Thomas Bolin “Tom” Smothers III (born February 2, 1937) is an American comedian, composer and musician, best known as half of the musical comedy team The Smothers Brothers with brother, Dick Smothers.
Smothers was born in New York City and after moving to California graduated from Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California. He was a state champion gymnast in the parallel bars. Smothers later attended San José State University.
The Smothers Brothers appeared on numerous television shows over the past three decades, including two variety shows of their own, The Smothers Brothers Show from 1965 to 1966, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967.
Tom Smothers negotiated creative control over the CBS show. The documentary Smothered describes how the brothers (particularly Tom) fought CBS censors to sneak in references to religion, recreational drugs, sex, and the Vietnam War. Smothers is widely quoted as saying: "The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen." He and others have implied that the brothers' oppositional politics led to their show's demise. Tom also admits that politics sometimes took precedence over humor.
Smothers is also the owner of Remick Ridge Vineyards in Sonoma County, California with his wife Marcy and two children, Riley Rose (b. 1996) and Bo (b. 1993).
In motion pictures, Tom Smothers portrayed corporate-executive-turned-tap-dancing-magician Donald Beeman in one of Brian De Palma's earlier films, Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972). He later portrayed Spike in Serial (1980).
Tom Smothers played guitar on John Lennon's recording of his single "Give Peace a Chance".
To augment their act in recent years, Tom Smothers created the mostly non-speaking character "Yo-Yo Man", a surprisingly expert performer of difficult tricks using a Yo-yo. In their 2008 tour for instance, Yo-Yo Man is listed as the group's opening act. The name is possibly taken from that of famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma, but may also simply be a reference to the folk song "Yo-Yo Man," which Tom and Dick sang together on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
Currently, he can be found in commercials promoting River Rock Casino in Geyserville, CA.
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