Tom Smothers Remembered: Smothers Brothers Most Controversial Music Act on Live TV

Performance on Smothers Brothers from 57 years ago when The Who had one of the best live TV moments in rock music history. Unbeknownst to all others, Pete Townshend packed ten high-powered cherry bombs in Keith Moon's drum kit. Townshend smashed guitars while destroying instruments on stage in the Hollywood studio taping location, his usual antics during concerts. John Entwistle kept his cool while playing bass guitar. White smoke surrounded Roger Daltrey when the drums blew up at the end of My Generation. The Who made their first US prime-time television appearance during the Smothers Brothers Comedy Show during the September 1967 fall season, filmed at CBS Television City, Los Angeles, CA.

Comedian Tom Smothers, who with his brother performed as the singing comedy duo the Smothers Brothers, died on December 27, 2023, according to a family statement shared by the National Comedy Center. He was 86.

“Tom was not only the loving older brother that everyone would want in their life, he was a one-of-a-kind creative partner,” Dick Smothers said in a statement. “I am forever grateful to have spent a lifetime together with him, on and off stage, for over 60 years. Our relationship was like a good marriage – the longer we were together, the more we loved and respected one another. We were truly blessed.”

The folk singing brothers became pioneers with their biting satirical comedy that was at the forefront of their CBS variety show “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” which ran from 1967 to 1969.

CBS famously yanked the show from the air after they ran afoul of the network for their political critiques, defense of civil rights and their opposition to the Vietnam War.

“Fifty years later I look back on us being fired and I’m still pissed off,” Tom Smothers said to laughs in a 2019 interview shared by “All Arts TV.”

The YEAR 2017 MARKS the 50th anniversary of Keith Moon’s international arrival as “British Patent Exploding Drummer”, a legend The Who drummer had painted on his kit for the group’s summer 1967 tour of North America, which climaxed when he notoriously blew up his drums with ‘cherry bomb’ fireworks on popular Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour TV show.

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