I'm too young to have watched the groundbreaking "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" when it was on television between 1967-69, but I've seen several historic clips through my years of obsessing over pop culture. For instance, The Who's notorious performance of "My Generation" which left Pete Townshend partially deaf (from the explosives that Keith Moon had packed into his bass drum for the finale), Betty Davis unconscious from fainting in the wings, and Mickey Rooney jumping up and down with glee. Author and TV critic David Bianculli dedicates an entire chapter to that famous performance alone.
ABOVE: Tom Smothers goofs with The Who, and then they launch into their incendiary (literally) "My Generation"
Tom and Dick Smothers broke ground in many ways with their variety show. At a time when television networks worked hard to not be controversial or offensive to any demographic at all, The Smothers attacked politics, Vietnam, politicians, religion and race in bold and often very funny ways. At a time when "Bonanza" was the top rated TV show in the nation, The Smothers Brothers were downright revolutionary. Bianculli makes a compelling case that The Smothers were the root of everything from Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher to The Simpsons and early David Letterman. The book also serves as a cultural history of the late 1960's.
Starting out as a clean cut comedy/folk music duo, the Brothers were hardly subversive revolutionaries from the outset. Even the first season of their show was fairly tame, but during the second and final seasons Tom especially became radicalized and created the first "appointment television" show for people under 30. While they had tried to appeal to multiple generations at the outset, they became increasingly more daring and radical as they went along, naturally making many enemies along the way. They also had a keen eye for writing talent, hiring unknowns by the name of Steve Martin, Rob Reiner, Mason Williams and Bob Einstein for their staff.
Most shows (even today) encourage their musical guests to play their latest hits, but Tom Smothers always wanted artists to play new songs that would be hits in the weeks ahead (often, in part, due to their performance on the show). And being a musical group themselves, Tom and Dick would often perform with their guests or perform their own tunes. From featuring one of the first televised psychedelic shows with Jefferson Airplane to boldly showcasing blacklisted artists like Pete Seeger, The Smothers were always stretching the boundaries.
One of the funnier aspects of the book is the contrast between Tom and Dick. Where Tom was involved in every aspect of the show, Dick was often absent racing cars or getting one of his many divorces. As Dick himself says, Tom was saving/fighting the world while he was out enjoying it.
The book rightfully focuses much attention on Tom Smothers' epic battle with CBS and its censors. Many things that would be seen as fairly tame today were taboo in late 60's television, and Tom was constantly fighting for every joke or performance to remain intact. I enjoyed the humor in some of these battles, such as when Tom leads the studio audience in the Pledge of Allegiance but has them leave out the "under God" part, thereby putting the censors in an editing bind. Or when he instructed his guests, the audience and the crew to snicker knowingly whenever he said the word "Galveston" in a skit. The censors, of course, always trying to catch up to the drug lingo of the youth, immediately suspected drug references and insisted that they excise all references to "Galveston."
But the battles, on the whole, were no laughing matter. And as Bianculli and even Tom Smothers now admit, in his inability to pick his battles (he insisted on fighting tooth and nail every one of them), Tom was as responsible as CBS for the showdown that occurred and that the Smothers Brothers inevitably lost in their cancellation (a mere week after CBS had announced the show's renewal). The battles and tactics used are detailed wonderfully by Bianculli.
ABOVE: After all the goofing, The Smothers Brothers were fine folk musicians
If I have one complaint with Bianculli's writing, it is that his political views on the issues of the day (and today) seep into his narrative quite often. They are also in line with the left leaning views of Tom Smothers, by the way. But while Tom's political opinions are crucial to the story, David Bianculli's are not.
But this is an excellent read and a wonderful tribute to two entertainment visionaries.
**** out of *****
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