23 year old Steve Martin on Smothers Brothers

[Dennis Donovan]

[defacto7]

1. Steve Martin, My favorite comedian. Always has been

[Dennis Donovan]

4. What a funny dude!

I had both his albums (LP's).

[Initech]

6. I saw him live with the Steep Canyon Rangers.

If you ever get the chance, go. You will not be disappointed! He is hilarious, and the SCR are some of the tightest musicians you will ever see live.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. We always watched The Smothers Brothers at my house

I'm also pretty sure we had some of their albums - probably still do, my brother would have them. Thanks for posting this, I loved their show as a kid - and my parents obviously did too!

[Dennis Donovan]

3. They were edgy for that time

At least in the sense that was acceptable for TV. The truly edgy comedians (like Lenny Bruce) weren't allowed to be edgy on TV.

...and I'm sure the faux magic routine probably won him a spot on Carson - Johnny loved magic, good and bad.

[FakeNoose]

5. Yes their edginess got the show cancelled

The Smothers Brothers were quite liberal, anti-Nixon and anti-Vietnam and also outspoken about their political views.
As I recall they weren't so political on the TV show but public speaking in interviews and such, very anti-war.

I was a teenager at the time, loved their show and loved their politics. However many adults complained about them and the network cancelled their show after only one year. It was a shame because the show was so good.

I remember Steve Martin as a young comedian however I don't recall this particular performance. He did many funny bits, starting out with the comically "bad" magic acts. Then he morphed into a stand-up comic and sang funny songs that I believe he wrote himself. A very talented guy, Steve Martin.

[Dave Starsky]

11. The Smothers Brothers were involved in a censorship battle.

When their guest Pete Seeger sang a medley of anti-war songs, including "Waist Deep In The Big Muddy", it got censored by the network. The Brothers complained openly about this and their show got canceled, despite it being one of the most popular shows on TV at the time.

[Rhiannon12866]

9. We watched the Smothers Brothers and That Was the Week That Was, another edgy satire

And of course Johnny Carson! I always knew I was awake way too late if I heard the Tonight Show theme song...

[argyl]

7. I saw Steve at El Centro Jr. College in Dallas around 71.

Didn’t really know who he was but he had everyone in stitches. Doing a lot of physical stuff with inflating balloons, phoney arrows in head, self deprecating with a dramatic flair much like the above video.
He was a little older and he was beginning to get the streaks of gray in his hair. It was a real treat.

Also saw George Carlin there. He was well known, and was brilliant. Biting political commentary with incisive social insights. And just flat out hilarious. We could really use him now.

I felt very fortunate to see these two brilliant comedians as a part of my extremely affordable tuition fees.

El Centro was referred to informally as Sanger Harris High due to the fact that it was entirely located in the old Sanger Harris department store.

It’s now El Centro Community College, the first school of the Dallas County Community College system.

And if the name is familiar its parking garage was where the man who killed five police officers last year was cornered and killed.

[TexasBushwhacker]

10. I saw Carlin around '71 too at University of Houston

It was in a gym (LOL) and it was a "pillow performance". You brought a pillow and sat on the floor. That was a good thing because we were Opening act was Steve Goodman. Good times.

[LeftInTX]

8. No gray hair!

My son was surprised to see that Steve Martin had gray hair all the way back to his SNL days.


This is the first I've seen of him without gray hair.

[Ohiya]

12. Chinese mystery pagoda box of the dead.

I'm easy!