A little older, a little wise guys

The Smothers Brothers - Tom (left) and Dick - are receiving accolades for their controversial, political humor in the '60s.

When "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" was canceled in 1969, it took nearly a decade for the Smothers to get back on track. They were in an awkward position, a clean-cut comedy/folk duo whose show became a somewhat unlikely lightning rod for the counterculture, lampooning presidential politics with Pat Paulsen and hosting rock acts from the Beatles to the Who and antiwar folk acts like Pete Seeger.

Tom and his younger brother Dick were heroes to many, but, as Tom Smothers points out, they were unemployed heroes after getting dumped by CBS for the show's politics.

"The '70s for us were like the dark ages," he says, speaking from a hotel in Niagara Falls. "We were blackballed, we couldn't work Vegas, no one was hiring us."

Smothers says that was a blessing in disguise that allowed the brothers to work on their act and become better performers. "We started working again in the '80s - totally different," he says. "We had the skills of theater and we had the humbleness of being slapped down and taken off the air."

The Smothers Brothers are perhaps appreciated more now than ever. They will be in town tomorrow to accept a lifetime achievement award from the Boston Comedy Festival at the Cutler Majestic Theatre (they'll do a quick bit on a show that includes the contest finals and Boston Comedy Awards). The story of their struggles against CBS has been told in film and in an upcoming book. And Time Life just released the five-disc set covering the third and final season of "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour."

Political satirist Barry Crimmins, an instrumental part of Boston's comedy scene in the '80s, remembers watching the show as a teenager and credits its influence on his comedy. "It caused my old man to grouse, but I was laughing," he says. "They served a big role in subverting me. They planted seeds of doubt that took some time to really bloom."

Crimmins remembers the Smothers Brothers as great comedians in their own right, with superb timing and skill, but just as important was their role as producers, booking acts that reflected the turmoil of the times. "I think the Smothers Brothers did a great job of playing to the ages by confronting the age," he says. "And I think a lot of what they did will stand up."

It's hard to underestimate the impact of the show, considering it was on prime time Sunday nights when everyone was tuned in to just three networks. When Smothers looks at shows with a satirical edge like "Real Time With Bill Maher" and "The Daily Show," he notices they are relegated to cable, generally on late-night time slots. He notes that "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" was the last political satire in prime time, which he says doesn't bode well for the current climate for free speech.

"We had a television show that supported the antiwar effort," he says. "We paid a lot of dues for that. It took them three years to throw us off. It took them a month to silence the Dixie Chicks and take the wind out of their sails. And it took us 10 years to get back into the swing of things."

Fifty years after they first started performing, the Smothers Brothers still tour, doing 60 to 70 dates a year by Smothers's estimate. He finds it strange when he looks over at Dick, the two of them still sparring like siblings onstage and singing in perfect, folksy harmony, to notice the sags and wrinkles in his face. But they are both healthy, and both still love playing together and have no intention to quit anytime soon.

"We'll keep touring until our fans can't get their walkers up the stairs," he says. "Then we'll be playing trailer parks and restaurants. I don't know."

Around town

DJ Hazard returns to the Comedy Studio tonight and tomorrow. . . . Jackie Mason, a frequent guest on the Smothers Brothers show and still a fiery political commentator, will be at the Hanover Theatre in Worcester on Wednesday.