I know this is more niche than my Charlie Chaplin one. And even more niche than the Doctor Who challenge. For example, some of you might be thinking to yourself: “Who the heck are the Smothers Brothers?”
In a nutshell: Tom and Dick Smothers are real life brothers and from 1959 to 2010 they performed as a musical comedy team, with Tom on acoustic guitar and Dick playing double bass. Both of them singing (or attempting to sing) folk songs and breaking into sibling rivalry, occasionally arguing over who mom liked best. They made several comedy albums a few tv series, including the iconic 1960s “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” which got them in hot water over their position on the Vietnam War and shortly later, censorship.
I created this 30 Day Challenge as my way to celebrate the 60th anniversary of their first album, “The Smothers Brothers at the Purple Onion” (released in May of 1961), and also because I am a huge fan and wanted to share it with others and maybe introduce them to you if you have no idea who they are.
To say that they have impacted my life is very much an understatement. Things I have gotten interested in stemmed from being a fan of theirs ranging from history, music, to political involvement, and classic comedy, and probably a few other things that I cannot think of right now. My life would be vastly different if it hadn’t been by chance of… well I don’t want to get ahead of myself 😉
So here it is:
How did you become a fan?
Did you ever see them in concert?
Favorite album
Favorite routine
First album you got
Have you lucky been lucky enough to meet them?
Thoughts of the Purple Onion album
Thoughts on The Two Sides of the Smothers Brothers album
…Think Ethnic!
…Curb Your Tongue, Knave!
…It Must Have Been Something I Said!
…Tour de Farce: American History and Other Unrelated Subjects
…Aesop’s Fables: The Smothers Brothers Way
…Mom Always Liked You Best!
…The Smothers Brothers Play It Straight
…Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (the album)
…Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2
Favorite song they sang straight
Favorite interview
Thoughts on the “Smothered” documentary
Thoughts on the book “Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” by David Bianculli?
Should season one of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour ever be released?
Favorite episode of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (original 60s, 70s, or 80s?)
Favorite Comedy Hour guest?
Favorite Comedy Hour musical guest?
Favorite regular?
Inspired by the Yo-Yo Man to learn (or re-learn) yo-yo tricks?
Favorite piece(s) of memorabilia
Favorite performance (Comedy Hour, late night TV, concert, etc)
Routine or album you would recommend to recruit a new fan?
If a movie/mini-series was made about them, who would you pick to play Tom and Dick?
If you are looking at this and saying “Hey, you have 31 days! I thought this was a 30 day challenge?” Well, it’s in spirit with how they number things, like their album “Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2”. There was no volume 1. And the release of their 60s Comedy Hour being released on DVD a few years ago. First was Season 3 (September 2008), then season 2 (October 2009)… season 1 has not been released yet (I am holding out hope!)
And I’ll end my 30 Day Challenge intro with their performance from 1966 on the Ed Sullivan Show. I love it because it’s an excellent short example of how they sang and played, and go into a little of their Mom Always Liked You Best routine:
It is strange and funny how what is laying around the house affects what your kid watches.
The 4th Doctor, aka Tom Baker. One of my, and Kristi's, favorite Doctors
I remember when Kristi was 3 (she’s now 10), she saw one of my old Doctor Who VHS tapes in the cabinet, “Full Circle” starring Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor.
She put it in the machine and started watching it. And then she watched it again. And again. And again. I had a few others but for some reason she liked this one a lot. She would get scared of the monsters and laugh whenever the Doctor who give off his big toothy smile.
I should add that I did not watch Doctor Who much when Kristi was awake. Usually it was her shows like Blue’s Clues, Sesame Street, Dora the Explorer, etc. so it’s not like she just watched it when I watched it.
Since then she has become a fan of the renewed Doctor Who series and likes David Tennant as much as Tom.
And just yesterday I was watching Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights while folding the
Could it be that I have a future silent film fan in the making?
laundry. Kristi was watching Pokemon videos on Youtube (She loves Pokemon!). When I got up to put some clothes away, I left the movie playing. I came back a couple minutes later and there was Kristi laying on the sofa watching City Lights. Not her Pokemon!
Since she caught it in the middle of the movie, I explained some of what was going on, like why the millionaire treated Charlie different drunk versus sober, and that the young lady who Charlie falls in love with is blind.
Now that Katie, my other daughter, is almost 3, she has discovered something even more off the
The controversial brothers from the 1960s got the attention of my almost 3 year old
wall. The Smothers Brothers. She often sits on my lap watching YouTube videos, and the other day she saw the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour Season 3 DVD set sitting on my desk where my computer is. She pointed to it wanting to watch it. She likes watching them sing. Even when they are talking she will sit there glued as they talk about the Vietnam War and student protests and so on. I don’t go into explaining what happened back in the 1960s, what the protests were about or anything… I’ll wait to explain that when she’s older :).
But it’s weird how my kids pick up on my interests like that.
