animated series The Simpsons, as well as on the series The Norm Show and The Wonderful World of Disney. He appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. He appeared in the movie The Informant! (2009). His last appearance was this year, on CBS Sunday Morning.

Ever since childhood I have thought of the Smothers Brothers as one of the funniest comedy teams of all time. And Tom Smothers was one of the best gag men in the business. The character he played was not particularly bright, and had a sibling rivalry with his brother Dick, always throwing out his catchphrase, "Mom always liked him best." Of course, Dick Smothers was always the perfect straight man, the perfect foil, to his brother Tom. The two were a perfect team. Of course, in reality Tom Smothers was not only very intelligent, but a comic genius. Indeed, Tom Smothers was such an entertainer that he even brought his skill at the yo-yo into the act. As the Yo-Yo Man he would perform numerous tricks with the yo-yo. He was so good that the Smothers Brothers even released an instructional video, Yo-Yo Man.

Of course, Tom Smothers was not only funny. He was also revolutionary. The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was the first variety show to address civil rights, the Vietnam War, the counterculture, drugs, and many political topics. It broke new ground on television and paved the way for such shows as All in the Family and Maude. He fought many battles with CBS' Broadcast and Standards department in the years The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was on the air. He was nothing if not outspoken. A truly funny man and a champion for free speech, Tom Smothers was a very remarkable human being.