a tape was sent to CBS’s sensors within

minutes alarm bells were ringing

throughout the hallways instead of the

usual comedy routine the screen was

filled with a sharp bold political

message far beyond the limits the

network had ever allowed all right you

guys i hired you as decorators i want

Billy the Kid to feel right at home all

right first of all I juggle one

now two ho ho ho next who’s next

[Applause]

6 days later the Smother’s Brothers

comedy hour was abruptly cancelled

without explanation without a press

conference without a farewell the tape

never aired but its aftershocks rippled

through the television industry sparking

a fierce confrontation between artists

and sensors from that moment on the

concept of free speech on American

television was forever changed what was

going on behind the scenes who decided

to pull the plug and what was on the

tape that sent CBS into a panic let’s

take a look back at the shocking

incident that rewrote the rules of

American

[Laughter]

television in the 1960s American

television was controlled by three major

networks NBC ABC and CBS every night

millions of families sat down to watch

carefully edited programs that conform

to the moral political and cultural

standards of the post-war era in that

context CBS dominated the market with

safe shows like The Ed Sullivan Show and

Bonanza

good evening ladies and gentlemen

tonight live from New York the Ed

Sullivan

[Music]

Show but as the anti-war movement spread

and a counterculture grew among young

people CBS was forced to find a new way

to keep its audience the idea for the

Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour came not

as a bold breakthrough but as a need to

compete with NBC especially in the

Sunday prime time slot where Bonanza

dominated the ratings tom and Dick’s

mothers two brothers with a

light-hearted smart brother dumb brother

comedy style had been popular on smaller

shows and were considered a safe enough

choice cbs hoped they could reinvent the

variety show format without causing

content problems nothing funny in this

hey boys we’re through censoring your

show

the show premiered on February 5th

1967 the first episode went smoothly

sticking to the same format with musical

numbers light-hearted banter between the

brothers and some simple comedy but

behind the scenes Tom Smothers had other

plans he didn’t want to just be a

distraction under the guise of humor Tom

began to introduce social ideas into the

show the seemingly harmless lines

gradually became sharper more

multi-layered while CBS focused on

ratings Tom took the opportunity to

build a new playground one where

television did not avoid reality but

faced it and questioned it dick’s

mothers did not object but was cautious

he played the role of balancer the host

who softened Tom’s edgy statements the

change came gradually slowly enough for

CBS to not intervene early but quickly

enough for viewers to notice the first

notable guest was Pete Seager an icon of

the anti-war movement then came artists

like Harry Bellfonte Joan Bayz Jefferson

Airplane and The Who the musical acts

weren’t just entertainment they were

statement songs about war injustice

freedom aired in prime time on national

television in addition the show began to

hire younger more politically minded

writers including Steve Martin and Mason

Williams the script gradually shifted

from situation comedy to satire humorous

folk songs were now interrupted by

fictional debates about military policy

the church or civil liberties the show

retained its familiar structure music

conversation comedy but the content

inside changed completely viewership for

the show grew steadily throughout its

first season especially strong among the

18 to 25 age group college campuses

began to see it as a voice of

representation on television students

began to share lines from the show as a

trend meanwhile many parents and local

stations in the South began to send

letters complaining about the content

cbs saw the split in its audience but

continued to air it because the ratings

were still higher than expected inside

CBS executives began to feel a loss of

control tom refused to change lines if

he felt it was necessary to keep the

message intact many episodes were

re-edited just before airtime or sent

out behind schedule still the show

continued to air each week adding a new

challenge to CBS the second season began

with high expectations from both viewers

and creators the Smother’s Brothers

Comedy Hour was no longer just a comedy

show it was a rare television platform

for topics that were being avoided

elsewhere with viewership steadily

growing especially among younger viewers

CBS was willing to take risks as long as

the show didn’t push the envelope but

what Boundary meant for Tom Smothers was

changing every week the musical

performances that followed continued to

push the show’s comfort zone jefferson

Airplane performed a song that hinted at

psychedelics the Who performed My

Generation which was so destructive that

the sound system crashed meanwhile Joan

Bayz caused controversy by singing a

song dedicated to her husband who was in

prison for opposing military service an

explanation that was cut from the US

broadcast in addition to the music the

comedy portion of the show also began to

challenge the media system pat Pollson a

comedian hired specifically for the

editorial portion performed a series of

skits impersonating a presidential

candidate the speeches mocked current

policies making promises like “If

elected I will build more potholes to

test the patience of voters.” The

content seemed harmless but embarrassed

politicians because it accurately

reflected the frustration of people

about formality in politics but the

biggest rift with CBS was David

Steinberg his sermonets simulated church

sermons began airing in late 1968 with a

sarcastic tone Steinberg turned

religious figures into symbols of

political power mixing scripture with

current events one October 1968 skit was

vehemently rejected by several CBS

affiliates as offensive to their beliefs

and CBS received more than 300

complaints in a single week the public

reaction was mixed students took notes

from Steinberg in their notebooks

unofficial video stores began reselling

the cut clips college newspapers

published articles analyzing the show

for many young people the show was the

only American television show that

reflected the reality they lived in the

more successful the show became the more

it embarrassed CBS censorship

regulations became stricter cbs required

each episode to be submitted 10 days in

advance for review tom Smothers

repeatedly violated this deadline

deliberately prolonging postp production

to keep the same lines the confrontation

between the creative team and CBS

executives was no longer hidden meetings

between the two sides gradually became

tense although not officially announced

CBS began to closely monitor every

script and every guest invited on stage

dick’s mothers now acted as a balancing

act he openly disagreed with Tom’s every

choice but he did not publicly object

keeping the show on the air became

Dick’s personal priority while Tom’s

goal was to get the message out no

matter the consequences by early

1969 CBS had lost all patience

executives were discussing alternatives

local affiliates in the South were

threatening to pull the plug many

sponsors were concerned and then when

David Steinberg was brought back for

another segment this time more direct

more political CBS knew the bar had been

crossed for the last time forbidden

Lecture in early April

1969 an episode of the Smother’s

Brothers Comedy Hour was completed in

house production the episode had a

special detail that the show’s writers

knew well david Steinberg was back with

a new sermonet cbs had warned that any

appearance by Steinberg after the

controversy late the previous year would

pose a serious risk to the show but Tom

Smothers decided to bring him back

regardless of the consequences the

performance was set against a minimalist

backdrop a stage that mimicked a church

a spotlight focused on the pulpit and

Steinberg stepped out dressed as a rabbi

in less than 5 minutes he took the

audience from the biblical image of

Moses to that of a modern-day anti-war

activist in the performance Moses was

not commanded by God to lead the

Israelites across the sea but by

conscience by young people who refused

to fight in a war that was not just the

key part of the segment was a direct

line moses looked straight at Pharaoh

sorry Mr president and said “Take your

army and go.” and I will not help you

any longer.” The line was met with

applause from the studio audience but to

CBS it was a direct attack on the Nixon

administration something the executives

had been trying to avoid for months the

piece ended with a short musical number

a folk group modeled after Peter Paul

and Mary appeared and performed a song

called No More Promised Lands the lyrics

were about rejecting empty promises from

the state and called on young people to

stop following the procession and redraw

the map the scene ended with Steinberg

throwing his shawl into the audience and

shouting “Peace not war preach it.” The

tape was sent to CBS as usual but unlike

previous episodes this one was blocked

shortly thereafter cbs claimed that the

episode had missed its deadline for

review and was in violation of its

production agreement tom Smothers

immediately countered claiming that the

tape had been sent to the Hollywood

sensors on time the problem he said lay

with the New York headquarters where the

review process had been unusually

lengthy in internal meetings CBS

executives headed by William Paley

demanded that Steinberg’s performance be

completely removed if the episode was to

be aired tom refused on April 4th

1969 CBS terminated its contract with

the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour there

was no formal press conference no

advanced notice to viewers the following

week the show’s time slot was replaced

by Heihaw a less controversial rural

comedy show the episode never aired in

the United States but a copy was aired

by CTV in Canada which was not subject

to CBS’s censorship the banned content

quickly became known through bootleg

recordings and VHS tapes circulating

unofficially among college students

college newspapers and youth culture

magazines ran articles analyzing the

episode’s content one described it as a

bitter but worthy farewell for a show

that dared to say what others avoided

public reaction was sharply divided on

the pro side younger viewers saw it as

evidence that CBS had sacrificed freedom

of expression for political safety small

protests broke out in several cities

particularly around local CBS

headquarters meanwhile many conservative

groups praised the decision to end the

show calling it a necessary move to

protect public morality the event was

not only the direct cause of the show’s

cancellation but also became a symbol of

the final frontier that American

television at the time could not

overcome there was no financial crisis

no personal scandal a 5-minute anti-war

scene with a controversial character it

was enough to end a nationally rated

show the fall and legacy for Tom and

Dick’s mothers the cut was a blow to

their careers and reputations they were

not invited back to television for years

nationally broadcast offers disappeared

almost immediately tom became a

difficult person to hire considered too

risky for the network dick though more

cautious was also associated with the

image of the other half of a

controversial show every door that had

been opened to them in the television

industry was immediately closed behind

the scenes though a quiet legal battle

began the Smother’s brothers sued CBS

for breach of contract claiming that the

cancellation of the show based on late

episodes was just an excuse the lawsuit

dragged on for nearly 4 years in 1973 a

court ruled in their favor ordering CBS

to pay more than

$770,000 for violating the co-production

clause but with their legal victory they

never regained the status they once had

on television during that time the

relationship between Tom and Dick was

also tested dick later said in an

interview that he did not fully agree

with Tom’s stubbornness he believed that

if Tom had made some concessions the

show could have lasted longer and had a

greater impact but the two remained

close on stage although they were no

longer on television they continued to

perform live in small theaters

maintaining a loyal following cbs’s

decision to pull the show had a ripple

effect across the media industry many

young producers including Lauren

Michaels who would later create Saturday

Night Live saw it as a lesson in the

limits of creative freedom when

confronting the power structure of

television michaels once said that

without the Smothers Brothers there

would be no SNL the show’s short

existence was the first precedent for

mixed media and political television the

show’s influence extended beyond the

industry young artists especially in

comedy began to refer to the show as a

symbol of suppression censored tapes

became collectibles passed around by

students and independent artists some

sketches that CBS had previously

rejected were later discovered in writer

private archives adding to the symbolism

of censorship in terms of reputation the

perception of the show and the brothers

has changed over time in 2008 Tom

Smothers received an honorary Emmy award

nearly 40 years after it was taken off

the air in his speech he said simply

“Peace is harder than war.” A quote that

has since been widely quoted in the

media in 2010 both were inducted into

the Television Academy Hall of Fame

marking a belated but significant

restoration of honor outside of the

entertainment industry their story is

also seen as part of the history of free

expression in America tom and Dick were

included on the Nixon administration’s

enemies list in the early 1970s

although they did not suffer the same

direct consequences as some politicians

their appearance on the list was seen as

clear evidence that the show had truly

embarrassed the administration something

few television shows had done before by

2022 the entire archive of the show

including scripts tapes and unaired

sketches will be transferred to UC Santa

Barbara this marks the first time many

of the show’s internal documents have

been made available to researchers

including some sketches that CBS had

ordered destroyed the digitization of

the archives will help reshape the

show’s legacy especially for a younger

generation who never saw the heyday of

protest television when Tom Smothers

died in late 2023 social media was

flooded with show clips old stage photos

and tributes from famous comedians

steven Colbert John Oliver Sarah

Silverman all mentioned him as one of

the pioneers of modern political comedy

they spoke of him not as a legend of the

past but as part of the roots that made

American television more daring more

outspoken but now unexpectedly the show

is starting to re-enter popular memory

through an unlikely source the internet

vhs tapes that were once passed around

among college students are now digitized

and spreading rapidly on YouTube Reddit

Tik Tok and other video sharing

platforms echoes of a silent song the

line “Mom always liked you best,” has

become the soundtrack to countless memes

and parodies a clip of Patson’s

fictional 1968 campaign in which he

promised to solve all problems by

waiting for them to go away has been

shared millions of times in the current

political climate sketches once

considered too sensitive are now

considered classics of thoughtful satire

the rediscovery is not just nostalgia

but a belated recognition of a show that

was ahead of its time the UC Santa

Barbara archives continue to be mined by

researchers students and documentarians

unaired footage Tom Smother’s

handwritten notes cut sketches and CBS

response letters all add up to a fuller

picture of the scale and intensity of

the intervention the program endured in

small exhibitions viewers get to see not

only the finished product but also the

struggles that went into every minute of

airtime the response from modern comedy

has been clear contemporary hosts like

John Oliver Trevor Noah Hassan Minhage

have all acknowledged the influence of

the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on the

way they produced their content not

because of the format but because of the

way it demonstrated that comedy was not

an escape from reality but a tool for

reaction and dialogue in media

conferences the show is cited as part of

the process of forming modern critical

television though no longer on the air

the show’s resonance lives on through

its quotes its symbols and its

indomitable spirit when excerpts from

The Forbidden Sermon were reaired at a

memorial event at the New York

Television Festival young audiences got

their first look at the entire episode

which had been banned from the air in

1969 contrary to expectations of its

obsolescence the content remains sharp

even surprising with a level of

directness that few shows dare to

display today looking back the Smother’s

Brothers Comedy Hour doesn’t call itself

iconic it was made iconic by the

reactions it generated from audiences

from networks from governments and

ultimately from popular culture a show

that was nixed for speaking out has

become one of the clearest examples of

how television can be bold dissenting

and

uncompromising if you feel that what

happened to the Smothers Brothers Comedy

Hour is not just a thing of the past but

something that still resonates today

leave a comment what would you think if

such a show aired today don’t forget to

like and share this video with anyone

who loves television freedom of

expression and wants to understand why a

comedy act once caused a national debate

and if you haven’t subscribed subscribe

now there are so many untold stories

banned episodes and canceled stages

waiting to be told again just like the

Smothers Brothers did not silenced