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Tom Smothers, one-half of the famed Smothers Brothers comedy duo, who introduced a revolutionary hit of music and political satire to late Sixties tv, has died, The New York Instances experiences. He was 86.
Smothers died at his residence in Santa Rosa, California, following a “latest battle with most cancers,” in keeping with a spokesman for the Nationwide Comedy Heart, on behalf of the household. No extra particulars had been shared.
Tom and his youthful brother, Dick, broke by with an act that mixed folks music and comedy: Tom performed guitar, in addition to the goofball, whereas Dick balanced him out because the straight-man with a stand-up bass. Their famed present, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, premiered in 1967 and have become a counterculture staple with pointed bits and sly references to every little thing from leisure drug use to the Vietnam Conflict.
Recalling the present’s origins in a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Smothers stated, “I stated I didn’t wish to do the usual bullshit. We needed the sketches to be extra related. You couldn’t assist however replicate what was happening.”
However whereas that form of cavalier comedy earned broad reward, a faithful viewers, and even an Emmy for Excellent Writing for a Comedy, Selection or Music, its additionally induced controversy and led to friction with the censors at CBS. The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was canceled in 1969 after simply three seasons (Tom and Dick efficiently sued the community for breach of contract after their cancellation).
Nonetheless, the present’s influence and affect was huge. Tom and Dick assembled a writing and performing employees stuffed with future comedy luminaries, together with Steve Martin and Rob Reiner. Additionally they featured an array of main musical acts, together with George Harrison, Pete Seeger, and, possibly most famously, the Who, whose rendition of “My Era” was punctuated by Keith Moon’s exploding drum package.
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