Smothers staying with proven comic formula

Friday, May 2, 2003 | 9:46 a.m.

Who: The Smothers Brothers.

When: 7:30 p.m., Tuesday through June 1. Dark Mondays.

Where: Las Vegas Hilton Theater.

Tickets: $35.50, $46.50.

Information: 732-5111.

His race cars are retired, but Dick Smothers keeps on truckin', performing more than 100 comedy dates a year.

At 62, the bass-playing younger brother of 65-year-old Tom Smothers has backed off the accelerator a bit after almost 45 fast-paced years in show business.

The former race car driver (among other feats, he drove a Corvette in the 1972 Le Mans 24-hour endurance race) now focuses on yoga, exercise, fishing and boating.

He kayaks in the canal outside his Sarasota, Fla., home, but his days at Le Mans were left in the dust long ago.

"I love the lifestyle down here," Smothers said during a recent telephone interview from Sarasota, where he moved a couple of years ago after being a Las Vegas resident for 10 years.

He and his brother will perform at the Las Vegas Hilton Tuesday through June 1.

The Smothers Brothers' first professional appearance was at the Purple Onion in San Francisco in 1959, and their first national television appearance was on the "Tonight Show," when it was hosted by Jack Paar, on Jan. 28, 1961.

Since their debut they have been among the most successful comic acts in the country, once routinely appearing on all of the top talk shows and hosting their own show, the controversial "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" on CBS from 1967 until 1969, when their social and political commentary and their opposition to censorship got them fired.

They have performed in thousands of concerts around the country and are a perennial favorite at different venues in Las Vegas, where they first appeared in 1963 at the Flamingo, opening for Juliet Prowse.

The siblings were born in New York City, but graduated from Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, Calif. They attended San Jose State University, where Tom was a gymnast and Dick was on the track team.

The brothers now live on opposite ends of the United States. Tom resides on his ranch in Kenwood, Calif., home of his Remick Ridge Vineyards and Smothers Winery.

The distance has nothing to do with sibling rivalry.

"We've had a relationship kind of like an old married couple," Smothers said. "Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's not so good. But we're getting along great, performing and working together better than we ever have."

Smothers says he is excited that they have their former manger, Ken Kragen, on their team again.

"He was with us when we had our first big hit," Smothers said. "He was with us when we did the 20-year reunion of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.' "

While the brothers have remained busy, crisscrossing the country and entertaining children and grandchildren of fans they entertained decades ago, in recent years they have not enjoyed the national exposure they had early in their career. Smothers says bringing Kragen back on board is a move to get back into the national limelight.

The Smothers Brothers act has not changed dramatically through the years -- two guys onstage exchanging banter, one seemingly bright and exasperated, the other dim and frustrating.

There are no plans to change the routines, other than to maybe add a song or two and delete jokes that have grown old with time.

It would be more sad than funny for two guys in their 60s to argue about which one mother liked best, one of their classic bits from the early days, Smothers said.

"I grew up listening to George Burns and Gracie Allen," Smothers noted. "George stayed the same all the time. He was like an old friend to his fans. "Our style has always been the same, though there are a lot of differences between now and when we were in our 20s. There is still the bantering, the continuing conversation, the disagreements."

The brothers are fine musicians, and music is still the basis of the show. But it's the comedy that gave them their place in entertainment history, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"Had we concentrated on the music, who knows where we might have gone," Smothers said. "We are adequate musicians, but the comedy was a natural for us. That was the fastest way to stardom."

The brothers have always worked clean.

Smothers said but for a few notable exceptions, such as Redd Foxx and Lenny Bruce, most comedians in the '50s and '60s were clean.

Today, blue comics are in abundance.

"There's room for everything," Smothers said. "There are people who want raunchy shows. It's your ticket, your willingness to make it a choice."

He doesn't get out to see shows, clean or otherwise.

"I don't ever go to shows," Smothers said. "I'm so tired, I stay home. But I'm a big fan of talent."

The talent that inspired him the most growing up included Bud Abbott and Lou Costello and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Smothers says Jackie Mason is brilliant, but somewhat negative.

He also loves George Carlin, but would never do his kind of anger shtick.

"I saw Alan King perform and he did a show so perfect for his age group, about body parts failing, the memory going," Smothers said.

Johnny Carson, he said, was not a funny man on the "Tonight Show."

"He had a funny way of doing his stuff," Smothers said.

The same with Burns, Jack Benny and Bob Hope.

"When you turn them off and think about it, there was not a funny thing about them," he said. "It was in the way they presented themselves and their material."

Smothers said their own success was based on timing and luck.

"We could have been the same kids outside Des Moines, Iowa, and driven to Lincoln, Nebraska, looking for a break," he said. "But we were in San Jose and we just drove 50 miles to San Francisco."

That was fortunate for a legion of friends, a legion that continues to grow.

"What's great is when people get dragged to our show against their will, they almost always like it," Smothers said.