Tom and Dick Smothers first performed as the Smothers Brothers in 1959, followed by numerous hilarious television appearances on the Jack Paar and Johnny Carson shows, a string of top-selling albums, and a growing reputation as cutting-edge comics. But nothing could have prepared them for the fame, drama, and controversy surrounding the 1967 launch of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS-TV. What started out as a slightly more hip version of the typical comedy-variety show rapidly evolved into a satiric, irreverent, ahead-of-its-time testing of boundaries. The show also presented the top musical acts of the day, many of whom were shunned elsewhere on TV due to the nature of their music, including The Doors, Joan Baez, Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane, Pete Seeger and a stunning performance by The Who, which climaxed with the literal explosion of their drums. In a matter of months, the Comedy Hour had become as controversial and influential as it was popular, satirizing politics, racism and the unpopular Vietnam War among other topics. Despite the show's success, in April of 1969, the brothers were fired by CBS over censorship issues. Despite its cancellation, the show went on to win the Emmy for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy Variety that year. In the '70s and '80s the Smothers Brothers returned to TV with new primetime comedy series and specials. They continue to perform for sold-out audiences throughout the U.S. Their contr ibutions to comedy have earned them a 2003 George Carlin Freedom of Expression Award. "Smothered," a film by award-winning director Maureen Muldaur, documents the Brother's struggle against censorship and, as a lawsuit later determined, their wrongful firing by CBS.

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