A Timely Return for Smothers Brothers

A Timely Return for Smothers Brothers

By Ray Richmond
Hollywood Reporter

LOS ANGELES - Those Democratic Party Brahmins who are out trying to round up liberal voices to take up the fight against conservatives in the talk radio and TV spin wars might want to check out the Smothers Brothers show next month when the duo heads to Sin City for a monthlong stand at the Las Vegas Hilton.

The Smothers Brothers, those paragons of Vietnam-era mischief, are back in the national consciousness and ready to volunteer for the task of evening up the political scales a bit.

Not that Tom Smothers, 66, and his brother Dick, 64, have ever really gone away. They have consistently made a living at their gently whimsical brand of music and comedy for 44 years running and continue to play upwards of 100 dates a year. But there have been unmistakable signs that -- with the nation embroiled in a military conflict in a faraway land -- the boys are becoming especially relevant again.

It started in December with the acclaimed Bravo documentary "Smothered," which recounted their tumultuous journey on network television back in the late 1960s. (It was released on DVD in January.) They've been doing the TV talk show circuit, and they launch a four-week headlining gig at the Las Vegas Hilton on May 6. And there's talk of a deal to package uncensored episodes of their landmark CBS variety series "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" on video.

It was, of course, on that groundbreaking 1967-69 CBS series that they rocketed to prominence. Their benign appearance and mild manner belied an edgy, topical sensibility that perfectly dovetailed with the tumult of the late 1960s. The hour grew into a somewhat unwitting mouthpiece for the Vietnam antiwar movement, with establishment CBS caught in the middle.

And now, as war and free speech issues again rage, here come Tom and Dick -- once more, with feeling.

"The war kind of fell into our laps in the '60s, and now it is again," Tom Smothers says. "It's feeling like 1968 all over again. People are questioning the patriotism and Americanism of those who speak out. We all suddenly have to watch what we say."

In other words, it's the perfect time for a Smothers rebirth.

"This past year has been very exciting for us," Tom Smothers admits. "There's suddenly a lot of interest in what we do. People have this nostalgic feeling for us. We're historical. But I hope that audiences are also starting to figure out that we remain very contemporary, too. We're better than we've ever been.

"What we're finding now is that if you stick around long enough, people will eventually rediscover you. That wouldn't happen, though, if we were a tired old act."

Certainly, the brothers' opposition to the war remains in peak form.

"How ludicrous it is for us to be bombing Iraq," says Dick Smothers, the self-styled more conservative of the brothers. "Those are beautiful people in that country who happen to have a (expletive) government. So we're going to accidentally kill a lot of them as punishment."

While the latest incarnation of the Smothers Brothers act has little to do with antiwar crusading, they feel like their style is more timely than ever on a TV dial packed with right-wing pundits and zealots.

"Maybe it's an antiquated notion, but Dickie and I still feel it's our job to question power and authority," Tom Smothers says. "We're proud of the way celebrities like Michael Moore, Bill Maher, George Carlin, Martin Sheen and others have gotten up to speak their mind and jeopardize their careers with their beliefs. It takes great courage to do what these men are doing. And every one of them is as informed as any of the (expletive) talking heads they have on these cable shows who bash celebrity while ignoring their own."

Some guys clearly just don't realize that with age is supposed to come a certain mellowing.