There were pumas in the crevasses!!

As I well know, revisiting the mass media joys of one's past can be a dangerous thing. I loved the fantasy movie The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T (co-created by Dr. Seuss) when I was a kid, but when I saw the movie again some 20 years later, I was sorely disappointed. I think it's letting such a lot of time pass between viewings, as I still love The Music Man and How to Succeed in Business and the old I Love Lucys which I loved as a kid and continued to have access to as I grew up. Still, I forge ahead bravely, risking disappointment, when I get the chance to re-view some of my childhood pleasures.

Hence, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: The Best of Season 3 on DVD. In my memory, I have lumped this show in with another hip, controversial 60's comedy-variety series, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. A few years ago, I watched some old Laugh-In episodes and, while some bits still made me laugh, I appreciated it more as an exercise in nostalgia. I got pretty much the same feeling with the Smothers Brothers, who took their existing comic folk-music act and gave it a political jolt with lots of satirical jabs at the war, the government, and parents, and made lots of references (some veiled, some not) to drugs and the protest movement. By the third season (1968-69, the season during which they were cancelled due to their controversial material while still being a top 20 show), they had pretty much dropped their sibling rivalry schtick (slow Tommy whining to pompous Dickie, "Mom always liked you best!") for topical humor, and as we all know, that's the humor most susceptible to becoming quickly dated, and that's definitely true here.

However, the musical performances are still quite enjoyable, and not lip-synched. The Doors do "Touch Me" with horn players sharing the stage, Mama Cass sings "Dream a Little Dream of Me" to a napping Tommy Smothers, and on an episode that was taped during a musician's strike, the theme song and other musical backing for the evening is done acappella by a singing group, and Donovan (at right) performs "Happiness Runs" as a round with the audience--quite enchanting. Some comic bits by an improv group called The Committee (with Rob Reiner and Peter Bonerz among the members) don't hold up very well, and surprisingly, Jackie Mason, who is still performing today, seems outdated as well. The Smothers' banter is still mostly fun, and I was surprised how vividly a bit came back to me in which Tommy, while deconstructing a old work song, insists that American railroad workers of yore had to deal with the dangers of pumas in crevasses. You have to hear him insist on that over and over, his voice rising in pitch and volume, to really get it. If you don't mind having your misty memories get a little jaded, this set would be fun for most boomers.

I couldn't embed the video of Donovan's "Happiness Runs" performance, but here's a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkxRoCdYG0U