There was a routine done in 67 by the Jewish comedian on the comedy hour show concerning Jonah + the Whale. As Michael Steinberg relates it as, 1St that jew Jonah got on a ship with with a bunch of Gentiles which was a bad move to begin with. Then when the seas got rough, it was throw the jew overboard (big surprise). So they grabbed him by the old testaments + cast him over the side. Well. they were taken to court because the censors said, when you said old testament you really meant testicles,right? He says sure (+ believe it or not this was a jury trial in L.A. in 67) He said to the jury, of course, it was a joke on a comedy show. The jury was laughing + there were no charges but he never worked again on their show.

Then there was the routine where Tommy played a southern preacher marrying a black man + a white woman + after saying, I now pronounce you man + wife, instead of saying the rings please, he says, the rope please. They truly pushed the envelope + dealt with current issues in the 60s + in the end , even though they beat "Bonanza" (NBCs major bread winner) they got fired due to the censors. Funny? thing is that now their lack of reverence for 60s sacred cows are totally quite blasse today. They were certainly instrumental on setting the groundwork for SNL. + actually Lorne Michaels along with Steve Martin were some of their writers. For those interested, pull up youtube/smothersbrothers.