Dangerously funny / by David Bianculli.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The birth of the Smothers brothers (and the Smothers sister) -- The Smothers Brothers, all three of them, take the stage -- Tom and Dick shoot for Paar -- The Smothers Brothers, on the record -- "High noon on the Ponderosa" -- Revolution in a shoe box -- And so it begins : The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour -- Testing the CBS censors, the first encounters -- From hit status to Elaine May not -- Becoming more creative, and more substantive -- Homegrown talent : Pat Paulsen, Leigh French, Mason Williams -- Season two : breaking the blacklist of Pete Seeger -- The Who explodes -- The generation gap widens, even on TV -- Wading back into "The Big Muddy" -- "Classical gas" -- The Smothers Brothers Smothers Show -- Season three : "We're still here" -- Meet the Beatles, this time on Comedy Hour -- Pat Paulsen for president -- David Steinberg finds religion -- Hair today, gone tomorrow -- Beeping censors lurking in the wings -- Classics and controversies -- Fired, not canceled -- The aftermath, the bed-in, and the trial -- After the fall, and couples therapy -- The Smothers Brothers legacy.