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If you watch reruns of the show today, most of the political humor seems dated and most of it is actually very light, they took jabs rather than punches at the establishment.
But they also did other things which were terrific. I recall a show where George Segal and Paul Revere and the Raiders were the guest stars. They did a very elaborate musical version of "Mutiny on the Bounty" which was fall on the floor funny. Segal was Mr. Christian, the Raiders were the crew members, and Tommy of course was Captain Bligh.
Which reminds me...for those who were not around, it may seem hard to swallow, but in the late '60's and early '70's, the two most popular and entertaining celebrities on talk shows were the actors George Segal and Robert Blake. You would make a point of watching if either of them were scheduled to appear.
It was a fabulous show!!
I dont think younger people can appreciate how political it was, because it was all subtlety and nuance.
In this era where sex is overt and open, it's hard for people to comprehend how much everything was censored back then.
CBS and Tommy S. were at constant war over the show, so much so, the censors were asking for the script in advance.
The political stuff might seem light be todays standards, but actually was very hard to get by in that time.
No, Paulsen was a mock candidate, his affiliation was the "Straight Talking American Government" party, or "STAG Party." He raised campaign funds with a kissing booth. At every campaign stop he would say "I love (fill in name of city), this is where I plan to live some day, these are real people here, not like all the phoneys back in Hollywood." Then when he returned to LA he got off the plane and said "Its great to be back in Hollywood, away from all those phoney people on the road."
He got some write in votes in '68, but wasn't actually on any ballot. In later years when he resurrected the campaign, I believe that he did get listed on the New Hampshire primary ballot and outdraw a couple of the legitimate candidates.
The campaign had risen from his weekly editorials which were the funniest things on tv at the time...a few samples..
On the draft:
"A good many people feel that our present draft laws are unjust. These people are called soldiers."
On censorship:
"So we conclude that there is indeed a place for the censor on television, and I only wish I could tell you
where."
Yup, he was a comedian playing the role of a political activist/politican. This was years before Steve Cobert, but it was a similar idea.
My dad, who was a vet also watched it. I don't know if he agreed with everything but he laughed a lot at the jokes and appreciated how clever they were. He definitely did not belong to the target age of the show's audience.
It was a fabulous show!!
I dont think younger people can appreciate how political it was, because it was all subtlety and nuance.
In this era where sex is overt and open, it's hard for people to comprehend how much everything was censored back then.
CBS and Tommy S. were at constant war over the show, so much so, the censors were asking for the script in advance.
The political stuff might seem light be todays standards, but actually was very hard to get by in that time.
That's one of the biggest changes from then to now. The brother smothers came out of the folk revival and their politics were not unusual there, but to CBS they were revolutionary and CBS feared the desertion of ad revenue. It also highlights how ultra touchy everyone was then about politcs and how easy you made enemies by disagreeeing with people. CBS assumed the freewheeling idea would rub off on the network.
I think one result of the you disagree and thus must be the enemy point of view on steroids during that time is that today people freely go much further off the middle but its come not to be an issue.
Good thread. I well recall their wonderful show, and I still listen to their albums to this day.
It must be recalled that their father, a West Point graduate and Army officer, died in WWII in a Japanese prisoner camp. It is perhaps no wonder that Tom and Dick were against the Vietnam war.
They are retired, although I saw them the other night in the CNN show "The Sixties", where they talked briefly about their television show and their trouble with the censors.
Yo-Yo's made a comeback as a toy during that period, when Tommy did his Yo-Yo man routine.
I saw Tommy once, in a hotel bar in San Antonio. I believe they had just finished a concert, and Tommy was visiting the bar to have a drink and talk with other patrons. We did not go up to disturb him, but at one point he looked around, saw me staring, and lifted his glass to me in a toast.
Some great topical comedy that usually went over my head as a pre-teen.
There's no video of it I can find, but one of the moments I remember was during a Who appearance when Keith Moon's kit exploded and singed Tommy's hair as well as shooting a cymbal cutting into Moon's arm (due to more explosives than needed in the charge).
In retrospect, it was a game changer. A writing staff that rivaled the old Sid Caesar shows, with Steve Martin, Bob Einstein (also Officer Judy), Rob Reiner and others. What was most interesting about it at the time was that CBS was primarily noted for appealing to an older demographic than ABC or NBC. TSMCH was their one show aimed at a younger age group, which made for considerable discomfort between the two.
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