RIP Tommy Smothers

[humprof]

I think Mom secretly liked him best.

https://www.dailynews.com/2023/12/27/tom-smothers-one-half-of-famed-comedy-duo-dies-at-86/

 

[Blackwood]

I remember when my dad showed me something from them on TV when I was a kid. And I remember sharing something from them with my daughter when she was young. She got the same joy that I had for them and that my father had for them.

A loss to generations of fans.

 

[hafquark]

Well, that's a real gut punch. I loved The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and was so angry when it was canceled at the height of its popularity.

RIP Tom

 

[Clement]

I remember when my dad showed me something from them on TV when I was a kid. And I remember sharing something from them with my daughter when she was young. She got the same joy that I had for them and that my father had for them.

A loss to generations of fans.

I had the EXACT same experience: from my father through me to my daughter! Return In Power, Tommy!

 

[barfle]

Unfortunately, I got drafted about the time their show started, so I was off TV for most of the time it was on. I didn’t necessarily agree with all their politics, but they could deliver a gut punch and make younlaugh anyway.

One more great talent that we only get to remember any more.

 

[Jim.olga]

I think Mom secretly liked him best.

https://www.dailynews.com/2023/12/27/tom-smothers-one-half-of-famed-comedy-duo-dies-at-86/

He was such a great talent. I always liked him and the Smothers Brothers show. They always spoke out against war and corruption. Mom liked you too!

 

[4-earredwonder]

LOVED their weekly show and likewise was bummed out when it was canceled. But they were also great musicians in their own right and this is a FAV

 

[humprof]

Of course the Smothers began as a folk act before they found their true metier: satirizing a folk act. The Times obit quotes Tommy about how their schtick "slowly evolved to be a running argument two brothers who sang but never finished a song." According to a contemporary review, Tommy performed like "a frightened 10th grader giving a memorized talk at a Kiwanis meeting . . . He speaks in a nervous, distracted sort of cretin double-talk that has him stumbling over big words, muffing lines with naive unconcern, singing off-key, committing malapropisms, garbling lyrics and eternally upstaging his younger brother."

Steve Martin, Rob Reiner, and Elaine May were among their show's writers; The Who and Jefferson Airplane among the musical guests. One final paragaph from the Times: "The brothers looked like clean-cut collegians, but their cheery, up-tempo songs could bite. 'The war in Vietnam keeps on a-ragin,' one began. 'Black(s) and whites still haven't worked it out./Pollution, guns and poverty surround us./No wonder everybody's droppin' out.'"

 

[atrocity]

LOVED their weekly show and likewise was bummed out when it was canceled. But they were also great musicians in their own right and this is a FAV

"Almost!"