The Smothers Brothers’ Musical Milestones
A look back on the most famous rock moments on their iconic television show
While The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour is rightly remembered as a groundbreaking show for its time, it was also a program that made its mark with music.
That’s hardly surprising considering the fact that the Brothers themselves began their career as a folk duo, albeit one that took some time to find their footing. Their efforts were initially spawned from Tommy Smothers’ first professional group, the Casual Quintet, but after its break-up, Tom’s brother Dick stayed on as stand-up bassist. The two went on to appear at the revered folk music mecca, The Purple Onion in San Francisco, before venturing out on tour and playing primarily to college audiences. They were first exposed to a national audience courtesy of appearances on The Jack Paar Show, The Jack Benny Show, The Ed Sullivan Show and The Judy Garland Show, before inheriting Garland’s television time slot, pitting them against the hugely successful NBC drama Bonanza in the winter of 1967.
The Smothers Brothers’ blend of music — mostly well-worn traditional standards — and topical comedy pushed television’s parameters, especially given the fact that they took a decidedly anti-establishment tone with their material, one that often put them at odds with the conservative powers that were at their network, CBS. In fact, it was the battles spawned from the network’s attempt to censor their material that led to their abrupt cancellation a mere two years after their debut.
AUDIO: Mason Williams “Classical Gas”
Nevertheless, their tenure on the show made its mark in music realms as well. Steve Martin, Jim Stafford and Mason Williams served as staff writers before eventually going on to establish successful music careers of their own. In fact, Williams’ big hit, “Classical Gas,” had its premiere on the show. So too, Glen Campbell, John Hartford and Jennifer Warnes regularly contributed their musical talents to the program as well.
Still, it was the emerging acts that The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour spotlighted during its abbreviated network run that also gave the show another well-deserved claim to fame. For many bands and performers — Buffalo Springfield, The Who, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, Simon and Garfunkel, Peter, Paul and Mary, Ray Charles, Steppenwolf, Ike and Tina Turner, Cass Elliot, Joan Baez, The Doors, Janis Ian and Harry Belafonte, among the many — it provided a rare opportunity for exposure to the masses on national TV, without having to subvert any songs that had contemporary or controversial themes.
VIDEO: Pete Seeger on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
That proved especially true when the Brothers booked Pete Seeger on September 10, 1967 for what would be his first network television appearance in 17 years after his group, the Weavers, was blacklisted and held in contempt of congress during the McCarthy era due to Seeger’s political affiliation, particularly his membership in the communist party. His initial performance of the song “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” which renounced President Lyndon B. Johnson’s determination to escalate the war in Vietnam, was dropped from the originally intended broadcast due to its inclusion of a controversial verse. Nevertheless, Seeger was invited back later in the season and his segment was eventually aired.
VIDEO: The Who smash shit up on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, 1967
The Who’s guest appearance the week following Seeger’s slated first appearance — September 17, 1967 — attracted its own notoriety as well. Smothers told the audience that he had seen the band at the Monterey Pop Festival a few weeks before and had been duly impressed. However unbeknownst to him, drummer Keith Moon had a habit of planting explosives in his drum kit that would be set to go off at the end of their set. It was well in keeping with the band’s subversive streak. On this particular occasion, Moon crammed more explosive than usual into his kit, due to the fact that he was plied by more brandy than usual on that particular occasion.
Consequently, when the band finished their performance of “My Generation,” a huge explosion took place, taking everyone by surprise, including guitarist Pete Townshend who was in his customary practice of smashing his guitar. Supposedly, it helped accentuate Townshend’s later hearing loss and caused Moon himself to be injured by a piece of shrapnel from one of the shattered symbols. When Tommy Smothers walked onstage with an acoustic guitar in hand in order to bid the band farewell, Townshend was supposedly so dazed he smashed Smothers’ instrument while Tommy haplessly looked on.
Tom’s shocked reaction was hardly a surprise. After all, the Smothers Brothers were generally a quiet acoustic combo, one that wasn’t used to the heavy handed approach the Who was known for.
On the other hand, given the fact that the show’s run coincided with some of the most provocative and progressive music of the late ‘60s era, their tenure on television serving them well as far as being able to book prominent artists was concerned. To that end, the show also broadcast two classic promotional films from the Beatles — “Hey Jude” and “Revolution” — which no doubt helped induce George Harrison to make a surprise cameo in support of the Brothers’ battle with CBS. After Tom told Harrison that anything they say of note would likely be censored, Harrison flashed his trademark grin and replied “Well, whether you can say it or not, keep trying to say it.”
Harrison wasn’t the only artist to give the Brothers due kudos. Jim Hendrix dedicated a performance at the Los Angeles Forum on April 26, 1969 to the Smothers Brothers, which was later immortalized on the posthumous live album that was initially released on the Jimi Hendrix: Lifelines box set and then again as a standalone release in 2022.
To his credit, Tom Smothers, who passed away on December 26th at 86, was clearly devoted to the times as well. It’s worth noting that when John Lennon and Yoko Ono recorded their anthem “Give Peach a Chance” at their “Bed In” in room 1742 of Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel in early June, 1969, Tom was part of the ad hoc gathering that witnessed the event and actually took part in the proceedings as well.
Consequently, aside from the mark they made in history as critical commentators, Tom and Dick Smothers deserve credit for helping to change the tide of popularly music. Not bad for a pair of faithful folkies once tied to tradition.
VIDEO: The Smothers Brothers perform “If I Had A Ship” on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
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August 2, 2020
