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Here's a good synopsis of the Smothers Brothers and their importance for that generation of comedians: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/smothers-bro

Here's a good synopsis of the Smothers Brothers and their importance for that generation of comedians: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/smothers-brothers-comedy-hour-oral-history-1060153/ https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/smothers-brothe... Comedy, in general, ages very badly, but the Smothers Brothers are still very funny. They were politically "controversial", but they were the furthest thing from shock comics, and I think that's what makes their comedy translate 50+ years later. Nothing is as dated as last season's transgressiveness, but their routines were sharp but welcoming, you could watch them with your grandparents and your children and everyone would have a laugh. They were well before my time, but I remember seeing them brought out on Letterman, etc, expecting a dire nostalgia act, and they just kill. A great act for any decade.

drewcoo 3y ago
[flagged]
- AlbertCory 3y ago
  You are both right, in that they were counterculture. However: > comedians are supposed to be subversive No, that's just your preference. Jay Leno and Norm MacDonald are not subversive at all; just funny. Most of the Smothers' comedy was family-friendly, but they did push a few buttons sometimes. > I hope you talk in a more informed way about time you know Totally unwarranted.
  - nyczomg 3y ago
    Norm MacDonald not subversive at all? Really? https://ultimateclassicrock.com/norm-macdonald-last-weekend-update/ https://ultimateclassicrock.com/norm-macdonald-last-weekend-... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_lXBLqAOW8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_lXBLqAOW8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOsfrppKd1k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOsfrppKd1k
    - detritus 3y ago
      Yeah, Norm was a dark lord of comedy, but perhaps he simply didn't much wear the cloak.
    - AlbertCory 3y ago
      Ooh. I stand corrected. I'd stopped watching SNL long before that.
  - starmftronajoll 3y ago
    Leno, sure, but Norm Macdonald is one of the most subversive comics of my lifetime. A few hours perusing the archives of “I’m Not Norm” on YouTube is time well spent! https://youtube.com/@ImnotNorm?si=FNOHn2Azn-98HrKn https://youtube.com/@ImnotNorm?si=FNOHn2Azn-98HrKn
  - dylan604 3y ago
    >Totally unwarranted. if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck... With your suggestion that Norm wasn't subversive, like other replies have stated, you're not well informed yourself, so hopefully other conversations with you come from a better informed position too.
    - AlbertCory 3y ago
      I watched the Smothers. How about you? Having a different opinion doesn't make you uninformed. Or didn't they teach you that in middle school? And yes, I was wrong about Norm, although doing topical satire doesn't automatically make you "subversive." Lenny Bruce was actually subversive and got arrested and sentenced to jail for it. Richard Pryor was subversive. George Carlin was sometimes subversive.
      - dylan604 3y ago
        I grew up watching the Smothers Brothers because my dad was a huge fan. So yeah, now what with your middle school I know you are but what am I level retort. Bill Hicks was my favorite subversive with his not just making marijuana legal but mandatory and suggesting that everyone should have at least one psychedelic experience (large unspoken asterisk stipulating of those that can). Squeegee that third eye clean!
        Applejinx 3y ago
        Doug Stanhope can be unbelievably subversive: '60 Inches Of AIDS On Any Given Sunday' behaves like the insane horniness is the joke, just ridiculously over-the-top as if the things he's saying aren't still simple observation comedy. It's overblown TO make it go down easier because it's too obviously outrageous. Subversive. Probably the best and biggest subversive ever? Eddie Murphy. He went HARD in the same manner: getting you to laugh at his extremeness when the joke is, it's actually not a joke, it's something he's observed. If he just made a case for some of the stuff he brings to your attention it wouldn't go over, but pick just the right spot to go way over the top…
      - Applejinx 3y ago
  - serf 3y ago
    MacDonald as 'not subversive' is a crackup. A famous schtick of his on his podcast later on was to get other comedians to accidentally joke about the 9/11 events, and then he'd frame them as monsters for making light of the situation. He got fired from SNL for railing on OJ Simpson and his executive buddies at NBC, he got 'removed' from Silverman's JASH 'collective' for making jokes about 'Arabs', and he subverted the Friar's Club roast by refusing to be rude and only saying 1940s formal-appropriate Vaudeville-act stuff. The SNL stuff was big news in entertainment at the time. He got interviewed by all the big late-night shows about it and the unfair process, was on Stern, etc etc. The whole nation sort of rallied behind him and agreed that SNL/Lorne Michaels acted unfairly at a time when the entire nation was also seemingly against Simpson. His outward clean-cut demeanor and presence is exactly what made him so subversive.
  - HumblyTossed 3y ago
    >> I hope you talk in a more informed way about time you know > Totally unwarranted. Well, they do like their comedy "subversive", so what else could you expect?
  - willcipriano 3y ago
    Norm being not subversive on the view: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3PP_SWHUQQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3PP_SWHUQQ
  - JohnBooty 3y ago
    Norm MacDonald are not subversive at all Ahahahaha WHAT
- jfengel 3y ago
  It is helpful for me to remember that there was a time when Americans hated each other almost as much as we hate each other now. I still can't figure out how we got past it the first time. As best I can tell, it was because Nixon resigned. People had the sense to recognize that a bad thing happened, and we all agreed for once. In retrospect it seems positively quaint.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - dylan604 3y ago
    I would suggest that this "first time" you are referring to wasn't actually the first time. At least one time prior (there are probably others), it was settled with a brutal war referred to as the Civil War. I wonder if we will have to drop the word "the" and maybe use Civil War II and revise history books to say Civil War I if things continue to progress in certain directions.
    - rootusrootus 3y ago
      Anyone predicting Civil War II is probably too deep into their own ideology. The Civil War was a regional conflict, which is an important requirement. Democrats and Republicans may be very opposed to one another right now (at least in surface rhetoric; when we bother to discuss deeper than a few big issues we usually find more in common than not), but there's not much regionality to it. Every rural area rebelling against the nearest city isn't exactly the same idea as entire states deciding to secede.
      - jfengel 3y ago
        There are states that seem to be seriously considering secession. It would be a rational response to the belief that other states are manipulating the vote. That would bring along a lot of people who don't hold that belief.
        dylan604 3y ago
- JKCalhoun 3y ago
  Laugh-In vs. Hee Haw. Yep, been with us at least that long.
- dang 3y ago
  Whoa, please don't cross into personal attack. You can make your substantive points without that. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

drewcoo 3y ago

[flagged]

AlbertCory 3y ago
You are both right, in that they were counterculture. However: > comedians are supposed to be subversive No, that's just your preference. Jay Leno and Norm MacDonald are not subversive at all; just funny. Most of the Smothers' comedy was family-friendly, but they did push a few buttons sometimes. > I hope you talk in a more informed way about time you know Totally unwarranted.
- nyczomg 3y ago
  Norm MacDonald not subversive at all? Really? https://ultimateclassicrock.com/norm-macdonald-last-weekend-update/ https://ultimateclassicrock.com/norm-macdonald-last-weekend-... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_lXBLqAOW8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_lXBLqAOW8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOsfrppKd1k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOsfrppKd1k
  - detritus 3y ago
    Yeah, Norm was a dark lord of comedy, but perhaps he simply didn't much wear the cloak.
  - AlbertCory 3y ago
    Ooh. I stand corrected. I'd stopped watching SNL long before that.
- starmftronajoll 3y ago
  Leno, sure, but Norm Macdonald is one of the most subversive comics of my lifetime. A few hours perusing the archives of “I’m Not Norm” on YouTube is time well spent! https://youtube.com/@ImnotNorm?si=FNOHn2Azn-98HrKn https://youtube.com/@ImnotNorm?si=FNOHn2Azn-98HrKn
- dylan604 3y ago
  >Totally unwarranted. if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck... With your suggestion that Norm wasn't subversive, like other replies have stated, you're not well informed yourself, so hopefully other conversations with you come from a better informed position too.
  - AlbertCory 3y ago
    I watched the Smothers. How about you? Having a different opinion doesn't make you uninformed. Or didn't they teach you that in middle school? And yes, I was wrong about Norm, although doing topical satire doesn't automatically make you "subversive." Lenny Bruce was actually subversive and got arrested and sentenced to jail for it. Richard Pryor was subversive. George Carlin was sometimes subversive.
    - dylan604 3y ago
      I grew up watching the Smothers Brothers because my dad was a huge fan. So yeah, now what with your middle school I know you are but what am I level retort. Bill Hicks was my favorite subversive with his not just making marijuana legal but mandatory and suggesting that everyone should have at least one psychedelic experience (large unspoken asterisk stipulating of those that can). Squeegee that third eye clean!
      - Applejinx 3y ago
        Doug Stanhope can be unbelievably subversive: '60 Inches Of AIDS On Any Given Sunday' behaves like the insane horniness is the joke, just ridiculously over-the-top as if the things he's saying aren't still simple observation comedy. It's overblown TO make it go down easier because it's too obviously outrageous. Subversive. Probably the best and biggest subversive ever? Eddie Murphy. He went HARD in the same manner: getting you to laugh at his extremeness when the joke is, it's actually not a joke, it's something he's observed. If he just made a case for some of the stuff he brings to your attention it wouldn't go over, but pick just the right spot to go way over the top…
    - Applejinx 3y ago
- serf 3y ago
  MacDonald as 'not subversive' is a crackup. A famous schtick of his on his podcast later on was to get other comedians to accidentally joke about the 9/11 events, and then he'd frame them as monsters for making light of the situation. He got fired from SNL for railing on OJ Simpson and his executive buddies at NBC, he got 'removed' from Silverman's JASH 'collective' for making jokes about 'Arabs', and he subverted the Friar's Club roast by refusing to be rude and only saying 1940s formal-appropriate Vaudeville-act stuff. The SNL stuff was big news in entertainment at the time. He got interviewed by all the big late-night shows about it and the unfair process, was on Stern, etc etc. The whole nation sort of rallied behind him and agreed that SNL/Lorne Michaels acted unfairly at a time when the entire nation was also seemingly against Simpson. His outward clean-cut demeanor and presence is exactly what made him so subversive.
- HumblyTossed 3y ago
  >> I hope you talk in a more informed way about time you know > Totally unwarranted. Well, they do like their comedy "subversive", so what else could you expect?
- willcipriano 3y ago
  Norm being not subversive on the view: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3PP_SWHUQQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3PP_SWHUQQ
- JohnBooty 3y ago
  Norm MacDonald are not subversive at all Ahahahaha WHAT
jfengel 3y ago
It is helpful for me to remember that there was a time when Americans hated each other almost as much as we hate each other now. I still can't figure out how we got past it the first time. As best I can tell, it was because Nixon resigned. People had the sense to recognize that a bad thing happened, and we all agreed for once. In retrospect it seems positively quaint.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- dylan604 3y ago
  I would suggest that this "first time" you are referring to wasn't actually the first time. At least one time prior (there are probably others), it was settled with a brutal war referred to as the Civil War. I wonder if we will have to drop the word "the" and maybe use Civil War II and revise history books to say Civil War I if things continue to progress in certain directions.
  - rootusrootus 3y ago
    Anyone predicting Civil War II is probably too deep into their own ideology. The Civil War was a regional conflict, which is an important requirement. Democrats and Republicans may be very opposed to one another right now (at least in surface rhetoric; when we bother to discuss deeper than a few big issues we usually find more in common than not), but there's not much regionality to it. Every rural area rebelling against the nearest city isn't exactly the same idea as entire states deciding to secede.
    - jfengel 3y ago
      There are states that seem to be seriously considering secession. It would be a rational response to the belief that other states are manipulating the vote. That would bring along a lot of people who don't hold that belief.
      - dylan604 3y ago
JKCalhoun 3y ago
Laugh-In vs. Hee Haw. Yep, been with us at least that long.
dang 3y ago
Whoa, please don't cross into personal attack. You can make your substantive points without that. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.