By Mark D. Zimmerman
MELVILLE, New York — Tommy Smothers, half of the Smothers Brothers comedy team, passed away last week. The Smothers Brothers combined music, humor, and their playful sibling rivalry (Tommy’s trademark retort to Dick was “Mom always liked you best”) to entertain, while also emphasizing political satire and liberal politics as part of their presentation.
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour made its debut on CBS in February of 1967, but was abruptly canceled in April 1969 after many fights between the brothers and the network. Controversy surrounded sketches which included the words “breast” and “heterosexual,” as well as musical guests including Pete Seeger performing the anti-war song “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” and Harry Belafonte singing “Lord, Don’t Stop the Carnival” as a protest against the violence-filled 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Both of those musical performances were pulled from the broadcast. The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour also featured performances by comedians including George Carlin, Bob Newhart, Steve Martin and many others.
One sketch which is included on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: Best of, Vol. 2 is entitled Talking Jewish. In this bit, Tommy Smothers introduced their guest as “one of the chosen people,” and went on to tell the guest that “both my brother and myself have always liked your act because you do great shtick,” which he described as “a show biz phrase.” The Smothers Brothers and this guest continued to joke back and forth about “Jewish” words and accents. Who were the Smothers Brothers bantering with in the Talking Jewish sketch?
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Mark D. Zimmerman is the author of Rashi, Rambam and Ramalamadingdong series of Jewish trivia e-books. Learn more at rrrjewishtrivia.com.