Smothers Brothers’ act remains unique, pleasing

Joe Delaney

Friday, July 28, 2000 | 8:44 a.m.

The Smothers Brothers, Tom and Dick, are celebrating their 42nd year in show business in their favorite Las Vegas home, the Orleans showroom, through Sunday. Survivors of the folk music revival of the mid-1950s, the duo continue to maintain their top-quality mixture of mirth and music.

The musical content is outstanding, but it is the sibling rivalry-based comedy, with Dick, the younger brother, showing frayed patience as he attempts to contain and discipline his older brother, Tom, that makes the performance complete. Their act is based on truth told funny, with many profound nuggets worth savoring later as well.

"Boil That Cabbage Down" is their standard opener, a get-up-to-speed number, comparable to the late Louis Armstrong's "Back Home In Indiana," Satch's starter, no matter the place or the occasion. In the performance caught, Tom's rambling ruminations extended their opening number for nearly 15 hilarious minutes.

"The Troubadour Song," a madrigal intended for Dick to sing with Tom doing the "fa-la-las," was interrupted by Tom's discourse on "a big mother bird" before coming to a conclusion of sorts. "Quando Caliente a Sol" is another very funny high spot, especially when Tom takes over in German and Spanish as Dick lets him run his course.

Tom's "Don't Pet The Dog" leads into a George Burns story and Tom's attempt to perform a classic vaudeville routine, "What Kind of Dog is It?" with Dick as his straight man, getting the laughs, destroying the attempt as revenge for Tom's destruction of the previous song. Tom is sent off by Dick, returning as "The Yo-Yo Man," usually the closer, just as funny slotted here.

A film sequence, nicely assembled, a family portrait plus segments from the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" TV shows followed, and the Brothers closed with "Impossible Dream" followed by a demanded encore with audience participation on "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore."

There is talk that the Smothers Brothers will cut back their performance schedule and devote more time to separate personal interests. Our wish, shared by the entire audience that night, is that they keep "Boiling That Cabbage Down" for the foreseeable future.