Smothers Brothers: From Yesterday to Today Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. A famous part of the brother act was Tom accusing Dick of being their mother's favorite. Many people assumed from that fact that Dick was the oldest of the family. Who was the oldest, Tom, Dick, or their sister, Sherry?

Answer: Tom

Tom is the oldest. He was born on February 2, 1937. Dick was born November 20, 1939, and their sister, Sherry, was born on September 18, 1941. The routine was so ingrained in the brothers' act that they named one of their records "Mom Always Liked You Best."

2. Throughout their musical and stand-up career, Tom would always stand on Dick's right side. Which of the following caused Dick to lose all hearing in his left ear?

Answer: Automobile Accident

Tom and Dick were passengers in a car driven by their mother, Ruth, in 1942. Dick was seated in the front seat, but kept crying that he wanted to join his brother in the back. Their mother relented. Dick opened the car door and was thrown from the car, suffering a fractured skull and deafness in his left ear.

3. While Tom and Dick found much success as comedians, recording artists, and television performers, their private lives were rather turbulent. By the time each turned 60, how many times combined were they married?

Answer: 7

Dick was married four times - twice to the same woman (Linda Miller). He first divorced Linda after a 10-year marriage the same week "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" was cancelled. The couple remarried in 1972 and divorced in 1982. He had later marriages to Lorraine Martin (8 years) and Denby Franklin (9 years).

Tom was married three times - to Stephanie Shorr from 1963-67, Rochelle Robly, a high school acquaintance from 1974-76, and Marcy Carriker, a producer of one of the brothers' reunion television specials, in 1990.

4. During the run of "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour", Dick became increasingly involved with which rather expensive hobby?

Answer: Motor Racing

Dick enrolled in a professional driving school in November 1967, during the second season of the variety show. He obtained his Sports Car Club of America Regional Drivers license in December 1967, and a year later formed the first Smothers Brothers Formula 'A' racing team.

He would often insist that the Friday night taping of the show end in time for him to catch a plane for a weekend of racing activities.

5. Tom and Dick Smothers' first national exposure was on "The Tonight Show" on January 28, 1961. That exposure led to them becoming regulars on which prime time variety show hosted by a former host of "The Tonight Show"?

Answer: The Steve Allen Show

"The Steve Allen Show" was a spin-off of "The Tonight Show" and aired on NBC from 1956 to the spring of 1960. It was then moved to ABC for 14 episodes from September to December 1960. The Smothers brothers, Tim Conway (then performing as Tom Conway), Buck Henry, and Allen's wife, Jayne Meadows, were among the new cast members.

The vast majority of Tom and Dick's appearances on the show were portions of their stand-up act. Steve Allen appeared as a guest on a first season episode the "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour."

6. Tom, Dick, and Sherry Smothers lost their father, Thomas Bolyn Smothers, Jr., when they were young children due to which of the following events?

Answer: World War II

Thomas Bolyn Smothers, Jr. graduated from West Point at the age of 21, and was a career soldier, eventually earning the rank of major. Along with approximately 75,000 other soldiers, he surrendered to Japanese troops in April 1942, and was forced to march 65 miles to a prison camp during the Bataan Death March. He survived that ordeal and spent three years as a prisoner of war (POW). He was killed when the POW ship he was on was bombed mistakenly by Allied pilots in a case of friendly fire in April 1945.

7. Tom Smothers developed a mostly non-speaking character that he has used for almost 40 years starting in the late 1960s. What is the character's special talent, most often associated with children?

Answer: Yo-Yo

Tom developed the character "Yo Yo Man" and, at times, incorporated his skill into the brothers' act. The character made its television debut in 1986 on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson." During the 80s, Tom and Dick released the "Just Say Yo! The Yo-Yo Man Instructional Video" which sold more than 200,000 copies.

8. Within a month of the last episode of the brothers' CBS variety show in May 1969, Tom participated in what week-long event in Montreal, Canada, led by newly married John Lennon and Yoko Ono?

Answer: Bed-In for Peace

Tom and Dick's vehement opposition to the Vietnam War and the resulting jokes against the war and politicians supporting its continuation were a mainstay on the three-year run of the CBS show. The negative reaction of the CBS network officials and the management of CBS affiliate stations resulted in increasingly stricter censorship policies regarding the show, eventually leading to the network's cancellation of the show.

The Beatles never performed live on the Smothers Brothers show, but they did give the show exclusive American rights to air videos of the band performing "Hey Jude" and "Revolution" on an episode in the show's first season. Tom was invited by Lennon and Yoko Ono, who were on their honeymoon and used the relentless media attention surrounding their nuptials, to make a statement about the Vietnam War. Tom, John, Yoko, and others in the hotel room recorded "Give Peace a Chance" on June 1, 1969, and released the song a month later as the Plastic Ono Band.

It was the first single released by Lennon apart from his work with the Beatles, who were still together at this time.

9. Based on the success of the first two seasons of "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," the brothers had an opportunity to produce a summer replacement series in 1968. What was the name of the show?

Answer: The Summer Brothers Smothers Show

Now, why the strange title? There were several reasons: the brothers were producing the show, AND most of the writers from the regular Smothers Brothers show also wrote for the summer show, AND the brothers never tended to do anything in a traditional manner, AND FINALLY, the career of the person they chose to host the show, singer Glen Campbell, was just beginning to take off and he didn't have any experience hosting his own show, combined to explain the unusual title of the show. Campbell appeared on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" during the 1967-68 season. Tom and Dick were so impressed by his natural television presence that they offered him the chance to headline the summer show.

10. After the controversial cancellation of their CBS series in 1969, the Tom and Dick continued to perform stand-up, appear in television revivals and specials based on their show, and had a short-lived television drama called "Fritz and Bones." Dick appeared in what Martin Scorsese-directed drama from 1995 portraying a US Senator from Nevada?

Answer: Casino

In "Casino", Dick portrayed a Nevada state senator and chair of the licensing board at a hearing for a casino license for the character played by Robert DeNiro. His character and the dialogue were partly based on the career of former United States Senator Harry Reid, who once chaired the Nevada Gaming Commission.

In the television series, "Fritz and Bones," Dick portrayed an investigative reporter for a San Francisco area television station and Tom was his cameraman. The show lasted for five episodes before it was cancelled.

Source: Author jmac5cicada

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ponycargirl before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

From the debut of the famous brother act in 1960, through the end of the twentieth century, Tom and Dick Smothers were successful musicians, stand-up comedians, and television personalities.

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