Appreciation: What made Tom Smothers a childhood hero of mine — and so many others

Tom Smothers, also called Tommy, who died Tuesday at 86, was a childhood hero of mine. He was the older and less mature sibling in the comedy act the Smothers Brothers, who began the 1960s as clean-cut, wholesome, humorous folk singers and ended the decade fired by CBS from "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour," their popular satirical variety show — countercultural by the standards of late '60s prime-time, with material addressing Vietnam, race, drugs and national politics — over controversial content and a combative attitude.

Yet through these changes and beyond, through subsequent specials and revivals and years of touring, the act essentially