The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour

TV Series
1967–1993
1h

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Dick Smothers, Tom Smothers, and Smothers Brothers in The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967)

The Smothers Brothers host a comedy variety show that became notorious for its topical satirical humor.The Smothers Brothers host a comedy variety show that became notorious for its topical satirical humor.The Smothers Brothers host a comedy variety show that became notorious for its topical satirical humor.

Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

1.7K

YOUR RATING

Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 2 Primetime Emmys
- 3 wins & 5 nominations total

Episodes73

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TopTop-rated3 seasons4 years

Trivia
The brothers would often wait until the very last minute to turn that week's taping of the show over to CBS. They figured that by waiting so long it would barely give the censors time to cut out the more "objectionable" material from that week's broadcast.

Quotes
Tom: You can tell who's running the country by how much clothes people wear, see?
Dick: Do you mean that some people can afford more clothes on, and some people have... less on? Is that what you mean?
Tom: That's right.
Dick: I don't understand.
Tom: See, the ordinary people, you'd say that the ordinary people are the less-ons.
Dick: So who's running the country?
Tom: The morons.

Connections
Edited into Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (2002)

User reviews9

Review

Featured review

A clever poke in the eye of network censorship

What can I say about this except that it better demonstrates the ugliness of censorship than any other show I've experienced.

By this, I don't mean that the show was ruined. Rather, the Brothers poked fun at the censors and made evident just how ugly the censorship movement was (and IMO still is) in American television. This show should be watched, if ever you can have the fortune to see it, if only for the elucidation of the fact that our speech isn't nearly as free as we think it is.

Aside from that, the show was clever and funny. Many brilliant parodies that were ahead of their time.

Alas, it was censorship which eventually put an end to the show when CBS canceled it.

This is a show which could never, to this date, have existed at any other time. Previous to this era, it would not have been accepted at all. Subsequent to this era, political correctness has grabbed TV in a way which never would have permitted such honest parody.

We lost a gem when it ended but it's still remembered. Thanks, guys!