Finest quote thread

[Major Hogwash]

74. "Mom always liked you best." --- Tom Smothers.

Last month, a couple of days after Christmas, I was listening to the radio.
And this station was doing a Top 10 "Best Interviews of the Year" rerun program.
I heard the repeat of an interview that Dick Smothers had given earlier in the year about how that line came to be, and it was hilarious.

Dick and Tom had already been performing standup comedy for a few years working in various clubs, repeating many of the same jokes over and over again.
So, Dick knew what was coming beforehand, and so he didn't laugh at many of their punchlines anymore.
As he told it, their comedy act was beginning to become somewhat of a drag to him, and he wasn't really having all that good of a time performing on stage anymore.

Then one night, right in the middle of their routine where they were arguing with each other, which was their trademark, Tom came out with that line.
As he stood to the side of Dick, with his mouth wide open, incredulous at the gall of Dick to disagree with him, right after he said it just as sincere as it could be said, as if he really meant it, it cracked Dick up.
In fact, Dick said it cracked him up almost every time Tom said it for years, because they were such close brothers, and it was such a ridiculous thing for him to say.
Dick said that was the line that they eventually became famous for, and it lead to much of their success and even getting them their own tv program on CBS.