[1] Thomas Bolyn Smothers III was born on February 2, 1937, at the Fort Jay army post hospital on Governors Island in New York City, the son of Ruth (née Remick), a homemaker, and Major Thomas B. Smothers, a United States Army officer who died a POW of the Japanese in April 1945.

[4][5] Beginning in fifth grade, he played guitar in bands formed with friends and began incorporating humor with his music and in-school interactions.

[11] Inspired by the popularity of The Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley", the Smothers Brothers initially wanted to be folk musicians.

[14][9] In January 1959, the Smothers brothers were discovered by a detective who became their first manager and invited them to an audition at the Purple Onion, a nightclub in San Francisco.

The brothers had conflicts with the CBS standards and practices department with jokes about religion, recreational drugs, sex, and the Vietnam War, topics considered taboo on primetime television of the era.

[26] The song was written and performed during Lennon's and Yoko Ono's "Bed-in" honeymoon on June 1, 1969, in Room 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

[12]In the 1970s, Smothers mocked Bill Cosby for not taking a stand on political issues of the day, such as civil rights.

Tom publicly criticized Democratic president Lyndon B. Johnson and his involvement in and perpetuation of the Vietnam War.

Tom stated in 2006 that the duo's real-life political and philosophical differences were a key part of their ability to maintain their act for as long as they did.

[12] In motion pictures, Smothers portrayed corporate-executive-turned-tap-dancing-magician Donald Beeman in Brian De Palma's 1972 film, Get to Know Your Rabbit.

In 1982, he played with an ensemble cast in Pandemonium in which he was a brave Canadian Mountie chasing down a serial killer at a cheerleader camp.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the brothers turned to television commercials, filming spots for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Planters peanuts, in which Tom invoked his famous line, "Mom always did like you best!".

In 2007, Tom and Dick Smothers filmed a series of 30-second commercials and promotional spots for the River Rock Casino in Geyserville, California.

[31] In December 2009, Tom and Dick both guest starred in a 21st-season episode of The Simpsons that also featured Cooper, Peyton, and Eli Manning.

[32] The Smothers Brothers announced in May 2010 that their shows at The Orleans near Las Vegas would be "farewell performances" marking their retirement from touring.

[36] Smothers was the owner of Remick Ridge Vineyards in Sonoma County, California, which he established in 1977 and sold in 2023.

He also had a son from his first marriage, Thomas Bolyn Smothers IV (Tom Jr.),[38] who died in April 2023; and one grandson, Phoenix Parrish-Smothers.