Comedian Tom Smothers has died | Hacker News Reader

Comedian Tom Smothers has died

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113 pointsh2odragon63 comments

Here's a good synopsis of the Smothers Brothers and their importance for that generation of comedians: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/smothers-brothe...

Comedy, in general, ages very badly, but the Smothers Brothers are still very funny. They were politically "controversial", but they were the furthest thing from shock comics, and I think that's what makes their comedy translate 50+ years later. Nothing is as dated as last season's transgressiveness, but their routines were sharp but welcoming, you could watch them with your grandparents and your children and everyone would have a laugh. They were well before my time, but I remember seeing them brought out on Letterman, etc, expecting a dire nostalgia act, and they just kill. A great act for any decade.

I was really sad when I heard about this. I've enjoyed the Smothers Brothers since I was a kid and found my parents' records of them. "Mom Always Liked You Best," falling into a vat of Chocolate, Streets of Laredo, My Old Man, John Henry, Crabs Walk Sidways, Pretoria, etc, etc. If you have never watched them before, look up a few of these. I was fortunate enough to see them in person when they performed in our city about a decade ago.

Did they ever do just a straight music album? That would have been great. Streets of Laredo starts off so beautifully.

EDIT: Here, I'll help you out:

Streets of Laredo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDmdSPKR73o

My Old Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgD1o9I8hw0

Pretoria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P5IIsCFTCo

Crabs Walk Sideways: (be patient through the first minute or so) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en54Im4qBOA

Chocolate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH0IZZRd0bI

Six String Orchestra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1MUytzDQog

Boil that Cabbage Down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmfILH3JKQg

I have to mention Mediocre Fred:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLyY-si0IP0

They did make a straight album, cleverly titled "The Smothers Brothers Play It Straight."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smothers_Brothers_Play_It_...

I watched their TV show while I was in high school. Never found the brothers act all that funny but their show was different. They poked fun at the government and then as now the government did not like it at all. The network was under immense pressure, eventually they caved and despite the shows popularity they were cancelled.

RIP Tommy. Secretly, Mom did like you best, but she'd never admit it.

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That is sad news. I used to listen to a CD of one of their acts on most road trips with my parents. They were so funny, even though the political references were all well before my time. I had no idea they were so well known; since I never heard of them outside my family, I had always just assumed they were some random little show my parents had found the CD for at a goodwill. A truly legendary comedy duo.

I had the same experience, with a CD on long road trips. I still try to make references to talking to trees, vats full of chocolate, crevasses filled with pumas, boiling that cabbage down, boy, and baby John Henry wetting his dad's leg. Alas, only my own brother ever gets them

One of my favorite Smothers Brothers bits was their last time with Johnny Carson on the tonight show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyFb45x_zgA

Rewatching that it really grabs me when his brother says wherever I am Tommy is near.

When I was 11 or 12 years old I was simply obsessed with yoyos. And Tommy Smothers had his yoyo act, and I was just enthralled. Here was this fully grown adult (this was in the late 80's) doing things with a yoyo that I wanted so badly to do. I always thought him to be the funniest, nicest guy, just based on his act. When I read that he passed, I wept. So long, Tommy.

Yo-young was so popular at my elementary school in ‘88 that we had a competition in the cafeteria (during finals mine snapped and hit the ceiling during an around the world!)

My Dad went thru a similar phase as a kid and introduced me to Tommy. I recall he actually had an instructional video and I would watch his tricks in slow motion to figure them out. At the same time became a bit obsessed with the Smothers Brothers, remember saying to a friend they gave off ultimate cool uncle vibes, so wholesome that they could be deceptively biting and irreverent.

I watched their Just Say Yo video so much as a kid. It was so much fun.

Wonderful human being, Tommy was.

https://youtu.be/Ari7Gh45Ek4

Sad news. I watched them often growing up. In an incalculable stroke of coincidence, I just tonight watched the episode of Saturday Night Live that he hosted along with his brother. Their performances reflected incredible talent.

I mentioned to my wife today that similar levels of acts seem harder to come by these days. Maybe the signal is still there, but the noise has grown to become unbearable.

Oh gosh. So much good material from the Smothers Brothers. "Kiss My Bass", "Pumas in the Crevices"... Such a good duo.

It's always amusing when I see an old show described as a hit only to run for 3 years. Today's hits (Grey's Anatomy, The Simpsons, any sufficiently popular show on Showtime) are milked until the bitter end. I know it doesn't apply in this case, as this was a political decision, just made me remember it.

The show was wildly popular. It ran for only three years because it was cancelled under political pressure. Interestingly enough, Star Trek TOS ran for the same period ('67-'69).

You can watch this episode for more info. It contains an introduction and epilogue describing the controversy.

Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour ~ Never Aired Episode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbdAVIKtiHY

'64 to '74, UK & America, has to be one of the most intense 10 years of change in any culture ever, so for a TV show with any sort of a fashionable pop culture hook to survive very long would be really unlikely

Yes, continental europe too, and the 50's also, but I wanted to choose a decade, and kick it off with Beatlemania and wrap it up with the end of Viet Nam, start of the energy (economic) crisis

It's really hard to do these days but I suggest you try to find a U.S radio station that plays 60s songs. And I mean full 60s. With genre varieties. It's downright schizophrenic.

Post 66 might as well just be a different universe as far as music was concerned. You had the 50s clean cut shit lingering around doused with 'controlled risqué' Surfer Rock and neutered Elvis doing films. Sinatra and the Rat Pack are in full swing gaining Second Wind, and ...suddenly it all gets blown the fuck out with psychedelic, progressive, and raga rock. Then two years later blues and heavy metal really start bubbling in. 60's counter culture was NOT a joke. The groundwork was laid in '64 like you pointed out, but by 66 it really went off the rails. Genuine night and day difference.

FWIW, Deadwood and Chappelle's Show were two other hits which ran for 3 years.

"Deadwood: HBO's hit drama series that follows the evolution of an American frontier town, and the ruthless power struggle between its inhabitants." - https://www.hulu.com/series/deadwood-6baae385-fa66-4af3-953b...

"early 2000s comedy hit Chappelle's Show" - https://www.newsweek.com/chappelle-show-netflix-controversia...

There's probably many more.

Outside of the US it's pretty common for shows to end after, comparatively, very few episodes. Especially places like the UK.

Though, lightly-scripted comedy and current affairs shows tend to go on much longer and it's quite surprising when they're cancelled.

Another example; "telenovelas tell one self-contained story, typically within the span of a year or less", and there have been many hits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telenovela .

"comparatively, very few episodes. Especially places like the UK"

OK - Fawlty Towers: 12 episodes. Now, look up the Two Ronnies, Morecambe and Wise, Victoria Wood, Absolutely Fabulous, French and Saunders, Lenny Henry, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Ben Elton, The Fast Show, ... oh and I'm watching Dawn French doing current stand up right now. Jo Brand, ... oh this is getting boring and I've missed out loads. That's just a few comedians.

We have a few soaps that have stood the test of time too and a few current affairs programmes that have been around for a while: Coronation Street, East Enders, Have I got News for you, QI, The Archers, Panorama.

The BBC alone has been running for quite a while and I'll finish with an honourable mention for Blue Peter.

I haven't really refuted your argument but then that was pretty arse to start with. Gave me an excuse to reminisce for a while 8)

Now you've got me wondering if it's time to buy some fork handles. ;)

I was six in 1976 so too young to understand the original. I think I would have been 10 or so when I first saw a repeat with the family around the box and got it!

Ironically enough its called, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Candles, the Four Candles sketch. Everyone I know, including you, call it "fork 'andles".

It was and is a work of genius. 53 year old me still loves it as much as 10 year old me!

Well, Chappelle's Show was a matter of him not wanting to do it due to compensation issues. Had no idea Deadwood was an actual hit, though, I assumed it was one of those "cult following" shows.

Well, what makes "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" an actual hit and not one of those cult following shows?

It was ranked #16 in 1966-1967, #18 in 1967-1968, and #27 in 1968-1969.

1966-1967 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_televi...

1967-1968 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_televi...

1968-1969 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_televi... says The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was ranked 27.

It was on Sunday nights against Bonanza. Merely surviving makes it a hit.

There were NO "cult following" shows in prime time in the top 30. Maybe on late nights.

That's really more a matter of individual perspective, yes?

I mean, https://www.ranker.com/list/best-1960s-cult-tv-series/ranker... lists Smothers Brothers as a cult show.

To be fair, Smothers Brothers is not listed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cult_television_shows while Deadwood is.

On the other hand, that Wikipedia list includes Miami Vice (ranked #9 in 1985-1986 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_televi... ), The Golden Girls ("ranked among the Nielsen ratings' top ten for six of its seven seasons" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Girls ), and X-Files (ranked #11 in 1997-1998, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-rated_United_States_televi... ).

And X-Files regularly shows up on lists of cult shows, like TV Guide's at https://www.tvguide.com/news/reacher-season-2-release-date-c... .

My parents were fans of their original show. When they came back on the air a few decades ago I learned of them and admired their humor. I was a preteen at the time and some of it went over my head but the rest was laughter.

I wonder if they still have their winery? I regret not seeing them perform at the local casinos near Napa.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/27/arts/television/tom-smoth...

I don't know what to say really. By the time I was born the Smothers Brothers were already legendary and their influence was huge. Steve Martin, Super Dave, there's really no point in making list, it'd go on too long and then branch out too far. What a cultural force.

About the referenced blacklisting of singer Pete Seeger (because he was a "communist"):

https://prospect.org/culture/recalling-pete-seeger-s-controv...

It's also a good history of what "free speech" in America historically looked like.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Smothers

Only us old farts will get this: "Mom always liked you best!"

Aw, RIP. Their take on the Sloop John B song is still my favorite.

Sniff Sniff, when I was a kid, I loved these guys. I didn't have a brother, I had two sisters, love them of course, but always fantasized that if I did have a brother, I would be Tommy. I guess he had that socially awkward nerd like vibe. That's all I have to say. God love ya bro.

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