The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Genre	Variety show
Directed by	Bill Davis Stan Harris Tim Kiley Marty Pasetta
Starring	Dick Smothers Tom Smothers Pat Paulsen Peter Cullen
Narrated by	Roger Carroll (announcer)
Theme music composer	Mason Williams Nancy Ames
Opening theme	"The Brothers Theme"
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	71
Production
Executive producer(s)	Ken Fritz
Producer(s)	Allan Blye Ernest Chambers Saul Ilson George Sunga
Location(s)	CBS Television City
Running time	1 hour
Production company(s)	Comedic Productions, Inc.
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Picture format	Color videotape
Audio format	Monaural
Original run	February 5, 1967 – September 15, 1969
Chronology
Preceded by	The Smothers Brothers Show (1965)
Followed by	The Smothers Brothers Show (1975)

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour[1] was an American comedy and variety show hosted by the Smothers Brothers and initially airing on CBS from 1967 to 1969.

History

The show started out as only a slightly "hip" version of the typical comedy-variety show of its era, but rapidly evolved into a show that extended the boundaries of what was considered permissible in television satire.[citation needed] While the Smothers themselves were at the forefront of these efforts, credit also goes to the roster of writers and regular performers they brought to the show, including Steve Martin, Don Novello ("Father Guido Sarducci"), Rob Reiner ("Mike Stivic"), Presidential candidate Pat Paulsen, Bob Einstein ("Super Dave Osborne", "Marty Funkhouser", and "Officer Judy"), Einstein's brother, Albert (who works professionally as Albert Brooks), and resident hippie Leigh French ("Share a Little Tea with Goldie"). The show also introduced audiences to pop singer Jennifer Warnes (originally billed as Jennifer Warren or simply Jennifer), who was a regular on the series. The television premiere of Mason Williams' hit record, Classical Gas, took place on the show; Williams was also the head writer for the series.

Musical guests

The series showcased new musical artists that other comedy-variety shows rarely gave airtime, due to the nature of their music or their political affiliations.[citation needed] George Harrison, Joan Baez, Buffalo Springfield, Cass Elliot, Harry Belafonte, Cream, Donovan, The Doors, Janis Ian, Jefferson Airplane, Peter, Paul and Mary, Spanky and Our Gang, Steppenwolf, The Who, Simon and Garfunkel, and even Pete Seeger were showcased during the latter years of the show despite the advertiser-sensitive nature of their music.

Seeger's appearance was his first appearance on network television since being blacklisted in the 1950s; it became controversial because of his song choice: Waist Deep in the Big Muddy, an anti-war song that the network perceived was an insult to Lyndon Johnson and his Vietnam War policy. The song was censored on Seeger's first appearance but permitted on a later appearance.

In 1968, the show broadcast in successive weeks "music videos" (not called that at the time) for The Beatles' popular songs Hey Jude and Revolution. Before a rowdy crowd at the Los Angeles Forum, Jimi Hendrix dedicated I Don't Live Today to the Smothers Brothers, as heard on The Jimi Hendrix Box Set.

The Who incident

The performance by The Who in 1967 was another defining moment in the series. As they often did during that period, The Who destroyed their instruments at the conclusion of their performance of My Generation, with the usual addition of mild explosives for light pyrotechnic effect. The piece would end with guitarist Pete Townshend grabbing Tommy's guitar and smashing it. Prior to the taping, however, a "sloppy" stage hand, at the request of drummer Keith Moon (who allegedly bribed him with a bottle of whiskey), had overloaded Moon's bass drum with gun powder. When Moon detonated it, the explosion was so intense that a piece of cymbal shrapnel cut into Moon's arm; Moon is heard moaning in pain toward the end of the piece. Townshend, who had been in front of Moon's drums at the time, had his hair singed by the blast; he is seen putting out sparks in his hair before finishing the sketch with a visibly shocked Tommy Smothers. Allegedly, the blast contributed heavily to Townshend's long-term hearing loss.

Controversies and cancellation

With the focus of the show having evolved towards a more youth-oriented one,[citation needed] the show became both popular and controversial for those same references to youth culture and the issues that both interested and affected this particular target audience. Three specific targets of satire — racism, the President of the United States, and the Vietnam War — would wind up defining the show's content for the remainder of its run, and eventually lead to its demise.[citation needed]

Whereas most older audiences were tuning into shows like the western Bonanza, the younger generation — ages 15–25 — were watching the Smothers' more socially relevant humor.

The Brothers soon found themselves in regular conflicts with CBS' network censors. At the start of the 1968/69 season, the network ordered that the Smothers deliver their shows finished and ready to air ten days before airdate so that the censors could edit the shows as necessary. In the season premiere, CBS deleted the entire segment of Belafonte singing "Lord, Don't Stop the Carnival" against a backdrop of the havoc during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, along with two lines from a satire of their main competitor, Bonanza. As the year progressed, battles over content continued, including a David Steinberg sermon about Moses and the Burning Bush.

With some local stations making their own deletions of controversial skits or comments, the continuing problems over the show reached a boiling point after CBS showed a rerun on March 9, 1969. The network explained the decision by stating that because that week's episode did not arrive in time to be previewed, it would not be shown. In that program, Joan Baez paid tribute to her then-husband–David Harris–who was entering jail after refusing military service, while comedian Jackie Mason made a joke about children "playing doctor." When the show finally did air, two months later, the network allowed Baez to state that her husband was in prison, but edited out the reason.

Despite the conflict, the show was picked up for the 1969-70 season on March 14, seemingly ending the debate over the show's status. However, network CEO and President, William S. Paley, abruptly canceled the show on April 4, 1969. The reason given by CBS was based on the Smothers' refusal to meet the pre-air delivery dates as specified by the network in order to accommodate review by the censors before airing. This cancellation led the Brothers to file a successful breach of contract suit against the network, although the suit failed to see the Brothers or their show returned to the air.[2] Despite this cancellation, the show went on to win the Emmy Award that year for best writing. The saga of the cancellation of the show is the subject of a 2002 documentary film, Smothered.[3]

References

1. ^ The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967) at the Internet Movie Database
2. ^ The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour from the Museum of Broadcast Communications
3. ^ Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour at the Internet Movie Database

Further reading

• Bianculli, David (2009). Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour". Touchstone. ISBN 978-1439101162. 

External links

• The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour at the Internet Movie Database
• The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour at TV.com