Having the ability to use their day-to-day “sibling rivalry” and converting it into
a hit TV show sounds like a job for The Smothers Brothers, who are the longest living comedy
team in history.
The brothers, Thomas and Richard, performed childlike, irrelevant and musical humor with
a hint of satire on CBS during the ’60s until they got fired.
If you’re here to scrape more information about these two and also to know why they
got fired?
Keep on reading!
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Smothers Brothers TV show- The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
The brothers next door- Tom and Dick launched The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, a television
comedy and variety show, on CBS on February 5, 1967.
The show included a blend of slapstick humor about politics and improvised comedic conversations
about almost everything.
While the two brothers led the show, extra credit was given to Rob Reiner, Bob Einstein,
Carl Gottlieb and a number of other writers and performers who helped make the show a
success.
The Who on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour One of the most memorable episodes on The
Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was undoubtedly with the English rock band, The Who.
The band that was famously known for their destructive eruptions had booked their appearance
on the show on September 15, 1967.
While performing, the band wanted to end their performance with a bang.
The boys added gunpowder in the drums of Keith Moon, but what they didn’t know was that
the stage manager, Bob LeHendro had also added explosives to the device which made it three
times more reactive.
When the performance neared its conclusion, the drum exploded, and well, the result wasn’t
very pleasant.
The blast had set guitarist Pete Townsend's hair on fire, and drummer Moon had a small
piece of his cymbal injected into his arm.
Cancellation of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Although people of all ages enjoyed the show, it did have a huge amount of controversial
talk about youth culture and politics, which affected a particular set of the audience.
The brothers were soon facing regular conflicts with CBS’ network censor.
During the 1968-1969 seasons, the show was ordered to deliver episodes ten days beforehand
so that they could censor it.
Even with the ongoing conflict and dissatisfied network and viewers, the show managed to pick
up the 1969-1970 season on March 14.
On April 4, 1969, the network CEO and president, William S. Paley canceled the show citing
Smothers’ failure to meet the pre-air delivery dates for local affiliate screening.
The brothers didn't let the matter rest and filed a breach of contract suit against the
network.
4 years after litigation, on April 6, 1973, they were given compensation of $776,300 by
CBS.
In 1975, they returned to television with a rather unsuccessful show, The Smothers Brothers
Show.
Life after the show Tom and Dick continued to perform in more
than 200 clubs.
They worked together for several years in shows including The Smothers Brothers Show,
which sadly was unsuccessful in recapturing the same essence and feel of the original
1960s show.
In 1988, the Smothers Brothers released a VHS Tape which sold over 200,000 copies called
The Yo Yo Man Instructional Video.
The weird and comedic story followed the journey of the lonesome “Yo Yo traveler” as he
takes on the quest to become the “Yo-master.”
The two worked independently as well.
While the older brother Tom appeared in a 2005 made-for-television movie, Once Upon
a Mattress, the younger, Dick performed in a number of films including in the Martin
Scorsese movie, Casino.
After touring for more than 51 years, they announced their retirement and almost a decade
later, on July 22, 2019; they made their first public appearance at a charity event in Sarasota.
The brothers also operate their own winery named, Remick Ridge Vineyard in Sonoma County,
California.
The Brothers celebrated 50 years of their CBS firing
The ones who think getting fired is a reason for the celebration are none other than The
Smothers Brothers.
On July 31, 2019, the iconic duo came out of retirement to recall the day at the National
Comedy Central in Jamestown, New York.
In one of their onstage discussions, they talked about their firing and later displayed
some archival materials that they donated to the center, including Tom’s guitar and
Dick’s bass, scripts, legal documents and also the iconic red suit.
Tom, 82 has a net worth of $10 million and Dick, 80 has a net worth of $1 million as
of 2019.
Do you think the brothers still have hard feelings for CBS after so many years?
Share your thoughts right below in the comment section.
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