Originally published at: An interview with the Smothers Brothers ahead of their live stage tour | Boing Boing
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I’m glad (and a bit surprised) to hear they’re still performing! That’s approaching Dick Van Dyke levels of commitment.
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I think they had some money issues, which is another reason to support them.
Famous feud existed between Tommy and Bill Cosby, Tommy criticized Cosby for not speaking out on the Vietnam War and civil rights, Cosby responded by sucker punching him in the back of the head.
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Dave Chapelle really is turning into Bill Cosby!
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They had a show on in the late 80s, IIRC and I remember liking it. I was into yo-yos so when one of them did their “Yo-Yo Man” bit, I was there for it!
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I remember watching the show when it was on, but as I was still in elementary school, a lot of the subtext went right over my head. It wasn’t until watching the skits as an adult that I realized just how subversive that show was for the time.
And if you need another reason to like Tom Smothers, here’s an extract from Bruce Campbell’s autobiography “If Chins Could Kill”, which you should all go and purchase:
The great Karma wheel turned the following week, and I was rewarded with a key position-that of dresser. This may seem unremarkable, but a dresser interacts more closely with an actor than any other job in theater. For me, that’s what it was all about-to find out what made these famous people tick.
The show was Play it Again, Sam, and the star was Tom Smothers. For such a wacky guy in public, he was amazingly shy and reserved in person-another myth shattered.
Our intimate relationship was sealed that first weekend of rehearsals at the local laundromat. There I was, washing the underwear of a famous man I barely knew. I began to understand, in retrospect, why some celebrities demand that assistants sign nondisclosure agreements during their employ. Think of the damning information that could otherwise be leaked to inquiring minds: So-and-so wears little purple Speedos, so-and-so’s T-shirts have armpit stains, so-and-so has really smelly socks!
As Tom and I became more comfortable with one another, I gathered the courage to invite him to a Super-8 marathon at our condo. Scott, Sam, and Matt Taylor were in town and we were all eager to show our stuff to a “professional.” To my amazement, he agreed. What was an eighteen-year-old punk to think as this man spent the night with us, laughing his famous ass off at our films?-my diary answers that:
IT WAS BY FAR THE-I REPEAT THE MOST AMAZING, ELATING, AND STIMULATING EVENING I HAVE EVER SPENT IN MY ENTIRE LIFE…
As an asterisk to that story, this kind man later sent us five hundred dollars toward furthering our Super-8 career.
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Yeah, I loved that show, it was my introduction to them.
I miss Pat Paulsen. I would’ve loved to see how he’d skewer the orange menace.
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I read that book years and years ago! I think I got it from the library. Good stuff.
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Indeed, I recall watching them as a tyke and finding them memorably dull, though the Yo-Yo Man was somewhat novel.
(Conversely, I find Wayne & Shuster not quite so hilarious today as it once was.)
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I watched the show back in the day - I was a kid at the time and absolutely loved it! I saw them a number of years ago at Wolf Trap. Tommy did Yo-Yo man! It was awesome, and they’ve still got it! If they come to a place near me, I will definitely go see them again!
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BTW, today is DVD’s birthday. He’s 97.
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I caught this Sunday morning and 60 years later their comedy is still funny.
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As much as I enjoyed these two growing up, I can’t have been the only one who first thought “whoa, they’re both still alive?”
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