YoYo Man Tommy Smothers and His Brother Brought Laughs to the World Along with Their Music

Tommy Smothers and his brother, Dick, started out as a serious musical act that morphed into one of 20th century’s most successful comedy teams. In the '60s, they were the eponymous stars of the Sunday night TV variety show “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour." In this clip from the show, Tommy performs yo-yo tricks following his brother's commands. And here's a video from 1988 when they played with the Boston Pops. Both are fun, and the comments are good too. Here's one of them: "Tommy was a class act. The YoYo Man......'Mom always liked you best' and so much more. Thanks for all the laughs Tommy. Rest In Peace."The picture in the thumbnail and the chapters, credited to CBS Television, is a 1967 cropped photo available on commons.wikimedia.org. It shows Tommy performing on the brothers' show. The photo does not include who he was performing with — his brother and their guest, Judy Collins.Also in the chapters, you can go right to the tribute by skipping my intro; feel free to skip my closing remarks too. Both are there to provide context for those who haven't listened to the other tributes.Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime writer and editor, wrote and recorded this tribute and the others in the series. Audio engineer/musician Mike Villegas edited the audio. Sheldon also created Song of the Day, which was a daily feature delivered to an email list of subscribers. He ended it in early 2026 which, I suppose, means that Song of the Day deserves a tribute of its own. The good thing is that the tributes to music makers live on. Each is a snapshot of the life of one music maker whose work made an impact on the lives of many.Send us Fan MailThis is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation®, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Spotify, iHeart and Audible.