Tom Smothers passed away Tuesday ... R.I.P. 

I meant to post something but I was waiting to find out what the cause of death was.

Tom Smothers, half of the famed Smothers Brothers comedy and music duo that fought racism, the Vietnam War and television censors, died Tuesday from an aggressive type of cancer, his family said.

 

 

  He was 86.

Smothers' passing at his home in Santa Rosa, California, was announced Wednesday by the family and the National Comedy Center.

“Tom was not only the loving older brother that everyone would want in their life, he was a one-of-a-kind creative partner," brother Dick Smothers, 84, said in a statement. "I am forever grateful to have spent a lifetime together with him, on and off stage, for over 60 years. Our relationship was like a good marriage — the longer we were together, the more we loved and respected one another. We were truly blessed.” 

Tom and Dick Smothers were never shy about using their platform to needle authority, in any way possible in staid, confrontation-averse 1960s media.

After it debuted in the fall of 1967, CBS famously pulled the plug on “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” in April 1969 because of their content consistently poking fun of the powerful and boosting Vietnam War critics and civil rights proponents.