We remember Tom Smothers, of the comic folk duo the Smothers Brothers, who died last week at the age of 86. Their popular TV variety show in the late 1960s captured the spirit of the counterculture, and was often censored by network execs. We feature our interview with Tom and Dick Smothers and have an appreciation by TV critic David Bianculli. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
On the Ted radio hour, linguist Ann.
Curzan says she gets a lot of complaints about people using the pronoun they to refer to one person.
I sometimes get into arguments with people where they will say to me, but it can't be singular.
And I will say, but it is.
The history behind words causing a lot of debate.
That's on the Ted radio hour from NPR.
This is fresh air.
I'm tv critic David B.
And Cooley, professor of television studies at Rowan University.
Today we're devoting our show to Tom Smothers, who died last week at age 86 after a battle with cancer.
Along with his younger brother Dick, Tom was a member of the Smothers brothers, whose 50 year career made them one of the longest running comedy acts in show business.
Dick played the upright bass and was the straight man.
Tom played guitar and acted like an easily excited adolescent.
Their voices blended beautifully.
Their comedy timing was impeccable, and their 1960s variety series, the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, was one of the most significant and groundbreaking tv programs of its time.
Today, well, salute Tom Smothers and the legacy he and Dick created with their important CB's program.
We'll listen back to an interview Terry Gross conducted with Tom and Dick back in 1985, an interview I conducted with Tom in 1997, and finally, a piece of the interview Terry conducted with me in 2009 when my book about the Smothers brothers had just been published.
But first, let's begin with an appreciation that puts Tom Smothers and his comedy hour in its proper perspective.
It's the Smothers Brothers comedy Hour.
Tom and Dick's mothers didn't set out to be Tom tv pioneers, but that's precisely what they were before.