News Summary

• Their comedy albums were big sellers and they toured the country, especially colleges.Television first came calling in 1965, casting them in “The Smothers Brothers Show,” a sitcom about a businessman (Dick) who is haunted by his late brother (Tom), a fledgling guardian angel..
• The family eventually moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Redondo Beach, where Smothers helped his mother take care of his brother and sister while she worked.Before the show’s debut, the pair had seemed unlikely to make television history..
• They would quickly break into a traditional folk song — perhaps “John Henry” or “Pretoria.” After playing several bars, Tom, positioned as the dumb one, would mess it up, and then quickly claim he had meant to do that..
• We were truly blessed.”When "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" debuted on CBS in the fall of 1967 it was an immediate hit, to the surprise of many who had assumed the network’s expectations were so low it positioned their show opposite the top-rated "Bonanza..
• He also showed that the years had not dulled his outspokenness.“It’s hard for me to stay silent when I keep hearing that peace is only attainable through war,” Smothers said at the 2008 Emmy Awards as his brother sat in the audience, beaming..
• I am forever grateful to have spent a lifetime together with him, on and off stage, for over 60 years,” his brother and the duo's other half, Dick Smothers, said in the statement..