Double Bass Dick Smothers

[lurk]

Here's a picture from today's NYT. Looks like a decent bass and his right hand looks legit. Was he a good player? Anybody know?

 

[MonetBass]

He is not an exceptional bassist, but played basic stuff, which honestly was all that was required for their music.

 

[mikeoso]

He is not an exceptional bassist, but played basic stuff, which honestly was all that was required for their music.

Close enough for folk.

 

[mikeGJ]

Yes, he could play.

 

[5StringBlues]

I have a daisy on my toe

 

[Don Kasper]

Dick. Not Dich. His first name is Dick...and, yes, his mother always liked him, and his playing, best.
Sheesh.

 

[Don Hergert]

Just think, that photo has been the inspiration for thousands of double bass players who started out with the baseball grip...

(Me included, although I've recently been assimilated.)

Oh, the humanity!



P.S. His real first name is Richard.

 

[GretschWretch]

Dick. Not Dich. His first name is Dick...and, yes, his mother always liked him, and his playing, best.
Sheesh.

The mother liking Dick best probably accounts for Keith Moon putting all those explosives in his bass drum when the Who played on The Smothers Brothers Hour. Tom hired Keith to put a hit on Dick.

 

[SDC1-ClickClack]

Here's a picture from today's NYT. Looks like a decent bass and his right hand looks legit. Was he a good player? Anybody know?

Well, you know, you could try watching a couple of YT videos to see and hear examples of him playing.
Just a thought.

 

[Holdsg]

back when comedy made you laugh

 

[SDC1-ClickClack]

back when comedy made you laugh

...instead of clapping. That audience reaction always smacks of "virtue-signalling" agreement rather than, y'know, actually just finding the comedy FUNNY.

 

[Five or Six]

And he doesn't care if we like his playing or not.

 

[ardgedee]

They were a comedy duo parodying the late 50s-early 60s folk singer trend, ended up more successful than most of the people in the scenes they were riffing on. They obviously did it with love though -- the variety show they hosted in the late 60s repeatedly got them in hot water (and eventually the show got canceled) for having comedians and folkies doing controversial material.

And they could play folk music straight too. Did a pretty good job, the musicianship served the material.

 

[Michael Eisenman]

Take it, Tom!

 

[lurk]

I thought maybe he had a musical life outside of the act. I met Bill Daily once, Howard on the Bob Newhart Show, and he was extremely proud of the fact that on one of his gigs Ray Brown came by and said some nice things about his bass playing.

 

[5StringBlues]

His brother had a chicken named frank! It was hard for that chicken to pull that one wheel wagon!

 

[coyote1]

They played what they played on the show. But the ease with which they did it, in front of a studio audience AND knowing they were playing to millions on tv, tells me they had to be very good musicians. You don’t just do that with different material on a weekly basis without being good at it.

 

[Holdsg]

Pewmas in the Cravises!

 

[BobDeRosa]

His bass is on display at the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, NY.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

They juggled balls in the air with their act. Play, sing, jokes, timing, remembering their bit.
Sold alot of records too.
First place I seen the Who, The Turtles, The Association....
Heck yeah they could play!