Yesterday's Yuks Still Echo

Tom and his brother Dick were honored earlier in the day, as 2000 marks their 30th anniversary of being fired from CBS, and losing their comedy-variety show. But the dangerous thing about a "tribute" is that it makes the comedian take a seat, and brings in a panel of people to reminisce, who may or may not have something to say.

'Smothers Brothers'

Alumni Gather Onstage

Joined onstage by the original writers for "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour"--Steve Martin, Mason Williams, Bob Einstein--with "Politically Incorrect" talk show host Bill Maher as moderator, Dick and Tom looked more like conventional men in their early 60s than comics.

"In these shows, you don't get to complete a thought," Dick said. "It's like watching a bunch of people who in so many minutes think they have to say a lot."

While the panel discussion oscillated between strained and genuine, there were some worthy anecdotes for die-hard Smothers fans. How Williams gave Steve Martin his break as a writer, paying him $300 a week out of his own pocket. The time when they had Kate Smith dressed as Oliver Hardy, with Smith enraged, yelling to Einstein, "I'm walking off this stage because of you!" The time when Tom admitted to divesting himself of his properties so he could afford being sued. Einstein wailing, "Thanks for telling us! I was buying houses!" "I was driving a Jaguar when we got fired," Martin quipped.

The free-for-all memory-lane became a little disjointed when former series writer Einstein became loud and started to interrupt Maher in mid-sentence. He was on a roll and wasn't planning on stopping. Maher incorporated it into the "act," facing the packed audience in the converted gymnasium and saying, "Will someone please give Bob a job!"

Clips Show Smothers'

Irreverent Style

The clips from their prime-time show that rocked the establishment reminded those audience members who weren't born back then how irreverent the show was. One skit portrayed a black man and a white woman standing at the altar exchanging their wedding vows. The priest turns to the side and says, "The rope please."

The real highlight was their live show, "The Smothers Brothers Live," performed on Saturday. They were as good as they've ever been. Their banter was smooth, with Tom the rebel and Dick the straight man who "Mom always liked best." The show's guest lineup represented more of a '90s sense of humor, embodied by the self-referential Spalding Gray, the four-letter, sex-driven comedy of Bobby Slayton and the political humor of Maher, who while commenting about a South American country wanting to replace coco crops with chrysanthemums and bananas said, "Did you ever try to get a hooker back to the room with a banana and a chrysanthemum?"

In addition to comedy, Williams played his Grammy-winning instrumental "Classical Gas" with Ken Kesey's guitar, and Tom's Yo-Yo Man made an appearance, to the delight of fans.