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Hitler Has Only Got One Ball

"Hitler Has Only Got One Ball", sometimes known as "The River Kwai March", is a World War II British song, the lyrics of which, sung to the tune of the World War I-era "Colonel Bogey March", impugn the masculinity of Nazi leaders by alleging they had missing, deformed, or undersized testicles. Multiple variant lyrics exist, but the most common version refers to rumours that Adolf Hitler had monorchism ("one ball"), and accuses Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler of microorchidism ("two but very small") and Joseph Goebbels of anorchia ("no balls at all"). An alternative version suggests Hitler's missing testicle is displayed as a war trophy in the Royal Albert Hall.

The author of the lyrics is unknown, though several claims have been made. The song first appeared among British soldiers in 1939 and was quickly taken up by Allied military and civilians. Its familiarity increased after its use in a scene in the 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai. The song has been cited as an example of morally-correct disrespect that used political mockery to boost morale in wartime.

Lyrics

The best known stanza consists of the following quatrain:

The opening line is a reference to widespread rumours that Adolf Hitler had monorchism ("one ball" meaning one testicle). The second and third lines similarly attack Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring and SS chief Heinrich Himmler by suggesting they had microorchidism ("very small" testicles). In the fourth line, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels's name is often mispronounced "go-balls" so that it rhymes with the accusation of anorchia ("no balls" meaning no testicles).

Analysis
The lyrics attack Nazi leaders' masculinity by mocking and belittling their alleged testicular deformities. University of Kent psychology professor Janet Sayers wrote that the song was a response by the Allies to the use of "male fantasy" in Nazi propaganda. According to Brian O. Murdoch, a philologist with the University of Stirling, a notable aspect of the lyrics is that they attack enemy leaders, but not the enemy in general. Folklorist Greg Kelley of the University of Guelph-Humber wrote: "As a means of ridiculing the Nazis, 'Hitler Has Only Got One Ball' became immensely popular among Allied troops, who in transmitting this song were exercising something of a wartime convention by demeaning the sexual faculties of enemy leaders. But the mockery extended beyond just the Nazis' sexual capacities. Since the 1920s, the words balls or ballsy had come to denote notions of courage, nerve, or fortitude. In that sense, defective testicles rendered the Nazis defective soldiers. This song's itemized taxonomy of malformed German genitalia—the monorchid, the micro-orchid, the anorchid—was particularly forceful, and satisfying, to Allied soldiers in that it scattered satiric buckshot across the whole Nazi high command (Hitler; Hermann Göring, commander in chief of the Luftwaffe; Heinrich Himmler, Reichsführer of the SS; and Goebbels, Reich minister of propaganda)."

According to Kelley, in claiming that Hitler had only one testicle, the opening line suggests that Hitler had less than the normal amount of sexual prowess and, symbolically, courage. Mad studies scholar Richard A. Ingram wrote that the accusation of monorchidism in the song alluded to the theory that monorchidism caused Hitler to be insane, in the same way that lone nut' retains the idea of a causal relationship between monotesticularity and madness." Jason Lee of De Montfort University wrote, "Just as Shakespeare used a disability based on some fact to construct Richard III's character, in the case of Hitler disability is equated with not just moral weakness but evil." University of Stirling philosophy professor Rowan Cruft describes the song as an example of morally-appropriate disrespect, writing "Hitler's actions made it morally correct to show him disrespect" by singing the song.

All known versions of the original verse end with "no balls at all". According to Kelley, "in this musical catalogue of testicular disorders, the definitive last entry is always anorchism – the physical signifier of a lack of courage or character."

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville philosophy professor Greg Littmann writes that the song is an example of political mockery used to build a "fighting spirit". Maria Curie-Skłodowska University lecturer Joanna Jabłońska-Hood describes the song as using comedy to attack the masculinity of Nazi leaders, turning them from symbols of strength to objects of pity. According to Jabłońska-Hood, the apparent contradiction of high-ranking Nazi leaders being pitied mirrors the juxtaposition of the cheerful, upbeat tune of Colonel Bogey March with the "grim subject" of the lyrics. University of Nottingham music professor Mervyn Cooke describes the tune as "reflect[ing] the moods of humour in adversity and pride in the resilience of the underdog".

Other versions

Additional British verses ran:

In addition to the common reference to Hitler's rumoured monorchidism, these versions suggest he was abused by his mother, and that Hitler's severed testicle ultimately became a war trophy on public display in the Royal Albert Hall. Variations of the "Albert Hall" lyrics were still sung by schoolchildren in the London neighbourhoods of Finsbury in 1983 and Kensington in 1984. Regional variations found in other areas of the United Kingdom use (for example) Ulster Hall (Northern Ireland), Kelvin Hall (Glasgow), Free Trade Hall (Manchester), and Leeds Town Hall (Leeds).

After Hitler's death at the end of World War II, later versions changed the first line to the past-tense: "Hitler, he only had one ball". Other postwar variations of the first line included "only one big ball" and "only one left ball" (which latter folklorist Greg Kelley of the University of Guelph-Humber calls "a curious description, given that having one left testicle is considered the norm"). Another variation, "only one meat ball", emerged in the mid-1940s after The Andrews Sisters version "One Meat Ball". Some variants used by children replace "Go-balls" with a fictional character, "Joe Balls".

Second verse
According to folklorist Greg Kelley of the University of Guelph-Humber, there is a less common second verse:

Erwin Rommel, the decorated German field marshal known as the "Desert Fox" and more respected (or at least less hated) than the Nazi officials named in the first verse, is implied to be hypermasculine by virtue of having extra testicles (polyorchidism).

This verse's second line is a reference to the mystery surrounding the capture and imprisonment in 1941 of Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess. Hess secretly flew to Scotland to attempt to negotiate a peace treaty, but was arrested by the British and imprisoned for life.

The third line is an American addition referencing German boxer Max Schmeling, whose success was touted by Nazi propaganda as evincing Aryan superiority. Schmeling was defeated in 1938 by African-American boxer Joe Louis, "letting out a high-pitched cry" when Louis landed a decisive punch. This "yell heard around the world" became a symbol of American victory over Nazism.

Origin
An adaptation of the World War I-era "Colonel Bogey March", "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" first appeared among British troops in 1939. The exact origins of the lyrics (which are listed as number 10,493 in the Roud Folk Song Index) are unknown, and though there have been several claims of authorship there have apparently been no attempts to claim copyright.

Author Donough O'Brien stated in his autobiography that his father, Toby O'Brien, then a publicist for the British Council, wrote the lyrics in August 1939 to be used as wartime propaganda. The version purportedly authored by O'Brien begins "Göring has only got one ball, Hitler had two but very small", while almost all other versions have the order reversed ("Hitler has only got one ball, Göring had two but very small").

British composer and broadcaster Hubert Gregg claimed to have written the lyrics and submitted them anonymously to the British War Office to be used as wartime propaganda.

According to folklorist Greg Kelley of the University of Guelph-Humber, such claims by O'Brien and Gregg are "dubious" – governments rarely use humour as propaganda because such efforts are largely unsuccessful. According to Kelley, another possible explanation for the song's origin is that the lyrics developed organically from the difficulty English speakers had pronouncing Goebbels's name (in the song, "Goebbels" is mispronounced "go-balls").

In his purportedly factual 2001 BBC radio play Dear Dr. Goebbels, British screenwriter Neville Smith suggested that an undercover MI6 agent in Germany named Philip Morgenstern wrote the lyrics and used the song as a means to transmit intelligence to Britain concerning private details about Joseph Goebbels (the last line of the adaptation's first verse is "But poor old Goebbels has no balls at all").

Brian O. Murdoch, a philologist with the University of Stirling, wrote that the adaptation was an oral composition that likely originated in London. Murdoch stated that the opening line may have originated from various folk sources, such as the Irish ballad Sam Hall (which, in some versions, includes the lyric "Oh my name it is Sam Hall / and I've only got one ball").

According to Scottish poet Alan Bold, the last line may have been influenced by an earlier song called "No Balls At All", itself a parody of an Air Force song called "No Bombs At All", which in turn was a parody of a song about women's clothing called "Nothing to Wear".

River Kwai and post-war legacy
After World War II, the song (and the debate about Hitler's monorchism) remained in common parlance. Its use in David Lean's 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai led to the Mitch Miller band recording a best-selling version under the title "The River Kwai March". In Lean's early conception of the film, Allied soldiers in a Japanese prison camp would sing the song as an act of defiance. But after the widow of the composer of "Colonel Bogey March" objected to the bawdy lyrics, Lean decided that if the soldiers simply whistled the tune the audience would supply the lyrics mentally. Since then the song has been the subject of numerous cultural references, both comedic and controversial.

When, in 1980, The King's Own Calgary Regiment Band played the "Colonel Bogey March" (its official march) during a visit to Canada by Japan's prime minister, it was perceived as an insult to Japan, but in 2007 the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet Band played the tune in Japan without apparent objection.

The song appears in the satirical comic book limited series Adventures in the Rifle Brigade (2000), by Garth Ennis and Carlos Ezquerra, and the severed testicle is the main MacGuffin of its sequel, aptly named Operation Bollock (2001–2002).

A 2003 advertisement for Spitfire ale showed a picture of Hitler in military uniform with the caption "Spot the ball". In 2007, The Armstrong and Miller Show aired a comedy sketch mocking theories that the song had originated as a British intelligence report. In the sketch, a military officer reads the incoming report, which an intelligence agent describes as "possibly the single biggest intelligence coup of the war" (brackets in the original):

In the 2010s, the video game series Sniper Elite alluded to the song by including the ability to shoot off Hitler's single testicle with a rifle.

At the 2016 Winnipeg Comedy Festival, comedian Lara Rae referenced the song in a joke about the dangers of cats being neutered by non-professionals who might not complete the task: "It might start out okay, but you really have to finish the job. A cat with no balls is mellow; a cat with one ball is Hitler."

A 2019 episode of the American television series The Man in the High Castle shares its title with the song and features a scene in which it is sung.

In Germany, the song has been used in advertisements for the digestif Underberg, and in Japan, where it has been used in game shows and children's shows. Thomas Jefferson School of Law professor Aaron Schwabach described the song's appropriation not just by Britain's allies but also by its former enemies, whom the lyrics attack, as a form of "cultural transformation" that is "an essential tool of cultural survival in a global era".

According to folklorist Greg Kelley of the University of Guelph-Humber, these comedic references have been effective for nearly a century after the war engendering theories of Hitler's actual monorchism in the public consciousness.

title: Hitler Has Only Got One Ball


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Talk:Nu metal

Limp Bizkit not nu metal
Limp Bizkit are absolutely not nu metal. They're a rap band with some guitar riffs. All they do is rap, metal music has never been based on rap vocal style. Take away the guitar riffs from LB and what are you left with? A straight up rap song that just happens to use a real drum kit throwing in a bunch of cymbal splashes. The drumming isn't metal based, it's entirely rap beats, the singing is 100% rap, the DJ scratching etc are all rap. All LB did was add some guitar riffs to rap. That makes them rap as a genre not metal. Nu metal is metal music with various other INFLUENCES. When a bands entire style is grounded on rap, like LBs is, then they're not any form of metal music.

94.175.102.211 (talk) 11:01, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

 * We go by what reliable sources say on Wikipedia, and there's a ton of sources that call them nu metal. Sergecross73   msg me  11:52, 16 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Nu metal is raprock fused with other genres 2603:8001:1C01:B9B5:A53A:BCC4:476B:6331 (talk) 04:11, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

Coherence
It seems to be asserted as if it were a fact that these bands and their musical style were directly labeled "nu metal" in the early 1990s. The article doesn't have sources from before 1998 that describe the context of that era... because users didn't find this "nu metal" thing. Instead, it is mainly retrospective reviews from the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s as sources. The period from 1993 to 1998 should be considered in context.

Subsection "#Terminology and origins" gives a perspective supported by sources from the 2000s and 2010s. It reads, "MTV states that the early nu metal group Korn arrived in 1993 into the burgeoning alternative metal scene". This is a retrospective analysis from 2016 but cannot be interpreted as such in the sentence.

Subsection "#1993–1997: Early development and rise". It reads: "Joel McIver acknowledged Korn as the band that created and pioneered the nu metal genre with its demo Neidermayer's Mind, which was released in 1993." This is looking back in retrospect, but the setting was completely different. Music Connection (Vol. XVIII July 4, 1994, to July 17, 1994, issue 14, page 38) did a review of Korn performing at The Whisky and described "a rock band" with "a sound sometimes metal and sometimes funk".

There is no trace of "nu metal" in the Los Angeles Times review of Korn's first album by Mike Boehm from October 20, 1994. Those who were around when Korn and Deftones released their first albums know that they weren't labeled as "nu metal" but just as "metal" or "hard rock". Korn was described as an "ultra-aggressive metal-rap hybrid" and "post-grunge alt-metal outfits" by Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic. There is no trace of "nu metal" in the review of Korn's second album by Jon Pareles of The New York Times on November 5, 1996, nor in the review by Kerrang! on August 3, 1996 (issue 607, page 43). Deftones was again described as a "hard rock" band by Billboard in November 1997, and "heavy metal" by Pollstar in December 1997. Some will say it's WP:FRINGE; while it depicts the context of that time and a chronology.

In the article, it reads, "There's some evidence to suggest that Coal Chamber were the first band to whom the tag 'nu metal' was actually applied, in a live review in Spin magazine." There is no indication of the date and number of this Spin magazine. In the article is written: "Nu metal continued to rise in popularity when Korn's 1996 album Life Is Peachy peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200" Sorry, but it's decontextualized; Korn was not a nu metal band on this tour, it was just metal. (Kerrang!, February 8, 1997, issue 634, pages 16–20; quote p.17: "hybrid of cutting edge metal intensity and bad-ass hip-hop grooves")

Subsection "#Mainstream success (1998–2002)". Context: Here we see Joe Fleischer of Spin writing "nü-metal" in July 1998: However, the terminology was not yet commonly used by MTV as they still described Korn on September 28, 1998, as "funk-metalers' latest album, Follow the Leader". An attempt was made on October 30, 1998, by Geoffrey Himes of The Washington Post who wrote: "The masters of this new sub-genre is Korn, whose first two albums went platinum". At this point, the bands were more often labeled nu-metal as Spin's Chuck Eddy wrote in December 1998: "Florida's Limp Bizkit ... nu-metal with rapped vocals".

The terminology became widespread during the second half of 1998, according to a retrospective article by Q magazine (March 2002, issue 188, page 98). In this review of the 1998 Family Values Tour, it is written that "The inaugural Family Values Tour paired self-immolating Germans with big-shorted American mall rats, recalls Dan Silver. Cue: the birth of nu-metal, 243,000 tickets sales and countless teenage bedrooms left untidy." It is also written: "The Family Values package proved to be a marketing masterstroke. Not only did it act as a catalyst for the nascent nu-metal scene, it also helped etablish its driving dynasty".

The subsection "#Mainstream success (1998–2002)" could be: "#Establishing nu metal terminology and mainstream popularity (1998–2002)". The words "retrospectively" and "in retrospect" could be included within the sentences for information from 1993 to 1998 supported by 2000s, 2010s and 2020s sources. Oroborvs (talk) 23:36, 22 September 2023 (UTC)

 * The prose is awful too. Endless name dropping and sales figures without any flow or narrative. Honestly I think it needs an entire rewrite, but I don't have to time or motivation to take on such an undertaking... Sergecross73   msg me  23:41, 22 September 2023 (UTC)

 * I think the same thing. I'm baffled by the amount of work to improve the article. A few Billboard chart performances for major albums would have been enough. A handful of sales figures for major acts like Korn, Linkin Park and Slipknot would also have been enough. I mean, half the article should be gone. I gave the timeline above, which is pretty simple, until the media named this scene "nu metal" in 1998, which exploded ("Mainstream success"). It is a mistake not to take into consideration sources before 1998, but well... Oroborvs (talk) 12:17, 23 September 2023 (UTC)

 * Wouldn't a more cohesive way of discussing the origin of the term be to include an "etymology" section? That is what's done on punk rock, moshing, heavy metal music and it's much easier to understand than flip flopping between the development of the music and the development of the term, always clarifying the bands are labelled "in retrospect" prior to 1998. There is already a "Terminology and origins" section in this article, but that doesn't actually discuss the term, it's just overview of its influences (I'm not sure why it's labelled that). Issan Sumisu (talk) 14:41, 23 September 2023 (UTC)

 * Yes, indeed, it might be better this way. Also, Jonathan Davis and NME said it was a "movement". Davis confirms that the term nu metal was not used immediately: We're not a metal band, y'all' then they'd go 'Oh, then you're nu-metal!. Same for Stephen Carpenter: "I remember when these subgenre names didn't exist. It was just metal." The #Precursors section is incomplete: There are also excessive citations in the article. The #Legacy section should be reduced as on New wave of British heavy metal. Oroborvs (talk) 17:19, 24 September 2023 (UTC)
 * While I don't necessarily disagree with you, we do need to exercise caution with going to much with first party band accounts of genre too. Bands love to ride the wave of a musical movement, and then abandon it when it falls out of popularity. Glam, grunge, 2000s Fall Out Boy emo bands - when the bubble burst, all of a sudden they say "Oh, we never really saw ourselves as a (genre) band." Nu metal is no different, especially in the late 2000s. If we strictly went by band accounts, there'd hardly me anyone left on the list. Sergecross73   msg me  22:11, 23 September 2023 (UTC)
 * I have definitely read something somewhere that discusses the idea of nu metal being a movement of post-grunge, industrial metal and rap metal bands who were popular at the same time rather than a genre. I've done some searching and can't find the one I specifically remember, but it does get a brief mention in this Spin article. It says "Nu-metal is a tough movement to pin down: Back in the late '90s and early '00s, it was an umbrella term for a strain of rock that grew parallel to the related genre post-grunge, as well as industrial metal and rap-rock" but it's very vague in what it means so I don't think it could be used in the context of the article but I do think it's an interesting view that could be discussed with a more detailed, third party source. I don't agree with it personally, I think nu metal was a sound but also a lot of bands who definitely didn't have that sound got lumped into it at the time (like Three Days Grace, Days of the New, Evanescence). Obviously my opinion doesn't hold wait there, but if anyone can find either the article I remember or something that similarly discusses it then it would probably be useful to incorporate. Issan Sumisu (talk) 23:28, 23 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Nu metal is a genre and sound because it is, and many sources prove it. They point out that it was a "movement", probably because of the image attached to the music; it was not just about music. Dan Silver said in the same Q magazine article (March 2002, issue 188, page 98): "At the time [1998], America's 'alternative' youth were still struggling to fill the post-grunge void." This may corroborate what Davis and NME said and Dan Silver, who wrote the "nascent nu-metal scene". Bob Gulla wrote something interesting in his 323-page book The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Rock History (The Grunge and Post-Grunge Years, 1991–2005, Vol. 6, ISBN 978-0-313-32981-4) page 207: "Rap metal and its kissing cousin nü-metal exploded in the aftermath of grunge". This shows that the period 1993 to 1998 is not of little interest. I cautiously believe the Spin journalists created the term 'nu metal'; there is evidence here, although it cannot be attested. Oroborvs (talk) 17:19, 24 September 2023 (UTC)
 * The quote you give for the term nu metal being popularised in the second half of 1998, beginning "The inaugural Family Values Tour", doesn't say the term was popularised then. Is that stated in a different section of that Q article or are you perceiving the phrase you bolded "the birth of nu-metal" as meaning the term was popularised at that moment? That part of this discussion is confusing me. Issan Sumisu (talk) 17:52, 24 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Dan Silver does not write anything about the term, nor "popularised", but about "birth", with the dates on the article's left side, "1998, Tour Details, Started: War Memorial, Rochester, New York, 22 June 1998. Finished: Patriot Center, Fairfax, Virginia, 31 October 1998." (Cover). I don't have a source claiming that the term first appeared in 1998, but I'm trying to demonstrate that it was absent until a certain point. Other examples: there is nothing about "nu metal" in the reviews of Adrenaline by Deftones (Kerrang!, Paul Brannigan, November 25, 1995, issue 573, page 45) and Korn's first album (Kerrang!, Jason Arnopp, November 18, 1995, issue 572, page 43) and their second album (Metal Hammer, Ian Winwood, November 1996, page 61, quote="A melting pot of metal, hardcore and rap"), (Kerrang!, Mörat, August 3, 1996, issue 607, page 43). Magazine covers in 1999: Hard Force magazine (January 1999), "Neo-Metal Against Metal Warriors, Explosion of the Extreme, It's War 1999". Total Guitar (December 1999), "Nu Metal, The New Stars of US Metal". . Oroborvs (talk) 19:54, 26 September 2023 (UTC)
 * I partially understand your concerns, but at the same time...sometimes that's just how things are when they are developing. Terms can be applied retroactively and there's nothing wrong with that. I know the example people always give is that World War 1 didn't start being called that until there was a World War 2 to have to differentiate it from.  Sergecross73   msg me  20:35, 26 September 2023 (UTC)
 * I was not expressing a negative opinion about a term applied retroactively, but how could this be indicated in the article in an understandable way with the information above, something I cannot explain without a wall of text here. Also, knowing this, the sentence "There's some evidence to suggest that Coal Chamber were the first band to whom the tag 'nu metal' was actually applied, in a live review in Spin magazine." cannot be placed before "In 1994, Korn released their self-titled debut album, which is widely considered the first nu metal album." And this Spin magazine has no publication date. Bob Gulla's The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Rock History, The Grunge and Post-Grunge Years, 1991–2005, Vol. 6, ISBN 978-0-313-32981-4, page 182: "Other bands that attempted to fill the bill in the second wave of industrial metal were Gravity Kills, Coal Chamber, and Grotus". Oroborvs (talk) 13:29, 30 September 2023 (UTC)

Broad influence
Honestly, based on what I have seen the past couple of months on this page, there seems to have been a lot of conflict over the coherence of this page as a whole. But one of the main things that I feel like has had the most issues was regarding all the bands that have influenced or precursor the genre. While there are some bands that could be agreed upon by some (e.g. Faith No More, Pantera), I have also seen the history of that section alone, how many opposing opinions that have existed, and how many other articles and sources outside of Wikipedia that would list almost a whole paragraph of bands influencing the genre. Because of this, I am not sure if there really even is a point of including that section at all, there may even be a small possibility that if the said influences were to be mentioned at all, they should all be in a separate article regarding it (considering how broad the range of artists and bands is). 2600:1700:E070:6390:C1DD:57E1:F13D:F0CF (talk) 00:37, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

 * All of that is way too vague to make any sort of sense. I'm not sure what of any of that is supposed to justify blanking the entirety of that sourced section. You'll have to be far more articulate to be persuasive. Sergecross73   msg me  01:18, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

What's with the legacy section?
just a bunch of guys complaining about how bad nu metal is, nothing to do with the legacy 2A00:23C8:CE05:7B01:E02A:FC19:CE68:93FC (talk) 15:11, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

 * Feel free to propose additions (and reliable sources that verify it.) Sergecross73   msg me  15:46, 28 May 2024 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Nu metal


text:
Talk:Xiaoping Deng

rediring to Xiaoping Deng moving explanation of link here,

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See Deng Xiaoping. The spelling "Xiaoping Deng" is used to clarify that "Deng" is the family name, but strictly speaking it is incorrect, since the surname always precedes the given name in Chinese.

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title: Talk:Xiaoping Deng


text:
Smothers Brothers

The Smothers Brothers were a duo of American folk singers, musicians, and comedians consisting of siblings Tom and Dick Smothers. The brothers' trademark double act was performing folk songs (Tommy on acoustic guitar, Dick on double bass), which usually led to arguments between them. Tommy's signature line was "Mom always liked you best!" Tommy (the elder of the two) acted "slow" and Dick, the straight man, acted "superior".

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the brothers frequently appeared on television variety shows and issued several popular record albums of their stage performances. Their own television variety show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, became one of the most controversial American TV programs of the Vietnam War era. Despite popular success, the brothers' (especially Tom's) penchant for material that was critical of the political mainstream and sympathetic to the emerging counterculture led to their firing by the CBS network in 1969. One episode was left unaired.

The brothers continued to work, both independently and as a team, on stage and television, and in films during subsequent decades.

Early years
The brothers were both born on Governors Island in New York Harbor, where their father, Thomas B. Smothers Jr., a West Point graduate and U.S. Army officer, was stationed. Tom was born on February 2, 1937, and Dick was born on November 20, 1938. Major Smothers served in the 45th Infantry Regiment and died during World War II, while being transported from a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Fukuoka, Japan, to a POW camp in Mukden, Manchukuo. They were raised by their mother in the Los Angeles area.

They graduated from Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California, and attended San Jose State University. After a brief time in a folk group called the Casual Quintet, the brothers made their first professional appearance as a duo in February 1959 at The Purple Onion in San Francisco. They were a popular act in clubs and released several successful top 40 albums for Mercury Records, the most successful being Curb Your Tongue, Knave! in 1964. Their first national television appearance was on The Jack Paar Show on January 28, 1961. On October 6, 1963, the Smothers Brothers made an appearance on the CBS variety series The Judy Garland Show which also showcased Barbra Streisand. Tom and Dick inherited Garland's time slot when their own variety series began in early 1967.

The brothers appeared in a segment of the television series Burke's Law, in 1964, in which they played two compulsive hoarders. Their first television series was a situation comedy, The Smothers Brothers Show (1965–1966), produced by Four Star Television. Tom played an angel come back to earth to oversee his brother Dick, who played a swinging bachelor. It did not do well in the ratings and had little of the music that was identified with the brothers. Tom said in 1969 that "Four Star gave me ulcers."

History
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour started out as only a slightly "hip" version of the typical comedy-variety show of its era, but rapidly evolved into a show that extended the boundaries of what was considered permissible in television satire at that time. While the Smothers themselves were at the forefront of these efforts, credit also goes to the roster of writers and regular performers they brought to the show, including Steve Martin, Don Novello, Rob Reiner, presidential candidate Pat Paulsen, Bob Einstein, Albert Brooks, and resident hippie Leigh French. The show also introduced audiences to pop singer Jennifer Warnes (originally billed as Jennifer Warren or simply Jennifer), who was a regular on the series. The television premiere of Mason Williams' hit record, "Classical Gas", took place on the show; Williams was also the head writer for the series.

Musical guests
The series showcased new musical artists to whom other comedy-variety shows rarely gave airtime, due to the nature of their music or their political affiliations. George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Joan Baez, Buffalo Springfield, Cass Elliot, Harry Belafonte, Cream, Donovan, The Doors, Glen Campbell, Janis Ian, Jefferson Airplane, The Happenings, Peter, Paul and Mary, Spanky and Our Gang, Steppenwolf, Simon & Garfunkel, The Hollies, The Who, and even Pete Seeger were showcased on the show, despite the advertiser-sensitive nature of their music.

Seeger's appearance was his first appearance on network television since being blacklisted in the 1950s. It became controversial because of his song choice, "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy", an anti-war song that the network considered to be an insult to President Lyndon Johnson and his Vietnam War policy. The song was censored on Seeger's first appearance but permitted on a later appearance.

In September 1968, the show broadcast in successive weeks "music videos" (called "promotional films" at the time) for The Beatles' double A-side single "Hey Jude" and "Revolution". Before a rowdy crowd at the Los Angeles Forum, Jimi Hendrix dedicated "I Don't Live Today" to the Smothers Brothers, as heard on The Jimi Hendrix Box Set.

The Who incident
The performance by The Who in 1967 was another defining moment in the series. As the group often did during that period, The Who destroyed their instruments at the conclusion of their performance of "My Generation", with the usual addition of mild explosives for light pyrotechnic effect. The piece ended with guitarist Pete Townshend grabbing Tommy's guitar and smashing it. On the Smothers Brothers show that night a small amount of explosive was put into the small cannon that Keith Moon kept in his bass drum. But it did not go off during the rehearsal. Unbeknownst to Moon, a stage hand had added another explosive before the taping, and later Moon added another charge so that now there were three explosive charges in the cannon instead of one. When Moon detonated it, the explosion was so intense that a piece of cymbal shrapnel cut into Moon's arm; Moon is heard moaning in pain toward the end of the piece. Townshend, who had been in front of Moon's drums at the time, had his hair singed by the blast; he is seen putting out sparks in his hair before finishing the sketch with a visibly shocked Tommy Smothers. The blast contributed heavily to Townshend's long-term hearing loss.

Controversies and cancellation
With its focus having evolved toward a more youth-oriented one, the show became both popular and controversial. Three specific targets of satire – racism, the President of the United States, and the Vietnam War – wound up defining the show's content for the remainder of its run, eventually leading to its demise. However, contrary to popular belief, the brothers did not agree politically, with Tom being the one having more intention to challenge the political establishment; he even later described his younger brother as "more conservative politically."

The brothers soon found themselves in regular conflict with CBS's network censors. At the start of the 1968–69 season, the network ordered that the Smothers Brothers deliver their shows finished and ready to air 10 days before air date so that the censors could edit the shows as necessary. In the season premiere, CBS deleted the entire segment of Belafonte singing "Lord, Don't Stop the Carnival" against a backdrop of the havoc during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, along with two lines from a satire of their main competitor, Bonanza. As the year progressed, battles over content continued, including a David Steinberg sermon about Moses and the Burning Bush.

With some local stations making their own deletions of controversial skits or comments, the continuing problems over the show came to a head after CBS broadcast a rerun on March 9, 1969. The network explained the decision by stating that, because that week's episode did not arrive in time to be previewed, it would not be shown. In that program, Joan Baez paid tribute to her then-husband, David Harris, who was entering prison after refusing military service, while comedian Jackie Mason made a joke about children "playing doctor". When the show finally did air, two months later, the network allowed Baez to state that her husband was in prison, but edited out the reason.

Despite the conflict, the show was picked up for the 1969-70 season on March 14, seemingly ending the debate over its status. However, network CEO and President William S. Paley abruptly cancelled the show on April 4, 1969. The reason given by CBS was the brothers’ refusal to meet the pre-air delivery dates as specified by the network in order to accommodate review by the censors. This cancellation led the brothers to file a successful breach of contract suit against the network, although the suit failed to see the brothers or their show returned to the air. Despite this cancellation, the show went on to win the Emmy Award that year for best writing. The saga of the cancellation of the show is the subject of a 2002 documentary film, Smothered.

Later career and retirement
The Smothers Brothers starred in several other television shows. These included a 1968 CBS summer replacement series, The Summer Brothers Smothers Show; a 1970 ABC summer series, The Return of the Smothers Brothers; an NBC series called The Smothers Brothers Show (1975), initially produced by Joe Hamilton (who concurrently produced The Carol Burnett Show, starring his wife), which was an unsuccessful attempt to recapture the look and feel of the original comedy-variety series without the controversy; and The Tom and Dick Smothers Brothers Specials I and II in 1980.

In February 1970, The Return of the Smothers Brothers aired. The hour-long special was written by Tom Smothers, David Steinberg, and Bob Einstein. Guests included Peter Fonda and Glen Campbell.

In 1978, the brothers starred in a replacement cast for I Love My Wife, Cy Coleman's and Michael Stewart's Broadway musical satire on the sexual revolution of the 1970s, directed by Gene Saks.

In 1981, Tom and Dick Smothers played non-brothers in a light TV drama, set in San Francisco, titled Fitz and Bones. Both characters worked at a Bay Area television station; Tom played cameraman Bones Howard and Dick played Ryan Fitzpatrick, an investigative reporter. The show was cancelled after five episodes. In 1985 they guest-starred as themselves on Benson season 6, episode 17 "Solid Gold".

The pair starred in the Cinemax Comedy Experiment Rap Master Ronnie, a film version of Garry Trudeau and Elizabeth Swados' off-Broadway play. In 1989, they also appeared in the box office flop Speed Zone aka Cannonball Fever co-starring John Candy, Peter Boyle, and Donna Dixon.

In 1988, Tom and Dick reunited with CBS for a special celebrating the 20th anniversary of their variety show (though their show premiered in 1967, which made it their 21st anniversary). The brothers used the special to pay tribute to their network and also poke fun at it for cancelling them 19 years earlier. Several of their former writers, including Steve Martin, Rob Reiner, and Mason Williams appeared as guests, as did former series regulars such as Jennifer Warnes and Glen Campbell. The success of the special led to The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1988–1989). This show began production during a 1988 Writers Guild of America strike as the WGA had agreed to settle with the show's producer and grant the show an exemption from the strike and allow writers to go back to work for the series.

1988 also marked the release of The Yo Yo Man Instructional Video, a VHS release in which Tom's non-speaking "Yo-Yo Man" character, who appeared as early as the 1960s, guides viewers through basic yo-yo moves. The video sold over 200,000 copies.

In 2004, they guest starred on Bonnie Hunt's Life With Bonnie.

The brothers have worked independently as well; Dick has appeared as an actor in films, including a rare dramatic role as a Nevada state senator in Martin Scorsese's Casino. Tom appeared in the 2005 made-for-television movie Once Upon a Mattress.

They appeared in the documentary The Aristocrats in 2005, and had separate cameos in the 2009 film The Informant! In December 2009, the duo guest starred in a 21st-season episode of The Simpsons that also featured Cooper, Peyton, and Eli Manning.

After more than 51 years of touring, the Smothers Brothers officially announced their retirement from touring during their final performance at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sunday May 16, 2010. The affair was kept low key with some family members and friends in attendance.

On July 22, 2019, the Smothers Brothers made their first official appearance together in almost a decade at a charity event held at McCurdy's Comedy Theater in Sarasota, Florida. Though not a proper performance, they spoke about their careers and answered audience questions. The duo donated much of their archives and artifacts from their career to the National Comedy Center a week later and appeared at the Chautauqua Institution to discuss the 50th anniversary of the cancellation of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

The Smothers Brothers made several appearances in 2022. On the December 11, 2022, episode of CBS News Sunday Morning, the brothers announced that they would be going on tour in 2023. However, the tour was cancelled and Tom Smothers announced in July 2023 that he was diagnosed with stage 2 lung cancer. He died on December 26, 2023, at the age of 86.

Tom Smothers, along with his wife Marcy Carriker, operated the Remick Ridge Vineyards (Remick was the maiden name of Smothers' mother) in Sonoma County, California.

Awards
In 2003, the brothers were awarded the George Carlin Freedom of Expression Award from the Video Software Dealers' Association. The award was in recognition of the brothers' "extraordinary comic gifts and their unfailing support of the First Amendment". In the same year, they both received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from San Jose State University. The Boston Comedy Festival presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to the brothers in 2008.

In September 2008, during the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, Tommy Smothers, a lead writer of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, was belatedly awarded a 1968 Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Comedic Series. The award was presented to him by Steve Martin, one of the show's original writers. In 1968, Tommy Smothers had refused to let his name be on the list of writers nominated for the Emmy because he felt his name was too controversial, and thus when the writing staff won he was the only member not to receive the award.

The Smothers Brothers were inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2010. They were given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1989.

On June 18, 2022, the Smothers Brothers received the Johnny Carson Comedy Legend Award at the conclusion of the Great American Comedy Festival in Norfolk, Nebraska.

Albums

 * 1961: The Smothers Brothers at the Purple Onion
 * 1962: The Two Sides of the Smothers Brothers
 * 1963: Think Ethnic!
 * 1963: Curb Your Tongue, Knave!
 * 1964: It Must Have Been Something I Said!
 * 1965: Tour de Farce: American History and Other Unrelated Subjects
 * 1965: Aesop's Fables
 * 1966: Mom Always Liked You Best!
 * 1966: The Smothers Brothers Play It Straight
 * 1967: Golden Hits of the Smothers Brothers, Vol. 2
 * 1968: Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
 * 1988: Sibling Revelry: The Best of the Smothers Brothers

title: Smothers Brothers