Just heard someone say The Smothers Brothers were pretty cool for their day
They fought the man, had cool music guests and introduced Super Dave. Yeah, they were pretty cool.
History[SIZE=small]
[edit][/SIZE]
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour started out as only a slightly "hip" version of the typical comedy-variety show of its era, but rapidly evolved into a show that extended the boundaries of what was considered permissible in television satire.
[6][7] While the Smothers themselves were at the forefront of these efforts, credit also goes to the roster of writers and regular performers they brought to the show, including
Steve Martin,
Don Novello ("
Father Guido Sarducci"),
Rob Reiner, Presidential candidate
Pat Paulsen,
Bob Einstein ("
Super Dave Osborne", "
Marty Funkhouser", and "Officer Judy"), Einstein's brother, Albert (who works professionally as
Albert Brooks), and resident
hippie Leigh French ("Share a Little Tea with Goldie"). The show also introduced audiences to pop singer
Jennifer Warnes (originally billed as Jennifer Warren or simply Jennifer), who was a regular on the series. The television premiere of
Mason Williams' hit record,
Classical Gas, took place on the show; Williams was also the head writer for the series.
Musical guests[SIZE=small]
[edit][/SIZE]The series showcased new musical artists that other comedy-variety shows rarely gave airtime, due to the nature of their music or their political affiliations.[
citation needed]
George Harrison,
Joan Baez,
Buffalo Springfield,
Cass Elliot,
Harry Belafonte,
Cream,
Donovan,
The Doors,
Janis Ian,
Jefferson Airplane,
Peter, Paul and Mary,
Spanky and Our Gang,
Ringo Starr,
Steppenwolf,
Simon and Garfunkel,
The Who and even
Pete Seeger were showcased on the show, despite the advertiser-sensitive nature of their music.
Seeger's appearance was his first appearance on network television since being blacklisted in the 1950s; it became controversial because of his song choice:
Waist Deep in the Big Muddy, an anti-war song that the network considered to be an insult to
Lyndon Johnson and his
Vietnam War policy. The song was censored on Seeger's first appearance but permitted on a later appearance.
[8]
In 1968, the show broadcast in successive weeks "
music videos" (not called that at the time) for
The Beatles' popular songs
Hey Jude and
Revolution. Before a rowdy crowd at the
Los Angeles Forum,
Jimi Hendrixdedicated
I Don't Live Today to the Smothers Brothers, as heard on
The Jimi Hendrix Box Set.
The Who incident[SIZE=small]
[edit][/SIZE]The performance by
The Who in 1967 was another defining moment in the series; as the group often did during that period, The Who destroyed their instruments at the conclusion of their performance of "
My Generation", with the usual addition of mild explosives for light pyrotechnic effect. The piece would end with guitarist
Pete Townshend grabbing Tommy's guitar and smashing it. On the Smothers Brothers show that night, a small amount of explosive was put into the small cannon that Keith Moon kept in his bass drum. But it didn't go off during the rehearsal. Unbeknownst to Moon, a stage hand had added another explosive before the taping, and later Moon added another charge so that now there were three explosive charges in the cannon instead of one.
[9] When Moon detonated it, the explosion was so intense that a piece of cymbal shrapnel cut into Moon's arm; Moon is heard moaning in pain toward the end of the piece. Townshend, who had been in front of Moon's drums at the time, had his hair singed by the blast; he is seen putting out sparks in his hair before finishing the sketch with a visibly shocked Tommy Smothers. Allegedly, the blast contributed heavily to Townshend's long-term hearing loss.[
citation needed]
Controversies and cancellation[SIZE=small]
[edit][/SIZE]With the focus of the show having evolved toward a more youth-oriented one,
[10] the show became both popular and controversial. Three specific targets of satire — racism, the President of the United States, and the
Vietnam War—would wind up defining the show's content for the remainder of its run, and eventually lead to its demise.
[11]
The Brothers soon found themselves in regular conflicts with
CBS'
network censors. At the start of the
1968/69 season, the network ordered that the Smothers deliver their shows finished and ready to air ten days before airdate so that the censors could edit the shows as necessary. In the season premiere, CBS deleted the entire segment of Belafonte singing "Lord, Don't Stop the Carnival" against a backdrop of the havoc during the
1968 Democratic National Convention, along with two lines from a satire of their main competitor,
Bonanza. As the year progressed, battles over content continued, including a
David Steinberg sermon about
Moses and the
Burning Bush.
With some local stations making their own deletions of controversial skits or comments, the continuing problems over the show reached a boiling point after CBS showed a rerun on March 9, 1969. The network explained the decision by stating that because that week's episode did not arrive in time to be previewed, it would not be shown. In that program,
Joan Baez paid tribute to her then-husband,
David Harris, who was entering jail after refusing military service, while comedian
Jackie Mason made a joke about children "playing doctor." When the show finally did air, two months later, the network allowed Baez to state that her husband was in prison, but edited out the reason.
Despite the conflict, the show was picked up for the
1969-70 season on March 14, seemingly ending the debate over the show's status. However, network CEO and President,
William S. Paley, abruptly canceled the show on April 4, 1969. The reason given by
CBS was based on the Smothers' refusal to meet the pre-air delivery dates as specified by the network in order to accommodate review by the censors before airing. This cancellation led the Brothers to file a successful
breach of contract suit against the network, although the suit failed to see the Brothers or their show returned to the air.
[12] Despite this cancellation, the show went on to win the
Emmy Award that year for
best writing. The saga of the cancellation of the show is the subject of a 2002 documentary film,
Smothered.
[13]