There were the Smothers Brothers. They had been around in the 50's, when their humor came from making fun of brothers and folk singers. Tom's ad-libbed "Mom always liked you best!" is so much a part of our national language it seems like it's always been around. The last verse of the folk classic "My Old Man's a Sailor" had Dick spitting out: "My old man's a cotton-pickin, finger-lickin, chicken plucker." Just for fun. Then everything changed, and the brothers produced humor that was critical of the establishment.
Tom: We spend over 50 billion dollars a year on defense. We don't need more allies.
Dick: Well, what do we need?
Tom: We need... more enemies.
Pretty mild, which is why it aired. They segued from the squeakiest of clean folk comedy to what was at the time unacceptably negative counter-culture comedy. For more on the show and the brothers read:
Dangerously funny : the uncensored story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Tom: We spend over 50 billion dollars a year on defense. We don't need more allies.
Dick: Well, what do we need?
Tom: We need... more enemies.
Pretty mild, which is why it aired. They segued from the squeakiest of clean folk comedy to what was at the time unacceptably negative counter-culture comedy. For more on the show and the brothers read:
Dangerously funny : the uncensored story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
For hilarity, listen to their classic comedy routines on:
Sibling revelry: the best of the Smothers Brothers
Sibling revelry: the best of the Smothers Brothers
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2 comments:
Thanks for the post!
I grew up listening to this record: Aesop's fables, the Smothers Brothers way.
@googoobeans : you're right!! i remember it as well :)
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