Tom Smothers, half of the famed Smothers Brothers comedy and music duo that fought racism, the Vietnam War, and television censors, had been diagnosed with stage two lung cancer. He died from the disease at his home in Santa Rosa, California, on December 26, 2023, at the age of 86.
Smothers’ passing at his home in Santa Rosa, California, was announced Wednesday by the family and the National Comedy Center.
“Tom was not only the loving older brother that everyone would want in their life, he was a one-of-a-kind creative partner,” brother Dick Smothers, 84, 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 Smothers Brothers gained fame in 1967 with the CBS show “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.” The show, which aired at the same time as “Bonanza,” featured the duo joking about the Vietnam War, among other taboo topics.
CBS canceled the show in 1970 after years of back and forth between the brothers and the network censors and pressure from the Nixon Whitehouse.
After the show was canceled, the brothers sued CBS for $31 million and were awarded $775,000. Their battles with the network were chronicled in the 2002 documentary “Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.”
See also Tom Smothers at The Hollywood Reporter
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