Karen was, as always, the smartest and cleverest person in the room.

0:52 "Yeh--had a hat." Karen, as ever, coming up with something adorable.

@redlightmax ...ALSO...a little historical perspective -- tommy smothers gave steve martin his break as a young comedy writer on the original Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, so martin was very much aware of tommy's style.

I'm glad they have their moment the perfect time for her debut!!!

Steve Martin dated Karen briefly, probably around this time. She and he combine for a great one-two punch of Tommy Smothers. Steve feeds Karen the chicken line and she hits it out of the park. Just another moment of brilliance from KC.

She had a pet chicken, who had a hat! So weird, I love them. They handled the moment well!

love Karen and Richard

The Best of the Best

SO FUNNY. anyone unfamiliar with tommy smothers' humor needs to look up smothers brothers clips on youtube and enjoy them. i grew up with their humor, and this is EXACTLY how tommy always did comedy - based on making himself seem a little naive and creating awkward moments - kind of like lou costello or stan laurel. THAT was the joke - watching tommy dig deeper and make it worse. and his brother dickie was very good at playing against that. you can see how much karen's charmed by it.

@Mrshinyshoes. Although I agree that The Captain &Tennille were not at the same level of musical greatness as the Carpenters, The Captain & Tennille had a number of hit songs other than ''Love Will Keep Us Together'', including ''Come In From The Rain'', ''Muskrat Love'', their cover version of '' Shop Around'' and ''Do That To Me One More Time''.

💓💓💓💓💓

This interview is from the brief period when the Smothers brothers weren't getting along; that's why Tom is kidding Richard that he could fill in for his brother "Dickie".

I love the Captain and Tennille BUT seriously NO COMPARISON!

that awkward man IS steve martin

I think that attempt at humor was flat as a tack. Karen put silly Dickie Smothers right back in his place!

Duh. That awkward man is Dickie Smothers of the Smothers brothers. That is why you had to know that to get this vide.

@mrshinyshoes "Do that to me one more time" too

Was Tommy looking in a mirror when he said "you're not real funny"? In the meantime, maybe the Smothers Brothers could win the COMEDY crown back from oh...I don't know, maybe Steve Martin?! By this time in his career, Tom was resorting to yo-yo tricks. Karen rolls with it, she was a pro.

@Inuyashabuddha. The Carpenters never attempted to become comediennes or ever claimed that they were comediennes! You misspelled the word subpar.

@redlightmax no, he was part of a standup duo, with one exasperated, smart brother (dickie) and tommy was the younger, slower brother. so, a better analogy would be ricky gervais' friend with the round head. he's not saying mean things because he's mean or clever. his character is just stuck at around age 12. and especially back in the 60s that's how they got away with a lot of political commentary. tomok97 has a SmoBro video that perfectly illustrates their style.

Very bad footage quality!

This is Tom Smothers. He was always an idiot. His mentioning Captain and Tenille was obviously meant as a slight to the Carpenters. Karen reacted in a nice way. Noticed that a lot of comments about this vid are wondering who the heck Dick Smothers is. There you go. Smothers Brothers were considered cool for awhile but their fame was ever so fleeting because they actually were not that good. As for Steve Martin, who I have always liked- He looks like a totally clueless host here.

@WhydontyouLikMyAss lmbo wow! Could you please show me that transcript or video! Please!

@leofilm OK, that does make things clearer, thank you. I still say that, in character or not, he was being douchey to KC and RC.

this clip has always bugged me - it wasn't funny - it was kinda mean. but then i never liked the smothers brothers or their humor anyway - the pet chicken and the hat is funny! i don't think the audience knew when to laugh anymore!

@leofilm So this Smothers guy was like the Ricky Gervais of his time, just douchier.