Tom Smothers, half of the famed comedy and music duo Smothers Brothers, dies at 86

Tom Smothers, one half of the famed Smothers Brothers comedy and music duo, died Tuesday of an assault, his family said. Died of sex cancer.

He is 86 years old.

Smothers’ family and the National Comedy Center announced his death Wednesday at his home in Santa Rosa, California.

“Tom was not only the loving older brother that everyone wanted to have in their lives, but also a unique creative partner,” brother Dick Smothers, 84, said in a statement. After more than 60 years, both on and off the stage. Our relationship is like a good marriage – the longer we are together, the more we love and respect each other. We are really lucky. ”

Tom Smothers and Dick Smothers were never shy about using their platforms to tit-for-tat authority, any way they could in the conservative, confrontation-averse media of the 1960s.

After premiering in the fall of 1967, CBS discontinued “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” in April 1969 because its content consistently poked fun at those in power and inflamed Vietnam War critics and civil rights supporters.

At an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the firing in 2019, the pair still spoke with humor about their important role in pop culture history.

“It’s such an honor to be honored in this way,” Tom Smothers told The Associated Press in 2019. “At least we’re all alive and there’s no one talking for us. We can mutter to ourselves. Solution.”

Looking back on CBS’s demise in 1969, Dick Brothers said they believed their comedy was quite “virtuous” despite the backlash.

“Don’t tell a comedian not to say a certain word. They’re going to do it,” he said. “The funny thing is, I look back on these things. They were so kind, but at the time they were very unstable.”

But as recently as 2004, Tom Smothers said he wasn’t sure American audiences could handle frank political rhetoric on prime-time television.

He said at the time that while there was “a constant flow of profanity, sex and violence”, social commentary was lacking.

Thomas Bolyn Smothers III was born on February 2, 1937 in Governors Island, New York. He was the son of housewife Ruth Remick Smothers and Army Major Thomas Smothers, who died as a Japanese prisoner of war in World War II.

After moving to suburban Los Angeles, both brothers graduated from San Jose State University and then began their comedy and music careers. They honed their skills at prestigious clubs like San Francisco’s Purple Onion and New York’s Blue Angels.

Despite the brothers’ early success, mainstream platforms remained unenthusiastic about their folk music. Smalls recalled how getting on “The Tonight Show” with host Jack Paar required some luck.

“Parr kept telling our agent that he didn’t like folk singers—except Burl Ives,” Smothers said in 1964. “But one night he canceled and we went on. Everything went great that night.”

The two worked steadily for decades after CBS ended them.

In 1969, Tom Smothers played acoustic guitar in a Montreal hotel room while John Lennon and Yoko Ono recorded “Give Peace a Chance.” Chance).

However, the duo never achieved the same level of popularity as The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Instead, they became the best icons of comedy, tackling serious topics with laughter.

“We didn’t do it on purpose,” Tom Smothers said in 2019. “No one goes to war on purpose and takes bullets.”