<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We left Part 1 of The Smothers Brothers just as they had their first album in the can.\u00a0 They landed in New York during the brutal winter of 1961 for their first club dates on the East Coast.\u00a0 It must have been quite a shock to their systems having spent the majority of their life thus far in sunny southern California.\u00a0 Their eight week booking at The Limeliter Club in Aspen, Colorado and a subsequent gig at Denver\u2019s The Satire got them a little east of SoCal, but the New York swing was a whole different matter.\u00a0 We have been following their career from <\/span>Dangerously Funny – The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour <\/span><\/i>(David Bianculli – Touchstone – 2009)\u00a0 which places their first New York booking at an uptown club called The Blue Angel.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Brothers were in NYC to be the opening act for Pat Harrington, Jr. (best known at the time for appearing on Jack Paar\u2019s <\/span>Tonight<\/span><\/i> show as the fictitious Italian golfer Guido Panzini). Harrington would later be cast in the role of Schneider the handyman on the 1970s CBS sitcom <\/span>One Day at a Time<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 It was Harrington who lobbied Paar\u2019s booker to get the Brothers on <\/span>Tonight<\/span><\/i>, but word of mouth in the entertainment industry is also a powerful force.\u00a0 As word spread, fellow New York neophyte Bob Newhart was joined in the audience by actor Anne Bancroft, comedians Jake E. Leonard and Shelley Berman, composer Richard Rogers, and singer \u2018perky Peggy King\u2019.\u00a0 King had been one of the regulars on <\/span>The George Gobel Show<\/span><\/i> and she promised to bring him to a show as well.\u00a0 Gobel attending was a big thing as he was Tom\u2019s original comedic inspiration.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Tom sent a letter to their sister Sherry on January 16, 1961 in which he commented on the size of the city, the \u2018name entertainers\u2019 who came to their shows, and their prospects for getting on a TV show (either Parr\u2019s or Perry Como\u2019s).\u00a0 Tom told her, \u201cSo far, no definite TV shows.\u00a0 First time in New York, you can\u2019t get everything!\u201d\u00a0 Tom was wrong.\u00a0 Just before they were due to head back to California, Paar\u2019s booker called and asked if they would be willing to fill in after another act fell through.\u00a0 Bianculli summed up their New York experience:\u00a0 \u201c[The Brothers] had to prove themselves to the legendarily tough New York audience.\u00a0 Success didn\u2019t come immediately.\u00a0 It took about a week.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After being introduced to camera blocking at rehearsal, Tom inquired if they would be called over to talk to Paar after their performance.\u00a0 The stage manager replied rather snarkily, \u201cAh, well, I don\u2019t think so.\u201d\u00a0 The talent coordinator heard this exchange and brought them backstage to meet the man himself.\u00a0 Paar wasn\u2019t much more encouraging than the stage manager had been:\u00a0 \u201cHi, boys.\u00a0 You\u2019re folk singers, right?\u00a0 I like folk singers.\u00a0 I just hate hillbillies.\u201d\u00a0 After looking them over in an awkward pause, Paar asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s the difference between hillbilly and folk music?\u201d\u00a0 Paar roared with laughter at Tom\u2019s nervous response, \u201cWell, hillbillies sing higher.\u201d\u00a0 Paar\u2019s introduction during the show was not a ringing endorsement either:\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve got to tell you, this next act, I have never seen before.\u00a0 And I have never heard of them before.\u00a0 They\u2019ve got a funny name – Smothers Brothers – it\u2019s not made up.\u00a0 But their dad, their dad was an army man, he was killed in the war.\u00a0 And they\u2019re folksingers.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like folksingers generally.\u00a0 I like Burl Ives.\u00a0 But . . . come on out boys!\u00a0 Come on out!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0About this time Dick was thinking, \u201cWhat kind of an intro is <\/span>that<\/span><\/i>?\u201d Paar then showed why he was the king of late night TV comedy.\u00a0 He asked Tom the hillbilly vs folksinger question again, this time knowing Tom had a killer retort (the one he had given backstage).\u00a0 Dick recalls, \u201c[Paar\u2019s] set up was perfect, letting them see us for a second, dismissing us, and setting up Tommy\u2019s line so they saw his character a little bit before we got into the music – it was huge.\u201d\u00a0 Success on Paar\u2019s show was like finding the golden ticket to Willy Wonka\u2019s factory.\u00a0 As a result, the Brother\u2019s stock soared and people were clamoring for the album the Brothers had just finished but had yet to be released.\u00a0 No PR guy in the universe could have set them up better than Paar had.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Smothers Brothers approached their recording career backwards.\u00a0 Most acts hone their material live before committing it to vinyl.\u00a0 The Brothers would record live shows and then piece together the best ad libs and tracks into an album.\u00a0 Once the album was completed, they used it as the template for their live act.\u00a0 They performed these routines until they were better than their albums.\u00a0 Releasing two albums a year is a daunting task but the way Tom and Dick worked, it left them free to pursue their own interests now that they were making more money.\u00a0 By their own admission, they were lazy when it came to writing new material for records.\u00a0 Recording new material live was a trial by fire, but it also let them try a lot of stuff, toss the weak links, and keep the best bits in their live act.\u00a0 Families and hobbies came first, work was done when it had to be.\u00a0 The Smothers Brothers made a decent living doing college and nightclub gigs while using occasional guest appearances on various TV shows to spark their album sales.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A guest appearance as a couple of tycoons in an episode of <\/span>Burke\u2019s Law<\/span><\/i> introduced them to TV empresario Aaron Spelling.\u00a0 Spelling gave the go-ahead to develop a situation comedy vehicle to cash in on the craze that made shows like <\/span>My Favorite Martian <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Bewitched <\/span><\/i>big hits.\u00a0 These fantasy sitcoms featured Ray Walston and Elizabeth Montgomery whose characters had amazing powers they needed to keep hidden.\u00a0 Of course, Bill Bixby and the two actors who played Montgomery\u2019s husband during the series were the only hapless humans to know their secret.<\/span><\/p>\n The Smothers Brothers Show<\/span><\/i> cast Tom as an apprentice angel (with secret powers) who returns after being lost at sea to complicate his freewheeling bachelor brother\u2019s life (the hapless human) played by Dick.\u00a0 The producers took away all the things that made the Brothers funny:\u00a0 no instruments, no ad libbing, and very few scenes where they could play off of each other.\u00a0 In the end, Dick says, \u201cThe show was extremely hard on Tom because he had all the words – <\/span>all<\/span><\/i> the words – and they didn\u2019t know it was hard for Tommy to learn the words.\u00a0 So it was extremely hard on him, compared to me.\u00a0 Tom got nothing out of the series but an ulcer.\u201d\u00a0 When the show was mercifully canceled, they were not disappointed and got back to doing what they did best.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The last reruns of the sitcom played in September of 1966 and no one, including Tom and Dick, would imagine that they would be back on TV as soon as the winter of 1967.\u00a0 They can thank the NBC ratings juggernaut called <\/span>Bonanza<\/span><\/i> for their next opportunity.\u00a0 <\/span>Bonanza<\/span><\/i> was the big dog of network TV and every show put up against it in the 9 PM Sunday slot either faded away or died in swift fashion.\u00a0 Even after a successful eight year run, the courtroom drama <\/span>Perry Mason <\/span><\/i>was canceled after only one year going head to head with the Ponderosa boys.\u00a0 Mike Dann, the head of programming at CBS at that time, is credited for \u2018having the courage\u2019 to put together a variety show featuring the Smothers Brothers and run it opposite <\/span>Bonanza.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Dann sees it differently:\u00a0 \u201cIt didn\u2019t take any courage!\u00a0 They were the only show I could get ready [fast enough]!\u201d\u00a0 The only other thing they had going for them was their age – CBS realized that all the other variety show hosts were getting long in the tooth.\u00a0 The Brothers were charged with being the networks \u2018young act\u2019.\u00a0 CBS underestimated the effect a young act could have on a national TV audience.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The competition frightened a lot of the brass at CBS, but not Tom.\u00a0 Tom said, \u201cHey, if we succeed, it will be big.\u00a0 It will be a big deal.\u00a0 And if we fail, no one will blame us.\u00a0 So let\u2019s go.\u00a0 I want to go now.\u201d\u00a0 Because they had been mismanaged in their failed sitcom, Tom insisted they be given creative control over the new show.\u00a0 Some doubt that CBS would have signed any contract\u00a0 stating the Brothers had full control, but all the Tom and Dick ever signed with the network was an \u2018intent paper\u2019.\u00a0 The show was put together fast and Tom certainly seemed to have the right to hire and fire.\u00a0 He filled the staff with writers Tom and Dick felt comfortable with while bringing in many friends from the folk circuit.\u00a0 A good number would become household names thanks to <\/span>The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 Mason Williams and John Hartford came on board as writers and to help on the musical side.\u00a0 Along the way, unknown musical artists like Jim Stafford, Jennifer Warnes, and Glen Campbell were also blended into the mix.\u00a0 Comedic personalities like Leigh French, David Steinberg, Steve Martin, Rob Reiner, Lorenzo Music (later the voice of the animated Garfield the Cat), Bob Einstein (who would go on to play the jinxed stuntman Super Dave Osborne as well as Marty Funkhouser on <\/span>Curb Your Enthusiasm<\/span><\/i>), and Pat Paulson cut their teeth as writers and performers on the show.\u00a0 Borrowing bits and pieces from shows like <\/span>Your Show of Shows<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>That Was the Week That Was <\/span><\/i>(not to mention hiring away some of their writers), the Brothers began assembling a show that had roots in the past but branches to the future.\u00a0 Mason Williams and his girlfriend, Nancy Ames, wrote the show\u2019s theme song based on a mistake Williams made while accompanying Ames at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas.\u00a0 It was perfect, Williams recalled because, \u201cSince the Smothers Brothers\u2019 whole career is based on mistakes, maybe we should create a song that\u2019s just full of mistakes – or the same mistake, repeated over and over.\u00a0 Same as their career.\u201d\u00a0 CBS didn\u2019t like it but Tommy did.\u00a0 They would continue to use it as their theme from then on.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mason Williams recalled how they used a shoe box parked in the foyer of their apartment to collect ideas for skits and guest stars.\u00a0 \u201cWhen it came time for the show,\u201d Mason said, \u201cwe dug [the box out and it contained] and there were two to three page of solid ideas of things we wanted to explore.\u00a0 From the scraps of paper that collected in the shoebox, the <\/span>Comedy Hour<\/span><\/i> was constructed and ready to roll in a mere two months. \u00a0 By their ninth show, they were averaging 12 million viewers to <\/span>Bonanza\u2019s<\/span><\/i> 14 million.\u00a0 CBS balked at including music that wasn\u2019t from, \u201cBroadway, or hits, or Americana.\u00a0 We [CBS] don\u2019t want things on the TV that aren\u2019t familiar, or that people don\u2019t already like.\u201d\u00a0 The younger audience that the show was courting thought otherwise.\u00a0 The music began attracting viewers who normally did not watch TV.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A little known California band called The Turtles were taped for the show lip-synching their single <\/span>Happy<\/span><\/i> Together<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 The song reached the <\/span>Billboard Top 100<\/span><\/i> on February 11, the night before the show aired.\u00a0 Other groups and record labels noted that <\/span>Happy Together <\/span><\/i>shot right to number one, opening a crucial door to attract other upcoming bands like Paul Revere and the Raiders, Buffalo Springfield, and The Doors.\u00a0 The first time I heard The Doors perform <\/span>Touch Me<\/span><\/i> live was on TSBCH, months before it was released on record.\u00a0 Similar chart action took place for Jefferson Airplane (<\/span>Want Somebody to Love <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>White Rabbit) <\/span><\/i>and The Who (<\/span>I Can See for Miles<\/span><\/i>).\u00a0 The Who made an even bigger impression on their second number, a live version of <\/span>My Generation<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 Drummer Keith Moon bribed the effects guy into upping the amount of powder used to make it his bass drum \u2018explode\u2019 during their instrument smashing finale.\u00a0 The concussion was so large it knocked Moon and Townshend in opposite directions, singed Townshend\u2019s hair, and caused Pete to suffer (partial) permanent hearing loss in one ear.\u00a0 Guest star Bette Davis fainted back stage.\u00a0 The <\/span>Comedy Hour<\/span><\/i> was turning out to be a little different than a run of the mill variety show.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The wink and nod in Bianculli\u2019s book title is \u201c<\/span>The Uncensored Story . . .<\/span><\/i>\u201d because what people remember most about the <\/span>Comedy Hour<\/span><\/i> is their battle with the network censors.\u00a0 It was a war that\u00a0 would get the Brothers fired from CBS in May of 1969 (after a three year run).\u00a0 It started innocently enough with little bits of jokes and skits chopped to pieces as the CBS censors sought to protect the viewing public from what they viewed as \u2018objectionable material\u2019.\u00a0 Oddly enough, the first skit completely deleted was about TV censors and the war was on.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As the show\u2019s popularity grew, more and more overtly political topics began appearing.\u00a0 After seventeen years of being blacklisted from TV, the Brothers brought folk singing legend Pete Seeger in as a guest.\u00a0 Seeger did several selections and ended with his new song <\/span>Waist Deep in the Big Muddy.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Set in World War II, the song nonetheless was a thinly veiled poke at the futility of the Vietnam War and the president.\u00a0 CBS cut the <\/span>Big Muddy <\/span><\/i>segment out of the program before it aired.\u00a0 No one knew at the time, but they had waved a red flag in front of a bull.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Tom took any censorship as a challenge to his artistic control of the program.\u00a0 He and the writers began peppering skits with things they knew would be cut or just to rile up the two guys charged with protecting TV viewers from \u2018inappropriate content\u2019.\u00a0 Some of these throwaways were put in just to needle the censors (or \u2018editors\u2019 as CBS called them).\u00a0 Some were bargaining chips:\u00a0 if they put in something outrageous, perhaps they could trade that for something that would not be cut.\u00a0 Undeterred, Tom and Dick (but mostly Tom) began to battle with the network.\u00a0 Airing many of their grievances directly to the press pushed CBS to fire the Brothers at the end of their third season.\u00a0 When asked to return for a 20th Reunion Show,\u00a0 CBS and The Brothers acknowledged that both sides blew many things way out of proportion back in the day.\u00a0 When it got really tense, every little spark caused a huge conflagration.\u00a0 Both sides were ready for the separation yet they were on the cutting edge, the ratings were still solid, and <\/span>The Comedy Hour <\/span><\/i>was making TV history when it all came crashing down.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Brothers provided TV with many memorable firsts:\u00a0 the introduction of youth culture with the likes of real life flower girl Leigh French providing her colorful commentary proved to be a key generational bridge.\u00a0 Long time friend of the Brothers, Pat Paulson, began as a bit player (that is him sporting a fake moustache toting the bass drum in the opening credit sequence) to a full blown comedic presence via his hangdog facial features and his catch phrases such as, \u201cPicky, picky, picky.\u201d\u00a0 Paulson\u2019s faux presidential campaign turned out to be one of the few light political moments during the tragic stretch of 1968 starting and ending with the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. \u00a0 Glen Campbell was picked to host a summer replacement series after season two (<\/span>The\u00a0 Summer Brothers Smothers Show<\/span><\/i>) which set him up to host his own mid-year replacement show (<\/span>The Glen Campbell Good Time Hour<\/span><\/i>).\u00a0 Tom Smothers had a knack for finding talented young writers and performers to bring into the fold. Some of the bits that caused the censorship uproar in 1967-1969 seem downright tepid when viewed today.\u00a0 Pushing the limits they way they did cost Tom and Dick their show, but opened the way for future hits like <\/span>Rowan & Martin\u2019s Laugh-In<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 Remember <\/span>Rowan & Martin\u2019s <\/span><\/i>wall with all the little doors that cast and guests would pop out of to deliver one liners?\u00a0 You can guess where they got the idea.\u00a0 Would sitcoms like <\/span>All In The Family<\/span><\/i> have made the grade without the Smothers Brothers paving the way for edgier, topical humour on network TV?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Other than shows with popular musical acts on the schedule, I did not spend a whole lot of my high school years watching TV variety shows.\u00a0 <\/span>The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour<\/span><\/i> was the exception and I wasn\u2019t alone.\u00a0 We spent a lot of time on our high school band bus trips repeating the latest \u2018cool\u2019 bits that we had heard on the show.\u00a0 Noted documentarian Ken Burns perhaps gave the best analogy about the controversial nature of the show:\u00a0 \u201cThey were the irritant and in the end, CBS ended up with a pearl.\u201d\u00a0 It is too bad neither side pulled in their horns enough to let it continue past season three.\u00a0 Tom and Dick can still look back in pride.\u00a0 They paved the way for any number of revolutionary TV and cable programs spawned from their pioneering work.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 The introduction to\u00a0The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour – Twenty Year Reunion\u00a0<\/em>show!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We left Part 1 of The Smothers Brothers just as they had their first album in the can.\u00a0 They landed in New York during the brutal winter of 1961 for their first club dates on the East Coast.\u00a0 It must have been quite a shock to their systems having spent the majority of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8,12,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-humor","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2109"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2112,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2109\/revisions\/2112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}