One of the most popular comedy teams of the 1960s, the Smothers Brothers rose to fame at a time when commercial folk music and comedy albums were both big business, and they were the rare group that enjoyed the best of both worlds. Tom and Dick Smothers were talented singers and instrumentalists with a firm grasp of the folk repertoire, but their greatest success came from the comic routines that usually appeared midway through their songs. After making a splash in nightclubs and on TV, they released their debut album in 1962, The Songs and Comedy of the Smothers Brothers!, that accurately documented the act that made them famous. The Smothers Brothers were popular enough to issue eight more albums between 1962 and 1966, but the 1967 debut of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour brought them their greatest fame and spelled the end of their recording career.