Tom Smothers

Thomas Bolyn Smothers III (February 2, 1937 – December 26, 2023) was an American comedian, actor, composer, and musician, widely known as half of the musical comedy duo the Smothers Brothers, alongside his younger brother Dick. In the 1960s they were known for their network comedy and variety shows, The Smothers Brothers Show and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

Smothers and John Lennon played acoustic guitar during the live recording of Lennon's 1969 song "Give Peace a Chance".

Early life Thomas Bolyn Smothers III was born on February 2, 1937, at the Fort Jay army post hospital on Governors Island in New York City, the son of Ruth , a homemaker, and Major Thomas B. Smothers, a United States Army officer who died a POW of the Japanese in April 1945. The younger Smothers later grew up in Altadena, Tujunga, and Redondo Beach, California.

As a child, Smothers played guitar and piano by ear due to difficulty reading sheet music; Smothers would be diagnosed with dyslexia at age 31. Beginning in fifth grade, he played guitar in bands formed with friends and began incorporating humor with his music and in-school interactions. Athletically, he grew up competing in gymnastics.

Smothers first attended Verdugo Hills High School before transferring to Redondo Union High School as a senior. At Redondo Beach, he and his brother sang in the school's madrigal choir, Tom as a bass and Dick as a tenor; Tom graduated from Redondo Union in 1955. Smothers then enrolled at San Jose State College (now San Jose State University) in 1956 as an advertising major and competed at pole vault on the track team as a freshman in 1956–57. Then in 1957–58, Smothers competed on the gymnastics team, where he tied for first place on the parallel bars at the 1958 State College Gymnastics Championships.

Career Inspired by the popularity of The Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley", the Smothers Brothers initially wanted to be folk musicians.

After Dick transferred to San Jose State in 1957, Tom and Dick began performing music at San Jose nightclubs, with audiences mostly of other college students. The following month, the brothers left San Jose State to focus full-time on working in entertainment, after the Purple Onion asked them to substitute for other acts who were ill. Their show was so successful that the Purple Onion extended their original two-week contract to 16 weeks; the brothers returned to the Purple Onion for another 16-week contract after playing a Lake Tahoe club in the summer of 1959.

In February 1960, the Smothers Brothers made their professional debut at Aspen, Colorado. Tom recalled in 2006 interview:

I did all the introductions. I'd just make up stuff for every song. And Dickie said, "Why don't you try repeating some of that stuff?" I said, "I don't know." I didn't know that you could repeat the stuff. And I started repeating it and Dickie would say, "That's wrong." And pretty soon he'd say, "That's wrong, you're stupid." It sort of became an argument. with David Steinberg later claiming "The most innovative variety show on television shut down because of political pressure." In 2006, Tom revealed that he and his brother actually disagreed on politics.

Rock and Roll, "Give Peace a Chance" Smothers introduced some musical acts at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. As he became more politically active, he befriended similarly inclined celebrities like John Lennon.

In 1969, Smothers and Lennon played acoustic guitars on Lennon's recording of his single "Give Peace a Chance" (Smothers' name was also mentioned in the song). The song was written and performed during Lennon's and Yoko Ono's "Bed-in" honeymoon on June 1, 1969, in Room 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Smothers can be seen in the hotel room in the 1988 documentary film Imagine: John Lennon.

Political involvement

After Comedy Hour was canceled, Smothers became outspoken in politics.

In October 1976, Cosby and Smothers attended a Playboy Mansion party. The tension between the two culminated in Cosby punching Smothers in the head. He also voiced one of the characters in the cartoon Christmas movie Precious Moments: Timmy's Special Delivery in 1993.

Later work

The Smothers Brothers hosted the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live in 1982, with a parody of The Tonight Show as its opening sketch, with Tom playing Johnny Carson, interviewing Dick. The sketch derailed after Tom (in character as Johnny) tried to goad Dick into talking more about Tom.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the brothers turned to television commercials, filming spots for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Planters peanuts, in which Tom invoked his famous line, "Mom always did like you best!". Tom made a solo endorsement for Cheetos.

In 2007, Tom and Dick Smothers filmed a series of 30-second commercials and promotional spots for the River Rock Casino in Geyserville, California.

To augment their act in recent years, "Yo-Yo Man" became part of their shows. Tom Smothers had created the mostly non-speaking character in the late 1960s, a comedic performer of tricks using a yo-yo. The term "Yo-Yo Man" is registered in his name. In their 2008 tour, Yo-Yo Man was listed as the group's opening act.

In 2008, during the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, Smothers was awarded a special Emmy. In 1969, when he was head writer of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, the writing staff was awarded the Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedic Series. Smothers had refused to let his name be on the list of writers nominated for the Emmy because he felt his name was too contentious. The award at the 2008 ceremony was presented by Steve Martin, one of the writers who originally won the award.

In December 2009, Tom and Dick both guest starred in a 21st-season episode of The Simpsons that also featured Cooper, Peyton, and Eli Manning.

The Smothers Brothers announced in May 2010 that their shows at The Orleans near Las Vegas would be "farewell performances" marking their retirement from touring.

Tom and Dick Smothers reunited in 2019 to mark the 50th anniversary of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour's abrupt cancellation.

On December 11, 2022, in an episode of CBS News Sunday Morning, the brothers announced they would go on tour in 2023.

Personal life and death Smothers was the owner of Remick Ridge Vineyards in Sonoma County, California, which he established in 1977 and sold in 2023. Smothers and his wife, Marcy Carriker, have two children, Bo (born 1991) and Riley Rose (born 1996). He also had a son from his first marriage, Thomas Bolyn Smothers IV (Tom Jr.), who died in April 2023, and one grandson, Phoenix Parrish-Smothers. Tom and Dick had a sister, Sherry, born in September 1941 in Pasadena, California; she died in April 2023. Also in 2023, Smothers announced he had been diagnosed with stage two lung cancer. He died from the disease at his home in Santa Rosa, California, on December 26 of that year at age 86.