RIP Tommy Smothers

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Tommy Smothers, famed for political satire, dies at 86

Tommy Smothers, half of the influential mid-century Smothers Brothers musical comedy duo, died Tuesday at 86, his younger brother and creative partner Dick Smothers confirmed. The elder Smothers di…

thehill.com

Tommy Smothers, half of the influential mid-century Smothers Brothers musical comedy duo, died Tuesday at 86, his younger brother and creative partner Dick Smothers confirmed.

The elder Smothers died at his home in Santa Rosa, Calif., following a bout with cancer, Dick Smothers confirmed in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

The brothers’ show, “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” premiered in 1967 amid major political unrest in the U.S. The brothers’ clean-cut aesthetics formed a deliberate contrast with their then-boundary-pushing political satire, which included veiled jokes about drugs, sex and American involvement in Vietnam. It also helped launch the careers of television and comedy institutions, such as Rob Reiner and Steve Martin, the latter of whom presented Tommy with a special Emmy Award in 2008.

 

[Soen Eber]

Say goodnight, Dick

 

[Zaida Gearbox]

Dick Smothers came through my line when i worked concessions at a movie theater in Florida.