Mom still likes both Tom and Dick best

[struggle4progress]

By Rick BentleyMcCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
Article Last Updated: 09/23/2007 02:38:43 AM PDT

... One reason why Tom and Dick Smothers have not retired is because they believe few have stepped up to offer serious social criticism. They do 60 to 70 performances a year.

Their show features a 12-minute video highlight of their "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," which aired from 1967 to 1970 and resulted in many battles between CBS and the brothers. One of those fights was over a performance by folk singer Pete Seeger of the song "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy." ...

CBS executives never expected the Smothers Brothers would be so vocal. They just looked like a couple of All-American folk singers. They were. They also were smart enough to negotiate complete creative control over their series. That meant they were able to bring social commentary to a medium that rarely strayed into such areas outside of Sunday morning news programs ...

Tom Smothers became such a political voice that he was invited by John Lennon to be part of the 1969 "Bed in for Peace." Beatles fans recall the protest staged by Lennon and Yoko Ono in Montreal. Smothers is a little foggy on the event ...

http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/ci_6977285