Smothers Brothers to bring music, humor and wit to Grass Valley

Abstract:Comedy, music, the Yo-Yo man and, yes, some political satire is on tap for the performance.

“It's the Smothers Brothers show, and we do it for 80 minutes,” Tom said of their plans for the Nevada County performance. “The audience will know where we are at socially, but it's not a political show. It's a comedic show with a social viewpoint.”

It's been 40 years since CBS fired the Smothers Brothers for their anti-war satire, but Tom Smothers has neither lost his edge nor his sense of humor.

“That's part of our legacy, to be political satirists and then getting fired,” the entertainer said recently.

Tom and Dick Smothers will bring their act to the Veterans Memorial Hall in Grass Valley on Saturday, Oct. 17, between appearances in Prescott, Ariz., and Grand Prairie, Texas. The Center for the Arts is sponsoring the show.

“I'm thrilled they're coming,” said Dave Irons, the new board president for the Center for the Arts in Grass Valley. “We've been working on this for a couple of years.”

Tom, 72, and Dick, 70, do around 80 shows a year, which is more than the number of episodes they broadcast while creating one of TV's most controversial shows from 1967 to 1969.

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour soared to the top of the Sunday night ratings with its comedy, wit, music and guests like The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Liberace, George Burns, Henry Fonda and Pat Paulsen.

They were fired before the final episode of the show's third season was broadcast. It would have been the 73rd episode, said Tom Smothers, who lives with his wife and two teen-aged children in Sonoma County where he owns the Remick Ridge Vineyards.

“When Nixon got elected in 1968, everything changed,” he said of the sudden axing of the program.”We paid a price, but it turned out to be a gift in disguise.”

The brothers, who have worked together for 50 years, have rebounded nicely since those gloomy days and now perform with the same spirit that took them to the TV summit in the '60s when they went toe-to-toe against Bonanza and prevailed in the ratings game.

“It's the Smothers Brothers show, and we do it for 80 minutes,” Tom said of their plans for the Nevada County performance. “The audience will know where we are at socially, but it's not a political show. It's a comedic show with a social viewpoint.”

In addition to the humor, satire and music, the show will include a 12-minute video that is a retrospective of the Comedy Hour's glory days. The Yo-Yo Man will also make an appearance. Tom manages the yo-yo and Dick provides the voice while all the time taking the audience to the “mystic state of yo,” which Tom said is somewhere between yes and no.

Tom said the brothers enjoy playing in smaller venues like the Veterans Memorial Hall, which seats around 900 people. They also intend to keep performing as long as there's an audience for them.

“We'll keep doing this until our fans can't get their walkers up the stairs,” he said.

Ticket information

 For information on ticket prices, go to www.thecenterforthearts.org. For more information about the Smothers Brothers, go to smothersbrothers.com