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A review by bargainsleuth
(DANGEROUSLY FUNNY) THE UNCENSORED STORY OF THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR BY Bianculli, David ( AUTHOR )paperback{Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour} on 28 Sep, 2010 by David Bianculli
4.0
I fell in love with the Smothers Brothers as a middle school student in the 1980's when their "Angel Show" was running on Nick at Nite and they were making frequent appearances on Hollywood Squares. Soon I was hunting down their comedy albums at the flea markets and antique malls my parents dragged me to and taping their Magnavox magazine ad on my bedroom wall, next to the Monkees, Dan Marino, and Wham! I made frequent trips to our central library and photocopied every article I could find. I wrote fan letters and always received a response, including an autographed photo one time. I was fully immersed in Smotherdom when the 20th Reunion Show and subsequent reboot of the variety show happened in the late 1980's. To say I was a fan does not begin to cover it. From 1991 until the Smothers Brothers retired from touring in 2010, I saw them live ELEVEN times.
I thought I'd go back and revisit Dangerously Funny, a book I had been anticipating for more than 20 years, when the answer to one of my fan letters indicated a book was in the works. It still holds up pretty well. As someone who didn't live through the censorship on television of the 1960s, this is an illuminating look at the overall time period, not just including the Smothers Brothers. I absolutely don't get the hate some reviewers have saying that Nixon had nothing to do with the Smothers' firing. Maybe the reviews were written before the tapes were released, but I've heard Nixon bitching about the brothers and if there was any way to get them off of TV. Nixon was good friends with the president of CBS and literally called him in the middle of the night after one particular show skewered him.
I'm hoping that someday a full biography is written about the Smothers Brothers because this book is hyper-focused on the Comedy Hour. There is some content regarding their early lives and background into the early days of their comedy act, as well as the years after the firing (not cancellation).
RIP Tom Smothers. You were a trailblazer, and I'm glad history has shown you to be the champion for free speech that you were.
I thought I'd go back and revisit Dangerously Funny, a book I had been anticipating for more than 20 years, when the answer to one of my fan letters indicated a book was in the works. It still holds up pretty well. As someone who didn't live through the censorship on television of the 1960s, this is an illuminating look at the overall time period, not just including the Smothers Brothers. I absolutely don't get the hate some reviewers have saying that Nixon had nothing to do with the Smothers' firing. Maybe the reviews were written before the tapes were released, but I've heard Nixon bitching about the brothers and if there was any way to get them off of TV. Nixon was good friends with the president of CBS and literally called him in the middle of the night after one particular show skewered him.
I'm hoping that someday a full biography is written about the Smothers Brothers because this book is hyper-focused on the Comedy Hour. There is some content regarding their early lives and background into the early days of their comedy act, as well as the years after the firing (not cancellation).
RIP Tom Smothers. You were a trailblazer, and I'm glad history has shown you to be the champion for free speech that you were.