Brandy Barber

COM 290-001

February 10, 2003

"The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" Presentation

On February 5, 1967 "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" first appeared on CBS prime time. Tom and Dick Smothers, two gentlemen ultimately referred to as hippies with haircuts, hosted the show. At first sight, the show appeared to be of a variety show format, but soon enough, its audience would come to realize it as a basis for political and social satire. "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" cast included several regular actors besides Tom and Dick Smothers: Pat Paulsen, Leigh French, Bob Einstein, Mason Williams, Jennifer Warnes, and John Hartford. Many television and movie stars of the day made guest appearances on the show. Some of which included Carol Burnett, George Segal, Jack Benny and George Burns--just to name a few. The show also featured many different musical guests like Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Jefferson Airplane, and Steppenwolf. Several of the musical guests the Smothers chose to feature were actually blacklisted from other networks, mostly because of the content in their lyrics. From their start in 1967, the Smothers brothers continually clashed with the network censors at CBS. Ultimately, these differences of opinion lead to the show's cancellation in 1969.

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Tom and Dick Smothers got their start in the beatnik clubs of the era performing their brand of comedy, incorporating folk music and political satire. By the time they reached CBS, the network saw them as young and hip, but conservative-looking enough to appeal to an older audience. Soon enough, however, the brothers' underlying messages of political and social consciousness bled through their conservative facade and began making the network very nervous. Many of the skits they performed on air held an implication of alignment with 1960s antiwar movement, as well as the counterculture of the time. One of the show's regular skits, "Share a Little Tea With Goldie," featured the main character, Goldie O'Keefe (comedienne Leigh French), as an exaggerated hippie chick giving homemaking advice to housewives from a parodied TV advice show format. In the skits, Goldie often made references to marijuana and psychedelic drug use with salutations like "Hi! And glad of it" or in her advice on how to get rid of "roaches."

Musical guests on the show often had their own political agenda in appearing with the Smothers Brothers. One example from their "Concert in the Round" series included folk singer Joan Baez's appearance in which she dedicated a song to her antidraft organizer husband and told the audience why he was going to jail. With the draft being a sensitive subject of the time, CBS censors originally cut the entire episode with Baez. Later, however, they reinstated the episode, but without Baez's explanation of her husband's actions.

It's no wonder how the Smothers Brothers became so acclaimed by the youth dissent and counterculture of the 1960s. With their allusions to pot smoking and the pressing social concerns of the day, they were a quick hit with young, antiwar Americans. Even the printed press became sympathetic to the Smothers brothers' message, citing their show's cancellation as an infringement of first amendment rights. CBS censors and the older, more conservative American viewers were probably the only ones opposed to the Smothers Brothers' allure.

"The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" was incredibly significant in the cultural context of the 1960s. Tom and Dick Smothers realized that popular culture could function as a potentially progressive force, having radical implications at certain historical moments. The textual operations of their show, the public controversy that surrounded it, the repressive network strategies CBS utilized, and the outraged response of its supporters upon cancellation all came together, creating a crisis of authority in network television at the time. This became so important because of the crisis of authority going on in America during this era in history. "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" ultimately revealed that more was at stake than whether or not a particular skit could be aired or a musician with a message could perform. It revealed a new political and social common sense was now at stake, and asked how to bring this new common sense into the living rooms of a desperately torn nation. Even though their show was cancelled in 1969, the Smothers brothers' influence sustained. Shows like "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" and "Saturday Night Live" took the Smothers' lead in showing their audience a brand of humor that was not only socially conscious, but also politically aware. Dan Rowan once noticed how his show used politics as a platform for comedy, whereas the Smothers brothers used comedy as a platform for politics.

Bibliography

Barton, E. A. (2002, July). Speaking freely. Sarasota Herald Tribune, p. 29. Retrieved January 20, 2003 from InfoTrac database.

Bodroghkozy, A. (1997). The Smothers brothers comedy hour and the 1960s youth rebellion. New York: Routledge.

Bodroghkozy, A. The Smothers brothers comedy hour: U.S. comedy variety. Retrieved January 20, 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/smothersbrot/smothersbrot.htm

The Smothers brothers show: A long strange television journey. Retrieved January 20, 2003 from the World Wide Web: http://www.tvparty.com/smothers.html